66
"It's a little more crooked than yesterday." The king of land stood under the clock tower and made a square with his hand.
The bell tower in the frame is leaning to the left.
He had come to see it three days ago, and at that time the top of the clock tower was facing the first knuckle of his left index finger.
Looking at it again today, the top of the building is already pointing at the second knuckle.
At this rate, the bell tower will collapse in less than ten days.
This ghost town landmark, a milestone in traveler history, will end its journey before the world is destroyed.
Next it will disappear in the lightning, disappear in the cracks, and disappear in time.
Maybe there will be a next generation of main city, then... will there be the next ghost town
Will the ghost town outside the main city disappear along with the main city, or will it continue to return to the dead and silent land of eternal night before the arrival of the traveler
Someone was walking up from behind, and the King of Land knew it was Li Xiang without even turning around.
The man's steps were light, gentle, and firm.
"You come here every day." Li Xiang said.
"There's nowhere to go," said the Earth King. "In the past, I dared to go to the Northland to collect things, but now I don't dare to go anywhere other than the Sanctuary."
"It's better to stay in the shelter recently," Li Xiang handed him a cloth bag, "There is armor inside, you replace the nails with it. If there is a chaos in the main city, he will not be easily injured with this."
"In that state, won't Dingzi stay in the ghost town?" said the land king, "I won't leave. I can take care of him."
"Ning Gu will never go back to Ghost Town," Li Xiang sighed softly, "If Ding Zi stays here, I'm afraid he won't forgive us even if the world is destroyed."
"Got it," said the land king, "I have some good strapping tape. We can make a device to secure him so that the person carrying him can carry him without affecting his movements."
"Okay." Li Xiang nodded.
"Will we have a meeting later?" asked the King of Land.
"Well, there is no time. It's time for everyone to make the final choice." Li glanced in the direction of Tongue Bay. New electric cracks kept appearing. The nearest one was already on the edge of Shelter No. 3. If this trend continued, the ghost town would be torn into several pieces by the electric cracks.
Even if we don't leave the ghost town, even if the ghost town will not be destroyed, people on different plots of land will never see each other again.
"I still have some things in my secret treasure house," the king of the earth said, "you can take a look when you have time to see if there is anything you can use. Now no one is too busy to exchange."
"You keep it," Li Xiang said, "We will die without an exit, so we have no use for it."
"Okay." The King of the Earth nodded. "I never thought that a traveler like me with no special abilities could survive to this day and have enough to survive for a while."
Li Xiang smiled.
"Old ghost!" Lin Fan stood in the thick black fog, shouted and then blew a whistle.
The sound of clinking iron chains slowly approached from the fog, and the tall figure of the old ghost appeared before our eyes.
"Is there any movement over here?" Lin Fan asked.
"No," the old ghost said in a hoarse voice, "the best case scenario is that the ghost town is forgotten."
"Where is the old madman?" Lin Fan asked again.
"I don't know where he went," said the old ghost, "maybe he found a good place to wait to watch the fireworks. He's lived enough and seen enough."
"I want to take those materials away. They can't be destroyed here." Lin Fan said.
"They are right here," the old ghost said, "What's the difference between this place and the shelter?"
"There are still many travelers left in the shelter," Lin Fan said, "I will take care of them."
"Are you sure that the captain and the others won't use these materials again?" Lao Gui coughed twice, and his voice became even hoarse.
"The army already has enough people. He will take those people to the main city," Lin Fan said, "leaving some here to protect the travelers."
"E's army?" asked the old ghost.
Lin Fan didn't say anything.
"Aren't you afraid that E and Ning Gu will meet in the main city?" The old ghost laughed hoarsely.
"It's his own decision," Lin Fan said, "He must have thought of this day at the beginning, but everyone can only live in the present, and can't think too much about the past or the future."
"You should go back," the old ghost glanced at the border, "there was some movement over there yesterday, probably a new crack. This is the narrowest part of the ghost town. If there is a crack here, it will most likely be torn in half."
"Old ghost," Lin Fan looked at him, "If he were alive."
"I'm here." said the old ghost.
"I'm here too," Lin Fan turned around and walked into the black fog, raising his hand as if raising a glass, "See you later."
"See you later." said the old ghost.
The secret that Ning Gu has never known, the secret that he cannot discover even if he finds the basement, is under the clock tower.
The first formal building that travelers build when they arrive in a ghost town is a bell tower, not only for commemoration but also for rebirth.
