A common tavern that connects all fantasy worlds

She sighed tiredly, put her handbag on the shelf beside her, put on her house shoes and walked into the living room without lights.

Today another self-important young painter came to her gallery and wanted her to exhibit his works.

But she knew at a glance that this guy hadn't broken out of the level of imitating the master's paintings. He could see other people's styles in every painting, but he didn't have his own.Maybe a counterfeiter would be good, but an artist?Absolutely not for him.

Moreover, that guy who thinks highly of himself still has a haughty face, and between the lines is that Lao Tzu is the best in the world, but others don't know how to appreciate it. It can be said that there is no artist's life, but an artist's disease.

After being annoyed by such a ignorant guy all afternoon, and then caught up with the heavy rain afterwards, Susan is not in a good mood now.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room of the apartment, even though the clouds are overcast, light still shines in. It is the lights of the city... If you don’t close the curtains, you will be troubled by this modern light pollution throughout the night, and you will not be able to fall asleep.

Susan was about to go to the window, close the curtains, and turn on the light, when something suddenly felt wrong.

In this misty light, she suddenly found two strange figures sitting on her sofa.

She almost cried out in fright. At that moment, many cases of burglary and killing the head of the household suddenly appeared in her mind, making her hands and feet cold and trembling all over.

But before she could make any movements, a hand suddenly protruded from the shadow behind her, and pushed her onto the sofa, blocking her screams with cushions.

"Don't scream if you don't want to die." Cassia said, gestured backwards, and saw the frowning paladin close all the blackout curtains in the living room, and Dosten stood by the door and turned on the lights in the living room.

These "modern" things are actually not complicated, and you can get a rough idea after just trying them twice.I have to say that even though demons are rampant underground, the development of human civilization is still amazing... Such superb technology seems to save people the effort of climbing up to the ceiling to light oil lamps.

Being able to invest technological power in this kind of place can only mean one thing... More material resources and more advanced technology have been invested in other fields.

Paladin Jess doesn't like the brutality of the Amazons, but he knows that his moral sense should not restrain everyone... On the other hand, although Susan has no ability to resist, she still belongs to the enemy in terms of position.

Susan, who was pressed on the sofa, could barely free her face, regained her breath, and looked at the people around her in horror.

The first thing she saw was Leon the photographer. The expression on that guy's face was completely different from the last time she saw him.

There is neither blind self-confidence or arrogance, nor is it the kind of deep-hidden inferiority complex; he looked at this woman who once called the wind and rain and controlled her own destiny, but there was no disgust or hatred, only peace.

"...Leon, I was forced..."

All she could say was to beg for mercy.

"No, Ms. Susan, you obviously know more things. I think these friends want you to tell us the truth about what happened to you." Leon replied with a smile.

As for whether to take the opportunity to vent his anger, he really never thought about it.

He now only feels that he was really blind to rely on the help of such a person to earn a living before.What happens when a sheep runs into a pack of wolves?What happens to a freshwater fish that swims into the ocean?

Therefore, he didn't care whether the other party intended to harm him or not.He and these guys are not on the same road at all, and they will never meet again. He came here tonight just to get information from the other party.

But Susan turned pale, as if confessing what she had done before would put her in greater danger than not confessing.

Cassia the Amazon saw her hesitation and frowned slightly.

Cassia wasn't worried about Susan... She naturally had hundreds of ways to get people to talk, but my God, there was a paladin standing by the window.

It's usually a good thing to have a paladin by your side. They are the most reliable teammates, the guardians of your life, possessing all kinds of magical spells that can enhance your combat effectiveness and their own. As long as they have a breath, they will not give up on their companions... …but they’re not exactly known for being flexible, either.

First of all, when they select teammates, they usually require them to have moral views similar to their own, and cannot tolerate their teammates doing immoral things;

Secondly, they will fight with all their strength only when dealing with demons and their minions. This is not their personal will, but their fighting power comes entirely from faith and sense of justice;

Finally, their virtue is such that they do not profit by injuring others, that is, they do not accept employment in assault operations.Even if the people they save offer money to thank them, they will refuse to accept it.If the church doesn't need them, most of the paladins will serve as guards for a certain place or a caravan. This is one of the few ways to make money that they will not be rejected by them.

