twenty four
pain.
Headache.
My head hurts, my butt hurts, my waist hurts, my arms hurt, my legs hurt…
Ning Gu knew that this pain belonged to the handsome ghost town facade. Although the previous pain was equally real, after his three experiences, he could clearly feel that the pain accompanied by despair and struggle was Lian Chuan's.
But he still didn't know why he was in so much pain.
Based on experience gained from previous injuries, no matter if you faint, fall asleep, or are in any other state with your eyes closed, do not open your eyes after you wake up.
If someone is waiting to beat you, question you, or torture you, start the moment you open your eyes.
I have to ascertain the situation around me first, especially in a place like Lost Valley that is full of inexplicable weirdness, and after a confrontation that was unclear whether it was a fight or not.
"Stop pretending." A voice sounded in my ear.
This voice was really beyond Ning Gu's expectations. The distance was too close, and he could even feel the person's breath on his face as he spoke.
"I know… "
Ning Gu swung his arm towards the direction of the sound, then jumped up and opened his eyes.
Bang!
Judging from the feel of his hand, he could tell that he had slapped someone on the face with a crisp sound.
When he turned around and looked in the direction where the voice came from, he saw a man wearing a dog-headed bat mask, standing two meters away from him, covering his face.
Ning Gu didn't care about anything else. He quickly looked around and found that he was no longer in the previous vertical shaft, but at the bottom of the conical vertical shaft that was larger at the top and smaller at the bottom that he had seen when he came to the Lost Valley last time.
When I looked up, I saw red light shining through the layers of caves extending upward, which was quite majestic.
Where is Lianchuan
Where is the vertical hole just now
This one... these two... these three...
At some point, seven or eight people appeared silently next to the dog-headed bat. They were obviously bats.
Where do these bats come from
Ning Gu suddenly remembered the old blind man's words.
This is the Nine Wings' lair.
Jiuyi is the boss of the bats, and he is also the dog-headed bat that he had just slapped.
Yes, he is worthy of being the bully of Ghost Town. He slapped Jiuyi in the face in his lair.
"I said we should tie him up." A skinny bat next to Jiu Yi said, "Let's tie him up?"
"Go get the rope." Jiu Yi said.
Several bats ran away.
Jiuyi slowly walked up to Ning Gu and looked him up and down.
Ning Gu was not polite either, and looked him up and down, nodding.
However, Jiuyi was not the same as Ning Gu had imagined. Apart from the mask that covered half of his face, there was no sign of any modification on his body.
"Where is Lianchuan?" Jiuyi stretched out his index finger and pointed it at Ning Gu's face. When it was half an arm's length away, a cold light flashed at the fingertips, and a metal spike stretched out and poked Ning Gu's face.
Oh, there are modifications. As expected, Batman’s modification is much more exquisite.
"Who is Lian Chuan?" Ning Gu raised his hand and flicked it, deflecting Jiu Yi's finger away from his face with a ding sound.
"Don't play dumb," Jiuyi said, "Traveler, don't you know who Lianchuan is?"
"I was born just six months ago," Ning Gu said, "It's my first time in the main city. I want to know who Lian Chuan is, a big shot?"
Jiu Yi paused, stared at him for a long time before turning to the bat next to him and saying, "Check if his brain is damaged."
"You don't even know about the Traveler Speed Rebirth?" Ning Gu said with a sigh, "You look like a boss, but you don't even know this. How did you become the boss?"
Jiu Yi turned his head back and stared at him.
Ning Gu ignored him and took the time to look around, observe the terrain, and find a way to escape.
"Grow quickly!" Jiuyi suddenly roared.
The roar that echoed so loudly startled Ning Gu so much that his back didn't even hurt anymore.
"Quick growth is the regeneration of severed limbs! The only person who could quickly grow up died ten years ago!" Jiu Yi roared again, "I've never heard of a six-month-old baby quickly growing into a man!"
"That's right, you haven't heard of it," Ning Gu raised the corner of his mouth, "I lied to you."
"Hit him," said a bat.
"Tie him up and beat him." Jiuyi said.
