The chess pieces did not fall on the chessboard for a long time, and there was silence in the inner tent.

Lird looked at the maiden priest in front of him stupidly, and even now he didn't react to the meaning of the other party's words.

And the maiden priest was also in a hurry, holding the chess pieces in her hands as if thinking about where to play them next.

After a while, Lird repeated the other party's words: "Curse?" The maiden priestess nodded, then knocked down the chess piece that she had been thinking about for a long time, and looked up at Lird, as if to remind Lird that he could continue.

But Lird had no intention of playing chess with his opponent, and his incomparable anger spread from his chest, and he only rushed to the top of his head, and he wanted to kick over the table and carry the opponent in his hand.

However, reason finally made Lird not choose to do this, he just stared at the other party with his eyes and said, "Curse... What the hell is that?"

"I know you're not happy with this statement, but that's the real answer," said the maiden, "that Mr. Pym is not suffering from some terminal illness, but that his body has entered another state. ”

Of course, Lird could not accept this statement, and he had begun to lose control of his emotions and said viciously to the maiden priest: "All I want to know is the curse... How could this kind of thing eat away at my father's body and make him die day by day!"

In the face of the anger that was almost rampant, the girl sacrifice did not show the slightest fear, but a little self-reproach appeared on her face.

"I'm sorry about this..."

"Regret is useless!" Lird interrupted the other man very rudely.

"I don't know exactly what kind of intersection my father has with you, and these are not my concerns now! I have heard that my father has helped you, and I do not want to ask for credit for this, and I can see that my father has not the slightest remorse even if he has fallen to this point, and I respect his choice. But I also hope that you will respect my father, and at least give me a decent reason, instead of just finding a mysterious word to prevaricate me!"

The maiden priestess quietly watched the angry Lird unmoved, and after he roared angrily, the maiden priestess sighed softly and said, "I understand your feelings, but I also hope that you will understand me, at least listen to me." ”

Lird glared at the maiden priest, as if waiting for his answer and explanation.

The maiden's fingers flicked lightly on the side of the table a few times, and then said: "I understand that the so-called 'curse' in your mind is a very abstract thing, it feels dark and vicious, but it has no concrete substantive effect, or it has no real lethality, right?"

Lird snorted coldly, expressing his noncommittal attitude.

"But please don't forget that there are many differences between this place and the world you lived in before, not only in terms of culture, but also in some concrete things. ”

With that, his gaze cast to the chessboard between the two.

"Mr. Pym has already told you about that 'wonderful' game, and you should have some foresight of the uniqueness of this place. Listening to the other party's calm and indifferent words, Liard's heart couldn't help but gradually become suspicious.

Could it be that there really is some kind of curse in this world that can have a lethal effect in reality?

The maiden priest said: "I guess you have heard of the evil magic in this world, such as Gu poison and head lowering, this kind of magic originating from Asia is essentially a unique witchcraft, which uses insects, herbs and other things to prepare the so-called Gu things, and carries out some kind of control or destruction of people's body and spirit, so the secret has not been known to ordinary people, but this can also show that there is indeed some kind of power in this world that cannot be explained by science." ”

Lird immediately corrected: "Everything is only temporary!"

The maiden priestess shrugged her shoulders and said, "Is it really important to explain scientifically?" After that, the maiden pointed upwards and said, "Science can explain the operation and energy production of the sun, but is there a way to change the trajectory and diurnal movement of the sun? ”

"The so-called power beyond nature may be able to give the world insight into the truth with scientific explanations in the future, but the basis of this power can be changed by no one, so it seems that the intervention of science is not so important. ”

The words of the maiden's sacrifice made Lird very speechless, and he suddenly found that the girl in front of him, who seemed to be younger than himself, had a much higher comprehension of things than himself in some aspects.

The maiden priestly said, "In the same way, the power of the curse I have mentioned is not the kind of curse that I usually talk about, or it is not the curse you understand. ”

Lird exhaled heavily, "Well, let's leave all these rules aside, what is this cursed power, what is its essence and what kind of thing, or its pathological manifestations, does it come from?"

In the face of Lird's continuous questioning, the maiden sacrifice was unmoved, and only after Lird completely stopped did he say: "To be honest, this is the first time I have seen this kind of disease, although there are descriptions of this disease among the tribes, but in the direction of treatment, it is still considered to be crossing the river by feeling the stones. ”

After saying this, the maiden priestess added, while Lird was not entering the next seizure, "But I assure you that Mr. Pym will be able to receive the most correct suppression treatment by staying here, and that even if he cannot be completely cured, his life will be prolonged to the greatest extent." ”

Tired of these words, Lird exhaled dissatisfied, and then said: "Since the first day Jim came to America to see me, the so-called secrets have been around me, and he told me that everything will be slowly unraveled when I get here, but until now I have no understanding of many things! Please, please tell me some truth, it doesn't have to be the truth of anything, but please don't put me in this foggy state. ”

The maiden priestess looked at the rather excited Lird lightly and said, "I don't want to hide anything from you, in fact, if I really wanted to hide some secrets, you wouldn't be here, and Mr. Pym will never survive that night." ”

...

The girl's words of sacrifice were like a basin of cold water poured on Lird's forehead, and at that moment, Lird reacted to something.

