Abyss Train

Chapter 745 Act.01 [Entertainment: Hospitality]

Foreword:

Hunger is the best spice.

—Arthur Schopenhauer

  [Part①·Eating tributes secretly]

The lower reaches of the Wujiang River were originally calm, but with the accident of Penglai No. 1, the regional spiritual disaster index gradually increased, and ripples began to appear on the water surface.

The waves gradually spread, as if an invisible hand was gently painting on the water.

"Hey"

Billy leaned against the window of the passenger ship and chatted casually.

"Foyanini, how much food do we have left in our bags?"

Fu Yanini squeezed next to his eldest brother with a cloth bag in his hand, counted the inventory in the bag, and replied casually: "It's enough for us to return to Black Wind Ridge."

The sightseeing boat has a speed of only eight knots. It will take at least nine hours to return to the war situation center, and it also depends on the weather. If there is a storm, the boat will move even slower.

Billy then asked, "What are they?"

Fu Yanini: "Six dumplings, half filled with sweet dates and red bean paste, and the other half filled with pork and egg yolk."

Billy: “Only zongzi?”

Fu Yanini: "When we set out from Black Wind Ridge, the quartermaster specifically instructed us not to bring the rations from Guangling Zhixi, nor any food products with the ship code of XN1065. If the enemy finds out, our lives will be in danger."

The two men came to the vicinity of Emperor Ai's Mausoleum to carry out a mission, claiming to be travelers from Japan. When they arrived at Baibei Port to pass through customs, if the local officers and soldiers found something strange when checking the luggage and recognized the goods on the cargo ship from Sendai Prefecture, the two brothers would definitely be in trouble, and their teacher Su Ling would also be implicated.

These six rice dumplings are treasures found at a local farmer’s home in Heifengling.

"I didn't expect that this place also celebrates traditional Chinese festivals?" Billy weighed the rice dumplings with interest.

Fuanini had long been familiar with Shambhala’s folk traditions: “This area is very unique, Brother Billy, there are many time travelers.”

"The main factors that make up local culture are the habits and quirks of those in power. For example, the last time we bought Journey to the West in Taizhou, it was a hardcover edition with picture books."

The "Journey to the West" in Shambhala was written by Wang Daming, a time traveler.

Every fifty years or so, time travelers come to this land and use their vision that is far ahead of their time, their culture, technology, psychic talents, and political foresight to transform this deformed world - either temporarily calming its chaos or making it even more deformed.

As for the books and atlases, this "Journey to the West" from a parallel universe is just a pastime for Wang Daming after dinner. The cultural genes of Daxia come from various chaotic time and space, and so do its language and folk customs. They are dominated by various time and space travelers and are constantly changing.

"Boring." Billy muttered, "Go ahead, Foyanini."

Foianini: “Hmm?”

Billy: "During the Dragon Boat Festival, everyone eats rice dumplings. Does that count as stealing Qu Yuan's tribute?"

Fuyanini blushed and said, "Heh, it was originally given to the fish to eat."

Billy: "That means stealing the offerings from the river god and fish monster."

Foianini: "It's not stealing, it's above board."

Billy: "Oh, there are so many fish monsters in Baibei Port. If I eat a piece of zongzi, it will be an insult to these monsters. This festival is great!"

"Although I don't quite understand your magical logic, it is indeed a good thing!" Fuyannini said with a smile.

As the wind and waves grew stronger, the force brought by the tide began to become more obvious, and the water waves formed undulating and violent patterns. They intertwined and chased each other, like gradually manic notes on the river surface.

It was almost noon when we set out. After three or four hours of sailing, dark clouds began to float over the horizon. They obscured the dome of the caves and part of the "blue sky" brought about by the diffuse reflection of sunlight - swallowing up the huge rocks in the caves in the thin mist in the distance one by one.

"Is it going to get dark?" Fuanini quickly looked at his watch. "It's only one in the afternoon?"

Billy the Kid didn't feel anything unusual. He was more concerned about the man and woman above the cabin than the changes in spiritual pressure near Wujiang.

He could hear some human noise because Judah and Fayi were both blood-donating units. For a blood-donating follower like Billy, the master's orders were always the loudest and most harsh.