Ning Gu was still very confident in fighting with bats. It was just that he could jump higher, and his metal accessories were more resistant to blows. Some accessories seemed to be electrified and would cause stinging when touched.
But bats fight differently from travelers. They don’t consider one-on-one fights at all. They just attack at the same time with eight of them.
Ning Gu had just kicked the one in the middle when he was hit more than a dozen times.
He hesitated for a second whether to run or not, and after being hit several more times, he turned around and jumped onto a large iron block next to him, kicking over two bats. His legs were hit by a circle of bats and he could hardly bend them. Another bat jumped above him.
He quickly jumped off the pier, but was still poked on the back by something.
And this time, he was hurt.
Burning with anger.
A ghost town... Never mind what's so great about it? Once you leave the ghost town, you'll be beaten. You'll be beaten all the time, and there's no chance for you to hold your head high!
Now a few broken bats want to tie him up and beat him!
He didn't know if he could go back to the ghost town. Lian Chuan, his only lifeline, was still missing. Now he was trapped in the bat nest and beaten by a group of bat cubs. Their boss was watching the show with a smug look on his face...
This reminded him of the previous fight on the stage with the metal frame, which was very... depressing.
Great! Traveler!
This was the grievance he had never experienced since he was a child, even when he was hung on the bell tower for public display.
Burning with anger! Burning!
"You guys," Ning Gu turned his head suddenly and stared at the bats chasing after him. He felt his eyes getting hot from anger. "Go play with shit."
With his last word, everyone felt the shock.
The vibration seemed to come from inside the body. There was no sound, but the air seemed to freeze.
There are ripples.
Just a moment.
The red light of the Nine Wings' nest was completely extinguished.
When the red light appeared between the cave walls again, all the little bats except Jiu Yi fell to the ground, holding their heads and groaning in pain.
Ning Gu didn't know what had happened, he just felt the pain from the puncture wound on his back.
"Awesome," Jiuyi raised his hands and clapped his hands, "Awesome, no wonder the main city sent Lianchuan to capture you."
"Where's Lianchuan?" Ning Gu stopped beating around the bush with him. Jiuyi looked nervous, but he was not the kind of person who could calm down and negotiate terms after a few beatings.
"I don't know," Jiu Yi looked at his men who were slowly getting up, "but I can help you."
Ning Gu didn't say anything, just looked at him.
"I can help you find Lianchuan. No matter if it's a person or an object here, if the bat says it can't be found, no one can find it," Jiuyi walked to the iron platform and sat down, tapping the platform with his fingertips, "I can also get you out safely."
"Conditions." Ning Gu asked.
"Lianchuan belongs to me," Jiuyi said, "When you destroy the main city in the future, leave half for the bats."
Ning Gu remained silent this time, not because he wanted to suppress his momentum, but because Jiu Yi's words made him really not know what to say in order to resist asking him if he had any hidden brain disease.
"Do you think I'm crazy?" Jiu Yi asked.
"It's okay." Ning Gu said.
"There are so many failed experimental subjects in the main city, destroyed or discarded, too many to count," Jiuyi held his chin and tapped the mask with his fingertips, "What were they for? And why were those thrown into Misty Ridge?"
"What is Misty Ridge?" Ning Gu asked.
"Lost Tunnel," Jiuyi looked at him, "You are not really only half a year old? You don't even know this?"
"I just don't know the scientific name." Ning Gu said.
"Don't you understand what I just said?" Jiu Yi asked.
He really didn't understand, but now he had no interest in any experimental subjects except Lian Chuan.
"Why are you okay?" Ning Gu stared at Jiuyi's mask. No matter what happened just now, it was a certain fact that Jiuyi was not affected.
"Me?" Jiu Yi stopped tapping the mask with his fingers and shook it twice. "I don't have a brain."
The lines were actually copied.
This was Ning Gu’s first reaction.
"I don't have a brain—" Jiu Yi opened his arms, raised his face and shouted happily, "The main city can't do anything to me—the poets can't do anything to me! Qi Hang can't do anything to me!"
Ning Gu looked at him in shock. It was the first time he saw someone so ecstatic about having no brains.
