They all call me an Outer God.

Chapter 264 The Steel Bridge Is About to Collapse

“How could those old guys not approve my leave? If they don’t approve it, I’ll drug them and make them all constipated for a week.”

The potion's effects were undeniably potent; Ria silently mourned for Professor Saphir's people for three seconds.

"You still haven't told me who you are."

"This is a secret; you'll find out at the tea party."

"Okay, okay, you're such a boring person."

“Who said that? I’ve always thought my jokes are funny.” Ria rejected the stereotypes about him. He loved telling jokes, even though most of the time people couldn’t tell they were jokes.

But at least a lame joke is still a joke.

"Woo——————"

The train was still speeding along, its enormous rumble and the white smoke billowing from its top complementing each other perfectly, as it gradually left the suburbs and headed towards a new urban area.

This is still South Adeline, dozens of miles from the edge of North Adeline, but once you cross the Manlawi Steel Bridge, you can successfully reach North Adeline, where it will be a completely different scene.

At this moment, the steam train, like a giant steel monster, hurriedly crossed the tracks and officially entered the Manlawi Bridge.

Near the bridge, several children were playing when they saw the train billowing smoke and excitedly tried to run after it.

Everyone knew it was impossible, but the children were still having a blast. They raced each other to get close to the edge of the steel bridge. The moment they stepped onto the bridge, they looked up, stopped in their tracks, and their faces showed obvious astonishment.

At this moment, many people came out of their homes and looked up at the sky. After a moment, they seemed to realize something and hurriedly went back home to lock their doors and close the windows. However, a few people still looked up at the sky unwillingly.

The sky was overcast, and fog has always been a frequent sight here. Now, rain is falling again from the clouds. The rain is not heavy, but the sound of it striking everything is enough to create a melody.

A small flock of crows circled in the sky, flying haphazardly and not densely, almost as if they were flying randomly.

At that moment, almost everyone heard the song sung by this ominous group.

"The steel bridge is going to collapse, collapse, collapse..."

"The steel bridge is going to collapse, collapse..."

Crows are known as "harbingers of doom" because of their high intelligence and ability to mimic all sorts of sounds. In this moment, they imitate the voices of children, singing in an innocent tone, which sounds even more eerie on this rainy day.

"Tick tock."

The rain provided accompaniment for them. The children, who knew nothing of fear, were amazed that these animals could sing the same songs as them. So the children opened their mouths and sang along with them, creating a completely out-of-place chorus of music.

On the train, everyone, whether patients or ordinary people, crowded to the window. They stared at this strange sight, and their initial shock turned into fear.

Is the bridge about to collapse?

"This bridge is one of the strongest in Endlers, how could it possibly collapse so easily!"

"The crow is speaking human language!!!"

People panicked, and some even wanted the train conductor to turn the train around. Their shouting, pushing, and running became part of the accompaniment to this "concert."

The train staff tried their best to reassure everyone, saying that it was just a flock of birds imitating human singing, and that the Manlawi Bridge had undergone many stability tests since its construction, so it was impossible for it to collapse.

It's unclear how much of what they said they actually believed. Compared to those who knew nothing, the patients with contamination were noticeably calmer, but some of them were only superficially calm.

"They are not ordinary crows."

"He is indeed a doctor specializing in epidemic prevention."

"What do they want to do?"

"Who knows? Maybe they were just saying goodbye to us as we left. They were quite enthusiastic, but I just can't understand what they meant."

The patients chatted amongst themselves. Ria was staring at the crows outside the window when suddenly, a particularly large crow flew to the window next to his, flapping its wings and running alongside the train.

The steel bridge is going to collapse, collapse, collapse... The steel bridge is going to collapse...

The bird sang this song in a hoarse voice, tilting its head, its eyes bloodshot, and grinning at Ria with a human-like smile. Then, before the young man could speak, it fluttered away, a few feathers falling with its movement.

At that moment, Ria's fist suddenly clenched and then relaxed. He heard something beside him continuing the unfinished chorus of the crow. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the sound was coming from Little Swarth.

It couldn't speak, but it instinctively memorized the melody. Then, with its eyes half-closed, it sang out the melody in a sharp, bird-like voice, making the already abnormal atmosphere even more oppressive and eerie.

"What are you doing out here, James, not watching the door?"

Ria didn't know their intention in doing this, but she guessed it was to remind them of something.

The tones sounded somewhat familiar to Ria, but he couldn't quite place where he had heard them before.

“Crows have always been considered birds of misfortune, and their appearance foreshadows calamities. The gathering of plague doctors in this way is definitely not a simple farewell.”

If the Manila Bridge really does collapse later, it means they're only singing the surface meaning. But if the bridge doesn't collapse, their song is probably related to a deeper, more profound natural disaster.

"The Manlawi Bridge will really collapse one day."

Melfas was giving a detailed analysis of why the plague doctors had appeared, while Safiel was looking out the window on the right—outside, a crow was digging its claws into the surface of the train to keep itself still.

"Don't worry, Corey, I'll be fine. Don't worry about me. I'm all grown up now and I can protect myself."

"Let me tell you, I've made some new friends, and this is my first time at a tea party. I'm sure I'll meet even more people there and then I can promote my potions to them."

"If Corey could come in with me, that would be great..."

"You say Dad looks strange today? Nonsense, he looks great."

"..."

"Okay, goodbye, let's play together again next time!"

After saying these words and seeing the raven off, Saphir turned around and saw Melfas looking at her with a complicated expression.

"You two seem to have a very good relationship."

“Well, Corey is my friend. He was actually against me going to the tea party, but he couldn’t persuade me otherwise, so I came.”

"Why do I feel that the medical staff who fight the epidemic respect the elderly and care for the young, but they keep targeting us in the middle and making trouble for us? Is this their professional ethics?"

The song is an adaptation of the nursery rhyme "London Bridge Is Felling Down," and listening to some music enhances the atmosphere.
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(End of this chapter)