The frozen banquet venue, the men and women in Chinese costumes turned into ice sculptures, the midway meal and the band that interrupted during the performance—all these are so weird that people can't help but get goosebumps. Facing this situation, Hao Ren couldn't help being stunned for a few seconds: "It seems that he died suddenly in the middle of the party."
Nangong Sanba stepped forward to check the clues left at the scene. Although the people here may have died for hundreds of thousands of years, because of the vacuum and ultra-low temperature protection, everything in the banquet hall was well preserved, even the food in the cups and plates was well preserved by the frost. Most of the things were fixed to the table or the ground due to freezing, and some sundries that fell off from the ice were floating in the air in a weightless environment. A kind of thin particles like mist spread in the hall. Suspended, it was broken ice and human skin fragments.
In fact, the same thing is floating in the outer space, but here, the suspended matter is extremely dense.
"Pretty dress, banquet, I really didn't expect them to die under such circumstances," Nangong Sanba carefully separated an ice sculpture body from the thin ice on the table, "... Sure enough, they also inhaled the ice before they died. Same chemical."
Nangong Wuyue couldn't help swallowing: "Could it be that the entire city was killed by poisonous gas?"
"Are there any other doubts besides the poisonous gas? Is there a problem with the food?" Hao Ren asked casually.
"There should be no problem with the food, at least according to my standards, it is non-toxic, and according to the situation at the scene, the problem has nothing to do with the food," Nangong Sanba shook his head, "In addition, according to the perception of the demon hunter, there is no dark and cold place here. Negative power, which means these people didn't suffer much before they died."
Hao Ren nodded, and bent down to carefully observe the few dead closest to him. His attention soon fell on one of the male corpses: the deceased looked old, and he was wearing a solemn black dress that was only used for high-end banquets. The beautiful clothes can be called luxurious in comparison, obviously this man was a nobleman during his lifetime. But Hao Ren's attention was not on the dress, but on the man's clasped hands. There seemed to be something hiding there. Hao Ren wanted to carefully take out the relic from the dead man's hand, but he just tried hard. The frozen fingers of the dead male turned into dust crystals in the vacuum.
Hao Ren muttered an apology in his heart, and took out a ball of cloth that looked like a handkerchief from under the other's broken palm.
He unfolded the handkerchief and found that there were handwriting on it, and it was written very neatly. Obviously, the person who left these last words had plenty of time at that time. With the help of the translation plugin, these characters were quickly reorganized and parsed, and the content is as follows:
"…Roman. My proudest son, honored heir to the Emerald Valley family, I hope you are well aboard the Long Night and still proudly leading and protecting your people. Your mother and I are attending a special I think you have guessed the content of this banquet. But don't worry about us, this is a pleasant event, both in food and drink. It would be a good time for us to see you off, as few people have tasted this plant-based, not factory-made drink these days, and I'm glad I could do it once in my life. Your mother is sitting next to me. And Your Uncle Leon is playing the famous song of Master Orangol on the stage. I believe that many, many years ago, the ancestors of our family also had dinner under such circumstances. And pray for our people...
"Romain, my son. I have much to tell you, including things I've been thinking about since our last quarrel, but none of that matters anymore. I hear two hollow echoes coming over the city Come on, I think the two most critical devices should have been shut down, and then it is time to quietly enjoy food, wine and music. Please allow your father to stop writing here and leave time for us old people.
"Oh, that stuff smells a bit like blue holly daisy."
The message on the handkerchief ended here, and Vivienne came over to take a look: "What is this?"
"Looks like a suicide note?" Hao Ren frowned. "It was written by an old man to his son. It seems that people here know what is going to happen."
The following clues proved Hao Ren's guess. Nangong Sanba and Nangong Wuyue found some last words written on other corpses. These words written on handkerchiefs or napkins clearly confirmed that what happened in this city was not an accident or any other sudden event .
It was a well-prepared collective suicide.
Hao Ren and his party left this eerie banquet hall. They came to the streets of the city inside the ship, and began to advance along a main road leading to the end of the spherical shell space. At the end of this main road was the strange machine that stopped functioning and looked like a huge cylindrical mountain peak. Hao Ren felt that it should be the control center of the spaceship, or at least an equally important place, and he should be able to find some clues there.
And along the way, they found countless corpses turned into ice sculptures. None of the city's former inhabitants survived, and they, along with the city, became part of the ruins in the icy vacuum. After Nangong Sanba's inspection, the cause of death for all of them was the same: inhalation of nerve gas.
And careful Vivian also found some additional clues: she found that most of the corpses were wearing brand new clothes, and those stiff ice corpses were neatly dressed, with distinctive shoes and hats, and calm and elegant expressions on their faces, as if they were about to Go to a big party. While not everyone was able to enjoy the feasts and music in the opulent mansion, the residents took out their best clothes and food as they could before their deathbeds, apparently as an extravagant one last time.
"It's like euthanasia after a carnival," Lily rubbed her arms back and forth. "They ate and drank a lot, then filled the whole city with poison gas, and just died in their sleep."
Hao Ren was attracted by Lily's description. His eyes passed through the thin dust above this twilight city, and landed on the upside-down buildings on the other side of the closed land. He imagined the scene when this place ushered in the last moment: When the system crashed and the city's atmospheric system was blown with deadly nerve gas, when the sweet, euphoric hallucinogenic gas filled the streets, people put on their best clothes and took to the streets to enjoy the last of their lives. A pleasure. Some people are feasting, some are drinking wine, some are saying goodbye to their lovers, and some are...
He passed an empty street and saw an old man sitting by a flower bed. The old man wore a tall top hat, and his body was covered with a layer of frost. The flower beds behind him were still flourishing, and those plants were frozen before they withered, and now they became a crystal clear flower bush. With a smile on his face, the old man was stretching his hand forward. He was holding an artificial flower made of handkerchiefs in his hand, as if he was going to hand it to a child who no longer existed.
There are also people who are bringing the last bit of warmth to this dying city.
"The death time of all people is the same, and the cause of death is also the same," said the data terminal, which had just checked the age of several corpses. "It happened about a thousand years ago. The situation at that time can be easily restored: Nerve gas was blown into the atmospheric system of the Starship Ark, killing everyone in it in a short time, and these dead were fully aware of this. This is probably the common will of all citizens, and they are still dying Feast and have fun."
Nangong Wuyue said in a low voice, "Why did they do this?"
Hao Ren said the most likely possibility: "Probably there is a fatal problem in the spaceship that cannot be repaired, such as an air leak or a problem with the purification system, or the resources have run out. In order to avoid suffering, they decided to euthanize."
"But there is more than one spaceship in this fleet," Vivienne reminded, "Did the other ships encounter the same problem at the same time?"
Hao Ren didn't know how to answer, but he found that the giant machine that looked like a cylindrical metal mountain was close in front of him: "There should be some clues over there."
A group of people stopped at the foot of the giant machine. They found that the size of this thing was bigger than what they had imagined before. It could really be said to be a towering mountain. Looking at the appearance of this device, Lily's tail unconsciously bent into a shape in the air. A question mark: "It looks like a giant reactor, but it seems to be down?" (to be continued~^~)