But Billy didn't suspect anything, he was too relaxed and his nerves were tough enough. After hearing part of the conversation, the gentleman decided to make a few small talk, talked until he broke down, and then left quickly.

"I hope the weather will get better." Billy sighed, "It's better to go back early. I'm tired of the monsters in Baibei Port. I can't stand the fishy smell at all."

Fuyanini: "Brother, are you afraid of water?"

Billy: "When I first accepted the blood collection ceremony of the Little Brotherhood, the servant of God gave me a skin test."

The blood collection ceremony is a test for new members of the Mad Butterfly Holy Cult. A member of the war gang needs 1,400 milliliters of blood to complete the promotion, and a child like Billy who comes from the Redstone School needs at least 2,500 milliliters of blood - a nearly lethal amount.

As for the "skin test", it is the procedure for creating blood-donating followers.

The Brotherhood infused Billy the Kid with some mixed blood, but without the participation of the Vita Mark, the blessed holy blood could not nest in his body, nor could it transform him into the blood-giving state of the trinity (human beings themselves, disaster beasts, and crazy butterflies).

His own immunity was able to resist this mixed blood, and after a slight transformation, he was qualified to become Flavia and Duran's helper. Then, on his first business deal, he ran into the King of Hell and met FE204863.

At first, Billy wanted to rely on his squire bloodline to secretly bring a pack of H16Ts and sew them together with the guns in his stomach.

We all know the result. These two little people got lucky and won the first prize.

"After I did the skin test, I kept reading." Billy explained, shaking his head, "Reading all kinds of vampire books. I'm going to become a vampire soon."

"I've paid the deposit. I saw that the things vampires fear most are sunlight and flowing water. I kept hypnotizing myself. I kept hypnotizing myself."

"You can't see the light, you can't go into the water, you have to develop good habits, you can't lose your life because of these things? This is too frustrating."

Foianini did not participate in the blood collection, nor did he do skin tests.

——He was able to work with Flavia thanks to his brother Billy’s connections.

"Oh, so that's how it is?"

Billy: "Hey, feeling a bit superstitious?"

The wind continued to grow stronger, the waves began to roll, and the spray jumped on the water like goblins with bared fangs and claws beating war drums.

The water birds on the river bank had already flown to the mountains. In the dark and humid air currents, only thin mist could be seen floating between the mountains.

Above Billy the Kid's head, in the second-floor cabin.

Compared with the boring food topics of the two friends, the words that came out of Mr. Judah and Ms. Fayi were much bloodier and crueler.

They were almost at loggerheads, their faces red and their ears clenched, refusing to give in.

"There are three boatmen on duty. Now is the off-season for the southern tour." Judas lowered his head and gritted his teeth, "Leave one to guide the navigator, and make the remaining two into human jerky - the food is enough for us to return to Xiaocangzhou in Nanliang, but if we have to take the mountain road, the two apprentices of the gunsmith will have to die."

"Are you still talking about the Southern Liang?" Fayi corrected him, "Now it is the Chen Kingdom, my leader. Is your brain working?"

"It will definitely take some time to fully adapt to this body and completely integrate with this ghost!" Judah had an innocent look on his face. To be honest, a few hours ago, he was an Arab student who was about to graduate from the University of Chicago.

He obtained a high potential talent visa officially certified by the British government.

He has a student loan of $260,000 and needs to work hard to write songs and become an idol. He also needs to sell at least 8,000 records to have a chance to pay off his student loan.

His concerns immediately turned to how to fill his stomach, how to survive in this barren land, and how to escape the pursuit of the unknown person.

The little saint of the goddess Io in front of him was of no use at all. In terms of force alone - Judah's holy blood and flesh could subdue this woman with just one arm.

If there wasn't a voice in his head that kept reminding him, caring about him, and repeatedly admonishing him -

——He would have stripped this woman naked and executed her on the spot. After all, this is a lawless world and after satisfying her survival needs, she must of course satisfy her sexual desires.

"I really want to take a puff, but the conditions don't allow it."

Judas muttered:

——His two personalities merged into one another, and he had never felt so vulnerable.

Every time he completed this reincarnation ritual through the goddess Io, he would go through the most difficult days.

