Chapter 797 The People of Giant Stone
"It is said that in the forgotten dark corners of the world, evil creatures from ancient times are still lurking. It is said that the 'door' will still open on certain nights, releasing alien creatures from hell - and it remains the same today."
……
There is such a person who cannot be exposed to strong light. Whether it is the sun in the waking world or the stream of light in the dreamland, it is enough to kill him.
But just such a person, after the blood moon catastrophe, went through many twists and turns to come to the dreamlike world of gods, and then plunged into the hottest and brightest gravel desert in the west.
The heat during the day was almost enough to bake him to golden brown on both sides, triggering the Maillard reaction, and the quick-freezing mode at night would directly freeze his nose and soul together.
This is simply not how people live.
Fortunately, he is not human either.
In other words, not a person in the traditional sense.
…
The gravel desert is located within an unknown number of miles within the western coastal area. It is an ancient area that Milo did not touch at all on his way south. The area covered by yellow sand here is probably as large as dozens of Six Kingdoms peninsulas, I guess.
If he had known that the other end of the passage that he exchanged his most precious jar of pickled eggs with the ghouls would be such a hell, he would never have done it.
But there is no regret medicine in the human world, not even in dreams.
After falling into the gravel desert, you can only keep company with lizards, dead bones, quicksand, and faith bugs in the ruins of broken civilizations all day long.
Such extremely harsh living conditions have resulted in a severe lack of protein.
That's not to say that there aren't any living creatures on the gravel desert, but apart from scorpions and rattlesnakes, a series of poisonous poisons that are both spicy and spicy, the rest are reminders of sand monsters comparable to giant worms. , the only one that is not poisonous and not fatal is the desert cat that hides during the day and comes out at night.
But how can a cat with big eyes and big ears eat a cat that is so cute?
…
Of course, these were all my thoughts during the first half month in the gravel desert.
After half a month, that's what happened - the cat smells so good.
…
……
In fact, the gravel desert is not completely deserted. There are also many precious oases and some tribal civilizations hidden in the depths of the desert. There are even desperate caravans that regularly appear on the gravel road, carrying goods from Drasli. The salt, onyx, rubies and other goods exchanged at En Port are going to the depths of the desert to exchange for the ancient temple stones with the tribal lords.
But because the gravel desert is so big, he has only encountered one caravan in the past countless days and nights.
Moreover, these traders have long been eroded by the order of gravel. They either died of hunger, thirst, or exposure. The harsh desert has taken away their souls, but as a joke, their rotting bodies continue to stumble forward on the gravel road.
This is one of the must-visit attractions in the gravel desert.
Caravan of the Dead.
No one knows what factors drive the dead to move on. Perhaps it has something to do with an ancient civilization buried under the yellow sand of the gravel desert.
…
But to him, even dead bodies are not completely useless.
No, the value of dead bodies is higher than that of living people.
…
After several twists and turns, he successfully collected a can of dried eggs.
Next, you only need to find a place with the deepest haze in the early morning of every day to collect dew and soak one or two of them. The protein required for this day will be barely satisfied.
Yes, this photophobe from the waking world is the perverted coroner Rick who used to be in the basement of the law enforcement station in the south of Nanwei City.
…
Perhaps it was a series of blasphemous acts that finally brought him divine punishment.
After Emma repelled the unknown gods who came out halfway, the entire team was dispersed by the chaotic space turbulence, and Rick fell into the least dreamy human purgatory in the dreamland.
Or perhaps because of the series of blasphemous acts he had done that could lead to divine punishment, Rick gained the favor of an evil being under the yellow sand.
A certain dark dweller hiding under the yellow sand, no, that should be regarded as the ancestor of the dark dwellers, or in other words, the god from another dimension that their souls yearn for.
But that was just the vague outline of this great will. He saw in Rick some characteristics similar to those of himself in the past years, dross, chaos, unbearable, abandoned by the gods...
This is just a guess, a thought that suddenly emerged in Rick's heart when he listened to the ancient voice, dug three feet into the ground under the dark night sky, and dug out the weird book of poetry.
Bosom friend? resonance?
Maybe so.
Maybe the three feet of yellow sand further down does indeed seal some great existence.
Maybe this is just a fragment of his will left after he died here. In some older civilizations, people called this fragment of will brain waves. Brain waves become more stable and stronger.
…
"The People of the Rock"
This is the cover name of the book of poems that Rick pulled out from under the yellow sand in obedience to the "bewitchment" of the great will. It is a dilapidated book of poems that is almost completely weathered.
Except for a few words in the prologue on the first page, most of the text marks inside have been blurred.
The two lines of words that can be read clearly are——
"It is said that in the forgotten dark corners of the world, evil creatures from ancient times are still lurking. It is said that the 'door' will still open on certain nights, releasing alien creatures from hell - and it remains the same today."
…
The collection of poems contains a total of four independent chapters, namely "Leaving the Ancient Land", "Black Desire", "Darkness", and "Star Beast", which Milo will definitely feel familiar to if he has heard it.
