"The signature should be conspicuous. Even if we can't recognize it at first glance, or won't attract our attention, it must be conspicuous—" Mu Yiran repeated Ke Xun's initial guess, "The vegetation in the forest There are many, whether flowers, grass or trees, no matter how conspicuous they are placed outside, once they are submerged in a huge jungle of this magnitude, no matter how conspicuous they are, they will not show their particularity.
"So I think that this kind of 'conspicuous' should not refer to color or shape, and it is unlikely to be a special species. After all, the species in the forest are now confusing, and there are both north and south. What kind of plants grow in it is no longer special.
"Then there is another possibility, which is height. But the highest house here is only three stories. Even if you stand on the roof, it is difficult to look down the entire forest and find the tallest tree.
"According to the basic rule that paintings do not give us a dead end, if this 'conspicuous' is difficult to distinguish only from the outside, then I think the location of the signature will not be too far away from us. Because 'difficult to distinguish' is already It is quite difficult. If the signature is placed far away and difficult to reach, it will not be much worse than a dead end.
"To sum up, the signature should be in a place closer to the periphery of the forest, not too deep, it is likely to be where we have already walked, but because we are still short of the last light that pierced the window paper, so even if The signature is right in front of our eyes, and it's hard for us to spot it.
"And this signature will not have prominent colors and special shapes, nor will it have obvious thickness and height, it may be a tree, a flower, a grass, a moss, or a vine, but I think it is It must be very ancient and can represent the long history of the entire earth, and it must be very tough and can represent the tenacious vitality of all living things."
"Life force..." Ke Xun put his chin on the handle of the shovel, lowered his eyes and thought, "You said the name Abel, which in Hebrew means life, so it seems that if you choose one from the flowers, plants, trees and vines If so, I think a tree should be the most vital thing, right? Its leaves can store water, its roots can hold soil, its body can provide habitat for birds, beasts and even people, and its fruits can support many creatures, It can produce oxygen for living creatures to breathe... Isn't Abel also meant to breathe, so could the embodiment of the signature be a tree? A tree full of vitality?"
"—The tree of life." An epiphany flashed in Mu Yiran's eyes, and he analyzed while thinking, "There is a saying about the tree of life in various countries or sects. The tree of life in ancient Egypt is the sycamore, and it is said that it grows in On the sacred mountain, the two worlds of life and death are separated, which symbolizes the beginning of the creation... Yinsuo believes that wood is the original material that constitutes all things in the world, and the Bodhi tree is known as the tree of life...
"And when it comes to Hebrew, the Kamal Mysticism relies on the secret oral transmission of Hebrew between teachers and students, and there is also a tree of life in this sect, but it is not a real tree, but a tree A schematic diagram of the shape structure, which is used to dissect the different layers that make up the universe and all things in the world...
“As well as the peach trees in our country, the sycamore figs in Egypt, the almonds in Iran, and the olive, palm and pomegranate trees in other parts of the Middle East or in the Semitic tradition… These fruitful deciduous plants have been Known as the tree of life, it is the incarnation of the mother earth, many sons and more fruits means the reproduction of children and grandchildren, the attributes of flowering and deciduous, and it also represents the change of the four seasons and the cycle of life…”
Ke Xun blinked and looked at him quietly, feeling that he could hear the humming sound of the search engine in his head.
Mu Yiran listed a lot of options for himself, but which one was still in the process of analysis and judgment, Ke Xun didn't disturb his thoughts, walked aside to seize the time to remove the blood on the wall, and continued to look for it. Whether the blood is covered with relevant clues.
The walls of this room are covered with European-style wallpaper, which is now worn and peeled off, revealing the walls covered with flour paint.
Ke Xun's mood is a little heavy. The old-fashioned wallpaper reminded him of the home he used to live in as a child.
At that time, both father and mother were still there, and the family was not very wealthy, but the husband and wife lived very seriously and delicately. Even if they were limited by their income, they still managed to make the family live comfortably and comfortably.
At that time, his family lived in a small house with two bedrooms and one living room. Dad put wallpapers on each room. The color that my mother chose was a warm color of rice paper, and the texture was a bit like that of a vertical tree. skin texture. At that time, several of his classmates had wallpapers pasted in their homes, most of them were geometric or patterned patterns, but only his family had this kind of tree pattern. He liked it very much. He felt that his home was different, and that his parents were special Artistic vision.
Every time he thinks back to that home, his memory always seems to stay on the day he moved in after the decoration was completed. He was so happy that he was about to fly. stroking on the wallpaper.
Yes, about childhood memories, every time I look back, it will be frozen in that scene of that day.
Just like in front of you.
All the people here are fixed on this day of the year, their homes still retain the way they were before they died, and their lives and memories stay on this day.
… No, even if they were all infected with Ebola, they wouldn’t die on the same day, so it wasn’t the day that was fixed, but just the year.
This year is 2012, the year clearly indicated in the Hebrew paper that Tian Yang deciphered. Although its role is only to extend everyone's thinking and focus on the doomsday of mankind, this "2012" year may not have other directional effects.
In 2012, the end of the world, the end of the world is a Mayan prophecy (rumor), and the Mayan prophecy came from the Mayan civilization. It is said that there is a tree of life in the traditional civilization of many countries.
