The Master of the Strange Realm

He compared the hair of the girls he knew horizontally in his mind, and still thought that Miss Audrey's hair was the most beautiful, but Miss Michael's blonde hair looked the smoothest.

"But Chocolate's hair feels the most comfortable."

He concluded in his mind, touched Chocolate who was licking his paw, and began to guess where Miss Audrey was going to take him.

The carriage took the two to a not very spacious shopping street. The moonlight had already shone through the sky, and there were no pedestrians on the street. Judging from the signs on both sides, the surroundings should be shops selling metal parts and mechanical parts.

The two walked forward along the street one after the other. When they came to the next intersection, Miss Audrey raised her head and looked around, then took Jenkins to another wider street, passed the Rich Club, dessert shop, bookstore and ready-made clothing store at the intersection, and then turned into a small alley on the side.

The alley was surrounded by high walls on both sides. Its existence should be to connect two different neighborhoods.

"It's here... Can you give me some light?"

"Oh, yes, please wait."

Under the command of Miss Audrey, he slid the starlight ball close to the ground. The two soon saw a rusty manhole cover. Because it was covered with dust, it almost merged with the ground next to it. If Jenkins hadn't stepped on it, they would probably have to look for a long time.

"This is it. Last time I went down through another way, so I'm not sure about the exact location. Let's go."

Miss Audrey didn't let Jenkins open the heavy manhole cover, but squatted down, rolled up her sleeves, and drew a circle on the dust of the manhole cover with her white jade fingers. She asked Jenkins to step back at that time, and then whispered the spell. With a dull sound, a hole was opened on the surface of the manhole cover.

There was a ladder embedded in the wall of the well below, which looked very unsafe. The two climbed down one after the other, and then walked forward along the intricate sewer pipes under the illumination of the starlight ball.

The smell here is not very strong, even lighter than the smell of the sewer in the black market. The sewer is also very spacious, without disgusting garbage, but there are some disgusting green mosses on the pipe wall, and from time to time there will be rats jumping out of the darkness to scare people.

These rats are quite large, and I don’t know how they find food sources in such an environment.

He glanced at Chocolate on his shoulder under the dim light of two light balls in the distance. This cat has never been interested in mice. The last time in the warehouse of Dad’s antique shop, he watched the mouse rushing past him without any reaction.

"Are you really a cat?"

He joked in a low voice, and Chocolate opened one eye, and the amber eyes seemed to glow in the dark:

"Meow~"

After walking in the sewer for more than ten minutes, the complex underground sewer system gradually made Jenkins lose his way. Only Miss Audrey kept muttering, as if she was looking for something in a special way.

They soon walked into a pipe with no forks. After a few minutes of going deep into the darkness, the front was already the end.

But what the starlight ball illuminated was not a smooth pipe wall or an uneven wall, but a metal machine embedded in the soil.

Its surface showed a metallic luster mixed with copper and silver, but it was not smooth. Instead, it was covered with small thorns as if it had not been polished.

The fuselage was one person tall and perfectly integrated with the surrounding soil. In the soil layer next to the fuselage, some rusty pipes were exposed, like plant roots, interspersed everywhere, and some hot steam would occasionally burst out.

This does not look like a product of this era at all. Whether it is based on appearance or artistic style, it looks like a weird machine that can only be born under some more crazy steam science civilization.

"Yes, that's it!"

Miss Audrey held Jenkins's other shoulder and asked him to wait for a moment, her voice low and steady:

"B-08-02-8214, a vending machine for equivalent exchange."

"Um, special items?"

Jenkins asked in surprise, blinking his eyes, the surface of the machine with a strange industrial aesthetic was indeed mixed with extremely complex auras.

"The appearance of this machine originated from a failed strange operation in the 15th era. This can only be found in the oldest data room of the [Church of Creation and Mechanics]. Its location is not fixed, and it is impossible to find the time pattern of its movement, but the location where it appears is usually in those corners of the city that are not easily noticed by humans. As for its function, do you see the drawer-like structure at the bottom of the machine?"

Chapter 553 Chapter 544 Inspiration Divination (3/10)

In the dark sewer pipe, the ancient machine on the wall is actually not far away from Jenkins and Miss Audrey. But it is not easy to distinguish the structure of the machine that is full of pipes and still leaking steam. Jenkins squinted his eyes and stretched his neck to look for a long time, and finally saw the specific location under the guidance of Miss Audrey.

"Any user puts an inactive item into the machine through that structure, and then pulls the handle on the right side of the machine - in very rare cases, on the left side, then the machine will process and react, and give the user an item of equal value."

Seeing that Jenkins was curious and wanted to ask, she added:

"The so-called equivalent value, when measuring the value of the object put in, is based on the actual value of the object to the user, while the output is based on the value of the inner cognition of the person who turns the handle. I think you should understand what I mean."

"Of course!"

Jenkins answered quickly, and then looked up at the machine in the distance:

"This is really interesting, no, I mean it's incredible. The B-class extraordinary I have seen in the past does not have such complex functions."

