"I'm here." Baliu smiled.
“The real me is not like this!”
Thirty minutes later, with the help of the strong vines pulled out by Baliu, the whole team finally climbed to a position near the top, panting.
There is a slope with a slope of no more than 30 degrees where people can rest. On the slope is the real peak, which is a huge rock connected to the bottom. It is flat as a whole, and the shadow it casts is just right for them to hide behind.
Darent stood up shakily with the help of the huge rock. Feeling the vibration, he turned his eyes and looked down. He could still see countless figures flying past in the dust and smoke.
Looking up again, the smoke and dust seemed to have no end, and even the dark clouds in the sky were blown away by the flying beasts.
"A crazy country."
He muttered.
"Maps."
"what?"
"Lift your head and look carefully to the east, and you'll see something even crazier."
"?"
Darent frowned—that’s where he had been looking all along.
But it seems... yes... he was only paying attention to the black spots in the clouds, but ignored the clouds themselves...
It seems like there is something moving towards this side behind the clouds.
Suddenly, with a loud crash, the dark clouds in the sky were knocked away by a huge object.
A light flashed before everyone's eyes, and they saw a huge black shadow standing there, flying towards them like a god.
--------
The total is almost 9000... I saw that some readers commented on the pairing of Alwin and Tenet, so I specially divided it into a chapter to explain it in detail.
I said at the beginning that it wouldn't be so dramatic, but now I have to do what I say.
Chapter 168 Infiltration Operation
Only after seeing this thing clearly did everyone understand why it was capable of triggering a blood beast riot of this scale.
Of course it has something to do with size... Yes, it is very big. Compared with it, the Pierre is like a toy. It is a real floating city - countless dark red soils are connected together by flesh and blood, mixed into a mass of material that is hard or soft and supported at the bottom. The higher it spreads, the more it gradually turns into a magnificent sculpture. Its gorgeous shape and exquisite details are ranked top even in the eyes of the Sara people - but this is not the core reason why it can spread panic.
The core reason is that as it moves slowly, thick black smoke is constantly spewing out from its bottom, which is a large mass of substance that cannot be identified.
The black smoke seemed to have its own consciousness. Every time it was sprayed out, the few people watching below could hear the wailing of thousands of people gathered together. From a distance, the smoke looked like dark clouds, and even gradually eroded the dark clouds, merging with them, rolling together, roaring silently, and spreading from the sky to the wasteland.
In just a blink of an eye, the eastern area of the wasteland - at least the area that they could not reach was completely covered by the black smoke. From time to time, the roars and howls of blood beasts could be heard from below. Along with the Chilian River, nothing could be seen.
Darent was speechless now. Apparently, he also realized what kind of strangeness this was. It concerned the future fate of everyone and the rescue plan that Hitzfeld had not yet finished talking about. He clenched his fists involuntarily and followed the shadow closely.
It was getting closer and closer, and just as the intelligence said, it would just pass over the mountain.
Is this a coincidence? How could there be such a coincidence?
"According to her, it's because the Sea King City is in that direction." Ethan broke the silence and said, "The Sea King City is like a nail stuck in that position. It is not only targeting the 'Mechanical Kingdom', but also the untamed and unsubmissive savage blood beasts in the fierce land."
His explanation was easy to understand, and the others immediately realized: Oujin City deliberately lowered its altitude at this distance, probably in order to drive out all the blood beasts that had multiplied during this period, just like a shepherd driving a flock of sheep and driving them to the foot of the Sea King City.
In this way, let them all die there, and celebrate the upcoming birthday party with their barbaric blood... This may be a fixed ritual.
"Don't let your imagination run wild." Ethan reminded, "You only have one chance, get in order and don't crash!"
"Then I'll be the first one." Bariwu said, "My vines... I'll be the first one. Even if someone gets into trouble down there, I can still save them."
"Then I'll be second."
"I'm the third one!"
Arrange the order as quickly as possible. At this time, the shadow is really close to the top, and the straight-line distance is probably less than ten meters.
After a closer look, they discovered that the base structure of this thing was very complex.
There are many holes and many metal pipes hidden in the biomass structure. There are thousands of intricate spiral steps surrounding the periphery, most of which are not connected, with only a gate at the end.
"Bang!" As I was watching, one of the doors suddenly opened.
