"Changes at dawn?" Hao Ren became curious, "What?"
"The village is not always alive, and when the first rays of dawn hit the fence at the edge of the village, everything dies instantly and falls into a strange state of suspended animation. I doubt that this magical land can It continues to function perfectly, so it takes a few hours of 'rest' every day. By midday, the village will be restored."
"It seems that the distortion of time and space here will weaken after dawn," Vivienne mused. "It should be easier to break through the blockade at that time, and it will also prevent triggering any traps."
Hao Ren also nodded in agreement: "Yes, and I can wake this thing up after dawn—or else I have to carry her out."
Everyone's eyes fell on Lily, who was sleeping soundly, and everyone showed gentle eyes of caring for the silly dog. Vivienne sighed: "Mindlessness is the most precious thing in life, I don't know how she does it." No matter where you go, you can eat and sleep."
That night, except for Lily who was sleeping soundly, no one had a good rest.
Hesperis recalled the events of the Olympus family back then, and many thoughts made her sleepless; Vivienne was very sensitive to the strange atmosphere lingering in this village, and she herself was a nocturnal creature, so she simply fell asleep overnight. He didn't sleep; Hao Ren couldn't sleep because of the constant noise coming from the square, so he and the data terminal worked together to figure out how to communicate with the little evil spirits, but ended up being bitten on his fingers several times...
As for Pierre, according to him, as long as he acts in a way that conforms to the rules of action of the villagers, they can weaken their vigilance. He has bypassed today's surveillance, and no one will come to him until noon the next day so he found another room in the longhouse to make do for the night.
As for the Wang brothers and Catherine who stayed in the square, Pierre said that they have been "too immersed in this land and have been assimilated quite seriously", and it is difficult to recover their sanity at present, and contacting them rashly will only lead to the destruction of this land. They are alerted to the power of the curse, so the best way is to leave it alone. If the curse can be lifted from the outside in time, they may still have the possibility of recovery.
In the early morning of the next day, when the first ray of sunlight entered the small village, Hao Ren and the others immediately felt that the surrounding atmosphere really began to change.
"It seems to have calmed down," Vivienne listened carefully to the movement in the village, "and the activity of creatures is weakening."
The data terminal also made a report: "The surrounding space-time distortion is reducing, and it is confirmed that some kind of energy decay is occurring on a large scale."
Pierre led Hao Ren and his party out of the longhouse, and walked in the suddenly quiet village.
Everything around is different.
Those old houses seemed more dilapidated than before, and the mottled wooden walls and roads were covered with a layer of gray as if they had faded away. A strange smell mixed with dusty smell and slightly rotten smell floated in the air, but it was very strange. It's not clear where the smell came from.
Lily rubbed her eyes and yawned big. The strange smell in the air made her frown: "Huha... it smells so bad."
Pierre led the crowd towards the edge of the village. They didn't see any villagers along the way. The place has now become lifeless, as cold and silent as a grave. Hao Ren asked curiously, "Where did everyone go? Did they disappear because of the decline in magic?"
"They are all in the house." Pierre said, coming to a small wooden house by the road, and pushing open the decayed door.
A middle-aged villager was lying quietly on a low bed in a wooden hut. Hao Ren stepped forward and took a look, and found that the villager's skin was dry and pale, and his whole body collapsed abnormally as if dehydrated. However, he was not dead: after getting closer , Hao Ren noticed that the villager's chest was still rising and falling slightly, and he was still breathing, but it was faint and undetectable.
Vivian stepped forward and touched the other person's skin: "It's lower than my body temperature."
"A living person is no different from death," Hesperis said softly, "This kind of phenomenon of the living dead was quite common in the territories of the Egyptian gods. Same."
"The things on this land are not illusions. The houses are real objects maintained by magic, and the villagers are also living humans. It's just that supernatural forces have distorted everything, making them exist in a rather strange state," Pierre shook his head. "To be honest, I don't know what will happen once the curse is really lifted. Maybe without the support of magic power, the people here will die immediately, and the village will be reduced to ashes in an instant..."