"But pay attention, its danger number is 02. After all, the input is limited to non-living things, but the output substance is possible. In the past history, there have been many cases of abuse of B-08-02-8214. I think we all don't want poisonous gas or other terrible things to come out of the machine."

"Yes, I will be vigilant."

B-08-02-8214 usually stays in the same place for no more than three days, and Miss Audrey discovered it the day before yesterday. Therefore, there is no need to inform the local church about this matter, after all, it will soon disappear.

The reason why Jenkins was brought here is to predict the output and let Jenkins have the "inspiration" of divination. In other words, Miss Audrey hopes that Jenkins can predict the future by relying solely on his own inspiration, just like the oldest gifters.

According to her, this is a very effective and solemn way of divination enlightenment, and it is the final stage for orthodox fortune-tellers to get started. And with the help of the power of Class B supernatural, it can stimulate supernatural inspiration.

The pile of rags collected by Jenkins in advance is the items that will be put into the machine in a while. The church has conducted unrigorous tests during its short appearance time. The items on Miss Audrey's list are all items that have never had problems during the test.

Although this is very unrigorous, after all, Jenkins' ideas are different from those of the testers, but it is better than putting in completely unknown items.

After explaining this, the two of them approached together. It seems that the metal color on the surface of the machine can sense the approach of humans, and even the metal pipes exposed outside can be observed to be pulsating.

The beauty it possesses is difficult for humans of this era to describe. Even Jenkins couldn't find a suitable adjective. It showed a primitive and rough mechanical image, but it also had a very orderly arrangement and appearance. The primitive chaos and mechanical order mixed together, and the resulting impression would surely drive painters who pursue art crazy.

"We can take our time, don't rush."

The woman said softly, grabbing the half red brick contributed by Dad's warehouse from the cardboard box held by Jenkins.

She bent down slightly, pulled open the drawer at the bottom of the machine with a harsh friction sound, put the red brick in and pushed it back up.

She signaled Jenkins to step back, then took a deep breath and pulled down the pull rod covered with small iron spikes.

Boom~ Boom~ Boom~

The huge metal collision sound came from the wall behind the machine, making people wonder how big its volume hidden in the soil was. It was like a huge impact machine tool working, and the sound kept echoing in the narrow underground pipes.

"I hope it won't attract anything strange."

Jenkins whispered.

The light flowed on the surface of the machine, and at the same time, from top to bottom, a row of pale yellow runes lit up on the front of the machine. The pipes were swallowing and spitting steam at an exaggerated amplitude, and the rumbling sound was endless. Miss Audrey suddenly pulled Jenkins back a step, and then white hot steam gushed out from the gap of the machine, almost wrapping up the two people and the cat.

Jenkins, holding his pocket watch, confirmed that this complicated manufacturing process took one minute and twelve seconds. After all the abnormalities disappeared, Miss Audrey nodded:

"Okay, then Jenkins, please tell me, what will be manufactured?"

"Okay, I'll try it."

He knew that the first attempt would definitely not be correct. After all, even the oldest fortune-tellers could not know the past, present and future by inspiration. But this will be a meaningful start, Jenkins firmly believes in this.

"Well... I guess, ahem, I mean, I think the item exchanged for equivalent value will be a ball of wool!"

This is a casual remark.

As he said that, he walked forward at Miss Audrey's signal and reopened the drawer at the bottom of the machine. The iron handle was slightly hot, perhaps because the machine had just run at high power.

"Oh, no, I guessed wrong."

Although he said so, there was no regret on his face.

B-08-02-8214 produced half a loaf of black bread, which was mixed with sawdust and sand, the kind of delicious food on the tables of poor people. Its hardness was not necessarily less than the red brick just now, and there was a clear human tooth bite mark on one side of the black bread. In Jenkins' opinion, its value was indeed about the same as that of the red brick.

"It doesn't matter. If it succeeds at once, that would be surprising."

Miss Audrey said softly, and then let Jenkins pick the sundries and put them into B-08-02-8214.

He searched in the cardboard box for a while and pulled out the newspaper with a black footprint. Judging from the date, this was last Saturday's morning newspaper, and the footprint happened to be printed on the face of the congressman on the front page.

Following Miss Audrey's example, she put the newspaper into the drawer, then pulled the lever and pushed it aside.

"Close your eyes and concentrate. You must know that even ordinary people may have a premonition of things that cannot be seen under certain special circumstances. As gifters, our inspiration should be stronger. You can try your best You can also completely let go of your imagination, these are extremely effective methods.”

Miss Audrey suggested from the side.

Chapter 554 Chapter 545 Learning Disabilities (4/10)

Listening to Miss Audrey's instructions, Jenkins nodded slightly. He closed his eyes and felt the spirit flowing through his body and infiltrating his soul. The brief disappearance of vision meant that other senses were strengthened. He could feel the faint and regular breathing of the chocolate on his shoulders, and could feel Miss Audrey. His eyes were resting on his body, and he could feel a slight heat coming from the direction of the machine.

"What could it be?"

The body took on the most relaxed posture, allowing the spirit to break through the shackles of the body and briefly communicate with the world... But the above was just an imagination. Jenkins felt nothing, and he began to doubt whether he had the talent for divination.

