The Mysterious World Under Steampunk

Run, run faster, this was the only nod in Penistan's mind, because she knew very well that if she stopped, the swarm of jerry rats following her would immediately devour her completely, turning her into a A pile of bones that will never be found.

At this moment, she didn't even dare to look back at the situation behind her. She could only judge the distance between the two from the loud noise of the rats moving behind her.

She wants to sprinkle some rat repellent powder on her body, which is a special product of the Principality of Russ. The people of Russ, who have suffered from the plague of rats for many years, have created a kind of powder specially used to deal with jerry rats. As long as you sprinkle some on yourself or your residence, you can drive away the jerry rats.

Penistan specially purchased a large amount of rat repellent powder for this hunt, just in case she needed it. Originally, she thought that what she had prepared was enough, but she found that when facing a rat tide, the amount of rat repellent powder needed to be used Far exceeding the amount used under normal circumstances, which made his previous preparations insufficient to support her escape from the forest.

More importantly, her previous judgment was completely wrong. The current rat wave is not a rat colony expansion at all, but a real rat wave, but this time the rat wave happened during the breeding period of the rat group, not winter and spring.

Because of this, although she made the right decision in time and escaped from the territory of the rat swarm, she did not escape from the rat swarm in the entire forest. The ever-increasing rat swarm rapidly expanded in all directions. She felt that no matter which direction she ran, she would always encounter a large number of rats moving towards her like a tide.

And all she can do is to sprinkle enough rat repellent powder on her body, and then run forward at the fastest speed. As for identifying the direction, she has completely ignored it, not to mention that she was already in the forest long ago. It was disorienting inside.

I don't know how long she ran, but Penistan felt that her legs were about to break, and her chest was as hot as being burned by charcoal fire, and the flames would tear her chest at any moment, as if bursting out of her body, she Knowing that his body had reached its limit, he had to slow down his steps, and the heavy panting sound even overwhelmed the sound of the rats moving behind him.

Sweating profusely, she picked up the last pack of rat repellent powder from her body, hesitated, and finally sprinkled it on her body, and while sprinkling the rat repellent powder, she couldn't help but look behind her, and what she saw The sight she saw made her unable to resist dragging her legs that were about to break off, and continued to walk forward.

I saw that about a dozen meters behind Penistan, hundreds of huge Jerry mice followed closely behind. At this moment, these Jerry mice changed from their usual gentleness, and their eyes showed their furthest eyes. With a cruel and fierce light, he stared at the big prey in front of him, and waited for the effect of the medicine powder that made them feel uncomfortable to weaken, then pounced on it and devoured the big prey alive.

Penistan, who was being chased by rats, knew very well that the medicine powder on her body could only last for a while, and her physical strength could only last for a while. After that, she didn't even have the strength to pick up a weapon to resist, but her survival instinct still drove her. He dragged her forward with heavy steps.

As the rat repellent powder on her body was soaked in sweat, its effectiveness was also rapidly weakening. The rats gradually shortened the distance from her, ten meters, nine meters, eight meters... Now, she can even hear The sound of Jerry's teeth grinding, as if preparing the tableware before the big meal.

Penistan had fallen into despair. She pulled out a dagger from her bosom. This dagger was sharpened because she used it to cut prey. She never thought that one day she would use it to cut herself. throat, but compared to being eaten alive by countless rats, cutting the throat with a dagger is obviously more comfortable.

"Light? There is light!" Just when Penistan picked up the dagger and was about to cut her throat at any time, she suddenly saw a glimmer of fire in the forest ahead, and after confirming that it was not her hallucination, she first All he thought of for a moment was that those recruited by the Duke who entered the forest together had already reached the edge of the forest.

It's just that she doesn't have the slightest idea of ​​being happy at the moment, because she knows very well that even if they meet up with those hired people, they won't be able to escape under the attack of the rat wave. If those hired people are experienced hunters and Soldiers are fine, but the problem is that those people are just ordinary townspeople, and they are all old, weak, sick and disabled townspeople, and there are only a handful of people who are truly capable of fighting.

She really wanted to yell loudly and let the people on the other side of the fire prepare in advance, but she opened her mouth, but her throat that had already dried up could not make a sound.

When she realized that she could not give any warning, Penistan showed a decisive look on her face. She stopped, pulled out the hunting knife on her body, and turned around to face the rats. It seemed that she He was planning to use his last strength to fight against the rats.

Although she never thought of herself as a noble person, she was unwilling to be so despicable as to lead danger to her companions, especially when it was impossible for her to escape the attack of rats, she just wanted to create a There is a big movement, reminding people near the fire to be alert.

However, what Penistan never expected was that when she faced the rats with a knife and was about to fight to the death, the rats behind her who had chased her all night and wanted to eat her all the time seemed to have met Like an invisible wall, it stopped less than two meters away from her. She could even smell the unique rat gland odor of Jerry rat. In some people's eyes, this is a special fragrance used to make a precious perfume. spices.

The group of rats at the front stopped suddenly, but they couldn't stop the group of rats behind them from advancing, while the group of rats coming up from behind also stopped in front of this invisible wall, and kept piling up on this invisible wall , piled higher and higher, and soon surpassed Pennistan's height.

Soon the accumulation of rats stopped, and then these jerry rats, who had woken up from the madness of the rat tide, returned to their original timid state, as if they had encountered some terrifying natural enemies, they quickly moved away Fleeing in the depths of the burning forest, the swarm of rats piled up in front of Penistan soon disappeared into the darkness of the forest like an ebbing tide.

The entire process from the sudden stop of the rat swarm to the final receding took only a few minutes, but to Penistan, it seemed to have completed an experience from death to life. She came back to her senses from the scene, and she didn't even react when the hunting knife fell from her hand to the ground.