Below the bell tower, deep in the black iron, is a huge hole.
e said that this should be a molten fire cave left by the previous generation. The molten fire has erupted completely, leaving behind a huge main cave and seven or eight sub-caves.
They built a bell tower above the hole to commemorate the day they arrived in the ghost town, the day they lost their dawn and dusk.
It is also the day they will regain their strength, take back the main city, and move towards a new life.
The light in the cave was not very bright, and the cold light bottles on the wall were almost extinguished.
No need to order anymore.
The dark crowd lined up in this cave is the army of the ghost town.
As soon as the vehicle arrives, a large part of the army will follow the leader and go to the main city.
No one knows what the current situation of the main city is, but the ghost town has reached its final stage, and it is a foregone conclusion whether to go or stay.
There were no telling how many cracks of lightning there were. The ghost town was brighter than ever before, with lightning illuminating everywhere, but it was also darker than ever before. The black fog was constantly invading, and the shelter was gradually submerged in the black fog.
Li Xiang was standing at the entrance of the clock tower. When he saw Lin Fan coming, he turned around and walked into the entrance with him and opened a door under the upward stairs.
There was a staircase leading down inside the door, and the two walked down in silence.
When you smell the increasingly strong scent of residual molten fire, you have arrived.
The captain stood on a high platform in the cave, looking at the silent army of travelers in front of him.
"Is e awake?" Lin Fan asked.
"Awake." said the captain.
eBecause he was severely damaged during the experiment, he needed to rely on long periods of low-temperature sleep to maintain his functions. Regardless of whether there was a way out or not, this trip to the main city was his last one-way journey.
Footsteps were heard coming from the depths of the cave. Several people turned in the direction of the sound, and the team leader jumped off the platform.
A man with a hat covering half of his face slowly walked through the frozen travelers and came in front of them.
"Long time no see," E said, "comrades."
"Long time no see." said the team leader.
"Where's the old ghost?" e turned to Lin Fan.
"He stayed in the northern border," Lin Fan said, "The old madman is also there, but he doesn't know where he is."
"What about you?" E asked.
"I'll stay in the shelter," Lin Fan said, "We need someone to take the lead here."
"Well," E lifted his hat, "we all still stick to our original principles."
"This is for you," Lin Fan took out an old pair of goggles and handed them to E, "It's from Ning Gu."
e took the goggles and looked down for a long time: "How is he?"
"Very good," Lin Fan said, "very cute."
"Cute?" E asked.
"It's very cute." said the team leader.
e laughed: "You can still raise cute people?"
"We are cute too." Li Xiang said with a smile.
"He went to the main city," the captain said, "If there is a chance..."
"No," E clenched his goggles, "Let's just leave it at that. I didn't plan to see you again when I made the decision."
Several people were silent for a while, and the team leader spoke up: "The car will probably be here in the next two days. Is everything ready?"
e slowly raised his hand, his fingertips glowing with dark silver light, and all the travelers in the molten fire cave behind him raised their hands in silence, and the black circles on their necks glowed with the same dark silver light.
"For survival." said E.
A low sound rang out in the cave at the same time, and the ground beneath their feet began to vibrate.
“To survive.”
"I want to go back to the main city." Lian Chuan sat on the sofa and looked at Ye Xi.
Ye Xi could sit in a chair for hours without moving or even blinking, like a lifeless puppet.
"Isn't it good here?" Ye Xi asked.
"I still have things to do," Lianchuan said, "I can't waste time here."
"There is no time," Ye Xi said, "there is no time here."
"What are you doing here?" Lian Chuan said.
"I don't know," Ye Xi turned his head slowly, "I don't care. My mission is just to stay here in the form of non-existence."
"Mission," Lian Chuan paused for a moment, stood up, and walked in front of him, "Everyone has his own mission, right?"
"Yeah," Ye Xi nodded, "There are no bugs, so they need bugs, especially people like you."
"Each generation of main cities actually has remnants from the previous generation. Some are deliberately preserved, while others cannot be eliminated when they are replaced. The scavenger cannot guarantee to clear everything," Lian Chuan said, "so the system will give instructions to clean up redundancies and bugs, those who are duplicated with the previous generation of main cities, or those who are like Crazy Uncle who keep repeating between main cities forever."
Ye Xi didn't say anything, just looked at him.
"Why is there Ning Gu in every main city? The person who looks like you appears in every main city, and always appears outside the administrator's door," Lian Chuan slowly approached Ye Xi, "They are some kind of existence that cannot be eliminated, or... some kind of existence that must appear, right?"
Ye Xi smiled.
