Because of the existence of the fire, not only is it not dark at all inside the blacksmith shop, but those blood-red flickering flames are even a bit dazzling. A blacksmith with a big beard and naked upper body was standing in front of the anvil in a leather apron and was striking iron with a sledgehammer. Every dull impact seemed to suppress the sound of Jenkins' heartbeat.
He squinted at Jenkins at the sound of footsteps, twitched his muscles, and motioned him to look at the cardboard hanging on the wall with the transaction on it. The blacksmith not only offers peddling, but like the nuns of the church, he also has tasks that allow Jenkins to earn dice.
But Jenkins didn't look at the cardboard carefully, but looked at the iron muscles all over the blacksmith's body. It was the unique brass color of the alloy of the difference engine. The blacksmith was really made of iron. This cannot be the original blacksmith. According to the characteristics of this paradox, there cannot be non-flesh creatures here:
"It's a good exercise."
As he spoke, he left the blacksmith's shop on the same road. He will not easily set foot in any area related to the difference engine, so even if the blacksmith can sell weapons that can directly kill the difference engine, or even sell them with only one dice, he will never buy them.
He breathed a sigh of relief after leaving the blacksmith's shop completely. After confirming that the blacksmith hadn't chased him, he threw a dice in his hand again, and the number 8 was displayed when it landed. Although it is less than the average, it has still crossed the front intersection.
Jenkins chose to turn towards the street where the Guzhen Hospital was located. After passing eight stone slabs, he had a 1/2 chance of winning the bet, and happened to stop in front of one of the hospital's doors.
The buildings on this side of the entire street are part of the hospital, and the hospital is three stories high, one of the few high-rise buildings in the town. It looked equally dilapidated here, with green moss and blood stains all over the steps, and the dust made it impossible to judge the original color of the steps.
There are pillars on the slender platform parallel to the street on the steps, and the patterns of the pillars have long been obliterated by the years. Further inward is the door of the hospital. Most of the door frames have no doors, and a small number of door frames have only half or even less than half doors left.
Knowing the importance of this hospital, Jenkins organized his luggage again, checked the items in the backpack, put the magic sword behind his back, held the backpack in his hand, and finally stepped up the steps. The town itself was very cold, and the closer to the hospital entrance, the faster the temperature dropped. By the time Jenkins stood in front of the gate, the temperature here had dropped to around minus ten degrees.
He let out a breath and watched it turn into white mist in the air. Even if there is no door, it is still impossible to peek into any building from the street. But he felt it, felt his blood was agitated, and felt that his body was about to melt.
This is almost impossible for him now, which can only mean that the hospital is either the sustenance of the power of [Scarlet Mayfly], or there are more terrifying things besides the beast of disaster.
The background of this strange situation is extremely weird. If the secrets hidden in the town itself are deeply explored, the benefits that can be brought are definitely not just trading items from the townspeople. But Jenkins believed in the admonition of the bell ringer, as well as the kind reminder of the nuns in the church.
Maybe after he truly becomes a god, he will come to explore the truth here, but at least not now.
"The things inside have nothing to do with me, I just want to find another door."
He said to himself in his heart, and finally stepped over the threshold and entered the inside of the town hospital.
Although the town looks dilapidated and backward, in fact, judging from the streets and the interior of a few buildings, the approximate level of industrial development here should be at the beginning of the steam civilization, which is about the same as a hundred years ago at the present time of the 18th century.
Although backward, there are still steam pipes. So when Jenkins entered the hospital, he wasn't too surprised to see the glimmer of gas lamps on the walls around him.
"Candles are being lit in other places, but the gas lamps here are only on. It really is a special building."
After entering the hospital, the first thing you come to is the front hall, which is like an ordinary hospital, with a simple service desk and waiting seats. Because Jenkins entered from one end of the hospital building, only the corridor to the right extends, but the height of the corridor is a bit shorter than that of the front hall, and the walls have a tendency to be skewed, not like a corridor but like a mine. The artificially excavated channel of the class.
He stood on the spot and looked around, and was about to go to the corridor to have a look, but he didn't expect to stand up behind the rotten wooden service desk.
It is wrong to say that it is a person, it should be regarded as a ghost. The color of the spirit body is normal, and it seems that its sanity still exists. It is the image of a young woman wearing a heavy nurse's attire:
"What are you doing standing there? Stranger, are you here to see a doctor?"
