Secret: The years I served as a foreign aid for the Aurora Club

Chapter 144 Madman
372
After 1000 heartbeats, Derrick waited for a while before he felt that he had entered the silent and peaceful temple.

He had just opened his eyes when scenes suddenly flashed through his mind, one after another, as if an external force had instantly injected all his lost memories back into his head.

Those scenes include: collapsed city walls; white and blue buildings; the "Fallen Creator" temple with a similar style to the Silver City; murals that describe in detail the coming of doomsday and the "Fallen Creator" resisting the six evil gods and protecting the remaining humans; the beautiful yet dangerous "mushrooms"; and Jack, an unusually strange boy with light yellow hair who came from nowhere.

This scene was repeated over and over again for five times, but each time there were some differences in details:
The first time, outside the temple of the Fallen Creator, all the animal skin lanterns were extinguished, almost causing a tragedy. The second time, someone couldn't control himself and almost swallowed the "mushroom". Fortunately, Chief Colin stopped it in time. The third time, the little boy Jack told an extra story, that is, he and his father were searching for the Creator's sanctuary in the ocean with no visible boundaries, but they encountered a huge storm. The fourth time, Joshua was seriously injured by the little boy Jack who mutated without warning. The fifth time, the temple collapsed completely, blocking the exit of the underground area.

And each time, it ends with the "demon hunter" Colin killing the little boy Jack, and begins with resting in the camp and preparing to enter the ruined city, connecting the beginning and the end and repeating the cycle over and over again.

We have explored the temple five times... We have been living in this experience, and there is no way to truly end it! The more Derrick understood his sudden extra memories, the more horrified and creepy he felt.

Audrey Justice, who was sitting on the other side of the bronze table, originally wanted to greet Mr. Fool and everyone else cheerfully and happily as usual, but she glanced around and immediately noticed that Little Sun was in a bad mood, so she immediately asked:
"Mr. Sun, what happened? The operation to explore the temple of the real, uh, fallen Creator did not go well?"

Derrick the Sun seemed to have grasped hope. He quickly described the incident in general and said at the end:
"After the little boy was eliminated by His Excellency the Chief, we all closed our eyes and woke up in the camp outside the city, ready to start a new exploration, without any memory of the past."

"This process was repeated five times, with only slight variations in details."

"If Mr. Fool hadn't reminded me, I wouldn't even know that I have been living a repetitive life all this time."

He naturally believed that the extra memories after arriving above the gray fog came from Mr. Fool’s reminder, so he stood up and bowed solemnly to the blurry figure sitting at the head of the long bronze table.

I had to listen to your description before I understood what happened... Klein the Fool was still a little confused from the beginning until now.

He maintained his original posture and nodded slightly in response.

Without understanding the cause of the problem, the superior cannot easily express his opinion or speak rashly... Klein secretly reviewed the knowledge he had learned when he was a keyboard expert in his previous life.

Seeing that Mr. Fool was like a deep ancient well without any waves, Derrick the Sun felt relieved and thought that the problem could be solved after all.

He turned to look at The Hanged Man, The World, Justice, and The Magician and asked sincerely:
"Everyone, do you know the root cause of the problem? How to solve it?"

Everyone gathered their wisdom and started thinking about how to help the "Sun" get out of this cycle as soon as possible. "Justice" Audrey wanted to help, but she had never experienced such an extraordinary event and had no idea what to do. The same was true for "Magician" Fors.

Klein made a few bold guesses based on the supernatural horror movies he had watched. He wanted to control the "world" and speak out his own ideas, but no one around him spoke, so he kept a low profile and waited for others to speak first.

Finally, it was the experienced "Hanged Man" Alger who took the initiative to speak. He combined the actual situation that Derrick encountered and made inferences based on his own experience, and tentatively gave two guesses:

"I can only think of two possibilities. One is that you have encountered a nightmare or hallucination ability that is beyond the level of a demigod. After you regain your memory with the help of Mr. Fool, you should be able to immediately notice something is wrong as soon as you return to the real world. In this way, the problem can be easily solved."

"Second, you were forced or actively entered into a strange space or state at a certain point, where time maintained a certain degree of flow, but was fixed within a certain range, cyclically and in a balanced manner, which means it was relatively static."

"In this case, there are not many ways to end the cycle. Either an external force forcibly breaks the balance, or we find the key point that connects the time warps."

