Shut up, brave man! I don't want to atone for my sins to you!

"I've always wondered if those Diesel people who were killed by the old man who turned into a black shadow were really dead. If they were dead, then what exactly was that thing we saw?"

[To be continued]

-

43. There is a wall

Charles' tone was relatively calm when he said this, but Lacie couldn't calm down at all after hearing this.

She almost jumped up.

Charles was right.

What if for Slender Man, "killing" ordinary people is the best way to "infect" ordinary people?

Moreover, just like the old investigator, after turning into a thin and tall ghost, his self-perception would be distorted. The old man was already a very experienced and well-trained investigator, but even he still did not notice the changes in his body.

He thought he killed those "black shadows", those normal Diesel people, but in fact, those Diesel people were not killed, but infected and transformed into thin ghosts like him.

That's why they are still alive.

Lacele understood what Charles meant.

But she didn't feel happy, she felt... very strange.

She felt as if she was getting dumber.

Logically, she should have discovered the characteristics of the black shadow before Ciel. After all, she came from the White Tower. She had read many investigators' files and had rich experience in dealing with abnormal matters. She had also experienced the information explosion in her previous life, and the Internet could provide her with a wide range of knowledge...

She has to stand up straight.

She had to see the truth before Charles did.

But the opposite was true. Compared to Charles, she was like a fool. Whether in Lentiheim or in Diesel, she was slow to realize the truth.

It was as if there was some kind of... "intelligence-reducing aura" about Charles. As long as she got close to Charles, she would automatically become stupid and stop thinking.

This is really not a good sign.

Rachel felt that she had to try to fight back, she had to prove to Charles that she was actually smarter than him.

So she racked her brains to think about it, and then her eyes lit up, and she found the biggest loophole in Charles's reasoning:

"If what you said is true, those Diesel people were not killed by the old investigator, but were contaminated by him and turned into new shadows. But even if that's the case, the old man still made quite a big noise before he died."

The witch said, with a complicated expression:

"With such a big commotion, it's impossible that there was no record left. But you know, we investigated, whether it was the shops on that street, or most precisely, the innkeeper who was killed by the old investigator, they all told us clearly that such a bad thing had never happened in Diesel..."

"There are no shadows, no one is killed, no conspiracy or disaster."

"Ever since the Emperor ascended the throne, Diesel has become peaceful and tranquil. No one can disrupt this paradise-like atmosphere of Diesel - just like the sea, a dead sea without any waves. It will swallow up everything that tries to disturb it. It will maintain almost eternal peace and tranquility..."

Lacielle paused here, then looked at Charles, staring straight into the man's eyes:

"The shadows can't mess it up, the investigators from the White Tower can't mess it up, and even you, the hero, and I, the witch, can't seem to do anything about it."

"Perhaps, it will remain this quiet and peaceful until the end of time..."

"But there is no eternal kingdom in this world," Charles suddenly interrupted her, "so there must be something hidden behind this."

Then, they both thought of something at the same time, and said in unison:

"Limited Wishing Machine!"

Is it that limited wishing machine hidden in Diesel that has created this strange situation?

But logically speaking, limited wishing machines should not have so-called self-awareness, they are just simple tools.

So the question comes -

Who made a wish to the limited wishing machine, causing Diesel to become what he is now?

The answer seems to be obvious.

Lacele subconsciously looked at Charles, wanting to confirm her guess with him, but found that Charles was also looking at her.

The two looked at each other and confirmed each other's eyes.

"Is it the Emperor?" Rachel frowned, "But why?"

They had long guessed that the abnormality in Diesel was related to the emperor, but what wish did the emperor make to make Diesel become like this? Was his wish related to the thin ghost that contaminated the old investigator?

Continuing along this line of thought, suddenly, a guess exploded in Lacie's mind like thunder.

She raised her head suddenly, her expression became serious:

"It's pollution. I think the reason why Diesel has become what it is now is because the Emperor wants to block Diesel. He wants to isolate Diesel, the source of infection, from the Pangaea!"

This is the most reasonable explanation at present, although it cannot explain why His Majesty the Emperor did not contact the White Tower.

If he had not forgotten why the White Tower was built and why it existed, then he should have understood that if there was an organization or country in the Pan-Continent that could help him, it could only be the White Tower.

However, the emperor did not ask for help from the White Tower.

He didn't even show up from beginning to end.

Lacele felt that if she were the emperor, facing the mess of Diesel and knowing that an investigator from the White Tower was coming to visit, she would definitely show up at the first opportunity and inform the investigator of the detailed information to prevent the situation from further deteriorating.

After all, time is money.

Not to mention that the anomaly that appeared in Diesel's territory was something as weird as the Slender Man.

The emperor also came from the White Tower, there was no reason for him not to know this.

