I Was Once a Legend

When the door was knocked, the three people in the room were a little surprised.

Dong Zheng and Linhai have just arrived at the Pure White Realm. Except for Wang Ailun who Hamelen knew, they don't have acquaintances. Who will come?

Dong Zheng got up: "I'll open the door."

They now live in the most common tube building. The house is not big, with one bedroom and one living room. The house key was handed over to them by the clown after passing through the novice box.

Dong Zheng has been observing the neighbors for the past three days, and they all seem to be new residents just like them.Many people never came back after leaving the house. Apart from changing houses, it is more likely that they died somewhere.

He opened the door, and there was no one in the aisle, except for a delivery box at the door.

Dong Zheng squatted down to look at the courier slip posted on it. The recipient had his name written on it, but the sender's position was blank.

Many things in this place cannot be explained by common sense in the real world.Dong Zheng no longer made it difficult for himself, and carried the box into the house.

Very heavy.

And... there seems to be something moving inside?

Lin Hai leaned over curiously: "What is it?"

"I don't know." Dong Zheng put the box on the table, and Cui Zuojing, who was lying on the window sill and lost in memory, turned his head, saw the box's eyes lit up, and immediately walked over, "It's for me."

"Aren't you a prisoner? Why would someone send you something, and my brother's name is clearly written on it." Dong Linhai complained.

Cui Zuojing ignored him, and casually took the pen that Dong Zheng put on the table, and the tip of the pen easily cut the tape along the cover of the box.Accompanied by the sound of the courier box being torn open, the contents inside made a restless noise, and they couldn't wait to show their heads.

Is that a... a cat? !

The white cat jumped out of the box lightly, its triangular pink pointed ears trembled, its amber eyes were as clear and transparent as two glass beads in the sun, and its tail swept across Cui Zuojing's wrist.

It squatted gracefully on the table, looked at the surprised two brothers in front of it, and said with a strong Russian accent in the bass: "Hello."

...wait, the cat talked?

Still fucking with a Maozi accent? !

Lin Hai was dumbfounded.

What a fantasy world this is!

Rao is as calm as Dong Zheng, and he can't help being surprised. In his cognition world, he has never thought of a cat with a Russian accent—well, even a talking mouse wearing a vest in Hameln just now I've seen it, what else is impossible?

Cui Zuojing reached out and scratched Victor's chin, and was finally relieved: "He even used a courier box, so he's not afraid of boring you."

"He sent me here, I just stayed in the box for a while, it's okay." Victor rubbed the boy's palm affectionately, and smiled at the two people who were scared, "Don't be surprised, I'm Zuo My friend Viktor Vladimir Morozov, you can call me Viktor, or like Zuo, Uncle."

The string of Russian names with tongue-twisting directly confused Linhai. He looked at Cui Zuojing and Baimao, then at Dong Zheng, and wisely chose not to speak for the time being.

"You are not an ordinary prisoner, are you?" Dong Zheng asked suddenly after being silent for a moment.

Cui Zuojing raised his eyebrows: "How do you say?"

"Although I haven't been here for a long time, it is clearly stated in the "Newcomer Handbook" that once you become a prisoner, even if you keep the memory of your life, you are not allowed to meet with people you knew in private without the permission of the owner. There are more contacts."

Dong Zheng looked at Cui Zuojing calmly, and said, "When you were fighting against the Piper, you suddenly ran out from the prisoner's space privately, and now an old friend came to the door... Actually, you are not completely under my control yes, right?"

"That's right." Cui Zuojing admitted frankly, "I'm not a real prisoner, and I do have other purposes for coming here with Victor, but you have to believe that there is a blood bond, and I can't possibly harm you of."

"I know, but the feeling of being concealed is not very comfortable." Dong Zheng is not used to any uncontrolled things, but until now, he can only get used to it slowly, "I will wait until you are willing to tell me .”

"Don't worry, if you are sure that you are indeed able to help Zuo and me, we will confess everything." Victor stretched out a pink front paw and touched Dong Zheng's finger. Zuo Jing's character may not be able to speak well when facing unfamiliar people, so he will be the first to show his kindness.

Social work or something, let him do it.

The little white cat in front of him looked really harmless. Dong Zheng hesitated for a while, but didn't dodge it. He gently held Victor's front paw with two fingers: "Okay."

Fluffy and fluffy, is it really a cat?Is it really a cat!

Lin Hai resisted the urge to go up and touch it, and asked: "Well... I would like to ask, have you always been a cat? I mean, did you learn to speak human language, or was it before? personal?"

"I'm a human being." Victor replied patiently, "It's just that I'm trapped in the cat's body now. One of Zuo's goals now is to help me change back to my original form."

"Oh, that's it, then it's easier to understand." After all, he was a young man full of fantastic fantasies, Linhai quickly accepted the fact, and asked, "Then what do you eat? Do you need to buy cat food?" Or something else? Or come and eat with us."

"It would be best to have cat food. If conditions do not permit, I can also eat."

"Hey - I don't know if there is any longing here, I heard that it is the best cat food."

