51
Without the sleeping cabin, Lian Chuan could not recover after a good night's sleep. The black circle on his neck that indicated Lin Fan's ability did not have any effect, but if the limiter behind his neck was not removed, he would be like a machine that could not be fully charged indefinitely.
Because he couldn't find the direction to crack the code on the small metal beads, Lian Chuan fell asleep. From the time he woke up until now, Ning Gu has been standing outside Uncle Feng's hut for more than an hour.
Ning Gu probably didn't plan to let him go to the basement to find Uncle Crazy, so he was eager to find a way to control his abilities.
It doesn't seem easy.
Lian Chuan could see through the crack in the door that he had been raising his left hand, with his index finger, middle finger, ring finger and little finger pointing to the sky in turn, and he raised his thumb many times, but all without success.
Lian Chuan wanted to remind him that the focus shouldn't be on which finger... But after thinking about it, he didn't say anything. After all, the longer Ning Gu struggled, the more time he had to recover.
Two hours later, Ning Gu returned to the house with his arms swinging and a look of anger on his face.
Lian Chuan closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep.
"Don't pretend," Ning Gu said, "You can hear everyone who is under the protection shouting, why are you still not awake when I make such a loud noise?"
"I really can't hear anything in the shelter. It's too far away." Lian Chuan opened his eyes.
"If it's really like what you said," Ning Gu still looked furious, "I know why my parents used me as a safe. Did they know from the beginning that I couldn't control my abilities at all?"
"I don't know." Lian Chuan said.
"Forget it," Ning Gu sat on the table, took out the small metal bead, and looked down at it. "I'll rest for a while and then go. There are some things that you can't think too much about. The more you think you need to be prepared, the less prepared you will be."
"Lin Fan has a lot of books," Lian Chuan said, "He might know how to decipher this code."
"I don't trust them," Ning Gu said, "All three of them are lying to me."
Lian Chuan didn't say anything. He was not unfamiliar with this feeling.
"Actually I don't hate them," Ning Gu looked at the little bead, "I thought about it, if they really just treated me as a container, maybe there's no need for me to grow up like a human being. Even though I'm not allowed to go to the main city, I have elders, friends, and enemies here. I've caused trouble and fought a lot, just like all the other travelers."
"Yeah." Lian Chuan responded.
"It's just that they have their own paths to take, so they choose to hide something... They are all true travelers, who can fight side by side or go their separate ways," Ning Gu said, and then was silent for a while, "Then it's the same for me, I am also a true traveler."
"What are your plans?" Lian Chuan asked.
“I want to find out all the things that no one has given me the answers to,” Ning Gu said. “Now no one is stopping me. I can go wherever I want and do whatever I want.”
If you want to go to the basement, go to the basement.
… not quite.
It took Ning Gu a whole day before he stood outside Shetou Bay again.
Lian Chuan wanted to follow him. Given his current situation where he couldn't even activate the abilities that he couldn't control, it was impossible for him to get rid of Lian Chuan. He could only stay in the cabin for another day to give Lian Chuan one more day to recover.
"Will they still be in the basement?" Ning Gu walked into the thick fog where the sound of lightning and explosions continued to be heard.
The only advantage now is that the cold light bottle is no longer the only light source. The electric light is brighter than the cold light bottle, although the fog is still not dissipated.
"Is there any place to transfer those people?" Lian Chuan asked.
"I don't know," Ning Gu said, "I've been here for 22 years, and I've only found one basement. I don't dare go any further."
"Don't worry too much about Dingzi," Lian Chuan said, "If he is among those people, Crazy Uncle will know."
"Uncle Crazy may not be trustworthy," Ning Gu said, "If he really has experienced more than one generation of main cities... he must be much more cunning than the captain and his men."
The indigenous people were no longer around, and Lian Chuan could not sense any information from them at all.
Where had they gone? What else was there in this thick fog
"Why didn't you kill the old ghost that day?" Ning Gu looked down at his feet, "Is it okay for Betelgeuse to kill the old ghost?"
"It's useful to keep him. He knows a lot of things," Lian Chuan said, "and..."
"And what?" Ning Gu turned his head and looked at him.
"After all, he is a traveler who came here from the main city with the captain," Lian Chuan said, "As long as he doesn't hurt anyone, it's fine. Li Xiang is still letting him run."
Ning Gu sighed softly: "Friendship of life and death."
The crack surrounding the basement remained the same as before, blocking the road like a wall of lightning. They went around to the gap where the old ghost was rescued by the indigenous people that day.
I originally thought that the gap might have been occupied by lightning again and I would need to find a new place to get in, but I didn’t expect that before I got to the location, I saw a huge piece of black iron placed on the crack.
The lightning blocked by the black iron flashed from both sides, leaving a space in the middle that was wide enough for two or three people to pass through.
