. After walking along the passage for a long time, the two of them could not tell how far they had gone because the surrounding black metal walls and the green light passage were the same.
The uneasiness in the gunsmith's heart became more and more intense. Not only did he not feel sleepy or hungry, he didn't even feel the decrease in physical strength. It seemed as if he could move forward forever. He even suspected that his body's metabolism had completely stopped and he had become a zombie, but his breathing and heartbeat were still normal, which showed that he was still alive.
It wasn't until he saw the end of the passage that the gunsmith's suppressed emotions recovered.
There is also a black metal wall at the end, but there is a handprint-shaped symbol on it.
John, who was walking in front, stopped and turned around and said, "There is only one symbol. It seems we have no choice."
The gunsmith replied: "Then press it."
Ten seconds later, after the strong cyan light came on and then disappeared, the two came to a very open space, as big as a football field, and the roof was also very high. The top of this space is semicircular, and the ground is flat. The cyan light track on the floor depicts the scenery of mountains and rivers. The lights on the top are basically text, and there are two very conspicuous graphics. , seems to represent the sun and the moon.
The gunsmith couldn't help but admire this spectacular scene. This place was probably a microscopic world built by the people who built the ruins based on the world they imagined. But the gunsmith thought about it for a while and found it strange. Could a prehistoric mysterious civilization with such technology only know that the sky is round and the earth is round
John walked to the middle of the room, stared at the center of the "earth", and waved to the gunsmith: "Hey! Charles, look there is a handprint symbol here. This is the first time that two handprints are juxtaposed."
The gunsmith walked up to John and looked down. After only two seconds of looking at it, he understood the meaning of the mark: "The two symmetrical palm prints, with the thumb pointing inward, and the small oval shape above is the mark on the forehead, it should be Someone needs to put their hands on the ground and kowtow to trigger it. Of course, looking at this size, it is still suitable for the size of a child of a black creature."
John said: "Then let's try? Maybe this is the way to get out."
The gunsmith stepped back and made a "please" gesture.
John sat on the ground, leaned forward, aimed his hands at the pair of mudra symbols and pressed them, then lowered his head. When his forehead touched the ground, there was no strong light as expected, but a large block of light instead. The friction sound caused by the movement of metal.
A huge statue of a human head, more than twenty feet high, slowly rose from the ground, located two meters directly in front of John. At that moment, John seemed to be kneeling towards the statue.
"Okay, what is this? A metal replica of the Easter Island stone statue?" John stood up and looked up at the statue in front of him.
The gunsmith observed the face of the statue. Generally speaking, it was a human face, but it looked a little different from modern humans. The brow bone and bridge of the nose are very prominent and forward, but the angle from top to bottom is vertical and gentle, so the nose does not appear to be bulging; the eye sockets of the statue are very flat, and the eyes are almost retracted inside the face, but the size of the eyeballs The proportions are relatively normal; there is no philtrum under the nose, and there is nothing special about the chin and mouth; the ears are slightly strange, growing slightly higher than today's people, and their shape is longer.
After the statue was fully raised, the huge mouth opened. The gunsmith got closer and found that there was no tongue or teeth in the mouth of the statue. Maybe the maker was too lazy to carve them? He looked closer and saw an irregularly shaped cyan crystal, which was emitting a faint light.
John reached in and picked up the piece, raised it to his eyes and looked at it: "Although I don't know what this is, I have a feeling that if I can take it out, it will definitely sell for a good price."
The gunsmith said, "Show me."
John handed the crystal to the gunsmith. The gunsmith took a look and then said, "Next, do you want to say that this crystal can probably help us get out of this hellish place."
John was stunned for a moment; "What did you say?"
The gunsmith continued: "Oh? Do you have any other plans? Are you planning to take me around the ruins again? I think it's better to save it. When I see this thing, I will understand Now, your ultimate goal..."
John's expression suddenly changed, or in other words, he suddenly became expressionless: "When did you see through me?"
The gunsmith said: "If I'm absolutely sure... it's probably in that passage."
"Am I too brave to lead the way?" the other party asked.
The gunsmith denied: "No, your imitation was perfect. Every reaction, speculation, and expression you made was consistent with John's character, and there were no obvious signs of lying. Judging from your performance, I It's impossible to think that you're not John."
Fake John said: "So? Why did you finally find out?"
"Of course from those 'you didn't show it' things." The gunsmith replied: "Hunger and fatigue, I haven't felt it for a long time...
