It was less than four o'clock in the afternoon, which was the earliest time Alice and Maya came back from school. Vertex 23S. The fastest update. Of course, they are grounded and cannot be dragged around by Laura and the others.
Little Pink drove into Grande's backyard, and as soon as it came to a stop, Laura rushed out. Well, we couldn't drag Alice around, so this guy followed her by herself. The only good thing is that she didn't drag a bunch of people with her.
Little Pink's car was not the only one in Grande's backyard, there was another car parked, James' car, and Coulson who kept trying to tease the Great Dane. The intuitive result is that none of the Grande members who often hang out on the back porch showed up. Laura took a look at Grande first and then went to Benjamin Warehouse.
Alice and Maya didn't use any of the host's hospitality. Laura was too familiar with this place, so just let her go. The two entered the Grande. They could already hear James yelling in the office. They couldn't control it and went to the entertainment room, where Mo was watching soap operas.
Perhaps with this description, everyone will think that it was Louise who listened to James yelling in the office, but no, Louise is not in Grande
"Back~" Mo greeted, "Before Louise goes out, I asked you to go to the east basement (morgue) to take a look~"
"Louise is out? What happened in the basement?" Alice, who had just sat down, stood up again.
"Early in the morning, after you left, Danny found a pile of deer carcasses in the south, and the words 'I'm sorry' written in blood. Louise got it back and suspected who had left the message." Although Mo explained comprehensively, his eyes on the TV did not shift at all, "Just go and take a look."
"Oh." Alice agreed, and returned to the original route with Maya.
When passing by the office, this sound came out
"Lance! Shut up!"
Ignore the unfamiliar sounds to Alice and Maya, go downstairs, to the back porch, and to the basement on the east side.
When she turned the corner, she was stopped by Laura, "Alice! Where is Matthew?"
"I don't know." Alice blinked and replied, "Isn't it with Benjamin?"
"Uh, Benjamin isn't here either!" Laura curled her lips and prepared to rush to the Grand main building.
"Louise is not here either." Alice reminded, "The detective is in the office." This was to remind Laura not to break in, and she also glanced at Coulson in the backyard who continued to play with the Great Dane boredly.
Coulson waved his hand impatiently, meaning to ignore him.
Laura rushed to the back porch, rolled her eyes, and looked at Detective Coulson. It didn't matter whether he was beaten or not, no one would care about politeness at this time. Laura caught up with Alice and Maya, "What are you going to do?"
After turning the corner and facing Maya's basement door, Alice answered in a low voice, "Louise found something, let's go take a look... Well, Laura, don't follow me..." It's necessary, it's necessary. The Banshee looks at things that are either already dead or about to die. Laura now fully understands this fact.
Because of this, Laura's face turned ugly for a moment, and she stopped moving forward, and asked hesitantly, "Yes, is it a human?"
"Deer." Maya, who had already glanced into the basement, answered.
"Oh." Laura rolled her eyes, "I've eaten venison." She actually went down to the basement before Maya and Alice. This girl is very logical.
Alice, on the other hand, was stunned for a moment, blinked, and followed.
"Uh..." Laura still covered her nose, "This smell..."
"There are masks in the cabinet next to it." Alice reminded her, her eyes already looking at the deer carcass placed on the stone platform with Maya.
Louise had already processed it. The black plastic bags piled next to the stone platform should be other deer carcasses. There was only one deer carcass wrapped tightly in transparent plastic wrap on the stone platform. The smell that Laura smelled was actually the smell of chemicals, a long-term smell in this environment.
Speaking of which, Laura came here for the first time. After putting on a mask, she started looking around curiously. The most eye-catching thing is naturally the neatly arranged corpse cabinets. I don’t know whether it was because she was brave or something else, but Laura was knocking here and there on the morgue that was filled with coldness...
Wherever it had been knocked, there was a hollow 'dang-dang' sound. Until a dull 'dang-dang' appeared, Laura shrank her shoulders and looked at the closed cabinet door with a tangled expression. He looked at it as if he wanted to see it but didn't dare to see it.
"Well, that's strange." Maya tilted her head while looking at the deer carcass, as if hesitating, "Should we confirm other deer?"
Alice's expression was similar, "Yeah." Nodding, the two girls opened the deer carcass in the plastic bag separately.
Laura seemed a little curious, so she got closer and took a look at the deer corpse in the body bag. Although there was a mask, it might be synaesthesia caused by vision. Laura pressed the mask and stepped back, tilted her head and pointed. Pointing to the corpse cabinet where she had just discovered the corpse, "Who is there? I thought you had closed down."
Instead of looking at Laura with eyes flashing with various images, Alice continued to examine the deer corpse, "It's Skoll's body. He is now a demon."
"Who is Skoll?" Also, how could Laura know such a southeastern criminal.
"Uh..." Alice felt that the explanation was not clear at the moment, so she used the cognitive habits of the Barton people, "people from the southeast."
"Oh." The Barton people habitually ignored the southeast, so Laura was too lazy to ask. He kept a distance and watched as his two friends repeatedly opened and closed the bag containing the deer carcass.
The silence lasted for a while, and Laura asked again, "I've always been curious. Well, Alice, will your mood be affected when you eat meat?" Having said that, this girl's logic is amazing, girl My brain circuit...
Alice was stunned again, as if she didn't understand the meaning of the question. Maya, on the other hand, was already laughing there.
"What I mean is... uh." It doesn't seem to be easy to describe. "While you are eating, you see how the food you eat dies. Uh, won't your appetite be affected?"
Alice then understood and was a little confused, and actually looked at Maya, "I can't see the death of food. Should I be able to see the death of food??"