Ning Gu jumped through the gap without hesitation.
When I landed, my feet stepped on something and there was a clicking sound.
He lowered his head and saw a small iron box that had been crushed.
This is a very common item in ghost towns, used to store various small gadgets, and many travelers carry it.
He picked up the box, opened it and looked inside. There was only a small ring.
"This is..." Ning Gu took out the ring and held it in front of his eyes, "This is a wedding gift that Li Xiang made for several travelers..."
"There's someone." Lian Chuan suddenly said beside him.
When Ning Gu heard these two words, he didn't wait for Lian Chuan to suddenly lift him up and move away before his neck tightened.
Without thinking much, he subconsciously leaned forward and raised his left hand.
Just when he could see the thick fog turbulence caused by the wind waves ahead, the golden light from his fingertips had already spread over.
Someone groaned deeply in the wind, as if someone had been hit.
Ning Gu maintained his previous forward leaning posture in shock, even with his left hand still raised in the air without retracting it.
"What did I do?" he whispered.
Lian Chuan glanced at him, said nothing, and rushed forward.
The turbulence had disappeared, and a figure launched a second attack on the other side of the fog.
Lian Chuan moved sideways in the air and was in front of the man before the attack came, pressing his fingers on his throat.
"Uh..." The man made a difficult and broken sound.
"Crazy Uncle?" Ning Gu's surprised voice came from behind.
Lian Chuan let go.
"Ning Gu?" Uncle Feng was also a little surprised, "Was it you just now?"
"Yes." Ning Gu walked over.
"It's really you," Crazy Uncle took two steps back and looked him up and down, "You finally..."
"Or what?" Ning Gu stared at him.
"What are you doing here?" Uncle Feng came back to his senses, "Who is this person?"
"Lian Chuan," Ning Gu said, "Don't you know the cold-blooded hyena who killed people in the main city?"
Uncle Feng glanced at Lian Chuan and said, "I haven't seen him. I haven't been back to the main city since I came to the ghost town."
Ning Gu narrowed his eyes. He couldn't tell whether what Uncle Crazy said was true or not.
"How come you have this?" Uncle Feng saw the small iron box in his hand and reached out to take it. "This is made of tin."
Before his hand reached halfway, Lian Chuan grabbed it.
Lian Chuan took the small iron box from Ning Gu, put it in his hand, and then let go of his hand.
"Who is Tiepi?" Ning Gu asked.
Uncle Feng opened the iron box and took a look at it, then closed it and put it in his pocket. He turned back and looked towards the basement: "A traveler in there has disappeared a long time ago."
"Are those people still there?" Ning Gu was a little anxious when he heard it, "Are they all okay? Did you see the nails?"
"I'm moving them," Crazy Uncle frowned, turned and walked towards the basement, waved his hand, "You guys go, the basement is destroyed."
"Have you," Ning Gu's voice suddenly dropped, "seen the nails?"
Lian Chuan saw the golden light flashing from Ning Gu's fingertips.
"Ning Gu." He called Ning Gu.
Uncle Crazy also turned his head and his eyes fell on Ning Gu's hand.
Ning Gu slowly raised his hands above his head: "Where is the nail."
After a while, Crazy Uncle sighed: "I dragged him over, and he can't wake up now."
"Take me there." Ning Gu said.
"Help me drag a few people," said Crazy Uncle, "I'll take you there."
"Take me there now." Ning Gu said.
"The basement is melting," Crazy Uncle looked at him, "If we don't get everyone out, everything will be gone."
The temperature of the ground was about the same as before, except it wasn't icy anymore. But when I approached the basement, I could feel the heat coming towards me.
"What... happened?" Ning Gu followed Uncle Feng and jumped down into the collapsed basement.
"It's just a cycle," said the crazy uncle. "There's nothing strange about it. Move faster."
Over and over again.
Ning Gu didn't quite understand, but he didn't have time to ask now.
There were quite a few travelers lying on the ground in the basement, looking like they were asleep.
"Only take away the travelers," said Crazy Uncle. "Those who are infected will not survive."
The infected ones are people who look like travelers, but have gray skin and eyes.
"What infected you?" Ning Gu dragged up the two travelers and handed them to Lian Chuan on the upper level. Lian Chuan disappeared instantly, dragging the two travelers by the collars.
“The experimental subjects brought back from the main city were made from indigenous people,” said the crazy uncle, panting as he dragged the two travelers. “All along, the experimental subjects they sent would self-destruct when the time was up, regardless of whether the experiment could be completed or not… But that experimental subject did not self-destruct. I don’t know if it was a mistake or the arrangement of the main city. Anyway, it infected the indigenous people like a virus… The infected will go crazy and then dissolve… Don’t just stand there!”
Ning Gu quickly dragged up two more travelers: "Travelers can also be infected?"
