H6

Chapter.26 Wish to Return Home (Page 1/2)Previous ChapterbookshelfTable of contentsSave BookmarkNext Page    After the joy of earning his first pot of gold gradually faded, Klein became silent.

    He resisted the urge to ask his assistant "Watson" several times on the way, and he kept it in until he took out the key and unlocked the door of the rental house. Then he took a deep breath, turned around and looked back, at the handsome man bathed in the night fog and the light of the light yellow street lamp:

    "Have you thought about how to explain your name?"

    Arthur Watson just raised his lips and chuckled:

    "What kind of explanation do you want to hear?"

    Klein didn't feel anxious because he had expected the witch's indifferent question. He took another deep look at her, turned around and pushed the door into the house, and said in a low voice:

    "Be prepared, we will have a good chat 'there' in 10 minutes."

    He believed that she could understand his intentions.

    "10 minutes?" Arthur Watson locked the door and turned back with a little surprise, "This time is not enough for me to take a shower. Can't you be more generous and give me a little more time?"

    "... Then 15 minutes later." Seeing that she still looked like she wanted to say something, Klein hardened his heart and turned his head away from the face that was too disturbing. "Wash a little faster. It won't kill you." The

    light-blond handsome man "Watson" shook his head and sighed, giving up arguing with him. He walked to the living room, leaned over and picked up the sleeping girl with the blanket, took him back to the bedroom on the second floor, and then went into the bathroom.

    After quickly washing off the dust and smog smell from going out, Klein changed into a relatively comfortable home shirt, pinched the watch and sprinkled "holy night powder" in the room to build a spiritual wall of isolation, then silently chanted the spell and walked four steps backwards, rising to the mysterious space of gray and white fog in the torture of endless crazy mumbling.

    In the majestic Giant Palace, he sat in the high-backed chair that belonged to the Fool, snapped the cover of his pocket watch, and reached out to touch a familiar and illusory crimson star.

    The light corresponding to the star burst out, and a petite figure shrouded in gray mist appeared at the bronze table, next to the seat of the Lover.

    Outside of the regular Tarot Club meetings, Miss Lover no longer concealed her lack of respect for Mr. Fool. She lightly raised her hand and placed it on the edge of the mottled and old bronze table, and walked towards the head of the seat step by step.

    "It's so late. If other members knew that Mr. Fool actually forced the Lover to enter this mysterious space that belongs to Him, and talked at night, I wonder what extraordinary content they would imagine..."

    Klein, the Fool, took a breath and stared at the girl sitting at the bronze table in front of him.

    Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly realized that he had to look up at her to speak. He thought to himself that this was not right, so he changed his mind and made the other twenty-one chairs in the palace disappear, and turned the bronze long table into a high-back chair like the previous one.

    So Alice was forced to return to the same height as him, or even lower.

    "Stingy, isn't it just a clone taller than you? Why are you so fussy about it..."

    Klein pretended that he didn't hear the girl's muttering, and stared at her hazy face covered by mist and no longer clear:

    "Is that all you want to say?"

    "Well..." Alice held her chin, and a smile could not be more obvious in her voice, "You asked me to say this, don't regret it, Charlotte~"

    Hearing her lingering and long-drawn ending tone at the end, Klein was almost shouted to the point of bones breaking, and forced himself to nod and let her continue.

    But he regretted it almost the next second.

    "Sherlock? Add Moriarty? Look at your pseudonym, why don't you consider calling it 'James Holmes'?"

    He wanted to tap the corner of the long bronze table to ease the embarrassment of thinking about the wording, but in fact, he felt that his brain seemed to be blank for a long time, and the emotions of surprise and shock had been consumed by the time of random thoughts earlier, leaving only the disappointment of the fulfillment of his premonition, and a little bit... no, perhaps it was a joy beyond his imagination.

    Seeing that he was just stroking the armrest of the chair and keeping silent, Alice couldn't help but let out a chuckle from her throat:

    "With such a name, you are also a detective. Do you really think that no one has read the works of Sir Conan Doyle? Although the copyright protection period is only fifty years, you don't have to worry about being sued even if you directly use the full name of the consulting detective."

    "In other words..." Klein heard himself speak in a relatively stable tone, "You have actually been hiding your true origins all the time."

    "No, it's not that I'm hiding it, but you're too slow to notice my temptation." Alice pointed at her lips and shook her head.

    "When did you try me?"

    He was stunned, and a vague memory flashed through his mind. But before he could catch this flash of inspiration, the girl in front of him took the initiative to explain the answer.

    "Well, that was the time I thought was obvious—on the way home from the witch dinner, we stopped for a while in the ballroom in the mirror world, right?" Alice's voice pulled him into his memories, into the mirror hall that reflected the extravagant lights and the cold silence. "I played an improvisation, and there was a well-known classic chord that was deliberately added."

    As she spoke, she hummed a melody made up of a few tones, then raised her eyes again to look at Mr. Fool in front of her, and let out a nasal sigh:

    "But you didn't react at all, which made me feel so disappointed... Really, don't you think that chord sounds familiar? It will definitely be mentioned in the music appreciation class at school, right?"

    "This, it sounds a little familiar, but I don't know much about music..." And what I thought at the time was that art is universal no matter what era it is, so why would I consider it from the perspective of some famous songs on Earth...

    Thinking of this, Klein forced himself to find some confidence and defended himself:

    "When I was in school, music classes, art classes, and even physical education classes were often divided up by the teachers of Chinese, mathematics, and English. Don't say that your school is not like this."

    "My school..." Alice seemed to pause for two seconds before answering in an uncertain tone, "If you really count, my school life was less than two years. I went to elementary school, so I probably didn't experience the situation you described."

    Hearing this, Klein couldn't help but be silent for a while, and asked slowly:

    "...Didn't you complete the nine years of compulsory education?"

    He chose to use words as gently as possible, avoiding mentioning words that could easily hurt self-esteem, such as poor family background and dropping out of school.

    "Nine years? That's the number of years of compulsory education stipulated by your country. I didn't go to school... I couldn't go to school for some personal reasons." Alice shook her head gently, and then changed back to her cheerful and happy tone, "But fortunately, the one year or so of primary school was not in vain. I memorized a lot of idioms and mastered the secrets of dealing with people."

    As she spoke, she cleared her throat and spoke in a somewhat awkward tone:Chapter.26 Wish to Return Home (Page 2/2)Previous pagebookshelfTable of contentsSave BookmarkNext Chapter    "Hello, thank you, and goodbye."

    After digesting this Chinese "greeting" with a strange accent, Klein couldn't help but hold his forehead:

    "…Foreign friends?"

    No wonder she used the awkward name of junior high school, because this was more in line with her original language habits…

    "To me, you and that guy named Roselle are foreigners!" Alice snorted with some dissatisfaction, and then slowed down her tone, "My mother and you have the same motherland, she is of Chinese descent, so… well, if you have to say it, I can probably be considered half foreigner." Half

    , my mother is of Chinese descent, so she was a mixed-race before she traveled through time…

    For some reason, the first thought that popped into Klein's head was that mixed-race girls are generally pretty…

    Damn, why am I still thinking about these things at this time, I'm hopeless.

    He cursed himself inwardly, put aside his messy thoughts, and took up the topic according to what Alice mentioned:

    "So, your second attempt used those 'Roselle Secret Texts'... simplified Chinese characters in the photos to observe my reaction?"

    "Congratulations, you successfully discovered the truth, and you also learned to answer quickly!" She read and clapped, "But I want to correct you on one point, that was not the second attempt, but an effective attempt that allowed me to get substantial confirmation, which is very memorable."

    Klein almost gave up recalling his performance at the time.

    Just realizing that his acting skills, which he thought were perfect, were seen through from beginning to end, it was as if there was a suffocating feeling called social death strangling his throat, making him ashamed and embarrassed.

