Chapter 450 Plot Progress
From the initial situation, there are three disasters that broke out in the story of "Blood of Lies", and there is not much connection between them at the beginning.
They are earthquake, beast disease, and puppet riot.
The violent earthquake directly destroyed the internal and external transportation systems of Charlton City, not only causing many buildings in the city to collapse and blocking roads, but also causing serious damage to the bridges, cable cars, and tunnels connecting the city to the outside world, making it isolated from the world and becoming an isolated city.
But the damage caused by the earthquake to the city was only the slightest.
Almost at the same time as the earthquake, beast disease, which had only appeared occasionally, suddenly broke out on a large scale. Many ordinary people quickly turned into long-haired monsters or zombies, and some of them were special beings, turning into exaggerated and terrifying monsters, whose destructive power far exceeded the scope that humans in Charlton City could handle.
To make matters worse, the originally rational and docile puppets also became crazy and began to attack humans indiscriminately.
Under the multiple crises of earthquakes, monsters, and puppets, the original order of Charlton City quickly collapsed. Most of the injured who failed to receive timely treatment were killed by monsters and puppets, and the few survivors could only hide and were trapped in cages.
Due to the blocked traffic, slow message transmission, and the difficulty for the outside world to repair the damaged bridges, tunnels and cable car passages, Charlton City has actually become a desperate city.
Not only are there only a very small number of people who can become survivors, but they are also unlikely to wait for the arrival of external rescue.
As the players explore in depth, the truth of the conspiracy behind Charlton City has gradually surfaced.
The tragedy of this city originated from the mining of underground mineral veins. During the mining process, people accidentally discovered the remains of a buried ancient civilization, accompanied by a large amount of crystal ore mined around the ruins.
The knowledge and resources brought back from the ruins have enabled Charlton City, a town originally famous for its puppet craftsmanship, to develop rapidly and almost become the pinnacle of this world civilization.
This development is now showing three different aspects:
First, in terms of energy, people have discovered that a large amount of crystal ore mined from the ground is an extremely high-quality energy source with extremely high energy density. Only a small piece is needed to drive a doll or a vehicle for a long time.
Therefore, various technologies that use this crystal as energy have developed rapidly. People have upgraded and transformed the original technology and opened up a new technology tree. Therefore, gas lamps and crystal-powered carriages coexist in Charlton.
At the same time, this efficient energy also makes movable dolls possible. These dolls were originally only used as decorations, but now they only need a piece of crystal and some exquisite gears and clockwork structures to become a good helper for humans.
Second, in terms of doll manufacturing, people were pleasantly surprised to find that these dolls driven by special crystals are not pure tools. They can think rationally, communicate in language, and can also undertake most of the labor that humans can undertake.
The specific principle cannot be explained, but many people think it is a gift from God.
But people have found that when the crystal is exhausted and a new crystal is replaced for the doll, their personality seems to change slightly.
Therefore, the master craftsmen in the puppet workshop guessed that this might be because the crystals condensed the memories and thoughts of ancient humans, so they divided the crystals in the puppet into two different modules, one is the "core module" for thinking, and the other is the "energy module" for providing power.
The core module does not wear out or change, and is used to maintain the stability of the puppet's personality, while the energy module needs to be replenished every once in a while to ensure sufficient power.
This new type of puppet has been very popular after it was launched on the market. The puppet manufacturer has also continuously screened and tested various crystals that can be used as core modules, and used "new puppets are smarter and more stable" as a slogan to expand its sales.
Not only can it be used in factory production and underground mining, it can also be used as servants and housekeepers to enter thousands of households.
Even some extreme puppet craftsmen hope to achieve a service similar to "consciousness uploading" through the research on unclean blood and crystals, so that dying humans can achieve immortality in puppets.
Finally, there is the medical aspect.
Experiments have found that these crystals can be injected into the body after being crushed into powder and dissolved in water. They can not only treat diseases, but also significantly enhance physical strength, mental strength, self-healing ability and other body functions.
The blood of people who have been injected with crystals also begins to undergo this subtle change, and it also becomes a good medicine for curing diseases and saving lives.
