The secret room of the Black Octopus Tavern late last night.
The house is filled with smoke, smoke rises from the pipe, and the ghost hand waits quietly.
In the silence, someone pushed open the door and entered. The visitor took off his cloak, revealing a long robe from the East. He looked very old, and his hair was a mottled gray somewhere between black and white. It moves silently, like a dead ghost.
"Lost again?"
Mr. Chang sat opposite him: "To be honest, I am very disappointed with your work attitude."
"There is no way, this is Avalon City, you always have to be a little cautious when doing things." Guishou shook his head and restrained his anger.
Mr. Chang's expression was indifferent: "Mr. Ghost Hands, before Yunlou is usurped by the rebel thief, if we want to find someone, he will be sent to us. If what I want is his head , what is sent is his head, if what we want is his hand, what is sent is his hand. Anyone who is slightly slow will have his eyes gouged out. If anyone dares to harbor him, he and his family will also Pay for your mistakes.”
"But this is Avalon, and it's not what it used to be. It took me a lot of effort just to hide you guys!"
Guishou frowned: "Mr. Shaman doesn't want to cause too much trouble. You don't want this matter to be noticed by the royal family, right?"
"It's been almost four days."
Mr. Chang said quietly: "Mr. Guishou, we can't wait too long."
"Mr. Chang, I said, I need time."
"I already gave it to you. Didn't I?"
Mr. Chang stood up and disappeared like a ghost under the lamp filled with white smoke.
In the silence, Ghost Hand leaned on the chair, smoking and washing the pipe, and the meerschaum pipe broke between his teeth.
"Because of these two Eastern kids, there's going to be chaos in Avalon."
He spit out the residue in his mouth and crushed the pipe into pieces in his palm.
"—and that damn dog."
…
"Let's go back."
In the carriage outside the tavern, Chang Lao, who had not moved from beginning to end, silently opened his eyes.
The carriage drove silently, and the entourage who had just received the news presented a bamboo slip with cryptic text.
Chang Lao stretched out his finger and swept it from top to bottom, his brows gradually furrowed. As the fingers flicked it, it gradually withered and broke, turning into dust.
"You mean, the shaman is still looking for another oriental child?" he asked.
"Yes, he also has white hair and is carrying a dog. Someone saw that child with the fugitive we were looking for. I don't know who put him on a wanted list. The shaman still pays more attention to him than our fugitive. above."
Chang Lao frowned: "What are the shaman looking for?"
"It seems to be about a box or something. It doesn't matter whether you live or die, as long as you have the box. No matter how much you ask, you won't be able to find out anything else."
"In the country of the barbarians, the rules are really chaotic."
Chang Lao snorted coldly: "These Yi people have small calculations in their hearts. Although the shaman has credibility, after all, he is not of my race and cannot be relied on."
The entourage asked: "What do you mean, father-in-law, should we find someone else?"
"Anyway, there are plenty of people in Avalon who can help us find them."
Chang Lao thought for a moment and suddenly asked: "Is there any movement among the group of usurpers who now control Yunlou?"
"They handed over their credentials and are about to enter the city."
"Hmph, Yunlou Qingshu, that wolfish and ambitious man, not only usurped Yunlou City, but also wanted to unite the Yi people and seek self-reliance. He has no king and no father! Princess? Who can be deceived by a fake!"
Chang Lao snorted coldly, "Go on, don't betray the prince's trust and bring that little girl back! One day, when the prince returns to Yunlou, drives out the traitor Yunlou Qingshu, and rewards you for your merits, you will be indispensable. A share!”
"Yes, father-in-law!"
The attendant hesitated for a moment and looked confused: "It's just that I don't understand something."
"Um?"
"Why did my father-in-law bother to work hard for a little girl with dragon blood?"
Chang Lao was silent.
For a long time, he raised his palm, then put it down again, and finally sighed softly: "You have been with me for so many years, and today I will teach you a lesson to always be by your side."
He glanced at his subordinate who had just walked past death, his eyes filled with the gloomy and moist atmosphere of rotten wood: "Only by following the rules and staying within the bounds of death can you live longer. The more you want to know, the more likely you are to die. Come on. Do you understand what I mean?"
"Ming, understand." The subordinate was sweating like rain.
"Then go ahead."
Eunuch Chang closed his eyes and rested his mind: "Remember, you have to bring it all back with you tail and tail. Not a single hair is allowed to fall out."
"Subordinate, I understand."
…
…
From that day on, Bai Xi never spoke to Ye Qingxuan again.
Although she is indeed a bit honest, most of the time, she probably just doesn't want to pay attention to others. After finishing his work every day, he would sit quietly in the corner.
When she was silent, she looked at the dust in front of her, but her eyes seemed to penetrate the dust and fall somewhere else.
Only Lao Fei could "talk" to her, but Lao Fei couldn't speak when he came, and she couldn't say anything to a dog when she came. But sometimes when Lao Fei fell asleep next to her, she would reach out and touch Lao Fei's long hair carefully and seriously.
