Death Spiral [Infinite Flow]

Xu Rendong stepped out of the elevator.This is a dark and narrow alley, and there is an unpleasant smell in the air, like the smell of decay mixed with burning coal.He walked out of the alley holding his nose, and found himself in a street full of people coming and going.There are all kinds of shops on the street, and there are hawkers pushing mobile vans for sale.

There are people coming and going on the street, and there are blond foreigners everywhere, dressed in British-style retro clothes.The peddlers wore shirts and waistcoats, the gentlemen wore top hats and tailcoats.Ladies wear all kinds of long tulle skirts, carefully lifting the hem of the skirts to prevent the skirts from splashing dirty water on the ground.

Xu Rendong noticed that the trademarks of the shops on both sides were written in cursive English.The roar of huge steam turbines was heard in the distance, and black smoke was billowing from the towering chimneys.It seems that this time the world has set the scene in England during the industrial revolution.

However, is it an open scene?

At the same time, Lian Qiao from the perspective of the left eye has already started to march towards his castle.

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

"Hey! You just got off the boat, right? Stop wandering around and follow!"

Chinese?

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

The factory... It seems that the setting this time is Chinese laborers who went to work in the UK by boat.

Behind the man were a dozen men and women with different looks, all wearing modern clothes, probably their teammates this time.Xu Rendong then walked into the team and walked forward with the berets.

"How many times are you doing?" Someone in the team accosted him, a man in his thirties.Ordinary in appearance, the kind that can't be recognized in the crowd.On the contrary, he is polite and polite.

Lian Qiao, who was in the field of vision in his left eye, suddenly typed three words on the phone: Veteran player.

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

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

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

The man said: "You can count the number of people 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, as he said, except for the beret who took the lead, there were five men and five women left, exactly ten people.Five of them looked very disturbed, with an expression of not knowing what happened here, and they were newcomers at first glance.

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

In front of the other party, it was inconvenient for Xu Rendong to take 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 across his face: "Your eyes...?"

Xu Rendong subconsciously covered his left eye with his hand, pretending to be calm and said: "What are you talking about? Congenital deformity, born like this. Sorry to scare you."

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

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

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

Xu Rendong: "Oh, is that so?"

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

Xu Rendong was taken aback, he was not used to being praised for his appearance so bluntly, and the other party was a man.Xu Rendong couldn't answer the words for a while, only felt a flash in his left eye, and Lian Qiao on the other side was typing crazily.

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

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

Along the way afterwards, Xu Rendong stopped talking, and the man didn't continue talking to him.A group of people silently followed the berets to the dormitory. The old people were paying attention to the surrounding environment and refused to let go of the slightest clue. The new people were trembling nervously, as if they had been warned of the danger they were about to face .

As we walked, the original bustling streets gradually disappeared, replaced by a dilapidated scene.The stalls and hawkers have disappeared, and there are a few dilapidated houses scattered on both sides of the street, all of which are crumbling.The slums have arrived.

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

The house had a musty smell that hadn't been lived in for a long time, and there was almost no place to set foot because of the dust and cobwebs everywhere.As soon as the beret left, everyone started discussing in low voices.

"What does the dungeon prompt mean this time?" "Do you have a clue?" "The butterfly in the stomach sounds disgusting..." "The NPC said to call the doctor? Why are you calling the doctor?"

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

Lian Qiao: There is a calendar on the wall with writing on it, remember to check it out.There may be something in the drawer under the front desk.The electric fan on the ceiling seems unstable and may fall down at any time, try not to walk under the electric fan.

...So in the eyes of Lian Qiao, are there so many things worth paying attention to here?The vision of professional gamers is really different.

Lian 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, all right.Then show you my environment here^^

The angle of view turns, and what appears in the left eye is a gorgeous medieval-style living room.The table and chair furniture are all leather, and there is a huge crystal chandelier on the ceiling.Many people gathered around a man who looked like a housekeeper, as if they were listening to what he explained.

This is the interior of that Gothic castle.

