New Gods of North America

Friends who often kill people know that

It is easy to kill someone but difficult to dispose of the body.

But in today's West, disposing of corpses is actually a fairly easy thing - just dig a hole in the wilderness, or simply leave it there and forget about it. As long as it is not discovered within a short period of time, wild animals and nature will help deal with it.

If there are no costumes or iconic items at the scene, after a while, even her own mother might not be able to recognize her.

Finding a place is similar.

If Will hadn't pointed out the approximate location, Wayne would probably have run around Blackrock Town and still not have known that there was such a place.

But as long as we have a general direction and are sure that there must be a cave in that area, finding it is only a matter of time.

Not long after arriving in the valley, Wayne saw a capital letter "B" deliberately carved on a stone in the corner of a stone wall at a fork in the mountain road.

The font is rough, like two triangles, one large and one small connected.

—This was Uncle Benjamin's custom. He had been here before, and thought it worth marking.

Continuing to walk up along the fork in the road beside the stone wall, Wayne and Inissa soon saw the entrance to the cave.

The cave looked quite deep and it was pitch black inside.

Inissa put her bolt-action rifle decorated with mysterious patterns on her back, took out a double-barreled shotgun from under the saddle, put on a shoulder strap full of shotgun shells, and then began to look for materials nearby to make torches.

Wayne pretended to observe near the cave, but actually quietly closed his eyes and began to explore inside secretly using the simple lines of vision.

The passage near the entrance of the cave is slightly longer, but not particularly deep. Slightly deeper is a space the size of a classroom with several wooden cages.

There were a lot of scratches inside the cage, and some things that looked like excrement in the corners.

On the walls outside the cage, there are many iron rings nailed at intervals.

Turning my sight again, I saw a small blind spot in a corner of the cave.

Wayne took out two used torches from a place near the cave entrance, struck a match and lit them, then waved at Inissa:

"No need to make new torches. There's no one inside."

Inesa stared at Wayne for a moment, then came over to take the torch, then took out a small bottle from her waist bag and wet her handkerchief, "Prevent the plague."

After saying that, she threw the small bottle over.

Wayne followed suit and wet his new denim scarf.

The two men, holding a torch in one hand and covering their mouths and noses with the other, walked into the cave one after another.

The cave was filled with a complex stench, but there were no corpses or bones.

Wayne was curious about the blind spot in his vision, so he walked to the dead corner behind the wooden cage.

I noticed there were a lot of...necklaces piled together here?

Polished stones or tiny bones, some of which have bird feathers of unknown origin on them, are strung together with cotton or leather ropes, looking rough and wild.

On some relatively enlightened plantations, these were common accessories on dark-skinned slaves.

After Inessa checked several cages, she walked over to Wayne and took a quick look:

"These things look like the amulets that voodoo believers like to wear. Judging from the number, it seems that many people have died here."

Wayne nodded and continued searching. Finally, the two found several empty medicine bottles against the wall.

After a basic exploration, the two walked out of the cave.

Inissa began to search for traces near the cave entrance:

"Combined with what the kid just said, this seems to be a place where slave owners isolate slaves infected with the plague. They also provide some medicines, probably to see if the slaves can recover.

"Judging from their handling style, the place where the bodies were buried should be not far from the caves."

Wayne agreed with Inessa's opinion, but he was also a little depressed.

It is not difficult to guess what happened in the cave:

There were traces of people resting and rubbing against each other on the ground and walls of the cage and near the iron ring - people had been imprisoned here before, and at one point the number of people had reached a point where there were not enough cages, so they had to be tied to the iron rings.

Even the iron rings on the cave walls were nailed more and more.

There wasn't even a haystack in the cave for people to lie down and rest. Just from the isolation environment alone, it was as rudimentary as it could be.

The overseers did not seem to intend to spend too much time and energy on these slaves, so the burial place for the slaves was probably a simple and rough "dormitory".

The picture probably won’t look very good.

Just thinking about it, Wayne felt it might be shocking.

