Death Spiral [Infinite Flow]

    Xu Rendong got out of the elevator. It was a dark, narrow alley, and there was an unpleasant stench in the air, like the smell of putrefaction mixed with burning coal. He walked out of the alley covering his nose and found himself in a busy street. There are all kinds of shops on the street, and there are hawkers pushing small trucks to sell.

    The streets are full of blond and blue-eyed foreigners, dressed in vintage British style. The hawkers wore shirts and vests, and the gentlemen wore top hats and tuxedos. Ladies are all kinds of tulle long skirts, which are carefully lifted to avoid the dirty water on the ground.

    Xu Rendong noticed that the logos of the shops on both sides were written in cursive English. There was the roar of a huge steamship in the distance, and black smoke was billowing from the towering chimney. It seems that the world this time is set in Britain during the Industrial Revolution.

    However, is it an open scene?

    At the same time, Lian Qiao in the left eye perspective has begun to head towards the ancient castle on his side.

    Xu Rendong was wondering where he should go next, and soon heard a shout from behind.

    "Hey! You just got off the boat, right? Don't wander around, keep up!"

    Chinese?

    Xu Rendong looked at the voice in surprise and found that a group of Chinese appeared on the street at some point. The one at the head was the one who spoke just now. It was a young man wearing a beret with a somewhat impatient expression. He walked up to Xu Rendong and said dissatisfiedly: "What are you running around! Hurry up! I'll take you to the dormitory!"

    Factory... It seems that this time the setting is Chinese laborers who go to England to work by boat.

    A dozen men and women with different looks followed behind the man, all wearing modern clothes, they were probably teammates this time. Xu Rendong then walked into the team and walked forward with the beret.

    "How many times are you?" Someone in the team approached him, a man in his thirties. Ordinary in appearance, the kind that is unrecognizable when thrown into a crowd. It is gentle and polite.

    Lian Qiao in the left eye field suddenly typed out three words on the phone: old player.

    Xu Rendong calmly looked at the man in front of him and answered cautiously, "The third time. What about you?"

    "Me too." After he finished saying this, he smiled to himself, "You look nervous. Relax, this dungeon won't be too difficult."

    Xu Rendong was a little surprised: "How do you know?"

    The man said: "You can count how many people there are in our team. The difficulty of the dungeon is based on the number of people. This time there are only ten people in total, so it won't be too difficult."

    Xu Rendong secretly counted the number of people in the team, and sure enough, except for the beret who took the lead, there were five men and five women, exactly ten people. Five of them all looked disturbed, with expressions that didn't know what was going on here, and at first glance they were newcomers.

    Lian Qiao in the left eye field of vision typed out a line: "This man must want to form an alliance with you."

    In front of the other party, Xu Rendong took out his mobile phone to answer, so he nodded slightly to show his approval.

    At this moment, the man seemed to notice something suddenly, and a trace of surprise flashed on his face: "Your eyes...?"

    Xu Rendong subconsciously covered his left eye with his hand, pretending to be calm: "You said this? Congenital deformity, born like this. Sorry for scaring you."

    "It's me who should apologize, I'm taking the liberty, I'm sorry." The man apologized in a gentlemanly manner, and asked with concern, "Does it affect eyesight?"

    Xu Rendong said: "It doesn't affect..." After thinking about it, he added, "A little bit, I'm used to it."

    "That's good." The man seemed to be relieved, "If you have a physical defect, it will be difficult to find someone to ally with."

    Xu Rendong: "Oh, is it?"

    The man stared into his eyes earnestly, showing a sincere expression of admiration: "It's so beautiful... it's a pity."

    Xu Rendong was taken aback for a moment, he was not used to being praised so frankly for his appearance, and the other party was a man. Xu Rendong couldn't speak for a while, only his left eye flashed, and Lian Qiao on the other side was typing frantically.

    "Don't answer! Don't answer! Don't answer!!" (note)

    Xu Rendong: "..." You can't hear, why is your reaction so big.

     On the way after that, Xu Rendong stopped talking, and the man did not continue to talk to him. The group followed the berets to the dormitory in silence. The old people were paying attention to their surroundings and refused to let go of the slightest clue. The newcomers were shivering nervously, as if they had been warned about the dangers they were about to face. .