Although these travelers from parallel time and space can become his new body and the carrier of his powerful soul, all kinds of myths and messy memories can also become stumbling blocks.

"And I say," Faye Frosalin stated the conditions: "You want to kill Foyanini and Billy? I don't agree!"

"Why? They are the gunsmith's apprentices." Judas didn't understand: "The gunsmith took a flight from the Giant Mountain Station to the Nine Realms. If it weren't for these two little ghosts following the gunsmith, there would be no Flavia and Duran, and there would be no myth created by the snake girl - their teacher would have died long ago."

Judas had also read this story. There were many versions of the gunsmith's unofficial biography, but the basic outline of the story was similar - they all told the story of the gunsmith and his four companions fighting the devil on the plane, gaining soul power and winning.

"On the contrary, my leader." Faye didn't want Billy to die here. She never told Judah her true feelings: "It is precisely because they are the gunsmith's apprentices that they cannot die."

"They carry information about the Baibei Port area, as well as the Aizong Mausoleum and the Tiangongyuan."

"If they just disappear without any explanation, we won't have a chance to escape to Ogura Prefecture. We will be caught by the Nameless Person as soon as we get off the ship in Tai Prefecture."

Judas put on a friendly expression and smiled, "That makes sense."

Fayi breathed a sigh of relief. With Judah's soul power, it would be easy for him to devour these two half-hearted psychics.

[Turning Stone into Gold] Just a gentle kiss will turn these two poor creatures into a ball of meat paste. Its killing efficiency is very high, but the activation conditions are relatively harsh, requiring the spirit of Patriarch Judas to come into close contact with these lives.

"You reminded me." Judah said with a sinister smile, "But what if I don't agree?"

Fayi was surprised: "Why? Master?"

Judah tapped his temple gently, tapping his head: "He has seen my face, that Billy Horn, he saw it, saw my real face."

"Just because of this?" Fayi suddenly felt that the leader was a little unreasonable.

Judas whispered, "Yes, I want to reassure myself. If this guy returns to the Anonymous team, David Victor can use the power of [Hell's Highway] to remove this memory from his head." "I don't want my face to be remembered by these despicable and shameless Anonymous."

"Even if there is only a one in a thousand chance, a one in ten thousand coincidence. If I fall into the hands of such a minions, and the goddess Io resurrects me again - I will still feel ashamed."

"Faye Frosalin, do you know what the most terrible emotion in the world is?"

"It's just [shame]—"

“——Shame represents self-denial, self-destruction, and self-destruction.”

"Losing to the gunsmith is nothing. His destructive power is far beyond my imagination. Outside the boundary monument of Ai Zong's Mausoleum, he killed me instantly before I could even see his face clearly."

"But I don't feel any shame at all. It's just a failure. I can accept this result and I can come back."

"But if my face is exposed to the eyes of unknown people because of a Billy Horn, a despicable bastard who accidentally broke open the door of the ship, my heart cannot bear this shame."

"Don't you like eating human flesh, Fayi? You are the best cook among us, a fairy flying around in front of the kitchen counter. When Pellerini was still alive, he often complained that you needed too many kinds of spices when performing intelligence missions."

Judas whispered:

"——Why? The flesh and blood of these two psychics is sweeter than that of ordinary people, and can satisfy our hunger better. Why? Faye Frosalin?"

"Your mother is the goddess Io, a man-eating sun."

"According to your genetic and memetic configuration, you are the incarnation of Io. I'm afraid there is no one in the world who likes human flesh more than you."

"Why? Why don't you want to eat them?"

Judah clasped his hands together, covered his face with Fayi's scarf, and sniffed the perfume on the "goddess".

"I can't accept the previous reason, although it makes sense. I seem to smell it."

"I smell betrayal, and I smell love. Faye Frosalin, are you in love with this guy?"

Ms. Fai cannot hide the pheromones in her body, and her holy blood carries a part of the lark's bestiality—

——During the courtship process, the expression of pheromones will become more intense.

The river was turbulent and the waves were rolling, like wild horses running free in the water.

Waves splashed, mist filled the air, and the roar of wind and waves and dark clouds and lightning were intertwined.

