Infinite Demon God: How can I download it if I don't have enough data?

Chapter 182 The Man in the Stone [Part 3]

"How did you find the peddler's peddler? And what is that man in the stone?"

in situ.

Hu Long narrowed his eyes slightly and slowly asked.

Traces of peddlers.

Ever since he swallowed that fire spirit, he had sent people to search around.

But there was still no gain.

After all, that guy's location is too random. He might be wandering around a mountain village in Yu State today, and tomorrow he might be in a foreign land thousands of miles away. He is completely unrestricted by geography.

Finding them is entirely a matter of luck, not to mention that it's uncertain whether the stop the other person is taking the bus to is actually in the real world.

As for the man in the stone—

Although it was the first time he had heard the name, it stirred something inexplicably in Hu Long's heart.

"To be precise, we didn't find any trace of the peddler, but rather we found Pawnshop Zero and, through a transaction, found out where the peddler would appear next."

As Ji Wudi spoke...

A tablet suddenly appeared in his hand.

"In addition, the detailed information about the Stone Man is here; you may take a look, Master."

Hu Long's expression shifted slightly.

He reached out and took it.

Although this era is somewhat backward.

But tablets already exist. Even though they are far less smooth and fluid than the systems of my previous life, and don't have as many fancy features, they still serve their basic purpose.

As you swipe your finger, the content on the screen flips through page after page.

Hu Long had previously sent people to search for the peddler's whereabouts.

However, there hasn't been much progress.

I didn't expect to hear news so quickly.

It can only be said that the Ji family truly deserves to be one of the three superior families, as the official body of the Yu state itself.

Their access to information was far superior to that of the middle-ranking clans.

only.

This peddler was indeed just as Emperor Ji Wudi had said.

The Ji family did not find the peddler's trail directly, but instead stumbled upon Pawnshop Zero.

This Zero Pawnshop is a very special kind of spirit ticket, completely different from those spirit tickets that can communicate or take human form.

A photo is attached below.

The image quality is not clear; it's hazy and looks like it was taken through a layer of fog.

However, it is still clear that its exterior is no different from that of an ordinary pawn shop.

The photo shows it at dusk.

The perspective is in an alleyway, where there is an old wooden door with several thin cracks in the door panel.

A faded plaque hangs above the door, the characters so blurred they are barely legible.

A paper lantern hung under the eaves, its dim light swaying gently in the night breeze, sometimes bright and sometimes dim.

This is Pawnshop Zero.

It will not manifest in human form, but will choose a person as its agent to handle the pawning matters on its behalf.

Its location is also constantly changing.

Sometimes they appear at the end of country roads.

Sometimes they disappear into the shadows of a city's deep alleys, blending into the surrounding night, and are not easily spotted unless you look closely.

But one thing remains constant.

Wherever it appears, there must be people.

No, to be more precise, there will definitely be customers who need to make a transaction.

Those who encounter it and enter into it can pawn what they own to obtain what they desire.

However, the items pawned here are never ordinary objects.

Instead, they were all sorts of strange things.

For example, it can bring good fortune in wealth, love, and even, according to rumors, lifespan.

Of course, there's no such thing as a free lunch.

To obtain what you need, you must pay an equivalent and commensurate price.

Not long ago, the Ji family finally found the location of Pawnshop Zero by chance.

They sent someone in to complete the pawning, in exchange for information about the peddler's possible location a day later.

The price to pay is twenty years of lifespan.

It transformed that person from a young man into a middle-aged man in his forties.

Seeing this, Hu Long felt a surge of interest.

There are actually places like this in the world.

Unfortunately, after this pawn transaction was completed, the No. 0 pawnshop disappeared without a trace, as if it had never existed.

This dashed his hopes of personally making the trip.

After noting down the location of the peddler's carrying pole.

Hu Long continued swiping his finger to look at the next document.

It concerns the discovery of the stone figure within a Hillel gold mine in the country of Lai.

The reason why the Ji family was able to obtain the intelligence so quickly was not because the Lai Kingdom government was inactive.

Rather, it's simply a basic practice for each country to plant spies in each other's territory.

However, the main reason why we were able to obtain the information so quickly this time was due to the man in the stone.

Record the above information.

After the stone figure was transported back to the laboratory, it began to be tested.

However, an accident occurred during this process.

An experimenter somehow obtained a large number of blood bags and poured all of his blood onto the amber stone.

Then, the person inside the stone awoke.

Then.

Strange things happened.

All the researchers in the laboratory seemed to have been affected mentally, becoming fanatics.

They followed the belief that "the person in the stone is the Holy Mother" and worshipped the moon immensely.

Faced with this kind of spiritual erosion.

