Seeing that Jenkins was still curious about this place, Mr. Augustus continued to explain patiently:
"It's hard to say what this place is. Maybe it's someone's memory, maybe it's a blank time segment in the cracks of time, maybe it's an alienated space, or maybe it's just a huge city under the material world. But it doesn't matter..."
He shook his head:
"It's just a bit troublesome to leave here. Although I can find the door to get in and out, that door needs a key."
"It's okay, as long as you lead me to that door, I can handle the key issue myself."
Jenkins immediately said that he believed that one of the two keys in his hands [the key to the door] and the [key to the silver] would always work.
"That's good, but how did you get in? You are not in the state of a soul now. As far as I know, there should not be many ways for a living person to enter the soul transfer station."
This time it was Mr. Augustus' turn to ask questions.
Jenkins didn't know how he got here. He suspected that it had something to do with the old woman, so when explaining, he started with the appearance of the old woman.
Mr. Augustus listened quietly, and finally nodded:
"That's right. I don't think the Church of the Sages can find any information about her. The old lady you mentioned was numbered B-12-1-6213 [Unintentional Soul Elicitor]. Actually In fact, I think only the church of death and the end of the day can find her detailed information. The birth of this humanoid numbered object has a very deep relationship with [Undead Underworld]. You can think of this as a very old love story The wrong result caused by entanglement with some young people who are not in awe. It is not convenient for me to say the specific things, but she has no malicious intentions. As for the light near her will increase, it is because she has swallowed a person similar to her image. The Type B extraordinary creature... It sounds disgusting, so I won't describe it to you.
The characteristics of the soul attractor are very simple. Once you stare at the old lady continuously for more than 74 seconds, you must have a dialogue with her before the distance with her exceeds 2000 feet (about 609 meters), otherwise you will be killed within 12 hours after the distance exceeds the limit. It has the ability to directly see the spirit body; in a small probability, it can see the messenger of death like me; in a very small probability, the soul and the body are separated from the relationship and cannot be restored, which is actually death; in very rare cases, then It will disappear directly into the material world and never appear again.
By now you should understand that the last attribute represents the person being sent to the soul transfer station. "
"So I've just had bad luck?"
Jenkins shook his head and smiled, but was not offended:
"I knew that my recent luck was a bit too good, and something should happen to make me unlucky."
"It's not bad luck, at least you found me directly. Are you going to leave now? I remember that there should be a locked door nearby."
Mr. Augustus inquired, and added:
"This kind of place is not suitable for living people to stay for a long time. Even if you are very strong, it's best not to try this strange place at will."
"That's right."
Jenkins nodded, and was about to follow Mr. Augustus to find the door, but thought of another thing:
"But before I leave, I want to ask a soul to ask something, is that okay?"
"Yes, as long as it doesn't take too long. But there are too many souls lingering in the soul transfer station, and I can only find nearby souls."
Mr. Augustus replied, leaving the office with Jenkins and entering the corridor. The gas lamp with a faint blue flame was extinguished after the two left the room, but at the same time the gas lamp on the wall of the office door ignited with a bang, allowing the gloomy blue light to illuminate a small area in front of the door.
As they moved, only one light was always on, but it was enough for the two to see the road ahead.
The soul of Tarquin the Proud is indeed nearby, and the topographical position of the soul transfer station is determined by the subjective consciousness of the person with the strongest soul among the observers who observe here, so the vicinity is still the internal structure of the church. Jenkins and Mr. Augustus finally found him in the main hall of the church, where Tarquin was sitting on a pew, looking at the hanging holy emblem.
It was supposed to be the location of the holy emblem of the sage, but in the transfer station it was the holy emblem of the end of death. This is also the only difference between the transfer station and the real church so far.
"The transfer station is full of souls that are unconscious and can only act on instinct. They will subconsciously fear those more powerful souls, so if they want to contact them, they must first awaken their sleeping consciousness."
Mr. Augustus introduced it, and then walked over first. Before Tarquin's soul tried to escape, he quickly stretched out his hand in his robe and drew a symbol like an eye in the air.
The symbol shone in the air, shrunk and finally entered the forehead of the soul of the king of the southern kingdom. He froze in place, and it took him a long time to show his expression as if he had just woken up from a dream.
"The effective time is only about twenty minutes."
Mr. Augustus whispered, and then quickly walked away from Tarquin.
"Enough time, I don't have many questions."
Jenkins replied, and took a few steps forward, and the proud Tarkovin's consciousness was almost clear. He didn't have time to look around, but saw Jenkins first:
"You died too?"
This was his first sentence, and an expression of extreme surprise appeared on the miserable green soul's face.
