??Chapter 64: 063. He cos from Abandoned Capital_1
Chapter 64: 063. He cos from Abandoned Capital_1
Apart from the dim yellow light, there was endless darkness.
The fog near the carriage was still a pale, dismal gray, while the parts away from the carriage had already plunged into the gloom.
Lu Ban conjured “Testant” in his hand, enhancing his hearing in an attempt to capture the sounds around him.
However, Lu Ban heard nothing at all.
“We can only move forward,” he said.
Cui Siter’s face looked sowhat unsightly.
If they encountered a monster, he could use his pistol to kill it.
If they encountered sothing he could not overco, he could lie down and quietly wait for death.
What he feared most was being in between, caught in a Foreign Domain, unable to die completely, yet living was difficult.
Thankfully, as a seasoned Chosen by Gods, he knew the thod of dealing with whatever ca his way with equanimity.
After slightly adjusting its direction, the carriage continued forward, moving away from the statue.
Lu Ban saw that the statue’s blurred shadow was swallowed by the thick fog and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Though there was no light, there was still a gravel path.
Following the gravel path, the carriage slowly moved forward.
Cui Siter remained vigilant, scrutinizing through the fog.
The shapes of the fog were ever-changing, sotis resembling familiar scenes.
Staring too long might result in hallucinations.
Cui Siter saw that the fog seed to form so kind of animal, then a building, dense here, thin there, piling up layer upon layer.
Just as a mass of fog was nearing the carriage, or perhaps it was the carriage nearing that thick fog, Cui Siter spotted a human silhouette within the fog!
“!”
He grabbed the reins with one hand and raised the muzzle of his gun with the other.
“Did you see that?” he asked Lu Ban behind him.
“I saw it,” Lu Ban replied without showing much tension and added,
“Maybe we can ask him for directions?”
“???”
Several question marks appeared over Cui Siter’s head.
Was there really sothing wrong?
He clenched the reins in his hand, causing the horse to draw the carriage closer to the figure standing in the fog, ready to speed away imdiately if they encountered any problems.
Fortunately or unfortunately, it was not a statue.
It was a person.
That person had sparse hair, deep wrinkles on his face, and only a pair of prominent eyes, so protruding they seed out of place.
His lips were thin, his body stooped, standing by the side of the road, immobile.
He was dressed in simple clothes, with only a pair of gray-white cloth shoes, which looked especially conspicuous in the dark fog.
Behind that person, in the thick accumulated fog, there seed to be so strangely shaped buildings.
The carriage stopped beside him.
“…Excuse , how do I get to Dried Water Town?” Cui Siter mustered up the courage to ask.
At first, the man showed no reaction, as though he couldn’t hear Cui Siter’s words, but then, after about three or four seconds, his eyes moved.
It was not a shift in gaze to look at the carriage, but rather waking up from so sort of deep sleep, his eyes jumped, regaining sentience.
But he still did not answer.
Lu Ban patted Cui Siter’s shoulder and stepped forward.
The person before him was very strange.
Because Lu Ban was holding “Testant” in his left hand, he couldn’t hear the man’s heartbeat.
If Lu Ban had lost his vision and relied solely on his hearing, he would think there was nothing in front of him.
He did not directly question the man, instead he extended his crowbar, trying to poke the other party.
“Hey…”
Cui Siter was startled, not having enough ti to stop him, but just as the tip of Lu Ban’s crowbar was about to touch the man, that person made a sound.
It was a bizarre sound, forced out from deep in the man’s throat, like it ca from so other creature that had struggled to learn human speech.
“That, way,” the man said.
He lifted his short hand and pointed ahead.
His movents were sluggish and awkward, as if his joints had long since solidified, an uncanny feeling to the observer.
“Thank you,” Lu Ban said, settling back.
“…”
Cui Siter watched the interaction between the two, unsure who was the stranger party.
“Let’s go.”
Lu Ban urged.
Cui Siter, not understanding, urged his horse on, gradually leaving behind the peculiar man.
It wasn’t until the figure was swallowed by the mist, disappearing without a trace, that Cui Siter rembered sothing.
The man’s appearance had resembled a fish.
“He didn’t have a heartbeat.”
Lu Ban’s voice ca faintly from behind, sending a chill down Cui Siter’s back.
“That person looked sowhat like the monster in the stone statue, only more human-like.”
Cui Siter said.
“The Night Country shouldn’t have spells for resurrection from the dead. Most descriptions in the artifacts ntion that only so people in the Wasteland can coexist with the deceased.”
“People from the Wasteland can co back to life?”
Lu Ban asked with interest.
“Not quite the sa. Have you been to the Wasteland?”
Cui Siter again packed tobacco into his pipe, at this mont only the pungent sll of smoke could offset the creeping dread within the mist.
“No.”
Lu Ban answered truthfully.
“The people of the Wasteland, rather than worshipping gods, try to beco gods themselves. Their Transcendents are Saints, and these Saints all possess powerful nas. Just like in the Wasteland’s country of the dead, its ruler’s na seems to be… Hades.”
Cui Siter recalled.
“Underworld King, huh…”
Lu Ban certainly knew that this na was of the Underworld King from Greek mythology and a villainous character in many works.
“Hmm? You haven’t been to the Wasteland, yet you know this na represents the Underworld King?”
Cui Siter was a bit surprised, but then nodded to himself.
“Probably so item descriptions have ntioned these things.”
“?”
Lu Ban sensed so issues.
“Old Cui, what number are you as a Chosen by Gods?”
“178, why?”
Cui Siter looked ahead, answering absentmindedly.
“Do you know about the old video websites?”
Lu Ban continued to inquire.
“Video websites… What are those?”
Cui Siter was visibly confused.
“How about the Abandoned Capital?”
“Abandoned Capital?”
The confusion in Cui Siter’s speech deepened.
“I live in the Abandoned Capital.”
Lu Ban felt a sinking feeling in his heart.
Indeed, Lu Ban had felt it was strange from the beginning.
Cui Siter’s language was not from Lu Ban’s world, he didn’t recognize Lu Ban, nor knew of the things from Lu Ban’s world. Even Greek myths like Hades were knowledge hard to co by for Cui Siter.
So, he was not from Lu Ban’s world.
This didn’t surprise Lu Ban since the Silent Lands were able to transport him to a Foreign Domain, so it was entirely possible to send people from other worlds in as well.
The only thing that surprised him was that Cui Siter ca from the Abandoned Capital.
That is to say, people from other Foreign Domains could also beco Chosen by the Silent Lands, venturing into other worlds to complete missions.
“So that’s how it is…”
Suddenly, Lu Ban pieced it together.
Therefore, the two beginner guide missions he first completed were not because the “System” created strange creatures in that world.
It was because Lu Ban’s world was originally one of the Foreign Domains of the Silent Lands.
As he pondered, the carriage stopped again.
Lu Ban leaned out.
He saw, in front of the horses, a stone statue stood.
The statue was in a twisted pose, praying towards a certain direction.
The lower half of the statue was of a slightly damaged normal human.
The head of the statue, was that of a fish.
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