"However," Jiu Yi retracted his arm, continued to support his chin, and smiled at him, "I can't leave the Lost Valley either. I only go up there once a year to catch my breath."
"Is it empty?" Ning Gu pointed at his head.
"Full of them!" Jiu Yi said, "They are all dead."
Ning Gu was silent.
"How about it? My conditions." Jiuyi returned to the topic.
It turns out that talking to Jiuyi is not as efficient as talking to Lianchuan, because Lianchuan will not go off topic.
"Lianchuan belongs to me," Ning Gu said, "I will destroy the main city..."
He said this without any confidence: "After that, I will give you half of the land."
"He wants to kill you," Jiuyi looked at him, "He captured you to hand you over to the main city, you know that, right? They need special raw materials, people like you, otherwise their experimental subjects will always be just zombies. You should hand Lianchuan to me, and I will help you kill him."
"Raw materials," Ning Gu thought for a moment, "how to use them?"
"Are you like this?" Jiuyi stood up, walked in front of him, and poked him back and forth with his fingers. "Tie him up, put a string on his head, and keep sending them to those empty shells..."
"Don't touch me." Ning Gu felt a little creepy when he heard it. He didn't know whether it was true or not, so he slapped Jiuyi's hand away.
"Why don't you ask Lian Chuan?" Jiu Yi stepped back, "But he definitely doesn't remember."
"He is the precursor experimental subject." Ning Gu said.
"Ah, yes, you have met the poet," Jiuyi nodded, "The poet wants Lianchuan..."
Just as Ning Gu was about to speak, Jiu Yi slapped his thigh and said, "Then we must hurry, or the poet will get there first!"
"Take me to find him." Ning Gu said.
"Conditions." Jiu Yi said, "We haven't reached a deal yet."
"Lianchuan is mine," Ning Gu repeated, "I'll give you half of the main city."
"Lianchuan is mine." Jiuyi said.
"I'll find it myself," Ning Gu said, "There's no place for you in the main city."
Jiu Yi stared at him for a long time before asking, "Why? Do you have to save him?"
"He saved me." Ning Gu said.
"It's me!" Jiu Yi roared, "It was me who saved you!"
"Where did you save me?" Ning Gu asked.
"My men found you in an abandoned cave in the Chanting Cave." Jiuyi said.
"Why was I there?" Ning Gu asked, "The last thing I remember was Lian Chuan pulling me into the vertical cave."
"How should I know!" Jiu Yi roared.
"So he saved me," Ning Gu said, "not you. He disappeared because he saved me."
Jiuyi laughed for a long time, then suddenly raised his hand and flicked his fingers, and a buzzing sound came from his fingertips.
Several dark shadows appeared on the surrounding cave walls.
"Go find Lianchuan," Jiuyi said, "and recite the poem at the bottom of the vertical cave. Hurry, before the poet wakes up."
The Black Ring Team went to find Lianchuan, and their efficiency was much higher than Ning Gu's. They were familiar with the terrain and had no obstruction.
But Ning Gu still insisted on going to look for it.
He didn't want to stay with Jiu Yi, fearing that he would be infected by the brainless monster.
Also because of anxiety.
He must be present when Lianchuan is found. He does not trust the moody Jiuyi. This man has deep entanglements with the main city. After all, the Lost Valley was once the territory of the main city.
Also because of what Jiuyi said.
Some of the ten thousand or more experimental subjects that failed in the main city were thrown into the Lost Valley.
He suspected that Jiuyi, who was still alive without a brain, might be an experimental subject.
These words even reminded him of the secret basement in the ghost town. No one could enter, and many people had no idea what was in the basement.
Those "former travelers" in the basement...
Ever since he knew that Lian Chuan was an experimental subject, he felt that it was not strange no matter who was an experimental subject.
Such a living person seems to have no emotions most of the time, but he knows what he had felt in the past, although they were all painful.
Pain is the most real.
The leader said: "You will remember it only when it hurts."
Lianchuan is actually an experimental subject.
Ning Gu was not sure why Lian Chuan wanted to save him.
He only knew that he had the card that could restrain Lian Chuan, but the reason why Lian Chuan could gamble so big... was because he knew that he could also save him.
