Chapter 276 The Last Death (13) The colorless and tasteless Mirror Lake...
Gao Mengtang hammered the wall for a while, and then he got tired and collapsed on the pillows in a daze. Then he found that the Monster Book had been updated again.
Unlike the previous instances, where each time I came into contact with the Butcher's Monster Book, the updates were as slow as squeezing toothpaste, this time, the system seemed to have a bug and released all of the background stories of the Butcher Emperor Jiu Tou in one go.
"What's going on? Senior, what did you do?" Duan Song asked in surprise.
Gao Mengtang was at a loss: "I don't know."
Just now, his body seemed to be sucked in, and then he lost consciousness. When he opened his eyes again, he saw the Eleventh Sage King and the black swamp.
He has never even seen the Human Emperor Jiu Tou!
Gao Mengtang didn't have the mood to think about it. He just opened the monster book and read it first.
[Lies! They are as clear as glass, yet they can deceive people. They are as fragile as glass, and they can pierce our flesh!]
[If you have made up your mind to commit suicide and someone saves your life, is he a benefactor or an enemy?]
[For Edward, the king of a fallen country, the answer is always: enemy]
[His country was destroyed, his mountains and rivers were broken, for the sake of the people struggling in the sea of suffering, and for the sake of his own dignity and pride, he made an agreement with a group of ministers to hang himself when the enemy army entered the capital]
[On the night Edward wrote his suicide note, an old man found him]
[Although it was a palace that was about to be burned to ashes, it was still a palace. At that moment, Edward thought he saw the ghost of his great grandfather.]
[The old man said to Edward: Follow me, toward the gate of eternal life.]
[The old man promised that he would lead Edward closer to the gods and gain supreme power. Power enough to repel the enemy. Behind the old man, a tall and narrow glowing door appeared out of thin air.]
[Walking through that door, Edward arrived in Nanzhou, where the inner and outer worlds overlap.]
[Edward's name will remain in history books as a joke, and the old man's name will be a symbol of disaster, forever engraved in the deepest fear of future generations.]
[The old woman's name is: Carmela de Chautien Gramont]
"Senior! You guessed it right. It was Xiao Tien who was behind the incident on the train again." Duan Song said.
[There are hundreds of people who came to the place where the inner and outer worlds overlap. They are all wealthy people from various countries. After enjoying all the beauty of the mortal world, they only have one pursuit in life: eternal life.]
[Shortien promised that this train would take them to the gate of eternal life - the narrow gate]
[Only Edward does not expect eternal life, he just wants to gain power.]
[Before boarding the train, they drank the water from the Mirror Lake and entered a world close to death. They donated all their property and passed the test of loyalty. They were baptized in the Stone Church and became the first group of believers of the ancient gods]
After reading this, Gao Mengtang opened the map and saw that the attraction they were going to visit tomorrow was called "Clear Rain Forest".
The path for players to visit is: Stone Church → Dedication Auction House → Clear Rainforest
This order is opposite to that of the first group of ancient god believers, but the content is basically the same.
Tomorrow, they will go to the Clear Rain Forest. Will they also drink the "Mirror Lake Water"? What does it mean to be in a world close to death?
Duan Song: "If I drink the water from Mirror Lake, can I enter the other world?"
Gao Mengtang shook his head: "Impossible. Players with ID cards will die miserably if they stay in the inner world for even a minute. These ordinary people can't even survive for a second if they enter the inner world."
As for the world close to death... Gao Mengtang had a guess: it was a place of near-death.
They continued to look down.
[The wealthy who have given everything, when they stand up and pray three times under the gaze of Allah, with tears in their eyes, have they ever thought that Allah’s eyes are just an ordinary glass bead?]
[Shortien did not lie to them. If they boarded this train, they could indeed achieve eternal life—if existing as a living dead could be considered eternal life.]
Duan Song laughed loudly: "Xiao Tien is very smart. She can think of this way to cheat people out of money."
The train runs at the place where the inner and outer worlds overlap. Affected by the radiation from the inner world, the dead can exist as physical souls. If the dead have not seen their own corpses with their own eyes, they probably wouldn't know they are dead.
Moreover, souls can live without food, water or sleep, which makes them seem like immortals.
It’s a pity that if the souls leave the overlapping area and there is no external intervention, they will gradually dissipate.
The next two pages of "Monster Book" record the tragic conditions of the rich people after being exposed to radiation. They died in extreme pain, and their deformed bodies were shocking.
Soon, the soul in the deformed and strange body sat up as if nothing had happened.
People at that time thought it was a miracle.
