Blade and Poetry

I carefully mentioned the residents near the Land of Eternal Night to the innkeeper, but he unexpectedly knew everything about it.He told me that the Land of Eternal Night is thirty miles away, and there is only one building that can be called a "house" nearby.There used to be more buildings than there are now, and I don't know who lived in them; but they were all demolished more than ten years ago, and it seems that they were relocated, and only the current one remained.

"Who would live near the Land of Eternal Night? There are only bones, reeds, and night owls on the edge of the swamp." The innkeeper said, "Young man, maybe that house has already become a haunted house—I suggest you don't either." go."

"Also?" I caught his word.

"There were also people who came a few days ago, and they were those big figures in gray burqas," the boss said. "It's strange to say that I almost planned to close my business recently."

My paper bird hovered over Ercheng for a long time, and finally spotted a place that was slowly falling.I tread cautiously—not a swamp, but a rock in my judgment.

There was really only one house in the place, not very big, and it sat all alone in a desolate field.The ground in front of the house is green, and behind it, water, moss and reeds appear alternately, vaguely covered in mist, showing a barren aesthetic.Parallel to my paper bird high in the sky is the owl's cry; from above, the house seems to sit on a dividing line--the world, and the land of death.

There was no one around the house as I expected, and the bishop's people should have turned back a few days ago.I watched my feet carefully, stepped over several deliberately placed rocks, and jumped all the way to the wooden raft supporting the house.I knocked breathlessly on the door, but there was no answer; so I knocked three more times without haste.Before I raised my hand for the fifth time, the door was pulled open from the inside with a thin crack, half of a deep blackness leaked out from the depth of the crack.I feel someone is watching me from there.

"I've already sent off the last group of guests," a female voice said indifferently, with a strong accent and a bit hoarse, "please let this old man go."

The door was about to be closed.I preempted this by saying:

"Ma'am, I'm not the Bishop's man—I'm a seeker from afar."

"Indeed," the people in the room paused, "...there is no gray robe. I was blinded by it. But, young man, no matter what kind of curiosity I have prompted you to explore this deserted place, Don't care what you want; I advise you to get out of here as soon as possible, because you won't get any help from me."

"My name is Vicente." I looked at the direction from which the voice came from, and said earnestly, "I want to know something about 'password string' from you—"

"I don't know." The voice inside the door cut me off.

"...it was connected to my father's death," I said, "my father died from it, and I couldn't even find out what it meant after all those years. Everyone who knew the truth was silent, and then I Found this place, hoping for a miracle. This may be my last stop - I have nowhere to look, nowhere to go. If I still can't get an answer from here, the mystery may be buried forever Go down until I'm in the same cemetery."

I saw the door stay still, and continued in a low voice: "—I need you very much."

"Will there be children who need a handful of old bones?" The man seemed to be touched, and murmured to himself in a hoarse voice.

"I'm not a lie," I said. "Trust me."

The people inside the door were silent for a while.I seem to hear the shallow breathing of an old man.

"No," she said a little hurriedly, her voice aggravated, "No. You can go."

As she spoke, she was about to push the door shut, and I immediately raised my hand to hold it.

"But--"

"Manners, young man," she snapped.

I withdrew my hand.

"I'm sorry," I said through the door, "but at least let me give you something. It has nothing to do with my problem—I was just asked to bring it."

I took out the silver stone from my body.I saw that the door was still tightly sealed, and there was no movement, so I lowered my head and approached the door panel: "I will put it under the door, as long as the door is opened a little, it can be seen from the inside. I apologize again for my rudeness." Apologies - I'll just turn around and leave now. Best wishes."

I jumped off the rock from the raft and heard a creak behind me.The door was never closed again; when I reached the third rock, the voice stopped me.

"Wait a moment, please," said the man at the door, "Who told you to bring it here?"

"Alvin Karajan," I said, turning around, "I think you may know each other."

The old man standing in front of the door had gray short hair, was wearing a dark black skirt, and had an aged beauty on his face.There was a horizontal fine line at the corner of her lips, and the corners of her eyes were red, or maybe it was just a small loose shadow; she was looking down at the thing in her hand.

"Who's that?" she said.

"You don't know him well?" I said. "But he said he was an old friend of Mr. Chen Yang."

"Chen Yang is not sociable." The old woman said, but her voice was gentler than before, "We don't have any old friends. All old people passed away before us."

"That guy was about my age," I said, "blonde hair, gray-blue eyes."