My father once said that he had inadvertently spied on the secrets of this tribe, and after the new priest learned about it, he did not punish and execute his father, but kept his father, even when his father was terminally ill, he still did not give up on meticulous treatment for his father to prolong his life, for which Lird was still quite grateful, but let Lird say words of gratitude to him was not possible.

The maiden priestess obviously did not expect Lird to behave like this, and then said: "The complexity of the matter here is definitely beyond your imagination, and the dangers contained in it are also incomparable, and not telling you in one breath can be regarded as a kind of protection for you, of course, there is also a little ignorance and distrust of you. ”

Hearing this, Lird glared at the other party angrily and said, "I have never asked for anyone's trust!"

The maiden priestess was not annoyed by this, but continued: "Mr. Pym is a person we can absolutely trust, so even if he belongs to a different race, we still trust him and entrust him with more important missions, even if we fail to do anything, we have no regrets, but Lird is newborn, we can't fully trust you now, and among those who don't trust you, including your father." ”

When Lird heard this, his eyes couldn't help but reveal several red bloodshots.

The maiden priest said: "Please don't be angry because of this, the matter is very important, and we have no choice but to do it." ”

After a few long breaths, Lird nodded, "Yes, I understand your behavior, and I agree with your behavior." But I don't want to come and gain all your trust right now, all I want to know is about my father. ”

The maiden priestess shook her head and said, "I'm sorry, but there is already a conflict between the two. ”

At this moment, Lird felt that his body was about to burst with anger, and he even felt that the girl in front of him was playing tricks on him.

"I know you don't understand what I'm doing, but there's a reason for that, we had a conversation after Mr. Pym was wounded, and we must be held responsible for the wounding of our people, and he will remain with our tribe and be treated with the best of the best until the day of his unfortunate death, but Mr. Pym has made his own request to see you." ”

Lird frowned and said, "Is it a luxury for a father who has not long died to want to see his children before he dies?

The maiden priestess shook her head and said, "I didn't mean that, although our tribe rarely communicates with the outside world, we are not unhumane, but because it is still the secrets in our tribe, many things are still restricted, for example, when Mr. Pym meets you, we will arrange for you to meet somewhere, instead of directly entering our tribe, and seeing the whole picture of this place, we will never let Mr. Pym tell you any secrets here,"

Hearing this, Lird was a little stunned on the spot, and he suddenly realized that he had traveled thousands of miles from San Francisco in the United States, and the result was far from being as simple as he imagined, and there seemed to be another plan behind it.

Lird muttered, "What the hell is all this for..."

"For what?" a smile suddenly appeared on the girl's sacrificial face.

"Mr. Leard, don't you understand Mr. Pym's intentions, he wants you to gain our trust, and to become our friend. ”

...

As Leard walked to the outside account, Jim chatted speculatively with the two Atlantean warriors, and the side of it was a fiery red against the glow of the flames.

Seeing Lird come out of the inner tent, Jim hurriedly stood up, walked to Lird's side and said, "How's the situation?"

Leard's face did not show the slightest joy, but said in a low voice, "Go out for a walk with me." ”

Seeing that Lird looked different, Jim did not ask him much at the moment, but after a brief greeting to the two companions, he walked out of the tent with Lird.

As soon as he stepped out of the tent, a night breeze blew in his face, causing Lird to shiver, but he strode forward despite the cold, and Jim followed him.

"Hey, what the hell is going on? Didn't you quarrel with the priest?" soon Jim caught up with Lird and asked.

Lird paused, then looked at Jim and asked, "Do you know all this?"

Lird's question made Jim stunned for a moment, and he looked at Lird in surprise and said, "What do I know?

Lird's eyes were locked on Jim's face, carefully observing his reaction, but in the end, Lird still didn't see any clues in Jim, in other words, even if Jim covered it up, Lird couldn't see through it.

Jim seemed to see something in his eyes, and then said to Lird, "What happened? What did the priest say to you?"

Learder hesitated for a moment, but finally told Jim what had just happened in the account, and of course he kept some things to keep, such as the game of chess that had been laid out when he had just entered the account.

After listening to Lird's explanation, Jim also quieted down as if reflecting all this, Lird didn't want to give Jim any time to think about it, and said at the moment: "This kind of thing is really funny, I only came here to see my father, but I was asked... Be friends with the people here!"

Jim crooked his mouth and said, "Don't you want to be friends with the people here?" Lird shook his head and said, "What I'm talking about is not what you think, I'm just saying that making friends is a very subjective thing, this is a kind of communication between people's thoughts and emotions, but here it has become a mandatory thing, which is really very... It's incredible!"

Jim nodded at this, obviously agreeing with Lird's statement, and after a pause, Jim said, "First of all, I was surprised by what you said, I thought that you would meet tonight to talk more about Mr. Pym's injury, but these.... It also exceeded my expectations. ”

Then Jim said, "But I have a vague sense of something from the conversation you have relayed, which I did not know before, and the reason why I was sent to find you is that I am the most capable of this task in the whole tribe, and neither the priest nor Mr. Pym has fulfilled what he has explained to me." ”

Lird nodded and said, "I believe in you." ”

"Thank you. ”

Jim Road.

"But then again, if things are as you say, I'm sure it's not a bad thing, especially since you shouldn't blame our sacrifices, but more about Mr. Pym. z”