So the current situation is very embarrassing. Susan is still a human being, and it is unrealistic for the Amazons to torture her under the nose of a paladin.

Cassia could only look at the tavern owner Xue Li for help, but she saw him flirting with another bald man beside him.

Speaking of interrogation, there's more than one expert in the room.

Max used to be a police officer in New York City. Before the accident, he was also a leader in the New York police force. He also has a good understanding of how to extract useful confessions from suspects and has practiced many times.

Max nodded, walked to the back of the sofa, and stood facing Susan.

It can be seen what Susan is afraid of, most of them are those who worship Wendigo and organize feeding... With Susan's social status, there are very few people who can pose a threat to her; or the other party is very powerful Big enough to destroy her easily, or the other party's methods are cruel and can cause her unbearable pain.

After entering the state, Max rolled his eyes and said to Susan with a sneer: "As an 'upstart', your mouth is quite strict."

"What, what!"

Susan's expression changed immediately.

Seeing her expression, Max knew that he had made the right bet, and continued to swindle: "...Yeah, you don't think they really treat you as one of their own. Guess how long that female detective has served them , What did you get? However, perhaps being a prepared ingredient is already considered a kind of happiness for you.”

Susan was so trembling that she couldn't support her body anymore, she knelt beside the sofa, not knowing what she was thinking.

The cruel words of the former New York police detective continued: "You already knew it in your heart, so I won't say anything. Anyway, your ending will be the same. If you don't tell us, we can only leave here. Leave you to those fellows; you said that if we failed to defeat them, you would be sacrificed as well...you are not worthy of being one of them."

That's right, Susan's desire to control is not because of her status or power in the art circle, but because she has low self-esteem from the bottom of her heart.

It might have something to do with her past... But none of the people present was a psychiatrist and had no interest in her past trauma.

Max quickly probed this point, and stormed around this focus point, trying to break through her psychological defense.

Does a person with such low self-esteem really believe that everything he does will succeed?In particular, she herself can get in touch with two completely different classes... As a rich person, she can get in touch with the real upper class in New York, the real masters of the United States, but as an art patron, she can also get in touch with those The unsatisfactory creators can be regarded as the low-level people with high self-esteem.

Therefore, as a projection of these two kinds of people, her own personality will also be torn apart.

The stronger she appeared on the outside, the more guilty she felt inside.I am not confident in my ability, but I feel "probably lucky" after success, so I am more and more afraid of the day when luck disappears, that is, the moment when my true self will be ruthlessly exposed.

Surrounded by such defeatist tendencies and pessimistic emotions, she easily believed what Max said, and began to wonder if those people were just lying to herself.

Thinking about it, even her special close friend, the upstart in the financial circle, was only brought into the ceremony by someone and brought by the elders. How could she, a painting seller, be offered such an opportunity? ? "Preparing ingredients"... So that's what happened.

Just when her expression was about to collapse, Max suddenly approached and asked, "How did you know about this circle? Is there anyone you know in that circle?"

"...Yes..." After a few seconds, Susan finally spoke.

Chapter 23 Judgment

The center of New York is Manhattan, so where is the center of Manhattan?

Different people may have different answers to this question. Some will say City Hall, some will say Wall Street, some will say Central Park, some will say Times Square, and some will say the Empire State Building.

However, in the eyes of some people, this is the real center of Manhattan, New York and even the United States - the New York Stock Exchange.

Since it was moved to 1903 Wall Street in 11, it has always been an international financial center, a weather vane for the entire capital world, and a battlefield where people can kill without blood.

From here on Thursday, October 1929, 10, the stock market crash that started here sparked a nationwide Great Depression that spread further to all capitalist countries, culminating in World War II.

Of course, that's not all the people who now wear hoods and go thirty feet below the Exchange think this is the center of Manhattan.

Because compared to the information and funds on the ground that flow with milliseconds or even sub-milliseconds as the response time, the underground space is a more important place... The people who appear here are either rich or expensive, and everyone is moving. A character who can make the world dance in the palm of his hand.

Under normal circumstances, everyone will wear robes and hoods, but it has been so long, and everyone often comes here to communicate with each other, and they already know who the people around them are.