The old woman's bony hands fumbled back and forth in the air in a daze, and grabbed the door frame beside her with her backhand.

"Ah, I see," she murmured. "It's the kid—it must be!"

She looked overwhelmed, as if she was about to stagger toward me.I was afraid that she would fall, so I rushed forward two steps to support her.A tear rolled down the corner of her eye, and then another.She declined my help and asked me to sit inside.

The old man's gaffe was only a momentary matter.She went to make tea for me, and I sat in front of her coffee table with my hands tied.Bottles and small furniture are crowded in the upper and lower corners of the house. The wallpaper is old and clean, giving it a sense of home. It is almost hard to imagine that it was built on the edge of such a dark field.The owner of the house was nimble, and soon there were more porcelain pots and cups on the tea table.When she had packed it all, she sat down in the armchair opposite me.

"That thing means a lot to me, and I'm very grateful that you brought it," she said. "You brought the news that the child is still alive..."

"I was just entrusted by others." I replied.

She stared at me: "Are you his friend?"

"Yes." I said.

"It's wonderful," she said, "for him."

She seemed to have more questions to ask me, but she seemed to have closed the thousand words under the drooping eyelids.

"I've seen Alvin laugh a lot lately," I thought for a while, and I took the initiative to mention, "Most of the time, he is happy and leisurely. He prefers ginger biscuits, and the desserts are better than mine. He also likes to play pranks occasionally—all in all. ,not bad."

"Looks like it's been so many years," she sighed.

"Who are you?" I asked.

I paid attention to her facial features, but her answer overturned my guess.

"Nothing—I met the kid through my work with Chen. Or, as he said, an old acquaintance," she said. "You just wanted to ask me about the 'password string', didn't you?"

I didn't expect her to suddenly turn to the subject.I suppressed my sudden heartbeat and nodded quickly.

"I wasn't told exactly what the password string was," she said slowly. "I never actually got access to it. I only surmised later that it had something to do with my husband and that kid." Contact. I can tell you a story that belongs to me, and the useful information in it depends on you to choose."

"Thank you, ma'am," I said.

"Don't thank me," she said. "I've kept this under wraps for years, and maybe now is the right time to bring it to the surface."

There was something dignified in her polite smile, which filled it with melancholy.She folded her hands on her legs and leaned back slightly.

"Chen Yang and I were hired back after we had retired for a period of time. We were jointly selected into a national plan that year." She said, "In fact, it was mainly to hire him back. We used to be experimenters, But his research level and accumulation are deeper than mine, and his direction is more suitable. He has used it for five years and has come into contact with the core content; while I am still lingering on the outer edge. We all signed a confidentiality agreement, even in daily life. Exchange the details of their work.

“I didn’t feel well at the time and applied for a transfer, which was granted. Chen was as fascinated by their research as ever; he wanted to work on it for a few more years. He told me they were getting close to that.” , this is the accumulation of painstaking efforts of the predecessors for nearly a century - he wants to witness its emergence.

"Relying on my previous qualifications, I was allowed to be transferred to his experimental area to do some back office work. I can usually have lunch with him in the lounge and then go home for dinner. The experimental building used to be built in my place. Nearby, it has been demolished now. But it was a big building at that time, filled with nearly a thousand people, and everyone was busy.

“The new job I applied for was very casual, there was no secrecy, it was very basic. But Chen was different. His agreement bound him so he never went into detail about what he did that day. Only one day he showed very childish joy, telling me that a new batch of experimental subjects had arrived, and they were finally able to practice their new ideas, and this time there was a good chance of success.

"That was around 832. At the same time, I added a very strange content to my work: checking the body data of a group of children.

"There were a total of nineteen children in that group—I still remember the number. They were all in the age range of three to five years old. They were sent out from nineteen separate rooms in the laboratory building, and they worked in my laboratory. After the morning inspection, they will be sent to my husband’s work area, and then go to a specific place in the building to receive regular education, meals, and a journey that I can’t observe. At night, I will be sent back to the original room. I am responsible for They had checked all the basic functions of the body, and submitted the reports to Chen and their large experimental field on the top floor.

"During a test one day later, I found that several children had adverse reactions to Crystal Ring-30 at the same time—it is a drug that is restricted for adults and absolutely prohibited for young children. I'm confused by the phenomenon, but my job responsibilities tell me not to ask questions; no one will give me answers, and neither will Chen - he's too prim and won't break his own signed agreement. I just pretend I don't see this It was a strange phenomenon, and my report was still being passed upwards.

