Chapter 731: Whispers in the Night (please vote for the extra large chapter)
He Ao looked at the opened gate. Perhaps because of the deformation, the gate was not fully opened, but only half opened.
Three men wearing fur clothes were leaning behind the door, looking at He and Ao with surprise, confusion, and a little fear.
And when they were sizing up He Ao, He Ao was also sizing them up.
The appearance of these three people all have obvious characteristics of people from the Newland City State.
What is inconsistent with the simple fur clothes they wear is that these three people are holding a weapon similar to a Gauss rifle in their hands. This is obviously something that cannot be manufactured by the science and technology of the main world.
The characteristics of modern people, the costumes of primitive people, and the weapons of future people.
Such a weird and magical combination seems to have a surprising rationality when placed here.
Moreover, the leading man also exuded the aura of an unstable transcendent.
"Hello, which city are you from?"
The leading man looked at He Ao and Feiya and asked in Tiya language with some respect.
Feiya looked up at He Ao.
"Before we came in, we were in the city-state of Newland."
He Ao replied slowly, and then he glanced behind the man. Behind the half-open and deformed gate, there were vaguely one or two figures looking out.
Then he looked down at the monster corpse on the ground, and then asked, "Can you tell us what happened here?"
"This may be a bit complicated to say,"
Hearing He Ao's reply to the word 'Newland City State', the wrinkled expression on the man's face obviously relaxed a lot. He hesitated for a moment and looked around the dark corridor, "Come in with me and talk."
As he said this, he and the two people behind him moved away, signaling He and Ao to enter the gate.
He Ao and Feiya looked at each other.
Then He Ao was in front and Feiya was behind. The two of them entered the gate one after the other while maintaining vigilance.
After entering the gate, the first thing that caught their eyes was a slightly open hall.
Many ceiling lights were hung on the top of the hall. Although nearly half of these ceiling lights were extinguished, the remaining lights still brought enough bright lighting to the hall.
In the front of the hall, near the gate, are metal chairs that seem to be used for resting. At this moment, sitting on the metal chair closest to the gate is a man wearing a denim jacket with an injured arm, and another person who looks like a nurse.
Treating his wounds.
The open area of the hall is only covered by these metal chairs.
Behind these metal chairs are cabins separated by various metal partitions.
A pair of eyes poked out from behind the iron plate, watching the two people entering the gate with caution, curiosity and a little fear and awe.
Card--
The leading man pulled a ring on the edge of the gate, and the sound of the gate closing slowly came from behind.
He Ao glanced at the ring. Next to the ring, there was a small screen showing the scene outside the door.
It seemed that these people had been hiding behind the door just now, watching the scene change outside the door.
The fear, vigilance and awe in their eyes, as well as the respectful attitude of the leading man, are probably because they just saw He Ao's output on the screen.
"There are so many people here?"
The first person to break the silence was Fiya. She looked at the eyes in the hall and said, "You all came in today?"
"today?"
The leading man stood not far away from He Ao and shook his head, "The first of us who came in have been here for almost a year."
"ah?"
Even Feiya, who had always remained calm and composed, looked slightly confused.
But He Ao just glanced at the leading man's cheek and asked softly, "Your name is Karin?"
"you know me?"
The leading man was stunned.
"I have read your information," He Ao answered calmly, "The first batch of missing persons in Newland City State disappeared on Vinland Island a year ago. They were informants of the institute."
"Institute..."
Hearing He Ao's words, Carlin was stunned, and then sighed in a low voice. His original vigilance and fear were eliminated a lot because of He Ao's words, "You are from the research institute, it has been a long time ago.
Memories, after living here for a long time, I seem to have almost forgotten these things."
Feiya turned her head to look at He Ao in confusion, blinking her eyes.
The city-state of Newland is clearly the territory of Moonlight, but why is she, the person in charge of Moonlight, like an outsider who doesn't know anything.
He Ao glanced at her and reminded softly, "Missing."
Feiya reacted instantly, and then she was a little stunned, "Weren't those missing persons all caused by West?"
"Most of them may have been done by West, but West can mainly target extraordinary people. It is impossible for ordinary people to catch them personally. Most of them are handed over to his subordinates, and these ordinary people are the main subjects of the disappearance."