    Walking, the original bustling street gradually disappeared, replaced by a dilapidated scene. The stalls and vendors are gone, and there are a few broken houses scattered on both sides of the street, all crumbling. The slums have arrived.

    The dormitory is not far from the entrance to the slum. A three-story building, the exterior wall looks very dilapidated, and the windows are broken. Beret led everyone into the house and told everyone to wait on the first floor, and he went to call the doctor. After he finished speaking, he went up to the second floor.

    The house has a musty smell that hasn't been lived in for a long time, there is dust and cobwebs everywhere, and there is almost nowhere to go. As soon as the beret left, everyone immediately began to discuss in a low voice.

    "What does the dungeon prompt mean this time?" "Do you have any clue?" "The butterfly in my stomach sounds disgusting..." "The NPC said to call the doctor? What is the doctor doing?"

    Xu Rendong looked around the house. The first floor of this dormitory building is a lobby, nothing special except for a few crooked tables and chairs and a dusty front desk.

    Lian Qiao: There is a calendar on the wall with words on it, remember to take a look. There may be something in the drawer under the front desk. The electric fan on the ceiling seems to be unstable and may fall off at any time. Try not to go under the electric fan.

    ...So in Lian Qiao's eyes, are there so many things worth caring about? Professional gamers see things differently.

    Even Qiao's fingers were still typing quickly, Xu Rendong quietly took out his mobile phone while no one was paying attention: "Don't keep staring at me."

    Lian Qiao: Oh, okay. Then show you my environment here ^^

    The angle of view is rotated, and in the left eye is a magnificent living room in the style of the Middle Ages. The tables and chairs are all leather, and there are huge crystal chandeliers on the ceiling. Many people gathered in front of a man who looked like a butler and seemed to be listening to what he was explaining.

    This is the inside of that Gothic castle.

    Xu Rendong counted the number of people on Lian Qiao's side, and there were 22 in total, more than double the number on his side. This shows that Lian Qiao's copy is much more difficult than his.

    Xu Rendong typed and told Lian Qiao to be careful, the sound of footsteps on the stairs drew his attention back to himself. I saw the two of them walking down from the second floor one after the other, and the beret was the leader, who was happily talking to the people behind him. And when everyone saw the dress of the man behind, they were all shocked.

    The so-called "doctor" was not wearing an ordinary white coat, but a white robe like a monk. The robe is attached with a white hood, both wrists are tied with ropes, and long white gloves are worn on the hands, presumably to facilitate certain operations. What's more noticeable is that he wears an exaggerated beak mask. The beak is sharp and long, and it can stab people to death. Behind the beak are two dark goggles, which can't see the person behind the mask at all. What does it look like.

    Everyone was silent.

    Lian Qiao was suddenly excited and began to type frantically: ah ah ah ah doctor bird beak! ! It's steampunk! ! I knew that the Industrial Revolution and factories and beaks must be steampunk! ! Ahhhh, I want to come to your side too. I don't want to play in the old castle. It's so gloomy and boring! !

    Xu Rendong: "..." Tried to roll his eyes to warn Lian Qiao to calm down, but Lian Qiao didn't get it at all. He could only ignore the text that kept beating in his left eye and tried to focus his attention on his right eye.

    Beret chatted a few times with Dr. Birdbeak in English, and turned to look at everyone, the smile on Beret's face disappeared instantly. Then, in a yin and yang translation, he said:

    "Next, the doctor will perform a physical examination for each of you to make sure that you do not carry that **** infectious disease! Now line up for me one by one, and check to me Come!"

    At the command of the NPC, everyone lined up obediently. Doctor Bird's Beak took a stethoscope and a small flashlight and examined everyone's body one by one. It didn't do any excessive inspection, it seemed that they were really just checking to see if they had any disease. Soon, the last person also passed the medical examination. Dr. Birdbeak nodded at the beret, picked up the toolbox, and left the dormitory.

    After checking the body, Beret arranged rooms and beds for everyone. After putting away the luggage, he took everyone out again and headed to the factory.

