There are a lot of messy things in Uncle Crazy's house, every time Ning Gu comes over, if he is not there, Ning Gu will find food and drink in his room.
But today I found nothing except half a jug of water that I don't know how long.
This doesn't quite fit the style of the crazy uncle.
Crazy Uncle doesn't interact with the people in the shelter, and every once in a while he will exchange some food with merchants like Land King, and there will always be stock in the house.
Ning Gu sat back on the chair, frowning.
Where did the crazy uncle go
At this time, it suddenly disappeared, and it seemed that the supplies were taken away, which is really strange.
Lian Chuan closed his eyes on the recliner, not sure if he fell asleep or pretended to be asleep.
Ning Gu didn't plan to try again, anyway, he could wake up in seconds after falling asleep, so he couldn't get any advantage.
He himself was quite tired, so he closed his eyes and fell asleep not long after.
When I opened my eyes again, I don't know how long it had passed. Lian Chuan was still leaning on the recliner in the previous posture, with his eyes closed.
Ning Gu leaned over to see if he was awake.
"Someone." Lian Chuan said with his eyes closed.
Ning Gu jumped up and picked up a stick.
"It's that sister Qi I met in the tavern." Lian Chuan still closed his eyes.
"Alone?" Ning Gu asked.
"En." Lian Chuan responded.
"I'll go take a look," Ning Gu whispered, "She should be fine."
"En." Lian Chuan replied again.
When Ning Gu suddenly opened the door and walked out, Sister Qi was startled.
"Ouch," she took a step back, "are you really here?"
"Why are you here?" Ning Gu asked.
"The sanctuary is in a mess tonight," Sister Qi lowered her voice, "I thought you might be able to come here too... Is that hyena in there?"
Ning Gu didn't hesitate at all: "I'm not here, I don't know where I went."
Sister Qi was stunned for a moment, then suddenly laughed: "When I lied to you, you were still rolling with nails in the garbage dump."
Ning Gu clicked his tongue, neither admitting nor denying it.
"Here," Sister Qi handed over a leather bag, "something to eat, and two cans of water."
"Leader and the others... know?" Ning Gu took the leather bag.
"He's not deaf." Sister Qi crossed her arms and looked him up and down, "Is he not hurt?"
"No." Ning Gu shook his head.
"That's fine," Sister Qi glanced in the direction of the shelter, "I have to go, let people know that I'm here to look for you, and I won't be able to mess around in the future."
Ning Gu was a little moved, but also a little sorry: "You don't need to come."
"Listen to my sister," sister Qi looked at him, her voice was very soft, "don't trust anyone casually."
Ning Gu didn't speak.
"Anyone." Sister Qi turned around and disappeared into the black mist within a few steps.
Ning Gu returned to the hut and took out food from his leather pocket: "Do you want to eat it? It's similar to rations, but it doesn't taste good."
Lian Chuan took the food and looked at it, took a piece... put it in his mouth.
This taste is very similar to the food processing techniques of the previous generations of the main city, perhaps the technology brought over from the main city back then.
"You slept through the night, and you can still sleep... The leader is going to take me to Tongwan today, and he may come to see me later." Ning Gu sat on the chair, bent one leg and stepped on the chair, "the nail is there The one who disappeared by the side, the head said that he entered Tongwan.”
"Where is Tongue Bay?" Lian Chuan asked.
"The boundary of the ghost town closest to the shelter." Ning Gu said.
"What about the other boundaries?" Lian Chuan asked again.
"I don't know, it's very far," Ning Gu thought for a while, "No one has been there, mainly because there are too many aborigines, and the farther they go, the more they go."
"I cleaned up the experimental body that was very similar to K29." Lian Chuan said.
"K29? Aboriginal people," Ning Gu lowered his eyes, "Do you mean it was sent by the leader?"
"Not sure, K29 is a serial number, which means that there are samples in the main city, whether they were left before or sent by the leader, not necessarily." Lian Chuan said.