"Now I understand why the corpse transporters stared at the corpses thrown out of the train as if they were monsters," said Duan Song.
In the past, the bodies thrown out of this train were all corpses that were severely transformed by the radiation from the other world. This time, the corpse had a human shape. To the corpse carrier, it was more terrifying than a monster.
[Everyone is grateful to the ancient god, except Edward.]
[He does not want immortality, he just wants the power to defeat the enemy.]
[A month later, Edward also died, and nine heads grew out of his body. He did not gain any power after being "resurrected", except that he no longer needed to eat.]
[What role does this play in defending the country? Does it save some military rations?]
[Edward finds Shortien and asks him where the power he promised is.]
[Xiao Tien snorted coldly: Still thinking about your country? You can go back and take a look.]
[The ignorant ruler adjusted the flow of time in the overlapping area. When Edward returned to Xizhou, he saw that five hundred years had passed. His name had already been written into the history books.]
[The middle school students in the library were looking through the history books and mocking him as a king who escaped from danger and lost his country.]
[Where else can Edward go? He returns to the overlap, and his soul merges with his nine-headed corpse.]
[He gained terrifying power, but it was only five hundred years late.]
[His hatred was transferred to this train, this scam.]
[“Do you want to go through the narrow gate? I’ll take you there.”]
[“Do you want to go to heaven? I am your ferryman”]
[From then on, Edward became a half-dead ghost on this train. His only wish was to die, but it could never be fulfilled...]
Gao Mengtang unlocked and read the following content.
After finishing reading, Duan Song put down the Monster Book and sighed: "Three years ago, when I first joined the Black Tower game, I felt strange. Why is the portal in the Black Tower game called the 'Narrow Gate'?"
The narrow gate comes from the Bible, meaning the door to eternal life. Shortien borrowed this name to set up a scam, and since then, the habit of calling the portal "narrow gate" has been retained.
Gao Mengtang: "Have you ever read the Bible?"
"Children's picture book," Duan Song didn't know what he was proud of, "Everyone who has experienced despair longs for God's salvation."
It was past three in the morning. Duan Song washed up and went to bed, but Gao Mengtang was still thinking about the Nine-Headed Human Emperor.
What needs to be done to save the Nine-Headed Human Emperor? And what will happen when they visit the Pure Rain Forest tomorrow?
Before I knew it, it was daybreak. At six in the morning, the radio sounded:
"Two fallen people abandoned the narrow gate and headed for the road to destruction. Please go to the last car to watch their punishment."
After the battle in the auction house, there were less than 30 players left in the copy. They walked through one empty carriage after another and arrived at the last observation carriage.
"My Lord! Please save the vampire apostle!" A believer of the ancient god knelt on the ground. He had white hair, prominent cheekbones, skin like old tree bark, and a mean face. He tightly grasped the hand of the Eleventh King, crying and begging.
The Eleventh Wise King glanced at him lazily with a tired look, showing a lack of rest. "Rules are rules. I can't do anything about it."
The man seemed unconvinced, but he did not dare to upset the Eleventh Prince, so he stopped crying and glared at Bai Jie fiercely.
The Lucky Amulet cannot be handed in to the Dedication Auction House in exchange for Dedication Value. They are all experienced players. After a little thought, it is not difficult to guess that Bai Jie stole the Lucky Amulets of the two vampires.
"You traitor, jinx, bastard!" The man stared at Bai Jie with evil eyes like a hyena, "How could Bai Shu have a bastard son like you?"
Bai Jie was furious: "I am not his son!"
That person still cursed: "Bastard! Bastard!"
"Hey, old man," Gao Mengtang shouted, "Apologize to Bai Jie, or I won't let you go."
The old man approached Gao Mengtang gloomily: "You damned pretty boy, disaster, scourge, how long do you think you can be so proud? Our Lord has already put you--"
The octopus tentacles popped out, wrapped around the old man's head, and threw him to the ground.
"He Qian, getting angry only shows your incompetence." Xian Wang Eleven leaned lazily in his chair, his eyelids drooping, and his lips did not move when he spoke.
Only then did Gao Mengtang recognize that He Qian was an elder of He Suzhi.
After He Suzhi took away almost all the family property and defected to Yuefan, He Qian would probably be so angry when he thought of Gao Mengtang that he would want to kill him as soon as possible. This time he was just taking advantage of the situation.
The Eleventh Wise King had spoken, and He Qian did not dare to say anything. He was not the only one. Gao Mengtang looked around and found that except for his teammates, the remaining players stared at Gao Mengtang with vicious eyes, as if they wanted to peel off a layer of skin from him with their eyes.
