American Horror Story, Starting from Falls Town

Chapter 475 Who is the most handsome man in the world?
At the bottom of hell, there is only darkness and powder.

Roy didn't know how long they had been walking, because as they walked further, Elareza's sleep schedule also became disordered, which caused the three of them to completely lose their sense of time.

This situation is extremely distressing; the aimless and endless marching forward is a form of torture for anyone.

In the end, even the usually cheerful Elreza lost her energy and was listless all day long.

During a break, Alma suddenly spoke up.

"Roy, this can't go on! Could it be that the old man is lying to us?"

Through Alma's eyes, Roy knew that this girl's memories had long since returned, but he didn't know why she kept pretending that she hadn't.

Unfortunately, this guy has too little social experience, and even his pretense is unconvincing. Only Elareza and the silly Fou didn't notice anything.

However, Roy did not choose to expose Alma. Regardless of what she was thinking, it was best to stick together for now. If they really exposed each other, neither of them would be able to save face.

Why would he lie to us? What benefit would he gain from it?

Roy's question left Alma speechless; the last Nephilim truly had no motive to deceive them.

"Then why can't we reach the Tower of Babel?"

Roy closed his eyes and thought for a moment, then considered one possibility.

"Perhaps that old man had never been to the Tower of Babel, but only heard it from others and then relayed it to us. He may have missed some details in the process!"

"So what do we do? Just keep going forward like this? Even if we turn back now, it'll be hard to find that old man again, won't it?"

There is no direction at the bottom of hell, and no one knows if wandering around like this will lead to the Tower of Babel.

Perhaps one day, Roy and his friends will turn into dust on the ground, just like those demons who fell to their deaths.

At that moment, Roy remembered an item he had gotten from opening a treasure chest.

Perhaps we could try that?

"Roy, why aren't you saying anything?"

Alma looked at Roy in surprise, only to see him take out a golden compass from his pocket. Her gaze was instantly drawn to the golden compass.

"Roy, what is this?"

"The Truth Instrument is said to be able to know the secrets of all things in the world, but I don't know how to use it."

Roy had neither seen the movie *The Golden Compass* nor read the original novel trilogy *Mysterious Matter*, so naturally he didn't know how to use the prop.

If you use it carelessly, who knows what might happen?

"Can you let me see it?"

Alma stared at the Truth Machine with fascination, and Roy did not refuse to hand it to her.

After receiving the Truth Instrument, Alma began to carefully stroke it.

The overall design of this thing is a square box with a steampunk style. When you open it, there is a dial inside. The circular dial is divided into 36 sections, and each section has a symbol with a meaning.

There are hourglasses, the sun, snakes, angels...

(The truth machine in the movie)

Some symbols are very easy to understand; for example, an hourglass definitely represents time.

However, some symbols are quite abstract, such as animal symbols like birds, ants, and cows.

This may be related to Western astrology or folklore. Roy is essentially a native of the East, so he doesn't quite understand what these symbols mean in the West.

For example, in Tokyo, the ox is definitely a symbol of diligence; everyone knows the old ox. But in the West, it's not necessarily the case.

In the West, bulls seem to symbolize wealth and power, so a surge in the stock market is referred to as a bull market.

Another explanation is that when a bull attacks, it raises its horns, while when a bear attacks, it stands upright and slaps down, which is why they represent rises and falls respectively.

But regardless of the interpretation, both represent huge differences in Eastern and Western thinking, and Roy really couldn't guess the meaning of these symbols.

Inside the circle of symbols is a mechanical dial with four pointers. Three of them can be turned by the spring under the compass, while the fourth pointer cannot be moved.

Roy guessed that the way to use this truth machine was to rotate three pointers to select a symbol to ask the truth machine a question, and then the last pointer would automatically rotate to give the answer. The whole process was very abstract.

The symbols used to ask questions may have multiple meanings, and the symbols used to answer questions may also have multiple meanings. It seems better to consult a prophet with a third eye; the answer might be more accurate.

At least Elise wouldn't play those pretentious tricks.

Alma absentmindedly played with the Truth Instrument for a while, while Elresa watched with envy.