"The infected aborigines are the vectors," Uncle Crazy looked at him, "When you went to Tongue Bay a few times, I thought you would be infected too... You're lucky."
"You knew it a long time ago?" Ning Gu stopped, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I just want to be a bystander." said Crazy Uncle.
"Watch? Watch what? Watch me die?" Ning Gu couldn't believe it. "Old lunatic, I've been nice to you, helping you get food and grabbing supplies, and you treat me like this?"
"What can I do?" said Crazy Uncle. "I told you not to go to the main city but you didn't listen. I told you not to go to Tongue Bay, would you listen? Even the leader can't control the bullies in Ghost Town..."
Ning Gu had a lot of questions to ask, but the Crazy Uncle was panting heavily and was dragging people with him, making noises. He didn't know whether it was real or fake, so he had no choice but to get everyone out first.
With Lian Chuan around, the process was much faster. They dragged the man out of the basement, handed him over to Lian Chuan, and dragged him to the other side of the crack and placed him there.
When Ning Gu dragged out the last two travelers, he didn't see Lian Chuan. He dragged them to the side of Heitie and saw Lian Chuan standing on the other side of Heitie.
"Answer it." Ning Gu said, then looked at him and was stunned.
On the other side of the electric fire crack, there was a huge gray-white ball.
"Old ghost?" He suddenly became nervous and jumped over.
"It's okay," Lian Chuan stopped him, "He has no attack power now."
"He's here to lead the way," the crazy uncle dragged the traveler out, "to help carry people over."
Ning Gu looked at the old ghost.
Only the old ghost's face was left exposed, and his body was completely wrapped in a group of natives who were hugging each other tightly. He looked very strange, as if he was some kind of symbiotic organism with the natives.
"That's all," said Crazy Uncle, "They've all been rescued."
Lian Chuan suddenly turned around and looked around. When his eyes met Ning Gu's, he whispered, "A lot of indigenous people."
The old ghost opened his mouth and let out a series of low guttural sounds.
Several natives rushed out of the black fog, grabbed the travelers lying on the ground, and rushed back into the black fog. Then more natives rushed out and dragged the travelers on the ground.
"If you want to see the nails," Uncle Feng looked at Ning Gu, "just follow."
The direction in which the aborigines dragged the travelers was not to the depths of Tongue Bay, but to a place further away.
There was nothing over there. Ning Gu always felt that the end was the border, but it seemed like he would never reach it.
He was a little anxious. Crazy Uncle was running beside him like an old man. Although he didn't think Crazy Uncle was old most of the time, he felt that Crazy Uncle was really old now...
If it were just him and Lian Chuan, he might have let Lian Chuan drag him away, but Lian Chuan was already dragging a bunch of people, and it was impossible for him to drag both himself and Uncle Feng.
"Let me carry you on my back," Ning Gu said, "You can't run anymore."
Without even a second's pause, Crazy Uncle jumped onto his back, put his arm around his neck, and let out a long sigh: "Hey..."
Ning Gu was speechless and could only pull his arm and continue running forward.
"How old are you?" he asked as he ran. "Are you 70?"
Crazy uncle laughed from behind: "Do I look so young?"
"How old is that?" Ning Gu was stunned.
"I can't remember clearly," Crazy Uncle stopped laughing, and said with some emotion, "I'm too old to remember clearly..."
"Probably?" Ning Gu asked.
"About one or two hundred..." said Uncle Crazy.
"Bullshit." Ning Gu said.
"Don't believe it?" Crazy Uncle laughed happily again, "Have you ever seen a traveler die?"
"I have seen it." Ning Gu said.
"Have you ever seen an old man die?" Crazy Uncle asked again.
Ning Gu was stunned.
Lian Chuan, who had been silent all this time, also turned his head.
"How long have the travelers been driven to the ghost town?" Crazy Uncle said, "What do those old men you saw when you were a child look like now?"
Still the same.
When he was young, the land king was an old crooked businessman, and he is still an old crooked businessman now.
When he was a kid, his uncle was a lunatic, and he is still a lunatic now...
"No one can see the beginning, and no one can see the end..." Crazy Uncle seemed to be talking to himself.
The big gray ball wrapped around the old ghost kept rolling forward, and the natives dragging the traveler also kept running forward.
Ning Gu didn’t know how far it was and didn’t have time to think about it.
His mind was full of those words from Crazy Uncle.
A question he had never thought about, a question no one had ever asked him.
Everyone will die, and travelers don't care about life and death.
But everyone's definition of death seems to exclude death from old age.
Perhaps from the day they were born, they knew that destruction was not far away, and they died before they had a chance to die.
"Uncle Crazy." Ning Gu said in a low voice.
"Hmm?" Crazy Uncle responded.
"Where are you from?" Ning Gu asked.