Chapter 4227

Very well, Bruce could already be sure that there was definitely something wrong with this place. If it were possible that Aunt Kane was deliberately playing dumb, then this silly girl in front of him shouldn't have that kind of acting skill. They really didn't know what coffee was.

Bruce chatted with Patri for a while and then discovered that her symptoms were exactly the same as Aunt Kane's: she didn't know about hospitals, didn't know about tea and coffee, didn't know about modern equipment like TVs and computers, and didn't even know about magazines. All concepts of books came from the scriptures; except for "religious-friendly" activities, she didn't know any other skills.

So-called "religious-friendly" activities meant cooking, eating, doing housework, tidying up personal appearance, and chatting with family and friends. Generally speaking, only some extremely conservative religions would bring up this concept.

And the requirements for these activities were very strict: you couldn't drink alcohol during activities, couldn't eat greasy food, couldn't use modern electronic equipment, such as mobile phones, computers, and you couldn't even watch TV.

The topics also had very strict requirements; you could only talk about religious affairs, you could praise God and believers, praise family life, express concern and love for each other, and basically couldn't say anything else.

It sounded like it was quite a thing, but in reality, it was very absurd. This kind of strictly required social interaction was not social interaction, but a kind of performance. No one could satisfy their social desires through this kind of social interaction; it was just herd mentality, letting them follow the crowd.

This girl named Patri was also like this. Logically speaking, she was so young and beautiful, she should definitely be a popular figure at school and have many pursuers. Such a person would often be very confident and have a relatively outgoing personality. But this couldn't be seen at all in Patri.

She appeared somewhat cowardly and overly gentle, to the point of looking somewhat stupid. Although not every beautiful girl must be a social expert, Bruce just felt that Patri was weird.

Then, Bruce heard a piece of news that shocked him: Patri was not only married, but already had a two-year-old son. When Bruce heard this news, his head was buzzing. Because he had done in-depth research on how to judge age through a person's figure—Patri didn't look old.

And the reason he judged the girl's grade before was precisely because her figure was slightly fuller than a normal girl's. This made Bruce misjudge her development, and now it seemed that this was very likely caused by childbirth.

In some states in the United States, it is not only legal but also very common, but that doesn't refer to children this young. What is the situation with having a two-year-old child now?

Bruce asked to see the child, and Patri actually took him there. What was desperate was that from the direction of the facial bones, one could see that the child was indeed Patri's biological child.

And this girl was still full of happiness, holding the child and coaxing and kissing him. Bruce took a deep breath; the world he lived in was already shitty enough, but he didn't expect that even Cat Getan's bottom line could be lowered further. At least in Cat Getan, child marriage is illegal, and medical records generated by child pregnancy would be directly uploaded to Brother Eye, and then either Gordon or Batman would strike with a heavy fist.

Bruce tried hard to convince himself that this world was fake and not to be angry about it. But he actually knew very well in his heart that in some corner of the real world, or even many corners, such things were indeed happening.

Thinking of this, Bruce became even angrier; he really tried his best to suppress his anger.

As a result, Aunt Kane came in at this time, and she praised with a loving face: "Lily is a good mother. She performed very well when she gave birth, and the elders are all praising her. The child has also grown very strong, and it won't be long before she can see her younger brother."

Bruce subconsciously glanced at Patri's belly, and he really couldn't help but clench his fists. The psychological trauma brought to him by hypothermia, fever, and stimulants was not as great as these few sentences.

Spending his entire life's willpower, Bruce suppressed the urge to punch Aunt Kane. He gritted his teeth and said, "Is that so? Then what about her husband?"

"Husband? What husband? Do you mean the child's father? He is still in the church. Lily was supposed to give birth to his 13th child, but we both felt that this number was unlucky. So, we successfully let the child be born before another of his children was born. It's the 12th one."

With a "bang," Bruce punched the wall, which startled both of them. Bruce knew he shouldn't ask "how exactly was it done," but being angry to the extreme, he calmed down instead.

"Is that so? That really is a medical miracle." He deliberately exclaimed.

"Yes, prayer worked." Both mother and daughter looked pious. Aunt Kane continued: "The elder gave us such an opportunity..."

Bruce just wanted to ask what the situation with the elder was, when he heard the bell ring. He looked up at the clock in the room; it was ten o'clock in the morning.

"Ah, it's time for collective prayer. Quick, come with us to the church."

The anger just now did indeed affect Bruce's mood to some extent, and his goal had changed from step-by-step planning and figuring out what was going on, to finding the culprit as quickly as possible and striking him with a heavy fist. So he thought without hesitation: "Alright, take me there."

Bruce suddenly realized that the thought that had just popped into his head seriously violated the rules he had set for himself. He thought somewhat self-deprecatingly that if Clark had come with him and knew what he wanted to do, he probably wouldn't think he was hypocritical.