"I want to play too! I want to play too!"

Alma handed the Truth Instrument to Elareza, but the little succubus watched her try it out and then found it uninteresting, so she gave it back to Roy.

"Roy, are you sure this thing will work? I can definitely sense a mysterious power in the Truth Device, but it seems to be very ordinary."

"It might work?"

The system's assessment of the Truth Instrument is that it can reveal the truth or predict the future. So far, the system's judgment has not been wrong, but the price of the last sentence made Roy a little wary.

Activating the Truth Machine might come at some unknown cost, which is why Roy didn't use it immediately.

"The most important thing now is to learn how to use the Truth Instrument."

Roy thought for a moment, then suddenly thought of another prop.

The Magic Mirror, as described in the system introduction, can answer all questions, but the answers are not necessarily correct.

So, could Roy ask the Magic Mirror how to use the Truth Instrument?

Let's give it a try!

It's quite interesting, actually. Marian and Gretchen never got along, but the items they opened from their treasure chests turned out to be usable together.

Roy then took out the magic mirror from the items; this thing was much larger than the Truth Instrument.

Alma was shocked to see Roy conjure up a huge glasses frame out of thin air, with a cloth covering it.

The magic mirror is a huge oval mirror. When Roy lifted the cloth on the frame and recited the spell written on the frame, the magic mirror was revealed.

Soon, the mirror began to wriggle, and a golden metal figure emerged from it, just like the liquid metal robot in Terminator 2.

However, the magic mirror doesn't mimic the shape of a liquid metal robot, so it looks like a little golden man.

This little golden figure is one of the greatest achievements of ancient alchemy.

As is well known, there are three most difficult things to do in alchemy, and being able to do any one of them is enough to be called a master alchemist.

One is turning stone into gold, another is human alchemy, and the third is artificial souls.

In fact, these three things are the most difficult to achieve, not only in alchemy but also in science.

Turning lead into gold actually refers to completely changing the structure of matter, breaking down atoms and molecules and recombining them into new substances. The price to pay for achieving this may not be simpler than building a Dyson sphere.

(A Dyson sphere is a giant energy structure built around a star.)

Human transmutation refers to the process of transforming inorganic matter into organic matter. Therefore, cloning does not count as human transmutation. Human transmutation is the process of transforming inorganic matter such as stone, water, and steel into living organisms.

Finally, there's the artificial soul. The scientific side has already begun to explore this area. Intelligent AI is essentially a process of creating an artificial soul.

Therefore, in a sense, mysticism and science lead to the same goal, albeit through different paths.

The little golden statue finally moved in front of Roy and made a deep sound, which Roy couldn't figure out where it came from.

"My master, do you have any questions for me?" Roy thought for a moment, deciding to see if the magic mirror's answer was accurate first.

Who is the most handsome man in the world?

"Of course it's you, my master!"

(Who are the most handsome people in the world? Of course, it's the readers who subscribed to this chapter, Yan Zu and Yi Fei!)
Roy nodded in satisfaction. This little golden man was really honest!

This answer would have left most people speechless, but Alma had little social experience and hadn't met many men, so she didn't find anything strange about it.

As for Elreza...

"Dad is definitely the most handsome man in the world!"

As expected of a sweet little girl, Roy patted Ellesa's little head.

Then Roy picked up the Truth Instrument.

"I have another question, how do I use this?"

"My master, please put this into my body."

Roy frowned, but still inserted the Truth Instrument into the little golden man's body.

Instantly, the little golden man's body released a strong golden light, illuminating a large area around it.

The sudden appearance of such a bright light after being in a dark environment for so long made Roy and the other two feel as if their eyes were about to be blinded.

After a while, the little golden man reached out and returned the Truth Instrument to Roy.

"My master, this is a Truth Instrument!"

Roy looked at the magic mirror with some surprise. This thing actually identified the Truth Instrument. You know, he didn't just say the name Truth Instrument, he only said this thing.

"Do you know how to use the Truth Machine?"

"My master, I can decipher the symbols on the Truth Instrument for you. As for how to use it, simply wind it up, use the three pointers to point at the symbols to ask questions, and the last pointer will answer your questions."