She greeted Jenkins familiarly.
"I injected blood provided by the townspeople, and I feel that I am more susceptible to body deformation curses. Is there a way to treat it?"
Jenkins thought for a while and asked.
"It could be cured before, but the townspeople provided low-quality blood. Using high-grade blood for blood therapy is enough to suppress those effects."
"No, I injected not only those old women's blood, but also nuns' blood."
"That's okay, it's just that the process required is more complicated. But it can't be treated now, it's all in the past."
The ghost nurse said a little lonely, this is quite humane, if it is not for the appearance of a spirit body, she is no different from a normal human being. This is almost impossible. The rationality of the soul is different from that of humans. Jenkins has never heard of such an undead:
"You mean it could be cured before?"
"Yes, it was possible before, but now the hospital is deserted, can't you even see this?"
The ghost pointed strangely at the dilapidated surroundings. There were glowing moss on the walls, piles of dust on the ground, seats piled up in the corners, racks for hanging bottles across the front of the corridor, and the oil paintings on the walls were all gone. , but drew with blood a pattern that no one can understand but makes people feel creepy:
"Outlander, can't you really not see all this?"
Of course Jenkins could see it, but the townspeople just now were used to it, and he thought it was the norm in the town.
"I... Forget it, I don't care what happened in the hospital, but why are you still here?"
He didn't directly ask about the hidden doors in the hospital, fearing it would provoke other reactions.
"I?"
The ghost thought for a while:
"I have no other place in town but to stay here and tell everyone that the hospital is completely deserted. Look, am I telling you now?"
The nurse's ghost seems sensible, but Jenkins always feels that the other party is probably abnormal:
"Okay then, I'm a foreigner."
"I know."
"..."
Jenkins looked at the ghost who interrupted his speech, and after making sure that the other party didn't want to say anything else, he continued:
"I want to get out of here."
"Every stranger thinks so."
"So, do you know where the other door in the hospital is, the door to the other street?"
"Ah! You know this. Did the beggars in the town tell you?"
"Yes, then do you know about the door?"
Jenkins found the conversation boring.
"of course I know."
Jenkins didn't continue to ask, but stared at the ghost, who also stared at him, and it took dozens of seconds to react as if he had just realized:
"Oh, you want me to tell you where that door is?"
Then winked at Jenkins, expecting his answer.
"Yes."
"Well, I can tell you, but you have to do one thing for me."
Then he winked at Jenkins again, not expecting Jenkins to say yes, but more like expecting Jenkins to speak.
"Okay, that's fair."
Jenkins replied, and immediately, the ghost rejoiced as if he had received a gift.
Although the ghost nurse seemed a little out of her mind, at least she was friendly and willing to answer Jenkins' questions.
Her request to Jenkins is to defeat the monster hiding on the third floor of the hospital. Jenkins didn't have to worry about admitting his mistakes. Although there were many monsters hiding in the hospital, there was only one on the third floor.
"Because it's so powerful, other things are afraid to go to the third floor."
The ghost explained it like this.
As for the reasons for the abandonment of the hospital, the nurses did not know too many details, only knowing that the day the hospital was abandoned, the hospital was truly abandoned. But during the conversation, even when Jenkins didn't ask, the ghost inadvertently revealed the town's scariest truth:
"The most terrifying thing in this town is of course the townspeople. Except for outsiders like me who stay in the town to hold certain positions, the town's aborigines are the ones this town wants to seal."
Speaking of this, the Ghost was as casual as if he were talking about the contents of the dinner:
"Every townsman has quite terrifying power. Although they look like humans, in fact, they are part of an ancient evil whose name I don't know, and they form a whole together. They are controlled by a very powerful The existence is sealed at the intersection of chaotic time and space, which is here. At the same time, in order to suppress their power, the town will regularly draw 'blood' from the material world to satisfy their desires. The town's hospital is to provide so-called Blood therapy, constantly weakening their strength."
"But now the hospital is abandoned."
"Yes, but so what? After so many years, the townspeople and the town have been integrated into one, they can't leave, and they don't want to leave, so blood therapy has lost its meaning. Unless there is a lunatic directly smashing town, otherwise this place will be peaceful forever, until everything dies..."
Hearing this sentence, Jenkins had some bad thoughts in his mind. The Difference Engine must be regarded as a lunatic, and if the other party knows the truth here, there is a high probability that they will use their own power to find a way to defeat him.