The road to completion starts from the Gate of Truth

PS: Don’t say that the protagonist is cowardly. The current protagonist’s mentality has not changed yet. Although he says that he is a strong man, deep down he still has awe of the state machine, let alone beating a ghoul this time. He almost capsized, so he naturally knew that his current strength was far from strong, and a strategic change was inevitable.

')013'\u003eChapter 13 A hundred secrets and one sparse?

"It looks like someone has already taken care of it before us!" Just a few minutes after Fang Yuan left the underground culvert, the battlefield between him and the ghouls welcomed a new visitor.

A tall, muscular man with a shaved head, wearing a military green vest on the upper body, camouflage pants and field boots on the lower body, with only a combat knife on the back of his waist and no other weapons. A tough, strong man was squatting next to the poor ghoul who had been stabbed into a sieve and had his limbs amputated. While inspecting the monster's body under the light of a tactical flashlight, he reported the scene situation to the other side of the communication line.

"Oh? What's going on?" The voice on the other end of the communication sounded obviously female.

"The target was indeed found in the underground culvert. Just as the analysts in the bureau had guessed, it was indeed a ghoul, and it was a COC system variety.

But he was already dead when we arrived.

The most important thing is -" the strong man said while shining the light beam of the flashlight on the surrounding large areas of ice that have not yet melted. "The battlefield here is almost completely covered by ice. It is frozen from my position all the way upstream. It is not clear yet. icing range. "

"Is it an ice-type superpower?" From the tone of voice, it could be heard that the person on the other end of the conversation seemed to be interested.

"Probably..." The strong man knocked the solid ice layer with his hand, and then tested the temperature with his hand. He found that both the hardness and the coldness were extraordinary: "If so, he must be a very powerful person." stranger.

But——” “But what?” "The people on the other side of the communication line are becoming more and more curious about the situation here.

"Our 'good Samaritan' who wandered in probably has a special collecting habit..." The strong man shined the beam of the flashlight on the poor half of the ghoul-kun's body. There were already accompanying soldiers nearby. After searching, no trace of severed limbs was found, and the search upstream could not continue due to the sudden appearance of a huge ice wall that completely blocked the entire passage. All that was left to them was this "clean" battlefield and a mutilated monster corpse.

... "So, there was an unregistered guy who was suspected of being an ice power user who discovered the traces of the ghoul before us, and then after killing it, he took away a section of the ghoul's arm. Finally, he swaggered away from us without leaving any clues for tracing?" In a temporary office of the Municipal National Security Bureau, a tall man with a good face and flaming red hair, Wearing a slim-fitting women's suit that completely outlines her figure, a young woman with a royal aura and a royal aura is sitting on the main seat behind the desk, using concise language to summarize the previous search by a team led by a strong man. The results obtained.

Well, he is the one standing in the middle of the office with his head lowered and a look of shame on his face.

"...I'm sorry, Captain Liu.

Our movements are still too slow. If we move earlier, we will probably be able to catch up..." The tall and strong soldier is still dressed in a military green vest and camouflage pants, but he is about to be taken underground. The pants stained by the river water were replaced with a pair of the same style.

His statement was also very consistent with the facts. In fact, if they had arrived a few minutes earlier, they would have probably been able to meet Fang Yuan face to face.

"Forget it, after all, no one would have thought that there would be intruders.

Moreover, the ghoul that caused quite a bit of panic in several nearby cities has been confirmed dead. Our mission is actually completed. "

The woman whom the man called Captain Liu shook her head and stopped blaming her subordinates harshly. She also understood that it was not their fault.

"However, we need to pay more attention to this powerful person who can freeze several kilometers of underground rivers!" The conversation changed and the woman turned the topic to someone who left them a mess.

Fang Yuan's previous large-scale freezing process froze three kilometers of underground culverts upstream and downstream, for a total of six kilometers! Although he left a gap under the ice to allow river water to pass through, the large amount of ice still caused huge obstacles to the flow of water in the entire underground canal.

And just how to clean up the huge hard ice that has an average temperature of 70 or 80 degrees below zero and has condensed into a single block has given the government construction workers an extreme headache.

... "Understood! We are already doing it!" In response to the captain's request, the man nodded solemnly, but then he began to complain.

