Volume 10 Bugs Chapter 46: A Quarter of an Hour
When I first learned about Wagner's whereabouts, I was puzzled by his choice: this genius mad pharmacist was determined to spread these dangerous and lethal toxins throughout the continent, but why did he stay away from the densely populated downtown and come to this remote glacier and snowfield? How exactly did he want to spread these toxins?
But it didn't take long for me to understand his purpose:
Morning River!
Yes, the Dawn River, the river with the widest basin on the Falvi continent, flows through countless forests, grasslands, plains, and basins for nearly 2,000 miles, crossing the territories of more than ten countries, nurturing millions of residents of different races and bloodlines, and nurturing the brilliant Falvi culture. This ancient and beautiful river is the most important bloodline of the Falvi continent, the river of life and the source of history for the entire continent's civilization.
However, if my guess is unfortunate enough, and Wagner, this deranged madman, can find a way to completely pollute the source of the Dawn River with the destructive toxins in his hands, turning the entire river into a poisonous stream that breeds endless death, then this gentle river that carries the civilization and history of the entire continent will turn into an evil dragon that no one can resist overnight, easily destroying the entire ecosystem of the continent, ruthlessly drowning and devouring all the living things it encounters along the way, until they turn into a pile of dry bones, and even cannot die.
Therefore, when I heard the sound of gurgling water from the broken rock formations, my heart immediately tightened. Following the sound, I saw a huge rock protruding from the mountain wall not far away.
Unlike the dark grey shale that can be seen everywhere on the mountain, this rock is reddish brown, thick at the bottom and pointed at the top, in the shape of a water drop, with some traces of high temperature burning on the edges. This is definitely not like the rock originally produced in the Kokla Mountains, but more like - I know it sounds incredible, but I really had this absurd idea at this moment - a huge rock flying from the sky fell into the Kokla Mountains, plunged into this mountain wall, and was buried deep in it.
How could I have such a stupid idea? I immediately scoffed at my own ridiculous idea. This is already the tallest mountain in the entire continent. How could such a huge rock fall from a higher place? Where did it come from? How did it come from? Could it be that the stars in the sky fell to the earth... This idea is so ridiculous that even ignorant children would laugh at my crazy thoughts.
No matter where this strangely shaped rock came from, a hidden cave was revealed under the inclination of the rock. Even though I knew this was impossible, I couldn't help but think that this cave looked very much like the crack left by a rock falling from a high altitude and smashing through the mountain wall. The sound of flowing water that I heard was faintly coming from this cave.
"I have to go in and take a look..." I pointed to the entrance of the cave and said to my comrades, "... maybe the mission I need to complete is here."
My comrades followed my advice - with the blessing of the Supreme God, they made a wise decision, and billions of lives on the entire continent should be forever grateful to them for this - and of course, me.
Just standing at the entrance of the cave, I felt a damp warmth. There was no snow at the entrance, but a large layer of ice. This piece of ice, whose thickness was unknown, was cold and solid, and seemed to have been here since the birth of the world and had never melted.
Because the cave was covered with ice everywhere, the sunlight refracted through layers of ice and shone deep into the cave. Therefore, although the vision in the cave was not very good, we could barely see the surrounding environment.
The walls of the cave were covered with icicles of varying lengths and thicknesses, some of which had already solidified into hard white, tightly fused to the surrounding rocks, as sharp as spears, while others seemed to be melting, with a few drops of water dripping down from time to time. The further we went in, the more humid the air we breathed. From time to time, some tiny icicles fell from the rock walls, and the "rustling" sound of the icicles kept echoing back and forth in the cave, getting louder and louder, sounding thrilling, as if the entire cave would collapse at any time.
I walked with fear, fearing that if I accidentally stepped a little heavier, it would cause a catastrophic landslide. But my friends didn't seem to have such worries. They watched the strange scenery in the cave all the way and exclaimed loudly from time to time:
"The scenery here is so beautiful!" Xian Ge Yayi looked around in amazement, his eyes almost popping out of the frames of his glasses.
“The scenery here is nice…” Chang Sanjiao said unhappily, “…but the scenery on the hillside is also very beautiful.”
"What do you know?" Feiyin also interrupted and teased, "The scenery under the snow pile is more beautiful. Some people are so fascinated that they don't even want to raise their heads..."
The elf sharpshooter, who suffered from severe fear of heights, was dragged up to the Kokla Pass by Chang Sanjiao and I, each of whom held one foot behind us. Thank God, the Kokla Pass was an even more rugged mountainous area, with huge, jagged rocks and icicles blocking our - mainly Xian Ge Yayi's - sight, so that he would not be frightened by the height difference. This allowed this useless guy, who had been screaming in fear and shivering on the ground all the way, to learn to walk upright again.
