lost narrative poem

Chapter 785 The meaning of "The Hanged Man"
Academy City.

Built by Aleister Crowley in the world for decades, it is a circular city located in the west of Tokyo, Japan, with an area about one-third of Tokyo.

The reason why it is named Academy City is because it is a veritable city of schools, a collection of huge educational institutions consisting of 23 school districts, including dozens of universities and hundreds of elementary schools, junior high schools and high schools. There are more than a thousand "research institutions" of various sizes.

The population is nearly 230 million, and [-]% of the residents are students.

This city excludes outsiders. The entire city is blocked from the outside world by tall walls, and the sky is constantly monitored by artificial satellites. Even the replenishment trucks of convenience stores need special permits to enter. .

People who don't have a pass can hardly walk here. After all, even in this city, even the currency in circulation is equipped with IC chips, which is not just an anti-counterfeiting function.

Xia Ran didn't care about it, and he didn't think it was too troublesome. After asking Touma, he didn't go to a suitable apartment area immediately, but first went to some remote alleys while the night was dark. ——

I borrowed some money from some well-meaning street gangsters and bad boys.

Miracles are not free, and if you pray for hope, you will spread the same amount of despair.Just like someone picked up money, someone must lose it.

So while some people have gained a certain amount of start-up capital, there are also people who have had a few teeth blown away, spit out an untold amount of blood, and had several broken ribs...

In the alleys in the middle of the night, gangsters with strange hair colors, different heights, fat and thin, who looked very non-mainstream, fell to the ground holding their heads or holding their stomachs, wailing in pain, and some people moaned softly Or sob.

These unscrupulous gangsters who used to haunt the streets and alleys, always beating and beating victims with enthusiasm, have suffered the pain they once inflicted on others today... They feel aggrieved and sad because they have always been the only ones who beat others Yes, but today he was severely beaten.

The sad thing is that the opponent not only vomited blood from the beating, but also robbed them of money!
"Why is this the only thing? You're so poor that you have the nerve to come out as a bad guy?" Taking out the banknotes in the wallet and counting them, Xia Ran smashed the empty wallet on the face of the guy on the ground with a look of disdain, by the way Also kicked.

After looking at the "corpses" strewn about in the alley, the magician weighed the money in his hands, and reckoned that the harvest tonight was basically enough.

Although there are not many, it is impossible to expect to squeeze out much oil and water from this group of dregs. After all, if they are so rich, they will not degenerate to this point.And it's useless for Xia Ran to ask for too much money. There are indeed many good things in this city.

However, that is not something that money can easily buy, so don't worry too much about it.

Turning around, putting away the harvest of tonight, the magician Shi Shi ran away at a slow pace.

And in the dark alley behind him, the delinquents who had been severely beaten remained calm at first, only moaning and sobbing in pain and a small wail, the voice was still suppressed low, as if they were clenching their teeth and trying not to Dare to make a sound.

But it didn't take long before someone couldn't help crying, and the emotional infection also drove the other wounded.

The mournful cries came and went in the night, and spread far and far away with the wind. The sad atmosphere and breath were like a decadent youth...

Although they have gone far away, Xia Ran can still hear clearly, but although this incident has the meaning of fishing law enforcement, if they have no bad intentions, they will not encounter such a thing, so the magician I don't think there is any problem.

Following Kamijou Touma's guidance at the beginning, he quickly found an apartment complex.

Students actually don't need to worry about accommodation, because as students, they will always be assigned to dormitories. Many houses in Academy City actually exist in the form of student dormitories, but they are graded according to their quality.

Some are as luxurious as five-star hotels, and some are like cheap and simple low-rent houses.

This is mainly determined by two factors at the same time. One is the background and funds of the school itself. For example, behemoths of the level of Tokiwadai Middle School and Changdian Shangji Academy are either private aristocratic girls' schools or are among the top schools. As the head of the capacity development department of Yuancheng City, it is naturally possible to provide students with more generous resources.