But if we look at it from the perspective of the laws, conventions and moral standards of immigrants, Mr. Stern's approach is not only not problematic, but can even be called "humane" and "enlightened" -

Slaves were the private property of their masters and could be disposed of at will. Although overly tyrannical and cruel slave owners would be rejected by "civilized people", this did not violate the law or conventions, and it could only be said that their moral standards were slightly flawed.

Mr. Stern not only provided medicine to slaves infected with the plague, but also helped bury their bodies. He even respected their freedom of belief and allowed them to openly wear amulets that were inconsistent with the Holy Spirit's beliefs.

He is truly a role model among civilized people.

On one side was the potential for shock, and on the other side was the impeccable "model of civilization". The two flavors were mixed together, and Wayne could only say that he could not appreciate them.

The search scope is getting wider and wider.

Inissa finally frowned. "There is no burial ground. Where are the bodies?"

…

Considering that contacting the "informant" too frequently would only expose Will.

In the end, Wayne and Inissa could only return to town with a few clues.

After expressing to the mayor their wish to help invite the three large landowners to their homes for dinner in the next few days, Wayne and Inessa finally returned home after it was completely dark.

Take out the ingredients you bought on the way and start cooking.

Thanks to the farming and animal husbandry industry and bank deposits, Wayne's family has a good meal:

A medium-rare steak with a charred surface, soft toast, and cream of mushroom soup.

Wayne secretly sprinkled holy water on his steak, laid out the food, and the two started eating at the dining table, chatting about very interesting topics.

Inesa used the knife and fork gracefully:

“There are many religious rituals that may involve human remains and flesh and blood. Not only the ‘darkness’, but also some evil gods in the fields of ‘life’, ‘nature’ and ‘knowledge’.

"But if it is a dying person, it is more likely the work of a cult follower in the realm of 'death'.

"So if we can figure out where those people ended up, we can learn a lot about the situation from the side."

Wayne nodded to show his understanding, and by the way wanted to satisfy his curiosity:

"Do those so-called 'amulets' we saw at the scene actually have extraordinary powers? Many black slaves in the West seem to really believe that those things can be used to ward off evil spirits and protect themselves."

Wayne was actually convinced that those amulets were definitely "useful".

At the very least, they created a small blind spot in Wayne's other field of vision.

Inesa picked up a piece of meat and chewed it in her mouth. After a while, she answered him:

“Although the statements in the Holy Scriptures are not necessarily objective, the power contained in various ‘spirits’ is indeed the foundation of the extraordinary world.

"From a practical perspective, although different beliefs and sects have different views on 'spirits' and methods of using the power they contain, in theory and in practice, they are more or less logically self-consistent and can produce certain practical effects.

"To be more precise, at least some of the content must produce actual effects, good or bad, so that different 'beliefs' can gradually emerge and spread.

"I don't know much about voodoo beliefs, but since it can be widely spread among certain groups of people, then in a sense, it is probably effective. As for whether it is the reason for extraordinary power, I don't know."

Wayne thought about it again, "I wonder if a wild Beyonder can determine his own 'territory'?"

Inissa was busy cutting meat:

"The different powers in each realm usually have some common characteristics that can be used to assist in confirmation. For example, the 'holy' realm where the Holy Spirit resides has the characteristic of naturally rejecting the extraordinary powers in all other realms. This is the factual basis for the Holy Spirit believers to firmly believe that the Holy Spirit is the 'only true God'.

“So, if you observe which field’s characteristics your power best matches, you can roughly determine which field you are in.

"As for 100% confirmation, we can only conduct comparative tests by consuming the spiritual energy of other realms. For example, if after consuming the power of the 'Darkness' realm, one falls into madness or collapses directly, then that realm should be adjacent to it, or not far away."

Wayne smacked his lips. "Is there no 100% safe way?"

“Unless you identify the source at the beginning and then learn to avoid the negative impact, there is no way.”

Inessa raised her head and looked at Wayne:

“This is one of the reasons why Extraordinary People, especially wild Extraordinary People, have long been regarded by the church and people as ‘possessed by evil spirits’ and ‘degenerates’—prone to falling into madness and death due to various circumstances.

"Before the rise of the Holy See in the Old World, the term 'fallen' actually only referred to those extraordinary people who had lost their minds or were out of control."

Forehead……

Are there any negative effects?