As soon as the old woman's scream came out, the scavengers in the entire subway station were immediately alert, and their frightened eyes focused on Tanisel and the other three. The old woman hurriedly dragged her grandson away, as if she had seen a ghost.
Tanissell hesitated to pick up the skin on the ground, while Samuel looked around at the scavengers who were suddenly hostile to them, "Hey, what's the matter with you?"
The old woman asked with a trembling voice, "How can you have such a thing!"
"What the hell, what are you talking about?" Samuel was confused, and when he looked back, he saw that Tanisel's brows were also frowning, staring at the mass of things in his hand.
"Ethan? Ethan?" Tanisel gently shook the dazed Ethan's shoulder, and when he saw that he barely opened his eyes, he asked, "Where did you get this?"
"… Found it in the subway."
The grandson of the old woman shouted at them, "That's the skin that the ghosts in the ground took off! They eat people and leave the skins to dry and paint strange things on them!"
Another scavenger who was probably in his fifties and lost a leg also said, "The reason why no one dares to go to Line 17 is because there are such skins hanging everywhere, and many people who have picked up have disappeared for no apparent reason. Now, some of them are going crazy. We have a beggar who is like this, lying on the ground staring at the thing all day long without picking it up, talking nonsense, saying that some earth-hearted ghost is coming to catch him. Guess what? He really disappeared after a while!"
"This thing will bring misfortune!" The old woman shook her head, trying her best to stay away from them, "You have to leave quickly!"
"We're just staying for a while, and we'll leave as soon as he gets better." Tanisel silently put the leather in the pocket of his shirt, and then took out a few golden coins. Solid currency is no longer used in most parts of the universe today, but in some slums, gold coins are treasures that will never depreciate. He handed the two gold coins to the old woman, and his eyes that were still full of hostility lit up in an instant, and those wrinkled and calloused hands took the gold coins hesitantly.
Tanissell looked around again, looking at the scavengers who were staring at the gold coins in his hands with the same eager eyes, and asked, "Have you ever seen that kind of 'Ghost of the Earth'?"
Under the temptation of gold coins, several scavengers scrambled to say which of their friends and relatives had seen them on a certain subway line, but it seemed that none of them had actually seen them with their own eyes. The ghosts they believe are slender and walk on two legs like a human, but their legs are deformed, their feet are reversed, they have four hands and a long head, and their torso is not shaped. The rules, from a distance, look like elongated shadows standing silently in the corners, usually hidden in the dark and imperceptible. They come and go without a trace, sometimes seeming to appear suddenly, pulling people silently into crevices in the rocks.
Samuel felt a chill on his back listening to the description. When looking for a way out in the subway system in the Forbidden City, could the figure they saw be what they said
Could there be such a monster under the Forbidden City? This kind of thing... has it lived silently and silently at their feet for a long time
"It sounds like... a species that's been around for a long time on Earth. I thought they were extinct," Tanissell said.
"Why haven't I heard of this thing on Earth?"
"They are the descendants of Ngyr-Korath, the god of distortion. When human civilization was still in ignorance, there was a period of prosperity on earth. They have two forms. If they appear in a solid state, they are the ones you describe. It looks like, but if it exists in a viscous liquid state, it can penetrate into very narrow spaces, such as rock crevices. Their natural enemy is a kind of higher creature that exists in the universe in a supersolid form, called Halfidal , This descendant of the goddess came to the earth in ancient times, swallowed up these so-called 'Ghosts of the Earth' and left. I didn't expect them to go extinct, but just burrowed into the ground."
Tanisel finished explaining, but apparently everyone was still stunned. Samuel sorted out his thoughts and summarized the central idea, "You mean that thing is not a ghost, but a descendant of your disgusting gods, and it has always been on the earth?"
"That's pretty much the explanation."
"Didn't you say that the God of Entropy can't enter the universe of the God of Order? Why are there so many kinds left?"
"Just like most of the races in the Milky Way, including humans, are descendants of the gods of entropy, when the primordial entropy order of the universe was not divided, there were naturally many descendants of gods of entropy in this universe, but later the chief officer of entropy force Decrease, the descendants of the order gods increase, and the descendants of the gods of entropy become less and less. The giant worms you saw on Faun before believe that they are descendants of the god of entropy, Yoggsothoth."
Hearing Tanissell say this, Samuel's face showed a mixed expression of "really disgusting" and "not strange at all", obviously despiring the descendants of the God of Entropy. Tanisel suddenly smiled brightly and continued, "It is not uncommon for the descendants of the Entropy God to disguise themselves as the descendants of the Order God in order to survive. According to my mentor's investigation, the most representative race is probably now. The almost extinct people of Tianzhe."
