Melting City

Chapter 62

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Ning Gu’s first reaction was Nine Wings.

This dog-head mask was the first thing he saw when he fainted in the Lost Valley and opened his eyes to see Jiuyi.

No one probably knows what Jiu Yi looks like. Ning Gu thinks that this mask is probably one of his modifications. It is different from other bats in that it is directly buckled with metal on the face.

But how could Jiu Yi be here

He was very shocked.

Lian Chuan didn't know if he was shocked or not, but his emotions would never affect his actions.

While Ning Gu was still in shock, Lian Chuan had already rushed into the cave.

Goutou only had time to grab the book on the table when Lianchuan grabbed his wrist.

But what Ning Gu didn't expect was that Gou Tou could actually pull his hand out of Lian Chuan's hand and take the book as well.

Then the dog head jumped out from behind the table and ran towards the cave.

Lian Chuan grabbed the man by the back of his collar.

The man suddenly raised his hand and threw the book in his hand out of the cave.

Ning Gu already knew that this was definitely not an ordinary book. The first thing this person did after they entered the cave was to protect the book.

He quickly reached out and grabbed a corner of the book.

But the dog head was thrown very hard, and although he caught a corner of it, the book still flew out.

Lian Chuan loosened his grip, trying to grab the book before it fell, but Gou Tou got ahead of him, blocked him, and rushed to the cave entrance and jumped.

Both the man and the book disappeared below the cliff.

Ning Gu rushed to the entrance of the cave, lay down and looked down, but he saw no one and heard no sound.

"The ground below isn't solid," Lian Chuan also poked his head out to take a look, "and it's not connected to the flat ground over there."

"Did you see that guy?" Ning Gu turned and looked at him, "That mask! The one with the dog's head!"

"I see," Lian Chuan squatted down and looked down again, "It's the same mask as Jiu Yi's."

"How could this happen?" Ning Gu was still immersed in shock. Perhaps it was because Jiu Yi's image of being brainless was too deeply rooted in people's minds, and he was always crazy and moody. He really couldn't connect Jiu Yi with "the other square of the revolving lantern". "Do you think it's the same mask? Or did Jiu Yi have a chance to see this mask and make a similar one?"

"It's the same one," Lian Chuan said. "The mask this guy is wearing has a small gap under his left eye. The one on Jiu Yi also has that."

Ning Gu was shocked again: "Why didn't I notice it?"

"So you are not me." Lian Chuan stood up, turned around and walked back into the cave.

"I didn't hear the sound of him falling to the ground just now," Ning Gu followed him back into the cave, "Is there nothing underneath? Did he not fall to death?"

"It's hard to tell," Lian Chuan walked to the side of the table, "We can't leave for now. We can't jump back to the original path. If we jump directly from here, we might end up in an unsafe place..."

"It's okay," Ning Gu said, "You can take a look at this cave first. Anyway, you are the strongest hyena in the main city. You can survive if you don't die."

"Let me see what you tore off." Lian Chuan stretched out his hand.

"What did you tear off?" Ning Gu was stunned.

Lianchuan pointed to his right hand.

When Ning Gu lowered his head, he was surprised to find that he was holding a corner of paper tightly in his hand. It should have been torn off when he snatched the book just now, but because he was too nervous, he had not noticed it.

"This shape..." Ning Gu doubted his eyes when he handed the piece of paper to Lian Chuan.

"Take out the one you have and let me see it." Lian Chuan should have discovered the same thing.

The shape of the torn piece of paper was exactly the same as the piece of paper he had picked up before.

While he was frantically searching himself, Lian Chuan had already finished reading the words on the paper.

"The paper is gone!" Ning Gu suddenly looked up at him.

"The words on it are the same as the one you picked up before," Lian Chuan held the piece of paper and shook it, "It's the same."

Ning Gu stood there in a daze.

After a while, he asked, "Could it be that I took it out and held it in my hand?"

"This paper is new." Lian Chuan said.

Ning Gu stared at the paper for two seconds. Indeed, this paper was much whiter than the one he picked up.

"Keep this one." Lian Chuan said.

"I picked up the paper I tore off myself?" Ning Gu carefully stuffed the piece of paper into his clothes, a little confused, "Does the time match? Are we in the past now?"

"Not necessarily," Lian Chuan thought for a long time, "According to Uncle Feng, we are just living in another square of the revolving lantern. The current square may be next to it, on the left, or on the right, but no matter which square it is, it is only the present. Even if it is in the past, it is only the past of this square, not necessarily the past of our square."

Ning Gu squatted beside him, leaning against the wall, and took a long time to digest Lian Chuan's words.

"How did the paper get to Tongue Bay?" he asked, "Why was it yellow when I picked it up?"

"I don't know either," Lianchuan replied, "Maybe it has really been in Tongue Bay for a long time. After all, when travelers arrive at the ghost town, the ghost town has existed for at least as long as the main city."