Hearing that the external force had broken, everyone could not help but think of Mr. Fool. But Derrick the Sun said nothing. Telling him about his lost memories of the five cycles was already a gift from the gods. Mr. Fool was undoubtedly a benevolent god, but he could no longer be ungrateful and continue to pray for help.

Derrick understood something and thought for a moment before saying:
"Mr. 'The Hanged Man', let's assume that it is the latter case. What do you think is the key point that connects the previous and later time warps?"

Without waiting for the Hanged Man to answer, Audrey, the Justice, guessed with interest: "That little boy Jack?

"When facing him, can't we just kill him?"

The Hanged Man Alger nodded: "That's possible."

He considered it for a moment, then said hesitantly:

"The description of Jack and his father in 'The Sun' reminded me of something."

He turned to look at Miss Justice and said, "Did I mention that I once hunted down a Listener from the Aurora Society at sea? His goal at sea was to find the sanctuary of the True Creator."

Audrey recalled carefully and said uncertainly, "It seems that this happened."

The Hanged Man Alger immediately said in a deep voice:

"The 'Listener' also brought his child with him, whose age was close to the one described by 'The Sun'."

“You mean, that Jack came from your world to the vicinity of Silver City?” Derrick the Sun asked in astonishment.

After a short period of calm, he felt inexplicably happy.

Because this means that the area where the Silver City is located has not been completely sealed off, and there is still a chance to connect with the normal world where "The Hanged Man" and "Justice" are!
"I can only say that it is possible." The "Hanged Man" was unable to give a definite answer.

He thought for a while and suggested:

"You can find an opportunity to mention Sunya Sea, the Kingdom of Loen and the port city in front of the little boy Jack. There may be different reactions. Of course, try to avoid the chief of your Silver City.

"Also, the key point may not be the little boy Jack. We need to consider other possibilities. If you tell us the specific situation, such as the details of the mural, maybe we can find something useful."

Having said that, Alger began to look forward to the intelligence he could obtain.

373
Wen Xia carried a bucket of water and walked along the streets of the town. It was afternoon, but every household in the town had their doors closed.

There were no children playing on the streets, and the shops on the streets were closed. Occasionally, there were one or two passers-by in a hurry. The old man sat by the door, squinting his cloudy eyes to rest. The young and middle-aged people were nowhere to be found, and the whole town was dead silent.

After walking for a while on the main road, Wen Xia pulled up her veil and hurried to the small path leading to her home, because there were often soldiers riding on horses passing by on the main road, and if she bumped into them or was noticed, her life might be in danger.

There were not many people along the way, and Wen Xia breathed a sigh of relief.

She pushed open the creaking broken wooden door and the tightly closed window, letting the sunlight in from outside and adding a little brightness to the dim room.

On the old cabinet was a sketch of a family member. There was no frame and the sketch paper had turned yellow and brittle.

The people of Bairam would retrieve the bones of their deceased elders, pick out the most meaningful piece as a commemoration, make it into an instrument and place it in the most conspicuous place in the home, but Wenxia's home was empty.

Her father went to a faraway place to dig gold for foreign businessmen. It was a relatively lucrative job, but after a few years, he no longer sent money.

When his father was still alive, Wen Xia could go to the city to learn reading, writing and painting, and work odd jobs with his brother to earn money after school. His mother's eyesight was still good, so she could work as a tailor to supplement the family income. That was the best time in Wen Xia's memory.

Later, at some point, the family became increasingly financially strapped and could no longer expect the living expenses sent by his father. His mother became increasingly silent and was finally captured by slave traders when she went out to buy food. From then on, she and his father disappeared from Wen Xia's life.

The disappearance of his brother was the last straw that broke the camel's back. The activities of slave traders became more and more rampant, and young and middle-aged people in the town kept disappearing. The police station did not accept any cases, and some people even swore that they saw them trading people with Loon's soldiers.

She had clearly told her brother not to go out, and she had clearly tried her best to keep her brother with her all the time, but after just two hours of separation, her lively, well-behaved and lovely brother disappeared.

In just 6 years, his family fell apart.

Wen Xia went from house to house in the town like crazy, but when she knocked on the doors, she saw sad faces similar to hers.

Finally, she got the news from her friend: someone saw her brother for the last time in the small post office in the town with two other children in the town. They said that someone who worked in a company in the town introduced them to jobs.