"Haha, no, you can't see death when food is still ingredients." Maya further elaborated on Laura's question and looked at the person who asked the question with a smile, "You made your friend's head knotted~"
"Uh... I'm sorry." There must be no sincerity, because Laura still looked curious, "Why?"
"Yes, why?" Alice also looked curious and looked at Maya.
"Well, how should I put it?" Maya had a thoughtful look on her face, "Well, let's see. The ability of the Banshee was created because Papa Midnight wanted to bypass death."
"Papa Midnight? Pochi's master?" Look, Laura's logic is amazing.
"Oh, our god." Maya corrected her, "The god of witchcraft." She waved her hand, saying that she had no other good things to say about Papa Midnight, "In witchcraft, there is, um, a natural concept. , is this world. And this world is full of death, but it is not death as we usually call it, it is just transformation, the transfer of energy, the transformation of matter. Just like stone mines die and become metal; living things die and become oil. ; Wood dies and turns into tables and chairs. Just like food dies and turns into the energy and nutrients we need for life.”
Well, for high school students, this definition of death, which covers all matter in the world, is still understandable. Who has never studied physics or chemistry? Laura and Alice, who often skipped experimental classes, nodded reluctantly.
"But all these deaths that happen in our world all the time have one thing in common. No matter how it dies, it is still in this world. It just changes its way of existence, and then it still plays a role." Maya blinked, it should be in What does it mean to express, "But it is impossible for us to open our eyes and see all these deaths happening. We have all studied biology. Right now, our bodies are undergoing metabolism, and thousands of things are happening in our bodies." Wan's death. If all of us banshees saw it and warned Papa Midnight, 'Hey, your scalp has died a thousand times,' he would be annoyed to death."
"Papa studied biology at midnight... uh..." Finally, Laura felt a little conscious, "Sorry, you continue."
"So, Papa Midnight gave a simple definition of life and death." Maya continued obediently, "This determines that the banshee he created will ignore the deaths that occur at these moments and will only watch To a type of death, what we generally call life, death."
"Wasn't food life before?" Alice asked, such as the chicken steak in Leipter's canteen.
"No, food is not life, not life as defined by Papa Midnight." Maya shook her head, "Life, in Papa Midnight's definition, is something beyond the collection of natural substances, just like people." Maya frowned, " We all know that the composition of the human body is very simple, carbon, calcium..." and a bunch of elements, I won't repeat them, "but humans are more than just a collection of these substances, right? We can speak, we can act, we can Our own ability to accelerate, slow down, change, nature changes the transformation process of this world. We are not charcoal lying on the ground, nor meat waiting to rot and be naturally decomposed. We, humans, are a collection of things that are higher than matter. We, This is the life that meets Papa’s definition.”
"Well, there are also foods that can move, such as cows and chickens..." Laura pointed to the deer carcass, "Deer. You said it, they are also living things, but, uh." Human self-esteem seems a bit redundant, "It's just that they can move." The motivation is just not as high as that of humans.”
"No." Maya shook her head, "Only part of them is life, wild, not captive animals, but life. The rest are just collections of matter, food ingredients, the most basic substances that can only be used in this natural world. A collection of substances that transform. They are not life." And added, "Not to mention the food that has been cooked, which is just a combination of substances with seasoning."
Maya glanced at Alice, "Have you never been curious before? You love cooking so much, haven't you realized that most of the ingredients you handle, even when they are fresh, do not have death scenes?"
"I..." Alice was actually remembering, but she nodded, "I didn't even pay attention to it. The things that occasionally showed death scenes were me killing them..." Ha~
Maya smiled, "Then it's easy to understand. It's just a collection of materials used to play the most primitive role in nature. No matter what it is, whether it is a pile of stones or a creature that could run and jump in the past, They are not life as defined by Papa Midnight, they are just artifacts in this nature. The rest is life, and having things that affect the changes in nature is life."
What a vague definition, but
"This is really unfair!" Laura actually felt a little angry. "What if something appears one day and uses humans as food in captivity? Are humans not life anymore? Then the death of those humans cannot be ignored by you. Did you see it? No one can warn them about their deaths?" Ha, no surprise, Laura has always thought that her friend, the ability of the Banshee, is a wonderful thing.
"Not to mention that as the species that has changed the world the most, humans cannot be reduced to this point. But if this kind of thing really happens." Maya shrugged, "Then humans only provide material transformation. They are just elements. Whether they die or not has no impact on the world. They are just natural objects." He glanced at Laura and said, "You won't ask these questions here, just like you think you have eaten a deer. It’s as if you can come in with peace of mind. You won’t care about the life or death of something that only has the function of material conversion, even if it was once life.”
Laura was stunned for a moment, the corners of her mouth twitching slightly, as if she couldn't refute.
Maya shook her head, "Besides, having just explained so much, Laura, you should understand that these deer are not bred and only provide food for material conversion, because Alice and I can see the scene of their death. A real life that once had an impact on this world is now dead.”
Laura shuddered.
"Maya!" Alice shouted.
"Okay, okay." Maya smiled and waved her hands, "I won't talk anymore." She raised an eyebrow, "Should we summarize what we saw?"
"Summary." Alice pursed her lips and looked at Laura, "Laura, are you okay?"
"No, it's okay..." Laura's mood was a bit complicated, "You, you are busy."
"Then~" Maya zipped up the last plastic bag, "I guess the guy with the exaggerated makeup is Eli Torredo."
"Maybe, Louise is right, this is indeed a message. But, I don't understand, he looks very sad in the picture..."
"'I'm sorry'." Maya muttered silently, "When he wrote this, he was mourning in silence. The dark circles under his eyes were covered with smoke, and he was crying."
"We should tell Louise this." Alice went to pick up Laura, "Let's go up and wait for Louise to come back."
"Oh..." Laura, her complicated mood probably couldn't dissipate for a while. (..)