Ning Gu was silent.

"Why don't you say 'How come you don't know anything'?" Lian Chuan asked.

"It's normal not to know this," Ning Gu said, "it's scary when you know it."

Lian Chuan stood up, walked to the bookshelf next to him, and picked out a book at random.

"What book is it?" Ning Gu asked.

"A collection of fairy tales." Lian Chuan said.

"Fairy tale?" Ning Gu didn't understand.

"It's probably..." Lian Chuan flipped through the pages, "Using some non-existent little stories to tell children some real things."

"I haven't heard of it." Ning Gu said.

"Neither do I," Lian Chuan said. "Only children from settlements like Greenland can hear stories like this."

"A safe place," Ning Gu tilted his head back, "I don't know what happened to that thing in the main city, the ghost town, and the Lost Valley... After we go back, the first thing we have to do is find Jiuyi."

"What do you think he knows?" Lian Chuan pulled out another book.

It was a picture album. He flipped through it and found that everything was in color.

"Who is that person he doesn't want to see?" Ning Gu said, "Why does he have that mask? Where was he born? Why is he in the Lost Valley? Why doesn't he want a brain anymore... Do you think he really has no brains?"

"It's true that neither the poet nor Qi Hang can influence him, but he is much more complicated than we imagined," Lian Chuan turned around and sat next to Ning Gu with the album in his hand, "Here."

"What?" Ning Gu turned his head away, "I can't read."

"Paintings," Lian Chuan said, "Don't you want a painting? There are probably about one or two hundred paintings here."

"Really?" Ning Gu quickly turned around, snatched the book away, and opened it.

Then he just kept flipping through the pages, from the beginning to the end, and then flipping back again, and finally stopped: "What are these paintings about? I don't recognize any of them."

"Isn't this a person?" Lian Chuan casually opened it and pointed at a painting.

"How can anyone look like this? This is painted like a street sweeper, just a black mass," Ning Gu said, "If you paint it like this, Crazy Uncle also painted it like this."

"Then what you want is not a painting," Lian Chuan said, "but a photograph."

"It's a painting." Ning Gu said.

"It's a painted photo." Lian Chuan said.

"You know shit." Ning Gu was unconvinced.

"You understand." Lian Chuan said.

Ning Gu was stunned for a moment, then he looked at him and laughed: "You are also very quick to laugh at people."

Lian Chuan curled the corners of his mouth, which was considered a smile.

Lian Chuan read all the books on the bookshelf. There was nothing special about them, just story books and picture albums. Although the content and expression of the stories were completely different from what he had been exposed to since childhood, and he didn't know what the things mentioned were, he could still understand the difference between the two revolving lanterns.

He just wanted to find some non-fiction content, or something technical that could help him understand the world around him, but he found nothing.

The owner of this bookshelf seemed to have avoided these things deliberately, or perhaps it could be said that the owner of this bookshelf only needed these vivid, unrealistic stories.

What is the relationship between this person and Jiuyi

Is it the person that Jiuyi doesn't want to see? Or is it Jiuyi himself

The dog-head mask was quite large, and Lian Chuan's observation of Jiu Yi's real face was far less detailed than that of the mask. Now that he was asked to recall the mouth and chin that were exposed under the mask, it was really difficult to determine whether it was the same person.

"If this piece of paper can reach Tongue Bay," Ning Gu said, "where did it get to? There are many things in the ghost town that I have never seen before, and I don't know what they are used for. Travelers take them to the Lost Valley to trade. At least the ghost town has some way to connect to other grids. Where is it?"

"If it's not outside the border," Lianchuan said, "then it must be that car. Some travelers followed the car all the way, right?"

"Yes, but they never came back," Ning Gu said. "They disappeared. Will they become empty shells, piled outside the border?"

"Where did the consciousness go?" Lian Chuan poked his chin.

"Are we conscious now? If we can't go back, only a shell will remain in the Lost Valley." Ning Gu said.

"What about the other consciousnesses?" Lian Chuan looked towards the cave entrance. "Was that a human being, or a consciousness from an unknown source?"

"Don't scare me." Ning Gu glared at him.

"If that's the case," Lian Chuan also looked at him, "whose consciousness is the poet? Where is the poet's shell?"

Jiuyi squatted on the sharp spike at the bottom of the chanting cave, watching the golden light gathering in front of him.

"Call them back." Qi Hang spoke before the golden light had time to gather on his face.

"Da Jiong," Jiu Yi looked at the three clear scratches on the face, "Who are you?"

"Lianchuan! Ninggu!" Qi Hang pushed forward fiercely and forced his way in front of Jiuyi. "Call them back. Do you know where they went?"

"I know." Jiu Yi raised his index finger, slowly extended it through Qi Hang's nose, and shook it. "The world of poets."

"If they can reach the poet's world, they can reach other worlds," Qi Hang said. "By the time they figure out what's going on, all your efforts will be wasted!"