It is no wonder that the scenery in front of him made him so excited: when he closed his eyes, he was still in the cold tundra zone, and when he opened his eyes, he saw the karst landform. This strong difference in scenery is very novel to everyone. But for those of us who witnessed the entire journey, the impact was not so great.
Perhaps thinking of the embarrassing scene of Xiange Yayi along the way, Yan Zhen couldn't help but burst into laughter. The mocked elf sharpshooter touched his pointed ears in embarrassment, lowered his head with shame and indignation and said:
"After all, I am a patient..."
"Shh..." They were talking loudly, and I suddenly lowered my voice to stop the noise and pointed to the front of the cave.
The dark walls deep in the cave were suddenly covered with mottled light marks. The red and blue light waves were irregularly swirling and flickering with the scattering of the ice layer, illuminating the entire cave with a strange light and exuding a gloomy and strange atmosphere. As the light marks spit out, a hollow and rigid voice sounded low, uttering countless chaotic and complex syllables, echoing on the walls of the cave. I didn't understand a word of what they meant, but every syllable instinctively made me feel disgusted and evil, as if an invisible and cold claw was scratching my heart, giving me goose bumps.
An ominous cloud loomed over my heart. I felt my left chest twitch. I gently took out my shield and sword and quickened my pace to rush forward. Feiyin and the others also noticed the abnormality of the situation, stopped making noise and followed my steps.
Just after turning a corner, a tall figure came into my sight. His torso was wrapped in a huge cloak, and even his head was hidden deep in the hood. Only his two hands were sticking out of his clothes. His hands were stiff and gray, without any trace of blood. Some parts were corroded and broken, and a little dark yellow pus flowed out from time to time.
He stretched out his arms, opened his hands, and tilted his neck upward, like a giant bat with its wings spread. In front of him, a pentagonal magic circle was suspended in the air, emitting alternately red and indigo light. In the middle of the magic circle, a bottle of blue-gray potion was embedded. Who could have imagined that in this shabby bottle made of the cheapest crystal fragments, with very low gloss and transparency, which only cost five silver coins to buy a dozen, and was sealed with a moldy rubber cork, what was contained might be the most dangerous and terrifying thing that had ever appeared in the world since the creation of the gods?
A mad genius scientist with an extremely twisted mind, and a bottle of poison that is so toxic that you cannot even imagine. If all this is not enough to break your tough nerves and plunge you into a desperate panic, then hey, try this: there is also a river here.
Yes, a river!
Perhaps your eyes will tell you that this is not a river, but at most a shallow stream. It flows slowly from the west side of the mountain wall and flows to the east along the sloping mountain. This quiet flow has lasted for who knows how many tens of thousands of years. The weak water has polished the ground millions of times, and finally washed out a short channel on the hard rock - in fact, calling it a channel is too much, because the deepest part of it is just above the calf, and the shallowest part can't even wet the soles of the feet. This water mark, which is no more than ten steps long, is just a small section of an underground undercurrent that occasionally emerges from the surface.
However, this is indeed a river - not only a river, but also the longest and largest river in the entire continent. If I am not mistaken, this may be the first part of the Dawn River to emerge from the surface. The magnificent mountains and rivers of two thousand miles, the splendor of five thousand years, and the blood roots of billions of creatures all took their first steps from this short stream.
Now...will the demise of the world...also...start from here?
"Wagner..." I stared at the distorted face and screamed in a low voice. I don't know whether it was because of anger or despair, but I felt cold all over. The piercing coldness was like a sharp ice ridge, piercing my heart and lungs. My blood seemed to have stopped flowing, and all the colors and objects around me had lost their images. Only the ugly back was so clearly reflected in my pupils.
Am I too late? My heart is as heavy as a lump of ice - has his ritual of spreading poison been completed? Is everything irreversible? Will this world, which is filled with infinite kindness and love from the Creator God, be destroyed so easily by the hands of a madman?
It's all my fault!
I couldn't help but feel deeply guilty: I wasted too much time on this journey, and he escaped from my pursuit again and again. There were many times when I even saw his back, but he still escaped. I lost too many opportunities at the bridgehead, at the ferry, and even on the way to climb the snow-capped mountains. I could have stopped all this from happening long ago, if I had tried harder, tried harder!
That's how it is. When you do something, you always think you have worked hard enough. But at the last moment, you always find that you have never worked hard enough. Many irreparable regrets in the world often come from this. From now on, I don't know if I will have more opportunities to regret...
…
The groaning sound gradually became lower, he took off his hood and slowly turned around.
"Ah..." Feiyin couldn't help but let out a soft cry, and subconsciously took two steps closer behind me.
