Heartbreaker

three years ago.

"Hello, Reverend Hayden. This is my undead. I think you remember what I told you last time?"

Douglas got up from his seat and respectfully greeted the most honorable person in the entire empire.Two sharp eyes swept towards the clothes and manners of the two without any trace.

The female undead was dressed strangely, wearing a mysterious black cloak.Even stranger was her master, the current Imperial Emperor Eliot Stewart.The other party did not wear a gorgeous and luxurious court dress, his limbs and head were all wrapped in a black robe, and a silver mask with a smile on his face, the whole person looked like a black finger with silver nails.

Before Priest Hayden had a clue about the current situation, he heard the man chuckle, "Are you used to searching for others like this?"

Douglas said, "Excuse me, Your Majesty. I swear I never meant it."

The emperor laughed a few times, and Douglas vaguely felt that the smile on the mask was deeper and creepy.The other party stretched out a wooden stick with a hand on the top from the ink-strip-like robe, and pointed his index finger at the books on his desk, ""Secret of the Dead"? Are you still studying this?"

Douglas stared blankly at the artificial hand, feeling even more surprised in his heart, and even wondered if it was a joke of the emperor.

If it wasn't a joke, it was because the emperor didn't want others to see his appearance, not even a single finger.

"Yes, Your Majesty, the books published before are not enough. I am doing my best to study the undead." Douglas began to prepare the instruments needed for the skin grafting operation. The female undead glanced at him coldly, took off her cloak, and lay obediently on the operating table .

The dark emperor sat on the armchair and said, "Why are you so obsessed with studying the undead, Hayden?"

Douglas replied, "To tell you the truth, Your Majesty. I have conducted research on various existing strange races, and the research results show that the undead have the highest compatibility with humans."

"compatibility?"

"It is the creature most similar to human structure and habit." Douglas raised his head from a plate of cold knives, "It should be said that 'undead' is a kind of human form."

The emperor chuckled, "But human beings don't have the healing power and eternal life of the undead."

Douglas said, "I agree with the former, but whether the undead have 'eternal life' is still inconclusive. After all, this statement came from human beings, and no one has eternal life. Naturally, they cannot know the lifespan of the undead. .”

The emperor asked, "Have you discovered any results related to 'healing power'?"

"I've been doing this research. It used to be a secret experiment of the church. We paid a high price for some people to sacrifice their souls, summon the undead, and then conduct observation and research." Douglas responded to the other party's inquiries, while calmly Perform surgery, "I found that the reason why the undead have healing power is mainly because their body contains a kind of 'proliferation factor' - I call it 'proliferation factor'. This substance can speed up the division and renewal of cells, and the speed can't be beat. Compared with tumors, it just won't ask for more nutrients, and it won't let the body collapse in endless reproduction."

During the conversation, most of the body of the female undead was covered with human skin.Douglas glanced at the suet-like body of the opponent, and said, "I guess you don't want to use your undead for research, Your Majesty."

The emperor smiled and said, "Actually, I don't care, but I'm afraid my undead will be very angry, so I can't agree."

This man voluntarily gave up part of his soul to summon an undead.Douglas thought to himself that often only desperate desperadoes would willingly donate their souls, because they need the powerful power of the undead to realize some of their ambitions.

But this man, sitting in the world and holding a lot of power, what else is he so eager for?

The operation was over soon.The female undead seemed to be very tired of the humid and dark environment of the laboratory, and couldn't wait to walk outside.And her master still stayed here, talking with the priest with a smile.

Douglas poured a cup of tea for the honorable emperor and said hesitantly, "Your Majesty, what do you think about the last proposal?"

The emperor said, "Pastor Hayden, do you still think that the undead is a magic weapon to save mankind?"

"Yes." Douglas said without hesitation, "If human beings can have the healing power of the undead, they can at least prolong their lifespan by a hundred years. At the same time, their resistance to some diseases will also be greatly improved. Whether it is fighting, labor or the simplest survival, Human beings will become the real masters before nature."

Facing the smiling emperor in front of him, he said word by word, "If some of the advantages of the undead can be transferred to humans, the prosperity of the empire will be just around the corner."

"Ha ha ha ha……"

The emperor laughed suddenly, and the laughter echoed eerily in the claustrophobic dark room.Cold sweat soaked Douglas's back, and the lens was covered with a layer of water mist.

