The Master of the Strange Realm

"Can I leave once I find the firewood?"

he asked.

The skull clicked, and as the finger bones shook, more letters appeared in a row:

[The door is in the darkness around us, but it can only appear when it is illuminated by this flame. Don't try to move the flame, you can only make the flame burn more intensely and cover a wider area. 】

The only area covered by the bone bonfire now is this open space, and the surrounding tombstones are actually unable to touch the light at all.

"Okay then, where should I find firewood?"

【In the land. 】

"I'm going to dig up bones?"

[Yes, exhume the body, remove enough bones on this table, and burn the bones to make the flames more intense. Of course, you can also choose to burn your own bones. This fire is not picky. 】

Jenkins thought for a while, but did not use [Reading and Writing] or [World Tree Seedling] to create human bones. Obviously the bones are just an appearance, and what is really burned is the soul attached to the bones. His eyes could clearly see the truth of the fire, and even if he couldn't see it, he didn't think that simple bones could ignite such a strange flame.

After waiting for a while, seeing that the robed skeleton had no further prompts, Jenkins temporarily put down the metal cocoon in his hand, picked up his backpack and prepared to walk into the darkness. But after he took a few steps, he stopped again, turned around and asked:

"What happens if I don't find enough firewood for a long time?"

He raised his phalanges and shook them a few times:

[The flame goes out and everything returns to darkness. 】

The soil here is moist enough that the ground can be easily dug even by hand. But Jenkins didn't do it right away. Instead, he planned to check some of the tombstones first.

The tombstones stand crookedly in clusters, with no pattern to be found, and no two styles are the same. Some are gray stone products, and a few are in the style of wooden crosses. There are written descriptions on each one, but because the surface of most tombstones is severely weathered, and some are even half-remained, it is very difficult to identify them.

But Jenkins is at least certain that all the words that appear on the tombstones are in modern and contemporary common script. He could determine the age when the tombstone was made based on the way the letters were written and the grammatical features. The oldest one was only more than a hundred years old.

He didn't dare to set foot further away from the campfire, so he simply checked the circle around the edge of the clearing. After confirming that there were no more clues, he casually pulled out the wooden tombstone closest to him, intending to use it as a shovel to dig soil.

But unexpectedly, as the crooked cross tombstone inserted in the soil was "uprooted", a rotten human hand also stretched out from under the original position of the tombstone.

Jenkins immediately stepped back, then watched as his other hand reached out into the dirt as well. Both hands pressed hard on the soil surface at the same time, and then, the rotten human head finally pushed through the mud layer and poked out of the ground.

It did not move its entire body away from the soil, but kept its hands and head poking out, looking straight at the tombstone in Jenkins' hand.

The wooden tombstone in my hand is even more difficult to preserve. There is almost no useful information on it. I can only barely tell that the owner of the tombstone died in 1853. If the time is correct, then it is 13 years before the current time of 1866 in the material world. .

"If you want this, I can give it back to you."

Jenkins shook the large cross he held in one hand.

"I don't want this, this isn't mine either. I want meat."

"Meat?"

"There is a lot of meat down there. Help me find the body and remove the meat from the stone table. When you have found enough, I will tell you the location of the door."

He immediately raised his eyebrows and stood on tiptoes to look at the cloaked man who was still sitting by the campfire:

"There is another person over there who wants bones. He can also help me find a way out. So can you tell me what your relationship is?"

As he spoke, he approached the head and blinked again to look at his hands and the bottom of the head. Sure enough, there were traces of the body below, proving that the opponent didn't just have hands and head, but the black aura reaction didn't seem to have anything to do with metal. In other words, this rotting human head may not have been affected by the power of the Difference Engine.

There are two ways to leave a strange place, which is also possible. And there are not necessarily two ways to leave now. Maybe deciding who to help is itself part of the rules of this strange situation.

