More than seven hundred years ago, in the streets of Food City, a life-and-death escape between monsters and humans unfolded.
When they saw an idiot give up on himself and stop running, and even actively try to attract the monster's attention, some students were ecstatic, while others felt sad.
But no one stopped.
Whether it was because they simply didn't want to die, or because they didn't want to disappoint someone, they didn't stop running.
The lizard-like monster ran faster than they could, and the students' only hope was to run into some complex terrain and hide - and then hope that the monster would find new prey.
As they were running at full speed, some people had a premonition that they might soon hear Lin Rui's wailing, or maybe... he wouldn't even have time to let out a wailing
Just as they were thinking this, a strong vibration came.
Cheng Shishi, who was running in the front, suddenly fell down without paying attention. She turned around subconsciously and saw an incredible scene.
Huge vibrations continued to occur, making the entire street seem like it had encountered a minor earthquake. Everyone thought that a more powerful monster had appeared, and subconsciously turned around to look out of fear.
Afterwards, everyone's expression was the same as Cheng Shishi's, frozen in shock.
The giant lizard was being grabbed by the tail by a strange man wearing a mask and a black robe with brute force, and was being beaten repeatedly!
They didn't know the pain the lizard was enduring, but looking at the cracks in the ground that had collapsed, they understood how terrifying the power of this masked man was.
The force that made the earth tremble was actually caused by a human being!
The Lizardman is about to let out a sharp, piercing cry, a rare term related to sound waves.
But before the sound could be heard, the masked man predicted the movement. Although it was clearly a human hand, it was like an axe that ripped open a belly. It easily broke through the defense and went straight into the lizard's throat that was covered with armor, tearing its vocal cords.
This bloody scene frightened all the students, but also filled them with a strong joy of life!
They just felt that everything before their eyes was too shocking.
“This is… Could this be…” Fei Bo couldn’t believe his eyes.
"How is it possible that the masked man really exists? That stupid... Lin Rui has always believed in something that is actually true?"
"Too strong, is this a hero? Too strong, wow!" Brother Shui raised his bat to express his excitement, seeming to have forgotten that he was the one who mocked the masked man the most.
Seeing the lizard being crushed and the mask that was familiar to everyone, they finally believed that a miracle had happened!
Lin Rui's tears were streaming down his face. At this moment, he was so excited that he wanted to hug Bai Wu's thighs to see if he was hallucinating because he was about to die.
Until the lizard's body exuded a bloody stench, until Bai Wu turned around, stretched out another clean hand, and pulled Lin Rui up.
He was finally convinced that the masked monster really appeared!
"Are you...are you really...really the masked weirdo?"
Lin Rui was trembling and looked even more frightened than when he saw Evil Fall, but he was not afraid. Instead, he was so excited that he couldn't control his body.
"It's the truth. Come on, let's go together and tell your friends about the situation. This city is very dangerous now. If you want to stay alive, you have to learn how to save yourself."
Lin Rui just felt that everything was so unreal.
Not everyone is this lucky.
The feeling of being saved by something you believe in is probably like all the bitter memories like frost and snow suddenly turning into golden sunlight.
Bai Wu could understand the overflowing happiness in the child's heart.
In his previous life, he also liked watching Ultraman, although every time after being abused by his father, he would repeat the name of the monster.
At that time, he also hoped that he could be saved.
He still remembered that one time, because he couldn't bear the sadness of not being recognized by his father, he made a phone call.
That was the phone number of the Space Guard in the special effects drama - an empty number that could never be dialed.
This is really a strange thing to say. At that time, under his father's perverted teaching, he was already better than many of his peers.
He knew in his heart that some things did not exist, but he still made a phone call. He could not explain why, and he did not know what he was expecting.
This was one of the few childish actions he took when he was young.
Many things that happened later also showed that no one would come to save him. He could only continue to fulfill his father's requirements and endure or even get used to all kinds of pain and torture.
Then look for an opportunity to get away from that man.
No one saved him in his childhood. No one saved him in his youth either.
But he just happened to understand the feeling of being redeemed.
…
…
What happened next was that a group of people rushed over excitedly. Each of them had a lot of questions to ask because they were saved and because they saw an incredible existence.