    "You really... like to build your own happiness on the suffering of others." After slowly exhaling, Klein decided to seize the initiative in speaking and said first, "You call yourself a visitor from another world and a magician... However, if we analyze it from a practical perspective, you actually traveled to that world with magic and gods first, and then crossed the star gate and accidentally came to the world we are in now, right?"

    Alice pondered for a moment and nodded slightly:

    "If you want to understand it this way, it's generally correct."

    "Then!" Almost the moment she gave the answer, Klein couldn't help but stand up excitedly, and even raised his voice slightly and said, "My wish, the wish you said you were willing to help me realize--"

    "-Go back to the Earth before you traveled?" She continued calmly.

    As his emotions gradually boiled and his heart beat faster, Alice also stood up, staring at his face behind the mist, and said in a firm tone:

    "This wish is beyond my ability to fulfill, so give up."

    "...With your current abilities and knowledge, you are not enough to help me fulfill this wish, is that right?" Klein raised the corner of his mouth, not knowing that his smile was even stiffer than when he was just buried.

    "Well, let me think about it." Alice thought about it seriously and corrected, "Actually, it's not impossible, but that method is limited to theory and has almost no possibility of practical operation..."

    Trying his best to control his emotions, Klein said word by word:

    "I hope to know that theory."

    "Even if this will consume a precious wish quota?" Alice chuckled, and added, "I'm just kidding, just consider it as compensation for exceeding the scope of service, but... well, forget it, it's nothing. In my opinion, even if you knew this method, you would not choose to implement it."

    "Is it... a very difficult method? For example, you have to drift in the dark and boundless universe for thousands of years, like a wandering old popsicle?" Klein made a cold joke that only his fellow Earthlings could understand, doing his best to relieve the psychological pressure.

    Alice exhaled lightly, and the smile and ease in her tone disappeared without a trace:

    "No... Your wish and the method to realize it are themselves alien objects that are incompatible with the world today. The enemies you have to defeat are the seven righteous gods based on this land of faith, the secret beings worshipped as evil gods, all life living on this planet, and all the unknowns outside the astral realm... When you conquer them and gain the supreme authority to control one and all, you may have a chance to do what you expect."

    Klein, who wanted to complain halfway through listening, pressed his temples and concluded:

    "What you want to say is that if I become the enemy of the world, the ultimate boss who destroys everything, and successfully achieve the ultimate goal of destroying the world, I will have a chance to go home?"

    This sounds like the routine of some Japanese light novels, and it's the kind that explodes with a sense of middle school.

    "You can understand it that way." Alice obviously didn't know what he was thinking about, and she let out a very light laugh. "However, someone like you who cares about the past so much and sincerely hopes to go home should have lived a happy life in the past. A family that cares about each other, a few friends with common hobbies, a stable life and work without too many ups and downs... Well, it's true that such days do make people miss it..."

    Klein gradually recovered from her previous exaggerated descriptions. He recalled his parents with gray hair, the campus roads he walked with his best friends, and the sycamore tree outside the office window. Every autumn, yellow leaves would visit his desk... The plain and natural scenes were like old photos that had faded, silently eroding the nostalgia of a stranger.

    Smoothing out the ripples in his heart, he smiled bitterly and said,

    "Of course, that was the life I experienced. How could I forget it so easily? Since you can understand this--"

    "In fact, I can't understand your homesickness at all." Alice shook her head and denied it calmly, "Whether it's family, friends, life and work... all, all, will not make me have the slightest thought of going back. So, please distinguish our positions. Please remember that even if we have been under the same sky and breathed the air of the same era, there may be an unbridgeable gap between "travelers."

    As if the impact of these words was not enough, she took two steps forward, and her illusory and hazy figure was almost sticking to Klein, overlapping with his outline.

    "In addition, the existence of the "traveler" Russell proves that you are not an isolated case of "traveling". Do you dare to say that you have not considered a certain problem? Have you not considered... that there may be other "travelers" in this world?"Chapter.27 Looking back to the past (page 1/2)Previous ChapterbookshelfTable of contentsSave BookmarkNext Page    Others, time travelers.

    Klein knew that Alice's original intention of saying this was definitely not to highlight her own presence.

    After all, her attitude was obvious enough.

    After recognizing his identity as a time traveler, she didn't even deliberately think of revealing this relationship until she heard the detective's pseudonym that contained too much meme today...

    Just as it was difficult for him to feel how much of a fellow Earthling from her words and deeds, she didn't seem to regard herself as a time traveler.

    She might think from the bottom of her heart that her past and the traces she had left on that blue planet were not memories worth remembering, and there was nothing to be nostalgic about.

    There was no ordinary love, nor deep hatred, as if there was only indifference that no longer cared.

    Her hometown, the place she hoped to return to, and his wish were still parallel to each other without any intersection.

    "Okay, my friendly reminder ends here. I leave you with more in-depth thinking."

    Alice stepped back, keeping a polite enough social distance.

    Klein suddenly felt a little regretful that he couldn't see her expression at this moment through the gray mist.

    He loosened his teeth that had been clenched at some point, exhaled lightly, and nodded:

    "I understand."

    Although Alice's mention of the possibility of other travelers was intended to change the subject, it was not necessarily just a casual mention, but more like a hint that she already knew the answer...

    What did she want to hint at? Could it be... that she had already discovered the identities of the other travelers?

    After deducing this possibility, Klein was a little restless, but the result of asking her to confirm was the expected setback.

    "Instead of being curious about the result, why not trace back to the source, the cause that allowed you, Roselle, and other possible 'travelers' to open their eyes and see this era." Alice turned her head and seemed to look around the fog that had lingered for a while. Then she smiled indifferently, "But, as I said before, the answers to these questions should be left for you to think about. After all, they have nothing to do with me. The reason I came here... to this world is entirely because someone called me by my real name. So, if I want to go back, I don't need to go through any complicated procedures."

    When he suddenly heard her mention going back to the original world, Klein couldn't help but be stunned. After that, he could no longer concentrate on thinking about the luck-changing ritual and this gray foggy space:

    "Do you already know how to go back?"

    "That's about right." Alice nodded lightly, "Most summoning rituals are like this. As long as the summoner dies or achieves the goal defined by the summoner during the ritual, the summoned object can return to the original plane or world. Unfortunately, I still don't know who the summoner is, nor do I know what he or she wants me to do... Well, since the summoner is obviously affiliated with the witch's forces, it is more likely that she is a woman..." Recalling

    the information she had mentioned casually a few days ago, Klein calmed down and asked tentatively:

    "And Trier, the capital of Intis, may have the clues you need?"

    "Oh, yes, you reminded me." Alice exclaimed softly after hearing this, "I almost forgot to tell you that I will probably leave Backlund in the next few days to do some things." Klein was stunned

    for a moment, and seriously doubted whether he should have mentioned this to her:

    "I, I just said it casually, you don't need to leave so quickly... and we have just received the first commission, as my assistant, you just abandon your work?"

    "Assistant? Humph, that sounds nice, but you should pay me." She shut him up with a simple sentence.

    "Salary... this, we..."

    Alice sighed and counted on her fingers in front of him:

    "I'm very busy... Tomorrow is the 19th. According to the schedule, I have to inspect the territory, observe the living conditions of the people, and make timely adjustments to their work arrangements. The day after tomorrow, the 20th, I should go to see if my workers are working hard and whether they are slacking off while I'm away. Then it will be the 21st. I will probably stay in the mirror world for two consecutive days. I will never go out unless it's important. In addition, there are some other trivial arrangements..."

    "Wait, stop." Klein couldn't keep up with her rhythm from the beginning, and repeated a few words in a stiff tone. "What do you mean by the territory and people you mentioned? Are they the two concepts I know?"

    "Almost... well, although the form of existence is a little different from what you understand." Having said this, she paused slightly, perhaps thinking about the right wording, "It is a... cold, dark, and silent paradise, dormant in a sunken underwater canyon deep in the foggy sea. It is definitely not a habitable place for humans, but it completely belongs to the 'deep sea', so I developed that underwater ruins into my own territory. Well, it's quite large in scale."