Bai Jie and Shang Yu also rolled their eyes several times.
Gao Mengtang glared back at them one by one.
What are you looking at! Didn't I just kill a few hundred of you, rob a few hundred million of your property, and keep the ancient gods you believe in as pets? Is it necessary to hate them so much?
A very strange smell entered Gao Mengtang's nostrils. The smell was neither pleasant nor disgusting. It was just sticky, as if it was stuck on the skin and could not be pulled off.
It was roughly the smell of earth after a rainstorm, gasoline, and rotten fruit. Gao Mengtang couldn't help but mutter, "What a strong smell."
"What's that smell?" Bai Jie asked.
The conductor was holding a wide-mouthed cup in one hand and a funnel in the other. Gao Mengtang pointed quietly, "The smell of the liquid in the wide-mouthed cup."
The teammates looked confused, they didn't smell anything.
"Awoo! Master, the dog smelled it too." Pegana said, "It doesn't smell good! It doesn't smell good!"
The enemy rabbit also curled up into a ball and hid its nose in its fur.
"That's the water from Mirror Lake. Only the creatures in the inner world can smell the scent of the water from Mirror Lake." Shang Yu explained in a low voice.
"Whether you two can survive depends on God's will," the conductor said. Despite their resistance, he stuffed the funnel into their mouths and poured the transparent colorless liquid into them.
Judging from the reactions of the two vampire apostles, they seemed to know what it was. They struggled continuously, and their eyes were bloodshot.
"What are you doing?" Gao Mengtang heard it, trying not to breathe.
Shang Yu explained quickly.
The believers of the ancient gods believe that entering the Land of the Dying can better establish a connection with the gods. They also discovered the [Mirror Lake Water], a ticket to enter the Land of the Dying.
The water of Mirror Lake is colorless and tasteless, and tastes just like ordinary water, but it can make the soul enter a state of "broken lotus roots and connected silk threads". After drinking it, if there is no external force, people will be fine after 1 or 2 days. During this period, people who drink the water of Mirror Lake will not feel any discomfort.
If someone stabs a person in the heart while the soul is still connected, then the person's soul will either be completely shattered or he will survive the pain.
"The descendants of the ancient god's believers are baptized by drinking the water from Mirror Lake and then having their chest pierced by a spike," said Shang Yu.
Duan Song expressed his doubts with a dramatic and exaggerated expression, and the meaning of that look was: Are you sick?
"This is the only way to select descendants with strong souls. Otherwise, how can ancient god believers be stronger than ordinary players?" Shang Yu said, "No one who can survive in our family is a coward."
Gao Mengtang was puzzled: "Since you drank the water from Mirror Lake when you were born, then this punishment will not work for the two of them."
Hearing their whispers, the other believers glared at Gao Mengtang. He Qian shouted again, "What do you mean, pretty boy? You wish we would die, don't you?"
Gao Mengtang: ...That’s really not what I meant.
I just feel the punishment is unfair.
"The water from Jinghu Lake is poison, and poison requires dosage," Shang Yu whispered, "They only drank 20 milliliters when they were baptized, but now they've drunk 200 milliliters. Whether they can survive depends on fate."
A dozen train attendants held the two men down and poured all the water from the Mirror Lake into the water. The gilded cone was held high, shining brightly in the sunlight.
Phew.
The two vampire apostles stopped struggling immediately. They seemed to be knocked unconscious and fell to the ground.
The scene was not as horrific as Gao Mengtang had imagined. There was not even any blood on their chests. They looked like they were just sleeping.
"Dead, dead?" Gao Mengtang asked in a low voice.
"What are you talking about!" He Qian was furious.
Shang Yu shook his head: "They have entered a place of near-death. If they can wake up within 6 hours, then everything will be fine."
The conductor poured healing potions into their chests to heal the wounds on their hearts. Healing potions could not heal the souls, so what followed was torture that affected their souls.
The ancient god believers knelt down and prayed for the two blood-sucking dead disciples. Gao Mengtang and his teammates quietly left.
It is better not to look at the enemy's miserable side.
It's half past six, time for breakfast.
Gao Mengtang was chewing on a peach. Perhaps because of the smell, he had no appetite. "The Mirror Lake water is so toxic, but it is still colorless and tasteless to you. Why don't you use it to poison other people?"
Bai Jie: "To activate the poison of Mirror Lake water, you must stab the person in the chest. If there is a chance to stab the enemy in the chest, there is no need to poison him."
