The first snow after winter has finally come.
Fluttering snowflakes fell from the leaden sky, gently covering every inch of Cecil City, all the bell towers, roofs, city walls, and sentry towers were covered with a layer in a short period of time Pure white, in this boundless and soft snow, the boundary between sky and earth, city and wilderness, house and street, all boundaries become blurred.
Till cautiously squirmed to the front of the porch, she poked her long tail out of the porch, quickly poked the layer of snow under the porch that was not too thick with the tip of her tail, and then a trembling visible to the naked eye followed The tip of her tail spread all over her body—Miss Siren shivered violently, and immediately retracted her tail into a ball: "I'm dying of ice! I don't want to go out in this kind of horrible weather!"
However, Rebecca stood in the middle of the courtyard, turned her head and waved at Tyre vigorously: "It's rare to have a weekend off today, why don't you try it! Snowball fights are very fun! I like snow the most since I was a child!"
In Cecil, people have eight working days a week, and every Saturday and Thursday are days off, but due to the progress of a large number of research projects recently, Rebecca has not had a vacation for a long time, this belated The first snow gave her a reason to take a holiday, and it also reminded her of the happy time when she was a child playing in the snow—although she has grown up and the world has been turned upside down, snow is snow, as always, making people happy .
Tyre, who was born in the deep sea, couldn't understand Rebecca's source of happiness. This was her second winter on land. This season of snow, ice, and extremely inactive water elements meant nothing to her. There is no fun at all: "Isn't it just a ball of snowballs throwing each other? You humans have been throwing all kinds of things since throwing stones. I can't understand this kind of love... And you want Snowball fights should at least wait until the snow stops, what can we do with this little snow now..."
While talking, Miss Kraken tried harder to roll her tail up, and tried to retract her upper body into the ball formed by the tail: "I'm sleepy, I want to go back to sleep..."
However, before she finished speaking, a cold snow ball suddenly flew in the air and landed firmly on her forehead.
"Wow!!" The balance that Tire had managed to maintain was instantly broken, and the coiled tail ball almost rolled backwards, "I even said I don't want to play anymore!"
"It's not me!" Rebecca also saw the snowball on Tyre's face, and quickly waved her hands, "The snowball came from another direction..."
Before she could finish her sentence, another ball of snowball flew out of nowhere from the corner of the courtyard, and this time it landed firmly on her forehead.
"... Amber!!"
Till finally screamed, and her scream reminded Rebecca, who was still covered in circles, the two of them raised their heads together and looked towards the direction where the snowball was flying - there, a handful of snowballs were condensing out of thin air, There are sneaky footprints on the snow...
In the first snow that was still fluttering, a small scuffle broke out in the courtyard of the Lord's Mansion.
"It's nice to be young..."
Behind the floor-to-ceiling windows of the study, Gawain averted his gaze to the courtyard below, and sighed softly.
Pittman sat on a chair beside the desk. He took a sip of hot tea, raised his eyelids and looked at Gawain: "Your physical age is only thirty-seven—still quite young."
"Thirty-seven is already an unsuitable age to have a snowball fight with juniors in the yard." Gawain returned to the desk, sat down on his large chair, and picked up the teacup in front of him, "Drinking in the study The tea is pretty good."
Pittman chuckled: "It's a pity that a sloppy old man is sitting across from you."
Gao Wen didn't answer, but took a sip of hot tea slowly, then looked at Pittman's face that seemed to be able to maintain a hippie smile under any circumstances, and after staring at it for two seconds, he said: "I heard You solved the technical problem Kamel encountered—is that thing called an artificial nerve cord?"
"That's right, the product of the combination of druid technology and alchemy engineering, something that most people can't think of."
"Ordinary druids can't think of that kind of thing," Gawain said calmly. "That's the technology of the eternal sleepers. Strictly speaking, it was created by the fallen druids of the Doom Society and passed on to the eternal sleepers. Or, the nerve connection technology improved by the biochemical engineers of the Eternal Sleeper."
Pittman's expression finally showed a hint of astonishment, and then he shook his head with a helpless smile on his face: "I thought you didn't know this—since you knew, why didn't you tell Kamel? Just to let me say come out?"
"No, I don't like to use this method to test or investigate my subordinates. The current situation is just an accident to me," Gao Wen said frankly, "The reason why I didn't tell Kamel is because of this The technology is not humane, and it has huge hidden dangers: implanting artificial nerve cords can drastically change the personality of the recipient, and there is even a risk of mental breakdown."
"... Indeed, the artificial nerve cord is a very uncontrollable thing," Pittman nodded, "It seems that you do know a lot of secrets about the eternal sleepers and the end of all things... I'm curious, when you contacted their What do you think of them after learning about them?"