He Ao shook his head, "There have been hundreds of cases of missing persons in Newland investigated by the research institute alone, and most of them were ordinary people. These ordinary people may not have been 'captured' by West's men.
There may be real 'missing persons' among them."
After all, the institute is not an official organization of Newland City State and cannot obtain detailed information on missing individuals, so the missing individuals that can actually be investigated are just the tip of the iceberg.
However, the detailed information about all the missing people was probably covered up by West, who was in charge of the Newland city-state at that time.
"You mean," Feiya reacted and looked at He Ao, "the 'door' was opened a long time ago?"
"The approach to space may be a gradual process, isn't it?"
He Ao nodded slightly.
In fact, he only speculated on the possibility at first and was not sure.
Only after seeing these people staying here can we be completely sure that some of the 'missing people' have passed through the 'door' and reached the underground palace.
The approach between the two worlds does not happen overnight, but gradually. In the process of getting closer, there will naturally be "doors" opened, but the quantity and quality of these "doors" may be far less than the current fully open state.
The earliest 'door' may have been opened a year ago.
The people behind the scenes put West in front of the stage, which was indeed a clever move. It not only helped them stir up trouble, but also helped them block the gun.
Without West arresting people everywhere, those who disappeared first through the 'door' would become particularly conspicuous.
However, everything has its advantages and disadvantages. If West hadn't stolen the Institute's home, He Ao would not have been attracted to it.
Of course, when West got to that point, he had no choice.
And the people behind the scenes pushing West to the stage may not be just to have a shield.
"If you're talking about how we got here,"
Carlin, who was standing aside, carefully interjected, "Almost all of us opened a door, walked in, and then ended up here inexplicably."
"Can you tell us what happened to you here?"
He Ao looked at Karin.
"certainly,"
Carlin nodded lightly, he led He Ao and Feiya to the row of seats near the front, and said slowly, "Where do you want to start?"
"How about starting from this 'settlement'?"
He Ao glanced at the densely packed metal partitions in the hall that seemed to have been around for a while, "Did you transform this place into this?"
"Strictly speaking, no,"
Carlin shook his head and glanced at the metal partitions. "These partitions, including the chair we are sitting on now, were there when we first discovered this place. All we did was make use of them."
"In other words," He Ao looked at the metal partitions, "Before you, there were people who 'lived' here?"
"Yes,"
Karin nodded, "This is also our guess."
"Then," Fiya asked in a low voice, "when you discovered this place, did you meet anyone living here?"
Although she knew it was impossible, she still asked the question.
"No,"
Karin shook his head bluntly, "When we found this place, it was already covered with dust. There were some rotten residues and uneaten food scattered on the ground. The bed was covered with messy things.
The materials and bedding are full of traces of human life, but there are no 'people' left behind, and we didn't find any remaining bone residue.
"Those who once lived here seemed to have left here in a hurry for some reason and never came back."
"Is it because there's not enough food?"
Feiya asked instead.
"I don't know what it was like at that time,"
Carlin thought, "But I think they should have enough food at that time, at least it shouldn't be so short that everyone has to leave."
"Why?"
Feiya looked at him doubtfully.
This question made Carlin think about it for a moment, and then he slowly stood up and said, "Follow me."
The two of them followed his figure through the 'corridor' between the metal partitions.
At this time, He Ao also saw the appearance of the interior of the partitioned 'rooms'. A simple metal bed that seemed to have been converted from a table filled most of the space in the compartment, and something unknown was spread on the bed.
Bedding woven from the fibers of the material.
Most of these compartments are not covered.
Some thin people stood beside the bed, looking at He Ao and Feiya carefully.
He Ao's eyes swept across the faces of these people, finally stopping on a couple who looked much stronger, and then withdrew his gaze.
"Approximately how many people are there among you here?"
he asked casually.
"Seventy-six," Carrington paused, "this is the number of people who survived."
He didn't know how many people had entered this place, but only seventy-six were left alive.
The few people walked very quickly, passing through the compartment area and arriving at the back of the hall in a short time.
Here are two huge machines five or six meters across.
He Ao glanced at the text on the machine.
As he expected, these machines still had instructions marked in five different languages.
He Ao easily found the text in the second area and knew the names of these two machines.
