Whispering Verse

The group of people continued to move forward according to the guidance of the black scale. The firelight continued to sway as the four people walked, illuminating the terrifying and weird black shadows, and then leaving them behind.

"That is to say, if you want to get something here, there are more ways than just paying money."

The witch walking at the front concluded in a low voice. Of course she was talking to Shade:

"Before we entered here, His Majesty did not mention this situation."

Shade looked at the witch's back in front of him:

"Never think that you understand this kind of weird place. It's unexpected that His Majesty can prepare currency for you in advance. However, I always feel that the currency is still weird... Mrs. Miles, you still Okay?"

Because he put his hands on the old woman's shoulders, Shade could feel that the old woman's walking was becoming more and more strenuous:

"Miss Higgins, how far is the road?"

“I can’t estimate the specific time required.”

"Don't worry about me, just keep moving forward. No matter what, I must find his soul and let him tell me in person why he didn't come back. I have been waiting for too long. Even if I die here, I will To see him again.”

Mrs. Miles's attitude was very resolute. Her frail and old body could not hinder her determination. She even begged Shade not to pay attention to her:

"Young man, I have been waiting all my life, even in my dreams, thinking about seeing him again on a sunny day at the intersection covered with sage, rosemary and thyme when we parted. . Please keep moving forward, I know he must be waiting for me too."

As if to prove that she could continue walking, she tried hard to stop her body from shaking, but she could not defeat her instinct. Fortunately, Xia De doesn’t want to go back now:

"Mrs. Miles, please relax - Puppetry."

Shade temporarily took over the walking of the elderly woman. As for the boy behind him, he could still carry on on his own, so he did not need Shade's special care.

The road ahead was quite long. The group held torches and held the shoulders of those in front of them, walking through this strange place. The cautious witch did not talk to Shade anymore, but patiently looked for the direction according to the scale. She took the wrong path several times because there was a "dead end" in this maze-like market. That is, she turned into a small road only to find that the end of the road was blocked by a stall.

This resulted in the group having to spend longer time moving forward. The torches in everyone's hands were only about two-thirds as bright as when they first entered the camp. If they could not reach their destination, then even if the mental strength of two ordinary people could sustain it, they would have to end their first exploration into the camp.

Suddenly, the witch at the front slowed down and stretched out three fingers toward the back. This was the code she and Shade had agreed upon. One finger represented danger, two fingers represented arrival at the destination, and three fingers represented another encounter with the dark shadow other than the vendor.

They didn't think about avoiding it, so they walked straight over. This time at the strange stall, there was a black coin and three chipped porcelain teacups on the tattered wooden table in front of the shadow. The teacups were dirty, and there were stains that looked like blood on the inner wall.

The black shadow stood quietly behind the wooden table and did not make any move after the four people arrived in front of it.

The witch tried to move forward, but was not stopped. The other three followed closely, and no one was stopped this time.

"It doesn't look like it's mandatory to participate."

Miss Higgins discussed with Shade in a low voice:

"What's on the table, this is supposed to be that classic gambling game where one of the three cups holds a coin and then changes its position for us to guess... Are you interested in that?"

The importance of coins goes without saying here, but the conditions for participation are unknown, and the possibility of losing cannot be ruled out.

Shade thought about it and felt that he needed to get his own currency:

"Let me try."

Anyway, I have to try it sooner or later.

Mrs. Miles and the boy were still hiding behind them, and then Shade and the Witch came back to the wooden table with the cups.

The black shadow behind the table raised his hand and pointed at the black scale floating next to the witch, and then it automatically flew to the table. The end facing it immediately pressed down, and Shade held up the torch and looked at the witch:

"Miss Higgins, can you lend me some coins? I promise to return them to you."

The witch put a coin with her own image on it, just one, and the balance returned to balance, which meant that this was a coin-to-coin game.

The black shadow reached out and used the cup to pick up the coins that were originally placed on the table. Then his two hands moved quickly at the same time, switching the positions of the three upside-down teacups in front of him.