The second is the quality of the students themselves, or to put it more bluntly, it is the ability rating.

All Academy City students have scholarships to receive, and the scholarships are automatically transferred to the bank account every month, just like a salary.To put it bluntly, it can also be regarded as a human experiment contract fund for ability development. The more star the school is, or the higher the ability level is, the higher the scholarship amount will be, and relatively speaking, the importance of the research involved will be higher.

The scholarship for the incompetent is meaningless, and the amount awarded is only a symbolic one. Although it can still be used as a part of living expenses if you plan carefully, it is nothing more than that.

But the scholarship for superpowers is extremely extravagant. No matter how open the flowers are, no matter how corrupt the life is, it is difficult to use up in Academy City.

It's a pity that Xia Ran is not a student, and she doesn't intend to start from this aspect - although it seems that it is nothing to be exposed, with Aleister's character, she will never act rashly and do something radical , that Hanged Man only wants to use everything available.

As long as it is not directly hostile and must be eliminated immediately, Aleister will probably think about how to incorporate it into his plan, observe and use it.

It's a scary person, but this gives Xia Ran a chance to cooperate with him...

It's just that the magician is still preparing to wait and see what happens. He hasn't figured out the truth of this "time travel". feeling of contradiction.

Like the flower in the mirror, the moon in the water, it seems that as long as he uses a little force, the mirror will shatter, the water surface will be broken, everything will be shattered and annihilated, and then disappear completely.

How should I put it, like a certain Kryptonian who wears underwear outside, always feels that he lives in a paper-like world, everything is so fragile, a little carelessness will completely destroy the whole world... …

But how is this possible?
Although as long as he wants to, he can also create a hurricane, freeze the ocean, and even blow out the stars with a single sneeze, but in this world... the energy level of this power is actually nothing, it can only be embarrassing. There is more than enough than the top and more than the bottom.

So, is this some weird delusion?
……

……

The next day, at noon.

This is also July [-]th, the first day of summer vacation.

In the apartment she rented, Xia Ran stood on the balcony overlooking this overly advanced city, with her head tilted and her chin resting on her hands, thinking about something.

The apartment he rents is not old. In fact, he wants to find an old, dilapidated apartment in this Academy City, which is 30 to [-] years more advanced than the outside world. It is full of power generation windmills and intelligent robots. The building itself is not an easy task.

Therefore, this apartment building is clean and simple. Although the area is not large, it is still designed as a single-person suite, and although the sparrow is small, it has all internal organs, including water and electricity.

It's just...not available now.

Today, there was a large-scale power outage with unknown reasons in Academy City. The whole room was shrouded in stuffy air, and the refrigerator and air conditioner were temporarily on strike.

Xia Ran didn't care too much, he was just searching for all the information he could get, and slowly pieced together the outline of this magnificent world in his heart.On the surface, he was just standing on the balcony looking into the distance, and even seemed to be in a daze.

However, the life form has reached such an advanced level, and its methods of obtaining information have long surpassed human imagination.

The radio waves in the air, the AIM diffusion field emanating from the capable users, the arrangement and movement of the stars and celestial bodies, and even... the layered real world context of the phase, no matter whether he is qualified to manipulate, but at least the observation is still possible. No problem.

Just simply standing here is enough to observe too many things.

But the more this happened, the more strange he felt, the world seemed a little strange.No matter how the second magic works, infinite possible worlds before and after the collapse of the wave function are presented before his eyes. His clear eyes remain unchanged on the surface, but in fact they have already reflected various parallel futures.

As if everything is normal...

But even under this cosmic system, the countless tributaries that appear in the long river of time are still unified matter and time and space.

Like a closed black box, he has no way to perceive other domains outside this universe at all, as if there are no other time and space, other worlds, other dimensions outside the domain, only the benchmark of this world exists .

Even the laws and the world unfolding inside him seem to be completely nothingness, as if the introverted creation he has been carrying out before has not yet been born, or has long since died, but it has nothing to do with his power and essence. Influence.

