Chapter 2: Corpse-Dissolution Royal Court, Regional Commander Lu

History... is sick?

History is not already a fixed fact; why would it manifest as a long river?

Who could possibly make It sick?

After the long river of history falls ill, what will happen?

Question after question flashed through his mind, but Jiang Yan no longer had the strength to think; fortunately, the figure deep within the long river of history gradually faded away as the endless black dust churned.

The related memories in Jiang Yan's mind also faded and blurred rapidly, like sand slipping through a clenched fist; otherwise, he felt he would truly explode on the spot.

"What on earth is this?"

Jiang Yan bent over, gasping for air; the cold air scraped against his throat, bringing waves of stinging pain, and his clothes were already soaked with sweat, sticking to him stickily.

But he could not care about that; ignoring the faint, intermittent sound of weeping in his ears for the moment, he scanned his surroundings and had already preliminarily determined the current situation.

He had been dragged into a supernatural event and had entered an independent space.

The reason he said this was because the bustling pedestrians had already vanished, and it was silent, as if he had been abandoned by the entire world.

Besides this, dust with the color of rust mixed with black was permeating the surroundings, constantly adhering to the low, antique-style Su-style tiled houses nearby.

The cyan tiles on the roofs began to turn pitch-black at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the bright-tile windows appeared dilapidated, as if carved by the passage of time, reverting to Jiangnan architecture from a hundred years ago.

However, Jiang Yan, being a local, had an ugly expression; he knew clearly that apart from the old street and a few scattered houses that were ancient architecture, many of the buildings now looked antique, but in reality, most of the old houses had already been destroyed or torn down and rebuilt.

After all, tourist counties were a pursuit that only appeared in the last few decades when people's lives improved; in the early years, if everyone could live in a small western-style house, who would like living in a low, ancient house? When the humid season arrived, the walls would be covered in water stains, the wooden doors would creak after long use, small animals would scurry in from time to time, termites in the wall cracks would gnaw on the beams, air conditioning was inconvenient to install, natural gas couldn't be used, and so on...

Tourists came wearing rose-colored glasses, but long-term residence was an extreme test of the homeowner's patience.

As for the gardens where ancient wealthy merchants lived...

One need only look at how many maids and servants they had to serve them to construct such superior living conditions.

Therefore, the buildings on the old street were all repaired and rebuilt by the local culture and tourism bureau in the last few decades to promote tourism; these modern products made of cement and steel were aging at a speed visible to the naked eye in the face of this dust.

So, what would happen if it landed on a person?

At this moment, the dust had already filled the entire sky, falling in scattered drifts like heavy snow.

Jiang Yan hid under the eaves of a tiled house at the first opportunity, yet the dust actually followed him.

This thing even had auto-tracking?

There's a cheat; this game is unplayable!

Just as he was about to give up struggling, this rust-colored dust seemed to sense his rejection and stopped approaching, instead hovering in front of him, gathering into a string of pictographs, but soon changed into oracle bone script, followed by small seal script, regular script, including many characters he had never seen before, and finally settled into the simplified characters Jiang Yan was most familiar with.

[Historical Landmark: Turbid Flow—Grade A]

[Main Quest: The space in Pan'an County, Jiangnan Province has encountered an unknown pathology, the present world has been washed by the turbid flow of history, and this old street has undergone strange changes; please survive for one hour, you may explore freely.]

[Quest Hint: Survive!]

The last three characters appeared in a scarlet red, and one could faintly smell the rusty, sweet scent of blood, bringing a violent shock to Jiang Yan's heart.

Has the long river of history become a game world?

No, that's not right; his body did not seem to have been digitized.

It should be said that the great power of the long river of history gave Jiang Yan the most convenient hint to understand.

It really is keeping up with the times... yeah, right.

At this moment,

Jiang Yan's hanging heart also died completely.

Because anyone who has played games knows, especially horror games, the hardest part is never defeating a boss or searching for items, but survival quests.

Because this means the GM (game official) never thought you could overcome the unknown horror; it's just going through the motions.