"But... this city and even several nearby cities have not received any reports of paranormal phenomena similar to freezing or cold weather in recent months. This shows that this superhuman has perfect control over his abilities and has good character. He is mature and will not show off casually like those young people. It is not easy to carry out this work... How about, Captain Liu, please apply to the headquarters for the secondment of a comrade with prophetic abilities? I think the Taoist guy is good? ..." The meaning behind the words is the same - I can't do this job alone, please help me find outside help! "...It's not like you don't know that the Taoist priest is not in the same system as us. It would be very troublesome to second him..." The woman frowned, but she knew how popular the "Taoist priest" just mentioned was. , your own application may not be able to attract the other party.

"But we really have no clues here..." But before the discussion here could come to a conclusion, the phone on the desk in the office rang.

"Hello, hello...are you aware of anything?...Okay, okay, we'll be right over!" After hanging up the phone, the woman immediately stood up and motioned for the burly man to follow.

"Xiao Zhang, follow me. There is a discovery in the appraisal department!" "What? What discovery?" "There is something in those ice cubes, which may be the clue we need!" "What? Ice cubes? Damn it, I I should have thought of it earlier!" The man who was called "Xiao Zhang" by the woman knocked his head in frustration, "But fortunately we brought back some samples out of caution. It seems we did the right thing!" A few minutes later, the two came to the identification department on another floor.

"What on earth did you find in those ice cubes?" Upon meeting the head of the identification department, a bald middle-aged man of nearly 40 years old, Team Liu couldn't wait to ask what he was most concerned about.

"A very incredible discovery, I think you will like it!" However, the person in charge, who has been in the laboratory all year round, did not answer directly. Instead, he tried to keep it secret for a while. He motioned for the two of them to follow and walked to a computer together. In front of the computer, he pointed at the computer screen.

Team Liu and Xiao Zhang took a few steps forward to take a look and found that it was just an image of hexagonal snowflake-shaped ice crystals.

"What's the point? It's just the microstructure of ice crystals. It's not like we haven't seen it before..." Xiao Zhang was obviously dissatisfied with the person in charge's pretentious performance. He didn't see it from this picture. Anything of value.

"Don't worry, this is just the beginning... I will magnify it 40 times, and you will take a closer look!" The person in charge clicked twice on the mouse and immediately enlarged the microscopic picture, presenting more details to the two of them. before.

"These lines...are they words?"')014'\u003eChapter 14 So-called foreign aid

"These lines...are they words?" Xiao Zhang asked with some uncertainty.

The hexagonal snowflake-shaped crystal itself is densely covered with countless lines. At the original magnification, they thought they were just lines naturally formed by water molecules during crystallization. However, after magnifying 40 times and looking at it, they found that these lines were actually faintly formed. Different symbols and words! "No, these are runes! I have seen some of them, some of them are rune letters, and some of them are in Hebrew. As for the more, I don't recognize them."

Captain Liu obviously knew more than Xiao Zhang, she actually recognized part of the text inside! "Hebrew...Captain, you really know a lot!" Xiao Zhang was speechless. If he remembered correctly, the captain seems to be a player with supernatural powers like him, right? How come you understand it all the time? Almost no one in modern times knows it. People can use Hebrew... "It's nothing, I just read more miscellaneous books."

Captain Liu, who had just shown off his reading skills, looked indifferent. He didn't seem to think that he could recognize Hebrew and there was nothing to be proud of.

Xiao Zhang: You are the captain, you are awesome! … After gathering his mood, Xiao Zhang looked carefully at the ghostly runes on the image, and found that these runes and lines formed very regular circular patterns with complex internal structures.

"Is this... a magic circle?" As a pure melee fighter, Xiao Zhang didn't know much about occult knowledge, but when he saw the scene in front of him, he immediately thought of the legendary magic circle - after all, there are all kinds of magic circles. Similar stuff in fantasy-themed movies and games has long been a waste.

To a certain extent, he is right. After all, alchemy is not much different from magic in the real world.