Lao Fei is really a dog that everyone loves. Although he is ugly, he is much more popular than Ye Qingxuan.
There is no way, the trouble in this world is like this, you need countless reasons to hate a person, but you don't need any excuse to like a dog.
Moreover, in most cases, dogs are much better than people: as long as you are nice to them, they will not harm you.
It's just that Ye Qingxuan feels that this is not an option... and Lao Fei is my dog! Why are you touching it here and there? I want to touch it while it is happy!
After immersing himself in writing the last "0" in the account book, he raised his head and sighed helplessly.
Next to him, Seton remained silent. This monster-like old man had been sitting cross-legged behind the counter, stumbling and reading the fairy tale, turning over and over again.
Hearing his sigh, Seton raised his head and suddenly said: "The boss sent a brief message from another place yesterday asking about you."
"He knows me?" Ye Qingxuan was stunned.
"Although he is a lunatic, he has always been well-informed." Seton said in a harsh tone: "He wished you good luck in the entrance exam and said he would bring you a gift back."
"real or fake?"
"It's best not to expect too much. That guy's character and gifts are beyond human imagination."
Seton's face turned dark: "The gift he brought me last time when he went out was a huge donkey head mask that can be put on the head, with blood on it..." He paused, and his expression became even more ugly: "I hate it. donkey."
“Is it really okay that the relationship between the boss and his employees is so bad?”
"It would be a good thing for the whole world if that guy died in the gutter."
After Seton finished speaking, he closed the book angrily, took out a handful of money from the drawer, and went out to drink. He doesn't even close the cash box, which really suits his simple character.
Ye Qingxuan looked at the golden light reflected in the cracks of the cabinet, swallowed, then closed his eyes and closed it tightly.
There is really a lot of money...
"Humph." There seemed to be a sneer coming from the corner. But when Ye Qingxuan looked up, Bai Xi was still silent.
He sighed.
Bai Xi was squatting in the corner behind the display window, on the chair she occupied, clearly separated from Ye Qingxuan with the counter as the boundary. Everyone seemed to have made an agreement, and no one paid attention to it.
The blazing afternoon sun came in and was blocked by the huge clock, hiding her in a dark corner. Occasionally flying shiny dust fell on her hands, reflecting her silent eyes, which made people feel pitiful.
Ye Qingxuan's hand touched the crystal ball, he sighed and lowered his head again:
If you pity her, who will pity you
…
It’s been four days, including nights, it’s four days and five nights.
Three runes, all the standard syllables have been memorized by heart, they are familiar to me, but I just can't pronounce them out. In almost no less than 100,000 exercises... I have not resonated with the ether even once!
Even Ye Qingxuan began to despair:
—Have you been cursed by the ether
Even other people with worse qualifications can at least increase their success rate by 1% after practicing 100,000 times, right
But Ye Qingxuan is still zero, a desperate zero. No matter how many times I changed the runes to practice, it was still zero.
Going from 1 to 2 is very simple, just do the addition and work hard, but what about going from 0 to 1? Ye Qingxuan didn't know.
No matter how hard you try, things that don't exist still don't exist. Tall buildings rise from the ground, but where is your own land
He stared silently at the ether ball in his hand, unable to do anything, and gradually becoming frustrated.
In the silent shop, there is only the rhythm of countless ticks overlapping each other, monotonous and persistent, constantly jumping from this second to the next, and then ringing again.
In the afternoon sunshine, he couldn't help but yawn, feeling completely sleepy. When you rub the string ring on your fingertips, you will question whether what you are doing is meaningful
The ring made of coiled silver strings silently reflects the sunlight and sparkles.
"Musician."
He sighed softly, closed his eyes, and felt the wind blowing from afar.
But soon, he realized that this was a store.
The door is closed, where does the wind come from
I don’t know when it started.
All was silent.
…
He opened his eyes and saw the counter in front of him silently turning into dust under the blow of the wind.
Thousands of years passed in an instant, the window was shattered, and the glass was shattered into powder by the ravages of time. The wooden furniture was decaying rapidly, and cracks were expanding and cracking on the walls, allowing the hot and lonely sunlight to fall from the cracks and shine on his face.
He wanted to jump up in fear, but he felt that his body was pressed against the chair and he could not move.
The familiar world seemed to be flying away from him, and all the familiar people and sounds could no longer be heard. Lao Fei disappeared, Seton disappeared, and Bai Xi also disappeared.
Only myself is left alone in this lonely house.
He sat on the chair and stared at the rapid decline and decay of everything. Weeds grew from the cracks in the floor and vines climbed up the walls. The busy traffic outside gradually disappeared, and the street scene became dilapidated and lonely.
The whole world was silent, and Ye Qingxuan could only hear the "ticking" sound surrounding his ears.
In the sky, the blue moon, which represents a bad omen, hangs high!