"Actually, Hayden..."

The emperor said with a smile, "Whether the empire is prosperous or not, whether it is prosperous... I don't care too much."

Douglas had a strange feeling in his heart, which he always had when he encountered something mysterious-in short, he wanted to put the other person on the operating table to dissect him.Emperor Eliot was like a mystery, but the keen priest could only lower his head, avoiding his probing eyes from meeting him.

The emperor said, "Don't be so nervous, Hayden. In fact, whether you want to 'undead' human beings is irrelevant to me. I just need to maintain a superficial peace, and most people fear the power of the undead."

Douglas said, "That's why I ask you to allow the church to carry out proper ideological propaganda and spread the concept of 'salvation of the dead'."

The emperor said, "There are two obstacles to this problem. First, most of my people are Mogols. They have their own gods. It is impossible for the undead to be enshrined on the altar and sit on an equal footing with other saviors. Second, The public has a limited perspective on issues. They are best at creating public opinion, exaggerating panic, or saying meaningless empty words. If you suddenly spread such a sensational thing, within a few days, someone will form a faction to protest .”

Douglas bowed deeply, "In any case, please leave it to me to execute it. I will guarantee with my life that it will not pose any threat to the peace of the Twilight Empire."

The emperor of the empire stood up slowly, and said with a chuckle, "Save your life? If the empire is really torn apart, what's the use of killing you? ... But having said that, I still want to give you this chance. Don't let me down , Hayden."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

****

Chichikov and I grabbed the rope and slid down one by one, as if we were falling in a sealed well. We couldn't see our fingers around us, and we couldn't even hear the wind, which made me doubt whether there was an end point.

"Ro, come out."

The ethereal figure of the undead emerges from the obsidian.Luo spread out his hands, and a rose-shaped faint blue light ball shone on each palm, illuminating the surrounding stone walls for us.

"My left eyelid has never twitched so violently before." Chichikov took a deep breath and said, "My right eye must be below, there is nothing wrong with it."

With the illumination of the light ball, we felt relieved, and slowly landed on the flat ground underground along the rope.The sound of ticking water continued, and Luo split the ball of light into more, reflecting the narrow tunnel brightly.The stone paved road is soaked in a layer of water, and the walls are monotonous without any decoration.A faint blue spot of light shone above our heads like a firefly. I fumbled for the dagger at my waist, grabbed Luo's arm with the other hand, and followed the old man step by step.

After a while, a fork in the road suddenly appeared in front of us.Chichikov and I were stunned. At first we thought that there was just a simple hole dug under the church, where rare treasures were placed, but we didn’t expect such a scene at the end of a narrow road.

"Okay." I squatted down and stared at the dark passage, "It's time to make a decision."

Luo Jing paused for a while, then said, "On the left, 500 meters away, there seems to be some movement."

Chichikov snorted, "My eyes tell me that the right side is where we want to go."

I asked, "Rom, what do you mean by 'movement'?"

Luo frowned slightly, and said in a low voice, "Some very familiar life fluctuations. They resemble both humans and animals... but they are vague."

"So, what's the use of going to the place where these messy sounds come from?" the old man said coldly, "The main purpose of this trip is to find my eyes."

Luo Dao, "But there is no sound at all on the right side."

The old man snorted, "What noise can an eye make?"

"Stop arguing." I paced back and forth in front of the two forked roads, waving my dagger for a moment of thought, and said, "Let's go to the right first...we'll find our eyes later, so we might as well take a look at the left."

After making up our minds, we proceeded along the fork road on the right. The further we walked, the thicker the water stains under our feet, as if stepping on some kind of glue, the soles of our boots were sticky, and the footprints were more complete Outlines are printed neatly.I leaned on the wall, and suddenly felt that the wall under my palm was sticky, slippery and soft, and a wet blood-colored handprint slowly appeared.

I tried to wipe it off, but the red handprint felt weird to the touch, it felt like a lump of sticky meat, which couldn't be rubbed off, and a lot of blood leaked out, which made me get goose bumps all over my body.

But after walking for more than ten minutes, a high wall blocked our way.I stared at Chichikov and said coldly, "What's going on?"