"It's very possible, no, I should say it's almost the same!" Captain Liu, who had put his head in front of the screen to look at the pictures carefully, straightened up, turned to Xiao Zhang and said, "What we are looking for is not a suspected ice type. Instead of a superpower, he is a magician who can issue powerful ice attacks, or a mysterious side caster similar to a magician! " "...Then we should call the Taoist priest over. When it comes to magic in China! No one can match him in terms of ability!" Xiao Zhang mentioned the secondment again, but this time Captain Liu did not refute.

As for the middle-aged person in charge who was left alone, he listened with relish to the information about the other world that was very novel to him.

——After all, although he knows that supernatural forces do exist in this world, and it is not the first time he has encountered a case involving supernatural forces in the identification department of the National Security Bureau for so many years, he is really knowledgeable about magic and Taoism. First time heard of it! "..."Pay attention to the confidentiality regulations, I think you should understand!" Before leaving, Captain Liu seemed a little worried and repeatedly emphasized the importance of confidentiality to the person in charge.

"I understand, I have been working in this position for so many years, and I will not violate discipline!" The person in charge solemnly promised - of course he would not leak these things. In fact, just knowing these ordinary people The inaccessible information is enough to satisfy his curiosity and desire for knowledge. What's more, there is also an unknown sense of superiority: "I am one of the few who know the truth"? ……========The dividing line for inviting foreign aid======== Taoist priest, surnamed Li Mingxuan, formerly known as Li Zhenghong, born in 1990.

Originally from a wealthy businessman family, he has been smart and eager to learn since he was a child, with excellent moral character and academic performance. He has been awarded the honorary titles of "Three Good Students", "Excellent Student Cadres", and "Excellent Youth League Members" since elementary school. During the college entrance examination, he was admitted to the Business Administration major of Peking University with high scores. , but later in his junior year, he gave up on himself due to the failure of his relationship with a school girl. He became addicted to online games and neglected his studies. In the end, he even dropped out of school.

After entering the society, Li Zhenghong once worked in his father's company, but eventually left on his own because he could not adapt to the workplace life. He turned to become a full-time traveling traveler and traveled around the world as a traveler in the next three years. All over the country.

Finally, in Zhongnan Mountain, the first generation met a group of rich second-generation people who were living in seclusion there. They were shocked by this leisurely and prodigal lifestyle, so they decided to find a Taoist temple in Zhongnan Mountain to become a monk, and changed their name to Li Xuan. I also followed the trend and started to live in seclusion in the mountains.

(I think the so-called seclusion people nowadays are just showing off their wealth! How can normal people without a lot of money be as comfortable as those people who "live in seclusion"!) Fortunately, Li Xuan became a Taoist priest instead of a monk, which will not affect his future. Marrying a wife and having children, Father Li and Mother Li didn't react too strongly. After trying to persuade him several times, there was no response, so they just let him have his way - thinking that he was spending money to let his son relax.

However, one day a year later, Li Xuan suddenly discovered that the magic rituals he had learned from those Taoist classics were actually useful! Drawing a five-thunder talisman can actually produce lightning bolts! With a piece of armor-horse talisman attached to your feet, you can travel thousands of miles in a day and 800 miles in a night! I set up an altar to ask God to perform a ritual, and divine power actually came to possess me! As he learned more and more about those Taoist spells that had long been confirmed to have no practical effect, the spell abilities he acquired became stronger and stronger. In the end, even the Thirty-Six Heavenly Gang Divine Powers and the Seventy-two Earthly Evil Spells were defeated by him. He performed several tricks in a decent manner! ——Although he still can't use the great magical powers like moving mountains, turning yin and yang upside down, moving stars, and so on.

Of course, his unscrupulous use of magic after he learned the magic naturally attracted the attention of the relevant state departments, and he was quickly absorbed into the organization, and finally became an honorable civil servant.

But he is not a fighter like Captain Liu and Xiao Zhang who came to Fang Yuan's city.

After all, just the healing and divination powers he has mastered have already made him an excellent auxiliary talent that everyone is vying for. It is impossible to put him on a dangerous front-line battlefield.

However, his ability was so easy to use that it once even caused conflicts between several action teams under the National Security Bureau due to personnel attribution issues.

So in the end, he was directly assigned to the religious management department by his superiors. He was not in the same system as the people in the national security department. That's why Captain Liu said that it would be very troublesome to secondment this supernatural person code-named "Taoist Priest".

