Ning Gu didn't have time to think about what was going on in front of him, panicked people kept running out of the fire, with scattered ashes all over their faces, hair, and bodies.
The air was filled with the smell of smoke and dust. He had smelled this smell in the ghost town, but it was much weaker, and it was difficult to notice without careful distinction.
The chaotic fleeing crowd ran wildly past all around again, mixed with the cries of children.
"Run?" Ning Gu was a little confused, as if he couldn't use his abilities, Lian Chuan didn't know if he was affected.
"Look at what a scavenger is." Lian Chuan slowly squatted down and put his hands on the ground.
"I can't wake up Betelgeuse now!" Ning Gu squatted down after him.
"I know." Lian Chuan said.
"Then what are you squatting here for?" Ning Gu nervously stared at the direction where the crowd was escaping.
"Secret." Lian Chuan replied.
Ning Gu found that the people around him were not tall, even in this chaotic scene, he and Lian Chuanchu were still very conspicuous in the crowd.
"Where is this? If not the main city, where is it?" Ning Gu asked in a low voice.
"Maybe the main city of a certain generation." Lian Chuan grabbed a handful of ashes on the ground with his hand, "Is such a thick ash the way it was originally, or was it burnt like this?"
"What does scavenger mean?" Ning Gu asked.
"I don't know, the literal understanding should be," Lian Chuan cleared his throat, "The husband who clears the way."
Ning Gu looked at him.
"The one who clears the road, the husband..." Lian Chuan expanded.
"The lady who cleared the road?" Ning Gu was stunned, "Whose lady?"
"The person who clears the road!" Lian Chuan said it again with an accentuated tone.
"Understood," Ning Gu nodded, "Then I'm with you, and you are the cleaning team."
"So I want to see it." Lian Chuan said.
Ning Gu turned his head and looked at the people running around, except that they were generally not tall, and looked a little strange in their clothes. He looked up at the sky, but it was the same black, but there was no black fog.
Is it night
"Whose consciousness is this?" Ning Gu said, "If this is not the main city, then it is not your consciousness... How did the precursor experiment come from?"
"The data of the main city of the previous generation is preserved." Lian Chuan.
"Is it possible that it is your consciousness?" Ning Gu asked.
"Theoretically impossible, the data is just data," Lian Chuan looked at the flames that were beating suddenly and chaotically, "The Lost Valley is what was left over from the main city of the previous generation. The poet has been in the Lost Valley. This may be the poet's Consciousness or memory…”
"What did he want us to see?" Ning Gu asked.
"Not necessarily, at least Qi Hang doesn't want us to see it." Lian Chuan said.
A row of people in uniform rushed out of the chaotic flames, all with weapons in their hands.
It is indeed not the current main city. There is no such uniform in the main city, and the weapons are completely different. They are all shaped like small gun barrels.
"Scavenger?" Ning Gu clenched his fists.
"Let's go," the man in the middle shouted with the weapon in his hand, "Don't make unnecessary resistance."
"Go." Lian Chuan said in a low voice.
When the two of them stood up and retreated, the man suddenly raised his weapon and pointed at them: "You! Who are you? Where did you come from!"
The two of them were indeed different from those who had escaped before. They were different in height and clothes, especially Lian Chuan was still in uniform.
"The secret army of the rebels?" Several people raised their weapons and pointed at them together.
"Be careful." Lian Chuan saw a blackness suddenly appeared in the firelight behind them, and pulled Ning Gu back suddenly.
The opponent's weapon opened fire, and a cloud of smoke rose from where they had stood before, but there was no light from the weapon.
The weapon attack here is not something that is visible to the naked eye.
Dark shadows flickered in the firelight.
Not one or two, but one slice.
When the men with weapons turned back to aim at the fire, the shadows had already stepped out of the fire.
As the weapon fired again, the shadow rushed forward towards them simultaneously.
