The Master of the Strange Realm

“What do I need to do to get to the next level?”

he asked.

"It's simple. The door to the next level is in the magma below."

Although Jenkins is not yet able to physically enter the magma without being injured, if he just enters the magma to find a door, he has many ways. It's just that now is just the first strange situation, and he must pass it at the minimum cost.

"So I'm going into lava?"

The human-faced mechanical snake is definitely not the original host of the treacherous place. The difference machine occupies this treacherous place, and it is impossible for Jenkins to pass through it so easily. It may not have enough power to change the rules of a treacherous place, so the treacherous places it chooses must be dangerous and unusual.

"Of course not. Do you think the magma below is ordinary magma? The purpose of the strange environment is not to let the intruder die directly, so you don't need to jump directly."

As he spoke, the human-faced snake chuckled. This sound gave Jenkins goosebumps. If this was not a strange place, he would definitely kill the opponent with his sword.

Chapter 2106 Chapter 2075 The Dying Miner (Additional Update 3/10)

"What you have to do is choose the right person to help you find the location of that door."

The tip of the tail in the balled-up body is erect and points upward. Only then did Jenkins remember to look up.

As far as the eye can see, the end of the cave can be seen. Above is a dark rock, with brass-colored metal cocoons hanging under the rock. The airflow gushing from the magma sea below caused the cocoons hanging by the chains to sway constantly, and it looked like they were about to fall down the next moment.

The number of fusiform metal cocoons exceeded three digits, and Jenkins was not in the mood to count the specific number.

"Savior, the rules are very simple. You have three chances to choose three metal cocoons and convince the creatures inside to enter the magma to help you find the door out of here."

The human-faced mechanical snake watched Jenkins spit out the letter, and the tip of its tail swayed slightly, which was like the movement of a rattlesnake:

"There are creatures in every metal cocoon, I can guarantee this. They have the ability to move in magma, but whether they will help you or not depends on you."

"In other words, just find the door?"

Jenkins asked.

"Yeah, just find the door..."

Before it could finish speaking, Jenkins jumped directly from the boulder to the bottom. In ordinary treacherous situations, it is correct to follow the rules, but in the treacherous situation of the Difference Engine, following the rules will only lead to faster death.

"Ningbing."

As he fell, cold air spread out around him, and by the time he reached the upper level of the magma, he had even turned into falling white frost flowers.

This frost flower fell on the magma, and under the contact of hot and cold, white steam mist immediately surged upward, making even the human-faced snake with its head downwards unable to see what was happening at the bottom.

"Oh, I'm so impulsive~"

The snake retracted its body after spitting out the letter, and waited for a few seconds with a weird smile on its face. Sure enough, it saw Jenkins sitting on a high stool and flying back as if running for his life.

Behind him, a big black hand stretched out from the bottom of the magma, and then grasped the raised rock. When his hand retracted, it took away one-third of the volume of the rock, and Jenkins landed back.

"You were too impulsive. I didn't have time to tell you that there are some crazy demons living in the magma. Only creatures in metal cocoons will not provoke their attacks."

By now, Jenkins has understood the general information of this strange situation. First of all, this place was supposed to be part of the [Lava Hell], but it was stripped off to form space debris, and this strange situation was created. And according to the requirements of the Fate Defying Ritual, there is a high possibility that this corresponds to [Twin Demons].

But since he is a "fate rebel", he must disobey the fate of the "Twin Demons". Jenkins doesn't know how to do this.

He had just used the [Ice Condensation] ability once. Although he did not successfully enter the magma, at least the cooling of the ice had created a cooling rock area below where he could stay. This operation is not a complete failure, at least it doesn't seem to be a complete failure now.

"Then, choose a metal cocoon...or, you can jump into the lava again."

The human-faced snake said.

Jenkins snorted, glanced upward, and pointed to the one directly above the big rock:

"Choose this."

The sound of chains sliding sounded from high in the sky, and the pulled metal cocoon fell with the brass chains. It landed heavily on the rock, but fortunately it was a "soft landing", otherwise Jenkins would have been worried that the big rock under his feet would completely fall downwards.