"They have extremely advanced technologies in certain fields, and they seem to have a sense of mission. I even suspect that they think they are saving the world-this is seen from some of their big plans. But this can't change The fact that their methods are evil does not prove that their goals are correct." Gao Wen put the teacup on the table and said unhurriedly, "If the direction is wrong, the more knowledge you have, the more reactionary you will be; if the methods are wrong, the harder you work hard." The more the more sinful."
There was a change in Pittman's eyes at that moment. Gao Wen couldn't tell the specific reason and content of the change, but at this moment, he did feel that Pittman's disguised hippie smile and cynical appearance were short-lived. It subsided, and a heavy and lonely temperament actually appeared on this little old man—but it was only for such a short moment.
"You're right, the direction and means..." Pittman smiled, full of self-deprecating smiles, "Talent does exist, some people are born to do things that others can't easily—you are so simple You pointed out the key point, but it took me most of my life to figure out the meaning of your two sentences."
"I didn't create these words. They are the wisdom of the predecessors. I just borrowed and transformed them," Gao Wen said, with a serious expression on his face. "Pittman, it's time to be honest."
Pittman met Gawain's gaze, and after a few seconds of silence, he finally spoke in a low voice: "I am the withering priest of the end of all things, I used to be."
Sure enough.
Gao Wen breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. It was not once or twice that he had doubts in this regard, but Pittman did not take the initiative to ask, so he did not take the initiative to ask. Today, taking advantage of the "artificial nerve cord technology" as an opportunity, he The suspicion was finally confirmed.
However, before he opened his mouth, Pittman actually had something to say: "At the same time, I am also the nightmare instructor of the Eternal Sleeper—I used to be."
A believer in the Society of the End of All Things and a member of the Eternal Sleepers? !
This was completely beyond Gao Wen's expectation. He looked at the wrinkled little old man in front of him in astonishment: "You joined two sects at the same time?!"
"The first to join is the death of all things," Pittman shook his head. "That was when I was very young-to be honest, I did want to be an orthodox druid at first, and I was really a forest druid." Heart school, but things like fate are so unreasonable... There was a famine in the town, which was caused by the erosion of magic power, and the conventional druid spells had no effect at all. Even my mentor ran away later, and everyone couldn't help , until a foreign druid solved the problem, so I followed the new druid and became his apprentice—I didn’t know until later that he was the shepherd of the death of all things.”
"Then you joined the End of Everything?" Gawain looked into Pittman's eyes, unable to hide his curiosity, "Then how did you join the Eternal Sleepers?"
"I originally thought that the technology of the End of All Things Society could heal the land, solve the famine, and allow me to learn real knowledge, but then I found out that they were just a bunch of lunatics, so I took the opportunity of an exchange to join Eternal Sleep The ones—in the memory tank of the Sleepers, there is the most abundant knowledge in the world. Although I am not good at dream spells, I am very interested in their other knowledge... "
"Then you found out that they are another group of lunatics." Gawain knew that Pittman's experience in his youth could never be so simple, but obviously the other party was unwilling to go into details, so he just skipped the topic, "You Freed from the Sleeper? Then?"
Pittman spread his hands: "Then? Then I met a crappy little thief, and followed him to adopt a half-elf who twittered and had no respect for the elderly."
Gao Wen was speechless, and then smiled: "I thought you would join the Son of the Storm, after all, you have joined two of the three sects."
Son of the storm...
A look of reminiscence appeared on Pittman's face for a moment, and then he shook his head with a wry smile: "I really looked for them, but I can't learn to swim, and I get seasick, and more importantly, I can't eat sashimi, so I don't know what to do." Go for it."
Gao Wen: "..."
This seemingly unscrupulous, deceitful, skinny, and disrespectful old druid once had a magnificent life.
Although Gao Wen was indeed a little interested in Pittman's unknown and magnificent life, judging from the other person's appearance, the little old man was obviously trying to avoid that period of life, so he just nodded: "You have left them now .”
"It's been many years since I left," Pittman said calmly. "To be honest, I almost forgot that I was one of them. I was shocked by the reformer who exploded on the pier. I thought they finally They came to the door—it turned out that you, a historical figure who came out of legend, attracted their attention more than a small person like me who defected halfway."
"I'm curious about one thing, are you really just a low-level druid of level three?" Gawain looked Pittman up and down, "Your real..."
Pittman smiled lightly: "There is a price to pay for defecting twice—I am indeed just a low-level druid of the third level."
"...I see." Gawain accepted the other party's argument, and from the French windows behind him, there were more and more lively laughter in the courtyard.
He asked, "Does Amber know about your past?"
"She doesn't know, and I don't want her to know," Pittman shook his head. "It's not a glorious experience to join the dark sect twice. The past is isolated from Amber's life—her life should have nothing to do with these darknesses, she should be free from worries, free from worries, not live a life of fear, and be well trained and educated...”
"Let's put it this way, she takes door-picking locks as a daily routine, and even goes to other people's ancestral graves to pick coffin boards. I think you and her adoptive father may not have educated her very well..."
Pittman thought for a while: "...what you said also makes sense."