For example, why did the masked monster disappear in the past few years
Bai Wu didn't know the reason. How could he know why a weirdo who liked to wear a smiley mask appeared and disappeared
Deep down, he was leaning towards the idea that the masked man was dead.
But to this group of students who were not much younger than him, Bai Wu still told a white lie:
"In a faraway place unknown to you, there are people who need my protection more. I just went to a very far place."
This lie easily fooled everyone, and Lin Rui was deeply moved, because the hero never slacked off, he just did similar things in other places.
He was glad that he had not given up that childishness.
The truth is actually very cruel, but the truth is not needed here... This world is built on just an obsession.
After answering many questions, Bai Wu knew that this world would soon disappear.
History has not been rewritten, but at least in this telephone booth world, he hopes that this ordinary boy can survive as long as possible.
They asked so many questions, but no one said thank you to Lin Rui. It seemed that Lin Rui was not worthy of respect for rushing forward to stop the monster.
Because the real masked monster appeared and easily resolved the crisis, so the efforts of that fool became cheap.
Thinking of this, Bai Wu patted Lin Rui on the shoulder:
"I am not the hero today. If you hadn't stood in front of everyone and shouted loudly, I might not have gotten here. You are very brave. Remember your determination to die for your friends today."
"I am just a symbol. When I appear in this city, maybe people will have hope again. But what happens after I leave? Maybe soon, they will mock the faith in others' hearts again. After all, we can't be saved by others every time."
Bai Wu took off his mask:
"This world is dying little by little. There are still many places where even more twisted and evil monsters are wreaking havoc on cities, and there are still many weak humans waiting for salvation. I'm sorry that I can't follow you all the time, so you have to become stronger. Be calmer and more composed in the face of danger."
“Don’t be afraid of evil and despair, face it with courage and wisdom. The process may be long, but when you are able to adapt, you will be a hero.”
The face behind the mask perfectly fits people's fantasy of a hero.
At this moment, Bai Wu's smile was as gentle as the spring breeze. He gently pressed the mask on the boy's forehead:
"I'm handing this mask over to you. From today on, you have to take on the responsibility of protecting them. Can you do it?"
The humble boy grew up in this instant, as if all his luck in life had been used up. He should have taken the mask handsomely, but he couldn't help but nod and shed tears.
At the same time, Bai Wu discovered that the eyes of the people around him towards Lin Rui had also changed.
Only at this moment did they realize that when everyone was thinking about their own lives, it was Lin Rui who stood in front of them.
The things in the scene disappeared again like a puzzle. This meant that Lin Rui's obsession had been resolved.
Bai Wu didn't know whether this young man could lead this group of people to survive. After all, they were not qualified to go to the tower.
According to the objective laws of history, they will eventually die.
But at least from this moment on, in the parallel world of the telephone booth, he became the successor of the masked man. It had nothing to do with strength or weakness, only determination.
When my consciousness was about to leave this world and return to the phone booth, my eyes started to add drama again:
Is there a necessary connection between me and the universe? Does the universe have an end? Does time have a length? Where does the past time disappear? Where does the future time stop? Is the question I ask at this moment the same question you just heard? Cause and effect are very interesting things, because we don't know whether we accidentally changed the cause or the effect~ But what is certain is that if the cause is changed, the effect will definitely change accordingly.
Another strange conclusion, but it didn't matter, he was already used to this style of eyes.
Bai Wu's consciousness quickly returned to reality.
In reality, the telephone booth became transparent little by little and gradually disappeared. He once again successfully resolved an incoming call, but what lingered in his ears was not the ringing of telephones around him.
It was Yin Shuang's whisper:
"White fog... Why did the phone booth disappear?"
"Awake? The game we're playing now is called Golden Customer Service. The person on the other end of the phone will ask us for help or raise some difficult questions. As long as we can solve their needs, the phone booth will disappear."
Bai Wu still carried Yin Shuang on her back, Yin Shuang's white and slender arms were around Bai Wu's neck, and her consciousness had not yet fully awakened. It was like the pain in her memory, with a slight remnant.
Bai Wu didn't care and prepared to go to the next telephone booth.