"We are competing. There is meat but no bones; there are bones but no meat. One person can only have one kind. We can't do it ourselves. This is the rule."

The head struggled to explain. His voice was extremely hoarse, and his common language was not very standard. He looked like a man with a big tongue trying to practice tongue twisters.

"So, you all actually want souls?"

This is Jenkins' understanding.

"It can be said like this."

So he got it right.

Chapter 2116 Chapter 2085 The Fuel of Civilization

Jenkins nodded. He probably understood the current situation, but he still had to see a corpse first to answer other questions.

He removed the wooden cross in his hand, used the thicker one as a shovel, and started digging in the soil under his feet. It took him less than ten minutes to dig up the body in a place similar to a mass grave, and it took him a lot of effort to dig out the body completely.

Although it was said to be a corpse, and it was dug out from the soil and covered with a white cloth, the corpse looked like a living person sleeping. Jenkins also specifically tested the body temperature and breathing of the male corpse, confirming that although there were no wounds or decay on the outside, it was indeed a corpse.

He hadn't decided who to help, so he silently pulled the body to the obsidian stone table opposite the bonfire.

Standing next to the stone table, I first felt like I was standing next to an operating table, but then I immediately felt like I was a butcher standing in a slaughterhouse.

He noticed that whether it was the rotting head in the darkness or the metal skeleton opposite the bonfire, they were all watching him silently at this moment, so he took out a sharp table knife from his backpack, put on his gloves, and cut the body with the He cut open the shirt that had been washed white, and then pointed the blade at the opponent's chest——

The corpse's eyes opened.

Because this scene was so familiar to Jenkins, he didn't even change his expression.

When he opened his eyes, black smoke was spraying out from the pores all over his body. Although the black smoke is not very thick, the air in this space itself is quite fresh, so the black smoke is particularly annoying.

A strong wind appeared in the windless environment, and some white flocs emerged from the soil. Under the gaze of Jenkins, the skeletons and the rotting heads, the wind blew into the corpse placed on the obsidian.

The corpse trembled violently, and as the fingers began to tremble, the whole hand began to move. It reached out to grab Jenkins' wrist, but he had encountered similar things in the flowery environment, so he avoided it early.

"What do you want to say?"

He didn't waste any time and asked directly. The corpse did not sit up, but its eyes were slanted in the eye sockets, looking at Jenkins from the side. At this time, the sudden wind also stopped:

"We don't want to die."

The sound was like the overlapping of thousands of voices, because it was a large number of souls that were blown into the corpse by the strong wind just now. They are very regularly attached to the body, along the bones and muscles, rather than simply trapped within it.

"You're already dead...well, tell me the story of your life. I think I'm going to hear a story again."

Hundreds of souls all lived 53 years ago from the current time in the material world, and by coincidence, most of them were farmers by profession. 53 years ago, it was the moment when the steam revolution in the material world entered its early stages. At that time, the trajectory of the world and civilization had already subtly deviated from the world of strangers.

Due to the emergence of some unique technologies based on steam power systems, the originally large-scale steam engines were quickly miniaturized and took the lead in promoting the revolution in the woolen textile industry. The prosperity of the wool textile industry caused the price of wool on the market to skyrocket, and raising sheep became profitable, but it required large tracts of land. As a result, the nobles and wealthy businessmen drove away the farmers who had rented their land and occupied the land that could be used to raise sheep to develop the sheep industry.

Of course, these actions were legal, and both the laws at the time and the documents left behind today prove their legality. But what is legal is not necessarily right. For most farmers who experienced that era, nobles and wealthy businessmen joined forces to seize farmers' land and public land, deprived farmers of their land use rights and ownership rights, and enclosed the occupied land. rise up and become privately owned ranches and farms.

This is the so-called "enclosure movement", and its manifestations are similar whether in the world of strangers or in this world.