    Klein tried to make himself appear calm, but he secretly took a breath in his heart:

    "So, what you call subjects also refers to... marine life?"

    "And there are a few sea-lovers." Alice nodded slightly and added, "These extraordinary creatures whose bodies and soul structures have been changed by sequence potions are now the main force in the restoration of the ruins. Apart from their clumsy shortcomings, they are quite useful."

    "Sea-lovers..." Klein silently chewed on the ancient name of the "Sailor" potion, and a group of merman-like creatures wearing yellow construction site safety helmets, busy moving bricks in the underwater ruins, emerged in his mind at an inappropriate time.

    This is... too...

    After thinking for less than two seconds, he suppressed his sudden smile and let his curiosity ferment as he proposed to her:

    "My Lord, do you mind taking me with you to the territory inspection tomorrow?"

    "Don't you have a job? Well, investigating the theft in the home of that Sun Monk." Alice said, then crossed her arms and said in a thoughtful tone, "But to be honest, I thought that man was very strange before... You say, if a person finds that his home has been robbed, shouldn't his first reaction be to call the police? How can he just leave it there until he accidentally meets a detective and then thinks of the lost property and makes a commission on a whim?"

    Klein thought for a moment and replied:

    "Maybe because he is a Sun believer. If he chooses to call the police, he will likely be subject to prejudice and hostility from the Church of the Lord of Storms and believers. You know, the South District is also under the jurisdiction of the Punishers, and I can understand his caution."

    Just like I wouldn't go to the North District where the Nighthawks are active for no reason...

    he added silently in his heart.

    "If that's your explanation... well, just pretend I didn't say anything." She waved her hand and continued very naturally, "So is everything fine? Can you let me go to rest?"

    Klein no longer had any hope for her perfunctory attitude:

    "...Do you really think the conversation time is over? Don't you think there's an important link missing?"

    "Well, what important link?"Chapter.27 Looking back to the past (page 2/2)Previous pagebookshelfTable of contentsSave BookmarkNext Chapter    If they were in reality without the gray mist, Klein believed that he would be able to see her innocent expression when she blinked her eyes, pure and innocent, like a truly ignorant girl.

    But he knew very well that she was definitely avoiding this question on purpose!

    Gritting his teeth and hardening his heart, Klein stared straight at the face with hazy features in front of him and said in a deep voice:

    "You should tell me what your original name was."

    Upon hearing this, Alice just tilted her head slightly, chuckled and asked back:

    "Why don't you introduce yourself first, what was your previous name?"

    If it were in reality, if he was bewitched by her predatory charm, Klein was really worried that he would fall for it.

    But at this moment, he was very clear about her cunning intentions:

    "No, you speak first, I promise to tell you after you finish speaking."

    "No, you first." Alice's answer was unusually brief.

    Realizing that the argument was developing into a quarrel between elementary school students, Klein stopped talking in time and stopped repeating each other's insistence on letting the other person speak first.

    Just as he was thinking about how to pry out the witch's real name, he suddenly heard the girl ask:

    "You really want to know my past?"

    "Isn't this natural..." Holding back a little shame for unknown reasons, he coughed lightly and answered in a low voice pretending to be calm.

    "Well, then, do you remember the year before you traveled through time? How long have you been Klein Moretti?" she continued to ask.

    "Why are you asking these questions! Are you doing a census of the time travel population?" After complaining, Klein honestly explained his situation, expecting her to give some different reactions.

    Sure enough, after listening to Alice, she seemed to support her chin and think for a while, then nodded her head and spoke:

    "You traveled through time in the middle of 2018, and my impression of the years in my memory is only about 2017... At the same time, the actual time you woke up as Klein Moretti was less than three months... Well, I understand."

    You understand? What did you understand, how did you suddenly understand?

    Klein only understood that she traveled through time about a year earlier than he did. Apart from that, he was completely confused.

    "I have a proposal." Alice raised her index finger and raised her voice. From her tone, one could sense her cheerful mood at the moment. "After returning to reality, give me a strand of your hair and I'll take care of the rest... How about it? If you're afraid of being cursed by me, you can choose to refuse."

    Klein pondered for a while and dug out a memory from a corner of his memory:

    "You want to use my hair... as a medium to cast a certain spell?"

    He still remembered that she had used her hair and blood to monitor the "witch" Triss for a while, until the other party began to offer prayers and sacrifices to the statue of the "Original Witch". Her soul was watched by the hidden evil god, and her monitoring spell was ineffective.

    "In short, it's to enter a dream." Alice explained with a chuckle, "Since your impression of the past is still clear and vivid enough, then looking for a shadow that disappeared in the past should be done in your memories. Of course, if you think this is too deep into your personal privacy, then I won't force it."

    I always feel... she seems to be expecting me to agree?

    Klein hesitated for a moment, and his mind uncontrollably replayed the experience of the captain entering his dreams and eating at his house from time to time during his time as the Nighthawks. He couldn't help but pull the corners of his mouth and put on a smile.

    Anyway, it's just a dream, and I can decide the content of the dream by myself. I don't have to worry about being seen by others... Well, let's give it a try and see what tricks she has to play.

    With that in mind, he nodded and made an appointment with Alice to meet in the corridor on the second floor of reality. He then cut off contact with her, letting the shadow cast by the crimson star dissipate in the mist.

    After handing the dream medium that Alice requested to her, Klein returned to the bedroom and lay down in his clothes. Unconsciously, he was invaded by the trance and fell into a deep dream woven by memories.

    ...

    Buzz, buzz.

    The phone with the alarm set was vibrating persistently, sending interference signals from under the pillow, causing the unknown object sealed by the mattress to twist left and right in pain, struggling to change into an unstable and weird shape.

    After two minutes of disturbing buzzing vibrations, the sealed object in the quilt finally couldn't bear it anymore, poked its head out with a messy head of hair, squinted its eyes, fumbled for the phone under the pillow, turned off the alarm, and immediately closed the pair of upper and lower eyelids that were about to stick together, ready to take a wonderful nap.

    On days when he doesn't have to go to work, of course he should sleep in...

    A vague thought flashed through his mind. He vaguely felt that something was wrong, but he didn't want to wake up and carefully distinguish it. So he changed to a more comfortable sleeping position, covered his head with the quilt, and planned to think about the problem after waking up.

    Suddenly, he caught an inharmonious sound in the room - the chassis fan began to turn, and the electronic equipment entered the startup state from sleep, making a familiar buzzing sound that made people miss it.

    Someone turned on his computer!

    The moment he came to the conclusion, Klein jumped up from the bed, not caring that he was still wearing pajamas with cartoon patterns on his body, and rushed to the computer desk with a few steps on the floor. The

    computer chair with a high back turned slightly to the side, and the beautiful girl who was curled up in the chair looked up at him, pointed at the display screen, and pouted her pink lips:

    "Password."

    Below the system user's avatar, the text input field was flashing with a vertical cursor waiting for input.

    Klein stared blankly at the girl in a short-sleeved T-shirt and heated pants. He felt his brain crash for several seconds before it resumed functioning. He looked away from the pair of overly dazzling white calves and the pair of bare feet stepping on his seat.

    "The first thing you did when you fell asleep was to turn on my computer?"

    He complained as he tapped the keyboard and skillfully entered the power-on password. He then retracted his hands and watched the girl holding the mouse, looking for something on the desktop full of icons, as if she was unfamiliar with it. Finally, she stopped on a blue, round application that started with an S and double-clicked it to open it.

    Seeing the featured promotion screen on the store page, Klein could no longer suppress the twitching of his mouth and let out a long breath:

    "Are you here just to play computer games?"

    "What else? Aren't games fun?" She picked and chose an action game, and looked up at him a few times between the screen loading the cutscenes. "Do you prefer to go shopping? Like last time?"

    Like last time? When did we go shopping?