Seeing that the human-headed snake made no move, Jenkins called out his sword and forcefully split open the shell of the metal cocoon. Immediately, thick black mist poured out from it, and Jenkins smelled a familiar smell. This smell was clearly the unique "urban smell" formed by Nolan City due to long-term polluting factory exhaust emissions.

He held his nose and backed away, and saw crawling out of the metal cocoon in the black mist. He was a skinny middle-aged human with a bare upper body, wearing a miner's hat, and holding a mining pick in his left hand. His upper body was smeared with black soot, and his lower body was wearing black trousers. The legs of the trousers seemed to be worn. There were two or three patches on the trousers, which were also stained by soot.

The man was dying and climbed out of the metal cocoon. Jenkins looked at his appearance and immediately stepped forward to check his physical condition.

This man was only one step away from death, but he couldn't die. Jenkins guessed that the strange environment fixed his life state and prevented him from falling on the edge of death.

"No, it doesn't seem like a living person...is this a spirit body?"

"Help...help me."

The hoarse voice asked Jenkins for help. The miner also used the lingua franca of the 18th-century Fidicli Kingdom, but judging from the accent, it was not someone from the Norland region in the west of the kingdom, but more like an accent from the mountains further north.

"Who are you? Do you remember how you got here?"

He lifted the miner up and leaned against the dissected metal cocoon.

"Remember."

The miner nodded weakly:

"There was a mining accident and we all died. My soul kept flying, and then I came here and was caught in a cocoon by... something terrible. Yes, oh, the devil, that's the devil !”

His voice suddenly became louder, and he almost stood up with his face raised, but after speaking, he shrank into a ball again, and his body kept twitching, which was a sign of extreme fear.

"The soul after death is captured by the devil..."

Jenkins thought to himself, then asked:

"I would like to ask, which god do you believe in?"

The miner did not answer, but looked at Jenkins with a hint of fear, huddled up and lowered his head.

Because he was familiar with Mr. Augustus, Jenkins also understood the "normal procedures" after death for mortals in the material world. Except for a few special circumstances, the essential core of the deceased's soul will enter the world of the master [ancient god of death] and continue on, while most of the soul will remain in the material world.

The miner in front of him is a complete soul. Thinking about it, there is definitely something wrong with the belief that he dare not say. It is either evil gods or those messy evil things, which is why the soul is captured by the devil after death.

"I probably understand, so do you have the ability to go deep into magma?"

"Yes, but that will burn my soul... Sir, please..."

He begged and tried to grab Jenkins' legs, but Jenkins took a step back without leaving any trace. Looking at the human-faced mechanical snake, the latter still maintained that terrifying smile.

"So, I have found someone who can help me find the door, right?"

"You can let him try. He claims to be capable. How do I know if what he says is a lie?"

The human-faced snake stresses the word "lie," which Jenkins thinks is ironic.

Chapter 2107 Chapter 2076 The Second Soul (Additional Update 4/10)

What the miner said was indeed true, but the magma sea below was too big, and there was also a sleeping crazy demon. Even if you had the ability to swim inside, it's hard to say whether you would actually be able to find the door. Therefore, the safest way is to find three creatures in a row that can move in magma, which will give you a greater chance of winning.

There's just one problem, the miner says that operating in magma will burn his soul...

"How did you get the ability to move in lava?"

Jenkins continued to ask the miner, who sobbed and said:

"It was those demons who captured me and wanted to cultivate my soul as bait, so they gave me those disgusting powers."

He covered his face with his soot-stained hands, as if he didn't want to recall those terrible things.

Jenkins stared at him for a while:

"So were you an ordinary person before you died?"

This time the miner stopped talking and continued to cover his face and sob. Jenkins knew he had a problem, squinted his eyes and called out his monocle, observed the man in front of him more carefully, and then said to him:

"Then, can you let your other face talk to me?"

The miner's twitching movements immediately stopped, and a few seconds later, his head rotated 180 degrees on his neck, facing Jenkins with the back of his head.

On the back of the head with short brown hair, there is a human face. The eyes of the human face were not the gray eyes of the miners, but blood red.

"Sure enough, although your death was due to a mining accident, it shouldn't be that simple. In the material world, you should have gained power from some terrible existence, but you also died because of those powers. Interesting, really interesting. "

The last words were spoken to the human-faced mechanical snake:

"It's really not easy for you to take such pains to find such a person."