"No, I'm not dead."
Jenkins immediately denied it.
"So, I'm not dead?"
Tarquin expressed his gratitude again, and immediately touched his left arm with his right hand, but the perception in the spirit state was completely different from when he was alive.
"No, you are indeed dead... I just came here to have a look, and I'll leave right away."
"Is that so..."
Tarquin's originally surprised expression gradually solidified. This is a very dynamic process, clearly expressing his thoughts:
"Yes, you are the bestower, so you can find me even after I die."
"No, this bestower has nothing to do, it's just luck... Sorry, I think you are really dead, there should be no way to revive... I'm looking for you now to ask something."
"go ahead."
His tone gradually became flat, and the dark green light on his body also became a little weaker. The violent mood swings disappeared quickly, as if the burst crater had returned to dead silence.
"The autopsy showed that you died of tetrodotoxin, so do you know who killed you?"
"That's how he died."
Tarquin's expression became darker, but this was not obvious in the spirit body:
"It was probably done by people in China. If I guessed correctly, Turin has already announced that it will 'revenge' me? What a pity. It seems that my plan to stay in Turin and arrange it has failed. They I realized that I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of the Three Kings’ Talks to borrow troops from your queen and Sarshi II of the Northern Kingdom to solve the domestic problems once and for all, so I killed me in advance.”
This is the first time Jenkins has heard of it, and it sounds reasonable, but it's a lie:
"what are you planning to do?"
He really wanted to see why the other party lied even when he died.
"Pay the price of some territory and tariffs, borrow the power of other two countries to suppress the chaotic politics in one fell swoop..."
Before he finished speaking, he saw the expression on Jenkins' face, and "mistakenly thought" that it was the other party's disbelief, so he asked instead:
"You think it's a terrible idea?"
"Yes, even if you succeed, it also means that among the three human kingdoms, Cheslan will be subject to the other two kingdoms for at least a hundred years."
"But if I don't do this, it will be hard to say whether Cheslan still exists and belongs to our Arecio family after a hundred years. I also know that this decision is quite stupid, and I even guessed that even if I succeed, The history books of later generations will also use titles like 'traitor' to ridicule me. But so what? All this is for the country and for him to continue to exist."
If he didn't know that the other party was lying, Jenkins would have thought that Tarquin had accepted the fact of death, so he said some thoughts that he would never say to others. Jenkins actually didn't care what the other party thought. After all, he had nothing to do with this matter. He asked Mr. Augustus to help, not to understand the mental journey of the proud Tarquin.
"So the person who poisoned you this time is the same group as the person who used the curse to murder you last time?"
Ask in a different direction this time.
"I think it should be. Although I'm not very successful as a king, I haven't made the mistake of letting more people kill me."
"That is to say, do you know about the cooperation between Cheslan's high-level military and the bestower?"
Jenkins finally asked the key question.
Tarquin glanced at him and nodded slowly:
"Know."
This is the truth.
"Then do you know the origins of those bestowers?"
"Yes, but if you want me to tell you, then please do me a favor."
This is also true, and Jenkins frowned slightly:
"Is this a threat?"
"No, it's a deal."
Tarquin's tone was flat.
"Last time I contacted the church for you, and you died before you could repay this kindness. Then as a deal, you should take the initiative to tell me the information you have, so that we will not owe each other."
Without asking, Jenkins guessed that Tarquin wanted him to help deliver some news, so that those who still supported him could continue to act after his death. But Jenkins doesn't want to get involved in the politics of other countries, let alone get involved in troubles that don't belong to him. He has enough troubles now, there is no need to get into more things.
"I thought you were a decent gentleman."
The miserable green light flickered on Tarquin's spiritual body.
"Yeah, it's because I'm still upright that I can talk to you here calmly. Tarquin Wilman Arecio, please remember, I never take advantage of others easily, but I never take advantage of others easily Meddling in other people's affairs. You are dead, don't think about living people anymore, now answer my questions honestly and tell me some truths. Seeing that we are acquaintances when you are still alive, I don't will embarrass you."
Jenkins tried not to appear impatient.
"Even if you are the bestower, you can't hurt me easily. This is not the material world, and I know that the souls here are protected."
These are probably some basic rules about the transfer station that Tarquin got when he woke up.
But Jenkins didn't care, he turned his head to look at Mr. Augustus standing in the distance, and the messenger of death in black robe said very interestingly:
"There is indeed a similar rule... but that rule is used to limit the people in the rule, that is, you mortal souls and some malicious intruders. Viscount William is not restricted by the rule, because it is unnecessary, he has already Touched the essence of death, he is welcome here."