    Wait, last time...

    a sweet memory mixed with the bitter taste of chocolate revived in his memory. Klein stared at her in amazement, completely losing the ability to speak.

    It was indeed as she said, they went out shopping together.

    In a dream.

    And the end of that dream was when he held her face in his hands and kissed those two soft and tender lips, tasting the sweetness.Chapter.28 The Late Friend (Page 1/2)Previous ChapterbookshelfTable of contentsSave BookmarkNext Page    Until Alice explained that she only watched the dream for a short while and then left, and claimed that it was just her nighttime walk and she happened to pass by, Klein finally shook off the discomfort and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

    Although he couldn't understand how she walked into someone else's dream, as long as she didn't see and experience the end of the dream with her own eyes, it was acceptable and didn't make him lose face...

    Klein gradually recovered and shifted his attention away from the girl who clicked "Start a New Game". He looked around the familiar house a little belatedly and fell into a slight daze.

    He returned to Zhou Mingrui's room.

    After graduating, he moved around for a few years and came to a big city to join an Internet company. He rented a three-bedroom, one-living-room house with others in a community along the subway line. Like many contemporary young people, he faced realistic problems such as the difficulty of salary increase and rising consumption. Looking up at the high housing prices, his parents urged him on the phone why he didn't find a partner to get married.

    After standing silently in this room filled with personal belongings for a while, he couldn't help but walk to the door. He wanted to press the doorknob, wanted to see if the living room outside was still furnished as he remembered, wanted to walk out of the building and look at the endless traffic on the asphalt and cement road, wanted to return to the natural, stable and peaceful day off.

    But this was just a dream.

    Because it was a dream, as long as he was willing to think so, he would definitely see the scene he wanted to see.

    Even, as long as he was willing to think, he could open the door and return home and smell the nostalgic aroma of the home-cooked meals made by his parents.

    Klein walked back from the door to the bedside, found his phone under the pillow, mechanically unlocked the device, opened the app, and swiped the screen to flip to the two avatars in the contact list with the notes of his father and mother respectively.

    After a long pause, he opened the chat bar with the latter and stared at the conversation record on the screen that was stuck in early April:

    "Are you going home for the Qingming holiday?"

    "Only one day, no, I won't reply, let's talk about it on May 1st."

    He lowered his head and looked at the pajamas covered with cartoon patterns. There was no slightly protruding belly caused by overtime work. There was only the flat abdomen that Zhou Mingrui once envied and the strong muscles hidden by the clothes. It's

    funny to say that in order to exercise, he spent a lot of money to get a card at a gym near the company, thinking that he would go to the gym to exercise his muscles after work. As a result, he was exhausted just by sitting in the office every day. He just wanted to go home and lie down immediately, so the gym season card was naturally wasted.

    Now recalling these past events, it is indeed quite funny.

    He blocked his vision with the bottom edge of his palm and raised the corners of his mouth silently.

    A sharp and piercing scream came from the direction of the computer speakers. Klein pressed his eyes, put down his palms and looked at the screen. He saw the bright bloody words "YOU_DIED" gradually fading away. The gray-toned picture disappeared along with the death sound effects.

    As the game character wearing the initial equipment resurrected and picked up a stick and a worn wooden shield, the view returned to the save point of a long sword with a flaming blade stuck in the ash pile.

    "I haven't played for too long. My hands are rusty."

    The girl held the game controller and pushed the joystick to control the character to run down the steep slope. She chopped the zombie monsters on the side of the road to death with a clean and neat knife. She explained in a calm tone.

    Walking to the computer desk where the seat was taken, he focused his attention on this game known for suffering and refused to be aroused by memories. He casually found a topic:

    "...Your taste in games is quite hardcore."

    "It can be seen that our preferences are very different. After all, it seems that you only played this game for two hours and five minutes, just beyond the refund time."

    Alice mercilessly pointed out the play time she saw in the inventory game record. As she spoke, she controlled the character to walk into the fog gate without looking back, and rushed straight towards the tall giant wielding a halberd.

    "You should say this - I persevered until the refund time exceeded, and then I was beaten by this ridiculously difficult novice level boss and my mentality collapsed. Only then did I choose to quit the game in desperation."

    With the mentality of watching a beautiful girl live broadcast playing a painful game, Klein gradually relaxed, pulled a chair and sat down, ready to appreciate the various fancy ways of dying that he might see next.

    In the gloomy picture, the tall giant wearing thick armor raised his halberd high and slashed at her with an oppressive posture, like an insurmountable mountain.

    The next second, the small wooden shield that was about to fall apart went straight to the heavy halberd that seemed unstoppable, and bounced off the move without any suspense.

    Alice skillfully controlled her character to advance and finish off the enemy, then retreated to create distance, waiting for the opponent to attack, and then repeated the above process until the opponent's health bar disappeared, turning an action game into a turn-based game.

    "Do you think this is difficult?"

    "I think we can end the discussion about the game." Klein pretended not to hear her question and changed the subject abruptly. "You said that I could find your past in my dream, so I agreed to let you into my dream... But you actually just wanted to express that you are an internet-addicted girl who is addicted to games?"

    "No." Alice shook her head, her eyes never leaving the screen of the person with nothing walking along the winding path. "I chose to find a game to relax because I have nothing to do. As for you... Well, let me think, you can open your phone and search for users with this ID on Twitter, and you can find out about me."

    As she spoke, she let go of the handle, took out a phone with a fruit-colored shell from under her legs, typed a string of English words mixed with numbers in the memo, and took a screenshot to send to him.

    After roughly understanding her thoughts, Klein was a little confused:

    "I, I rarely use push... No, the main problem is not here! You asked me to search for social accounts related to you, but how can I find content that I have never seen in my memories?"

    "So I asked you for your hair before I fell asleep." Alice continued to turn her eyes back to the dark and depressing game world full of zombies, and said in a neutral tone, "Now I have half of the dominance of this dream, and there will be a part of my subconscious projection... You will find those records."

    Why do you have to make it so troublesome... If you don't want to tell me, just refuse directly like before, but you have to take such a detour?

    It's like the diary of Emperor Roselle...

    Tortured by curiosity, Klein finally couldn't resist the itch in his heart and tried to search for that social platform. He opened the webpage without any obstacles, registered an account, entered the user ID she gave, and found a user homepage that was so deserted that it made people feel pity.

    The nickname was exactly the same as the ID, the avatar was a landscape photo with no characteristics, the number of followers was 0, and the number of people being followed was only five or six, and there was nothing special about it.

    There were less than 30 posts in total, and the latest one was permanently frozen in June 2017.

    He patiently scrolled down the homepage and browsed through the posts one by one in chronological order.

    "November 15, 2016, saying goodbye to the past. The first stop was to go to Norway to see the snow."Chapter.28 The Late Friend (Page 2/2)Previous pagebookshelfTable of contentsSave BookmarkNext Chapter    For a moment, the only sounds in the room were the sound of the game playing outside and the rhythmic sound of the controller buttons.

    It didn't take much time to browse the twenty or so dynamics that spanned about half a year. Moreover, unlike a senior time traveler who wrote a diary, the content recorded in each dynamic here was extremely brief, without any awareness of showing one's life to others on the social platform.

    "On November 25, 2016, I saw the aurora. It was beautiful."

    A short line of narration, plus a photo of the relevant scenery, is the basic structure of all electronic diaries.

    "On December 9, 2016, I experienced the traditional sauna house in Finland."

    "On December 25, 2016, the owner of the B&B dressed up as Santa Claus and stuffed gifts into the socks under the Christmas tree."

    "On January 6, 2017, I visited the Orthodox Christmas celebration. It was very lively."

    ...

    He soon realized that the person who posted these photos, simple captions and location information, was on a free trip around the world.

    Or should I say, he was on a trip.