Thunder suddenly illuminated Fayi's profile. The leader's repeated questioning made her feel ashamed.

—As Judas describes, this shame almost destroyed her completely,

  [Part ②: The Source of Fear]

"Because of love?" Judas was quite surprised, but he did not break down. He had no intention of insulting or blaming his subordinates, nor did he ignore or despise such emotions.

According to common people's logic, there is always an illusion that "people who do great things will not be dragged down by emotions."

But Judah had fought with Aohen Mingde for so many years - he had already tasted the power of "love".

This power can enable a dying warrior to stand up again, and can turn two enemies who have no cooperation and resentment towards each other into people who rely on each other.

The belief it evokes forms a spiritual barrier that is built after the family is formed, enabling people to resist various powerful spiritual pressures and slaughter blood-giving monsters.

"I prefer to believe it." Fayi turned his head away, not daring to look the leader in the eye: "I prefer to believe that it was his mother who chose him."

No matter how Fayi changed her appearance, no matter how many times the Rose Fairy died, she would fall in love - the goddess Io resurrected her again and again through [Divine Gift], but she could not escape the disaster of Billy Horn.

For Fayi, the love in her heart is not groundless. After all, there are thousands of incarnations of Io. Just like the way Judas was reincarnated, they have their own lives, their own personalities, and various concepts.

"WTF" Judah said in beautiful English: "You mean, the god Amon of Shambhala, the sun god - our goddess Io, fell in love with this boy?"

Although Billy Horn always thought he was extremely unlucky.

He could not escape this misfortune throughout his life. Even after becoming an apprentice to a gunsmith, he could hardly gain any merit in this Autumn Harvest Operation. In his long life, Foianini was awarded a Purple Gold Flower Medal for Outstanding Communications Officer. It was a "slippery fish" that Foianini occasionally caught when setting up radio stations on the front line - it happened that Billy the Boy was knocked unconscious by Mr. Jason's grenade that day and could not go to the front line.

But the goddess Io loved him.

This doesn't make any sense in itself, and there is no logic to it.

It was like something that would only happen in a fairy tale, two people from different family backgrounds, different classes, and completely different ideas suddenly met because of an intelligence mission. Goddess Io met Billy Horn through Faye Frosalin's eyes and through the small window of her heart.

"Do you think she fainted from hunger?" Although Judas understood the power of love, he could not understand the meaning of love itself: "Io? Billy Horn? Are they the hero and heroine of the same book? The sun god? And a wild child from a drug dealer's family? What kind of story can they have?"

  "My mind is in a mess, leader, I have no idea either." Fayi spoke incoherently. To be honest, she couldn't understand it either - was this Io's will? Or was it fate?

Just when the two big shots were in a state of panic.

The boatman on duty finally let out the first scream—

——Two half-fish monsters emerged from the black river.

They came from the tomb of Emperor Aizong and were the palace soldiers stationed around the complex. They should have been under the unified command of Fickwood.

At this moment, the physical bodies of these Lightning Stars are on the verge of collapse, and the blessed Holy Blood is gradually getting out of control in an environment with an extremely high concentration of spiritual disasters.

The passenger boat had a carrying capacity of 250 tons. Since it was a return trip, in addition to the few passengers in the cabin, there were 160 tons of cargo on the bottom of the cabin. The large bamboos on both sides of the ship used to balance the waterline were specially thickened and also became the boarding point for these monsters.

The pitch-black scaly claws clasped the wooden deck, and the eyes, ears, mouths and noses of the fishmen officers and soldiers had been completely deformed. Strips of hot, boiling rotten meat kept spitting out from these bloody holes, trying to empty the soft brain tissue - the Vita Brand was about to take over this head and dominate the spinal center.

Judas felt the familiar spiritual pressure and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

"Is it the Incarnation Butterfly?"

Looking out through the window grille, I saw two slimy, limp black shadows crawling towards the rudder.

"Feckwood's soldiers."

Fayi: "Why? Are they going to turn into avatar butterflies?"

Judas was totally unprepared. He had no experience fighting against incarnated butterflies and had never faced such a monster head-on. The life-and-death battle to subdue the monster was left to his subordinates. He was just a businessman.

"How big of a mess did Fickwood make?"