After a while, the cold air of the forest at night invaded her body through her soaked clothes, causing her to shiver. Only then did she recover from the shock, and feel the exhaustion and pain from all over her body again. Sore, the will that had always supported her to escape also collapsed at this moment, the body that had reached its limit could no longer support it, and the whole person fell straight on the thick rotten leaves on the ground.

At this time, her sanity began to blur, and her consciousness gradually slackened. Just when she was about to completely lose consciousness, a question suddenly appeared in her mind, when did Jerry Mouse start to be afraid of fire? Then she passed out completely.

In a coma, Penistan only felt as if she was suspended in a dark space, with no up and down, no left and right, no sense of time, and no sense of herself, but she still had a clear mind and could Thinking about something, but she couldn't control what she was thinking about.

She didn't know how long she stayed in this state, until she felt a warmth passing through her body and regained the feeling of her body, then she broke out of that state again and opened her eyes.

The first thing that caught her eyes was a flame, a flame that made her feel warm and at ease. At this moment, her mind was blank, as if she didn't want to do anything, she didn't want to think about anything, she just stared blankly at the flame. Flame, it took a long time before he gradually began to recall what happened, and then moved his head slightly, looking around.

I saw that this was not the camp of the hunting team as she had thought before, but just a temporary forest camp. There were two figures beside the campfire. Because of the influence of the fire, she couldn't see their faces From their appearance, they can only be identified from some clothes that can be seen clearly. They should not be civilians, and they are not from the Principality of Russ. They are probably from the Otter Federation.

The reason why she made such a judgment is because the hunting suit worn by the other party is a high-end fabric, she has only seen it on some nobles, and the style of the hunting suit is not the style of the Principality, but rather It looks like the safari style of the Otto Federation.

"I have crossed the Petain Mountains and come to the Otter Federation?" Penistan had an idea in her mind, but she quickly rejected it, not to mention whether she could spend less than one night Even if she can, she has never run out of the forest and never seen the endless snow-capped mountains, and it is absolutely impossible for those Jerry mice to pass through the Petain Mountains. mountains.

"Spy!" Then another bold idea appeared in Penistan's mind.

Now the Church-controlled Holy Kingdom and the affiliated Principalities are uniting with other Church-states to fight against the Ott Federation formed by the evil unbelievers. I heard that the war on the front line does not seem to be very good, so they will wantonly recruit all kinds of troops from various Principalities. Adults who can supplement combat power.

The Duchy of Russ can be said to be next to the Ott Federation, separated only by the Petain Mountains. There are many countries like the Duchy of the Russ, but whether it is the Church of Purifying Fire or other churches, They have never worried that the Otter Federation's troops will cross the Petain Mountains and come here, so they will boldly deploy adults from these countries to the front line, and will not set up any defense forces in these countries.

Because both these church countries and the Otter Federation are very clear that it is absolutely impossible for any army to pass through the Petain Mountains. Then form any combat power.

Although the Petain Mountain Range is not the longest mountain range in the Otto Federation, it is the widest mountain range in the Otto Federation. The narrowest part of the entire mountain range is also composed of more than forty towering snow-capped mountains and huge undulating mountains. However, the most experienced climbers are not absolutely sure that they can safely pass through the Betain Mountains, which also makes the Betain Mountains an insurmountable natural danger.

However, even so, sometimes the two sides will take the risk of sending some spies with strong personal abilities to the other side through the Petain Mountains, and the people who can reach the other side safely are definitely the people with the best personal abilities, and such people are also It can also cause great damage to the country on the other side of the mountain range.

In the past, the Otter Federation has sent some elite spies to the Holy Lord of Purifying Fire, and through their extraordinary abilities, they have emerged in various industries in the Holy Lord, and some of them even became industry presidents. There is another person who has become a high-ranking priest of Purifying Fire, only one step away from the high priest who can run for the Pope, and judging from the situation at that time, that person was indeed considered as a candidate for the Pope within the church cultivated.

If it hadn't been for some accident that finally revealed the identity of some of them and eventually involved everyone, maybe there would be an unbelievers pope in the Church of Purifying Fire. The laughing stock of the world.

Therefore, after that incident, the Holy Kingdom of Purifying Fire and its religious principality paid special attention to things like spies. Not only did they set up a special department for spies within the church, but also increased the faith appraisal of church clergy. Sequence, after that, even spent a lot of money to popularize the method of discovering spies in the countries and regions controlled by the Purifying Fire Church. As long as they are school-age children, they must participate in this kind of course training, and this kind of course still exists until now.

Naturally, Penistan has also taken this kind of course, and because of the free lunch, she has been taking it for several years. In addition to this special time, she is particularly sensitive to things like spies. The first thought that comes to the mind of anyone who dresses is a spy.

Although Penistan is not like her compatriots who, under the instigation of the church, have always been hostile or even hostile to the unbelievers of the Otter Federation, but she also has no good feelings for this country, and she does not like the spies sent by this country. .

So after understanding the current situation, she couldn't help but reach out to her waist, take out the second dagger she hid, and look for a chance to take down these two spies.

However, she soon discovered that there was something wrong with her body. Although her mind wanted to grab things, her hands couldn't move at all, and it was difficult to move. Even if she moved, her body would feel severe pain from the inside out. It spread, and the pain was so painful that she was about to cry out, but in the end she managed to hold back the pain.

At this time, a female voice that sounded very magnetic said in a somewhat jerky Ruth dialect: "You'd better not move around now. Although we have treated your injuries, your body's movement beyond the limit has already caused serious damage. You have suffered some very serious injuries, and it will take a certain amount of time to recover, during which time you'd better lie down and not move." Then, she paused again, and said: "By the way, we are not spies, you Don't worry."