    Almost all the photos submitted were landscape photos without exception, including city streets, rural houses, the open sky above the open fields, and the boundless sea at the end of the cliffs. Most of the photos were taken in the evening, with a few night scenes and rainy days where the sun was not so bright and dazzling. The text written by the tweeter in the published content also had a few complaints about the weather.

    Intuitively, he touched a nearly transparent soul from those bland and almost tasteless descriptions.

    It is impossible for someone who would record such words to have a travel companion. This seemingly aimless journey is destined to be just a lonely pilgrimage, a one-way path for a destination that has not been written into the travel record.

    ...After reading these records, can you understand Alice's past?

    Klein looked up at the girl who was still fighting against the zombies on the high wall in the game world, sighed inaudibly, lowered his eyes again, and swiped the screen to find information that he might have missed.

    Suddenly, he noticed the recommended user named "IRIS" at the front of the sidebar.

    What's going on? There's big data push in my dream? No, that's not right. This pronunciation is...

    After repeating its pronunciation several times, Klein felt something and tried to click on the avatar with black and white lines that created an artistic aesthetic.

    This time, the page that quickly jumped showed much more information than the previous personal homepage. He almost subconsciously slowed down his breathing and flipped through the account records with tens of thousands of followers, occasionally using the search engine to complete the personal information of "IRIS".

    On the other side, the battle specifications on the monitor screen were gradually heating up and upgrading. The person who had nothing had already put on a decent light armor, holding a small leather shield in one hand and a straight sword in the other, running wildly in the royal city with many forked roads.

    The girl stared at the game screen intently, controlling her game character to run straight into the passionate and majestic accompaniment music, and swung her weapon at the guard dog that was roaring with its head held high.

    When she successfully defeated the warrior knight who had degenerated into a beast in madness and set out on the journey to the village, Klein finally finished reading the text about "IRIS" and let out a long sigh of relief after a long silence.

    "So," he heard himself laughing in a somewhat dry voice, "you are actually a very famous musician?"

    "I used to be. But I'm not that famous. After all, I refuse to create pop songs to cater to the public's preferences. The audience is only a fixed group, so I can only be considered a niche musician." Alice corrected him, pressing the handle at the same time, skillfully dodging the attacker's flying knife, and stepped forward to meet the attack, "You can find some of my previous works to listen to. Anyway, it's just a dream, and there's no need to worry about copyright issues."

    "..."

    Klein opened his mouth, then closed it again.

    Electronic media records of "IRIS" are limited to age, gender, and personal works, plus some honorary titles and awards, without revealing any personal privacy information.

    The fans who gathered under "IRIS"'s social account discussed the most, in addition to the style of her works and the reason why she suddenly announced the cessation of activities in the winter of 2016, and the true identity of "IRIS" that has become a mystery.

    The most powerful and convincing statement came from a group of fans who seemed to have attended the concert. They said that she was a pure white iris from the flawless ice and snow country, but they were unable to take photos or videos on the scene, and could not share the figure of this young musician with the outside world.

    Since there are praises, there are bound to be some malicious remarks, suspecting that her age under 20 is a lie, speculating that her works are false creations written by others, and even presumptuously speculating that behind the honors and awards she received, there are some dirty and unspeakable transactions. As Zhou Mingrui,

    he has seen many farces like this.

    People in the public eye are always inevitably packaged and become some beautiful and lovable commodities, seeking survival in this society that can no longer live without capital.

    He did find Alice's past, but he still couldn't see through what kind of person she was in that past, in those times that have become the past.

    How could he see through it?

    Those paragraphs that praised her as a genius, between the lines can only see the comments from the perspective of an observer. No one has ever considered whether the girl who stood on the stage since childhood is willing to take this path, and whether she would feel half satisfied with those praises that add to her false reputation.

    Just because she has the relevant talents, just because she can really create amazing rhythms and melodies.

    Her life trajectory has been determined by others since a long time ago, and she can't see other possibilities.

    "Well, that's basically what you see." Alice still stared at the screen without looking back, running and fighting in the hopeless and gradually extinguished game world. "My past... can't be called good, nor can it be called bad. And it feels a bit strange for me to tell you this myself, because no matter how you look at it, everything seems to have developed very naturally. Even I sometimes wonder how I found the opportunity at that time, how I mustered up the courage to try those things that I only dared to do in my imagination..."

    He didn't know where the emotion came from, and he subconsciously interrupted her almost self-talking monologue:

    "No, it doesn't matter!"

    There was a brief pause in the sound of Alice pressing the handle button, and then it quickly returned to the previous rhythm:

    "...Yes, it really doesn't matter."

    "So, do you mind letting me know your original name? Even if it no longer has any special meaning to you, I still want to remember it, remember the you of the past... Even if there is only one person, I still want to give you praise and applause. Yes, not for 'IRIS', but for you." The girl stopped her journey in the program made up of code and turned to look at him. He looked into the eyes that reflected his own image, "... as a friend who is very late."

Chapter.29 The Daughter of the Deep Sea (Page 1/2)Previous ChapterbookshelfTable of contentsSave BookmarkNext Page    After a moment of silence that made people's mood gradually settle and solidify, the hoarse roar from the speaker interrupted the two people's gaze: a monster that was patrolling diligently in the game world noticed the intruder standing still, and immediately showed its warm and hospitable nature, waving a red-hot iron pitchfork and rushing towards the little leather shield warrior.

    Alice was the first to look away, turned back to deal with the slightly spoiling zombie monster, then let go of her lower lip that she was biting, and stood up from the computer chair where she was curled up.

    "Friend..."

    As she chewed the pronunciation in a low voice, Klein had already developed an intuition that was almost a premonition.

    Sure enough, the next second, he heard her chuckle with a hint of bad intentions.

    "Want to play the emotional card and buy my favor? If you want to go this route, I suggest you work harder on your eloquence." Alice smiled and curved her eyebrows, and threw the game controller that she had never let go of since she held it into Klein's arms. "Tonight's dream time ends here. If there is a chance next time, let's play together again."

    This, isn't it, you are just going to slip away like this? No room for negotiation?

    Klein was unable to react for a moment, and barely caught the object she threw. He tried to persuade him a few more times, but found that her figure was like a mark of ink melting in the water. Almost in the blink of an eye, it lost its original intact outline, leaving only a few ripple-like colorful halos that disappeared after a brief sway.

    He held the controller in his arms blankly, staring at the stiff and dull expression of the little leather shield hero on the computer screen for a few seconds, and realized that Alice had just left his dream, as if there was nothing here to attract her...

    Wait, what on earth did she come to his dream tonight for?

    Klein frowned and thought about it in confusion for a long time, confirming that she really just repeated the game process of killing monsters, upgrading, and running maps throughout the whole process, and provided him with some third-party information related to her past...

    In this way, the questions she asked him in the gray fog seemed to be just to confirm whether his memory and impression of the earth were clear and vivid...

    After several far-fetched inferences, Klein couldn't help but hold his forehead for his own guess:

    "This witch, could it be that she treats me as a ready-made game library?"

    This is too outrageous... too much!

    And even if you really want to play, you should play Assassin ● line... Although the protagonist of the latest game has completely lost the shadow of an assassin and is more like a berserker, the gameplay is still pretty good, much more fun than this kind of suffering game...

    He muttered and sat back in front of his computer chair. Just as he was about to operate the controller to close the game in front of him, he suddenly had an idea and called up the operation help to take a look. He couldn't help but feel itchy. He eagerly controlled the character to turn around twice and tried to walk towards the route he had seen in the video guide.

    Seeing how easy she played, it seemed that this game was not that difficult... Well, except for the boss, as long as you don't fight the boss with a strong sense of oppression, it should be fine!

    The little leather shield hero, whose inner core had been changed, ran up the single-plank bridge with a jolt, and began to head towards the village not far away with a relaxed and happy attitude of trying.

    As he trotted forward, an arrow burning with kerosene flew out crookedly and hit the suspicious pile of barrels at the end of the single-plank bridge.