So Jenkins shrugged:
"I don't like to hurt others casually, so tell me now, who is cooperating with the Cheslan military and the nobles who oppose you?"
He took another step forward, getting closer to Tarquin. [Essence of Life] and [Aura of Fear] only played a little role, and the fragile human soul in front of him trembled subconsciously:
"The other party claims to be a tree house."
"Sure enough, it's them. I thought there would be enemies who haven't shown up until now."
Jenkins muttered in a low voice, and then asked suspiciously:
"But why did Treehouse choose to cooperate with them instead of you? Speaking rationally, wouldn't it be easier to get Cheslan's support by cooperating with you and promising to help you consolidate power?"
Prior to this, in the process of infiltrating Hampawo and Fidiktli, the tree house had contact with the two kings, and they both reached different degrees of cooperation. There's no reason Treehouse shouldn't have access to Tarquin the Proud, and he doesn't look like the type to flatly refuse to work with Treehouse.
"They came for me."
said the soul, trying to keep its voice normal. But because Jenkins did not stop the effect of [Aura of Fear], this was not a simple matter for Tarquin.
"You refused?"
Tarquin struggled and didn't want to answer, but the soul of a mortal has a limit, and now he couldn't help but say:
"No, I didn't refuse. After the group of people showed me their strength, they agreed with me on a cooperation plan at the cost of getting Cheslan's national support in exchange for helping me."
"What's the plan?"
Jenkins asked, but unexpectedly, even under the oppression of [Aura of Fear], Tarquin did not reveal the secret immediately, and this time he showed more intense struggle.
Jenkins is happy about this, because it shows that he may really be about to discover the big secret.
"What's the plan?"
Seeing that the other party did not speak, Jenkins took another step closer. Tarquin's soul wanted to retreat, but was blocked by a bench. Jenkins narrowed his eyes:
"I'm not strictly a bad person, but you have to understand that I never thought of myself as a good person."
The light in the soul is flickering, this time not because of the change of mood, but because the power of Jenkins is suppressing the soul of this ordinary person:
"I only ask once."
He feels that he is really a bit like a villain now:
"The last time, what is your cooperation plan?"
Some golden light penetrated from his body surface, and these lights gave Tarquin a more dangerous feeling, even more dangerous than before. A moment of inspiration made him involuntarily say:
"I promise to provide...some death row prisoners for them to sacrifice secretly in the virgin forest in the south!"
"how many people?"
Jenkins lowered his voice slightly.
"Five digits."
"Oh, this is really a big deal."
Even Mr. Augustus, who didn't intend to participate in the conversation behind him, couldn't help but sigh, and Jenkins felt incredible:
"Where did you find five-figure death row prisoners? I know there must be such a number in Cheslan, but I don't believe that you can transfer all the death row prisoners across the country to the southern forest, but there is no trace left." Next. Neither Hampavo nor Fidetictli have received any news, so are all the spies and secret agents entertained by you to a banquet?"
"Those people, in addition to, in addition to thousands of death row prisoners, death row prisoners, there are..."
It was obviously a spirit body, but he acted as if he couldn't breathe, because Jenkins grabbed the opponent's neck. The hand didn't pass through the spirit body, but actually grabbed it. After letting go, Jenkins noticed a clear black grip mark on the other's neck.
When a powerful evil spirit touches a living person, it will leave similar marks on the living person, and when a powerful living person touches an evil spirit, it will also leave similar marks on the body of the evil spirit.
"In addition to thousands of death row prisoners, there are also a few tribes living in the primeval forest, and the army responsible for this matter..."
Seeing that Jenkins' face was not good-looking, Tarquin didn't dare to continue.
"So the fire was really related to them? This explanation is reasonable, and a fire burned all the traces directly. After the rainy season comes, it will be washed again. When the spring comes next year, nothing will be found. … What is the purpose of the sacrifice other than fire? Don’t tell me, you don’t know anything.”
"I've heard them talk about it, but it's not very clear. It seems that the organization got the guidance of a very wise elder, and wanted to use sacrifices to control the main continental area of the material world, the area where smoke is least likely to gather. , also covered with smog. You know, even the desert in the middle of the continent has cities—because of the coal under the sand, but only the southern virgin rainforest is an undeveloped area, which has the best quality air in the world, cut Sri Lankan tourism in the southern forests…”
He consciously closed his mouth.
"So the forest fire that burned for several months in the southern forest of Cheslan was the product of that sacrifice?"
Jenkins confirmed.
"… Yes."
PS: 5K chapters, ask for votes and ask for everything.