[Synthetic starch nutrition bar production machine (carbon dioxide fixation type)], [Synthetic meat production machine (depollution type)]
At this moment, both machines have red lights on, indicating a lack of consumables such as 'synthetic vitamins', 'minerals', 'packaging degradable plastics' and so on.
"We don't know what these two machines do,"
Carlin walked to the machine on the left and pressed the most conspicuous green button on the machine.
boom--
With a violent roar, a silver opening in front of the machine opened, and a white stick-like object fell out of the machine.
"This is?"
Feiya stared at this magical scene with her eyes widened.
"food,"
Karin took out the stick-shaped object and opened it slightly, revealing the inside that was similar to an osmanthus cake. "It's a bit like a pastry made of rice flour. It's edible. We rely on this to make a living."
"How is this done?"
Feiya obviously couldn't keep up with the rhythm. She looked at the huge machine in front of her and asked, "Does this thing store food? Can it be stored for such a long time?"
"have no idea,"
Karin shook his head, "There is always plenty of food in here, so much is produced every day, it seems like it will never be enough."
"Maybe it can produce food itself,"
He Ao glanced at the machine and said casually, "For example, fixing carbon dioxide in the air into starch."
When he said these words, both of them were stunned at the same time.
It wasn't that the two of them were enlightened by He Ao's point of view. From the blank looks in their eyes, He Ao felt that maybe they didn't understand.
He Ao thought for a while and organized his words.
"Strictly speaking, photosynthesis of plants is the process of fixing water and carbon dioxide into organic matter such as glucose and starch. The flour and rice we eat are all 'produced' through photosynthesis in this way.
"This machine may be the kind of machine that can obtain raw materials from the air and produce flour."
"Oh! So that's it!"
Feiya clapped her hands, and the gray-brown holes under the thin lenses exuded wisdom, "Let's take a look at the machine next to us."
"cough."
Carlin coughed. Although he didn't fully understand it, he understood the 'metaphor' behind He Ao and realized that the machine they had been relying on might be an inanimate 'plant'.
At this time, he saw He Ao's eyes also moving to the machine next to him.
So he walked to the machine on the right and introduced, "This machine is different from the one here. This machine cannot produce food on its own, but if we throw in the poisonous meat from the monsters outside, it can produce food."
'Blocks of meat' we can eat."
"Sounds like a machine that removes some kind of harmful substance,"
He Ao glanced at the 'decontamination' note on the machine, then looked at Karin and continued, "Doesn't this mean you need to go out and 'hunt' by yourself?"
"Yes."
Kalin nodded and raised the Gauss gun hanging on his chest, "This is a weapon we picked up in this hall before. Although we don't know how it works, it has a long range and is very powerful."
Then, he sighed, "When we first found this place, there were only a few people who could survive by eating the white rice noodles and occasionally going out to find some prey. But now there are more and more people, especially the most recent one."
There wasn’t enough rice nuggets to eat, so we had to go hunting every day.”
"Um."
He Ao looked up at the two machines.
With these two machines here, there will indeed be no food shortages here, at least there won't be physical shortages that force everyone to leave.
That gate can also withstand the impact of peak C-level monsters.
So why did the ‘remnants’ who once stayed here leave here en masse?
Seeing that He Ao seemed to be lost in thought, Karin glanced at Feiya beside him and asked in a low voice, "Don't know your names yet?"
"Fiya."
Feiya introduced herself.
"Hoo,"
He Ao lowered his head and introduced himself. Then he looked at Karin's body and asked thoughtfully, "Have you become a transcendent?"
According to the institute's information, Carlin is just an ordinary person.
"Yes,"
Karin seemed to recall something and sighed slightly, "When I first got here, I hadn't found this hall yet. I was too hungry and met an injured monster. I ate some of the monster's flesh and blood. I thought
He was bound to die, but he unexpectedly survived and gained some extraordinary powers, but the process was not very pleasant."
It seems that Carlin should have eaten the main material of a certain talent sequence in the monster's body. Compared with the promotion of secret medicine, this method of directly eating the 'main material' can also be promoted, but the mortality rate is much higher and the stability
Sex is even worse.
Strictly speaking, Carlin is a very capable person with a bottom line.
The 'settlement' in front of us already has some shadow of the wandering tribe in the wilderness of the replica world. In this dangerous environment, order and humanity are the least able to withstand the test.