Only when a martial artist reaches the Vitality Realm, nourishing the five internal organs and strengthening the spirit, will they have some ability to resist.

Lai itself can only be considered a medium-sized country.

Although there are secret warriors, they are no match for behemoths like the Yu and Luo kingdoms.

The strongest among them was only a beginner in the Yuan Dan realm, and that supreme grandmaster in the Yuan Dan realm was nearing the end of his lifespan.

Faced with the attack from the stone man.

They quickly found themselves stretched thin and suffered repeated defeats.

Therefore, the country could no longer suppress the news and had no choice but to reveal the truth and appeal to the world for help.

The news sent shockwaves across the Earth.

The three strongest nations on Earth today—the Yu Kingdom, the Luo Kingdom, and the Zijin Empire—dispatched their secret warriors to the Lai Kingdom at almost the same time.

Besides.

Many neighboring small countries could not hold back and sent their own secret agents to secretly enter the country.

Clearly, everyone was very interested in this stone figure called "Holy Mother".

"The resurrected stone man, interesting—"

Hu Long looked at a photo of the man in the stone below.

Although the photo is blurry, you can still make out the general shape.

A strange light flashed across Hu Long's eyes.

Strictly speaking, this wasn't the first time he had seen a life form residing within amber.

Previously, because of the underground palace, he was taken to a depth of tens of thousands of meters.

Back then, he punched through the rock wall, carving it out of itself.

During that process, he also saw a life form that was sealed in amber.

It was a humanoid creature with horns on its head and wings on its back.

Although its appearance differs from this one.

However, the two are extremely similar in that they are both solidified in amber.

It now appears that such cases are not isolated incidents.

But what if the stone figure unearthed in Lai Kingdom was alive?

Does that also mean that the frozen creature inside the amber-colored stone he saw earlier might also be alive?

The stronger one is, the higher one's standing will be.

Hu Long discovered that the waters of this world are actually quite deep.

Apart from those secret martial artists and practitioners of old techniques.

There are also various forms of strange spirits, as well as even more bizarre spiritual spirits.

Now, even in the rocks buried deep underground, there are living creatures.

If these creatures are not isolated cases, then how long have they been dormant?

If there are no external forces, and it's just a normal geological phenomenon...

To be buried at a depth of 10,000 meters, the fossils of these organisms must have lived at least 50 million years ago, and more likely more than 100 million years ago.

This is almost as old as a dinosaur.

Yes, dinosaur fossils also exist in this world. Just like on Earth, they went extinct from our planet for some unknown reason.

According to Ji Wudi.

Such strange and malevolent things have existed since ancient times.

No one knows why it appears; even Luo Sha, who has lived for tens of thousands of years, does not know the origin of the strange creatures.

All she knew was that since her birth, supernatural beings had existed in the world.

However, the quantity was very small at the time.

So, are these strange spirits related to these things?

Hu Long's eyes flashed as a series of ideas emerged and connected with each other.

With his current mental strength, he can easily deduce the truth from any clue.

The core of intelligence is the ability to discover patterns in various kinds of information, use logic to perform abstract reasoning, and use this ability to solve new problems.

As the strength of the soul increases, so does the speed of thought.

The abstract concept of IQ is naturally also increasing.

However, the information obtained is limited.

Hu Long could only vaguely sense that the creatures in the stone were probably related to these strange spirits.

If it truly exists, why would it be inside that amber?

Could it be for the purpose of prolonging life, or for some other reason?

Hu Long's eyes flickered.

A hint of interest rose in his eyes.

He was very curious about this unknown thing.

However, for now, the problem of the stone man is not urgent; the most important thing is to deal with the peddler's problem first.

Thinking of this.

He looked at Ji Wudi, who was standing to one side.

"Next, in addition to collecting information on the supernatural beings, we also need to keep an eye on information about Pawnshop Zero and the Rain Bus, the more detailed the better."

After saying this, Hu Long moved slightly and disappeared into the courtyard.

The next moment, he transformed into a blur too fast for the naked eye to see, tearing through the damp air.

The rain burst open.

In the blink of an eye, he had soared to an altitude of 10,000 meters, forcefully tearing a hole in the thick dark clouds.

Amidst the torrential rain, Hu Long's figure broke through the clouds and disappeared into the horizon.

Jinguo.

Its land area is smaller than a single province of the State of Yu, and it faces the State of Yu across the sea, but it is quite close to the northeast of the State of Yu.

The straight-line distance is less than 90 nautical miles, which translates to just over 170 kilometers.

The country is so small that even the weather forecast sometimes has to rely on the border city of Lelin in Yu Kingdom.

That's why he's been the subject of a lot of online teasing.