"After that day, many similar situations appeared one after another. Once I thought: 'This test is actually quite common, and those white mice and rabbits are often sent in this way'-but after thinking about it, I felt a kind of Deep fear. I seemed to understand at that moment what those "experiments" Chen mentioned were exactly.

"During my work, the number of 'nineteen' was eventually reduced to 'nine'. Part of it was caused by drugs, part of it was a deterioration of the response to magic, and part of 'nature' disappeared. I wrote that number with my own hands. The report of the change, analyzing the most superficial reasons for it as professionally as possible.

"'Nine' has become an extremely stable number for a long time. Since then, I have completely broken away from the work of measuring them and returned to the right track. I am very curious about the fate of the nine children-but I I almost never saw them again, and only caught a glimpse when I passed by the 'education room'; their expressions were blank, and they seemed to be memorizing books.

"One noon in 837, I prepared the meal for Chen and me in the rest room of the building as usual. As soon as I turned around, I saw him bring a child in. He only said vaguely: As the child As a reward for the best performance in his experimental project, he was allowed to break away from the laboratory every Friday and have lunch with us.

"What about the 'experimental item'? That's still too young a child—or rather, the most well-behaved of the 'experimental items'! But children are always cute. It took me some time to suddenly recognize that he is The number 'Alpha' I tested before. But my husband doesn't mention it, and the kid doesn't seem to remember me. I talk to him kindly, ask him what he likes, what he wants - even though I know , most of the sweet dreams I wove to him were impossible to come true.

"The child was very obedient at first, always saying thank you, and saying that he didn't want anything. After we got along for a while, I found that he was actually very spiritual, a little lively, smart, and began to behave a little close. We. The life in the laboratory is probably too depressing. He doesn't even have his own name, and I don't even dare to ask him if he has any memory of walking out of here——I secretly brought him things from home, such as candy and chocolate , these sweet things that children will like, and I also made a lot of meat for lunch, and I gave him the extra. Chen must know, because the two of us usually don’t eat desserts, and no one will buy them, but He also turned a blind eye. In fact, I always listened to him teaching the child his knowledge in his spare time, which would not violate the rules of the laboratory, some miscellaneous books on reading.

"In fact, I always wanted to have a child, and Chen was the same. We couldn't have children, because we were busy and never adopted, and we couldn't have a child of our own until we got old; Little Alpha fulfilled our regret. Although I and Little Alpha Zhou only had so little time to get along, but I couldn't help but pour all my love for the child into him.

"Two years have passed. Little Alpha awakened his talent as a swordsman at the age of ten. I saw Chen come home on the night of the third year. I have never seen his expression the same as that day—his face is usually Both are resolute, with a calm belief in their eyes, but because they are always fixed, they are not very flexible; I criticized him for this before, and he insisted that this is the source of motivation for his work. However He looked so distressed and fidgety that night—a sign I'd overlooked earlier, too.

"At that time, I had a very bad premonition and asked him what happened to his experiment. It took me a long time to pry a sentence out of his mouth for the first time.

"'Lots of dead lately,' he said, 'failed too many times...tomorrow it's his turn.'

"I was shocked: 'Who?'

"He moved his lips, still indicating that he couldn't speak, sitting at the desk and writing the work notes he had to write every night.

"I don't know from what point of view I should stop something inevitable from happening, even if there are some things we all know. I can't dissuade him; even if I dissuade him, there are so many people in their plan group, he just One of many parts. All I know is that I don't care about the rules anymore, give up my pretense of ignorance.

"'Chen, he has been with us for so long...' I sat beside him and said, very weakly, 'I have always loved that child...'

"He didn't speak. I only saw his pen moving, scanning line after line. In the light of the desk lamp in his hand, a string of tears fell silently, which was quite bright. His pen was still moving. , like nothing happened.

"That was the first time we were late. I don't know why - as if we don't have to face this nightmare the next day if we don't wake up - anyway, we got up late, and we were half an hour late together. He rushed to the laboratory building in a panic. 'It will be successful,' he said. The meaning of his promise was the same as my pleading the night before. He and I turned separately at the stairs on the second floor, but we didn't realize that it was me See him for the last time.