And now, this "treasure" in the eyes of most capable people and strangers who belong to Guoan is looking seriously at the "magic array" that has been enlarged to the limit on the screen.

"This is not any kind of magic circle that I know, but it is indeed a very mature spell-casting system!" This was the first sentence the "Taoist" said after thinking for a long time.

Wearing a formal suit, if you don't look at the bun on the top of his head, you can't see the slightest trace of a Taoist priest.

However, although his attire does not respect tradition at all, he is indeed the strongest mysterious side caster known in the country.

When Fang Yuan mentioned the refining formation left behind, his expression was full of seriousness, as if he had encountered some huge challenge.

"So?" Zhang Jianguo, who was called "Xiao Zhang" by his captain but was not small at all, asked.

"So, the person who carved this magic circle is a mysterious side caster with a unique magic system. And seeing that the other party can imprint such a complex magic circle into the ice with such a tiny size and such a huge quantity, the other party There is no doubt that he is a true master of magic! And you want me to use divination to trace the true identity and location of this powerful mage. Not to mention that it will be unsuccessful, but think about it first, it is very likely that it will be possible. Is it worth irritating a mage who is at least as good as me?" the Taoist priest said with a serious face.

PS: Fang Yuan: I'm ashamed, I'm just an ordinary person who knows a little bit about alchemy...')015'\u003eChapter 15 The magical divination...failed

"It doesn't matter, just go ahead and do it!" Although Captain Liu is a woman, she has a decisiveness that most men cannot match. She made the decision straightforwardly.

"Such a person with huge potential for destruction is hiding under our noses. We don't want to incorporate him into the system, but we must at least control the other party's intelligence.

Don’t be afraid, even if something goes wrong, I will take care of it! "——And he is very responsible.

"Well, since you said so, I will naturally do my best!" The Taoist priest is also one of the "incorporated" in Captain Liu's words. Although he is somewhat dissatisfied with the powerful behavior of this state machine, he still thinks that his Taoist friends will not die. Pindao, even if he fell into the water, he had to help others, and he immediately felt balanced.

"Then please prepare the altar, offering table, and sacrifices. I will send you an email with specific requirements.

I want to open an altar to practice divination with the power of the gods. "

The Taoist priest entered the role very quickly and immediately made his request.

"Uh - why do you need to ask for the power of the gods? I remember that you used a few copper coins when doing divination before?" Xiao Zhang had cooperated with Taoist priests before, so he was very puzzled by his big fanfare this time.

"...The past was before, and now is now! Different situations have different approaches!" The Taoist priest said, "How can you, a loser, understand our Taoist practice?" He waved his hand and dismissed Xiao Zhang who came over. aside.

"Moreover, the success rate of using divine power is higher, and the information obtained through divination is more accurate. Aren't you satisfied?" But what he was thinking about was that Master Dao might really meet an expert this time. Be careful of getting yourself into trouble, it's better to invite divine power and let the gods take the blame! Taoist priests know very well that the gods who borrow divine power in their Taoism are not real gods, but are just a collection of impersonal divine powers formed by the various gods' beliefs that have been spread and accumulated on the earth for thousands of years under the action of some inexplicable power. Since there is no risk of being punished by God after committing blasphemy, it is perfect to use it as a backlash tool for casting spells.

Well, Fang Yuan, who was regarded as the big boss by the Taoist priests who were waiting for him, looked innocent.

… When Captain Liu, Xiao Zhang and other national security officers who had the authority to know the existence of Taoist priests saw the Taoist priests wearing Taoist robes and walking barefoot, waving wooden swords and chanting the "Tiao Da Shen" on top of the altar they hurriedly made, All those who have had expectations for the so-called "invitation to God" feel that their emotions have been deeply deceived.

This TM works too! ! ! Of course, the Taoist priest would not tell them that he was more surprised than them when he first tried to dance with the Great God and then actually invited the God to dance.

What the hell is this kind of ritual that involves just dancing according to a certain pattern and chanting a spell to summon divine power? ! ! It was not until he studied Taoist rituals in depth and conducted various tests on his inexplicable spell-casting ability that he had a vague guess - maybe the key is not these rituals, but that he is special? Although he still hasn't figured out where his Taoist abilities come from, he has confirmed that if he wants to cast spells, he can still only follow the prescribed ritual steps to cast spells. The superpowers used by other superpowers are completely two different things.