For the sake of the player's experience, game officials usually set up mechanisms or items to clear the level, but when placed in reality, it can be translated as...

Ten deaths, no life!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

At the same time, a gale surged, and the historical dust went with the wind, turning into a thick red fog; the mist condensed, so thick it could drip water.

Or rather... it was a water flow.

A turbid tributary split from that vast long river of history, rushing from the ancient past onto the shore of the present world.

Clack! Clack! Clack!

From within the mist came the sound of hooves trampling on bluestone slabs and the sound of the slabs shattering, like the beating of war drums; within the mist, tall figures of cavalry emerged.

However, the figure in the lead was extremely tall, man and horse together standing a full four meters high, carrying a massive banner; the mist on his body constantly receded, and his form gradually became clear.

"Clearly it's Jiangnan architecture? But it doesn't seem to be the desolate border anymore..."

As the low, hoarse voice sounded, they appeared completely on the street.

Jiang Yan's gaze tightened; he was not happy about the arrival of the voice's owner, but instead took a deep breath.

Because what appeared were huge monsters with wild boar heads and human bodies, with green faces and fangs, their skin entirely the color of green jade, their fat piled up, bloated like bronze war chariots; they wore armor engraved with characters, though these were covered by the grease secreted from their bodies, and their abdomens were not characters but a giant mouth full of teeth, constantly chewing and emitting low growls of hunger.

They were not riding horses, but from their lower bodies, a large amount of blood vessels spread out, binding together a large number of severed limbs and remains, on which fragments of linen clothes and ghastly white bones could be vaguely seen; it was unknown from which unlucky creatures they had been severed, and just like that, they were forcibly assembled into special, heavy six "hooves" to support their bloated bodies—a full ten monsters.

Their arrival made the originally spacious old street become crowded.

The one in the lead carrying the flag was a deer-headed cavalryman whose entire body was like white jade, standing a full seven meters tall including his three-meter-long blood-colored single horn; the deer horn on his right side had been severed, leaving a smooth flat surface, like a giant beast.

His left hand formed a seal, appearing somewhat solemn and dignified, while his right hand carried the flagpole; on the bright yellow banner, a five-clawed golden dragon glared with wide-open eyes, and flame patterns and dragon patterns appeared around it.

His breathing stirred up a gale, blowing the banner until it snapped loudly.

The center of the banner was embroidered with characters, but they were so stained by congealed blood that they could not be seen clearly; the only one that could be distinguished was the character "King".

"This seems to be... the dragon flag of the Great Qing dynasty!"

Jiang Yan's gaze tightened; he had already recognized the origin of the flag.

This type of flag was generally used by high-ranking generals of the Great Qing dynasty when marching, accompanied by flame patterns and the rank of a Prince; if it came from a certain tribe, it would also have the corresponding tribal text to show identity.

In other words, these diseased monsters seemed to come from...

Great Qing?

The possibility of a parallel world could not be ruled out.

"The scent of those mud-legged Taiping rebels is gone, and this is indeed not the desolate border; it's more like..." the deer-headed monster said with a hint of disbelief, muttering: "The present world."

"What?"

"This is the present world?"

"The power of the pathology is much weaker; it's much better than our ghost place."

"I didn't expect that chasing down the remnants of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom would yield such a harvest..."

"We finally won't undergo further pathology..."

"..."

One of the pig-headed monsters said fawningly:

"Regional Commander Lu, let's hurry back to the Corpse-Dissolution Royal Court to report to the Prince."

"No rush!"

The monster known as Regional Commander Lu waved his hand, his nose twitching, and whispered: "This place was only washed by the long river of history, forming a desolate borderland; it will take a while to fully form, and besides..."

As his voice fell, he turned his head, looked at the old street, and revealed a strange smile...

And in a room deep in the street, Jiang Yan held his breath; the moment they appeared, he had already hidden himself and set up the metal door bolt.

Through the narrow crack in the door, Jiang Yan stared at Regional Commander Lu and the many pig-headed monsters not far away, his body trembling uncontrollably, whispering in his heart:

"It is truly..."

"Beautiful!"

(End of chapter)