    The factory is located in the suburbs. Fortunately, the slum area is already on the edge of the town. It only takes ten minutes to walk from the dormitory. From a distance, everyone could see several chimneys towering into the clouds, emitting black smoke continuously into the sky. The sky was lead-grey, and it was impossible to tell if the clouds were too thick or if the sky was originally that color. There is also a river next to the factory. The water in the river is black and turbid. After walking a few steps, you can see a sewage pipe discharging waste water into the river.

    The town is full of traces of industrial pollution, making everyone feel very uncomfortable. The closer you got to the factory, the stronger the smell of burning coal in the air, and some people even coughed.

    I finally came to the gate of the factory, I saw several huge buildings standing in the open space, and I couldn't see the roof when I stood at the gate. There are people in guard uniforms guarding the gate of the factory, and berets warn everyone that they are not allowed to leave the factory without permission during working hours, and they are not allowed to arrive late and leave early. Everyone nodded, and it seemed that this factory was the main event location.

    As soon as I entered the factory, there was a heat wave. The firelight swayed on everyone's faces, reflecting the astonishment of everyone. It turns out that the center of the factory is a huge molten pool. The orange-red liquid flows slowly in the pool. The conveyor belts on both sides continuously pour unknown objects into the molten slurry, and there are pipes below to transport the molten slurry to other places. .

     Above the molten pool, there are countless huge gears that mesh with each other. The gears are connected to steel bars of different thicknesses, all of which extend to different places, and finally disappear into the darkness, not knowing where to go. When the gears turn, these steel bars also operate together at their respective frequencies and angles. The mechanical gear converts the power provided by the steam from thermal energy into mechanical energy, thereby driving the operation of the entire factory, forming a primitive and sophisticated industrial production line.

    Everyone was shocked by the simple and rough industrial beauty, and it was not until the beret yelled that everyone came back to their senses.

    "What are you doing! Why don't you say hello to the foreman!"

    It was only then that everyone noticed that there was a short middle-aged man beside the beret. This man has a foreigner face. Although he is small, his muscles are very strong. The clothes on his chest and arms are tight, and he looks like a giant mouse that escaped from a laboratory.

    The foreman looked very fierce, he stopped the beret and said a few words in English coldly.

    Someone in the team could not understand what he was talking about and asked around nervously. Beret immediately translated: "The foreman said, since the contract has been signed, don't waste time, go to your workshop immediately! Start work!"

    The crowd whispered again.

    "What? Start work? Are we really going to work here?"

    "It's horrible here, I want to go home..."

    "Let's just listen to the NPC, let's work here for a day. Otherwise, what else can we do?"

      "Snapped"! The huge whip sound echoed inside the factory, shaking everyone's eardrums for a while, and immediately silenced.

    The foreman glanced around with a sneer, and cursed in a very unfriendly tone. The beret on the side looked a little ugly, but he didn't translate what the foreman said. He just half-coaxed and half-advised everyone: "Okay, don't quarrel anymore, just go to work obediently."

    Everyone looked at each other, relatively speechless. Beret took a piece of paper handed to him by the foreman and led everyone to their respective workshops.

    There are already several workers in each workshop. Everyone was taken aback at first glance, thinking that there were so many living people hidden here. A closer look reveals that these workers have numb expressions and stiff movements. It turns out that these are not real people, but wooden dolls wearing workers' clothes!

    The clothes on their bodies are covered with black oil stains, and the exposed fingers and wrists are spherical joints. They didn't respond to the arrival of the crowd, just mechanically repeating the simple actions of **** the screws and adding oil.

    The articulated puppets were working silently. Only the rumbling sound of the mechanical tracks could be heard in the workshop, which was very quiet. However, the quieter it was, the more eerie the atmosphere became.

    The first workshop was a new girl named Zhang Xiaoxiao. When she learned that she had to be alone in the workshop for eight hours, she immediately protested.

    "No, no! It's my first time here... This is my first time..." She was so anxious that she almost cried, looking at the nine teammates around her, but she didn't know who to turn to for help Okay, "Please, don't leave me alone, I'm so scared..."

    Beret waved her hand impatiently, ignoring her request.

    Zhang Xiaoxiao immediately slumped on the ground and burst into tears. However, before the cry fermented, the foreman on the side suddenly raised his whip and walked towards her.