Sure enough, when people encounter real animals, they will understand that they are born to be butchers.

Bruce followed behind the mother and daughter, winding through the town to the location of the church. It seemed that time was running out, and the two ran inside in a hurry, not noticing Bruce behind them. And just as Bruce was also following them inside, a black shadow suddenly appeared behind him, covered his mouth, and dragged him into the flower bed next to him.

Bruce didn't even have time to react, and this person's strength was astonishingly great. Bruce even suspected that the person who grabbed him wasn't a person at all, so he struggled even harder.

"Stop struggling, it's me."

A familiar yet strange voice appeared in Bruce's ear, and he turned his head sharply to look—Schiller Rodriguez, the one in the black clothes.

"Why are you here?!"

"I came in earlier than you." The other party's tone was flat, and he said, "After being stabbed by that cursed doll at the bank, I came here."

"Do you mean you came here before you even entered the town? Why?"

"It might be related to that doll, but it might also be related to my own abilities. You should have already discovered that this is not the real world."

"Where is this?"

"The spiritual world. You can understand it as a virtual world jointly constructed by spiritual and supernatural powers. Someone used supernatural power to create such a space."

"Of course, I've already discovered it." Bruce sighed deeply and then said, "This place has many weird aspects. What exactly is going on?"

He looked up at the Hunter. The Hunter shook his head and said, "I don't know."

"You came in so early, didn't you investigate?"

The Hunter shook his head again and said, "Because I can see it, I can't look at it, otherwise I will be discovered by it. But it could be anyone, so I can't look at anyone."

This remark was a bit convoluted, but Bruce still understood it. He said, "There is a 'ghost', right? You saw the 'ghost', so you were discovered by it, and then you could only hide."

"Sort of, but you will soon understand that it is not a specific thing, but the will that controls this world. You can understand it as 'God'."

"'God'?" Bruce sneered, the coldness and sarcasm in his tone self-evident. "A God who only dares to persecute children in the dream he created?"

The Hunter didn't speak; he just said, "You can't see it, and it won't notice you. Therefore, you can investigate here, but remember, never pray."

Bruce stared at him. The Hunter didn't explain too much, so he had to ask: "You said I can't see it, so I won't be discovered by it. But if this is the world it controls, how could it not notice that I've arrived?"

"You're not the only one who arrived." The Hunter said, "You will understand soon."

The two of them waited outside the church until the prayer ended, and the crowd began to pour out of the church. Then Bruce discovered that there were quite a lot of people; two or three hundred people had walked out one after another, and they were still walking out.

You know, the town they saw before that had no one seemed to have only a few people left. Does it mean everyone is here?

Thinking of this, Bruce was suddenly shocked: if the town outside with no one is reality, and there is no one in the town in reality, could it be because everyone really entered here?

He immediately associated it with a piece of information he had obtained before, that Big Creek Valley Town used to be a tourist attraction, with many tourists, many residents, and was very prosperous. But it was such a town that had completely declined; this is very weird, isn't it?

Generally speaking, a town that relies on tourism as its pillar industry is very difficult to decline to this extent, especially since the tourism resources of Big Creek Valley Town are natural landscapes. As long as the natural landscape hasn't changed, there will always be tourists, and naturally, there will be a need for supporting service industries. For such a small town, the service industry is already the easiest and most profitable industry. Even if some young people leave, the remaining population is enough to maintain the scale of the town. How could it have developed for decades and ended up with no one?

Bruce felt that he should have found the answer: there is no one in the town outside; it is very likely that everyone has come to this town in the weird world.

Then, Bruce discovered that what he thought was still a bit shallow. Because when he carefully observed these people coming out of the church, he discovered that most of them were not people from the small town.

Bruce has traveled the world for many years and has seen all kinds of travelers. He can very easily distinguish where the other party is from and what kind of life experience they have through some details of their movements.

For example, the white old man he sees now, the other party is wearing a shirt and looks very elegant, but through the details of his walking and the way he exerts force, Bruce knows that he shouldn't be a white-collar worker, but more likely a hiker or a field researcher.

And the black woman walking on the very edge, she is dressed like a housewife and carrying a vegetable basket, feeling like a housewife very common in the United States, but she is more likely not an American at all, but a pure-blooded African black person; this can be seen from the development direction of the bones.

There is even the mother and son next to them; they are dressed very ordinarily, but the demeanor and movements of talking to the people next to them indicate that they are more likely to be people from the upper class.

The old woman walking at the end is even more obvious, with a standard mid-Atlantic accent, but looking very embarrassed, and even her white hair hasn't been taken care of; this is obviously not normal.

Bruce felt a chill down his back. What filled this world is very likely not just the townspeople, but also tourists from all over the world.