Si Anke stood up slowly and silently stared at the scene in front of him.
The humming mill looked like the gaping mouth of a monster.
The surrounding air seemed to be stagnant here.
Obviously there is no "sun" as the first source of light in the underground world. The crystal wall and dome in the sky shines brightly 24 hours a day, and there is no difference between morning and night.
But Si Anke felt inexplicably... there was a breath of [dusk] coming from around him.
Although he didn't know what the breath of dusk was at all, his intuition was telling him so and warning him urgently.
--Don't go in.
Almost liquid fear seeped into his pores, making him feel that the blood vessels on his forehead and temples were pulsing crazily due to this inexplicable tension.
——Run away quickly.
In a daze, Si An felt that the air around him had become thick and fishy-sweet.
The world in front of me seemed to turn into a black and red silhouette for an instant, and then changed back to its original state in an instant.
Even the barrage in front of Si Anke's eyes disappeared.
It's like playing a horror game with friends, but at the critical moment, while talking, I suddenly feel that there is no movement.
When I turned around, I didn't know when the room was empty.
It’s much scarier than playing alone in the beginning!
"……Ah."
Si Anke muttered in a low voice:
"Did I wake up from a dream... or did I enter a dream?"
——What the hell.
Si Anqi moved his lips slightly, gritted his teeth hard, and cursed silently.
He gradually darkened his face and looked seriously at the mill with its wide open door.
"Excuse me, is anyone there?"
Si Anke shouted at the door.
no respond.
——There should be no response.
He walked forward slowly and walked into the door.
But at the next moment, the door behind him suddenly made a loud "squeak" sound and slammed shut!
"A bad joke."
Si Anke commented with a calm expression: "I guessed it."
He stopped at the door and looked around.
This seemingly large mill was filled with a strange smell. Si Anqi tried hard to distinguish it...it seemed to be the smell of mushrooms.
Right.
This mill seems to have been called the Black Mushroom Mill.
Si Anke learned from Neussel that the black mushroom is a strange mushroom unique to the underground world.
It is a very humble mushroom...it requires no care at all and can survive in rotten wood, but it must live in a dark environment. Because it looks completely black in appearance, it is called a black mushroom.
With just a little bit of blood or feces, it can grow extremely quickly and forcefully squeeze out the growth space of other mushrooms, causing them to wither and turn into nutrients.
Yes.
——This is a kind of "fungus that can digest fungi". Therefore, there is no need to take care of it at all, and there is no need to worry about the growth of miscellaneous bacteria.
The value of this mushroom is that after it is dried and ground into powder, it becomes a nutritious food that can be stored for a long time.
Its status in the underground world is equal to that of wheat.
The powder ground from black mushrooms is equivalent to "flour".
Almost all large underground cities will have their own black mushroom mills. Cities that completely import them from other cities are also not excluded...but there is really no need.
Because the cost of black mushrooms is very low and no cultivation technology is required.
Black mushrooms that are ground into powder without being dried can be produced by spreading them on dead wood to produce new black mushrooms. The work of the mill is just to constantly replace the wood, scrape off the grown black mushrooms, dry them and grind them into powder. It only takes two or three people.
Totally able to handle it.
"Replacing the wood" and "roasting and drying the black mushrooms" are completed at the same time; and "grinding into powder" does not require manual labor - of course it is not a traditional windmill, but a steam engine.
And buzzing can be heard from outside, which means...
Today, the mill is in operation.
But there was no one inside it.
Not to mention the sound of conversations, not even the sound of footsteps was heard.
"This is……"
Si Anke suddenly noticed an unexpected detail.
In the corner of the hall on the first floor of the mill, there is a shovel lying upside down.
The tip of the shovel was stained with blood, and had dried up and turned brown. There were still specks of blood on the ground nearby.
However, Si Anqi did not know the relevant knowledge of forensic medicine and could not reconstruct the scene through these details.
...If it were citalopram, maybe we could find more details.
Although Citalopram is actually a psychiatrist, Si Anqi always subconsciously felt that Citalopram had a cold and cold temperament like a forensic doctor.
To describe it...
Just like Orochimaru.
He picked up the shovel and looked at it carefully.
And a system prompt appeared in front of him:
[bloody shovel]
【——Once a murder weapon】
There is no doubt that people have died here.
...although it is not certain who died.
But Si Anke could also guess that this was probably not a murder.
In an underground city where there is no shortage of iron weapons, no one would murder others with a shovel.
However, at the same time, no one should come into the house with a shovel...
Si Anqing's gaze turned to the blood stains.
He took two steps forward and approached the blood stain.
The moment he got close to the bloodstain, Si An suddenly felt an unfounded and extremely strong sense of fear——
The world around me once again turned into a red background with black outlines.
In his ears, there was a distorted and sharp scream. It was like the rustling sound coming from a shell placed close to his ear, mixed with a sharp and harsh sound like a devil:
"——Hurry up, he's going to wake up! Take out his liver first!"
"——Katz, come here, I'll turn on the machine!"
"——Where's Alice?"
"——She must be hiding nearby, she is in this mill!"
The next moment, the auditory hallucination ended.
Si An suddenly heard a whining sound coming from behind him.
He suddenly felt terrified!
A sharp pain came from the back of his head, and his eyes widened, but instead his eyes were filled with darkness.
Si Anqi staggered two steps and fell to the ground.
The blood overflowing from the back of his head slowly soaked into the ground.
Covered with dry brown traces, eroding...
Finally, almost identical traces are outlined.
"hiss--"
Si Anke was suddenly startled and sat up from the bed.
He held the back of his head and seemed to feel waves of phantom pain.
He looked around vigilantly and saw the two beds for the first time.
And he was lying on the bed, still covered with a quilt.
The little bear stood beside the bed, with an ovo smiley face stitched with black thread on his face.
A barrage appeared before his eyes again:
"——Fuck, you scared me!"
"——I always feel that in the next scene just now, two people should come out, take out a test tube and feed Brother Kezi a pill..."
"——I know, this story is called Detective Kenan (Confirmed)"