Struggle in the Steam Age

Just when Lawrence walked cautiously to the door of the stairwell, he heard the voice from the stairwell again, because the distance was closer than before, so he could clearly hear the sound from the stairwell this time. What.

"Help... help." A young girl's voice came through the wooden door in the stairwell. This lifted Lawrence's spirits, and many things that he had seen in his previous life immediately appeared in his mind. For example, XXXX, XXX, XXX and so on, a series of things that may be harmonized as long as they are spoken out.

But thinking of the ghost Lawrence found here just now, he immediately became vigilant, and then he kicked open the door and pointed a pistol inside. The dust fell, and Lawrence found that there was nothing in the stairwell, only a thick layer of dust on the floor.

"Huh?" Looking at the transparent stairwell in front of him, Lawrence frowned. Obviously the sound I heard just now came from here, but why is there nothing here now.

"Help!" Lawrence searched the stairwell and found nothing. Just when he thought he might be hallucinating, another weak voice came out.

Lawrence's fully strengthened body after awakening immediately recognized the location of the sound: under the wooden board under his feet, and the sound was very indistinct due to the blocking of the floor. If he hadn't gotten into this narrow stairwell, he wouldn't have been able to determine the exact location of the sound.

"Floor?" Lawrence looked down at the dusty floor, then brushed the dust away with his feet. Unlike the brick floor just now, the ground here is a complete wooden floor.

"I swear that I will bring a crowbar next time. Damn it, I have read so many novels and movies about adventure in my previous life, why no one said that this thing must be brought." Use the utility knife to pry the floor along the seams of the planks.

Fortunately, after prying open a floor, Lawrence found a touch of iron gray under the wooden floor. And when the wooden floor was removed, it was much less difficult to pry the other floors open.

What is even more fortunate is that the wooden floor is not laid directly on the ground, but is slightly higher by the shelf. So the gap under the board was just enough for Lawrence to pry all the other boards open.

When all the boards were stacked to the corner, an iron board with an iron ring appeared in front of him. Lawrence tried to pull the iron ring, but unexpectedly, the whole iron plate was lifted up like this.

After the iron plate was removed, a dark cellar appeared before the eyes. At the same time a gust of fresh air blew out from the tunnel, proving that the cellar below had an adequate ventilation system.

"Who built this?" Lawrence frowned. Before he came, he had read all the information about this place from the Church of Knowledge, including even the structural diagram of the building. But none of these materials mentioned the basement under the stairwell.

At this moment, there was another cry for help from the underground, and Lawrence heard clearly that the person who called for help seemed to be a little out of breath. He knew that if someone was really in danger, if he hesitated, that person would definitely be in danger.

Thinking of this, he took out two bottles, one large and one small, from his arms, and then poured the tender green powder in the small bottle into the transparent liquid in the large bottle.

After screwing on the cap of the large bottle and shaking it vigorously, a fluorescent green luminescence appeared in the large bottle. Then Lawrence walked into the tunnel holding the big bottle about the size of a light bulb.

Surprisingly, the tunnel was not deep, and he reached the bottom floor after only going down one floor or so. What then appeared in front of him was an underground space of at least two hundred square meters.

To be precise, this is just a hastily dug basement, with rough planks supporting the walls and roof. Many small mushrooms emerged from all corners of this basement. Because the locality is by the sea, the groundwater level is also high. Therefore, although there is no water on the ground, this house still gives people the feeling of being in a sauna.

It may be that they heard someone walking into this basement, and the caller made another call for help. Following the sound, Lawrence raised the glowing bottle in his hand and looked up, and then he saw the caller.

To be precise, this is a ratman who was hung upside down from the ceiling with one foot tied by a shiny metal rope. It's just that unlike the gray-black hair of ordinary ratmen, the hair of this ratman is a fiery red color.

A ratman is a small, rodent-like humanoid creature, usually only 1.2 meters tall, about the size of a child of six or seven years old. And it looks much cuter than a mouse, more like a mouse in those animations.

They generally have a better relationship with humans, tend to get along well with humans, and often establish rat communities in the sewers, dark alleys, and shadows of human cities.

Historically, they originated from the underground areas of dry deserts and plains, but now they are a highly urbanized race. Most of them live in human cities, mainly engaged in commerce and handicrafts, and things like cleaning sewers. Classes are appropriate for their work. For example, Lawrence knew that one of the partners in the logistics department of the Church of Knowledge had a Rat Race merchant.

"Hey, friend of the Rat Tribe, what's the matter with you?" Even though he recognized the other party's race, Lawrence still looked at the Rat Man hanging on the roof with some vigilance. After all, this place is related to a cult. I hope I get caught by accident.

"Thank goodness, someone finally came to save me—" the Rat Man who was hung upside down made a sound of relief at this moment, and then explained. "Didn't I just see the group of gang members running out of this place, so I wanted to take this opportunity to come in and find something. I didn't expect to dig a hole here and found something. When I reached out to get it, I was caught by this trap. .”

It was only at this time that Lawrence noticed that below it was a small altar of about half a meter made of granite. Dozens of opals were inlaid on the altar, and in the center of the altar was a statue of a six-armed snake man the size of a calf. There were five or six pieces of rough gold and silver ornaments in front of the statue. It seemed that the Ratman fell into a trap when he took these ornaments.

Sure enough, this has something to do with the demonized snake man, Lawrence thought while looking at the six-armed snake man statue on the altar, and then he turned his head to look at the hanging female rat man: "By the way, I remember that you rat men are very flexible, Why are you trapped by this little noose?"

"Don't mention it." The voice of the rat lady revealed helplessness. "I dislocated my knee when I was being pulled up by this thing, and I couldn't get up and get out of the noose. I think if no one rescued me, I might have to break my leg to escape."

"Then how can I help you?" Lawrence asked, "Break that noose on your leg by magic?"

"Don't!" The Ratman stopped Lawrence quickly. "I don't know who added demon-hating metal to this noose, but I used a flame ray to hit it. Not only did it have no effect at all, but the hair on my legs almost ignited when the noose warmed up. "

As soon as Lawrence heard about Demon-hating Metal, he knew that there was nothing to do with pistols or magic missiles, but he quickly thought of another way.

"Wait for me, I'll go out and get something and I'll save you." After speaking, Lawrence ran out of the basement.