Ning Gu was not comforted by this answer, after all, travelers were sent there, and that was what Ning Gu could not accept.
"Do you think something happened to the nail?" Ning Gu raised his head after a moment of silence and asked.
"Yes." Lian Chuan replied.
"Is he dead?" Ning Gu asked.
Just as Lian Chuan was about to speak, he quickly waved his hand again: "No need to answer."
Lian Chuan didn't go on talking, bowed his head and ate all the food, didn't leave it for him, and didn't even ask him if he wanted some.
Ning Gu didn't take the opportunity to ridicule him, Lian Chuan eats well and recovers faster, which is good for everyone.
After Lian Chuan arrived in the ghost town, except for the fight, he slept all the time, and he didn't have a chance to ask a bunch of questions.
After eating all the food and drinking the two cans of water in his leather pocket, Lian Chuan leaned back on the recliner, but continued to sleep without closing his eyes.
Ning Gu waited for a while, and when he opened his mouth, Lian Chuan said, "Ask."
"...Oh." Ning Gu paused, "Are you stripping the prison for me to see something?"
"I saw something I don't remember." Lian Chuan said.
"When I saw the secret experiment in Lost Valley, you were in this state, right?" Ning Gu asked.
"Well," Lian Chuan looked at him, "so Qi Hang must have been in the training department for a long time. This is one of the methods of training in the training department, and it also fits the method used by Betelgeuse."
"I saw a metal corridor." Ning Gu said, "Several people in white uniforms are leading you, and you are wearing blue pajamas."
Lian Chuan raised his eyes to look at him: "It's for training."
"I don't know. In the end, I heard that Betelgeuse was waking up and preparing for something," Ning Gu said, "These are not the point... The point is, I saw the painting."
"Painting?" Lian Chuan tilted his head, "What painting? The fit training is in the training department, and there are only paintings in the chief's office."
Recalling the scene at that time, Ning Gu still felt a chill running down his back. He took a breath before pointing at himself: "Me."
Lian Chuan looked at him and said nothing.
"There are four me in the painting, the same... no, they are different," Ning Gu frowned. "The four me are different, with the same face and different things."
"In the corridor?" Lian Chuan asked.
"Yes, not at first, you suddenly turned your head," Ning Gu said, "I turned my head afterward, and saw it hanging on the wall, four of me, four of me! You really don't know that feeling, too Terrible!"
Lian Chuan leaned on the recliner, looking at the roof of the hut as if thinking, and did not move for a long time.
"Hey!" Ning Gu reached out his hand and shook it in front of him, "Sleep after talking."
"Is there any difference between the four..." Lian Chuan slowly sat up straight, "Can you..."
"No." Ning Gu.
Although it was a bit difficult, Ning Gu found a pen in Uncle Crazy's room and squatted by the wall.
This pen is not a real pen either, but a hard black stick that can scratch black marks on the wall, just like the "painting" on the wall next to it.
That is the caracal cat painted by the crazy uncle.
He looked at it and found that the general meaning of the drawing was correct. Although a circle represents the body and four vertical bars represent the legs, the small circle representing the head has two pointed points, which should be ears, and there are three short bars on it. These are the small black hairs on the tips of the caracal's ears.
Uncle Crazy has seen a caracal.
Ning Gu always felt that many of what he said were not crazy.
It's just a pity that he doesn't know where he has gone now.
"Draw." Lian Chuan stood behind him, holding a cold light bottle.
"Don't rush!" Ning Gu grabbed the pen and pointed the pen tip at the wall.
Fortunately, Lian Chuan didn't ask him to draw the four Ning Gus, but only asked him to draw the four different marks on the four identical doors in the background.
"Don't hold a pen like you hold a knife," Lian Chuan said, "Use your fingers..."
"How about you come?" Ning Gu turned to look at him.
"You continue." Lian Chuan said.
Ning Gu turned his head, poked the tip of his brush against the wall, and drew a circle tremblingly.
Because the drawing was not very round, he had to explain: "This is a circle."