"According to what you said, this village was actually reduced to ashes more than two hundred years ago, and now there is only a dead soul entrenched in this land who refuses to disperse," Hesperis looked at the spirit detective At a glance, "As for the villagers here... If the soul dissipates, the people who are left with only an empty shell are just walking corpses. At the moment of their complete 'transformation', these people are already dead. What we have to do now is Lift the curse as soon as possible, so that the three people who have not been completely swallowed can survive."
At the edge of the village, the low and dilapidated wooden fence still stood precariously, marking a boundary for this cursed place. Pierre stood in front of the fence, looked at the dark forest outside, and shook his head: "Even if Even if the magic power is weakened, I can't leave here, and the power of this boundary will not change with time."
Hao Ren stretched his hand out of the fence. This time, he clearly felt that his hand had passed through an invisible barrier.
He never felt this barrier when he stepped into the village before.
This layer of barrier is repelling cross-border behavior. He felt a momentary energy fluctuation, and then the data terminal began to read a rising value, and the terminal immediately issued a warning: "The time-space distortion is intensifying! This place is closing again! "
Hao Ren withdrew his hand, and as expected, the space-time closure detected by the data terminal gradually recovered.
"As expected, you can use brute force to forcefully break through the blockade, but this will also touch the barrier of the secret realm, and when you stop crossing the boundary, the boundary will be restored immediately," Hao Ren turned his head, "It's like an unattended security guard system, following strict rules of action.”
Vivienne looked at Pierre: "We can take you out, but to be honest, you'd better stay here - we're going to the noble mansion to track down the source of the curse, that place may be more dangerous than the village It's much higher up here, and we can't necessarily protect you in case of an emergency."
Pierre smiled: "I also think it's best for me to stay here. I will only get in the way when I go with you."
"Then wait for our good news." Hao Ren patted Pierre on the shoulder, "Don't worry, we won't leave you alone."
"I can only pin my hopes on you," Pierre forced a smile, and looked at Vivienne. "Your suggestion is worth considering—maybe it's time for me to retire from this industry."
"By the way, take this thing." Hao Ren fumbled in his pocket, took out a small communicator and handed it to Pierre. "Use this to keep in touch with us. It's very simple to use."
Pierre took the communicator and frowned slightly: "The barrier around the village may interfere with the signal?"
"Don't worry," Hao Ren raised his thumb, "The signal of this thing is not so easy to be interfered with. You stay in the village to observe the situation, and we will remove the curse. If there is any change, we need to contact each other. .”
Only then did Pierre put the communicator close to him, and nodded firmly.
After finding out the general location of the noble mansion, Hao Ren and his party forcibly broke through the space blockade of the village boundary and came to the normal forest area.
When passing through the boundary, the whole village shook violently. It seemed that the magical power entrenched in the depths of the earth was furious because the "prey" escaped. However, as Hao Ren and his party completely broke through the boundary, all abnormalities disappeared recovered quickly.
The process of getting out of the "predicament" was so simple that it was unbelievable. However, Hao Ren knew that the "curse" of this village was not a problem for his group at all. The real problem was the secret behind it: the missing sea Gris, the ancient artifact with the power of Vivienne, and the historical truth that led to the curse of the village.
Finding out about these things is the priority that stands in their way.
The road in the forest is still rough and difficult to walk, but after leaving the village, the surrounding atmosphere is obviously fresh, and the rough and difficult road does not seem so boring. Hesperis walked at the front of the team, and she seemed to casually mention something: "I always feel that the village is not as simple as being 'cursed'."
"That's right, the enchantment around the village is the result of careful arrangement, with a very clear purpose, that is, 'only in and out'," Vivian replied, "It's more like a cage than being cursed."
"Cages are used to lock things in," Hao Ren said quietly. "If someone deliberately created the boundaries of the village, he must be worried that something would escape from the village. As for the people trapped inside... I'm afraid it was just an accident. Sacrifice."
At this time, Lily had completely woken up. Listening to Hao Ren and Vivian's conversation, she interjected, "Then is this cage too weak? People of our level can get out by walking straight away."
Hao Ren thought for a while: "Then there are only two explanations, either the cage is really that weak, or the cage has been breached, and what remains now is just a weak shell..."
At this moment, Hesperis suddenly made a sound, interrupting Hao Ren: "It seems to be right ahead." (To be continued~^~)