You and I are in the same environment. At least from the moment I woke up, we had neither food nor drink nor sleep. The real John was either exhausted after going through this ordeal, or was surprised by this tireless anomaly, but you didn't show any sign or say anything. When I first woke up, you mentioned that I would die without food and water, but after that, you completely ignored my physiological needs and took it as a matter of course. This is quite strange. "
Fake John said: "I see, this is indeed an oversight. At first, I didn't know what hunger and fatigue felt like. It wasn't until I absorbed this person named John that I obtained some general information from his memory. It's a pity. There is still a big gap between the memory in people’s minds and their actual feelings.”
"Absorb it..." the gunsmith said, "Is John really dead?"
"Yes, after you entered the ruins through the river, I absorbed him, then brought you unconscious inside, and then disguised yourself as John." The other party actually took the initiative to explain the situation. It seemed that John's death had nothing to do with him.
The gunsmith asked with a look of disgust, "What on earth are you?"
"In a language you can understand, you can call me 'Dark Water'." Dark Water replied.
The gunsmith understood as soon as the other party introduced himself. The fake John standing in front of him was undoubtedly the black creature he had encountered before: "Is this your name or the title of your entire race?"
"There is no difference." Anshui said: "My clan has perished, and I am unique in this world."
The gunsmith sneered: "Except for the first time when I triggered the mechanism, you pressed every fingerprint next time. You led me all the way here, and then pretended to 'discover' the activation symbol of the statue in the middle of the room. The final Is this the purpose?" He raised the cyan crystal in his hand.
"Yes, I need your ability, alchemy." Dark Water was still blunt.
The gunsmith said: "So... can I understand it this way? What you call 'absorption' can obtain the knowledge in the biological memory and imitate its appearance, but it cannot obtain the abilities of the absorbed person, at least not all abilities." He looked at the dark water in front of him: "Even if you look like John now, you are still a black monster in essence." "
Dark Water had no reaction to the monster's name and just replied: "Yes, so I didn't absorb you, but saved you. I need your alchemy to repair the 'eternal core'."
According to the gunsmith's inference, the guy in front of him is probably a creature without any emotions. At least his emotional reactions are far less sensitive than modern humans. He will only do what "needs" to be done and will not question the correctness of it at all. "Sex", because he doesn't even have the concept of "right and wrong", let alone the traditional moral concepts in human society.
"What if I refuse to help you?" the gunsmith asked, and he was not afraid to ask. Anyway, a creature without emotions will neither be angry nor lie.
Darkwater is indeed like this, but his unvarnished answer feels like a threat: "I will torture you on the basic condition of not harming your life and superpowers until you agree to repair the eternal core."
The gunsmith said: "I dare to ask you how you came up with such a smart idea..."
Dark Water said: "I am a much more advanced species than you. I naturally know how to achieve my goals through learning. The knowledge gained from John's memory has given me enough to understand your race and the current situation of this era, deception and torture. Both are good methods, and as far as I know so far, these two methods are much more effective than pleading.
Therefore, I suggest that you agree to my request immediately. No shackles of hypocrisy can restrain my actions, and I will definitely achieve my goal. "
The gunsmith thought for a while and replied: "Yes, but I have a condition."
Anshui said: "Do you want to use the form of 'transaction'? That's fine too. What do you need?"
"Return the bone gun to me." The gunsmith said, he seemed very confident: "I think that with your wisdom, you will not let the weapon that can destroy the armor made by your civilization drift away. Yes."
An Shui did something very disgusting without saying anything. He put his hand into his mouth, and his jaw was instantly dislocated, but he still had a paralyzed expression on his face as he continued to put his hand in. Half of his arms were inserted into his body, and his neck was obviously stretched, and his abdominal cavity was almost He swelled up and then suppressed it, and finally he took out the greasy and wet bone gun covered in black mucus from his esophagus.
He sent the gun to the gunsmith: "Do you still want those two scimitars?"
The gunsmith's jaw was about to dislocate. He was so shocked that he quickly replied: "You better keep the knife..." He was really afraid that the other party would do this kind of thing of taking things from the body again in front of him. , if the dark water changes to the third route, it is estimated that the gunsmith will have to dig out his own eyes to preserve the chastity of the dog eyes.
The gunsmith took the bone gun, pulled off a piece of cloth from Anshui's clothes, and wiped it again and again. During the process, the other party actually said very calmly: "The clothes on my body are different from this black color." The composition of the mucus is the same."
The gunsmith wiped the gun and patted the cloth on Anshui's shoulder: "Really?"
The piece of cloth gradually submerged into Anshui's body, answering the gunsmith's question.
Anshui looked at the gunsmith and said, "I returned the bone gun to you. It's your turn to repair the eternal core."
What responded to him was the sound of a gunshot, the bullet passed through An Shui's eyebrows, his head exploded, and black slime splashed out more than ten meters behind him like ink.