    The moment he realized that it was too late to escape the explosion range of the oil barrel, Klein's thoughts paused for a moment, and then he suddenly recalled very clearly the traps in this game every three steps and ambushes every five steps. The bloody

    words "TOU_DIED" lit up on the screen without any suspense. He wiped his face in silence, decisively chose to quit the game, opened the game that he had not yet completed, and decided to play until he woke up.

    The next morning, at 15 Minsk Street.

    Feeling a little confused as to whether he had slept well or not, Klein walked down the stairs and was about to go to the bathroom, but he stopped in the cold and quiet atmosphere at home.

    Instinctively, he suppressed the light-hearted mood brought by a good night's sleep, tightened his lower lip, and walked quickly towards the dining room. He soon found the source of the strange feeling this morning on the dining table. The

    usual breakfast after moving into the new house was gone, with hot toast and fried eggs. There was only a sandwich that seemed to be homemade on the plate, and an empty teacup and teapot, as well as a can of black tea leaves, were placed next to it. On the

    dining table in the corner where Alice often sat, a piece of note paper with handwriting was pressed down by a small cowhide drawstring bag.

    Klein walked over and picked up the note that was obviously written by her to him and read it.

    "I forgot to tell you yesterday that I'm going out recently, and Eve will go out with me, so you have to take care of your own meals these days. I've left the meal money on the table."

    Putting down the unsigned note, Klein stared at the small bag that looked like a purse for a few seconds, then carefully opened it and took out the paper items folded in half.

    He spread out the things in his hand and found a total of four brand new and shiny banknotes, all of which were 5 soli, which was a pleasant denomination.

    He immediately felt a mixed emotion. On the one hand, he always felt that accepting this money that obviously exceeded the meal fee standard would make him a bit of a gigolo; but on the other hand, thinking of the condition he had agreed with Alice at the beginning, that she would take care of the meal part of the board and lodging problem, he found a reason to accept it calmly.

    Thinking of today's plan, Klein took a deep breath and finally made a difficult sacrifice and choice, stuffing these brand new banknotes that smelled of printing ink into his pockets one by one.

    After collecting the expenses for the past few days, he went to the kitchen. While waiting for the water for making tea to boil, he began to think divergently in the form of sorting out his thoughts.

    First, I will divine whether there will be customers coming to entrust me. If the answer is no, then I will go out to collect specific information about the gold thieves... Well, it is not difficult to collect information about the housemaid and the plumber. The corresponding investigation report can be compiled before Friday. The more difficult thing is the young couple who collaborated in the crime. The only thing we know now is their appearance, but I don't have enough helpers to replace me to do a carpet-style investigation...

    Alas, if I have enough connections, the more ideal choice should be to hire some gang members who are familiar with the local situation... But hiring people to investigate also costs money, and we have to consider safety issues. Maybe I can try my luck at the bridge area bar mentioned by the sun believer. There will probably be some connections in places where extraordinary people gather...

    Being a detective is not easy.

    Klein sighed softly, then patted his cheek to encourage himself, and then carried the boiling kettle to the restaurant to brew fragrant rose black tea and prepare to enjoy breakfast this morning.

    Detective Sherlock Moriarty's day began in such a beautiful morning with fresh fog.

    ...

    Far away on the other side of the continent with a time difference from Backlund, the Oradek Islands, facing the southern coastline of the Republic of Intis, were still sleeping before the dawn.

    Ports and island towns of all sizes were surrounded by the sound of waves in the foggy sea, and the exhalation and breathing from this vast sea could be heard at all times.Chapter.29 The Daughter of the Deep Sea (Page 2/2)Previous pagebookshelfTable of contentsSave BookmarkNext Chapter    In a narrow, damp, and dim room, a young man was holding an unlit low-quality cigarette, leaning against the hard board bed and staring at the lantern outside the window, as quiet as a sculpture made of sea rock.

    At night, the streets of this seaport city called Polepon clearly show the kerosene lanterns hung outside the house. The bright lights stand in the manic sea breeze, like starlight.

    It is said that this is a special local custom in Polepon Port. On nights when the weather is good, a unique windproof oil lamp is hung outside the house where someone is sleeping to protect people from being disturbed that night.

    As for what kind of intrusion will be encountered if this custom is not followed, the islanders have different opinions on this, and no unified conclusion has been reached for many years.

    Some islanders believe that the custom of hanging kerosene lanterns outside the house is to guide the souls who died at sea, so that they can find their way home in the fog and warn them not to enter the house where the living live.

    Of course, there are also people who firmly believe that the reason for hanging lanterns is not out of unfounded superstition, but a theory that pays more attention to scientific principles. The Misty Sea is always filled with thick or thin fog. Even the Oradek Islands, which are only located on the edge of the Misty Sea, are often shrouded in fog from the sea. Lighting lights outside the house at night is to help pedestrians identify the direction.

    The actual situation is irrelevant to Eric Warden, a former punisher.

    Loen is a country that is much more advanced than this backward island area. There are gas street lamps every fifty meters on the streets of Tingen City. When night falls, there are lamplighters holding long poles walking on the streets to light up the lighting equipment that is much brighter than kerosene lamps and candles, making the city gradually dyed with warm light...

    Of course, this is a scene that can only be seen in the rich area.

    In the slums, in the dark alleys far from the main roads, in the corners of the city where dirt is piled up, only on clear nights can the faint light of the crimson moon be seen shining on those figures hidden in the darkness, illuminating those pale and thin faces, and those thin bodies that have long been deprived of adequate nutrition.

    In this regard, the self-proclaimed powerful Kingdom of Loen does not seem to be much different from this archipelago region that is so backward that it seems to be stuck in the last century.

    No, there is still a difference.

    Today is the thirty-fifth day of Eric's new life, and it is also the thirty-fifth day since he stopped praying to the Lord.

    Like the previous thirty-four days and nights, he did not suffer divine punishment.

    There was no sudden thunder, no raging waves that swept the betrayer into the sea, and even no raindrops fell.

    This may be the tolerance of the Lord of Storms, or it may be that he simply does not care about the conversion of an ordinary Punisher. In short, the result is discouraging and relieved, but it also makes him truly accept himself and recognize his current position.

    He offered his prayers and soul to the Deep Sea Daughter, and became her... no, Her believer walking on land.

    And She did fulfill her promise and achieved his wish, although in an inhumane way.

    Eric knew that he could not go back, so he almost gave up on himself and accepted the will of the Deep Sea Daughter, and settled in the Port of Polepon, which was closest to the entrance of the Misty Sea.

    Of course, at the beginning, the previous generation of punishers who were not familiar with the geographical knowledge of the Misty Sea, Sonia Sea, and Violent Sea did not think the problem too complicated.

    In his opinion, most of the sea people believed in the Lord of Storms, and foreigners like him who worshipped the heretical sea god would inevitably be excluded, not to mention that the way to please the Deep Sea Daughter was just as She said, which was to offer living people to Her... or should I say, living "sailors" who were out of control.

    Even Eric, who had seen old Steve's recent condition, felt that the request for a living sacrifice had broken through the moral bottom line of modern society, and was full of primitive and barbaric tremors.

    The image of the Daughter of the Deep Sea in his mind was therefore once fixed on the appearance of an evil god who loved cruel and bloody rituals.

    But after living on the island for more than a month, Eric gradually grasped some things, things that he would not even observe or consider in the past.

    The locals living here have always been reluctant to mention the Oradek Islands of the last century. Unless you are drunk, don't expect to ask about the history of more than a hundred years ago from these fishermen, route guides, and occasional part-time pirates who pursue freedom.

    This archipelago located on the edge of the Misty Sea was conquered by the naval fleet of Intis and incorporated into its territory. Until later, the huge Kingdom of Intis underwent reform and changed into a republic. In the following decades, it encountered repeated twists and turns of turmoil, from a republic to an empire, and then from an empire back to a republic...

