The Master of the Strange Realm

As he said that, he took the elf's hand and jumped into the white light gate with the elf holding the sword.

Chapter 2114 Wax Museum and Card Game

Once again, there was confusion and dizziness, as if he was thrown into a drum and turned a hundred times, and it seemed that he did not move but the world itself was spinning. After a series of bizarre hallucinations, he finally touched the solid ground again.

This was the fifth time in a row that he had entered a new strange place, and Jenkins felt dizzy. But the good news is that the surrounding environment perceived by the skin is neither humid nor cold, neither hot nor particularly dry.

Except for the fact that the nose smelled some strange smells, the temperature and humidity here are really impeccable.

"Is this the smell of wax? Or did I smell it wrong?"

Miss Elf is very accustomed to space transfer, so she was able to help Jenkins, who was still a little dizzy, sit up. Before looking at the dark situation around him, he usually touched his pocket first, and then he touched a brand new coin as expected.

The brand new coin is still the same size as the sin coin. Because it is related to [True Phantom], it is a golden gem coin. The front is the emblem of [True Phantom], and the back is the appearance of a dragon with wings spread. If Jenkins is not mistaken, judging from the dragon's physical characteristics, it is the silver dragon Anastasia.

"What is this? It's beautiful."

Miss Sylph also saw this in the dark.

"I don't know what it is, but it will probably be very useful."

He shook his head and felt that he had almost recovered. He threw the coin away and then grabbed it and put it back into his spirit, and finally stood up to check the surrounding environment.

The current environment is undoubtedly indoors, and it is a dry and warm indoor room. And the smell of wax that Jenkins smelled was not wrong, because there were countless wax figures of people standing around them.

The proportions of the wax figures are one-to-one with the normal human body, and because of the exquisite workmanship, each one looks like a solidified living person. This realism even made Jenkins and the elf a little worried that the wax figures would move in the next second, but at least so far this worry is redundant.

This should be a wax museum. If you look closely, you can see that there are name tags under the feet of the wax figures. But because the names are written in the common language of the 18th century, there is no other identity information, so Jenkins can't recognize who they are.

The wax museum is probably very large, at least they can't see the boundaries around it. It's very dark here, with only a huge square table in the center. There is a candlestick in the middle of the table, and two long and one short candles stand on the candlestick to provide some light.

In addition to the candlestick, there are other messy things on the table. Just what Jenkins observed, there are manuscripts, letter paper, various pencils, tape measures, knives, etc.

There are four statues on each side of the table. Judging from the wax figures around, they should also be wax figures, but under the dim light of the candle, three of them are undoubtedly metal statues, and the last one is half wax and half metal. He is alive, and it goes without saying that he must have an unclear relationship with the differential engine.

"Wait... the three statues by the table?"

He remembered what he saw when he ventured into the first floor of the metal black tower when it rose. At that time, the tower was full of white light, and there were only three metal statues of the king surrounding the table.

"Is this the corresponding [Uncrowned King]?"

Although the three metal statues he saw at this time were not Salshi II, Queen Isabella and Tarquin the Proud, Jenkins still believed in his judgment. After all, when the first floor of the tower rose, it was likely that this huge strange world had not yet been fully formed, so what he saw at that time was naturally different from what he saw now.

"Go and have a look."

Jenkins said to his companion, and the elf wanted to return the sword he brought out of the last strange world to Jenkins. The sword was a Class B extraordinary item. Although the specific characteristics were unknown, special items of the weapon type were undoubtedly extremely powerful.

"Take it first."

Jenkins said to her, in fact, he didn't want to add more luggage.

Among the four statues by the table, the half wax and half metal living statue looked like a female priest in a robe. The remaining three pure metal statues were one woman and two men. The woman was old, and the other two men were middle-aged and close to old. They were all wearing luxurious dresses, which could easily be associated with nobles.

Seeing Jenkins and Miss Sylva approaching, the living statue looked at them and spoke:

"Two people came to me."

The voice and appearance of the priestess were very well matched.

"Is it only me that you received the news?"

Jenkins asked, and the other party obviously didn't want to pay attention to him:

"The rules are very simple."

The living statue pointed coldly at the table, and the various papers and tools on the table were immediately pushed to the edge of the table as if they were pushed away by an invisible hand. At the same time, the candlestick in the center of the table also took off from the air and floated above the table, so that one-third of the center of the table was exposed:

"Let's play cards, and one hand will determine the winner. If you win, I will allow you to leave."

"Play cards? Do both of us have to play with you?"

Because he had a similar experience in the flames, Jenkins was not surprised that such a thing would happen.

"You two use a deck together and decide how to play the cards. What we are going to play is the kingdom card. These three statues represent three different kingdoms. Now first choose which side you want to represent."