In this case, he has to save Lianchuan.
Only after saving Lianchuan can he figure out a lot of things.
And what kind of existence are the travelers who have always been fighting against the main city, are the enemy of the main city, plunder, and kill
There is also a leader who treats him like a father, with love and strictness, rewards and punishments, makes him afraid but also makes him feel safe...
His parents...
"Don't think you are really the savior." A little bat said as he walked behind Ning Gu.
This bat named Fulu was sent by Jiuyi to keep an eye on him. Ning Gu looked back and saw that the bat was so small that he could pierce it with one punch.
"Then you are." Ning Gu said.
"Of course I am not either," said Fulu, "I am just reminding you that there are hundreds of keys."
"What?" Ning Gu was stunned.
"You stole the key from Huayan, didn't you?" Fulu said, "Everyone wants that thing, but there are hundreds of them in the Lost Valley. It is said that they are only useful if you find all of them. Hundreds of them are in the Lost Ridge, so no one can get them."
"Can you count?" Ning Gu couldn't help asking.
"I'm telling you, it's useless even if you take it," Fulu said, "Don't think you can challenge Jiu Yi just because you have one."
Ning Gu was very touched.
Fulu went through a lot of trouble just to protect his boss.
The Lost Valley, which is not frequented by travelers, looks a bit lonely. Many places are very quiet. In the several trading halls passed by, the owners of the goods could not be seen, only a pile of goods piled up in a mess.
The Black Ring team has already split up and gone to the chanting vertical cave. Only one Black Ring is leading the way for Ning Gu. Ning Gu doesn't have any awesome modifications, so he can't jump up and down on the cave wall and has to take a mine cart to go down.
The road was complicated. Without Lian Chuan, Ning Gu had no idea where he was after three turns.
I just know that I'm going downhill all the time.
Finally, they stopped in front of a narrow cave covered with red light. Black Ring, who was leading the way, turned his head and said, "Don't talk until the car stops. No one will survive if they wake up the poet."
"Let's go." Ning Gu said.
The mine cart was like an iron bowl, and it would be full when three people stood in it. Ning Gu leaned against the edge of the bowl, and when the cart moved, he saw a track underneath.
The track spiraled downwards in circles on the huge cliff of the well, as if it was about to fall into the abyss.
The mine cart was moving quite fast. Ning Gu had never fallen from such a high place before, so he became a little nervous and held on to the edge of the bowl.
At the bottom of the chanting cave, there was no red light anymore, only darkness.
When the mine cart stopped, Ning Gu felt a biting cold.
Although there was no wind here, this cold was more penetrating than the cold in the ghost town, and Ning Gu shivered.
The bottom of the vertical hole is not flat, and there are many sharp spikes more than two people tall, which looks like a place of torture.
Several black rings climbed and jumped nimbly from the spikes and arrived in front of them.
One of them gestured.
The gesture was too simple and had no confidentiality at all. Ning Gu could tell at a glance that the movement of the hand stroking the neck and the head tilting meant that Lian Chuan had been found.
And it was a dead Lianchuan.
Ning Gu couldn't tell what he felt. He wasn't very sad. A hyena that had always wanted to kill him, catch him, and beat him countless times, and had never been friendly to him, was dead, so it was dead.
Even without Lianchuan, those secrets might still be unsolved.
Without Lianchuan, he could still negotiate with Jiuyi to protect himself.
but…
He felt a chill in his heart, and his mood dropped along with the temperature here.
After all, according to his understanding, Lian Chuan's death was to allow him to survive.
There were only the faint footsteps of a few people around. There seemed to be nothing else in the forest of spikes, and no trace of the poet or Qi Hang could be felt.
They passed through the spike forest and saw a small flat land in front of them. Further ahead of the flat land was a huge cave.
Inside the cave entrance was the black fog that Ning Gu was familiar with, as well as a red light that was so dim that it was almost obscured by the black fog.
When he looked into the cave, his body tensed up.
Lianchuan was suspended in the air.
A few wisps of black mist revealed a faint golden light, which was swirling around him continuously.
Before Ning Gu could figure out what it was, a black mist passed through Lian Chuan's chest.