The old man was even more astonished than I was, and murmured, "It shouldn't be like this... Could it be on the other side of the wall?"

"Here, there is a way."

At this time, Luo, who was floating in the air, called out to us, and his voice echoed eeriely in the empty passage.I glared at Chichikov, who fell into rare confusion and ignored my white eyes.

I said, "Don't linger, old man. This underground labyrinth is very evil. Your eyes may be disturbed by something."

Holding the last hope, the old man stroked the rough wall, but only saw a shriveled bloody handprint oozing out of the wall.He murmured, "If you can break this wall...Little Undead, can you try?"

Luo turned his head, hesitated for a moment, and said, "The space here is too small, it may hurt you, step back."

It is said to be "retreat", in fact, our current position in the maze is flat, and there is not much protection from bunkers.Luo condensed the spot of light into a medium-sized scythe, slowly raised it up, and the faint blue light illuminated the silent wall in a miserable and desolate manner.

—Puff!

When the scattered debris covered our feet, Chichikov and I were very surprised. We didn't expect the sound of the wall breaking to be so similar to the sound of flesh and blood breaking.Luo's reaction was even more intense, he exclaimed, "I——I just killed someone?! Lymon, Chichikov!"

"We're fine! You just broke a wall." I yelled loudly, still terrified by the muffled sound, and was kneeling down to pick up a piece of gravel for inspection, when I heard Chichikov's shocked voice, " This... this is impossible..."

I raised my head and saw the scene in front of me clearly.

Behind the wall, there is still a wall, and there is no section or defect, it is complete and smooth, just like a brand new one.

Beep——beep——

Luo suddenly yelled in panic, "Lymon, something has come to life! Say something, Lemon!"

I didn't understand what he meant by asking me to "speak a word".In the blink of an eye, some slippery soft-bodied creature wrapped around my ankle, climbing up my calf like a vine!Chichikov let out a hoarse scream, and the parts below his knees were suddenly entangled by surging tentacles!

"What are these things?!" the old man shouted, "Lemon, come and help me!"

"Damn it, I'm entangled too!" I yelled angrily, chopping down the fleshy vines under my feet one after another.The stone that had just been crushed somehow suddenly turned into a crazily growing fleshy vine, like a spore multiplying at an incredible speed.

The scene is simply a mess!Luo turned around like a blind man a few times in mid-air, and rushed to me when he heard my voice, and said a spell to the dense vines on my body, and the blue flame engulfed it. !

"squeak--!"

A slender scream sounded, and the fleshy vines gradually shrank and shriveled in the flames, releasing a puff of turbid air, like the spout of boiling hot water.

When I was out of trouble, Luo turned to rescue Chichikov who was entangled by meat vines and only had one mouth left.I cut off the dead vines that clung to my legs, picked up a strip of steaming charcoal, and put it to my nose to smell it.

"Satan..." My palms were sweating, and I smiled dryly, "This smells like burnt pork."

Chichikov shook off the shriveled vine, took a deep breath, and said with a sigh, "This is not funny at all."

Luo squatted down, groped for a shriveled meat vine, pinched the long flexible stem, smelled the smell on it, and said with difficulty, "It's not pork...I think it looks like human flesh..."

I stroked my hair, wiped the cold sweat off my face, kicked away the dead vines at my feet, and said hoarsely, "Whatever it is... Take us out of here first, Luo. Go in your direction."

We breathed a sigh of relief and continued to walk behind Luo, but we were more careful than before, not daring to touch those walls at all.I turned my head to look at their flat surfaces, and guessed what these things were, and they could smell meaty when they were burnt...

"...?!"

With a bang, my dagger fell to the ground!I came back to my senses suddenly, and quickly picked it up. Chichikov was startled like a rabbit, "What's wrong?!"

"Here!" My eyes widened, and I stared straight at a corner of the wall, "I saw it, there is an eye embedded in it! There is no mistake, although it only blinked once, but I definitely did not admit it!"

As I said that, I ran right under the "eye", looked at the flat wall, and swallowed.Luo floated right above me, groped along the wall, and asked me from time to time, "Is this here, Lemon?"

Squeaky——In a blink of an eye, the eyeball opened and turned, and happened to meet Luo's two dark eye holes!

I yelled, "Poke it up, lo!"