This is really a wonderful thing... What kind of state is he trapped in this world?

"It's really like a dream... I just can't wake up."

Opening the attribute panel that he was still not used to, Xia Ran thought about it, and felt that there seemed to be something he hadn't noticed.

For example, if this world is so closed and independent and parallel in the entire infinite world, how did I get in?And how is the connection with the space maintained?Uh, having said that, is there really a subtle connection with space in this world?

Xia Ran was a little unsure. He flipped through the attribute panel back and forth, but he couldn't find the familiar exchange options, retention time reminder and other functions. Without such real-time dynamic feedback, it was difficult to confirm whether there was a connection with the space itself. .

I found some unaccustomed function settings——

For example, in addition to the free attribute points, there are also skill points, which can be invested in the corresponding special abilities, which can directly increase the level of skills, strengthen the effect and performance of abilities... The level limit of basic abilities is LV20, and advanced The upper limit of the skill level is LV10.

Although each skill point can unconditionally increase the skill level by one level, it is enough to make people feel liver pain.

When was this version, it was not humanized at all, or did it mean that the space at that time did not have so many resources, or the efficiency of transforming source quality was also very poor, so we could only choose such a regular version for operation?

In addition, there are settings such as merit points and ranks, which makes Xia Ran's liver hurt even more.

After turning off the panel, he turned around and walked back into the room, packed up his things, changed into clothes that were more in line with the style of the city, and opened the door to go out.

There is nothing to do for the time being, and he can't figure out why he can be so calm, he doesn't seem to care at all, there is only a touch of curiosity and interest in his heart, which makes him feel that his state is a bit abnormal .

As if it was real, I felt that this was just an interesting and unreal long dream, but the dreaming self didn't have to worry about anything.

Xia Ran felt that this was a very incorrect mentality. He tried his best to ignore and suppress this strange feeling from the bottom of his heart, and prepared to go out and have a look.

"correct……"

As if he suddenly thought of something, the magician stopped in his tracks. He reached into his pocket and gently took out a Tarot card with the help of this cover-up movement. On it was a person with his hands tied behind his back, hanging upside down on a tree trunk. on the pattern.

The "Hanged Man"'s hands tied behind his back form a triangle, and his legs are intertwined to form a cross. When put together, they form a special symbol.

This seemed to be the only thing he carried with him. When all other external objects, and even his own inner universe, showed nothingness, only this card was brought over...

"Is this expected?"

Looking at the Tarot card in his hand, Xia Ran shook his head with a dumbfounded smile, and then muttered uncontrollably.

There are two "hanged men" in this world, the first is that guy Aleister, this is a veritable hanged man, and he is still hanging upside down in the windowless building.

The second is Othinus, the true demon god of Odin in the Nordic mythology. The most famous legend is that Odin once hung upside down on the sacred tree for nine days and nine nights in order to obtain the fountain of wisdom. Stabbed by a spear, he eventually traded his left eye for wisdom.

Presumably it should not be the former...

But if it is the latter, Xia Ran is not sure, and who knows how this card is used, should it be handed over to the one-eyed girl?
He was a little dazed, and a familiar and beautiful voice came from his ears at this time:
"Hey, you guy... are you okay..."

The surrounding scenes are like a mirage, and ripples appear on the surface of water. The scenery of Academy City changes in a trance, broken like a flower in a mirror and a moon in water. In the fragmented ripples, Xia Ran sees a pair of familiar rose-red eyes again .

She was holding her shoulders, and asked in a worried tone. The crowd around her was a little noisy, and it seemed very noisy.

"I……"

Xia Ran opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, everything quickly moved away from him, as if the broken water surface regained its calm, and a false mirror image was reflected again.

The surrounding scene changed back to the scenery of Academy City. The three blades of the power generation windmill were shining in the sun. The guards and cleaning robots were patrolling the streets in the distance. The hot shopping street was just like what I saw just now. any difference.

seem……

Nothing happened.

(End of this chapter)