"I suddenly realized." Lian Chuan said.
Ning Gu looked back at him again: "What do you mean?"
"Painting." Lian Chuan said.
Ning Gu poked the tip of a pen on the wall again, drew a horizontal wavy line in the circle, and continued to cooperate with the explanation: "This line is not straight, but twisted."
Lian Chuan was silent for a second: "Next, don't draw a circle, just draw the inside."
"Okay." Ning Gu nodded, poked the tip of the pen to the wall, and drew three identical wavy lines, "This is the second one..."
It was a bit difficult to draw the third one. When Ning Gu was thinking about how to draw the four-pointed star, Lian Chuan squatted beside him and took the pen from his hand.
Ning Gu turned to look at him.
Lian Chuan drew a four-pointed star on the wall.
Ning Gu was stunned.
"Is it this?" When Lian Chuan asked, the pen landed on the wall again, and drew a vertical line, "There is this, isn't it?"
"...Yes," Ning Gu stared at him in surprise, "You remember? What is this?"
"Don't think about it," Lian Chuan looked at the four graphics on the wall, "This is the city logo of the main city."
"City logo?" Ning Gu was surprised again, "Why haven't I seen it in the main city?"
"The city logo can only be seen when you go to see the administrator," Lian Chuan said. "The black door in the painting is the transport vehicle to meet the administrator."
"What do you mean?" Ning Gu stopped thinking because of shock.
Lian Chuan turned his head and looked at him: "Those four paintings are the main cities of four different generations. The same door has different signs on it."
"What do you mean?" Ning Gu continued to let go.
"Four main cities," Lian Chuan said, "four Ninggu."
Ning Gu opened his mouth half-opened, but lost his voice.
"Here comes the head." Lian Chuan threw away his pen and stood up.
Ning Gu also stood up, and was about to go out when Lian Chuan raised his leg and kicked his foot on the wall. The soles of his shoes slid across the wall. logo disappears.
Lian Chuan glanced at him: "Apart from you and me, no third person can know."
"Well," Ning Gu responded, took a breath and let it out slowly to calm himself down, then turned and walked towards the door, "You stay here and don't go out, if Uncle Crazy comes back, he should know who you are ... It is estimated that he will not come back."
Lian Chuan didn't speak, sat back on the recliner, and closed his eyes.
The head of the group and Li Xiang stood outside the house, holding a cold light bottle in their hands.
Ning Gu walked in front of the two in silence.
"I will ask someone to rebuild your house." Li Xiang said.
"It doesn't matter," Ning Gu said, "I'll stay with Crazy Uncle first, it's far away from the shelter, so I won't cause trouble."
Li Xiang sighed.
"Are you going to Tongwan?" Ning Gu looked at the leader.
"Yes." The leader turned around and walked out quickly.
The wind was very strong, Ning Gu put on the goggles, took out the hat in his pocket and put it on, the brim of the hat was pulled down to above the eyes.
After walking behind the captain for a while, he pushed the brim of his hat to his forehead again.
I don't know why, this is obviously a place he is very familiar with, but now it makes him feel strongly uneasy, always feeling that there is something hidden in the black mist.
"Did you eat anything?" Li Xiang asked.
"No," Ning Gu muffled his voice, "I'm not hungry."
"This trip is unlikely to find the nail," Li Xiang said, "I just took you to see where he disappeared, and we found his goggles there."
Ning Gu turned his head abruptly.
Li Xiang took out a goggle and handed it to him.
Ning Gu's hands were trembling when he took it, it was the goggles with red edges he exchanged from Lost Valley.
He took off his goggles, and when he replaced them, his hands shook so much that he could hardly hold the goggles.
There is a familiar road under his feet. He has walked countless times by himself and with Nail, but this is the first time he has walked here with the leader and Li Xiang.
I can't tell what it's like.
After Li Xiang handed over the goggles to him, the three of them didn't speak any more, and walked forward in silence.
Ning Gu felt a little flustered all over.