"Can we know the specific way to play the 'Kingdom Card' you mentioned?"

"No, please choose which side you are going to represent first?"

"Okay then, what does this mean?"

Jenkins pointed first to the female figure, to the left of the living statue.

"The most populous kingdom located in the middle of the continent has stable order, a prosperous economy, and rapid progress in steam technology; however, food production is low, it relies heavily on imports, and natural disasters often occur."

"what about this?"

This time ask the statue of a male figure facing the living statue.

"Located in the northern part of the continent, the kingdom with the largest land area has a strong army and rich minerals; the natural environment is harsh and the labor force is insufficient."

"What about this last one?"

Finally, there is the one to the left of the living statue.

"Located in the southern part of the continent, it is a kingdom with the richest natural resources and numerous cultural and natural landscapes. The domestic political situation is unstable, and due to historical reasons, it has the weakest military among the three kingdoms."

The introduction of the Three Kingdoms has a strong sense of déjà vu, but if you think about it carefully, there are still many differences from the real Three Kingdoms. Maybe this introduction refers to reality, but it is definitely not exactly the same as reality.

"Is there any difference if I choose different kingdoms? I still want to know how to play this card."

Jenkins asked again, but the other person was determined not to answer his question. And because Miss Elf didn’t understand contemporary politics at all, Jenkins finally chose the middle kingdom with a large population and a queen.

After all, he is only the most familiar with this country.

After the selection was completed, the two unselected metal statues took two steps back and stood together with the wax statues around them. There are two more chairs at the table facing the living statue. After Jenkins and Miss Siluf sat down, the metal statue of the Queen on the left side of the living statue moved, stood behind Jenkins, and even put her hand on the back of Jenkins' chair.

"So what exactly are the rules?"

Jenkins observed the metal statue representing the Queen with his peripheral vision, but other than the exquisite craftsmanship, he did not feel anything suspicious.

"With 10 years as the limited time, different events will occur in the kingdom in each quarter."

A stack of black-backed playing cards appeared on the left side of the living statue, with the number exceeding a hundred:

"At the arrival of each quarter, I will randomly choose to reveal a black event card, and you need to give a way to deal with it. Maybe it is just a food shortage, but it may also be a disaster."

But no cards appeared before Jenkins and Genie:

"So, I just have to talk?"

It would be great if that's the case, he's good at this.

"No, your life experiences will be transformed into policies, your views on right and wrong will affect the survival of the kingdom, and your understanding of history and civilization will become strength."

A stack of white playing cards appeared in front of the sitting Miss Jenkins and Miss Silufu. The pile in front of Miss Elf probably did not exceed 100 cards, which was a decent amount. After all, although she was a ranger in the Evergreen Forest, It’s not like I failed the cultural class.

She turned to look at the pile in front of Jenkins, and then opened her mouth slightly. There seemed to be more question cards than black ones:

"The new World Tree is in the material world. Is it actually a politician or historian?"

Miss Elf guessed.

"The problem cards in my hand may be duplicated, and the cards in your hands may be duplicated, but each card can only be used once. I can only play one problem card in each season, but you can use as many as you want. Card combination to deal with.”

Jenkins and the elf picked up their own playing cards. The first card Jenkins saw was [Maintain Stability]. He blinked, and then turned to the second card. It was still the same. The tenth card was the [Method to Increase Grain Production]. , and then there are cards such as [Personal Force] and [Compulsory Education].

"They are all broad descriptions without specific policies and practices?"

He thought to himself, then turned sideways to look at the cards in the elf's hand, and saw that the top two were [Fecundity Promotion Method] and [Basic Occultism].

"Do elves still have fertility-promoting methods?"

Jenkins asked Miss Siluf in a low voice and showed her the cards in his hand.

"During the decades when I was still in school, the birth rate had been declining year after year. In addition to praying to the Lord to bless us, the royal family also promulgated laws to encourage childbirth. I remember that at the time...every family had more children. The birth of a child is rewarded with a hundred years of limited free hunting rights.”

Miss Siruff's words were completely different from the "mysterious and elegant" impression that elves left on people in the material world. Instead, Jenkins seemed to see thousands of lights of elves living in the forest.

Chapter 2115 [Event] and [Accident]

"Very real life."

Jenkins commented to the elf.

"In addition to the event cards that appear every quarter, every time the three players on both sides play cards, they may trigger unexpected cards."

A stack of cards also appeared on the right side of the living statue. This time they were red, with the same number as the black ones.

"The [events] that appear regularly every quarter are definitely bad things, but [accidents] can be good or bad. But no matter whether it is good or bad, the [accident] effect will last for a whole quarter and cannot be affected by the cards played by both parties. It can only be affected when the cards are played in the next round."

