The two of them arrived at a relatively hidden corner, the old man looked around again, and found that there was no one, so he was relieved, he looked at Zimo and said, "New here?" ”

"Yes, I've just been here."

Zimo's expression did not change, and he spoke softly.

"You didn't eat that food, did you?"

The old man looked at the food in Zimo's hand, frowned slightly, and spoke.

"Not at all."

Zimo raised the food in his hand slightly and said with a smile.

"That's good, that's good."

The old man breathed a sigh of relief, then took away the food in Zimo's hand, took out a chisel and dug it in the ground, and a small hole appeared underneath, and the old man poured the food directly into it.

It seems that this pit has been dug for a long time, because Zimo saw some dead bugs and food scraps in it.

"Is there something wrong with this food?"

Zimo did not stop the old man's movements, but watched him do it with great interest.

The old man looked like he was fifty or sixty years old, he glanced at Zimo, and then took out a steamed bun to hand to Zimo, "Young man, do you want to eat it, although it is unpalatable, it can fill your stomach." ”

"No need, sir, I'm not hungry."

Zimo smiled slightly, but didn't take it, because he was really not hungry, and he just wanted to know what this old man was afraid of now.

"Do you see those people outside? Did you notice anything out of the ordinary? ”

The old man took a bite of the steamed bun and whispered.

"Well, I found that they no longer have the consciousness that living people should have, like puppets made by people."

Zimo thought for a moment, and then said his opinion.

"Puppet?"

The old man glanced up at Zimo when he heard this word, and then nodded again, "It's appropriate for you to say that, they are puppets." ”

"Actually, they are all human, just because they often eat the food here, and they have been eroded by the black runes over time, so they have become the people who are not ghosts or ghosts."

The old man sighed deeply and said with some reluctance.

"I see, why is the old gentleman okay?"

Zimo groaned for a moment and asked.

"When I first came here, I had a stubborn illness because of my body, and I had a recurrence of my stubborn illness when I came here, and they didn't let me mine the black runes."

Speaking of this, the old man wiped his mouth and continued to speak, "And at that time I couldn't eat anything, I didn't eat for three days, I just drank some water, and then I found that those who ate food began to have abnormalities, they were in a trance and acted abnormally, I also had these symptoms, but it was very light, I guessed that there was also a problem with the water here." ”

The old man said in a tone of tone, and said in a deep voice, "I sneaked out at night and found a small stream, from which I usually bring back some water for me to drink every day, and occasionally catch some fish and shrimp to satisfy my hunger, but I dare not go too far, because there are patrols at night to prevent people from escaping." ”

"And then?"

Zimo saw that the old man was in a daze, and couldn't help but ask.

"Later, I got acquainted with the people who cook here, they are also mortals in the tribe, not immortal masters, after my soft grinding and hard soaking, I can get some food from them every day, but I only dare to eat steamed buns, I dare not eat anything else, just like that, I have lived until now, and I am also the only sober person among the people who dig black runes here."

Pointing to the pit under his feet, the old man's eyes showed a trace of fear, "I have left all the food I usually eat here, and I pretend to be numb during the day, and I dare to show my true face at night." ”

"Didn't they notice that you were different from everyone else?"

Zimo was a little puzzled and spoke.

"Those immortal masters don't dare to come down at all, naturally I don't know, I just need to pay enough black runes every month, and they don't care about anything else, but I don't think I can fool them for long, because I am paying fewer and fewer black runes now, and I haven't completed the task for three months in a row."

There was a hint of desperation in the old man's words, as if he had anticipated what would happen to him when he was discovered.

"What about the people out there? How long have they been here? ”

Zimo felt that since those people had been painstakingly eaten by the monks, they would inevitably last longer.

"They came with me about the same time, but they overfulfilled their tasks every month, and I heard from the people who cooked that they could last about five years, and then they would die, and they were all exhausted to death, and the food would make them squeeze their potential, and they would work every day with a superhuman load."

The old man's words were indescribably desolate, and after saying this, he hung his head and was silent, not knowing what he was thinking.

After a long time, Zimo said softly, "I don't know what you call it?" ”

"Old man Wu Guangzhi, what do you call the little brother?"

When the old man heard Zimo's question, he raised his head and showed a hint of a smile.

"Cicadas in the next hundred miles."

Zimo reported his pseudonym.

"Hundred miles... Cicada! ”

The old man whispered Zimo's name over again, but Zimo obviously felt that he paused for a moment when he mentioned the surname Baili, and he didn't know if he had heard it wrong.

"Let's go, you still have to work, just be careful in the future, I'll get it for you, the old man who eats, just don't think the steamed buns are unpalatable."

Wu Guangzhi seems to have not spoken to anyone outside for a long time, and after this while, he seems to be in a lot of energy.

When the first day was about to end, Zimo dug out a black rune stone, this stone was the size of a fist, he took it in his hand and looked at it carefully, this black rune stone was very heavy, and the black lines like patterns were wrapped around it, and there was a strange beauty.

However, no matter how Zimo ran the previous method, this black rune stone did not react in the slightest.

Just when Zimo was at a loss, the black bead in his abdomen suddenly moved, exuding a strange aura, and then the black light on the black rune stone flashed out, and it flew out from the black rune stone, like a cocoon peeled off into a black rune line and slowly flew into Zimo's qi field.

A large part of it was inhaled by the black beads, and the remaining very small amount of black runes were entrenched in Zimo's body, swimming in the blood through his qi field, and gradually those black runes were like a small fish, swimming in his blood to his palm, and wrapping around Zimo's thumb bone.

The thin line of black runes lit up slightly on Zimo's bones and disappeared, but then Zimo felt that the thumb of his right hand was as uncomfortable as if it had been devoured by ten thousand ants, and it was not much worse than when he was refining his body before, he turned his head to look around, and found that there was no one else except for those walking corpses who were mining.

Zimo clenched his teeth, cold sweat dripped from his forehead, he wanted to roar, but he didn't dare to do it, in case he alarmed the people in charge here, then he would be in big trouble, and the huge pain made him want to cut off Zimo's thumb, Zimo's eyes were blood-red, and his whole body trembled.

Looking at the ore in front of him, Zimo looked ruthless, and poked his thumb at the stone, but then the pain did not disappear, but something that made Zimo stunned appeared, and the ore in front of him was directly poked out of a hole by his thumb.

"This..."

Zimo showed a look of disbelief, although he was in good health before, he couldn't break through the stone of such a hard black rune vein without any cultivation.

"Could it be that the power of this black rune stone is used to refine the body?"

Zimo's heart moved, if this is the case, if the bones of his whole body are covered with this kind of black runes, can his body be comparable to a spiritual treasure?

The huge surprise offset most of the pain, Zimo directly began to break the ore in front of him with his fingers, wanting to find more black runes, at this time, the black beads in his body moved again, providing Zimo with a place on the upper right, and he actually took the initiative to let Zimo dig there.

Zimo didn't doubt that he had him, this black bead had brought him too much impossibility, and he began to dig up in that position with the idea that he would rather believe it or not.