The shooting of the weapon brought out a gust of wind in the air, and the black image was a phantom blown by the wind, swaying with the wind.
But the forward speed didn't slow down at all, and they passed through the bodies of these people almost at the same time, as if there was no obstacle at all.
For a moment, people couldn't tell whether the black shadow was illusory, or these people were illusory.
Then these people disappeared into the shadows.
"Run." Lian Chuan grabbed Ning Gu's hand tightly.
This time he didn't retreat, but turned around and ran in the direction where the crowd fled before.
Ning Gu turned his head and looked back.
The black shadow didn't chase after him, and the action didn't seem to be particularly fast, but what made Ning Gu feel a bit terrified was the quantity.
The black shadows constantly swaying from the flames stretched out to both sides, and the team couldn't see the end.
As long as there is fire, you can see black shadows that are constantly shaking.
They don't have a clear appearance, and they can't see any part clearly. Apart from being able to see the general human shape, there are no other details.
Like some kind of shadow parasitic on fire.
Lian Chuan pulled Ning Gu and rushed forward until there was no fire before stopping, hiding behind a pile of ashes as tall as two people.
The fleeing people in front seemed to have dispersed, and there was no one around, and their shouts could not be heard.
"This is the scavenger?" Ning Gu asked softly.
"It should be." Lian Chuan said.
"Their speed is so slow," Ning Gu said, "Why are these people still being chased by them?"
"I don't know," Lian Chuan looked around, "There seems to be a high place over there, go there and have a look, and find a way to escape, it's not safe here."
"En." Ning Gu responded.
The high platform that Lian Chuan saw was an artificial building, which had been damaged a lot, but the stairs on the side were still there.
"This looks like a watchtower?" Ning Gu stomped his feet as he walked up, "It's solid, not a house."
"En." Lian Chuan responded.
Walking to the top is a platform, which looks like a large platform on the square outside the City Affairs Office. On the celebration day, President Su will stand on it and announce the start of the carnival.
"This is..." Ning Gu had already stood on the edge of the other side of the platform, looking forward in shock, "What the hell is this place?"
Lian Chuan walked over and saw what the other side looked like.
The place where they were standing was like a high cliff, and the other side seemed to have been cut with a knife, and it went down abruptly.
And in front is a large flat land, under the faintly radiant sky, one can see the shadowy ruins, and some sparse lights flickering in the middle.
And farther away, there are flames, connected into a piece, Lian Chuan turned his head, and the distance behind him is still the flames.
These fires formed a circle, tightening inward bit by bit.
This is a world that is almost at the end of its destruction.
"Those people were driven here." Ning Gu was stunned for a long time. "The circle of fire keeps closing. These people have nowhere to go, so they can only flee to the center..."
"En." Lian Chuan responded.
"In the end this circle becomes a point," Ning Gu turned to look at him, "this generation of the main city is over."
Lian Chuan didn't speak.
"Where are the scavengers?" Ning Gu said, "The fire is burning like this, do we still need them to kill people?"
"Make sure there is no residue," Lian Chuan said. "The desire to survive is very strong, and it can make people live in incredible ways."
"Are you talking about yourself?" Ning Gu said.
"We want to leave here," Lian Chuan said, "If we can't find a way to leave or the door to go back, we will disappear in the last point."
"But we should still be in the Valley of Lost Way," Ning Gu said, "Isn't it? We are just consciousness."
"Well," Lian Chuan looked at him, "then we may be trapped here forever, leaving two empty shells in the Valley of Lost."
Ning Gu instantly thought of the bodies of those travelers on the border of Tongue Bay, and his back felt chilly.
"What should we do now?" he asked.
"Look for something special," Lian Chuan said, "We can write down everything, but we can only remember the important part. This is the poet's memory. There must be something special about this part, so we can will come here."
"Understood," Ning Gu looked around, "I'll look for it."
Lian Chuan fumbled on his uniform.