Luo didn't doubt that it was there, and immediately poked out that eye!Slimy crystals trickled down his fingers.Luo pulled out hard, and the eyeball made a "pop" sound, was torn off the wall by him, and poked on his finger.I heard Chichikov grunt in his throat, as if afraid that the rotten eye was his.

I called Luo down, pulled the eyeball off his finger, and looked at it carefully for a moment.The old man hurried over and heaved a sigh when he saw that the eye was not his.

"Damn it..." I squeezed the eyeball in my hand, crunched it, and said sullenly, "It seems that these walls should be covered with such eyes... Our every move is watched by them in……"

I said, "Luo, can you find a way out?"

Luo hesitated, "Now there is only one place where there is sound, and the others seem to be blocked."

The old man interjected, "It's a big deal, let's go back the same way..."

Luo Dao, "No, the only place where there is no sound and wind is the wall, and we can't walk through it."

Chichikov raised his voice and said, "Could it be that this maze can change?"

As soon as these words came out, it seemed that some secret had been revealed, and we all fell into consternation and silence at the same time.Chichikov sighed, Luo looked at me helplessly, I pursed my lips tightly and said, "Take us to a place with sound and wind, Luo. If that's the only way out, at least it's worth trying. "

****

Luo stopped in front of a soft halo.

Chichikov and I stood on both sides of him from behind, and saw the man sitting under the light not far away.It was dark all around, except for the place where the man was standing, showing a sudden light.Sitting on a simple wooden chair, with a reflection from his glasses, he smiled at us and said, "Hello, Mr. Lenny Kofer, and Mr. Chichikov."

He turned his gaze, saw Luo beside me, narrowed his eyes and said, "Oh, this is..."

Before he could speak, I deftly pulled out the dagger at my waist and shouted angrily, "Luo, kill him!"

"Don't be like this, Mr. Cofell." The man with the gold-rimmed glasses smiled slightly and remained motionless. "After all, I'm here to invite you to a dinner party."

In an instant, multicolored lights flashed above the head, like a lens that was opened in turn, from far to near, illuminating the entire space little by little.I raised my head, and was startled to see those fluorescent lights coming from the bloody eyeballs.The eyeballs are tightly clustered body segments like centipedes, connected in series by silver wires, interweaving into a dense and eerie net on the dome.

"Ah... ah! That's..."

Chichikov's terrified cries rang in my ears, and there was nothing but blood in front of my eyes.There was a creaking and creeping sound under the feet. The ground was not paved with stone bricks, but pale pink veins protruding like living things, spreading along the wall.

Goo... Goo... Woo...

In the very center, I saw a huge sarcoma, sucking blood from the muscles all over the surface, with fine spines waving around, shrinking and stretching from time to time, like an aggressive sea urchin.

We were taken away by the overwhelming blood.Chichikov shuddered and raised a trembling finger, "My eyes—in the middle of that lump of flesh!"

There were five eyes embedded in that tumor, four of which were embedded in the four corners of the square. The gray-blue eye in the middle opened slowly after a long time, exuding a solemn and majestic aura, just like the other four eyes. Just its "soldiers".

Being stared at by that damn eye, the familiar feeling of hell made me have to believe that it was indeed a part of the old man.

"This is the 'Chaos Stone'..."

The bespectacled bastard stood up, smiled and patted the top of the wart's head, as if caressing his child.The eye on the tumor turned to four different places, and one of them was still crying and crying like a baby.

"Many..." Luo blinked hard, and said in a hoarse voice, "So many voices...sad, happy...fearful, angry...all from...that stone..."

"Hi, I'm Douglas Hayden." The glasses bastard sneered and curled up his mouth and opened his arms, like the opening of a thrilling stage play.At this moment, countless naked flesh lumps protruded and fell from the tumor, just like giving birth, the head and limbs emerged from an invisible mass of flesh, peeled off the mother, and slowly approached us, just like Rows of bloody dummies.

The colorful light spots condensed from the palms of those dummies, exactly the same as the posture of the undead gathering strength—these flesh and blood "undead" had blurred facial features and slow movements, but they unanimously raised the light scythe in their hands, following the instructions of the bastard with glasses, Aim the shining blade of light at us.

"Now, the dinner party begins."