"Tell me about what happened to you on the phone."
It was not Bai Wu who made this request, but Yin Shuang. Bai Wu originally wanted to ask what kind of phone call Yin Shuang received.
But ladies first. While carrying Yin Shuang on his back, he recounted what happened in the two phone booths in extremely concise language.
Yin Shuang listened to Bai Wu's story with complicated eyes.
"Is that so... I hope they can have a good ending in the world of telephone booths."
"Yeah, that's it. It's strange. Why are these phones suddenly not ringing?"
After Bai Wu solved the first call, many calls started ringing at the same time. It felt like accidentally giving a copper coin to a beggar on the street, and then a large group of beggars swarmed in and asked him to do them a favor.
But after solving the second call, Bai Wu found that all the phones around him stopped ringing.
His eyes did not give any answer, and he could not figure out the reason for this matter, so he simply started walking forward with Yin Shuang.
Fortunately, he was also curious about who Yin Shuang had talked to on the phone, so he asked:
"The negative attributes on you have been eliminated. Now we both have time to pass."
"Thank you."
"You sound so weak. What happened on that phone call? You sound like you were badly injured."
"It's nothing, actually... Dreams can feel real. After waking up from a nightmare, it can feel a bit lingering."
Without waiting for Bai Wu to continue asking questions, Yin Shuang said:
"Bai Wu, have you really lost your memory?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Did you lose your memory because you had some painful experience when you were a child and you don't want to recall it?"
"Let me tell you a joke."
"joke?"
"Well, do you know Meng Po soup?"
"Is this something that people drink before they are reincarnated after death, something that can help them forget everything about their past lives?"
"Yes, that's it. Meng Po worked in the underworld for countless years. One day she didn't want to do it anymore, so she told her immediate boss Yan Luo that she wanted to resign. Yan Luo said, "You've worked hard for so long, have a bowl of soup, and then go to the personnel department to complete the resignation procedures." As a result, Meng Po forgot that she wanted to resign after drinking the soup, so this cycle kept repeating, and she lived like a model worker for countless years."
"This... isn't funny. It's cold."
Bai Wu said:
"It's hard for people to realize what they've forgotten. I'll perform a magic trick to make you forget the five hundred tasting notes you owe me."
"When did I owe you five hundred tassels?"
"You see, the magic worked and you've forgotten it."
This time Yin Shuang smiled.
Bai Wu also laughed and said:
"I don't like talking about my past with people. How can I talk about something that I don't have? I really don't remember what I went through before."
This statement is not an absolute lie. At least Bai Wu does not have the memories of this body.
God knows how this body with nine points of good looks ended up being a beggar and finally sold to a casino as a slave.
Yin Shuang recalled what had happened on the phone, wondering how to tell Bai Wu.
They still had plenty of time. From a long distance, he heard the phone call with the help of his powerful companion force.
Bai Wu was looking forward to where the next call would take him. The first two calls seemed to indicate that this was a port city that was about to be completely abandoned.
The port was the boarding point for the Ark Plan, where countless people had high hopes in the pre-Tower era.
Wen Hao and Lin Rui's time points also match, the only difference is that one is a child who was abandoned by his parents after boarding the ship, and the other is a student who had no chance to board the ship and wandered around the city with a group of friends searching for survival resources.
Why they turned into phone booths is still an unknown mystery. We have to answer more calls to find out:
"By the way, what kind of phone call did you receive? Tell me and I'll help you analyze it. Maybe we can find the problem in this area as soon as possible."
Yin Shuang said:
"Put me down, I don't need to be carried anymore."
Bai Wu put Yin Shuang down. He felt that Yin Shuang's attitude was strange. Yin Shuang looked at Bai Wu and subconsciously thought of the words of the perverted middle-aged man -
Bai Wu, you are such a failure. Is that Bai Wu's father? If so... Bai Wu must have felt very uncomfortable at that time, right? Perhaps this sentence was more painful to him than those needles.
She was afraid of bringing up Bai Wu's bad memories, but after careful consideration, Yin Shuang felt that this phone call was very strange. From every angle, she should tell Bai Wu and let him analyze the reasons.
So after a few seconds of silence, she said softly:
"I got your call."