"What?" Ning Gu was suddenly nervous, "Are you injured?"
"No," Lian Chuan said, "activate the backup energy."
"Can the uniform be used?" Ning Gu asked.
"Yes," Lian Chuan nodded, "but no weapons."
Ning Gu immediately began to touch himself: "Let me see if there is anything useful on my body."
"Your clothes," Lian Chuan glanced at him, "is it the one you wore in the ghost town?"
"Well," Ning Gu looked, and suddenly seemed to have discovered something, and raised his head to look at Lian Chuan, "You also had a uniform when you were in the ghost town, we are the same at this time!"
"Yes." Lian Chuan pressed the side of the trouser leg of the uniform, and the small cover that popped open was empty.
"This is the time I went to Tongwan." Ning Gu pointed at his leg, "You have already taken out your knuckles."
"Where's that piece of paper?" Lian Chuan looked at him, "That piece of paper was picked up before this, right?"
"Yes!" Ning Gu quickly took out his clothes, "Is there any mechanism for the piece of paper?"
"I don't know." Lian Chuan said.
"What do you know?" Ning Gu clicked his tongue.
"I know you are really slow." Lian Chuan said.
"Here!" Ning Gu held the piece of paper between his fingers and handed it to him.
Lian Chuan didn't answer, just stared at the paper.
"What?" Ning Gu glanced at the piece of paper, then quickly turned the piece of paper over and over again several times, "The words are gone?"
"Find this writer." Lian Chuan said.
The only place where people can be found is probably only in the ruined wall under the cliff.
Lian Chuan followed the messy footprints on the ground and found a gap.
"Go down from here?" Ning Gu poked his head out and looked.
"Probably here," Lian Chuan said, "but you have to climb down, it's too high, and you will fall to your death if you jump directly."
"Will the consciousness also fall to death?" Ning Gu asked, "Whether we are dead or alive, is it also an input like a taste?"
"It's possible," Lian Chuan clung to the edge of the cliff, hanging in the air and using the lights on his uniform to shine down, "There is a way, come down."
A narrow path cut out of the cliff can only accommodate one person.
Ning Gu followed behind Lian Chuan, rubbing his hands against the cliff beside him, "Fortunately, I haven't lived here all the time."
"What?" Lian Chuan asked.
"It's too high," Ning Gu said, "How can the main city of this generation have such a terrain? The tallest part of the ghost town is the bell tower, and the tallest part of the main city is the light thorn, right? Is there a higher place?"
"It's gone." Lian Chuan said.
"The bell tower and the light thorns are not as high as one-fifth of this..." Ning Gu frowned. You don’t have to go down like this when you’re in the hole…”
"Why are you looking down?" Lian Chuan said.
"I can't help it." Ning Gu sighed, "I've been thinking about what's outside the black mist, what's on the border... Now that I see it, it's actually like this..."
"This is not beyond the black fog," Lian Chuan said, "This is another stage of the revolving lantern."
Ning Gu was silent for a while: "Is it a place that no longer exists?"
Lian Chuan didn't speak.
"If we can't go back," Ning Gu said, "stay in this place that doesn't exist... then do we still exist?"
Lian Chuan stopped and turned to look at him.
"What's wrong?" Ning Gu asked.
"Don't think about things that haven't happened," Lian Chuan said, "find the person who wrote."
"En." Ning Gu nodded.
Lian Chuan continued to walk forward, Ning Gu followed behind, he didn't look down any more, for fear that his legs would weaken and fall, he just kept staring at the back of Lian Chuan's head.
After walking in silence for a while, he smiled: "I'll think about it for a second, do you want to listen?"
"Say." Lian Chuan said.
"If you're really trapped here, maybe it won't be too bad," Ning Gu said, "At least I'm not alone, and you are also there. Fortunately, it's you... who do you want?"
"You can do it." Lian Chuan said.