Its hands were extremely fast. If the propagation of sound in the fog was not hindered, Shade even suspected that he would hear a sonic boom. Dynamic vision is very difficult to capture the correct position of the tea cup, and the drifting black fog occasionally creates a large blind spot in front of the eyes. Even if it is only for a moment, it is enough to lose the correct choice.

The shadow stopped after twenty seconds and motioned for Shade to guess. At this time, Shade no longer knew which answer was the correct one, and the suppression of his perception also prevented him from relying on his own inspiration to find the answer.

But fortunately there is a method of perception that is not limited in any way.

"which one?"

【middle. 】

Shade pointed to the teacup in the middle, and the shadow turned it over and pushed the coins in it to Shade. The coin turned over, and there was Shade's own image on it.

Both Shade and the Witch breathed a sigh of relief. After Shade returned Miss Higgins' coins, Miss Higgins looked at the table again. Unfortunately, there was no second coin on the table, which meant that they could only play this seemingly simple "game" once.

"There will be opportunities in the future."

Compared with the large number of vendors, the number of special "characters" such as magicians is quite small. But they soon saw the third strange black figure, but this time they avoided it without thinking, because after the other person appeared, he was standing in the fence surrounded by branches, holding a A sword gesticulated back and forth.

There is a high probability that a duel will be used to obtain coins or other items, and the degree of danger involved goes without saying. Here, if you can avoid fighting, try to avoid fighting.

The condition of Mrs. Miles and the boy is getting worse and worse. The physical exertion is not a problem at this time. After the excessive consumption of mental energy, the two people have experienced slight auditory hallucinations and visual hallucinations. According to the boy, he now has the urge to stay where he is and sleep, or to find a random vendor and trade his soul to obtain "permanent sleep."

Fortunately, the destination guided by the black scale was finally determined. After hitting a dead end again and taking a careful detour, they stopped in front of a stall placed on the ground.

On the yellow-brown rags stained with blood, eight items of merchandise were scattered. Only two of them were revealed, and the remaining six items were completely unclear under the black mist.

The witch took a long breath, and after the white mist in her mouth dissipated, she carefully bent down by the hem of her skirt, placed the scale in front of the stall, and then asked softly:

"Hello. We want to call out a soul. If it has passed away, please bring it to us. If it is not dead yet, then please let us know that it is not dead."

She stated her request very clearly, and the black mist covering the six items dissipated, revealing the appearance of the transaction items.

The two items that were not originally covered by the black mist were flesh and blood stumps, so they were definitely not items used to summon souls.

The six items revealed at this moment are a small bottle of colorless and transparent water in a sealed glass container;

Once the sword is cut off, the body is made of metal, and even if you just look at it, you feel like your soul will be sucked out;

A blood-stained pink and white conch, almost the same size as Shade's hand;

A gray fossilized conch, similar in size to the former, with elements of whispering and strong elements of wonder coexisting;

A pair of pink... bras, neatly stacked there, were not only incompatible with the surrounding items, but also incompatible with the area. Shade once thought that he was also hallucinating.

The last piece is a small figure that seems to be made of tin. The figure is like an aristocratic man with open hands and a frightened expression on his face. It is about the size of a finger.

Among the six items, only the runes on the surface of the gray petrified conch were revealed in the direction of Shade, so Shade could only see the words on that thing - [Missing, so communication].

Before Shade could speak, Miss Higgins couldn't help but cover her mouth in horror. She did not look at other items, but looked at the small tin figure with wide eyes, and said to Shade in a trembling voice:

"This is the soul."

"soul?"

"Yes, solidified souls. Such things are actually sold here? Only demons can do such things. Solidified souls will never have the possibility to continue. Unless they are destroyed, they can only continue to endure it. Suffering until the end of the world. This is solidifying the soul and making it into an object. This is a great sin, and the gods will despise everyone who tries to do this."