The speaker of the House of Representatives, the former governor of New York State, the executive member of the Federal Reserve Board, the president of the Bank of New York, the current helm of the Morgan consortium, the newly appointed CEO of Fidelity Investment Group, the media tycoon, the rising star of Silicon Valley, and the leader of the military industry. Only on this occasion will they come together and act for a unified purpose.

From this point of view, even the White House is not as important as this place.

Being able to get a ticket to this place proves that you can at least control the United States and the world to some extent.

In the brightly lit underground meeting place, there are circularly arranged member seats like a house, as well as a rostrum and a podium in the middle; behind the podium hangs a huge flag, which is embroidered like a radiant The sun-like graphic...that's the logo of the organization.

All kinds of high technology are applied here without hesitation, even including some technologies that have not yet appeared and applied in the market, such as interactive projection, fully automatic auxiliary modules based on behavioral data analysis, etc., not to mention the constant flow here Filtered air exchange system with fresh air and very little dust.

However, the defense here is the only thing that doesn't pay much attention... because this is just a meeting place, not an underground bunker, and members of the organization will not come here most of the time, why spend so much effort to make its shell so hard ?The most effective security measure is absolute secrecy.

After more than a hundred members arrived, the speaker, who is over 110 years old this year and still healthy and energetic, stepped onto the podium.

He didn't talk nonsense, and said directly to the audience: "Turn on the projection in front of you... We have encountered the most serious crisis since our establishment."

Soon, the projection light was lit up in the venue, and then there was a "coax", and everyone screamed uncontrollably.

"... yes, City Hall Station was raided, and 'they' were there to enjoy the sacrifices, but failed to defeat these enemies. Our 'butchers', 'pistols' and 'managers' were all there Was found, and only the 'butcher' was left breathing when he was found."

As he spoke, the speaker pressed a button in front of him and projected a video in front of everyone.

That was Mahagni nailed to the ground by a rather quaint short javelin. After the last heart he swallowed was "exhausted", he could no longer move. When he appeared in the video, he always It looks like there is more air out and less air in.

I don't know who found him, and while filming the video, he asked, "What happened?"

Mahagni's speech was already slurred because his mouth was full of blood, and he couldn't utter a word. It took a lot of effort to distinguish what he was talking about: "...'Photographer', refuse... ...I, have finished my service period..."

"Who attacked you? Why are 'they' gone?"

"..."

Mahagni didn't answer any more, his eyes had lost their light, and he closed his mouth calmly.

The person who took the video walked forward and saw the bloody picture left over from the previous battlefield.

In the underground venue of the exchange, everyone who saw this scene gasped again.

It's not that blood, human corpses, etc. make them unbearable. People who can enter this door must be used to these scenes.What they were really shocked about was that those "immortal" beings, what they would one day become, were killed!

The one with the fastest thinking has immediately understood why it is necessary to call all the staff here for a meeting in such an urgent manner today. This is indeed a discovery that will affect all of them.

"We don't know who did it and how, who was responsible for organizing the feeding before?"

"it's me."

A man stood up from a corner of the venue, with a gloomy face under the hood.

"Joe...then it's up to you to explain the situation, who the 'photographer' is, and why it led to such a serious incident."

said the Speaker.

The man named Joe nodded, picked up the microphone on the table, and said: "A few days ago, this literal photographer named 'Lion Kaufman' witnessed a predation and reported police.

"In order to solve this trouble, Mahagony and 'Pistol' later set up a situation. Although he was almost disturbed by his two friends who fought with cold weapons, they still caught him and took him to the City Hall Station. But they refused to eat the man, and instead engraved a rune on him, asking him to take the place of Mahagni's 'butcher'.

"Due to long-term hunting, Mahagni has not been able to fully transform, so his body has begun to fester, and his will is becoming more and more lax. He needs to be replaced urgently, so 'Pistol' arranged another arrest. Last time They were about to start working when I got the report.

"It could only be that those two 'superhero-like' guys in the report showed up again ... and they obviously found a more efficient way."

The Speaker waited until he had finished speaking, then nodded, indicating that he could sit down, and then continued his topic and said:

"Thank you, Joe. 'Pistol' and 'Manager' have bullet wounds on their bodies, and there are also arrows that have not been retracted; the fatal injuries received by the dead individuals in 'Them' are piercing, cutting, and the body is completely inactive , could not heal.