“I clearly told him before I left.”

Judas just felt it was unreasonable. Under the influence of the violent spiritual pressure of Lightning Star, his eyes were bloodshot.

"It seems that we have to give up this immortal elixir cave in Aizong's mausoleum. Fayi, protect me."

"Leader! What are you talking about?" Fayi asked in surprise, "You are much stronger than me!"

Even though he possessed the more powerful Holy Blood of Grace, Judas very much recognized an iron rule in the Gunsmith Bible.

If you don't use your strength, you won't know how to use it. Even though he could bend carbon steel pipes with his fingers, bite off copper paperweights with his teeth, and break the main pole of a hardwood sailboat with one punch, he definitely didn't want to get in close contact with the Incarnation Butterfly - let alone fight, even with a gun in hand, he couldn't hit or kill these monsters.

When it comes to breaking into battle and killing the enemy, these Lightning Stars who have lost their intelligence are like kicking cotton. Apart from the terrifying killing power of [Turning Stone into Gold], Judas prefers to solve problems by doing business.

"What on earth is going on? Why are these fishmen soldiers here?!" Judah cursed, "Damn you, Fickwood!"

At the other end of the mast, the boatman at the rudder had just turned around and heard the gurgling sound of water.

His head tilted and he was lifted up by the two huge fishmen. His body was separated into two halves, and his flesh and blood began to rot when it came into contact with the high temperature of Lightning Star. The power seeds of these incarnated butterflies had extremely strong digestive abilities, and their entire bodies were covered with invisible "mouths". They just used their claws and arms to touch him, and held the human flesh in their arms, and the boatman immediately disappeared and melted into the monster's body.

"Huh!" The fishman soldier on the left seemed to still have a trace of consciousness: "Aiya eh hehehe. Aiya ah, ah!"

A hoarse growl came from his throat, and a golden plate and a scroll of orders slid out from the armor on his shoulders and elbows.

Judas finally figured it out.

"——These two messengers were sent by Fickwood! He seems to have something to say."

The moment Fickwood Abbey used the Polaroid camera to send Jiang Xueming back, in the next ten minutes, he sent orders to the local officers and soldiers stationed around Wujiang, asking them to inform Fayi Frosalin of the gunsmith's whereabouts and tell Judah the news.

Since only Judas knew the channel of the Rose Fairy's elixir, and Judas himself had to rely on [divine gift] to be resurrected, running errands and delivering messages became the only means of communication. These fishmen set out with gold medals and orders to find Xiaocangzhou, but they turned into monsters halfway. Because of the spiritual disaster brought by the original seed, they lost their minds.

"Monster! Monster! Monster!" The boatman on duty immediately got up and ran towards the cabin in panic.

As soon as Billy heard the cry for help, he immediately fiddled with the door lock to welcome the boatman in.

——The dark and rainy weather made it impossible for him to see the monster in the direction of the rudder. It seemed that the helmsman and navigator of the previous shift had become the monster's meal.

"Brother! Brother, open the door! Quick! Quick!~" The boatman nervously slapped the wooden fence and opened the inner door and the outer door.

Billy felt as if he was electrocuted all over. He saw the faces of the two fishmen in an instant and suddenly froze.

What a horrible and hideous face it was. After losing its facial features, flesh worms as thick as thumbs were moving in and out of these bright red skulls. They followed the boatman brothers and slowly squeezed closer.

Fuanini said nervously, "Damn it Billy! Think carefully! Do you really want to open the door?"

The soft armor had completely rotted away under the corrosion of the derivatives of the Vita's brand, and the fish skin and scales slowly fell off. The backs of these "giant fishmen" over 250 centimeters tall gradually opened up - the lungs and ribs protruded outward, turning into the initial form of an incarnation butterfly, becoming a "blood eagle". They needed more essence to complete the transformation and satisfy their hunger before they could turn into angels.

In the wind and rain, Billy is being tested. His fingers are out of control and he cannot control his body.

He was so frightened that he couldn't move. In just a few seconds, the decision between life and death was made.

"I want to think it through! I want to think it through!"

“This door can’t stop them.”

"Open it! Open it! Fojanini! Help me! Help me open it!"