"But at least one possibility is eliminated, and then the first two pieces of meat are eliminated, then it is a choice of five. No, it is a choice of four."

Shade pointed to the bottle of transparent water and said with certainty:

"This is not what you want. I know this bottle of water. I have never heard of anyone naming it, so I gave it a name myself: Water of the River Styx. This is the water of the Styx that souls pass through in real death. of the Styx."

In fact, the water in real death is not water. The dark waters, the tidal flats and the dark moon are all visible to people only because of the presence of people.

There is nothing in death, which Priest Augustus and Shad had talked about. But if special means are used, the water there and even the stones on the beach can indeed be brought to the physical world. This is a top-notch death material. It is also used to assist in rituals of destruction, death, and corruption of life. However, this is the first time that Shade has seen this kind of water outside of death.

White smoke came out of his mouth when he spoke. Even with the double superposition of the "Shadow of the Moon"'s state of always being under the moon and the blessing of the "Living Moon" who never gets tired under the moon, he still felt a little bit. of fatigue:

"Choose one of four, what do you know?"

He asked the young witch, who pointed to the fossilized conch:

"This is the relic [Missing Conch]. By speaking to the conch, you can convey your thoughts to the ear of the person you miss, and establish a short-term call. Of course, the other party must be a living person."

At this point, she already had an idea. So he placed the black metal scale on the ground and said to the black figure sitting cross-legged behind the stall:

"I don't want to buy it. Can I borrow this?"

She pointed to the fossilized conch, and the motionless shadow pointed to the scale, which became unbalanced again. But the witch just put down a coin, and the balance was reached again:

"Look, His Majesty's choice of me really makes sense."

She said to Shade, and then saw the pale old Mrs. Miles, who was almost unable to hold the torch with the support of the boy, so she threw the coin to the black shadow, and she picked up the gray fossil conch. Put it to your ear:

"Can you hear me? Is that your Majesty? Okay, yes, yes, broken sword, pink and white conch, bra, yes, I'm not kidding. Runes? Sorry, I can't touch and watch carefully. Feelings? They should all be the same. It's about the undead, the details are like this... Yes, that's right. Okay, I will take good care of Mrs. Miles. Oh, I will also take good care of myself, I wish you the same... ..Time is up."

She stood up straight and spoke to the conch respectfully. No one could hear the sound coming from the conch except her. When the call ended, Miss Higgins took away the conch without feeling satisfied. Seeing Shade looking at her, she explained as if to defend herself:

"Of course it's right to be respectful when talking to a witch of this status. Even if His Majesty can only hear my voice... one day, I can become such a witch."

She tried her best to raise her head to express her ambition, and Shade smiled and said:

"Yes, I wish you success."

Although the conversation between Miss Higgins and the witch emperor of the desert was brief, at least something was gained:

"I contacted His Majesty, but after all, I can only briefly describe the appearance, so His Majesty only confirmed what this thing is."

Higgins pointed to the woman's bra, and it could be seen that the young witch was not surprised by its appearance, indicating that in their era, the textile industry had reached a very high level, and at least decorations such as lace were common. Moreover, hundreds of years have passed since Shade told the little girl about the steam industry in "Hope Town", causing her to awaken as a witch. Presumably, the material world has entered the age of steam industry.

"The relic [Charm of the Undead] can only be used by women. After wearing it, it greatly increases the probability of pregnancy after having sex with an undead creature. Of course, the other party does not have to be a vampire, an undead that has the ability to reproduce, or it can be... ....Forget it, let's not talk about it. But this relic is ineffective against witches. It seems that this is not what Mrs. Miles wants to use, and it is impossible to attract undead. Speaking of which, His Majesty said that if a man wears this relic, it will... .....You don’t want to know.”

She wasn't very comfortable with this kind of topic, so she didn't go into it in depth. Then, he lowered his voice and encouraged Sha De while looking into his eyes:

"Do you want to try it?"