Conan Rick's Investigator

These snake people are acting like traitors and rapists.

Therefore, Yig, the father of all snakes, brought punishment and cursed the snake people, and the snake people of Youshi began to degenerate.

The mural uses a format similar to the famous human evolution diagram to demonstrate the gradual degeneration of snake people.

The snake man's limbs gradually degenerated, from standing on two legs to walking on four legs, and finally turned into a somewhat familiar monster.

Qin Zhibo took a look and found that this was the livestock raised by the Kunyang people, Gai Ai-Yousi.

Those degenerated snake people lost most of their intelligence and all language ability, their limbs gradually degenerated, and they were captured by the later Kunyang people and became livestock.

But not all snake people have degenerated.

Some snake people escaped the curse under the protection of Tsathoggua, but the race's strength has declined significantly, making it impossible for them to survive in Yousi.

So they passed through an underground entrance in Yousi and entered a green world.

The murals depict the appearance of that world in a colorful way. The sky there is different from the light blue and faint red of Kunyang, but a green one.

Beneath the green is also a plain, but there are many tombstones on the plain.

Seeing this scene, Qin Zhibo immediately thought of the zombies' lair in the Dreamland - Xin's Tomb.

The content on the murals indicates that there is also a passage leading to the dreamland in the dark world.

Or Kunyang, Yousi, the Ash Space, and the Tombs of Xin. These places are respectively the underground of the waking world and the dreamland, and are also the areas between reality and dreams.

And the Abyss Enkai is most likely the boundary between the waking world and the dreamland.

……

After reading the history of the snake people, Qin Zhibo and Koizumi Hongzi were sure that there was no danger here, and their tense emotions were finally relaxed.

The two found a slightly cleaner place in the temple, laid down an insulating mat, and fell asleep on the ground.

Although they brought sleeping bags, this place was not absolutely safe. Lying in a sleeping bag would limit their reaction speed in a crisis situation.

In his sleep, Qin Zhibo refused to enter the dreamland and just wanted to get the best rest.

When he woke up again, the deformation of his body had completely returned to normal.

He checked the time on his watch. It was already 12 noon outside. The two of them slept for a full eight hours!

Although Qin Zhibo felt that the fatigue in his body had not completely subsided, he could no longer rest.

Although those Kunyang people did not dare to go to Enkai, this place was not Enkai, but Yousi.

Judging from the fact that the Kunyang people captured degenerate snake people in Yousi, they did not shy away from entering Yousi.

Once they find that no one has left Kunyang through the exit, they will definitely send people into Yousi to search.

Qin Zhibo glanced at the stone ground two meters away. Koizumi Hongzi was curled up and still sleeping with her head facing the stone wall on the other side.

"Hongzi, it's time to wake up and set off."

"We can only eat on the way. We can't wait any longer..."

Qin Zhibo packed up the thermal pad and equipment while calling Koizumi Hongzi to get up.

But after everything was cleaned up, Koizumi Hongzi was still curled up there, motionless.

In the dim environment, Koizumi Hongzi's figure was lying dejectedly on the stone ground two meters away. In a trance, Qin Zhibo felt that her lying posture was somewhat like a coiled snake.

Qin Zhibo's heart trembled, and he took out a nuclear lighter. Under the light of the fire, everything seemed to return to normal.

"It's time for us to set off..."

Tentative words were heard in the dim space, but Koizumi Hongzi still did not respond.

This gave Qin Zhibo a bad feeling.

He carefully crawled over to Koizumi Hongzi's side, and as soon as his hand touched her shoulder, he immediately felt the deadly warmth.

drink!

Qin Zhibo was shocked. If he hadn't seen the investigation point, he would have thought she was dead.

Without further ado, he pushed and shoved to wake her up.

"Wake up!"

Qin Zhibo shook Koizumi Hongzi vigorously, and the soft and boneless body turned around with a push.

It didn't matter that he turned around, but Qin Zhibo was immediately shocked by the scene in front of him.

Koizumi Hongzi's face turned into that of a snake man!

The flat facial features were covered with snake-skin patterns, and only the round holes of the two nostrils were left, breathing weakly.

Qin Zhibo: Will -5

Qin Zhibo was shocked by this sudden change, which was even more shocking than when Xu Xian discovered that White Snake was a snake.

But he had an iron will and extraordinary courage after all. Instead of screaming in fright, he quickly woke Koizumi Akako up.

"Ok?"

"What happened?"

Koizumi Hongzi, who was awakened by the shake, got up sleepily. The snake-man face quickly disappeared and was replaced by a beautiful face.

"Hongzi, you're not... a snake, are you? Or do you have snake-woman blood in your ancestors?"

Koizumi Hongzi looked at him strangely and asked in confusion, "What are you talking about? What snake?"

"If that's the case, then you just..."

Qin Zhibo told Koizumi Hongzi exactly what he had just seen.

"really?"

"But I didn't feel anything?"

Looking at Koizumi Hongzi's confused expression, it was obvious that this matter had nothing to do with her personal consciousness and bloodline.

Then there is only one possibility left, that is, there is something strange about this place.