A middle-aged man with a round hood and an extremely thick silver-gray beard appeared there, but his specific appearance could not be seen clearly because it was too dark.
This person obviously knew what he was doing and was so outrageous that he didn't dare to light the lamp. He opened the door and swung out a floating ladder made of rope as quickly as possible, letting it float in the air and move like a centipede.
The speed was a bit too fast... There was really only one chance. Without saying a word, Baliu jumped up immediately. While accurately grasping the rope ladder, she also stretched out her backhand, and her entire right arm turned into a forked vine, hanging all the remaining people - including Aman - on herself.
I could vaguely hear some people exclaiming in surprise, because this was indeed different from the agreed steps.
But Baliu believed that what he did was right. The rope ladder passed by too fast. If he jumped to the third person according to the original steps, the people behind him would easily fail to catch it no matter how far they jumped.
Looking up, the man who threw the ladder had disappeared.
It's like he never existed, or that he was only responsible for doing this one thing.
What happens next, whether this changes anything, has nothing to do with him.
“Pretty professional?”
With a sigh, Baliu struggled to climb up.
The people who were caught up by the vines also grabbed the rope ladder. She didn't need to hold them up anymore. She climbed up the stairs first by herself, clinging on to look down. There were either even smaller spiral stairs or black air currents passing by rapidly.
One by one, they pulled people up and rested on the steps for about ten seconds. Then they used their hands and feet to enter the doorway. Once they entered, they were paralyzed in the narrow and dark corridor, with a feeling of surviving a disaster churning in their throats.
It wasn't really dangerous. No one even saw any blood. At most, there were some joint abrasions caused by climbing.
But this operation was too wonderful and too crazy... It was not their first time to see a floating city, but it was their first time to board it in this way.
"Look here!" Darent's voice came from inside, "He left something for us!"
Aman turned his head to look at Leon. The Cornerel couple were actually the people he knew best here.
"He's always like this." Li Ang smiled weakly, "Maybe it's because he's a wooden man, and wooden men's emotions are slower than those of ordinary people."
A'man stared at his face for a few seconds, then shifted his gaze to his and Baliu's hands, which were intertwined and tightly clasped.
"..." Li Ang's mouth twitched, "I don't count."
There was no time to care about these things. One by one, they stood up and walked inside, and saw Darent squatting on the ground studying a pile of coarse cloth packages.
"Clothes." Hearing footsteps, he picked up a piece of clothing and showed it to them. "I can't tell what material it is, but I'm sure it's different from the ones on the ground."
Ethan took the thing, rubbed his fingers on it, and felt it. Indeed, this delicate texture could not be matched by linen clothes.
What is this, a smoothness and warmth that even silk cannot match?
"It's blood." Saibot said with a gloomy face, "I don't know how they did it. Either they drew blood to make threads, or they simply grew them..."
what?
Several other people also received clothes, and they felt a chill when they heard her say that.
Such a disgusting thing is placed here on purpose. You won’t force them to wear it, right?
“It’s not impossible.” Ethan had already started taking off his coat, and as he did so he admonished them, “We’ve all heard the legends of Oujin City—I mean the ones we heard in the Corrupted Blood Kingdom. It almost never lands on the ground, and is always so high up.”
"What do you want to say?"
"I want to say that maintaining pride also has a price, such as supply issues, food, water, food, clothing and other necessities. How can these be solved if they are not put on the ground?"
"Maybe... it replenishes a lot every time it lands?" Darent raised his eyebrows. "After all, it's not like it won't come down at all. Isn't it going to Sea King City now?"
"But the interval is too long." Ethan shook his head. "Almost a year. Sea King City has a larger population to support, so there are not that many resources to pay tribute."
Torres began to think divergently: "Perhaps this is why they drove away the blood beasts. Their meat and bones are considered resources..."
"Still can't think of it? All of these point to one thing, that is, Oujin City has the means to be self-sufficient!" Ethan snorted coldly, and then shook the new clothes he just got, "Food, clothing and daily necessities... There are unique standards here! We can't be out of touch, or we will be seen at a glance!"
Since he said so, it is impossible for others to have any objections.
But they at least retained the last bottom line, that is, they still wore the original underwear, and these clothes suspected to be woven with blood were only worn on the outside.
The styles of the clothes were good, and the overall look was of high quality... They suspected that this was a special order from Hitzfeld, because given their mental and physical appearance, it was indeed difficult for them to play the role of untouchables.
