Chapter 934 Euthanasia
The frozen banquet hall, the men and women in fine clothes turned into ice sculptures, the mid-course banquet and the supporting band that stopped during the performance - all of this is so weird that people can't help but give goosebumps. Facing this situation, Hao Ren couldn't help but be stunned for a few seconds: "It seems that he died suddenly in the middle of the party."
Nangong Sanba stepped forward to check the clues left at the scene. Although the people here may have been dead for hundreds of thousands of years, due to the vacuum and ultra-low temperature protection, everything in the entire banquet hall was perfectly preserved, even the food in the cups and plates were well preserved by the frost. Most of the things are fixed to the table or the ground due to freezing, and some debris that has fallen off the ice are floating in the air in a weightless environment. A kind of thin particles like mist are in the hall. Suspended were broken ice shards and fragments of human skin.
In fact, the same things are floating in the space outside, but here, the suspended objects are particularly dense.
"They were all dressed up and having a banquet. I really didn't expect them to die under such circumstances." Nangong Sanba carefully separated a body that had turned into an ice sculpture from the thin ice on the table. "...Sure enough, they also inhaled it before they died. the same chemicals."
Nangong Wuyue couldn't help but swallowed: "Could it be that the entire city was killed by poison gas?"
"Besides the poison gas, are there any other suspicions? Is there something wrong with the food?" Hao Ren asked casually.
"There shouldn't be any problem with the food. At least it's non-toxic according to my standards. And according to the situation at the scene, the problem has nothing to do with the food." Nangong Sanba shook his head. "In addition, according to the way the demon hunter perceives it, there is no dark and cold place here. Negative force, which means these people didn’t suffer much before they died.”
Hao Ren nodded and bent down to carefully observe the dead people closest to him. His attention soon fell on one of the male remains: the deceased looked old. He was wearing a solemn black dress, only used for high-end banquets. This dress was even different from the people around him. The beautiful clothes can be called luxurious in comparison. It is obvious that this man was a nobleman during his lifetime. But Hao Ren's attention was not on the dress, but on the man's clasped hands, which seemed to hide something. Hao Ren wanted to carefully take out the relic from the deceased's hand, but as soon as he exerted force, the male deceased's fingers that had been frozen into ice turned into dust crystals in the vacuum.
Hao Ren muttered an apology in his heart and took out a piece of cloth that looked like a handkerchief from under the opponent's broken palm.
He unfolded the handkerchief and found that there was indeed handwriting on it, and it was written very neatly. It was obvious that the person who left these last words had plenty of time at the time. With the help of the translation plug-in, these characters were quickly reorganized and parsed. The content is as follows:
"...Roman, my proudest son, heir to the glory of House Emerald Vale, I hope you are well on the Nighthorn and still proudly leading and protecting your people. Your mother and I are attending a A special banquet, I think you have guessed what this banquet is about. But don’t worry about us, it is a pleasant event, both in terms of food and drinks. Use the wine brought from your hometown It's a fitting farewell for us. Today, few people have tasted this drink made from plants rather than synthesized in factories. I'm happy to taste this once in my life. Your mother is sitting next to me. And your Uncle Leon is playing the famous song of Master Oron Locke on the stage. I believe that many, many years ago, the ancestors of our family had dinner together under such circumstances and prayed for our people...
"Roman, my son, there are many things I want to tell you, including what I was thinking about after our last argument, but these are no longer important. I heard two hollow echoes coming from above the city. Come, I think the two most critical equipment should have been shut down. Next is the time to quietly enjoy food, wine and music. Please allow your father to stop writing here and leave time to us old people.
"Oh, that stuff smells a little like blue glengrass."
The message on the handkerchief ended here. Vivian came over and took a look: "What is this?"
"Looks like a suicide note?" Hao Ren frowned, "It was written by an old man to his son. It seems like the people here know what is going to happen."
Many clues that followed proved Hao Ren's guess. Nangong Sanba and Nangong Wuyue found some last words written on other corpses. These few words written on handkerchiefs or napkins clearly confirmed that the city What happened here was not an accident or any other sudden event.
It was a well-prepared mass suicide.
Hao Ren and his party left this weird banquet hall. They came to the streets of the city inside the ship and began to move along a main road leading to the end of the spherical shell space. At the end of this main road was the stopped, watching machine. It looked like a huge weird machine like a cylindrical mountain. Hao Ren felt that it should be the control center of the spacecraft. It was at least an equally important place. Some clues should be found there.
Along the way, they discovered countless corpses turned into ice sculptures. None of the city's former residents survived, and they, along with the city, became part of the ruins in the icy vacuum. After Nangong Sanba's examination, it was found that the cause of death of everyone was the same: inhalation of nerve gas.
Moreover, the attentive Vivian also discovered some additional clues: she found that most of the remains were wearing brand new clothes. The stiff ice corpses were neatly dressed, with distinctive shoes and hats, and calm and elegant expressions on their faces, as if they were about to Go to a grand party. Although not everyone was able to enjoy the feast and music in the magnificent house, these residents took out the best clothes and food they could before dying, obviously to indulge themselves one last time.
"It was like euthanasia after a carnival," Lily crossed her arms and rubbed them. "They ate and drank a lot, then filled the whole city with poisonous gas, and they all died in their sleep."
Hao Ren was attracted by Lily's description. His eyes passed through the thin dust above this city of glimmering light and fell on the inverted buildings on the other side of the closed land. He imagined what this place would look like when it reached its final moment: When the system was in emergency, deadly nerve gas was blown into the city's atmospheric system. When the sweet, euphoric hallucinogenic gas filled the streets, people put on their best clothes and took to the streets to enjoy the last moments of their lives. A joy. Some people are having a feast, some are drinking wine, some are saying goodbye to their lovers, and some...
He passed by an empty street and saw an old man sitting by a flower bed. The old man wore a tall top hat, and his body was covered with a layer of frost. The flower bed behind him was still lush. The plants were frozen before they withered, and now they became a field of crystal clear flowers. The old man had a smile on his face and was stretching his hand forward. He was holding a fake flower folded with a handkerchief, as if he was about to hand it to a child who no longer existed.
There are also people who are bringing the last bit of warmth to this dying city.
"The time of death of all people is the same, and the cause of death is also the same," the data terminal said. It had just checked the age of several corpses. "The incident happened about a thousand years ago. The situation at that time has been easily restored: Nerve gas was blown into the atmospheric system of the Starship Ark, killing everyone inside in a short period of time, and these deceased were fully aware of this. This was probably the common wish of all citizens, and they were still alive before they died. Feasting and having fun.”
Nangong Wuyue's voice was low: "Why do they do this?"
Hao Ren stated the most likely possibility: "Probably there was a fatal problem with the spacecraft that could not be repaired, such as an air leak or a problem with the purification system, or the resources were at the bottom. In order to avoid pain, they decided to euthanasia."
"But there is more than one spaceship in this fleet," Vivian reminded, "Did other ships encounter the same problem at the same time?"
Hao Ren didn't know how to answer, but he found that the giant machine that looked like a cylindrical metal mountain was already in front of him: "There should be some clues over there."
A group of people stopped at the foot of the giant machine. They found that the size of this thing was larger than they had imagined before. It could really be said to be a towering mountain. Looking at the appearance of this device, Lily's tail unconsciously bent into a shape in the air. A question mark: "It looks like a giant reactor, but it seems to be shut down?"