The spacious altar, the short and thick stone pillars, and the dark niches seemed to come alive at this moment, emitting a faint hissing sound.

hiss--

hiss--

The two of them felt a tightness in their hearts. They looked around but could not see any living creatures. Feelings of fear and uneasiness spread in this small and wide space.

"Let's get out of here, now! Right now!"

Qin Zhibo and Koizumi Hongzi did not dare to stay any longer. They quickly picked up their luggage, left the snake people's sacred temple, and continued to head towards Enkai.

……

After leaving the nameless city of the snake people, the two continued to head northeast.

Although we came from Kunyang to Youshi, the direction indicated by the metal coin did not change.

Qin Zhibo took out some compressed biscuits from his backpack, and he and Koizumi Hongzi munched on the dry and hard biscuits while heading northeast.

Along the way, there were still no animals or plants to be seen on the barren plains. The land covered by red light seemed to have been cursed by the father of snakes.

After walking from noon to 6 o'clock in the evening in the outside world, the two finally reached the end of the plain.

The low hill at the end of the plain is still a crack, and there is a passage leading directly to the depths in the crack.

The metal coin pointed to the dark place deep in the rift.

Qin Zhibo put the searchlight on his head and entered first.

Inside is a deep, lightless canyon. Walking through it feels like entering another world beyond Kunyang and Youshi.

As he walked, Qin Zhibo smelled a pungent mineral smell.

"Sulfur ore?"

Qin Zhibo squatted on the ground, identifying a pile of broken ore beside the road. The surface of these ores showed signs of artificial mining, although these signs were very old.

At this moment, Koizumi Hongzi, who was walking behind, seemed to hear some noise, her ears twitched, and she turned back to stare at the darkness behind her.

"What's wrong?"

Qin Zhibo noticed Koizumi Hongzi's reaction and turned around to ask.

Koizumi Hongzi murmured, "There seems to be a sound behind..."

"sound?"

Qin Zhibo immediately lay on the ground, put his ear to the ground and listened.

A chaotic, unrhythmic sound came into my ears along with the vibration of the ground. Such a large-scale and purposeful sound, in this quiet and desolate place, could only be made by the Kunyang people and their four-legged livestock.

"They're coming!"

"Who?"

"Kunyang people!"

Qin Zhibo quickly pulled Koizumi Hongzi into the canyon.

The Kunyang people behind were faster and their voices were getting closer and closer. After a while, their melodious and loud voices could be heard in the ears.

"Outsider, stop running!"

"The road ahead is a dead end. Come back with us. The Council is ready to accept you!"

The Spanish of the Kunyang people came from behind. Koizumi Hongzi repeated it to Qin Zhibo while running, but received a sarcastic sneer from Qin Zhibo.

A race that cares so much about happiness and excitement in life actually prevents outsiders who are its prey from running away.

This further proves that there is something in the canyon that makes them fearful.

Moreover, they are still telling such vile lies even now. This race is indeed corrupt.

"Don't worry about him, just keep running!"

The two ran to a slightly wider open space, but were still caught up by the Kunyang sentry team.

Seeing that things were not going well, Qin Zhibo immediately turned around and picked up Koizumi Hongzi by the waist. The magic ring on his hand immediately took effect, making the two of them invisible.

The Kunyang scouts also came to the open space at this time. The leader, Hasaji, rode on a Gai Ai-Yousi and looked around, but found no one in sight.

"The sound disappeared here?"

"It should still be around here, look carefully!"

Hassaji ordered his men to spread out in all directions, while he himself rode on a four-legged beast, holding a blue torch in his hand, guarding the only exit.

Qin Zhibo hugged Koizumi Hongzi tightly, not daring to move at all. Any slight sound might disturb these Kunyang people in this silent environment.

At this time, Koizumi Akako also knew that she had entered the invisible state. The two had had such contact before in the mansion of Smiling Mask.

Unfortunately, this time the two of them were not traveling lightly, but were carrying a lot more equipment.

As time went by, the half-eaten compressed biscuit in Koizumi Hongzi's pocket gradually slipped out of her pocket and fell to the ground.

The rule of the Ring is that anything that leaves the wearer's body will lose its invisibility.

Half a compressed biscuit suddenly appeared in the air and fell to the ground.

The sudden appearance of the compressed biscuits did not escape Hassaji's eyes. He was quick-witted and immediately pointed the torch at the open space.

“What’s there!”

When the other Kunyang people heard the sound, they walked over to check and saw a hazy shadow reflected on the ground.

This is another shortcoming of the Ring, being invisible does not mean losing the shadow.

Seeing that he had been discovered, Qin Zhibo no longer hid and released the invisibility of the magic ring.

The sudden appearance of two living people in the empty space startled the Kunyang people, including Khasaji.

"Ouch!"

Taking advantage of the moment when the Kunyang people were surprised, Koizumi Hongzi in Qin Zhibo's arms controlled the flame in the palm of his hand and flicked it towards the faces of several Kunyang people around him.

A few flames, neither big nor small, bloomed on the faces of the Kunyang people, scaring them so much that they slapped the flames on their faces and kept making sharp screams.

Qin Zhibo took out his Colt pistol again and fired bullets at the Kunyang people in the American Iai style.

Pia, Pia, Pia…