It is more appropriate to play the role of a commoner who is above the untouchables and below the nobles, has a little money and pursues class. Such a careful arrangement is in line with her style.
After changing their clothes, they wrapped the clothes they had taken off with the coarse cloth that they originally used to hold their clothes, and then they groped their way upstairs and found that this place was like a maze.
The passage was narrow enough to accommodate only one person, but there was no light in most places, and one could hear something bubbling as one passed through, not to mention the alarming stench that was spreading throughout the place.
"This is too troublesome..." Torres started complaining after taking two steps.
"We can't do anything about it." The pink-haired nun comforted him, "We can't cross the wasteland to the Sea King City."
The most comfortable passage is definitely to go to Neptune City with Hitzfeld, but who can stop them from passing?
Even finding this opportunity was considered luck - this was due to the fact that the terrain of the wasteland changed every year, and the stone wall was not in the same position last year.
Ethan was also tired. He habitually took out a cigarette box from his pocket and wanted to light a cigarette to relax. Then he remembered that "Black Owl" had reminded them that a considerable part of the stench surrounding Oujin City might come from gas.
Looking at the matches in his hand again, Ethan's face turned green. He quickly put the things back into his inner pocket and stared at the others sharply to see who else dared to do such a thing.
Then he was very depressed to find that there was no one there.
Therefore, I was the only one who woke up.
There were too many forks in the road and they soon lost their way.
Just as they were discussing the possibility of being locked up down there and starving to death, a rhythmic knocking sound suddenly came from above.
"Boom boom boom!"
If you listen carefully, the knocking sound is indeed there.
"Boom boom boom!"
It was as if someone was giving them directions in some corridor above.
"It's him!" They immediately remembered the man who threw the ladder and realized that the other party was not far away and wanted to take them away in this way.
There was no rush, so they just followed the instructions all the way, passing through tunnels, corridors and valves, and finally at some point, they smelled some fresh air.
"he's gone."
After waiting for a long time and hearing no sound, Ethan turned around and said to the others.
His hand fell on a bone gate, and with a little force, he pulled it inwards and opened it.
"ah--"
The door panel made a tooth-grinding noise. At the same time, a white light that had originally looked dim but at this moment was bright enough suddenly pierced through the darkness and sprinkled on the expectant faces of Ethan and others.
This is a commercial street.
Ethan was the first to come out of the door. He took two steps forward and found himself drowned in the crowd. A look of confusion appeared on his face.
Most of the surrounding buildings are made of dark bricks and stones. A group of people are crowded in front of the stalls to select items, and shouting and hawking can be heard in the distance.
It can’t be said to be gorgeous, and it certainly can’t be compared with Sara Commercial Street, but what is precious is its popularity. Ethan couldn’t help but feel like he had “finally returned to the world” when he was there.
The others were similar. They were busy looking at their surroundings and their minds went blank for a moment.
Aman was the first to react. He quickly realized that the exit was in a crowded place. What if someone saw them coming out?
Thinking of this, he immediately turned around to look at the gate.
But where is the gate?
A mass of grey-black biomass could be vaguely seen squirming and closing. It was a grey stone wall, and it didn't look like it could come out.
After groping in the streets and markets for nearly two hours, a group of people gathered in a relatively quiet house to discuss what to do next.
The informant did not give them money, but they had some bone materials obtained from the ground, mostly decorative pendants and the like. Unexpectedly, they were very popular and more than 3000 bone ropes were sold on that street. The house was rented with the money.
The houses in Oujin City are very expensive. This was the first lesson they learned when they first arrived in this expensive place.
It is completely different here than on earth. On earth, houses are cheap but food is expensive. Here, food and drink are extremely cheap, but house prices are terrifyingly high.
3000 bones can rent a house on the ground for at least three or four months, but here it can only be rented for 5 days.
Five days is just five days... Anyway, they have no plan to stay here for a long time. The most urgent thing is to lie low and rest without alerting the top management of Oujin. A place to stay is worth the price.
"I'll take a nap."
Torres said this as soon as he sat down. Without waiting for anyone to reply, he fell to the ground and began to snore softly.
In half a day, we experienced a tide of blood beasts, climbed stone walls, flew through terrifying waters, went through a stinky maze, and explored the city. We were already very physically exhausted, and what was even more torturous was that our nerves were tense all the time.