Later, people in the town found out that the man was a member of a trafficking team. Not only Wen Xia's brother, but more than a dozen people in the town had left with them and then disappeared.

In Balam folklore, the boundary between the living and the dead is not clear, and the dead relatives will come back and live with the living. However, if the bones of the relatives are not enshrined at home after their death, the souls of the relatives will not be able to find their home.

There is not a single bone left in Wen Xia's family. Even after death, she will not be able to reunite with her family.

This was a great blow to her. She was in a daze for a long time and almost went crazy. Finally, her childhood playmates could not bear to watch and dragged her to join a prayer meeting of a group of desperate young people. She also prayed for a few days without hope. She thought it was just nonsense, but she actually got a response.

She sat down on a single chair, held a piece of red candle in her arms, and stared at it blankly.

At this moment, someone suddenly knocked on the door. The visitor knocked on the shabby wooden door so hard that it shook continuously, and dust fell from the door.

Wen Xia shuddered. Her friends would never knock on the door so rudely! She quickly picked up the hatchet leaning against the door, stood by the window, and shouted toward the door, "Who is it?"

Someone whispered something outside the door, but it wasn't in English, so she couldn't understand.

The knocking sound became more violent, as if the door was being kicked, and the wooden board seemed like it would break in the next second.

Wen Xia was so scared that she wanted to scream. She gripped the hatchet even tighter. It was the only thing that made her feel safe.

Suddenly, the kicking on the door stopped and there was no sound outside. Wen Xia was very nervous and didn't know what to do.

After more than ten seconds, she mustered up the courage to take half a step forward and stretched her head to see what was happening at the door.

At this moment, a pair of strong arms suddenly stretched out from the window behind her. One hand covered her mouth, and the other hand grabbed her arm, and directly pulled her upper body backwards out of the window!
Wen Xia struggled in fear and saw a pair of cold and impatient eyes in the violently shaking sky. She suddenly didn't know where she got the strength from, and stabbed the hatchet in her hand fiercely in the direction of the eyes!
There was resistance on the tip of the knife, as if it had indeed stabbed something. The hand holding her suddenly loosened, and Wen Xia fell heavily from the window. Fortunately, the window was not high and the ground was soft soil. The situation was dangerous now, and Wen Xia immediately rolled over to prevent herself from falling on her back. A foot wearing leather shoes suddenly appeared in her field of vision. Before she could stand up, she was kicked and fell two or three meters away. The smell of blood filled her nose and mouth.

The vicious man had a small cut on his chest, blood was oozing out. He kicked her hard while cursing. Wen Xia didn't understand a word, but she knew it was insulting. After kicking her more than ten times, one of her eyes was blind. The man finally vented his anger, straightened her face, sniffed her breath, cursed again, and wiped the dirt and blood on his leather shoes off her body with disgust.

When her consciousness was blurred, Wen Xia suddenly understood what the man said:
"Damn it, it's all in vain."

"This face is the only thing worth a few bucks, and now it's rotten."

She heard the sound of the hatchet being picked up.

The huge fear and despair instantly devoured her heart. She could no longer hear any sound. All she could see was the man's mouth opening and closing, and the hatchet was raised, reflecting light as bright as the sun. She wanted to run away, but the flames of pain and hatred were growing wildly in her heart.

When the man squatted down and pointed the hatchet at the girl's neck, eager to see if he could cut her neck off with one blow, the corpse-like piece of flesh suddenly moved, and she sat up suddenly. The bloody face that was no longer human made the man sweat coldly on his back. Just as he was stunned for a moment, the hatchet slipped out of his hand, and the corpse pressed on him, knocking him to the ground.

Wen Xia bit the man's throat.

The man beat her back madly and tore her hair hard, pulling out clumps of black hair along with her scalp. However, Wen Xia had almost lost all consciousness and only knew to bite the other's throat and close her mouth little by little.

Hey.

The teeth clasp together gently.

The smell of blood came up, the man opened his mouth in vain, kicked his legs a few times, and died with his eyes wide open in disbelief.

The piece of meat slipped from his mouth. Wen Xia used the last of his strength to turn sideways, fell on the warm soil, and slowly closed his eyes.

It was so quiet before death that even the wind stopped.

She thought she would see the scenes of her life flashing before her eyes, just like the old man in the town said, but it was dark in front of her eyes. It turned out that her life was so short that there was not even a moment of pictures. She thought of the fairy tales her parents had told her. More than a hundred years ago, this land was still favored by the god of death. The dead would go to the river where the god of death slept and get eternal peace with the god of death.