If another person were to manage this place, there might not be so many people alive here.
People living here may not be able to stand like humans.
"correct,"
After a brief pause, Carlin took the initiative and asked, "Did you also come in through the 'door'? Has our 'disappearance' been discovered outside?"
He paused and asked the question he had always wanted to ask, "Is there a way for us to go back?"
This sentence attracted the attention of everyone in the entire 'settlement'.
"Now there are open 'doors' everywhere in Newland city-state,"
He Ao thought for a moment and sorted out his words, "We came in just to investigate this matter. Only by solving the problems behind the scenes can we possibly go back. In this regard,"
He paused and looked at Karin, "We may need your help."
"Is there anything we need to do?!"
Karin immediately straightened his body.
"You often hunt nearby, are you familiar with this 'underground palace'?"
He Ao then asked.
"Underground Palace? This is a good name. We also guess that the area we are in now is underground,"
Karin thought for a moment and nodded,
"What we know so far is that this 'underground palace' has more than one floor. Our main hunting area is on this floor. This seems to be the top floor and the largest floor. We usually call this floor underground.
layer.
"The monsters on this level are not strong. A few of us can kill some small monsters by working together. Those monsters you just killed, we are called 'Sheep Demons'. They are actually the 'overlords' of this level. Normally, we are called 'Sheep Demons'."
We all avoid them, and usually, if we are not injured, we don’t seem to attract their attention.
"This time it was because a newcomer was attacked by a monster before he came in. Then he happened to pass by us and was rescued by us. Then he encountered the sheep demon."
The newcomer Carlin was talking about was probably the man with an injured arm sitting on the stool at the door that He Ao saw when he came in.
The position where he entered the underground palace was just a little ahead of where He Ao entered.
Carlin didn't describe this person's affairs in detail. Overemphasis on these things could easily lead to this newcomer who caused trouble being ostracized by the old man, so he just mentioned it and continued,
"Going along the corridor at the entrance of our settlement, after turning a few corridors, there is an area similar to a commercial area, where you can find some 'drugs' and packaged compressed food. Basically, we have
All have been explored,”
He looked at He Ao, "If you want to investigate the truth, you may have to go a little lower. Next to the business district, there are stairs and elevators leading to the second underground floor.
"But in this place, the farther down you go, the stronger the monsters are. There are many large plant-like monsters on the second underground floor, and the monsters that can move are also very strong. I have only been there once and almost lost half my life, but your strength
It should be easy.”
"Are there only two floors here?"
Feiya asked from the side.
"No, there are actually three underground floors,"
Carlin shook his head, "Go out from the stairs on the second underground floor and walk a few dozen meters ahead. After passing a half-closed gate, you can see a destroyed elevator and a damaged stair door, which may lead to
There are three floors underground, but I have never been there.”
Then his eyes flew towards the gate, "The damaged shape of the staircase door on the third underground floor is a bit like the collision of the 'goat demon'. It may be very dangerous there."
"You mean, the sheep demon may have come up from the third underground floor?"
Feiya added.
"Well," Karin nodded, "That's it for our exploration of the 'underground palace'. As for whether there are other places below the third underground floor, we don't know."
"Um,"
He Ao nodded thoughtfully and looked at Karin, "Can you please send someone to take us to the stairs from the first basement to the second floor?"
"I'll bring someone to accompany you,"
Carrington paused and said quickly, "It just so happens that we need to go hunting."
"Okay," He Ao said with a smile, "I'll bother you then."
——
Newland City State·Vinland Island
"Affected by special celestial phenomena, Newland city-state is currently closed. Please stay at home, do not go out, do not open closed doors, do not close open doors, please do not open any closed doors easily, repeat, please
Don't open any closed door..."
A serious female voice came from the radio, the clock on the wall jumped to 15 o'clock, and the gray-haired old man raised his head and glanced out the closed window.
The sky is still dark night.
Tonight's night seems to be extremely long.
"grandmother,"
The little girl next to her suddenly called out softly. She pulled the corner of the old man's clothes and looked directly at the old man, "I seem to hear the voices of my parents."
"Um?"
The old man turned his head in confusion and looked at the little girl.
"They seem to be saying..."
The girl's soft voice slowly sounded in the silent darkness, "Open the door quickly."