Most of these souls who died 53 years ago died because of that era. Some of them lost their land and were forced to move to the city to become workers who sold their blood and sweat, and eventually died in factories; some of them did not see clearly the path they should take after losing their land, so they died of cold and hunger.

In short, these are the victims of the steam revolution 53 years ago, and they are the flesh and blood foundation stones that forged the glory of the 1860s when the strangers arrived.

"Our land was taken away from us before we died, and our flesh and blood were drained of us. We don't want our bones and flesh to be harvested after our death."

The overlapping voices of hundreds of people said to Jenkins, wailing:

"Before you die, you are someone else's fuel, but after you die, you will not become fuel again."

This is different from the previous mystery. Although the three people in the previous mystery are all examples of the tragedy of the times, those three people themselves are also hateful, so no matter how they are treated, Jenkins will not feel that he is wrong. But now these hundreds of souls are truly pitiful people. They have done nothing wrong and they really do not deserve to be tortured like this.

"So do you know what is going on in this world?"

He wanted to learn the information about the mysterious realm from these souls just like the last mysterious realm. But these souls are incomplete, and most of them only have instinctive reactions. Coupled with the fact that they were just ordinary people at the bottom when they were alive, it was difficult to describe to Jenkins what they experienced here.

"If I don't want to rip this person apart, then what am I going to do?"

he asked the skeleton and the rotting head.

[If you don’t want others to be the fuel, then let yourself be the fuel. In order for the fire to continue, someone must be ignited and used to illuminate others. 】

"If you don't have other people's meat, then bring your meat. In this 'forest', everyone wants to take a bite of meat. In order to survive and don't want others to be bitten, you must sacrifice yourself."

The answers of the two guys were very similar, and they were both tempting Jenkins to sacrifice himself.

Jenkins shook his head. So far, he has not discovered the power of the disaster beast hidden in this strange situation. The area of ​​​​this ancient cemetery is much smaller than the cave magma sea just now, and it seems that it cannot hide huge guys like [Earth Fire Worm].

"So, in this strange situation, we have to choose between sacrifice? Sacrifice yourself or others?"

This analysis is definitely wrong. If an absolute evil person enters here and sacrifices others with peace of mind, he can leave completely safely. The test of the treacherous environment is three points of courage, three points of ability, three points of wisdom, and ninety-one points of luck. People's conscience will not be tested here.

Chapter 2117 Chapter 2086 The Abyss in the Sky

"So where's the trap?"

Unexpectedly, Jenkins asked the body on the obsidian table:

"If I want to leave here, I have to sacrifice someone's bones and flesh. Do you have any good ideas?"

"There are still a lot of flesh and blood underground! Don't sacrifice us, sacrifice them!"

The hundreds of voices shouted in unison.

Jenkins had no more ideas for the time being, so he took the piece of wood that had been removed from the tombstone and found a random location to dig again. Another male corpse was soon dug up. This male corpse was also covered with white cloth. His clothes were almost the same as the corpse just now, and even his appearance was similar.

But the corpse just now looked like a young man in his twenties, and this corpse looked like a middle-aged man in his forties.

The obsidian stone table was very large, so Jenkins moved the second body so that it lay side by side with the first. Sure enough, when the corpse touched the stone table next to the bonfire, the inexplicable strong wind appeared again, causing many souls to float out of the soil in the cemetery and enter the second corpse.

It also opened its eyes, and Jenkins got a second story.

Most of the souls in the second corpse came from about 30 years ago. But they did not die because of the great plague 30 years ago. The plague had not yet appeared when they died.

Most of these people's previous careers were factory workers or employed miners. The causes of death were overwork, occupational diseases and accidents at work.

On the eve of the great plague 30 years ago, the development of the technology tree of this world was completely different from that of the alien world. Thanks to the improvement of steam engines and the creations of inventors, a steady stream of steam technology products have been realized in factories, and factory owners have also seen the advantages of assembly line production and absorbed more young people who came to cities into huge industries. In the industry, let them use their flesh and blood to create value for themselves and civilization.