For those who receive more blood therapy, once the blood leaves the body for a period of time, it will naturally coagulate and gradually become like crystals. Heating and evaporation can further accelerate this process.
Blood becomes energy, and energy becomes medicine, forming a kind of perfect cycle.
These three technological breakthroughs have brought rapid development to Charlton City. It has gradually become a city of puppets, an energy city and a city of convalescence. A large amount of investment has poured in, and a large number of puppets and foreign populations have ensured sufficient labor, allowing the city to expand and build at a rapid pace.
And along with the city, people's belief in God has also expanded.
The crystals found in the ruins are called God's blood, and those who were injected with God's blood claimed that they heard God's revelation, so the church of God developed rapidly, and in the planning of the new city, an unprecedented cathedral was planned in the center of the town.
Since then, no matter where people live in Charlton, they can go to the cathedral in the most convenient way to listen to God's guidance.
Of course, there are also many voices of opposition. They call this blood "unclean blood" because tiny parasites are observed in the blood, and it is found that as the blood concentration increases, the blood flow rate in the human body will gradually slow down.
But this did not cause too many people to be alert and pay attention. After all, in the short term, this blood did not bring devastating consequences.
Although there are occasional outbreaks of beast disease, they are basically quickly controlled and do not cause too serious consequences. Whether it is a dedicated hunter or a puppet used for security, these monsters can be quickly controlled and burned, and the crystals in their bodies can be recovered.
The church claims that there is no evidence that beast disease is related to unclean blood, and blood therapy is still the best way to cure diseases and save lives.
Of course, they could not completely deny the relationship between beast disease and blood therapy. They could only explain that beast disease was caused by the patient's own defects and the blood was incompatible with the blood of God, which led to this consequence. But the probability itself was not high. Although there were risks, they were far less than the benefits brought by this medical technology change.
In this way, within a few short years, the entire Charlton City expanded at a very fast speed, and humans built a miracle city here, which was also the city of God.
But soon after the protagonist, the unlucky guy, or the lucky guy, came to Charlton City, the city suddenly suffered a drastic change.
Three miracles suddenly turned into three catastrophes.
A large number of people who had received blood therapy broke out with beast disease, some turned into terrible monsters, some turned into crazy zombies, completely lost their minds, and madly attacked all creatures they saw.
The originally docile puppets also began to attack humans indiscriminately, and some puppets seemed to have fallen into madness after awakening their self-awareness, constantly performing terrifying acts of hitting their heads against the wall.
After the earthquake, the instinctive desire for unclean blood drove monsters, zombies and puppets to loot the crystals used for energy in carriages and other equipment, which almost paralyzed the city except for a few equipment such as gas lamps that could barely maintain operation.
During the player's exploration, he began to encounter different groups in Charlton City, including various churches, hunters who specialized in hunting wild beasts, craftsmen's unions who were keen on making and researching puppets, and mysterious schools that studied the blood of ancient gods...
Even the schools that studied the blood of ancient gods have many branches, such as the Starry Sky School, the Deep Sea School, the Moon School, etc.
These groups have different beliefs and propositions. For example, some believe that some wild beasts should be cleared and the spread of blood therapy should be strictly prohibited, while others widely promote the benefits of blood therapy; some schools believe that the evolution of the body should be promoted to transcend the weak body of human beings, while others believe that the combination of the puppet's body and the spirit that transcends human beings is the way to God.
But they all have one thing in common, that is, they all suffered heavy losses in this disaster and can only survive.
Among these many groups, a group that looks like the mastermind gradually surfaced, that is the Eternal School.
Among the many schools, this school is notorious. Everyone in Charlton City calls for it. They conduct a series of experiments almost without restraint. Compared with other schools that often focus on improving the body or spirit and are relatively restrained, the Eternal School is never limited to any single means and does everything possible.
What's more terrifying is that they will combine various means, hoping that they will produce chemical reactions with each other, so they often create some unimaginable huge disasters.
In this disaster, the player ran through every corner of Charlton City and saw many tragedies caused by the mysterious experiments of the Eternal School, but did not see any members of the Eternal School or their bodies.
This also further confirms the speculation that this group of lunatics hid somewhere and secretly planned this conspiracy.