Here Dong Linhai chatted happily with Victor, while Cui Zuojing picked up the "Instruction Manual for Newcomers to the Pure White Realm" on the table and flipped through it casually.The book he took should belong to Dong Zheng, and there are many marks on it, including how to perform in the box to get more points, the rules of the clearing night, etc., which can reflect the seriousness of the man.

"I still don't understand a lot about this place." Dong Zheng leaned against the wall, looking at the boy who was looking down at the manual, and said suddenly.

Cui Zuojing looked up at him: "For example?"

"The clown said that if he wants to go out from here, he must participate in the pilgrimage, reach the queen's palace, and make a request to the queen. It's also written in the manual." Dong Zheng's voice is calm, and this question has been bothering him since he came, " But has anyone really managed to go back? Everyone came here after they died in the real world, and the corpses of Linhai and I are probably already in disrepair, if we go back, what form will we exist in?"

"..." Cui Zuojing was silent for a moment, "I can't tell you this yet."

Dong Zheng asked sharply: "Is it impossible or you don't know?"

"I know, but it may not have any reference value."

After all, since the existence of the Pure White Realm, he has been the only one who has successfully gone out.

On the night of his 16th birthday, the whole family prepared a sumptuous dinner and waited for their son to come home from school, but there was no news until seven o'clock in the evening.The news of the prisoner's escape rang repeatedly on the TV.

The mother stayed with the younger sister at home, and the anxious father came out to search. In a remote alley, he found the body of his son who had been stabbed more than ten times, lying in a pool of dried blood, already cold and stiff.

Before the man who was about to faint could utter his first howl, he saw the boy's blood-stained eyelashes tremble slightly, and slowly opened his eyes——

Cui Zuojing struggled in the pure white world for three years and four months, but in reality, only two hours and 37 minutes had passed.

Everything that happened eight years ago was still vivid in his mind. Cui Zuojing closed his eyes, thinking of the tears of his parents and sister before leaving, there was no wave in his heart, only a dull pain.

"Okay then, let me change another question." Dong Zheng asked instead, "Can you tell me about the pilgrimage?"

This question is easy to answer, Cui Zuojing said: "The geographical layout of the pure white land boundary can be understood as a circular target. We are now on the outermost floor, and the queen's palace is at the bull's-eye position. Every two areas Every room is filled with twisted spaces that only endless trains can pass through.

"Countless people who wanted to go out worked hard and took risks to cross half of the pure white land to petition the queen. Over time, people called the journey to the central area a pilgrimage.

"As for the process... it is to enter the box, get points, props, clues inside, improve yourself, get a ticket to enter the next area, and repeat this process until you reach your destination."

Then meet lies and death.

When Cui Zuojing explained, Victor and Dong Linhai also stopped talking unknowingly, and listened to him quietly.The boy's unique voice rang in the living room. Victor's tail, which was swaying gently in the air, hung down on the coffee table, and his white eyelashes drooped down, covering the sadness in the amber eyes.

—he had lost count of how many times he had witnessed death.

"It must be difficult." Lin Hai murmured.

Cui Zuojing hummed: "It's very difficult, so some people choose to live here forever, instead of going on pilgrimage, they just regularly enter some low-level boxes to earn points that can live for a period of time, but it's still easy because of lack of strength, etc. All sorts of accidental deaths in boxes."

"There are still a very small number of people, some of their characteristics are recognized by the pure white world, and they play roles such as weapon manufacturers, ticket inspectors or guides here, and obtain the qualifications for living by working."

After Cui Zuojing finished speaking, everyone fell silent.

"Probably the situation is like this." In the end, he broke the heaviness: "So what are you going to choose?"

Do you count the points at hand and struggle to survive, resign yourself to your fate and wait to be selected to work for the Pure White Realm forever, or embark on a pilgrimage with the risk of ten deaths and no life, in pursuit of the elusive chance to go back?

Hard to choose, right?

But for Dong Zheng, it means that there is no choice.

He has always believed that fate is only in his own hands, and any resignation to fate was directly rejected by him at the very beginning.

Stay here forever?impossible.

"Let's go on a pilgrimage." The man said bluntly, he didn't notice the turmoil in Cui Zuojing's eyes the moment he heard his answer, and looked towards Linhai, "Want to come with me?"

"Of course!" The boy immediately replied loudly, "I don't want to stay here forever, I might as well work hard, at least there is hope."

"Then it's settled." Cui Zuojing snapped his fingers, and the young man leaned against the wall with a little smile on his lips that he didn't even notice, "I will help you on the pilgrimage. Bit can live long enough for me to share the secret with Victor."

"It will." Victor corrected him, and the man in the cat's body was as gentle and firm as ever, "It will definitely succeed."

A tiny seed is planted at this moment, quietly brewing, waiting to set off a thunderstorm that will overturn the world.

Cui Zuojing looked at the sky again, he knew that in another dimension beyond visual reach, his family was waiting for him to go back again.

The fetters of the prisoner card made Dong Zheng choose him at the most critical moment, and he also chose Dong Zheng at this moment.