The gaunt pharmacist a few months ago had completely lost his shape: his hair had fallen out - in fact, his scalp was almost gone, revealing a large piece of white skull; his eye sockets were even more sunken - not because of weight loss, but because the flesh around them had completely rotted away; his eyeballs were abruptly embedded in his eye sockets, with no life in his eyes, and the blackened blood vessels were prominent around his pupils, probably coagulated into pus, dark yellow pus gushed out of his eye sockets, flowed down his cheeks, and slid down his cheeks; his left cheek had been corroded over a large area, with black and purple gums exposed in his mouth, while his right cheek was still relatively intact, but traces of maggots crawling could be vaguely seen under the skin of his cheek...
"Women are women, they are afraid of even this..." Seeing that our president showed rare signs of panic, the Yangtze River Delta did not miss the opportunity to retort.
"Who... who is scared... I just feel disgusted..." Fei Yin replied angrily, but her weak tone did not sound convincing at all.
"Don't be so stubborn. Being afraid is being afraid..." Xiange Yayi also sneered, "...with just this little courage, you even had the nerve to laugh at my fear of heights..."
"I am Yan Zhen, Fei Yin is behind you..." Yan Zhen looked at Wagner's face without changing his expression, and disdainfully exposed Xian Ge Ya Yi's true colors:
"…If you're really not afraid, put on your glasses…"
…
I couldn't join in my companions' jokes. I just envied them with despair, envied their ignorance of the end of the world: they only knew that we had to complete a difficult task, but they probably didn't understand what was happening in front of them, so they didn't feel despair. In fact, ignorance is often a great happiness. When you know more of the truth, you often have to take on more responsibilities and burdens, and you will be crushed by despair earlier.
…
"You..." The mad pharmacist, who was no longer sure whether to be considered a mutant or a pervert, spoke slowly. His voice was hollow and dull, having lost the elasticity that it should have as a human being, like the echo of a stone thrown into a deep valley. But even so, it could not conceal the excitement and ecstasy in his tone. Although his eyeballs were completely necrotic, a strong red light flashed through the scars in his eye sockets, showing the mood of this fanatic at the moment.
"...You are finally here..." he said, "...I really hope someone can share this great moment that changes the world with me. Although you don't understand the great significance of all this for the time being, history has given you this incomparable honor. I stole the secret of ultimate evolution from the selfish gods, and today, I will share 'eternity' with the whole world. Now, you may not understand the great significance of all this, but one day, people will be grateful to me, grateful for my selfless generosity, grateful for my broad mind and great wisdom, and grateful for me leading them into the land forbidden by the gods. And then, you will also be one of them..."
"... In a quarter of an hour..." Wagner showed off to us excitedly, his decayed face becoming even more hideous because of his enthusiasm, "... The magic circle will complete its self-repair, and the billions of transformed bacteria in this bottle of holy potion will no longer be afraid of the severe cold. They will pour into this river and complete the sacred baptism of the first fish they meet along the way; one day later, the holy water will complete the ultimate transformation of all the fish; three days later, the first waterfowl will swallow a cute fish; five days later, a hardworking girl will go to the river to fetch a bucket of water and take it home to drink; eight days later, a group of farmers will use the river water to irrigate their crops; ten days later, the river water will be introduced into the drainage system of a city; eleven days later, a cat caught a mouse transformed by the river water; fifteen days later, all the dogs in the city will go crazy; seventeen days later, the river water will flow out of the Kingdom of Winston and into the territory of Dranmeya... Do you know, How many days does it take for the entire Dawn River to flow from its source to the Comet Sea? Sixty-three days! Only sixty-three days are needed! After sixty-three days, the stupid and inferior signs of life will be completely wiped out from the Farvi Continent, and every soul will be thoroughly sublimated with equality and justice. The perfect world of ultimate life will come, with no racial conflicts, no blood differences, no conflicts of interest, and no wars and killings. Everything will be equal and harmonious, and everything will last forever. Every life will have endless time to learn, evolve, and create. We don't need gods! With eternity in hand, we are gods! Do you see it? A quarter of an hour later, the infinitely beautiful world has arrived. Do you see it? In a quarter of an hour, we will say goodbye to all ugliness, meanness, and lowliness, to all panic, fear, and death, and to all stupidity, dullness, and vulgarity..."
"...from man to god, from imperfection to perfection, from inferiority to holiness, from the world to heaven..." This madman who forced all his great wisdom and feelings on the whole world has been moved by the perfect future he described. He opened his arms and looked at us affectionately, like a father looking at his children lovingly, "...just wait a quarter of an hour..."
A strange light flashed by, and the taskbar in my adventure diary suddenly changed:
"Eliminate the Decayed Fanatic Wagner within fifteen minutes, stop the spread of the toxin, and save the world!"
A warm current of ecstasy poured into my body. I have never felt so happy to accept a mission as I do now. The Supreme God, the merciful God, could not bear to abandon his pious children, so he gave me a chance to make up for my mistakes. I swear that I will never miss it this time.
I heard the impatient shouting of the Yangtze River Delta:
"Finally I've listened to his ramblings. I'm going to kill him..."