"No, I didn't ask for this."

The voice of the human-faced snake is particularly gentle:

"My master didn't even ask for it. He was originally here, waiting for the one who chose him."

Jenkins paid no attention to the snake, but concentrated on observing the face that appeared on the back of the miner's head. The miner in front of him was a soul, and when the face on the back of his head appeared, it was still his original soul. This shows that the soul of the miner is a rare "double body", with one soul carrying two consciousnesses.

The soul form is rarely able to disguise itself, especially in front of Jenkins' eyes. I just don’t know whether this special soul is born like this or has been transformed by extraordinary power.

"and who are you?"

He asked the face on the back of his head:

"Me? I'm not that wimpy guy who likes to cry."

Face said, his voice was exactly the same as that of the miner:

"Whatever you think of me. I know you want us to burn our souls and enter the lava where the crazy demons are sleeping. We can't disobey you, but maybe we can make a deal. Do you..."

But seeing the sword in Jenkins' hand, he shut up.

"It's amazing, twin demons in another sense."

He said, and took another step back, looking at the curled miner vigilantly, while casually pointing his finger diagonally upward:

"The second one, I choose this one."

With the sound of the chain clattering, the second metal cocoon landed at the same level as the big rock, but it was not above the big rock, but suspended above the magma sea.

Seeing that the human-faced snake did not move, Jenkins could only sit on the bench and fly over, cut the chain and take down the metal cocoon. After cutting it open, a black smoke with a strong "Nolan flavor" came out, and then a man in a dirty conductor uniform crawled out of the metal cocoon.

With the experience of the first time, Jenkins put on a monocle to observe the other party this time, then pinched the other party's neck and pressed him against the seemingly soft but extremely strong metal cocoon. Black smoke came out from the contact point between the two:

"Don't play tricks on me, let the face behind you speak."

Just like before, the conductor's head rotated 180 degrees on his neck, and a strange human face appeared behind the thick red short hair.

"How did you die?"

"Train accident, oh, for God's sake, please let me go before talking."

It was also the common language of the Eighteenth Century, and this time even the characteristics of Nolan's accent could be distinguished.

"You still believe in God?"

Jenkins sneered, threw him back to the ground, and then looked at the human-faced snake:

"You really took great pains."

"I emphasize again that my master and I are not yet able to interfere with the main body of the strange world. Moreover, the souls of these sinners were not obtained by us."

"So, you want me to believe that the two people I picked at random are just modern people, and both have signs of soul splitting?"

The human-faced snake kept smiling and did not answer, but the coiled mechanical body squirmed, and the sound of metal scraping against the ground was particularly annoying.

"Then do you have the ability to enter the magma to move?"

Jenkins asked the second conductor who appeared again. The latter also huddled up, and the face on the back of his head answered:

"But that would sacrifice my soul, oh, a kind person like you..."

The sword light swept across its head, cutting a bunch of hair while leaving another obvious cut on the metal cocoon behind it. It then changed its words:

"You probably guessed that I ended up like this because I believed in the indescribable things in the void. But did I do it voluntarily? My mother was seriously ill, and the train I was in charge of happened to be in winter, and encountered extraordinary people, avalanches and a series of terrifying things in succession. Although that experience was incomplete due to unknown reasons, it was really terrible... If I don't offer my loyalty to those terrible beings, not only my mother who gave birth to me and raised me, but also my wife who has lung disease and my daughter who is selling flowers on the street will starve to death or die of illness..."

It sounds like it is trying to gain sympathy, but it is actually the truth.

"What made me get to this point now, what made me become this demonic appearance, is not my own desire at all, but life forcing me. Kind man, are you going to force me too?"

He turned his head back halfway through, and the second half of his own experience was told by the conductor's own face. The conductor is in a similar situation to the miner just now. A better way to say it is "two-in-one", two different beings using one soul. The unpleasant way to put it is "soul splitting", where the same soul is split into two interrelated but different consciousnesses.

Section 2108 Chapter 2077 The Approaching Truth (Additional Update 5/10)

"What about you? What happened to you in your lifetime?"