Jenkins raised his eyebrows:

"What if the accident is the arrival of the beast of disaster? If it cannot be affected for a whole quarter, I am afraid the kingdom will be destroyed."

"So, the game of cards also depends on luck."

The living statue said slowly, and then pointed to the wax statues around:

"If you can't find the right time to play your cards, , then you can choose to give up playing cards and choose a wax statue instead. These wax statues are all human elites from past eras. Each of them, like the two of you, also has a deck of cards. Choose them, and they will help you until the end of a year. "

"Is there such a good thing?"

"But every time you choose a wax statue, the probability of encountering accidents and disasters before the end of the game will increase. In this regard, the game is very fair. "

"The judgment of winning or losing in the "Kingdom Card" is very simple. If the kingdom still exists after 40 rounds of playing cards, that is, ten years after the game, then Jenkins and Miss Sylph win. On the contrary, if the kingdom is destroyed within 40 rounds, the judgment of destruction includes but is not limited to the disappearance of the regime, the disappearance of the territory, and the disappearance of the population. If this is the case, the two lose.

After playing cards every quarter, the things that the kingdom has experienced will be described by the living statues. In other words, if the living statues deliberately embarrass the two, then it can completely make the game go to a worse direction without violating the rules.

Neither Jenkins nor Miss Elf can change this, and they can only look for variables in the game. Before the game started, Jenkins actually knew what the trap in this strange realm was.

After going through the first four strange realms, he had roughly figured out how the differential machine operated. The nine-story tower had reached the fifth floor, which meant that the adventure journey had been halfway through and it was not far from the end.

"In the first year of the unknown era, civilization emerged from the disasters of the past and continued to move forward. As the king of the Middle Kingdom of Humanity, you officially took over the scepter and crown from the previous generation, and countless challenges and opportunities await you."

The living statue opened with this sentence, and then turned over the top card of the black card pile. Jenkins and Miss Sylph were staring at the other red card pile, but fortunately their luck was not so bad that they encountered [accidents] for the first time.

"Unknown Era, Year 1, Season 1, Event [Palace Coup]. The royal family with ill intentions launched a palace coup and tried to assassinate you and seize the throne."

Although there were still a lot of debris on the side of the table, the center of the table was clean. The living statue threw the card to the center of the table. Jenkins and the elf could see the text description and the picture on it. The picture was a classic oil painting of a palace coup.

"I'll do it."

Jenkins said to Miss Sylph, and then chose a card from his deck:

"[Lobbying and Persuasion], I have the ability to make those who oppose me support me."

He threw the card on the table. This card was formed by his experience of many public speeches in the past year.

"No, the power of a single card is not enough. You failed to convince those opponents who launched the palace coup."

Jenkins then played another card [Personal Force].

"Then beat them first, and then persuasion them."

He said, and at the same time as his second card was played, the top card of the stack of red cards slipped to the hand of the living statue. The latter took it, took a look, and threw out the card [Steam Breakthrough]:

"Under the force and your influence, the palace coup was resolved relatively peacefully. In the next two years, the probability of the [Palace Coup] card appearing was reduced to the lowest. At the same time, in the first quarter of the peaceful unknown era, the Royal Academy of Sciences made a major breakthrough in the development of steam engines. Before the end of this game, related cards related to [Steam] will appear. At the same time, the probability of negative cards such as [Labor Insufficiency] appearing will decrease, and the probability of subsidiary cards such as [Air Pollution] and [Invention] will increase. [Steam] has become one of the influences of the kingdom."

As soon as the voice fell, the red and black card decks belonging to the living statue, as well as the white card decks of Jenkins and Miss Elf, became thicker. Among them, the cards in the hands of the elf increased the least, after all, she knew nothing about steam technology. At the same time, the card [Steam Breakthrough] floated on the table and emitted its own red light.

"What is [Kingdom Influence]?"

"It can cause a chain reaction with other cards. Unless it is destroyed by other cards, the effect of this card will last until the end of the game."

"Trap."

Jenkins commented:

"How could it be such a coincidence that the qi point of [Steam] technology appeared in the first round of forty rounds?"

Especially since [Steam] appeared in the accidental deck, Jenkins and his friends couldn't even play a card to stop this seemingly good accident.

The living statue still ignored Jenkins, but drew the second black card again to continue the game:

"Unknown Era, Year 1, Season 2, Event [Border Unrest]. A small-scale military conflict occurred on the northern border bordering the Northern Kingdom. The Northern Kingdom may be plotting a conspiracy."

It goes without saying that if this matter is not handled successfully, it will definitely have an impact on the next 38 rounds, and there may even be influences such as [instability of national borders] or even [state of war].

"So..."