Obviously it was the place where he grew up, and it was obviously the place where he traveled thousands of times from childhood to adulthood, but wherever he looked now, it was all strange.
Everything has changed.
When the wind suddenly became fierce, the black mist was so thick that it began to gather and twist in groups.
Tongue Bay has arrived.
The head of the regiment turned his head and glanced at him: "Follow us well, don't go by yourself."
"En." Ning Gu nodded.
The head of the group and Li Xiang protected him one after the other, and walked towards the black tongue that kept rolling up.
The surrounding black fog was getting thicker and thicker, and finally it was almost impossible to see the figures clearly.
Ning Gu knew that if he walked one hundred meters further, there would be a downward slope on the right, with an almost invisible iron gate.
That's the basement.
The basement holds former travelers.
They are no longer travelers. Crazy Uncle said.
Crazy Uncle didn't ask him if he had been to the basement, and how he got in, as if he wasn't surprised at all by what he saw.
The head of the group did not go in the direction of the basement, but stopped after passing the slope.
"It's here," Li Xiang whispered behind him, "where he picked up the goggles."
Ning Gu looked around.
I couldn't see anything clearly, and everything was covered by the dancing black mist constantly rolled up by the strong wind.
Ning Gu clenched his teeth, controlling his urge to shout for nails.
The place where the black fog is thicker is the paradise of the aborigines. The temperature on their bodies will already attract these phantoms in the darkness, and the sound will bring more danger.
"Have you ever asked me," the group leader said in a low voice, "where is the edge of the ghost town, and what is outside the black fog?"
"En." Ning Gu responded in a low voice.
"You are not the only one who wants to know," said the group leader, "Many travelers want to know what kind of world we live in, and if it is destroyed one day, is there any place we can go, and is there any exit from this world? …”
Ning Gu was silent.
"Would you like to see it?" asked the captain.
"What?" Ning Gu looked at the back of his head in surprise.
"What is the border, what is outside the black mist," said the leader, "the path traveled by those curious pioneers."
Before Ning Gu could reply, the head of the group had already stepped forward into the thicker black mist.
"Follow," Li Xiang whispered, "Pay attention to your surroundings."
Ning Gu walked forward quickly and followed the regiment leader.
He had never been to such a deep place before, the wind was still very strong, and the black mist was still very strong, but the breath he could smell was starting to feel a little strange.
The ground under his feet gradually became rough, as if he was walking on a black iron wasteland.
After walking forward for a while, Ning Gu's leg hit something hard.
He lowered the cold light bottle and saw a black stick deeply inserted into the ground. He reached out and grabbed the stick and shook it, but found that the stick seemed to be integrated with the ground and could not be shaken at all.
"Here we are," said the captain.
Ning Gu hurriedly looked forward.
"It's only a few seconds," said the head of the group. "You have to see clearly, remember, we will alarm the aborigines afterwards, and we must flee immediately."
"Oh." Ning Gu didn't understand what the leader said, but he still kept his eyes on the front.
"Li Xiang." The leader slowly raised his hand.
"En." Li Xiang responded.
The leader's hand suddenly pressed down.
Ning Gu felt the vibration under his feet, and the air wave caused by the vibration exploded from the head's feet in an instant. All the black mist was lifted in this second, rolled into black waves, and quickly receded to the surroundings.
Li Xiang immediately released his defense, and the black mist seemed to be blocked by an invisible cover from a semicircle around them.
The cold light bottle illuminates the surroundings.
The world covered by the black mist suddenly appeared in front of Ning Gu.
Long and short black metal sticks stuck on the ground, like the ruins of a metal cemetery.
And between these sticks, there are... people.
Almost all gaps are filled.
A traveler who lost his life.
"These are..." Ning Gu said hoarsely, "What?"
"No matter how far you go, you will never see them again," Li Xiang said, "their bodies will eventually appear here."
"No one knows what's over there," the team leader looked at Ning Gu, "Those who leave will eventually return here, turning into a body that will never rot and never move again. Will never wake up again."