After Conis left, the Imperial army also left, leaving only a small detachment to monitor the villagers' movements.

"All the deacons and members of the law enforcement team in the village came to my house to discuss it...... Go to the underground. The village chief spoke with difficulty, and the dry voice seemed to be sandpaper rubbing against glass.

The crowd in the square dispersed. After regaining his free body, Chu Cheng ran in the direction of home as soon as possible. Although his heart far surpassed that of his peers, he was only a seventeen-year-old boy after all, and the dangerous experience of wandering between life and death just now really frightened him.

Panting, he pushed open the door gate in front of his house, and the whole interior was suddenly in full view. Chu Cheng's home is small, with two beds and a desk, which occupies almost all the space.

At this moment, a woman was curled up on the bed near the door. Seeing Chu Cheng enter the door, the woman hurriedly sat up from the bed with difficulty.

"Mom, slow down." Seeing this, Chu Cheng quickly ran to the side of the bed and grabbed the woman.

"Those imperial soldiers, they didn't embarrass the village, did they?" The woman's lips moved slightly, and she asked with concern. Her face was a little pale, and her face was haggard, but the contours of her facial features were very soft. It is conceivable that if time goes back ten years, the woman in front of her must be the best lady in the country.

"Nope. The Imperials have relaxed the deadline for the village, and as long as we complete our share on time, they will not embarrass us. Chu Cheng hugged the woman, said inconsistent words in his mouth, and did not tell his mother that he almost died at gunpoint.

When the woman heard this, she breathed a sigh of relief. I don't know if it's because she's afraid of the cold, she's wrapped in thick clothes. Except for the face, all the exposed skin is wrapped in thick gauze. The appearance of being weak and can't help the wind is distressing.

Just then, there was a sudden knock on the door. Chu Cheng hurriedly opened the door and saw a man standing at the door with a smile on his face.

The man's figure is martial and his facial features have obvious Westerner characteristics, which seems incompatible with Chu Cheng. On his thick arms, he was now carrying a grilled steak.

"Uncle Brian." Chu Cheng greeted warmly, and hurriedly let the man into the house, obviously this Kong Wu man was a frequent visitor to the house.

"Diya, are you feeling better?" As soon as Brian entered the door, his eyes fell on Chu Cheng's mother and asked with concern.

Dia nodded and motioned for Brian to sit down.

Brian was not polite, put the meat steak on the table, and sat down with a golden knife.

"There are still some edible parts left from the 'automaton' that the village hunted last time, and I secretly hid a piece for you. Nowadays, food is becoming more and more scarce, and meat is even more rare, and meat steaks like this are very difficult to eat. Brian patted his chest as he spoke, a smug look on his face.

The smell of meat teases people's desires. Chu Cheng must admit that in this era of poor food, no matter how disgusting the meat is, after being made into meat steaks, it is enough to arouse people's cravings.

"Put it away quickly, don't be seen by others, or I won't be able to make a difference." Seeing that Chu Cheng's attention was attracted by the smell of meat, the smug look on Brian's face suddenly became even worse.

"Brian, thank you, I got the heart." When Di Ya heard this, she shook her head slightly, "Now that food is so scarce, you might as well take it back." ”

"Deya, don't do that. You are a woman with a child, and you have to be taken care of by someone. Bryan was stunned by Deya's words, and hurriedly spoke.

"Brian, I really feel your heart!" Diya's tone was full of gratitude, but her eyes were resolute, "But I can't be favored for no reason. ”

Brian's mouth moved, and he wanted to say something, but looking at the resolute look on the woman's face, he finally shook his head helplessly.

"Diya, you're still so stubborn." Halfway, Brian suddenly let out a long sigh, and there was indescribable complexity in his eyes, "If you hadn't chosen so back then, you wouldn't have had to have had such a hard time all these years." ”

When Di Ya heard this, his eyes suddenly softened, and his fingertips gently stroked Chu Cheng's dark hair, and said softly, "I don't regret it!" ”

……

Sending Brian away, Chu Cheng helped his mother to sleep. Looking at his mother's quiet face, Chu Cheng secretly vowed again that he must cure his mother's illness, no matter what ...... What the cost!

Creeping to the desk, Chu Cheng took out a book from the bookcase and read it quietly.

His slender fingers quickly flipped through the pages, and Chu Cheng's eyes were as sharp as a falcon, quickly searching for any words related to his mother's illness, hoping to find clues to his mother's healing from these circulating books.

What my mother suffers from is a disease in which the tissues of the body are replaced by mechanical ones little by little! This disease is very rare, at least within the confines of Chucheng Village, there is only one case of mother.

What worries Chu Cheng even more is that this strange transformation process is very painful! Seeing his mother being tortured by illness day by day, and deliberately pretending not to work hard in front of him, Chu Cheng's heart was dripping blood.

Chu Cheng wanted to ask the village chief and Uncle Brian for help, but was strictly forbidden by his mother. His mother told him that he must not disclose her illness to anyone, otherwise she and Chu Cheng would encounter misfortune.

Although he didn't know why his mother was so nervous, her unprecedented seriousness made Chu Cheng dare not disobey.