So he knew that his Taoism was not the superpower possessed by most people with special abilities in Guoan, but a power system with a clear inheritance of knowledge and source of power.

It's just that he seems to be the only one in the world who has the ability or qualification to use this power system.

... No matter how strange the source of the Priest's power is, the effects of his spells are real.

Just when everyone was tired of the Taoist priest's "dance" behavior that had no sense of beauty and no sound or light effects, a miracle happened! ——Okay, I succeeded in asking God.

A pale golden divine power visible to the naked eye emerged from the void, and then covered the Taoist priest like a piece of armor, making him look both sacred and solemn at this moment - if you ignore his disheveled hair and walking barefoot Bad image.

The Taoist priest who asked for divine power did not delay anymore and immediately started the second round of practice.

This time it’s not about dancing, but the most traditional yarrow divination.

Yarrow divination can be said to be one of the oldest divination methods in ancient China. Forty-nine yarrows are used in divination, and then the yarrows are redistributed in a series of very complicated and cumbersome ways to obtain a " The result of "change" is that every three "changes" become one "yao", and every six "yao" become one "hexagram". Sometimes there are additional "bianyao" and "hexagram". In short, it is very complicated. If you are interested in the specific content, you can search it on your own, but I won’t mention the word count here.

Even Li Xuan, a professional Taoist priest, took a long time to learn this divination technique after he obtained the spell. Most of the time, he would use the divination technique, which is simpler and easier, but the results are more ambiguous. Copper coin divination and even the tool-less Plum Blossom Yi, that level of divination can already meet most needs.

But this time the Taoist priest was afraid that his opponent was an old monster who had been practicing magic for a long time. In order to ensure that the divination result would be right at the first try, he not only invited divine power to help, but also used the most complicated yarrow divination. It must be said that it was indeed Very attentive.

The process of yarrow divination is very cumbersome and boring, but the Taoist priest seems not to feel this boring at all, and devotes himself very piously to this ritual of asking about heaven and earth.

As his hands sorted and sifted the yarrow again and again, the pale golden divine power shrouded in his body was also mixed with his own mana, and slowly integrated into the yarrow unconsciously.

After a long time (this long time refers to several hours later, you can see how complicated this divination method is!), the long and tedious divination process finally ended, and the divine power that the Taoist priest had invited through the ritual of inviting gods was all integrated into the yarrow. The divination results finally came out.

A faint golden glow emerged from all forty-nine yarrow roots, condensing into a hexagram in the sky.

I saw the Taoist priest sitting cross-legged on the altar, with his eyes closed, combining all his energy and spirit with the hexagram just obtained from the divination, and instantly broke through the appearance of the material world and entered a mysterious place. in the location.

The surrounding onlookers had just seen some movement and were cheering up, but they didn't expect that the Taoist priest would sit there motionless next, even the previous sound and light effects were gone. They all looked at each other in confusion - why was there no movement again? Already? Ten minutes later, just when Xiao Zhang was about to move forward to see if the Taoist priest had just fallen asleep, suddenly, the Taoist priest suddenly opened his eyes.

But before he could say a word, he was shocked, a mouthful of blood spurted out from his mouth, and then he fell to the sky.

"Taoist!" "No, call an ambulance!" "Come and help..." At the same time, Fang Yuan, who had been studying alchemy until midnight and was about to go to bed, suddenly felt the door of truth in his mind shake. Two shocks.

Thinking that something had changed at the Gate of Truth, he immediately meditated and entered his spiritual space, only to find that the Gate of Truth was still standing there quietly, without any change.

After repeated inspections, nothing was found. Fang Yuan thought for a long time but couldn't come up with a clue. In the end, he could only put the matter behind him and go to sleep.

PS: Fang Yuan: So, what just happened? ')016'\u003eChapter 16 Pay attention to safety in scientific research work

Opening your eyes, you see bright lights in front of you, and you smell the pungent smell of disinfectant in your nose.