    Xu Rendong couldn't stand it anymore, and was about to step forward to help, but was suddenly pushed away. He was stunned for a while, and found that the man who had approached him earlier actually pushed the crowd away and walked towards the girl.

    "Don't be afraid." He first whispered to the girl, then made a "stop" gesture to the eyeing foreman, and said in fluent English, "Don'tdothatplease,beagentleman ."

    The foreman gave him a surprised look, and seemed very surprised how a migrant worker could speak English. Fortunately, he didn't continue to embarrass the girl, just cursed in a low voice and let the beret take care of it.

    Beret walked in front of the two with an unhappy face, glared at the girl and said, "What are you doing? Cry, cry, go back and cry!"

    The man pulled over the beret and seemed to be negotiating something with him. The beret quickly gave in and said impatiently to the man, "Then you stay here! Others, keep walking with me!"

    The girl was stunned and looked at the beret with tears in her eyes. She didn't understand the meaning of the beret.

    The man helped her stand up and said in a gentle voice: "I told him to change my work station with yours. There is a girl in my workshop, so you You don't have to be alone."

    The girl was stunned for a moment, thanking her continuously. Soon she became uneasy again: "Then it's okay for you to be here alone? Didn't you mean... didn't you mean you might die..."

    The man smiled at her: "It doesn't matter, no matter what, I'm still a man. If something really happens, I'll run faster than you." He turned his body slightly, his back Facing everyone, he seemed to say something to the girl again, but the voice was too soft for everyone to hear. I saw the girl nodded vigorously, her eyes flashing with excitement.

    The man was left alone in this workshop.

    Xu Rendong feels that this person is very personable, knows how to take care of women and vulnerable groups, is neither reckless nor cowardly when facing fierce NPCs, and solves things beautifully, is a partner who can cooperate . After thinking about this, he suddenly remembered that he didn't know the name of this person, but unfortunately the beret kept urging everyone to go forward, and he couldn't turn around to ask.

    Let's just call him a gentleman.

    Soon everyone was assigned to the corresponding workshop, don't worry about not being able to work, there are articulated dolls in the workshop, just follow along. Xu Rendong and a man with glasses were assigned to the boiler room. The task of their group is the easiest, just look at the boiler and avoid blowing up the chamber.

    Berets solemnly warned everyone before leaving that they are not allowed to leave their workstations during working hours, and the foreman will patrol around.

    After the beret and the foreman left, only Xu Rendong and the glasses man were left in the boiler room. Xu Rendong looked around the environment here and found nothing special. Just as he was about to communicate with his teammates, when he turned around, he was surprised to find that the man with glasses was sitting on the ground, holding a thick book in his hands.

    Xu Rendong was shocked: "Are you...?"

    The man with glasses pushed up his glasses and said helplessly: "I'm going to take the exam soon, and I don't want it. You see me being so bald, I look like a medical monk. Well, save the child and let me be a salted fish."

    Xu Rendong discovered that although he looks very young, his hairline is already very dangerous, and he is only one step away from being bald.

    Xu Rendong was speechless for a while, so the medical student ignored him and memorized the book with concentration: "Ginseng is sweet and invigorating, quenches thirst, promotes body fluid and regulates nutrition... Astragalus... Astragalus..." He bowed his head Glancing at the book, he continued his apostasy, "Astragalus is warm and sweaty, and it can help sores and muscles and qi deficiency..."

    Xu Rendong listened in silence for a while, and couldn't help but say, "Do you study Chinese medicine?"

    The medical student said: "Accurately speaking, it is the integration of traditional Chinese and Western medicine."

    Xu Rendong: "Then why don't you prescribe some traditional Chinese medicine for conditioning, nourishing the head... er, nourishing the kidney?"

    The medical student sneered: "Oh, do you think I'm not eating?"

      Ah?! Integrating Chinese and Western medicine! God **** the combination of Chinese and Western medicine! Is it going to kill people if they take a dozen Chinese and Western medicine exams together at the end of the term?

    Xu Rendong was taken aback by him. The next second, the medical student bent down to pick up the book again, patted the ashes hard, and embraced it reverently. There are also words in the mouth:

    "Forget it, it's all a matter of passing..."

    Xu Rendong: "..." is very real.