Xu Rendong counted the number of teams 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 to tell Lian Qiao to be careful, and the sound of footsteps on the stairs drew his attention back to himself.I saw two people walking down from the second floor one after the other, and the leader was still the beret, talking happily 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 monk-like white robe.The robe is connected to a white hood, both wrists are tied with ropes, and long white gloves are worn on the hands, presumably for the convenience of certain operations.What is more noticeable is that he is wearing an exaggerated beak mask. The beak is so sharp and long that it can stab people to death. Behind the beak are two black goggles, so it is impossible to see the person behind the mask clearly. What does it look like.

Everyone fell silent.

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

Xu Rendong: "..." He tried to warn Lian Qiao to calm down by rolling his eyes, but unfortunately Lian Qiao didn't get it at all.He could only ignore the beating words in his left eye and try to focus on his right eye.

The beret chatted with Dr. Niaozui in English, talking and laughing, then turned to look at the crowd, and the smile on the beret's face disappeared instantly.Then he said in a strange translation tone:

"Next, the doctor will conduct a physical examination for each of you to make sure that you are not carrying the damn infectious disease! Now line up for me one by one, and come to me after the examination!"

The NPC gave an order, and everyone lined up obediently.Dr. Niaozui took a stethoscope and a small flashlight to check everyone's health one by one.They didn't do any excessive inspections, it seemed that they were really just checking whether they had any diseases.Soon, the last person also passed the medical examination.Doctor Bird's Beak nodded towards the beret, picked up the toolbox, and left the dormitory.

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

The factory is located in the suburbs. Fortunately, the slums are already on the edge of the town, and it only takes about ten minutes to walk from the dormitory.From a distance, everyone could see several chimneys soaring into the sky, continuously emitting black smoke into the sky.The sky is leaden gray, and it is impossible to tell whether the clouds are too thick or the sky is originally this 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, which makes everyone feel very uncomfortable.The closer to the factory, the stronger the smell of burning coal in the air, and some people even coughed from choking.

After finally coming to the gate of the factory, I saw several huge buildings standing on the open space, and the roof could not be seen from 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 privately during working hours, let alone being late and leaving early.Everyone nodded. It seemed that this factory was the main event location.

As soon as I entered the factory, I was greeted by a wave of heat.The flames swayed on everyone's faces, reflecting their surprised expressions.It turns out that the center of the factory is a huge lava pool. Orange-red liquid flows slowly in the pool. The conveyor belts on both sides continuously pour unknown objects into the lava, and there are pipelines below to transport the lava to other places. .

Above the lava pool, there are countless huge gears that mesh with each other.Steel bars of different thicknesses are connected to the gears, and all the steel bars extend to different places, and finally disappear into the darkness, no one knows where they are going.When the gear turns, these steel bars also work together with their respective frequencies and angles.Mechanical gears convert the power provided by steam from thermal energy into mechanical energy, thereby driving the operation of the entire factory, forming a primitive and exquisite industrial production line.

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

"What are you doing in a daze! Hurry up and say hello to the foreman!"

Only then did everyone notice that there was a short middle-aged man beside the beret.This man has a foreign face, although he is small, his body is very muscular, the clothes on his chest and arms are tightly stretched, he looks quite like a giant mouse that escaped from a laboratory.

The foreman had a fierce face. He stopped the beret and said a few words in English coldly.

Someone in the team couldn't understand what he was talking about, and asked around nervously.The beret immediately translated: "The foreman said, since the contract is signed, don't waste time, go to your workshop immediately! Start working!"

Everyone whispered again.

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

"It's scary 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?"

Everyone was chattering and arguing, and suddenly, the mouse-like foreman pulled out a whip from nowhere and slammed it on the ground. "Snapped"!The huge whip sound echoed inside the factory, shocking everyone's eardrums for a while, and they immediately fell silent.

The foreman glanced around with a sneer, and cursed a few words in an extremely unfriendly tone.The beret on the side had an ugly expression on his face, but he didn't translate what the foreman said, but only half-coaxed and half-persuaded everyone: "Okay, okay, stop arguing, and go to work obediently."