"Yi Ran," Ke Xun stopped, turned to look at Mu Yi Ran, who was looking at Xunsheng, "Is there a saying about the tree of life in the Mayan civilization?"
"Jibei tree," Mu Yiran's eyes lighted slightly, "is the American kapok, a tropical tree species. In the Mayan civilization, it symbolized life and was located in the center of the universe, so it was called the world tree or the tree of life. But the Mayan tree The world tree is more than one tree, it is made up of multiple trees, the middle one is regarded as the pillar connecting the heaven, the earth and the underworld, and around it, there are also trees in four directions.—I I guess that's what we're looking for."
"—It is indeed both conspicuous and inconspicuous!" Ke Xun threw down his shovel, "The five trees distributed in this way are indeed inconspicuous in the big forest, but when we pierced the window paper of the last layer of clues, It became quite conspicuous! - We immediately went to find these five kapok trees!"
Calling Wei Dong, Luo Meng and Fang Fei in other rooms, Ke Xun rushed out to find Qin Ci who was half asleep and half awake under the porch, and carried him on his back involuntarily.
Qin Ci woke up and pushed Ke Xun hard despite his headache and eye pain: "Xiao Ke, put me down quickly! The droplets in the painting may also be contagious!"
"Then shut up and don't talk," Ke Xun was unmoved, and asked Wei Dong to find a mask for Qin Ci to put on, "Let's go to the autograph now, Brother Qin, hold on, we'll be fine, we will be able to go out!"
Qin Ci didn't know the previous situation, and thought that Ke Xun was anxious, and he was ready to go to the forest to look around like a fly in the forest. You're not alone, you can't cherish your own life so much! If you have an emergency, how can you let Xiaomu bear it?! You let me—"
Before he could finish speaking, he let Xiao Mu, who was talking about him, catch up from behind and pinched it on the neck and fainted.
Several people ran wildly in the direction of the forest, but Shao Ling and the others did not stop searching during this period of time. At this moment, they had already gone somewhere, and they could only chase them all the way by relying on the marks left on the tree that they had negotiated before.
"Pay attention to see if there is kapok on the road, kapok surrounded by five trees!" Ke Xun said to Weidong Luoxiao and Fang Fei.
"The key—we northerners don't know much about kapok!" Wei Dong wiped his sweat anxiously, and turned to ask Fang Fei next to him, "How about you, Brother Fei?"
Fang Fei shook her head: "I have only been working in the south for a short time, and I only know that the flowers of kapok are red, but I can't be sure what season it is now. Although the weather is hot, if it is an apocalyptic climate, it might be the middle of winter and the twelfth lunar month. Kapok seems to be blooming in spring, if there is no flower, I can't recognize it."
"The leaves of kapok are longer..." Luo Meng said, and then closed his mouth.
Because there is no way to easily find kapok trees in a large forest with a wide variety of species based on the attribute of "long".
"Just look for five trees that are close to each other." Ke found an idea.
"Brother, open your eyes and see. There are five trees that are close to each other in the densely wooded area." Wei Dong pointed to Ke Xun.
"And we can't determine the distance between the four trees growing in the four directions," Fang Fei said, "If they are more than ten meters away from each other, and there are other tree species among them, it will be even worse. judged."
"... In short, we are short of people who know the kapok tree." Ke Xun said, "Anyway, let's observe first, find Shao Ling and the others."
A few people followed the signs for dozens of minutes before finally catching up with Shao Ling's people. After all, the speed of those people was not slow, and they were racing against time.
When the two sides converged, Mu Yiran quickly repeated the speculation, and finally said: "Since the location of the signature will not be too deep, we will now focus on this place and divide it into four groups and look for four directions. Does anyone recognize it? Out of the kapok tree?"
"I recognize it." Shao Ling said.
Luo Yu and Gu Qingqing, who was out of breath from exhaustion, also raised their hands.
"Then each of the four of us will take one person to the four directions," Mu Yiran said, "Old Qin will put it here and leave one person to guard him."
In the end, Wu You and Qin Ci were left in place. Mu Yiran took Fang Fei, Shao Ling took Wei Dong, Luo Yu took Zhu Haowen, Gu Qingqing took Ke Xun, and the four groups each chose a direction. Continue to look for kapok trees non-stop.
As a girl, Gu Qingqing's ability to persevere until now is an extraordinary performance. At this moment, she is walking deep and shallow in the woods, and she is shaky. Ke Xun stepped forward to support her and walked for a while. Seeing that Gu Qingqing was really breathing heavily, he said, "If you come up, I'll carry you."
"You're tired too," Gu Qingqing was very attentive. Although Ke Xun's expression was not obvious, she was still observed by her. After thinking about it, she took out the pen and paper from her bag, "Why don't I draw the approximate appearance of the kapok leaves to me? Look, then we'll find each other separately, lest I hold you back."
"No, it's too dangerous in the forest to let you go alone," Ke Xun also thought about it. "You don't need to paint, I'll take you up a tree to see it, stand tall and see far away."
Gu Qingqing shuddered when she heard that she was going to climb the tree, and quickly said, "But, but... we can't stand on the top of the tree either. Standing on the trunk will block our eyes from the branches and leaves."
Ke Xun rolled his eyes and had a new idea: "Don't worry, I have a way, and you don't need to climb the tree anymore." Then he climbed up the tree.