Telling Stories

Eastern Continent, outskirts of the capital.

Underground base of Patrol Division Headquarters.

Led by a group of people, Wenren Sheng passed through layer after layer of security checkpoints and underwent multiple inspections before he was allowed into the mysterious testing ground.

After modern weapons developed rapidly, deep underground spaces became associated with safety and secrecy. After all, no matter how sturdy a building aboveground was, it could not withstand Mushrooms and other high-yield weapons.

But setting aside the effects of modern weapons, underground was actually very dangerous. Cave-ins, flooding, toxic gases from geological layers... In terms of survival, living underground was far more dangerous than living aboveground.

This testing ground was a circular, stepped auditorium, high around the edges and low in the center.

A thick ancient book had been placed on a raised platform in the center.

It was about a fist thick, dark yellow in color, with scorch marks and fresh bloodstains on its cover.

The stepped seats around the perimeter were full of people—men and women, young and old, dressed in all sorts of ways. They appeared to have come from all over the Eastern Continent.

A notebook sat on each person's seat, and some were writing and drawing in them.

Wenren Sheng saw at a glance what these people were for—they were here to tell stories to that Strange Book.

"Why not use computers and big data?" Wenren Sheng asked one of the researchers who had led him inside.

"That won't work. We tried it. It doesn't recognize any machine-generated voices. It has to be authentic—the story must be spoken aloud by a person for this Strange Book to acknowledge it," the researcher replied amiably.

Wenren Sheng was then assigned a seat in the very front row, alongside several elderly gentlemen.

Wenren Sheng sensed them out