This usage is similar to Roy's guess; the key is the meaning represented by the symbols.

If you guess the meaning of the symbols wrong, the final answer will be off by a hair's breadth but completely wrong by a lot.

Seemingly sensing Roy's hesitation, the little golden man continued to speak.

"Or, you can ask me questions directly, and I can answer your questions."

Should he directly ask the Magic Mirror for the location of the Tower of Babel? Roy decided to give it a try.

"Then do you know how to get me to the Tower of Babel?"

The little golden statue quickly gave its answer.

"The Tower of Babel, also known as the Tower of Babylon, is said to have been built under the supervision of Nebuchadnezzar II, the king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire..."

"Stop! Who asked you that? I asked you how to find the Tower of Babel in the dark abyss at the bottom of hell!"

Roy quickly stopped the little golden man's encyclopedic behavior, saying that knowing these things was useless.

The little golden statue fell silent for a long time before finally responding.

“My master, this problem is beyond my capabilities.”

"So it still doesn't work? Then you can tell me what the symbols on the Truth Instrument mean."

The magic mirror began to explain the symbolic meaning of the symbols on the truth dashboard.

Unsurprisingly, these symbols all contain multiple meanings. For example, the sun can represent the sky, truth, and authority; the moon can represent chastity, mystery, and hunting; and the bird can represent the soul, spring, and marriage.

This leads to different combinations of symbols being able to convey multiple meanings, and thus the resulting answers can be interpreted in multiple ways.

Just like those prophets who like to tell riddles, they always have some seemingly plausible answers to fool you, and you'll find that no matter how you interpret them, there's no problem.

So why can't the Riddler get out of Gotham?

Roy was holding the Truth Device and didn't know how to use it for a moment. At this moment, Alma suddenly spoke up.

"Roy, can I give it a try?"

"Give."

Alma took the Truth Instrument and began to spin the pointers, pointing each of the three pointers to a different symbol.

Then, the Truth Instrument flew up from Alma's hand, and the fourth hand on the dial began to spin rapidly, emitting a soft golden light.

After a while, the fourth pointer stopped on an apple symbol, then fell down and was caught by Alma.

This symbol represents the fruit of knowledge in the Garden of Eden, so it can represent knowledge or original sin.

Roy asked Alma in surprise, as he hadn't seen what symbol the three pointers Alma had turned were pointing to.

"Alma, what question did you ask?"

Alma looked dazed, seemingly lost in thought, and only answered Roy after he asked her a second time.

"Oh, it's nothing! I just asked some questions of my own, and now I feel that this Truth Instrument is indeed quite something!"

Roy looked at Alma in surprise.

"Do you know how to use this Truth Machine now? Does that mean we can find the Tower of Babel?"

Upon hearing this, Alma nodded.

"I can try."

After saying that, Alma picked up the Truth Instrument and wound it up again. Soon, the three pointers pointed in different directions again, but this time the situation seemed a little different.

After the Truth Machine flew into the air, the four hands on the dial started spinning wildly at the same time, a completely different situation from before.

At the same time, the light emitted by the Truth Instrument was flickering, unlike its previous gentle glow.

"What exactly is going on?"

The golden statue answered Roy.

"My master, this situation may have arisen because it was difficult to ask the Truth Instrument this time."

The Magic Mirror's guess made some sense; finding the location of the Tower of Babel in the Dark Abyss would undoubtedly be extremely difficult.

The Truth Machine flew in the air for a full five minutes before falling. Alma almost missed catching it, but Elareza reacted quickly and prevented it from falling to the ground.

At this moment, Roy noticed that all four pointers on the Truth Instrument were stopped at the same position.

"This is……"

Roy took the Truth Instrument from Elareza and found that the change in the base did not change the change in the pointer. The Truth Instrument seemed to have really become a compass, only pointing in one direction.

Alma stared at the Truth Instrument, her face pale.

"I think the direction the pointer is pointing must be the location of the Tower of Babel!"

After saying that, Alma fainted.

"Alma!"

(End of this chapter)