No matter which world it is, capitalists are not good people, so the evil things that Jenkins can think of and cannot imagine, as well as the evil deeds that can be seen in history books and cannot be seen, have caused the tragedy of these storytelling souls.

The birth of the fire of civilization itself is to illuminate the way forward for mankind, but the birth of this fire comes at a price, and someone needs to be burned. These people are the ones who were burned. Even after they were burned, their souls were imprisoned here, waiting for Jenkins, the man who tried to keep the fire of civilization to decide, whether to spare even their dead souls.

"If I want to leave here, I have to sacrifice someone's bones and flesh. Do you have any good ideas?"

He asked again, and the cry from the second corpse was completely expected:

"Go and sacrifice others! Go and sacrifice others! There's still a lot of bones here, there's still a lot of meat here! Don't sacrifice us!"

As expected, the answer was the same as before. Jenkins was not surprised, but tilted his head and glanced at the bonfire beside him. The flame was already weaker than when he first appeared here, with only a small flame remaining.

Let alone exhuming the third body now, even if Jenkins wanted to think more about it, he might not have time.

【I want to remind you】

"No need to say more, I know."

Jenkins said before Metal Skull finished writing.

Sacrifice the two corpses in front of him and burn part of the soul so that Jenkins can have time to continue thinking, which is of course the best choice at the moment. But in this way, it looks like falling into the trap of a strange situation. The strange situation will not test the conscience, so there is no way to break the situation so easily.

Maybe choosing to sacrifice part of your soul can indeed delay some time, but it may make finding a real way out more difficult.

Thinking of this, Jenkins raised his right foot and slammed it to the ground:

"Death spirit!"

A gray halo erupted from the soles of the fallen feet, sweeping across the entire cemetery. Even the blue flames in the bonfire trembled, as if they were about to be wiped out by the burst of spiritual energy.

There is a strong concentration of death spirits here, but gathering them below the ground has no effect. At this moment, being pulled by the ability used by Jenkins, the spirits in the entire cemetery became restless.

There was only the last ray of blue fire left, and the thick darkness invaded, making people shudder. Even the two corpses on the obsidian stone table were trembling.

The explosion of the spirit of death was consciously guided by Jenkins, allowing the spirit of death to be poured into the rotten human head protruding from the ground. At the same time, he took out the Holy Bone Sword and thrust it into the ground.

The Spirit of Death and the Holy Bone Sword began to control the undead at the same time. The rotten human head, together with the body underneath, sprang out from the ground, and then walked uncontrollably towards the extinguishing bonfire.

It was also resisting, but Jenkins took the lead in seizing the short-term control of the death spirit of the entire cemetery. With the blessing of other death abilities and this sword, this rotten zombie could not get rid of control in a short time.

This caused it to walk like it was fighting with itself, but it was still approaching the flames step by step.

"You can't sacrifice me!"

It wailed at Jenkins in the last light.

"You don't have a story, do you? I don't have time to listen to stories now."

"It's a dead person, it wants bones; I'm an undead person, I want meat. Haven't you thought about the meaning of this? It only has bones, but I have bones and flesh. I am your second way. If you sacrifice me, you can only let it do whatever it wants. I am the one who stands with you!"

Jenkins frowned, stopped controlling it and continued to move towards the direction of the flames. It's not that he believes the other party's words. There will definitely be no existence here that stands on his side. What he cares about is that the rotten corpse says it is "undead". And considering the meaning of the Fate-Defying Ritual, if the undead were sacrificed here, it would seem to be really defying the fate of the "undead".

"Is it because of this that the differential engine controlled the skeleton but did not do anything to this corpse?"

He thought to himself, and then said to the rotting corpse:

"Now the flame is about to go out. If I don't sacrifice you, do you want me to do something to the host of the strange world? If you can provide a better way, I think I am willing to believe that you and I are on the same side."