…
What use can a thin collection of poems do when we are hungry and destitute?
Rick didn't know.
Maybe he could use it to make a fire when he was freezing to death, or so he thought.
…
What's interesting is that after getting this volume of poetry, Rick never woke up from the biting cold in the middle of the night. Every night, he would be immersed in a special dream and couldn't wake up even if he wanted to.
In the dream, he was walking aimlessly on the yellow sand. His body was unprecedentedly light. There was no heaviness in his feet that was absorbed by the yellow sand during the day. He felt as if every drop of water in his body had evaporated. But there is no obvious feeling of hunger, thirst, or fatigue.
He felt like he could keep walking like this forever.
…
And whenever the dream ends, the heat, thirst, exhaustion and burning pain will rush up in an instant, biting his body and soul.
Over time, Rick began to look forward to the arrival of dreams, and to falling asleep after nightfall. This intense feeling of anticipation became a little more intense every day than yesterday.
…"Life will find its own way."
The soul also creates ways to soothe itself.
This may be the magic of the gravel desert. When the human spirit can no longer bear the loneliness and pain of the day, it begins to place its hope in dreams, telling itself over and over again that dreams without pain are real. .
And this is the real reason why all those traveling merchants who died of hunger and thirst never stopped and continued to march on the vast sand dunes with their living corpses.
…
……
At a certain moment, Rick suddenly felt a sense of hunger while "sleeping".
He felt that he might wake up, and the real feeling of hunger and thirst gradually became stronger. This was a sign of the end of the dream.
After waking up, he found that the light from Tianyu had not yet appeared, and it was still a cold night.
"This is unreasonable."
Rick felt a strong sense of dizziness, dizziness beyond the limit of sleepiness.
"I might be freezing to death."
He took out the can of dried "rations", took out one or two pieces, threw them into his mouth and chewed them as an energy supplement.
Then he very calmly took out the volume of poems titled "People of the Boulder" from his arms.
"You finally came in handy."
He struck the gravel with a spark that ignited the poem.
…
But when he tremblingly pressed his frozen fingers to the flame, he couldn't feel a trace of warmth.
As if the flames were false.
He then moved closer, almost putting his hands into the flames and burning them, but there was still no feeling of warmth at all.
Then Rick suddenly remembered that he was in a semi-living corpse state and could not touch the flames.
Under the firelight, he could clearly see the many rag-like holes in the palm of his hand, as well as the ten fingers with not much flesh left hanging... No, only seven and a half...
"Wait...I am..."
He suddenly remembered something.
…
……
Then, in the bonfire in front of me, the first chapter of the poem burned by the flames began to appear...
The first sentence of this poem called "Leaving the Ancient Land" is - "Only the dead can escape from there..."
…
Until this moment, Rick finally remembered.
In fact, he was already dead.
Maybe yesterday, maybe earlier, maybe he died when he found and ate the third desert cat, because he always felt that the meat was particularly sweet that time. Of course, it could also be when he fell into the gravel desert. He was pronounced dead on the first day.
…
In a daze, the flames in Rick's eyes disappeared, and the poem ceased to exist.
He returned to the dreamland again and began to step forward lightly and freely, without feeling cold or hungry.
But the fact is.
What he thought was a dream for a long time, a dream without pain, was actually reality.
Like all the traveling merchants who died on the journey, he had already become an aimless zombie under the control of the gravel desert.
Those experiences of survival that are full of pain and torture, using tattered clothes to collect dew in the early morning, squatting and leaving the nest at dusk, chewing poisonous scorpions raw in the early morning, are just imaginary dreams.
It's him who's been doing the opposite all along.
…
……
But the fire of Psalm reminded Rick.
He suddenly remembered——
"That's not right... I was originally a half-living zombie. Glaaki's toxin turned me into this ghostly appearance... How could a living zombie die..."
"A living corpse cannot die..."
"I can walk out, right?"
"What else is written in the poem... How can I leave this ancient place..."
…
……
Later, everything seemed to confirm the opening paragraph of the collection of poems:
"It is said that in the forgotten dark corners of the world, evil creatures from ancient times are still lurking. It is said that the 'door' will still open on certain nights, releasing alien creatures from hell - and it remains the same today."
That day, the "door" really opened.
What came out of hell was not an evil creature from ancient times, but a living corpse with a broken body and soul.
The living corpse carried a glass jar and a thin volume of poetry. He stepped directly through the door frame without much hesitation.
Because on the other side of the door is a city in his memory.
He knows every corner here.
Perennial rainy weather, muddy streets, over-decorated buildings that appear cumbersome under the haze, city guards with iron bars on the streets, and the vague shadow of a three-cornered hat...
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…
Rick was a little confused now.
He didn't know whether he was "coming back" or completely "leaving".
However, he soon discovered that there were creatures carrying lanterns and numerous eyes on their heads approaching outside the door behind him, so he quickly "closed the door."
(End of chapter)