After he finished speaking, he looked at Ethan, who had fallen asleep, with a gentle expression like water.
Samuel was stunned for a while, as if he didn't quite believe his ears, "What did you say?"
"Shh." Tanisel put a finger to his lips. "Be quiet. Ethan is sleeping."
Of course Samuel couldn't just let it go. He crouched down beside Tanisel and said in a low voice, "Hey, make it clear!"
"This is just a hypothesis put forward by my tutor after collecting some ancient books and materials. Besides, it doesn't matter whether the Celestials are descendants of the God of Entropy? Their civilization has long since been lost."
"But... But Ethan is a quarter of a celestial being!" Samuel couldn't connect Ethan with those disgusting giant worms and the black tentacles that fell from the sky on the red earth. But on the other hand, when Ethan mutated, his image like a purgatory monarch gave him a shivering feeling of "that's it".
"You said it yourself, only a quarter of it." Tanisel shrugged his shoulders indifferently, "Besides, aren't you tired of this so-called order-based world? All People must live by the same rules, and if they are slightly different, they will be regarded as heresies, and they needlessly pursue the so-called harmony and stability.”
The words seemed to be casual, but Samuel fell into silence.
The priest always looked at him with silver eyes with a trace of evil, and the corners of his rosy lips spread out a beautiful arc, "I have never seen the beauty of chaos, and I just locked myself in the cage of order because I was afraid of change. Isn’t it another kind of ignorance? Perhaps, in the real chaos, even the boundaries of time and space will blur, and at that time, it may be possible to see the deceased again and change some regrets.”
*********
Ethan took a deep sleep, and he didn't know if the priest was doing something with his mental power. In short, he didn't have any dreams that night. The long-lost peaceful and peaceful sleep almost made him reluctant to leave that place. Cozy dark. But the gentle and peaceful voice of the priest kept calling in his ear, making him have to reluctantly leave the sleeping place where he didn't need consciousness or thinking, and returned to the cold and humid reality.
"Ethan? Ethan? We've got to go. I'm afraid it's going to happen."
The fever seems to have subsided, but there is still a low-grade fever, and the body is shaking. Tanisel wrapped his priestly robes tightly around him, and continued to walk forward half-armed and half-supported. After about three more stops, they decided it was far enough away from the Forbidden City.
Before leaving the subway station along the abandoned steps, Ethan concentrated on speaking to little Rafal who didn't know where to make a hole: "Be good and play here, don't eat people outside the forbidden city, wait for me to come back." He didn't know if the giant worm could hear it, but Ethan felt a little guilty about abandoning it to land.
But it's impossible to escape with such a big bug...
It's really strange, I was thinking about killing it a day ago, but now I'm starting to feel reluctant. Is this what it feels like to be a mother...
Ethan let out a long sigh of relief when he saw the first ray of yellowish sunlight falling from a high place on the dilapidated and rugged steps. After all, man is an animal towards light. After spending too much time in the dark, he realizes how beautiful and precious sunlight is.
He turned his head and saw the sunlight jumping on the priest's slightly curled blonde hair, and the dirty white shirt and trousers seemed to be radiating a faint brilliance.
Samuel was also quietly immersed in the light, his eyes stinging slightly. Finally escaped from the bottomless black hole of the Forbidden City and finally became free. This is the dream of many inhumans in the second half of their lives. He should have jumped for joy, he should have jumped like a child, but he couldn't even laugh.
Schneider has been left forever in the darkness behind him. Even if he travels all over the world, he will never see those black eyes that are sometimes sharp and sometimes gentle.
The forbidden city, took everything from him, took away his last chance to be happy. Even if he is free now, all that remains in his heart is despair and hatred.
He hates, hates the forbidden city, hates the gray hair, hates the guards, hates the benefactor, hates all the order that says he can't be with anyone, hates those hypocritical so-called friends who can betray at any time, hates, hates the hypocritical hypocrites outside the city .
He hates himself even more, why didn't he even say I love you to Schneider at the end. Why did he choose to escape when he could have stayed together for a few more days after confessing his feelings.
Although he is free today, every day for the rest of his life, he only wants to live for one purpose.
revenge.
He turned his head, but it happened to meet the unfathomable gaze of the priest.
Tanissell nodded slightly to Samuel. Then he took the lead and ran a few steps forward, turning back and reaching out to Ethan. The golden sunlight shone from behind him, the scene was full of religious sanctity, and the smile was full of love words.
"Come on, I'll take you home."