    The people of the Oradek Islands finally saw the hope of independence. So when Intis at the end of the coastline was caught in internal and external troubles, they raised the banner of rebellion, repelled the Intis navy stationed in the waters of the archipelago, and welcomed back the belief in the Lord of Storms, which had been strictly prohibited by the officers of Intis.

    To this day, there are not many things that have been affected by the rule of Intis, but there are also many, and belief is one of them.

    The beliefs distributed in the Oradek Islands can be roughly divided into the following categories: the traditional position of believing in the Lord of Storms, the new sea god "Moyukatlika" faction that has only appeared in the last one or two hundred years, and the sun belief, steam belief, and even rum belief that have nothing to do with storms and the ocean.

    This island community is literally located at the end of the civilized world. If you continue to travel west, you will enter the vast sea of ​​fog. The port of Polepon, which is closest to the west, is the last remaining flame of human civilization in the eyes of many seafarers. It is a supply station and a peaceful place.

    In such an environment, it is irrelevant which god or evil god to believe in.

    Businessmen do not care whether the customer is a merchant ship guard, a treasure hunter, or a sailor in a pirate team. In many cases, these three identities are often flexible enough to switch according to the occasion.

    Generally speaking, as long as they are not well-known people on the blacklist of the current rulers of the archipelago, dangerous elements who should be convicted and sentenced in society may swagger into the bar, sit on the bar stool two empty seats away from you, and laugh and ask the boss to give him a beer for a few pennies.

    This made Eric, who was accustomed to the existence of official extraordinary organizations, feel uncomfortable.

    However, this degree of discomfort is completely an emotional problem that can be overcome compared to the shock of being directly rolled to the coast on the other side of the continent by a wave of the Daughter of the Deep Sea.

    Looking out the window at the gradually fading light of the sky, Eric silently stroked the silver-plated lighter in his hand that was completely scrapped due to being soaked in water. Many thoughts flowed through his mind for a while, but soon turned into a sigh, which leaked out from the gap between his teeth that were tightly biting the cigarette holder.

    It was dawn. There were

    less than six hours left before the Holy Hour of the Daughter of the Deep Sea, and he should prepare to pray before God.

    But before that, he still had some things he had to do.Chapter.30 The Stupidest and the Strongest (Page 1/2)Previous ChapterbookshelfTable of contentsSave BookmarkNext Page    Today, the Port of Polepon was shrouded in the same sea fog as yesterday. Even though the sun had risen to a height close to noon, the visibility in the air was still less than 100 meters. Even if you looked up at the sky, the extremely hazy sun was not very dazzling, like an overtime worker who was half dead and panting waiting for the sunset.

    Eric walked through the slightly muddy road in front of the hotel, not paying attention to the mottled mud spots splashed on his old boots. The combination of a faded navy blue suspenders and a linen shirt made him look like a young man who made a living nearby, as if he was carved from the same mold, so ordinary that he was forgotten at a glance.

    This set of clothes and his only other set of clothes were second-hand goods he bought from a nearby mending shop. He spent about 10 livres of silver, which was about 1 soli and 4 pence in Loen currency.

    Although the locals of the Oradek Islands often speak ill of Intis, the currency they use the most here is still the local currency system that Intis popularized in this sea area in the past, which is a complex system composed of dinar copper, livre silver, taler silver and fir gold.

    Eric originally thought that the currency conversion in Loen was annoying enough. He still remembered that he had complained to old Steve more than once about what kind of person could design a stupid currency system of "12 pence equals 1 soli, 20 soli equals 1 gold pound". Old Steve's answer to this was a shrug and a term that was well known to the people of Loen - curly-haired baboon.

    As a result, when he arrived at the port of Polepon and came into contact with the currency conversion rules of Intis, Eric realized that the stupidest curly-haired baboon financial officer should be working in Intis.

    It took him three full days to finally figure out this currency system that went against human arithmetic intuition. He knew that 1 Ferkin could be exchanged for 4 thalers, 1 thaler for 6 livres, and 1 livre for 20 copper dinars.

    One livre was almost equivalent to one and a half pennies in Loon, so Eric easily—or not so easily—calculated the purchasing power of Ferkin: even though it was the most valuable currency in the Intis currency system, it was far less popular than the Loon gold pound, and it often took 7 Ferkin to be equivalent to a 1 gold pound note. However,

    in Polepon Harbor, daily expenses usually did not use the gold pound, which was considered a "large currency" by the locals. Moreover, when he was washed ashore by the waves, the only belongings left on his body were a set of dock workers' clothes soaked in seawater and a silver-plated lighter that he always held tightly in his hand. Just by looking at him, he knew that he was a poor man who was insulated from the gold pound.

    Although he often felt sorry for the savings in his bank account that he would never have the chance to withdraw, after thinking carefully, Eric found that he chose to save not for a specific goal, nor did he have anything he particularly wanted to have. He simply hadn't considered how to use the money. He had

    never thought about what to do in the future, nor did he know what he wanted to do. Being stranded on this foreign island more than 10,000 meters away from his hometown was perhaps the price he had to pay for his confusion.

    He didn't even feel how much regret he had.

    Regardless of whether his emotions and rationality were numb, life was going on, and he didn't intend to stop easily.

    With his boundless thoughts, Eric crossed two simple and backward rammed earth roads and walked into an alley full of bed sheets and clothes. Then he took a few turns in this intricate and crowded residential area that was like a maze, and his destination was already in sight.

    He stopped outside a store that looked decent and habitually looked up at the store sign on the outer wall. Before he spoke or made any other moves, someone in the store saw him first.

    A young man with a wet towel on his shoulder walked out of the door and greeted him warmly:

    "Mr. Ken, I haven't seen you for a few days. You just came back from the sea? How did you get?"

    Ken Hellend, the former punisher of Tingen City in the Kingdom of Loen, came to the Oradek Islands, the westernmost part of the northern continent, and gave himself such an alias for convenience.

    "Well, not bad."

    Eric answered, nodding slightly, and his eyes swept into the interior of the blacksmith shop.

    The young man would not miss his obvious attitude, and asked clearly:

    "Are you here today, as usual, to find Boss Sayde?"

    "Has Sayde not come here yet? It's almost noon." Eric raised his head and glanced at the sky, not hiding the puzzled expression on his face.

    "I haven't seen him today. If you are in a hurry to find him now, you can go directly to the boss's house." The young man replied.

    Eric nodded, said goodbye to him briefly, and began to walk to the other end of the street.

    The young blacksmith shop worker just now was called Mats. He was one of the apprentices who honed his smelting skills with the boss and forger Sayde Saleka. He ate and lived almost all the time with the Saleka family and was very close to Sayde.

    However, in addition to this "good citizen" identity, Mats also belonged to a local gang called the "Screw Clamp Gang". He was considered one of the top members who were good at fighting. Sayde Saleka was naturally the actual leader of the "Screw Clamp Gang" and was worthy of the former's call of "boss".

    Although Eric felt helpless about the current situation of gangs of all sizes in Polepon Port, and had never considered joining them in the dispute over territory, he remembered the famous saying of Emperor Roselle, "When the water is too clean, fish cannot survive".

    If there is still such a place where people must stick together to keep warm in order to find a living space, then outsiders like him who don't understand the situation have no right to accuse this practice of forming gangs of being wrong.

    What's more, there is an essential difference between extraordinary people and ordinary people.

    Although the changes brought by the "Sailor" potion to Eric were limited to his body, it still made him a tough guy who was far superior to ordinary people without using firearms.

    Therefore, when Eric solved a difficult problem for Sayde, the leader of the "Screw Gang", and helped several gang members to drive away the thugs sent by the hostile forces to harass the order of the store, he gained the respect of more than a dozen members of the "Screw Gang" and received Sayde's friendly invitation - "Ken, would you like to consider joining our big family of mutual help?"

    Eric, who had been observing the "Screw Gang" for some time, knew that this so-called gang was actually just a mutual aid association composed of a group of kind ordinary islanders. In essence, it was not much different from the people in the community residence associations in Tingen City. They just lived in the more turbulent Port of Polepon and the worse-safe Gler Street District.