Perhaps it's pride, or something else, but the people of Jin have always loved to steal other countries' cultures and insist on claiming them as their own.

When drawing maps, they always have to exaggerate their own territory.

However, although the country is small and has a lot of shortcomings, it does have a few things that it can be proud of.

For example, plastic surgery, semiconductors, film and television, and games are all among the world's top.

It was evening, and the sun was setting.

In a narrow alleyway in a certain city in the country of Jin.

-

The crimson setting sun peeked through the gaps between the tall buildings, turning the entire alleyway a dim yellow.

Deep in the alley, five or six students in white school uniforms formed a semicircle, carrying baseball bats and steel pipes.

Surrounded in the middle was a small, thin boy. His school uniform was torn in half, his schoolbag was lying on the ground, and his textbooks were scattered all over the place, crumpled and trampled.

The boy in the lead, a cigarette dangling from his lips, looked down at the person lying on the ground with a cruel, almost naive smile on his face.

He crouched down and used a baseball bat to lift the boy's chin.

"I heard you said in class that you didn't want to pay your membership dues?"

"I—I"

The thin boy was trembling all over, his lips quivering so he couldn't speak.

"You don't know the rules of Jinlin Middle School? Then I'll teach you properly today."

After saying that, he stepped on the back of the hand that was supporting him and slowly ground it.

A suppressed scream came from deep within the alley.

The sun sank a little deeper, and the shadows in the alley stretched even longer.

Occasionally, passersby would walk past the alley entrance, hear the noise, and simply quicken their pace to leave, without a single person glancing inside.

In the country of Kim, bullying incidents like this are commonplace.

School bullying, military bullying, workplace bullying, etc.

Just like the kimchi they can't live without, it's permeated every corner of this place, it's everywhere.

Even if the police are called, as long as no one dies.

The result wasn't much better; at most, they'd offer a few mild criticisms, and then nothing more.

They even had to worry about being retaliated against, so naturally no one wanted to meddle.

half an hour.

Several teenagers left through the alleyway, laughing and joking.

A figure covered in wounds was huddled in the alleyway.

After waiting a while, Kim Sung-woo staggered to his feet.

He bent down and picked up the books scattered on the ground.

At the same time, he picked up a stone and threw it at a stray cat rummaging through a trash can for food in the distance.

The stray cat let out a scream as a pebble struck its paw. Startled, it leaped onto the wall and disappeared from sight.

"Those damned bastards—"

Seeing this, a smile crept onto his lips.

But when the injury was touched, his face twitched in pain, and he couldn't help but mutter a curse under his breath.

However, as he said this, he kept looking around, as if afraid that the group of people had not gone far.

When faced with bullying, one should bravely fight back.

However, his temper was limited to verbal abuse.

If he were truly asked to resist, he wouldn't dare, nor could he possibly win; he could only vent his anger on weaker creatures.

Just then.

I don't know if it's just my imagination, but the surrounding light seems to have dimmed a bit.

Tap tap —

At the same time, a voice came from afar.

Kim Sung-woo's body suddenly stiffened.

He thought the group had come back.

Instinctively, he almost opened his mouth to beg for mercy.

But as the words were about to come out, he realized that the people who had come were not that group.

He was a man wearing a straw hat and carrying a shoulder pole.

The straw hat was pulled low, covering most of his face.

Just as the two figures were about to pass each other.

"Old ties and new debts, flesh and blood of the heart—"

A hoarse voice, as if squeezed out from a broken bellows, rang out faintly.

At the same time.

From the basket on one side of the carrying pole, a pale arm slowly stretched out.

Its five fingers were long and slender, without a trace of blood, as if it had just crawled out of a coffin.

Kim Sung-woo's pupils suddenly contracted.

He wanted to run away.

His legs, however, seemed to be nailed to the ground, remaining completely still.

suddenly.

The man who had been keeping his head down suddenly raised his face.

Kim Sung-woo finally saw the face under the straw hat.

It was flat and smooth, empty, without any facial features.

It has no eyes, no nose, no mouth, and looks like a flattened piece of meat.

Extreme fear hit me like a bucket of cold water.

Kim Sung-woo's eyes rolled back, his body went limp, and he fell straight to the ground, unconscious.

The faceless man carrying the shoulder pole did not react to this.

He didn't even glance at Kim Sung-woo.

Instead, he slowly turned around, facing one side of the alleyway entrance.

There, a tall figure had appeared out of nowhere.

The figure was backlit, with the dim yellow sunset behind him, enveloping him in a blurry halo, making his face indistinct.

But his voice clearly echoed throughout the entire alley.

"Long time no see, I've been looking for you for ages."