After dispelling the idea of asking for help from outsiders, Chu Cheng pinned his hopes on these ancient books and documents that he could come into contact with, hoping that one day, he could find a cure for his mother's illness from the vast sea of words.

"This is the last book, and I hope to find some clues in it, even if it's a little bit!"

After reading for several hours, Chu Cheng rubbed his dry and red eyes, picked up the last unread book from the desk with both hands, and prayed repeatedly in his heart before slowly opening the book.

However, as soon as he turned the first page, Chu Cheng was disappointed. Because the book in his hand, which does not even have a cover, is not an ancient book at all, but a chronicle issued by the empire.

"The Sophies Empire, founded by His Majesty the Great 'Emperor'! The territory of the empire is incomparably vast, and the diameter of the territory directly under it alone is more than 120,000 kilometers, which can be called boundless......"

Chu Cheng flipped through a few pages in a row, and all he saw were words praising the empire, and he couldn't help but shake his head in disappointment. These words of praise are too flashy, deliberately concealing the coldness and cruelty of the world, as well as the ...... hidden behind the world Those scary details!

Although he scoffed at the political books of the empire, Chu Cheng still patiently flipped backwards. But then, his hand froze in mid-air.

To Chu Cheng's shock, the middle part of the page of the book was actually dug out with a knife, and a ring was quietly inlaid in the groove, and a string of iron chains was tied to the ring.

"This is ......" Chu Cheng was taken aback, and couldn't help but take the ring in his hand and play with it.

The shape of the ring is very technological, but it also carries a vicissitudes of life, as if the age of inheritance is extremely long. Chu Cheng noticed that on the inner wall of the ring, there was a line of words carved that he had never seen before.

"Ring of the Nibelungen • Huaya Heavy Industries "NO.9527" soul drive terminal!"

Just when Chu Cheng's eyes fell on this line of text, something strange happened. Although he didn't know the content of this line of text, its meaning naturally appeared in Chu Cheng's mind in a way that Chu Cheng could understand.

What's even more strange is that as the meaning of the words poured into his mind, Chu Cheng also murmured in his ears. It was a voice that listened carefully but couldn't hear it, and when it didn't listen, it was a real voice, as if urging him to wear this ring.

The sudden change made Chu Cheng feel excited. He resisted the urge of the ring and shoved it back into the groove of the book.

Suddenly, the murmur in my ears disappeared, and everything returned to normal. It seems that everything just now is just Chu Cheng's illusion.

"Huaya Heavy Industries!?" Chu Cheng repeated these four words in his heart. For some reason, these four words were like a lightning bolt, which made him feel a sense of familiarity from the depths of his soul, just like the name...... It had appeared in his memory.

Thinking of this, Chu Cheng couldn't help but recall those strange experiences that happened to him...... In the past year, there are always memories in his mind that do not belong to this world that are gradually unsealed. In these memory fragments, Chu Cheng lives on a blue planet called "Earth". The sky is blue, the land is dark and fertile, not the world is full of endless stretches of metal earth and creation!

In addition, within these memory fragments, Chu Cheng also has another name - Chu Huan!

"Are those fragments of memories ...... It's a memory of my past life!? Chu Cheng tried hard to recall, but the memory fragments in his mind were like pictures in a dream, intermittent, virtual and real, and could not be connected at all.

After thinking hard to no avail, Chu Cheng finally had to give up and return his attention to the ring.

"I don't know, who hid this ring in the book, is it my mother?" Chu Cheng looked at his mother on the bed and decided to wait for his mother to wake up and ask what was going on.

He closed the book with the ring again, but at this moment, Chu Cheng hesitated. He could see that the ring must be of great importance, and it was so casually hidden in a book, if it was lost......

Thinking of this, Chu Cheng simply didn't do anything, picked up the iron chain with the ring tied to it, and put it around his neck like a necklace. This time, the faint whispering voice did not appear again, as if the encounter just now was really just Chu Cheng's hallucination.

Seeing that there was nothing unusual about the ring, Chu Cheng immediately breathed a sigh of relief and turned his attention to his mother again.

At this moment, the mother was curled up, her willow eyebrows slightly frowned, as if she couldn't isolate the pain in her body even in a dream.

Looking at his mother's painful appearance, Chu Cheng's heart felt a tingling pain again!

"Since there is no cure for my mother in the book, there is only one way left." Chu Cheng's eyes flashed with unprecedented determination, and his eyes involuntarily appeared with Conis's beautiful fox face.

"The witch named Conis promised a reward if she brought back the eggs of the Faceeater Lord." Chu Cheng clenched his fists tightly, and his eyes flashed with a scorching light.

"If it's a witch, I think I can cure my mother's illness!"

Thinking of this, Chu Cheng decided to go to the village immediately to find out the rumors.

Not surprisingly, the village chief and the others should be deliberating how to get underground. This time, the young and strong people in the village are likely to pour out, and if he wants to participate, he must prepare in advance to fight for the 1 in 10,000 possibility!

********

Information that can now be made public:

According to the data, the diameter of the Earth is about 12,756 kilometers. This means that the territory of the Sophies Empire is large enough to lay ten earths side by side!