    At that time, he thought about it and did not reject the gang leader's proposal at the first time, but instead made a request.

    He honestly told her about his belief in the Deep Sea Daughter, hoping that Sayde could make a wooden statue dedicated to the god, and said that he would only associate with people who were also followers of the Deep Sea Daughter, hinting at his missionary intentions.

    To Eric's surprise, Sayde, a Storm believer, did not reject him directly, but instead asked a serious question:

    "When you helped my father calm down earlier, was it because you prayed to the 'Deep Sea Daughter'?"

Chapter.30 The Stupidest and the Strongest (Page 2/2)Previous pagebookshelfTable of contentsSave BookmarkNext Chapter    Eric was slightly stunned, and then he readily admitted:

    "Yes. Including the sea burial that will be held later, everything is the will of the daughter of the deep sea."

    ——The thorny problem he had solved for the gang leader was related to the content of the discussion between the two at that time.

    Since birth, Sayid has been carrying a curse, a curse from his father, from his grandfather, and perhaps from more distant blood relatives.

    If they find that their parents have scales growing on their bodies, their behavior becomes strange, they are often thirsty for water, and their eyes become increasingly dull, then the children of the Saleka family must kill their blood relatives in time, or trick them into drinking poison, or lock them in the basement for ten days or half a month until the sound inside disappears completely... Bear the sin of killing their parents with their own hands.

    Now, Sayid can no longer ignore his father's gradually unpleasant fishy body odor, and is worried about his father's mental state that is sometimes sober and sometimes crazy, but he has not made a decision to take action because of the cruel curse.

    Of course, with his experience as a previous Punisher, Eric had already guessed what was going on after listening to Sayde's request and the "curse" he described.

    There was no doubt that Sayde's increasingly insane father was at least half a born Beyonder, and a half Beyonder with a tendency to lose control. His grandfather was probably the same, but unfortunately the family knew nothing about the truth, let alone a way to save them. They could only live in fear of guilt and the fear of not knowing when they would come. Fortunately

    , the daughter of the deep sea needed people like Sayde's father and old Steve who were out of control.

    So naturally, Eric prayed to Him, soothed the struggle and madness of the old father, and told Sayde to hurry up and prepare for the burial at sea, and send the old man sleeping in the coffin on the boat to the distant foggy sea, ending the sorrow that tormented two generations with the traditional funeral of the Oradek Islands.

    After sorting out this relationship, Sayid Sareka, who was as tall and strong as a brown bear, rubbed his beard, nodded and said:

    "I promise you that I will complete the wood carving before the 20th of this month, but I want to know more about whether to persuade everyone to convert to the Deep Sea Daughter, such as... well, her doctrines, her precepts, what people are allowed to do and what they are not allowed to do..."

    Eric had never expected that his tentative missionary work would be so smooth, so that he, who was not good at speaking, stood there thinking for a long time before realizing that his understanding of the Deep Sea Daughter was limited to her honorable name, holy time, and that she was happy to accept living "sailors" who lost control of the path...

    With this pitiful knowledge in hand, how should he spread the faith of the Deep Sea Daughter on land?

    "Oh, yes, there is also wood carving. If you want to make wood carvings, at least give me an image reference, right? At the very least, you should give me some text descriptions." The best blacksmith in the Gler Street District and the most praised wood carving craftsman added this.

    Helplessly, Eric had to close his eyes, trying to find the sentences with deep sea feeling from the ink in his stomach from the database, and recited them dryly.

    ... And today is the day he and Sayde agreed to deliver the wood carving.

    Eric was a little worried about the appearance of the finished wood carving, but he felt that the deep sea girl who had never seen her true face would not care about such a small matter, so he knocked on Sayde's door with familiarity, and then pushed the door into the house, preparing to pass through the narrow and dim front room and go to the open courtyard, where Sayde usually made wood carvings.

    But before he reached his destination, he heard the sound of Sayde arguing with someone from the yard in front of him. His heart tightened immediately, and he hurried over. It

    was almost noon at this time, and Sayde's wife and children were not at home. They should have gone out to take care of individual members who were in difficulty as usual.

    So when Eric walked into the yard, he saw the strange man in front of Sayde who was talking loudly:

    "Don't be so stubborn, okay? If you think my price is too low, we can have a good discussion. I promise that as long as I do a little processing on your wood carving, it will look old and weathered. It would be best to add some scratches on the base and the edges, make it look like it has a broken tail, and polish the chest to make it smoother... Believe me, it can definitely be sold for five times the current price... No, more than ten times the price!"

    The brown bear that seemed to have a little Feysac giant bloodline... Oh, correction, it was Sayid Sareka, the leader of the "Screwdriver Gang". Hearing this, he immediately roared angrily:

    "No, no! I said this is not for sale! And I don't allow anyone to deliberately destroy my work. Don't even think about leaving any traces on her base!"

    Seeing Eric appear, the sturdy giant seemed to have found his backbone in an instant. He let go of the wood carving that he had been holding tightly, and forced a smile on his hairy face:

    "Ken, you've come just in time. This guy has been annoying me all morning. He's giving me a headache... Come, take a look at this statue of the Lady of the Deep Sea. It should be, it should be fine, right?"

    Eric's eyes swept across the face of the young man who had stopped talking. He stopped looking at him and carefully looked at the wooden sculpture standing in the yard that was almost as tall as a person. Then he was stunned.

    A huge fish tail... There's nothing wrong with it. After all, the messenger of the Lady of the Deep Sea is suspected to be a sea monster that uses voice to seduce others. It's very likely that the Lady of the Deep Sea herself also has a fish tail.

    Going up, the problem comes.

    "Side..." Eric tried hard to control his gaze away from the extremely seductive curves, staring at the overly beautiful wooden sculpture face, and said, "First of all, I didn't expect it to be such a large statue. It would be inconvenient to put it on the table. And... when you were carving, didn't you consider giving Him more clothes?"

    "Why add that kind of extra thing?" The strange man on the side asked without minding the clutter, and then paused, "Wait, wasn't the statue you originally planned to make a mermaid? Why do you use the pronoun 'Him' that honors the gods?"

    Eric wanted to ignore the uninvited guest, but Sad had already taken over the conversation:

    "How could this be a mermaid statue! I have emphasized many times that it is the statue of the Daughter of the Deep Sea! The Daughter of the Deep Sea!"

    "But mermaids are..." The short-haired young man turned his eyes, as if he noticed Eric's impatience and anxiety, and suddenly changed his words, "Okay, then I'll call it the daughter of the deep sea. But seriously, what exactly is the daughter of the deep sea? Can you two explain it to me?" Although he

    didn't know the reason, Eric suppressed his nameless anger in his heart and was about to discuss with Sayid to drive them away so as not to delay the important prayer time.

    He opened his mouth, and suddenly his mind flashed back to the mysterious language that He had chanted in the depths of His soul. It seemed that an ancient city sank deep in the sea and slept quietly appeared in front of him, so the words of rejection on his lips were uncontrollably reversed.

    "If you are interested in Him, you can watch our prayer ceremony later." Eric said here, and finally remembered to ask the young man's name, "But before that, I think we need to get to know each other."

    After hearing the pseudonym reported by the previous generation of punishers, the man with a pair of bright green eyes and a 3:7 parted blond hair smiled confidently for some reason.

    "As expected, it's a name I've never heard of. Otherwise, you wouldn't have failed to recognize the handsome face of Anderson Hood, the strongest hunter in the Misty Sea?"

    The strongest hunter in the Misty Sea? It sounds like he just casually named it...

    Eric looked at him suspiciously, turned around and tried to confirm the authenticity of this name with Sayid, a native islander of the archipelago.

    The brown bear-like giant scratched his head and said truthfully:

    "I haven't heard of any strongest hunter, but there are quite a few hunters who die every year."