"I...where am I?" The Taoist priest woke up from his drowsiness and asked in a hoarse, dry voice while holding back the headache that had not subsided.

"You're in the hospital now.

Taoist priest, how do you feel? "A familiar pleasant female voice came to his ears. The Taoist priest turned his neck with some effort to follow the sound. His somewhat dim eyes tried hard to focus, and finally saw the other person's face clearly. It was the woman with a goddess-level figure and appearance. Captain Liu, a strong woman with a stronger aura than most men.

"Is this...backlash?" The Taoist priest still remembered that he was doing divination before, but the memory in his mind only lasted until his consciousness followed the hexagrams and entered that dark place, and then it was completely fragmented. , I have no idea what happened next.

Captain Liu: "You have to ask yourself, what did you see in the divination?" Taoist priest: "...I don't remember..." Captain Liu: "Don't remember?!" She was a little surprised, but thought of the Taoist priest's previous misery. With a look like that, he realized that it must be the mysterious spellcaster opposite who did something! (Fang Yuan: I'm not! I didn't!) "Ahem! I didn't expect that I still underestimated the people of the world...I thought that nothing big would happen if I was possessed by divine power, but I didn't expect that it would be completely broken... ...Fortunately, the other party did not intend to kill them all..." The Taoist priest barely squeezed out a little energy, mobilized a little mana to check his body, and found that except for some damage to his internal organs, there was no major damage to the meridians and acupoints all over his body. However, his mana source has not been damaged at all, so although he looks miserable now, once he recovers a little and can use his mana, he will be back to full health in minutes.

He immediately understood that the other party was showing mercy.

(No, you don’t understand anything!) "...You should have a good rest first. Since the other party has not been cruel to you, it probably does not want to antagonize the state. Regarding the investigation of the other party's true identity, it is up to us. Think of a way... This time we have caused trouble for you, and I am really sorry..." (No, the other party has no idea what happened) When Captain Liu talked about this matter, she felt that The fierce and intimidating aura softened, making her look more feminine and gentle. It seemed that she was really sorry for what happened to the Taoist priest.

… After Captain Liu left, the Taoist priest still lay on the bed and stared at the snow-white ceiling. He sighed again: "Sure enough, the practice is still not enough..." However, what the Taoist priest didn't know was that if he hadn't invited a divine power to protect his body just in case, he wouldn't be lying on the bed with his internal organs injured. It was his luck that he didn't go crazy! He could make his injuries so light, which can be said to be his profound skills and superb practice! … Some spellcasting accidents that happened far away in the other side of the city had nothing to do with Fang Yuan, who was devoted to studying alchemy.

He has been conducting detailed analysis and research on the arm of the ghoul in the past few days, but the results are not very good.

It's not that Fang Yuan's alchemy can't get information from this arm, the problem is that most of what he can get from it can't be used on himself.

First of all, it must be made clear that although the true origin of the ghouls in the COC system is still unclear, there is no doubt that their life essence is deeply influenced by some of the Old Ones, and has been severely distorted and mutated to the extent that ordinary biologists will shudder when they see it.

Normal animal cells generally have a structure of nucleus, cytoplasm and cell membrane. The chromosomes formed by DNA in the nucleus are responsible for carrying the gene coding containing all the life information of the organism. The various organelles in the cytoplasm are responsible for running the various bio-electrochemical activities of the entire cell, making the cell truly "alive". The cell membrane serves as the boundary of the cell and the control interface for the exchange of internal and external substances, and also plays a part in the protection.

However, the cells of the ghouls, which are said to be derived from humans, have completely lost their normal cell morphology.

Not only has the DNA coding inside the cell itself mutated into a mess, but the various organelle structures inside the cell have no characteristics of ordinary eukaryotic cells.

More importantly, Fang Yuan discovered that in the cells of the ghouls, a large part of the organelles have been replaced by various symbiotic fungi and bacteria.

Various common fungi and bacteria that were originally very common in nature, once they entered the tissue cells of the ghouls, under the influence of some mysterious force, changed from independent life forms that completed all physiological activities on their own to a strange life between parasitism and symbiosis.

It can be said that these symbiotic fungi and bacteria are responsible for at least half of the physiological functions in the body tissues of the ghoul.