"There was a huge bang in the building that day. I was knocked to the ground and almost broke a leg. Judging from the sound, there were still broken pieces falling from the upstairs. Fortunately, the pillars of the building were strong and were not damaged. It immediately collapsed. All the experimenters were gathered on the first floor for evacuation. I waited until the end but did not see Chen's figure. I was forcibly invited out by the guards. I saw a scorched black on the top of the building, and broken bricks and tiles on the top floor. , the cap was gone—it was seven working days before I actually got word from the lab confirming my husband's death.

"I didn't get any inside information. The lab said that 'explosion caused casualties in an experiment accident' and gave me some follow-up compensation. They said they would move the address of the main building back to the Ninth City and rebuild a new building there. .

"Just like that, I quit my job and went back to live in the house in the Land of Eternal Night. I thought about staying for two days before leaving this place full of sad memories. I only need to come back from time to time. If not Some of the truths might not have come to me at all if someone had made the trip.

"That was the first time I saw a bishop in person, and I couldn't help but feel excited. When I was young, I watched the bishop take over the position of a wise man. His appearance has not changed with the years like a gift from God. But I am with him. Through more and more contacts, he gradually realized that he was the initiator and sponsor of the project. He didn't understand the specific content of the experiment, as long as he held his results firmly in his hands, he would do anything for it. However, the lock The precious materials in the large laboratory in that building had already been wiped out in the explosion.

"The bishop knew that I knew little about the plan, but he came to investigate me from time to time to see if my husband had given me some clues that I didn't recognize, and the one he mentioned the most was the 'password string' .

"He promised me that he could make an exception to let me receive my husband's body; on the contrary, my home would open the right of inspection and access to him. He said that judging from the scene, my husband was pulling the laboratory door He had to be ajar, farther away from the center of the explosion than his colleagues, and was blocked by a door made of special material, so that no bones remained.

"I complied with his request and finally saw Chen again. I felt a throbbing pain in my heart—it was no longer a whole person, except for the parts that were necrotic due to heavy weights, the torso was still damaged. The cauterization went through several large holes. My work experience tells me that it definitely does not look like an explosion scar.

"Sometimes I wonder if this is the connection between cause and effect, and where am I in it? If this immoral experiment using human bodies is a heinous crime, then I have also ignorantly and unknowingly carried a heavy sin. Then All the experimenters on the first floor died in the results they put in, and every calculation they made pushed them closer to death-did they expect this? I thought the child died in the same scene In the explosion, and today I have mixed feelings to hear that he is still alive. However, I dare not go to see him; I don't think I am even worthy of inquiring about his recent situation. Abyss—yes, a qualified experimenter should do that, but—I can't be sure until the end, whether that child also deeply hates us..."

The old man stopped talking and went to get the handle of a porcelain cup.The surface of the light red tea was shaking violently until it was sent into her pale lips.She lowered her head, tears streaming into the cup.

"I think the little Alpha let it go, ma'am," I said to her, "no matter whether he harbored hatred or not, and what kind of hatred he harbored-he has not contacted you for so many years, but at this time, Chen When Mr. Yang returned his things to you, he should have chosen to be relieved."

The old man choked up when he heard what I said.

"What have we done..." she said. "Is that something a child can forgive?"

"I'll get in touch with him. I'll mention that I've been there—and you," I said. "It's up to him to say that forgiveness."

She wiped her cheeks hastily, and closed her eyes; the dried trail of tears piled up into a gentle smile.

"Can I ask you again, what's your name?"

"Vicente," I replied.

"Vicente—you're a nice kid, too," she said tenderly, pleadingly. "You're a friend of little Alpha. You'll always watch over him, protect him, love him, won't you?"

"Of course," I said, "I have an agreement with him; as long as I don't violate that agreement, I will always take care of him, protect him, love him, and do my best."

She stretched out her hand to smooth the folds of the skirt, and stood up slowly.

"As you may have guessed, the bishop has taken many of my husband's belongings," she said. "In fact, there is nothing left. His work-related things were originally properly placed in the locker of the laboratory. Even his The same is true of his work notes—he often writes a page by turning on the light that night, and then takes it to the laboratory and locks it up the next day. But I kept something from the bishop. On the day when the incident happened many years ago, we woke up late It was so busy that I didn't realize until I got home that Chen left behind the page of work notes he wrote that night."

My heart was pounding.I almost guessed what she was going to say in the next second——

"It means a lot to me," said the old man, "and I hid it; though I can't read most of it. I give it to you now, young man. That last page of notes—in exchange. You brought me a little bit of hope, and I hope it brings you the same little bit of discovery of the truth you need."