Lacele was wondering what was going on, but Charles beside her seemed to have thought of something. He quickened his pace with a serious look on his face, walked to the invisible and intangible border line, and stretched out his hand.

He wanted to cross the border.

But he failed - something was standing in his way.

So Charles increased his strength, trying to break through the thing with his strong body. He clenched his fists and hit the surface of the thing hard.

Logically speaking, such power is enough to easily bend steel and break rocks, but the thing did not react at all. Charles could not even hear the slightest sound. His powerful punch seemed to fall into the air.

Something was devouring his strength.

At this time, Lacie also noticed something was wrong. She hurried over, holding her pointed hat and asking:

"what happened?"

Charles gave up his futile attempt, turned around, and told her calmly:

"I'm afraid we're stuck in Diesel - the border is blocked.

Lacey couldn't help but frown.

She stretched out her hand, imitating Charles's example, and tried to break through the border.

As expected, she was also blocked.

"Strange..." Lacier muttered to herself and took out the staff. "Let me try."

She started trying.

Use destructive spells, detective spells, and conceptual door-opening spells.

The result is without exception, failure, failure, and failure.

She couldn't even figure out the composition of this "wall". She couldn't sense the magical fluctuations of the "wall", as if that thing was a so-called magic insulator, just like Charles' forbidden spell.

She was helpless with it.

So in the end she could only grit her teeth, step back, and wink at Charles behind her:

"You go ahead - use a forbidden spell on it for me!"

So Ciel used a forbidden spell on the "wall".

The result is invalid.

The "wall" still stood before them, intact, and neither magic nor extreme brute force could destroy it.

For some reason, facing it, Lacier suddenly thought of a passage:

"You are walking on a plain, and suddenly you come across a wall. The wall is infinitely high, infinitely deep, infinitely far to the left, and infinitely far to the right. What is this wall?"

"It is death."

Lacey suddenly shuddered.

She…she, she, she is over a hundred years old, and by human standards, she is an old woman that no one wants. But she is a witch. How can she use the sword of the previous dynasty to kill the officials of this dynasty? By witch standards, she is definitely an underage beauty. Not only is her shelf life not over, but she hasn't even opened the seal yet.

She doesn't want to die at all!

So she quickly used the flying spell - she wanted to see whether this "wall" was infinitely high.

After a while, the witch fell to the ground again with a sad face.

The wall was not infinitely high; in fact, she had only been flying upwards for a moment when she hit it.

Like a giant soap bubble, it tightly holds the entire Diesel without leaving a single gap.

After realizing this, Lacier was still unwilling to give in.

The way upwards is blocked, so what about the way downwards? It can’t be blocked as well, right?

Lacie did not dig down like a groundhog. Instead, she closed her eyes and used her staff to summon countless invisible and intangible magic rays, which shot towards the entire Diesel.

Those magical rays penetrated the buildings and soil with almost no attenuation, and in the end, they brought Rachel detailed information about the wall with great fidelity.

It no longer looked like a soap bubble, it turned into a crystal ball.

Diesel is wrapped in this crystal ball, and the entire country seems to have become a delicate and fragile desktop ornament.

Only then did Lacie realize that Charles' judgment was as reliable as ever - if they couldn't break this "wall", they would most likely be trapped in Diesel.

In a sense, this might also confirm the idea that she had come up with not long ago...

It will engulf anyone or anything that tries to disturb it, and its state seems to be constant.

It will be eternally peaceful and tranquil.

Just like the two investigators who stayed in Diesel one after another, anyone who came to Diesel and tried to uncover the false peace and joy would eventually be swallowed by Diesel.

In a sense, this can almost be called a curse.

So is this also part of Diesel's anomaly? Or, according to Laceer's conjecture just now, this inexplicable "wall" is the masterpiece of Diesel's emperor?

According to Laciel, the latter is more likely.

But this matter...maybe it's not important. What's important is another thing, another very important thing.

The witch suddenly raised her head, pursed her lips, and said:

"This 'wall' blocks all of our passages in and out of Diesel, so will there be... another 'wall' that blocks our exchange of information with the outside world?"

She frowned in worry:

"Did the information we conveyed to the White Tower really reach Old Deng in the end?"

[To be continued]

-

44. The Beginning of Awakening

Lacele had no way of confirming whether the information she passed to the White Tower had reached Old Den.

All she could confirm was that magic could not penetrate the wall surrounding Diesel.

But communication spells rely on magic to spread. If we make an analogy, the current situation is like Lacie's previous life, where a mobile phone was locked in a sealed iron box.

Naturally, there was no way that phone could have a signal.

Therefore, the information she passed to the White Tower was probably blocked by the invisible "wall".

It is so easy to prove this.

Lacie immediately used the communication spell to "dial" Lao Deng.