    Xu Rendong saw that the medical student was addicted to studying and couldn't extricate himself, so he didn't bother him, and directly took out his mobile phone to talk to Lian Qiao. He briefly summarized the information he had so far, and asked: How is the situation on your side?

    Lian Qiao: My side is fighting for inheritance. We play detectives to find out who murdered the old man. The progress is very fast, and three people have died.

    Xu Rendong was shocked: It only took more than an hour, and three died?

    Lian Qiao: One NPC, two teammates. The teammate killed himself and ran out, but he couldn't stop it, and was shot and shot by the housekeeper and fell into the sea.

    Xu Rendong: What about the NPC?

    Lian Qiao: It was the housekeeper who was thrown into the sea by my headshot.

    Xu Rendong: Headshot? Where did you get the gun from?

    Lian Qiao: I grabbed it from the housekeeper... Oh, you didn't see it. The scene was a bit chaotic at the time. I was afraid that you would get dizzy and took Lamia's eyes off.

    Xu Rendong: ...the NPC will be killed as soon as they come up, aren't you afraid of missing key information?

    Lian Qiao: It's okay, when I pointed the gun at the butler's head, he had already said everything he could.

    Xu Rendong:…

    Lian Qiao: I don't need to be around to question other NPCs in a while, after all, I have a gun.

    Xu Rendong:…

    He suddenly felt that he had been worried about Lian Qiao really stupid. So he frankly accepted Lian Qiao's kindness and listened to him analyze his copy for himself.

    Lian Qiao: There's a foreman on patrol... Well, I think about it. The foreman doesn't allow you to be lazy at work, so if you catch you on patrol, you'll be whipped. The beret also only said "you are not allowed to leave your post during working hours", and did not require you to complete the workload. What's more, Brother Honeysuckle, your boiler position has no output at all, you only need to leave the medical monk to watch the house. So you can leave your post and explore the factory, just avoid the foreman. But there are guards at the gate, so we can only explore the inside of the factory and not go out.

    Xu Rendong: Yes, I think so too.

    Lian Qiao: It’s best to come and take a look at the factory at night. If you can avoid the guards and enter the factory, you can explore freely without being disturbed.

    Xu Rendong was a little surprised, but he didn't expect this.

    Lian Qiao continued to type: The key is the "butterfly in the stomach" of the customs clearance prompt, we already know the literal meaning, but we still can't guess what it is prompting... I always feel in my heart Fluffy, it doesn't feel good. Honeysuckle brother, you have to be careful.

    Lian Qiao said the right thing, Xu Rendong couldn't help nodding, but he immediately restrained himself and calmly typed the word "um" on the phone.

    Lian Qiao: Big boss, how is my performance this time! Is it an improvement over the previous two copies! ~~~~

    Xu Rendong looked at the string of rippling wavy lines, and already made up the appearance of Lian Qiao raising her tail high for praise. He raised the corner of his mouth slightly, and there was a little tenderness in his cold and handsome eyebrows. The smile on his lips is like the birth of spring water, and there is a little warm sweetness in the clearness of the melting ice and snow.

    The medical student on the side glanced at him inadvertently, and was suddenly stunned.

    Damn, why is this man so good-looking.

    It's over, it's going to bend, it's going to bend...

    The medical student hurriedly buried his head in the book, endorsing it with all his heart, and did not dare to read it again.

    Xu Rendong was unaware of this. After contacting Lian Qiao, Xu Rendong put away his mobile phone and said to the medical student who was sitting on the ground to endorse: "I'm going out to explore the factory, so you stay here to watch the house... Uh, endorse it?"

    The medical student raised his head from the book and clasped his fist at him solemnly: "Thank you so much!" Immediately he lowered his head and immersed himself in the ocean of knowledge.

    Xu Rendong found the Swiss Army Knife from her backpack, held it in her hand, took a deep breath, and was about to leave the sultry boiler room when she suddenly caught a figure at the end of the corridor from the corner of her eye. He immediately retreated subconsciously, and slammed the door behind him.

    Leaning behind the boiler room door, he carefully listened to the heavy footsteps outside, getting closer and closer...

    Here comes the foreman.

    The author has something to say:

    NOTE: DO NOT ANSWER! *3: Here is a tribute to Liu Cixin's "Three-Body Problem".