Under the thatched hut, it wasn't until it was confirmed that the suffocating breath had completely disappeared in the vast rain curtain that a few driver coolies collapsed on the wet ground as if they were exhausted, gasping for air with lingering fear.
"My mother... that one just now... was Lord Soul Master, right? He came over in a flash and almost scared me out of my mind..." A younger coolie patted his chest, his face turned pale.
"It's not just Soul Master!" the older driver spat, with fear still in his eyes, "Look at that look, that look, that green aura... I'm afraid it's the most powerful and powerful kind! It must be for some big event!"
"What did he say that 'Myriad Poison Pool' was stolen? Was it from the forest?" someone speculated in a low voice.
"Shhh! Stop asking! The less we know about such big shots, the better!" The older driver quickly stopped him, "Just pretend this never happened, and don't tell anyone about it! Hurry, the rain seems to have lightened up a little, so pack up and see if you can still find some work. Today is really unlucky!"
Several people talked a lot, full of awe and curiosity about Dugu Bo's identity and purpose, but that was all. They were just the lowest level of laborers, and there were tall men to hold them up when the sky fell. What the scary green-haired old man was looking for had nothing to do with them, and they had no way of knowing.
Although the heavy rain has not stopped, its momentum seems to have weakened a bit, from a heavy downpour to a torrential downpour. The sky is still gloomy, but the visibility is slightly better.
Seeing that there would be no work for a while, and not daring to stay here any longer (for fear that the evil star would come back again), several truck drivers decided to take the empty truck back to their stop in a nearby town and wait for the weather to completely improve.
"Lao Chen, give me a hand. This car seems to have a stone stuck in the axle today. It's so heavy that it's hard for me to push it alone." The elderly driver greeted his companion and walked to the cart covered with oilcloth. He just tried to push it, but he felt that the wheel rotation was a bit sluggish and not as smooth as usual. It seemed as if something hard was stuck between the wheel axles, which increased the rolling resistance.
"Maybe it was the heavy rain just now, and the gravel splashed in from somewhere." The coolie named Lao Chen didn't take it seriously. On rainy days, the road conditions were poor, and it was normal for the wheels to get stuck with small things. The two of them, one after the other, grabbed the shaft and the crossbar at the rear of the car, and exerted force at the same time.
"Hey--! Let's go!"
The wheels rolled over the muddy ground, and indeed they made a dull and sluggish rolling sound. The car body shook and started to move forward, but it did feel that it required a little more effort than usual. It was like there was a medium-sized stone stuck in the wheel axle. It didn't delay the movement, but it was awkward and laborious.
"Crunch... gulu..."
The cart moved forward slowly in the mud. The drivers didn't think much about it. They just regarded it as a common and trivial problem on rainy days. At most, they went back to check and clean the wheel axle. What they were more concerned about was leaving this place of trouble and trouble as soon as possible and the wages they missed today.
The wheels rolled and mud and water splashed.
What the drivers don't know is that the source of the extra, stagnant resistance that makes them feel like "a stone is stuck" is not the gravel between the wheel axles.
Rather, it comes from the axle itself - to be more precise, it comes from those sticky, heavy, dark black substances that are in close contact with the axle and bearing seat, and even partially seep into the gap between the axle and bearing during extrusion and deformation.
It was the "Poison Sludge" that swallowed the essence of Myriad Poison Pool. After Dugu Bo left, it did not stay on the surface of the car bottom. With its slow creeping and plasticity, it quietly adjusted its position and shape without the attention of the driver.
It is no longer just "clinging" to the shadow side of the car's bottom frame. Instead, as if it has some kind of primitive wisdom, it has embedded part of itself deeper and more "embedded" into the key parts of the car body movement - the contact area between the axle and the wooden bearing seat, and the narrow gap between the inner wheel hub and the axle.
There are several instinctive benefits to doing this:
More stable: "Stuck" by the mechanical structure, it is less likely to fall off in bumps than simply sticking to a flat surface.
More hidden: These parts themselves have grease, dirt, rust, and are difficult to illuminate, making them perfect hiding places.
Energy buffering: The slight squeezing and friction when the axle rotates may become a passive and inefficient "digestion" or "pressure release" for its chaotic energy body. Although it is painful, it may be able to slightly relieve the pain of internal energy accumulation.
Of course, the price is increased resistance to wheel rotation, which makes the driver feel "as if a stone is stuck." However, this resistance on muddy roads can be attributed to "slippery roads in rainy days, mud blocking, or small stones stuck in," and will not lead to any further investigation.
At this moment, as the cart moves, the dark, viscous substance is changing its shape and distribution extremely subtly as the axle rotates and squeezes at an extremely slow and almost imperceptible speed, trying to "embed" itself deeper into the mechanical structure. It is in the gaps and shadows of the structure, and adapts to the continuous vibration and muddy water erosion. Like a piece of overly sticky, heavy, and living "dirt", it has become a part of the mechanical structure of this old truck, sharing every bump of it and enduring the baptism of muddy water.
Vibration, continuous. Mud water, repeated erosion.
Soul Power is still operating at full capacity, suppressing all fluctuations that may leak out. The chaotic "core" in the body, under the double torture of continuous external pressure and internal energy turbulence, is like being slowly ground in Shi Mo, and it is extremely painful, but Therefore, I was forced to slowly and passively carry out some kind of indescribable and deep "compression" and "integration" in an extremely inefficient and crude way. This process was full of risks, but it also brought an extremely weak, almost illusory feeling that the energy structure seemed to be a little "tighter".
"It hurts... squeezing..."
"But... it seems... a little better..."
The cold, chaotic mind floats in pain. It doesn't know whether this is good or bad, it just instinctively adapts to the environment and seizes every possible way to "exist" itself.
The cart squeaked, leaving deep ruts in the mud, and drove slowly but surely towards the town. The drivers only wanted to go back to dry their clothes and drink hot soup, and paid no attention to the insignificant "abnormality" of the axle.
Under the curtain of rain, this seemingly ordinary but slightly "heavy" truck is carrying a secret that no one knows and is struggling to survive in pain, driving away from danger and heading towards the unknown.