Transtor: der Transtions
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bining elements like the deep forest at night, worship, the stone disk, and the p of fresh blood, it’s not hard to guess that the former residents of Bckstooerf some kind of ritual at this moment. Or perhaps, a sacrifice.
The woman clearly pys the role of a priestess in this se.
The painting ges abruptly in style, showing a huge, feroonster emerging from the stone disk. It has sharp, twisted horns, a stout body, fins stronger and more muscur than those of fish, and two pairs of bat-like wings stig out from its back, covered in fine scales. Even more terrifying is its monstrous jaw, rge enough to sever a person in half.
Seeing this creature, both Ran and Jiang g fell into an unusual silence.
They were not unfamiliar with it. They had seen it before, on the first stone door, the same dark patterns were carved.
"Brother Hao," Ran looked at Jiang g, as if reading his mind, aly reminded him, "There were 35 people ieam that ehe forest."
Jiang g stared at the old woman for a moment, then replied, "It was 36, you didn't t the dead person."
"Ah," Ran squinted and smiled.
When they ehe forest, there were 35 living people carrying one dead body. After leaving the forest, the dead body was gone, and the pnk they had carried was empty, but the number of people had increased to 36.
sidering what they had witnessed he stone disk, it was clear that the power of the stone disk—or more accurately, the power of this ritual—was unmistakable.
Resurre.
It could bring the dead back to life.
Such a strange phenomenon was happening before their eyes.
Jiang g could imagihe shock those outsiders must have felt when they first withis se, especially sihey had some basic modern medical knowledge.
No, it was more than shock; it was awe!
This pletely shattered their uanding of life ah.
And soon after, the seed of greed in their hearts began to take root.
Very few people resist the temptation of immortality, and they were no exception.
The following ses further firmed this.
They began iing more frequently with the town's residents, subtly probing for as regarding the ritual. They no longer cared about repairing their ship but ied all their efforts into unc the secrets of the ritual and using it—and the locals—to serve them.
As time passed, the townspeople began to realize that the outsiders' i in leaving the isnd was waning, while their i in the forest grew.
And so—
The flict was iable.
The catalyst was a child.
It was the outsider's child.
The child appeared to have tracted a rare, strange illness and was in the arms of his mother, on the verge of death.
A group of outsiders surrouhe woman and child and arrived at the rgest and most opulent building iown. An elder walked out from within.
The elder's clothing was much more eborate than that of the other townsfolk. Jiang g assumed he must be the town leader or tribal chief.
In a previous painting showing the night-time ritual in the forest, it was the elder who led the group.
At first, both sides were retively polite, but soon, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse, with both sides' expressions growing increasingly hostile. Eventually, a heated argumeed.
More and more townspeople rushed over, and the outsiders’ allies gathered as well. They began to arm themselves with ons, and spears glinted ominously in the dim light.
What was colder than the gleam of ohe gazes of these outsiders.
It wasn’t hard to guess—they hoped the elder would use the power of the altar to help save the child.
In their minds, if the ritual could revive the dead, saving someone on the brink of death should be a piece of cake—assuming the townspeople were willing to help.
But the reality was, the elder firmly refused their request.
Later in the painting, the elder appeared furious, shaking his fi the repaired ship docked on the shore. His meaning was clear: he wahem to leave immediately.
In the end, both sides parted on bad terms.
But that very night, the pent-up desires and greed finally exploded.
While the outsiders were slightly fewer in haownspeople, their ons were far superior. They formed small groups of about ten people, armed with ons. They first disarmed the town's guards, then dragged the sleeping townsfolk from their homes, herding them into the tral square of the town.
Yes, it was the same square where Jiang g and the others had eaten earlier.
Soon, the elder was brought forward, hands bound behind his back, and forced to kneel in front of the leader of the outsiders.
The uownsfolk were made to kneel, with the armed outsiders standing guard beside them. The roles of the rescuers and the rescued were instantly reversed.
Everyone khat the request to save the child was just an excuse. Whether the child lived or died didn’t matter to them. The child was merely a test subject.
The important thing was that they needed a noble reason to justify their as.
Exactly what was said in the dialogue remains unknown, but based on the information in the painting, after the gruesome deaths of several townsfolk, the elder finally relented.
Under his leadership, they began marg the townspeople toward the forest.
The outsiders cruelly used ropes t the townspeople together by their necks, leading them in a long lihe outsiders themselves, armed with ons and torches, walked alongside, guarding them.
Uhe townsfolk, whose faces were filled with terror, the outsiders' faces were filled with fervor and desire. Sint times, the desire for life has reached a pathological level.
No one escape death, but tless people try their best to cheat it.
And now, the opportunity y right before them.
How could they remain calm?
Enlightened by sce, they worshipped the miracles of the ritual, just as theologians and stists once cshed in the darkest ages of history.
The women, bound to stone pilrs and vilified as heretics, gazed at the Catholic Church with defiant eyes as the fmes rose.
The men with jade rings on their little fingers anded ignorant followers to pile up firewood beh their feet.
They feared not hell, for they were already in it.
Soon, uhe elder’s lead, they reached the eerie white stoform, and the crowd began to stir. What they had spent their entire lives seeking was now within their reach.
Before the ritual began, the elder had warhem more than once.
But now, no one was willing to listen to his advice. As a fierce-looking man held a on to the trembling little girl’s neck, the elder relutly fell silent.
Soon after, the elder personally took the dying child from the woman’s arms, approached the stone disk, and with great reverence, id the child down, carefully pg the child’s hands on their chest.
(End of the Chapter)
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