But the gods of the northern continent conquered this place, and the favor of the god of death disappeared. When I was very young, I saw soldiers collectively executing cultists. The people who believed in the god of death were so quiet that the soldiers were afraid. They remained calm in the face of guns and cannons. They should have found peace.

Her consciousness was hazy, rising and falling, and then she saw a piece of red candle.

Do you want to light it up? Someone seemed to say behind her.

Light it up and you will gain power, and from now on you will live by hurting others.

She was silent, confused, and didn't say anything. She suddenly saw something at her feet, a corpse. The corpse's left eye was exploded and sunken into the eye socket, the teeth were broken, the mouth was full of blood, and the nose was crooked to one side. Almost all the hair was gone, and the entire scalp was bloody. Who is this? She suddenly realized that this is Wen Xia, and this is me.

I died because I had no power. I wanted power so I could kill those who hurt me.

She stretched out her hand towards the red candle, and the moment her fingers touched the candle, the wick lit up with a blue flame.

Suddenly, someone pushed her from behind and she fell. After a moment of distraction, Wen Xia sat up and saw the hideous death of the slave trader who came to capture her.

She reached out her hand and touched her cheek in disbelief, and felt her intact but bloodstained face, her tattered and dirty clothes, her full mouth of teeth, and her full head of black hair, but the broken hairband was at her feet.

At the same time, Wen Xia felt a lot of knowledge appearing in her mind. She instinctively reached out and grabbed the man's spirit from his head.

Wen Xia was not frightened at all. She felt as if she could do many things now. She ate the man's soul and understood the cause and effect of the matter. She stood up unsteadily, jumped up, and floated up like a weightless cloud.

Wen Xia turned into a translucent ghost. She followed the route in the man's memory and floated to the outskirts of the city, arriving at a remote warehouse.

There were several men with guns standing outside the warehouse. Wen Xia floated down and merged into the body of one of them. That man immediately turned around and shot his accomplice standing next to him to death.

Then, the accomplice whose head had been blown off slowly stood up again, raised his gun, and unskillfully aimed at the other accomplices who were already scared to death.

After a few gunshots, only zombies were left here.

The zombies felt around their waists and took out the key to the warehouse. After opening the door, Wen Xia saw that the small warehouse was full of people, the stench was overwhelming, and there were dead bodies in the corners.

Facing the kidnapped people who were looking at them in horror, the zombies smiled stiffly, walked away step by step, lined up and walked into the river. After a long time, people poured out of the warehouse and fled in all directions.

Wen Xia came back to her senses from her trance, and her body was falling uncontrollably, turning into a solid body and landing on the ground.

She felt the divine grace fading from her, and in those final minutes she took the red braided cord from her wrist—the red cord had been woven with her brother’s hair.

She closed her eyes, praying for the great being's attention, and slowly spoke the words of divination:
"My brother Shay's current location."

She lowered her head and fell asleep. Wen Xia saw the blue sea and a cargo ship.

When the freighter is sailing, crew members will occasionally open the secret door on the deck and throw some food inside.

The dark, hot, confined, dirty environment, coupled with severe hunger and unfamiliarity with the local climate, caused several of the cargoes to become sick. In order to prevent them from infecting more cargoes, they were disposed of.

Wen Xia saw her brother who had been missing for two months. Her cute and well-behaved brother was so thin that he was almost unrecognizable. He was dragged out of the dirty and hot cabin by the crew. The crew ignored his crying and pleading, tied him up with several other patients, and threw him into the sea.

Her Shay died on the third day of her disappearance.

Buried in the sea, no bones can be found, and no one can return home.

Wen Xia opened his eyes, fell to the ground in his tattered, blood-stained clothes, and a strange smile gradually appeared on his face.

She laughed, first in a low, strange voice, and then suddenly burst into laughter, laughing at the top of her lungs, her shoulders shaking and her whole body twitching, as if her vocal cords were about to tear apart. The creepy laughter echoed in the remote wilderness.

Laughing and laughing, Wen Xia's voice gradually weakened and became lower and lower, turning into a mournful cry.

She fell backwards and onto the floor, pulling at her hair. She was like a madman.

TBC
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The heavy smog is just around the corner...it's so annoying...!
(End of this chapter)