The cliff was actually not too high, and it was much easier to walk down than it looked. After a while, the two of them reached the middle position.
This cliff is a concave U-shape. Their current position is on the right side of the U, and they can see the opposite cliff when they turn their heads.
It's okay if you don't look at it, after seeing the cliff opposite, Ning Gu immediately leaned against the cliff and didn't want to move.
This kind of cliff that is full of eyes from top to bottom makes people weaker than looking down.
"Huh?" Lian Chuan stopped when he realized that he hadn't followed.
"It's okay." Ning Gu withdrew his gaze and followed.
But after walking a few steps, he stopped suddenly and looked at the opposite cliff again.
Lian Chuan glanced back at him, didn't ask any questions, just followed his gaze and turned his head to look over.
In the middle of the cliff on the opposite side, on the cliff lower than their current position, there is a bright light.
"Is it a lamp?" Ning Gu suppressed his voice, "Or a fire?"
"Fire can flicker," Lian Chuan said, "This is a lamp."
"There's someone there," Ning Gu stared and looked carefully, "It seems that the road we're taking doesn't pass there."
"Go forward to the corner," Lian Chuan said, "you can jump over it."
Ning Gu's gaze quickly looked down to the bottom of the cliff, then bounced back suddenly, and landed on Lian Chuan's face: "If you don't jump in, you will die."
"I can't jump in." Lian Chuan said and started to walk forward.
"It's a hole there." Ning Gu chased after him, his mouth almost stuck to the back of his neck, and said anxiously, "You don't know what's inside, so just jump over?"
"Then you should say hello first." Lian Chuan said.
Ning Gu took a breath, and before he could make a sound, Lian Chuan had already covered his mouth.
Ning Gu blinked.
"Keep quiet," Lian Chuan looked at him, "Do you understand?"
Ning Gu blinked again.
Lian Chuan let go of his hand: "Let's look for it again."
"What are you looking for?" Ning Gu asked.
"Your brain may be thrown here." Lian Chuan said.
Ning Gu couldn't help laughing: "I didn't want to shout just now, just to tease you."
Lian Chuan took a look at him.
"It's too nervous," Ning Gu said, "I want to relax."
"Is it relieved?" Lian Chuan asked.
"It's much better." Ning Gu gritted his teeth.
When he reached the innermost side of the cliff, Lian Chuan stopped.
Going forward, you will be parallel to the hole with the light on. If you want to jump over, you can only go from here.
The distance is not too close, at the limit of Lianchuan.
He glanced back at the cliff behind him, and kicked twice with his feet.
"Now?" Ning Gu asked.
"Yeah." Lian Chuan stretched out his hand to pull him.
"Don't pull me," Ning Gu said, "keep your hands out, in case of any emergency, you are the only one who can react."
Ning Gu hugged his waist: "I'll just hug you."
"Let's go." Lian Chuan said.
"Go." Ning Gu tightened his arms.
Lian Chuan kicked hard on the cliff, and the two jumped from the middle of the cliff to the entrance of the cave over there.
The wind blew past Lian Chuan's ears violently, and Ning Gu had the illusion that he had suddenly returned to the ghost town.
No matter how lonely and desperate the ghost town is, the place where he has lived for more than 20 years will still evoke nostalgia at any similar node.
The bright light in front of him quickly became larger in front of his eyes.
The speed at which Lian Chuan kicked out surprised Ning Gu a little.
The entrance of the cave appeared in front of their eyes in an instant.
A hole that isn't particularly deep.
There is a warm yellow light overflowing.
On the side facing them, there is a bookshelf full of books.
Then Ning Gu saw a table.
Also saw a book open on the table.
and the people sitting behind the desk.
Lian Chuan's last landing point was on the stone outside the entrance of the cave, and he almost stepped on the air.
The sound when it landed made the people behind the table suddenly raise their heads.
Ning Gu saw his face.
Most of his face was covered by a dog-head mask.