"Hmm~"

He closed his eyes for a little too long, and he thought it was best to give the answer as soon as possible:

"Then the newspaper is equivalent to a rag!"

Of course, Jenkins once again gave the wrong answer. What was taken out of the machine was a smooth pebble, the most common kind on river beaches.

"Okay, don't worry, we can take our time."

Although he maintained great interest in this matter at the beginning, after more than a dozen consecutive failures, Jenkins could not help but feel a little frustrated.

During the use of B-08-02-8214, some interesting things also happened.

Although for safety reasons, they did not try to put dangerous items into the machine. But even if everything was done for safety, after trying to put in a completely blank paper, what came out of the machine was a silver-colored metal beetle that could crawl freely.

Jenkins was certain that it was made of metal and had a mind of its own. This thing is very dangerous, as it can spray hot red liquid from its tail.

But fortunately, Miss Audrey reacted in time, started the machine as quickly as possible, and exchanged the beetle for a sock with a hole, and the two of them breathed a sigh of relief.

Regarding the usage of B-08-02-8214, Jenkins actually has many wonderful ideas. For example, he wanted to know if the machine was started without putting anything in it, would the default exchange item be "nothing" or the air in the drawer.

But Miss Audrey warns Jenkins not to do this because he is not the first person to think of it. The last brave man who really verified this idea found that half of his internal organs had been transferred to the machine after pulling the lever.

This gave Jenkins once again a deep understanding of "Danger Level 2".

"So, if we put many spiritual materials into it, is it possible to create a new special item?"

"But it is also possible that a monster containing a huge spirit and capable of using extraordinary power will be born."

Miss Audrey seemed to think Jenkins' idea was too dangerous, so she announced the end of today's lesson before he even tried throwing the chocolate tail hair into the machine.

Although Jenkins never succeeded once, this is quite normal. Miss Audrey planned to continue this kind of thing for a month. Of course, she would not use this machine again next time. She believes that if the situation is optimistic, Jenkins will hopefully be able to make a real divination before the end of the year.

When the two left, B-08-02-8214 was still far away, but according to Miss Audrey, it should disappear within two hours. She used spells and simple rituals to create a "shadow screen" that prevented anyone observing from three feet away from seeing B-08-02-8214. This was considered a relatively cautious security measure.

The two separated after returning to the ground from the sewer. Miss Audrey proposed to take Jenkins back to the church, but this alley was not far from the church, so Jenkins politely declined her proposal.

Watching Miss Audrey disappear at the corner of the street, Jenkins looked up at the normal double moon tonight, and then quickly left here with the chocolate.

He did not return to the church immediately, but found a more remote alley nearby. There are some brand new street lamp poles stacked against the wall in the middle of the alley, which are to be installed on the avenue outside, and there is a large garbage dump on the other side. Although the small area in the middle is a bit smelly, it is an absolute blind spot.

Letting Chocolate go to the entrance of the alley to look out, Jenkins squatted on the small piece of flat ground and took out the notebook hidden in the inner pocket of his coat, which contained the tuft of hair he had obtained last night.

He didn't know if vampires could also suffer from human diseases, but he was just trying it anyway, and even if it failed, it would just be a waste of materials.

The cursed disease this time was still the cold that Jenkins was most familiar with. After completing the ritual, he dug out an empty can from the trash, put the stone wrapped with hair in it, and then buried it deeply in the trash.

That's it. If it works, it's a blessing from the sage. If nothing happens, then wait patiently for the mirror to appear again next time.

(Playing with chocolate...)

Although the prototype of the weekend rest system has emerged in this era, in fact only a very small number of people can enjoy two days of vacation per week, and therefore, not many people look forward to Friday.

When I returned to the church last night, I noticed that the weather was very gloomy. When I woke up early on Friday morning, I saw that the church courtyard was covered with a thick layer of snow.

When we set off from the church to Dad's Antique Shop, there was still light snow falling in the sky, but when we arrived at the intersection where the Fifth Queen arrived, the snowflakes in the sky were already as big as goose feathers.

He was boredly thinking about what he had to do recently, and suddenly realized that the meeting time of the "paranormal incident mutual aid group" mentioned by Mr. Nellie was tonight.

"Now that it is confirmed that the omniscient mirror is in the hands of a vampire, there is no need..."

He was thinking in his mind that he had not yet made up his mind whether he should join in the fun at night.

Because of the bad weather, no customers visited the antique store all morning. Dad had long been accustomed to the leisure of winter, so he just sat in front of the fireplace with a newspaper in his hand all morning, having boring conversations with Jenkins, and complaining about every piece of news in the newspaper.

The front page headline of "Nolan Daily" this morning reported the serial killings that occurred in Green Town, a subsidiary of Nolan City, earlier last week. Dad took this news very seriously, and he told Jenkins with certainty that the cause of this incident was the appearance of a [Killing Mark] holder in Green Town.

Chapter 555 Chapter 546 Hemolytic Toxin (5/10)

"Killing mark?"

"Even to show your surprise, I don't think there is any need for you to repeat what I said."

Dad said while reading the newspaper.