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

There are already several workers working in each workshop.Everyone was shocked at first glance, thinking that there are so many living people hidden here.After a closer look, I found that these workers had numb expressions and stiff movements.It turned out that these were not real people, but wooden dolls in workers' clothes!

The clothes on their bodies were covered with black oil stains, and their exposed fingers and wrists were ball joints.They did not respond to the arrival of the crowd, but mechanically repeated the simple actions of screwing and oiling.

The articulated puppets were working silently, and the only sound in the workshop was the rumble of mechanical tracks, which was very quiet.However, the quieter it is here, the more eerie the atmosphere becomes.

The one who was arranged in the first workshop was a newcomer girl named Zhang Xiaoxiao.When she learned that she had to spend eight hours alone in the workshop, she immediately protested.

"No, no! This is my first time here... This is my first time..." She was so anxious that she was about to cry, looking at the nine teammates around her, but she didn't know who to ask for help, "I beg you , don't leave me alone, I'm so scared..."

The beret waved his hand impatiently, ignoring her request.

Zhang Xiaoxiao immediately slumped on the ground and burst into tears.However, before the cries fermented, the foreman at 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 squeezed away.He froze for a moment, and found that the man who had accosted him earlier actually pushed away the crowd and walked towards the girl.

"Don't be afraid." He first comforted the girl in a low voice, then made a "stop" gesture to the eyeing foreman, and said in fluent English, "Don't do that please, beagentleman."

The foreman gave him a surprised look, as if surprised how a foreign worker could speak English.Fortunately, he didn't continue to embarrass the girl, just cursed in a low voice and let the beret handle the matter.

The beret walked up to the two of them with a displeased face, glared at the girl and said, "What are you doing? You're crying, you want to go back and cry!"

The man pulled up the beret, as if negotiating with him.The beret quickly compromised, and said to the man impatiently: "Then you stay here! Others, follow me!"

The girl was taken aback, and looked at the beret with tears in her eyes. She didn't understand what the beret meant.

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

The girl was taken aback for a moment, thanking her continuously.Soon she became uneasy again: "Then it doesn't matter if you are here alone? Didn't you say... Didn't you say that you might die..."

The man smiled at her: "It's okay, I'm still a man anyway, if anything happens to me, I can run faster than you." He turned slightly sideways, with his back to everyone, as if he was looking at the girl again. He said something, but the voice was too soft for everyone to hear.I saw the girl nodded vigorously, with excitement shining in her eyes.

So, the man was left alone in the workshop.

Xu Rendong thinks 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 the problem beautifully, so he is a partner he can cooperate with.Thinking of this, he suddenly remembered that he still didn't know the name of this person. Unfortunately, the beret kept urging everyone to move forward, so he couldn't turn around and 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 joint dolls in the workshop, just follow along.Xu Rendong and a man wearing glasses were assigned to the boiler room.The task of their group is the simplest, just watch the boiler and avoid the explosion.

Before leaving, the beret solemnly warned everyone that they were not allowed to leave their work stations during working hours, and the foreman would patrol around.

After the beret and the foreman left, only Xu Rendong and the man with glasses were left in the boiler room.Xu Rendong looked around the environment here, but 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 had sat down on the ground, holding a thick book in his hand.

Xu Rendong was shocked and said, "Are you...?"

The man with glasses pushed his glasses, and said helplessly, "I'm about to take the exam, and I don't want to. You see I'm so bald, and I look like a hardworking medical monk. Please do me a favor, save the child, let me Be a salted fish."

It was only then that Xu Rendong discovered that although his appearance was very young, his hairline was already dangerous, and he was only one step away from being bald.

Xu Liandong was speechless for a while, so the medical student ignored him, and concentrated on reciting the book: "Ginseng is sweet and nourishes vitality, quenches thirst, promotes body fluids, regulates nutrition... Astragalus... Astragalus..." He looked down at the book, Continue to backtrack, "Astragalus is warm in nature, absorbs sweat and solidifies the surface, and it is not rare to stimulate sores to generate muscle and qi deficiency..."