"I originally thought it might be your projection," Lian Chuan stared at him, "but you keep saying you don't exist, and you are everything... So maybe you are just someone's personal projection. You are not even as good as those 'Ning Gu'. They exist in every generation of the main city, and they know their missions. Only you have accepted the fact that you don't exist... You are just a shadow of nothingness, or perhaps just a meaningless recorder."
Lian Chuan looked at him: "The biggest bug might be you."
The smile on Ye Xi's face disappeared: "Maybe."
"Why am I, a big bug, here?" Lian Chuan said, "Because I am a precursor experiment subject, I have the preserved information of the previous main city. I have some kind of connection with Ninggu. Maybe it was a foreshadowing laid by the previous main city, or maybe it was an accident. But the fact that I can come here shows that something different has happened."
"Ning Gu should be born in the main city and should be summoned," Ye Xi said, "He has his own mission."
"What mission?" Lian Chuan asked, "To ensure that there is no exit from the main city?"
Ye Xi was silent.
"But before he was born, or just after he was born, he was taken to the ghost town," Lian Chuan said, "The system can't find him. What is the ghost town?"
“There is no ghost town,” Ye Xi said. “There never has been.”
"That's right. The ghost town has no exact location and no accurate connection time," Lian Chuan stood up straight. "The main city's records of the ghost town are only for one generation. There is no previous generation of ghost towns. All the main city's records of the ghost town start from this generation. The ghost town has never appeared before. Those natives are real natives, and those previous 'Ning Gu' will not have any accidents, but this time, Ning Gu grew up in the ghost town."
"The ghost town will be exposed and cleared," Ye Xi said. "It has already begun."
"But Ninggu has become a variable," Lian Chuan said, "He is not wrong, he is the savior, he is the savior left by the previous generation of the main city."
Ye Xi raised her head and looked at him: "You think a lot."
"I just want to live," Lian Chuan said.
"Lianchuan!"
Lian Chuan and Ye Xi stopped talking at the same time.
The sound was very low and floating, and it didn't even sound like something heard by the ears. It seemed more like it came from consciousness, from memory, from somewhere that didn't exist.
And Ye Xi suddenly dodged.
It was very subtle, like the flash of the main city, but faster and shorter than a flash.
Lian Chuan grabbed Ye Xi's hand.
"I'm not an image." Ye Xi understood what he meant and smiled.
"He's calling me," Lian Chuan said, "Did you hear it?"
"I heard it." Ye Xi said.
"He can't get here," Lian Chuan said, "but he can take me back."
"He destroyed the balance." Ye Xi said.
"Your balance," Lianchuan said, "is not ours."
"Lian Chuan! Lian Gou!"
Ning Gu's voice came again, still distant and vague, without a real feeling, but Lian Chuan could hear every sound.
"Betelgeuse!"
"We may meet again," Ye Xi said, "I hope that by then I will no longer be myself, and you will still be you."
Lian Chuan looked at him, not understanding what he meant.
"Everything about him is a variable," Ye Xi said, "everything is just a matter of thought."
"wake!"
"You're crazy!" Jiu Yi waved his arms outside the cave entrance, the cold light of his fingertips leaving streaks in the air, "Did you hear that? The car is coming soon! There's going to be a melee! Get out!"
"Come out! Ning Gu, come out quickly!" Fulu jumped back and forth outside the cave.
"Ning Gu! The car is coming! Get out now!" Suki was hanging upside down above the cave entrance, "Don't fight with the poet at this time!"
"He didn't fight the poet," Frue reminded him.
"Don't get involved with the poet at this time!" Suki said, "If the poet is released, our boss will be hurt!"
"The boss will be hurt!" Fulu shouted, "Ning Gu, come out!"
The red light in the black fog in the cave was spinning and tumbling wildly, constantly passing through Ning Gu.
Ning Gu's attention was all focused on Lian Chuan. He could not relax for even a second. He did not have the mental strength as strong as Lian Chuan to fight against the poet. His only way was to concentrate.
"Ning Gu! Savior, okay?" Jiu Yi circled at the entrance of the cave, "What did you just see? Did I remember someone selling poison? Did you eat it?"
"You've taken poison!" Suki shouted.
"Shut up!" Jiu Yi roared, and rushed to the cave entrance again, "Ning Gu, if you let the poet out, I will eat you immediately."
Ning Gu knelt on one leg beside Lian Chuan, with his back facing the cave entrance. Except for the red light that kept penetrating his body, he was completely motionless.
"Betelgeuse, wake up."
"receive."