"I don't even know what merits I have." Jiu Yi retracted his finger and looked at him, "Why give up everything?"

"You..." Qi Hang stepped back suddenly and then rushed forward again.

"I only know that you," Jiuyi's fingertip extended again and tapped lightly on the mask, "want to become the god of all worlds."

"I am the only one who can live solely on consciousness," said Qi Hang.

"Only three," Jiu Yi said, "including the poets, that's only four. That's too many. Isn't it crowded?"

"Isn't it crowded?" Fulu shouted from under the sharp vertebrae.

"Shut up!" Qi Hang sank down suddenly and forced his way in front of Fulu.

Jiu Yi jumped down from the spike, stabbed Qi Hang's face from top to bottom, and then jumped back to the top of the spike: "When you talk to my people, be polite."

"Who do you think you are?" Qi Hang's face floated up again, "Who do you think you are?"

"I don't know." Jiu Yi suddenly laughed. The sharp laughter echoed in the vertical hole and kept floating upwards. After a while, he stopped and looked at Qi Hang. "I only know that you are afraid of me. You are not afraid of poets, but you are afraid of me. You handed over your eyes just to tell me that you saw nothing."

"It's good to know nothing," the gathered golden light began to slowly disperse, "Some things, once you know them, you will regret them, and once you think about them, you will despair."

Jiu Yi didn't say anything.

"So you never regret and never despair." The golden light dissipated, and the voice dissipated with it.

Several black rings jumped silently from all around to Jiuyi's side.

"How is it?" Jiu Yi asked.

“Those scavengers have returned to the bubbles,” a black ring whispered, “and all the people in the main city who fed the bubbles have disappeared.”

"Never mind that," Jiu Yi shook his finger spikes, "Strengthen the defense of Lost Valley, give them the supplies the hyenas want, and we can also give them weapons. They can help us defend the ground. I will stay here for the next few days. Ask Fu Lu Shou Xi if you have anything."

"Understood." Black Ring stepped back.

"Can they come back?" Suki jumped over from another spike, "Once Da-Yun comes back, the door won't close."

"It's not that it can't be closed," Fulu said from below, "it's that the boss burned it."

"Hush." Jiu Yi raised his finger, "They can come back. I have this feeling. Ning Gu is the savior."

"Half of the main city!" Fulu shouted.

"That thing is useless to me." Jiuyi said.

"Lian Chuan?" Ning Gu lay at the entrance of the cave and shouted downwards in a low voice.

"Here." Lian Chuan's voice came from below.

"How is it?" Ning Gu asked.

"This piece is slanted inward, very smooth, and has no fulcrum," said Lian Chuan.

"Then come back," Ning Gu said, "Don't fall down."

"Impossible." Lian Chuan said.

“… Then you just hang there?” Ning Gu said.

Lian Chuan didn't say anything.

"Lian Chuan?" Ning Gu was a little nervous. They were not familiar with this place. This cliff was not made of metal, but stone, and it was not solid. When Lian Chuan tried to climb down, he kept falling off. Now that he suddenly stopped making any sound, he suddenly felt uneasy. "Lian Gou?"

"Don't make me laugh," Lian Chuan said, "it will affect my movements."

"Very funny?" Ning Gu was speechless, "You still want to laugh at this time?"

"I'm coming up," Lian Chuan's voice began to approach slowly, "get out of the way."

Before Ning Gu could stand up and move aside, the sky suddenly lit up.

A red flame suddenly lit up above the cliff.

Ning Gu instantly saw the cliff illuminated by the fire, and the pool of water below the cliff whose depth was unclear.

He stared at the huge surface of water, unable to believe his eyes.

He had never seen so much water.

It even took me several seconds to realize that this was water.

The width of the water is so wide that even Lianchuan cannot jump over it.

Even if they followed the road to the bottom of the cliff, it would be impossible for them to jump over the water where they didn't know what was underneath and reach the flat land covered with ruins that they saw.

"Scavenger." Lian Chuan said while looking upwards.

When Ning Gu turned his head and looked up, he saw a raging fire that had already reached the edge of the cliff, and a dark shadow swaying out of the fire.

The scavenger was like weightless mist, following the edge of the cliff and walking down as if it were flat ground.

At this speed, it would take only a few minutes to reach the cave entrance where they were now.

"Give me your hand." Lian Chuan quickly crawled to the bottom of the cave and stretched out his hand.

"Jump down?" Ning Gu reached out and grabbed his hand.

"Yes." Lian Chuan said.

"Will he die from the fall?" Ning Gu asked, "If he dies from the fall, will he really stay here?"

"Don't you care?" Lian Chuan said.

"Then don't let go." Ning Gu said.

"Yeah." Lian Chuan pulled him hard, and the two of them fell into the water from the cave entrance.

While falling, Ning Gu glanced upwards and saw fire rolling down with crackling sounds, like the last sound uttered by this world.