Xu Rendong listened silently for a while, and couldn't help but ask, "You studied Chinese medicine?"

The medical student said: "To be precise, it is the combination of traditional Chinese and Western medicine."

Xu Rendong: "Then why don't you prescribe some traditional Chinese medicine to recuperate, nourish the head... er, nourish the kidney?"

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

In the next second, he suddenly burst into flames, threw the book in his hand on the ground and stomped hard a few times: "Isn't the speed of repairing hair faster than the speed of hair loss! Ah?! Combination of traditional Chinese and Western medicine! God! Fucking combination of Chinese and Western medicine! At the end of the semester, more than a dozen Chinese and Western medicine exams are going to kill people! I’m fucking Chinese and Western medicine, and I’m almost splitting my personality!"

Xu Rendong was startled by him.The next second, the medical student bent down to pick up the book again, patted the ashes vigorously, and hugged it reverently in his arms.There are still words in the mouth:

"Forget it, it's important to pass the pass..."

Xu Rendong: "..." It's very real.

Xu Rendong saw that the medical student was obsessed with studying and couldn't extricate himself, so he didn't bother him, and 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 the inheritance. We play the role of detectives to find the murderer who murdered the old man.The progress is very fast, and three people have already died.

Xu Rendong was shocked: It's only been over an hour, and three people died?

Lian Qiao: One NPC, two teammates.The teammate ran out on his own, unable to stop him, and was shot headshot by the housekeeper and fell into the sea.

Xu Rendong: What about the NPC?

Lian Qiao: It was the housekeeper, who was headshot by me and thrown into the sea.

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

Lian Qiao: I snatched it from the butler... Oh, you didn't see it.The scene was a bit chaotic at the time, I was afraid you would get dizzy, so I took Lamia's eyeballs away.

Xu Rendong: ...you kill the NPC as soon as you 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 say.

Xu Rendong: ...

Lian Qiao: There is no need to beat around the bush when you go to question other NPCs, after all, I have a gun.

Xu Rendong: ...

He suddenly felt that he was really stupid for worrying about Lian Qiao all the time.So he accepted Lian Qiao's kindness frankly and listened to him analyze his copy for himself.

Lian Qiao: There are foremen patrolling... Well, let me think about it.The foreman does not allow you to be lazy at work, so if you are caught on patrol, you will 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 a lot of work.What's more, Brother Honeysuckle, your boiler position has no output at all, you just need to leave the medical monk to watch the house.So you can leave your post to explore the factory, as long as you avoid the foreman.But there are guards at the gate, so you 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 to the factory at night to take a look. If you can avoid the guards and enter the factory, you can explore freely without being disturbed.

Xu Rendong was a little surprised, which he did not expect.

Lian Qiao continued to type: the key is the "butterfly in the stomach" prompted by the customs clearance. We already know the literal meaning, but we still can't guess what it is prompting... I always feel that my heart is not good. .Honeysuckle, you have to be careful.

What Lian Qiao said made sense, and Xu Rendong couldn't help but want to nod, but he immediately restrained himself, and calmly typed the word "um" on the phone.

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

Xu Rendong looked at the rippling wavy lines, and already imagined in his mind the image of Lian Qiao raising his tail and begging for praise.He raised the corners of his mouth slightly, and there was a little tenderness in his cool and handsome eyes.The smile on the lips is like a newborn spring water, with a little bit of warm sweetness in the clearness of melting ice and snow.

The medical student at the side glanced at him inadvertently, and suddenly froze for a moment.

Damn, why is this man so good-looking.

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

The medical student hurriedly buried his head back in the book, absorbed in memorizing it, and dared not 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 endorsing: "I'm going out to explore the factory, so you stay here to look after the house... Uh, endorse?"

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

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

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

Here comes the foreman.

The author has something to say:

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