Shang Yu ate her ramen with a slurp. She had the aloof temperament of an elite, but she ate in a bold manner. "Not everyone has the strong self-healing ability of Wei Wei. Most players would be seriously injured if they were stabbed in the chest. If I take advantage of his stiffness and stab him a few more times, he will die. Why bother to poison him?"
The door of the dining car opened, and Xian Wang Eleven walked in alone. He sat far away from Gao Mengtang and others, and slowly ate the side dish of shrimp and avocado toast with a fork, accompanied by a cup of hot black coffee.
He Lun gnawed on a chicken leg and glanced at him: "Why are you pretending? You eat like a queen."
He thought he was quiet, but he was born with a loud voice.
The Eleventh Wise King suddenly raised his eyes and stared at them coldly.
Gao Mengtang said awkwardly: "Um...um, do you have a poor appetite? Is it because the water in Mirror Lake smells a bit bad?"
"Does the water in Jinghu Lake have any smell?" The Eleventh King looked at Gao Mengtang with a much kinder look.
I almost forgot that the Eleventh Wise King used Wei Wei's body. He could eat meat and was not considered a life form in the other world. To him, the water from Mirror Lake was just ordinary mineral water.
"You still need to eat more." Gao Mengtang said.
The Eleventh Prince glanced at the peach in Gao Mengtang's hand, which he had only taken a bite of, and snorted. He put down his fork, took a sip of black coffee, and left the dining car.
Five hours later, Wenren Ye and Wenren Xiao both woke up. Gao Mengtang was not at the scene. He only heard that they were in a bad state and extremely frightened. Their mental value dropped to 20 points. The Eleventh King gave them 4 bottles of mental value recovery agents, and they barely recovered.
Gao Mengtang didn't care about them. He was thinking about today's trip: the clear rain forest.
"We can play in the rain forest for 10 hours!" Gao Mengtang excitedly flipped through the clothes in the bubble, "Is this Bohemian shirt better for me, or is this dark blue printed shirt better?"
Others: “…” Are you really taking this as a trip?
Gao Mengtang found several raincoats and suddenly felt worried: "I think green is more suitable for rainforest travel. Where is the off-white silk dress embroidered with green bamboo leaves that Avi sewed for me..."
He searched for a long time but couldn't find the clothes. Suddenly he remembered that he had put the shirt in the closet of Room 01 and left it there when he changed bedrooms.
"I'm going to Eleven's room to find clothes." Gao Mengtang said this and ran out. When he pushed the door open, he saw that the wise king Eleven was practicing calligraphy.
"Either reading books or practicing calligraphy, aren't you bored?" Gao Mengtang said as he opened the closet and looked for the silk shirt.
The Eleventh Wise King did not respond.
"What do you want to wear when you go to the rainforest?" Gao Mengtang ignored the wise king eleven's neglect.
The Eleventh Wise King: "No."
"Huh?"
“You don’t have to join the rainforest tour.”
Gao Mengtang: "It's a full 10 hours. You don't plan to copy calligraphy for 10 hours!"
He found the silk shirt and put it on the lap of the Eleventh Wise King: "Let's go play together, you wear this. This is made of fine material, stitched by the Black Clay Puppet."
Xian Wang Shiyi was concentrating on writing the characters, ignoring Gao Mengtang, but he didn't throw the clothes away either. Gao Mengtang thought he accepted it.
He was searching for other clothes left here, when suddenly his fingertips touched something sharp, which seemed to be a card.
The card was pressed under the pile of books of Xian Wang Eleven, with a corner exposed. Gao Mengtang was very familiar with the dark purple pattern on the corner.
His fingers paused in the air for a moment, and the smile on Gao Mengtang's face gradually disappeared. He pressed the card and quietly pulled it out. In the dim closet, the watermark of the black tower reflected seven colors of light.
Written in red ink on the front of the card was: You are dead
The player will receive this card only after he becomes a living spirit after his death. Why does the Eleventh Wise King have this card?
The shadow from behind covered the white skin on the back of Gao Mengtang's hand. The voice of the Eleventh Sage King sounded above his head: "Are you rummaging through my things?"
Gao Mengtang suddenly came back to his senses, turned his head, and smiled embarrassedly: "Are you angry?"
The Eleventh Wise King had the silk shirt draped over his arm. He smiled and threw a stack of cards into the closet. On the front of each card was written: You are dead.
"My followers will become living spirits and hand the cards to me," said the Eleventh Wise King.
Gao Mengtang said "Oh", took his clothes and left the room. Xian Wang Eleven looked at his back for a long time without looking away.
The stack of cards thrown into the closet quickly shrank and turned into a twisting black octopus tentacle.
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