"I'm not going to mince words anymore, most of us have already begun the transformation of our bodies, our tissues are changing to a state of immortality between life and death... If there is such a thing that can completely suppress the ability of self-healing Injury means, the eternal life of each of us will be in jeopardy. We must mobilize all resources to find those who attacked the city hall station!"

Before the speaker's stern voice fell, the people present heard a knock on the door, and someone came down from the entrance on the surface.

It is the rookie in the financial circle who has just entered the probationary period and is about to join, the "investment genius" that Morgan's boss admires very much.

He was also brought here last time, devouring the flesh and blood essence of a girl who strayed into the exchange, healed a whole body of strange diseases, and used it to show the members; but after that, he was immediately transferred Gone, only after further investigation can he become a full member and be allowed to attend the meeting, so no one actually asked him to come this time.

He was very optimistic about him, and even the helm of the Morgan consortium who introduced him to the organization stood up from his seat in shock, and said to the other side: "How did you get in, where are the guards outside?"

"...I have to say, 'immortality between life and death' is the most shameless description I've ever heard. We generally refer to that state as 'rotten'."

Max stepped out behind the man first and kicked him down the steps.

Next came Xue Li, with his hands in his pockets, and said to the speaker on the podium: "There are only a few people guarding such a secret meeting? Could it be that they look down on us?"

Immediately afterwards, three warriors from different worlds walked in from outside the door, and the last was the photographer Leon and his girlfriend.These two people are the most surprised, because many of the people in this venue wearing robes and hoods are people they have seen in various media...they are people they never thought that one day they would be able to meet face to face big shot.

But obviously, the identities and powers of these people are useless at this moment.

The people who were dominated by them to fight have been completely eliminated just now; they themselves have not completely turned into those Wendigo that may still exist underground, so there is no fighting power, especially in the three before the warriors of the world.

As soon as Jess appeared, these guys grabbed their flesh in horror, screamed and backed away. It was the performance of being enemies of the Holy Light and being burned by the "Holy Shock" aura on him.

After noticing that the eyes of his companions had gathered on him, the paladin Jess took a step forward and announced in a serious and upright tone: "...the stench of rotten demons on your body makes me sick, and your bottomless greed makes me sick." Shocked. No one who has devoured the same kind of guy will not feel any pain in the holy light... This shows that each of you has eaten human flesh. I personally do not agree with the trial court system of the hand of Zakarum , but here and now, in the face of such direct, undisguised evil, I wouldn't mind emulating the practice and serving as a judge."

He took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes: "...the verdict is issued...I declare you guilty!"

[121. No. 121]

Chapter 24 The Occupied Sanctuary

Who will be the first to hear about the world's changes?

Generally speaking, it depends on which direction the world is going to change.

There are rumors that powerful mages can even predict and affect changes in the weather and the movement of the stars, and they can also perceive deeper changes through the subtle fluctuations of the magic tide, such as where more monsters will be produced, where there are magic items, etc. .

But such a mage is also quite dangerous.

Not only for those around them... but also for themselves.The level of frantic magical power they manipulated has completely deviated from the level that humans can handle. When casting spells, it is like using a pulley block to lead an elephant to stand on a ball and hit a plate.Thanks to their powerful computing power and long-term spellcasting experience, this dauntingly complex system can still operate normally, but once it receives even a little interference... this system will quickly collapse, and the magic power of rampage will not only destroy Everything around it will be swallowed together with the caster.

Zuer felt that he had no hope of becoming a mage in his life...

But in the end, what he is good at is as dangerous as mages, and even more vigilant and disgusting by the public.

He is a follower of the Rathma religion, and what he is best at is dealing with the dead.

In addition, although people in the world have the illusion that "these guys must be the enemy of mankind", the Rathma religion has a noble desire to "protect the world with the way of balance" from top to bottom.This so-called "balance" of course includes the balance between life and death and reincarnation. They have the method to control the undead and make them walk in the world of the living... In addition, the Rathma religion also played a role in the medical development of Sanctuary. It has played a very important role, including the understanding of human tissue structure, the exploration of the causes of tissue lesions, the cultivation and research of various pathogenic substances, etc., which have all promoted medical progress to some extent.

Because the Rathma religion is not very flattering, its followers live in isolation most of the time, deliberately hiding themselves from the eyes of everyone.