The Midnight Owl

As the sun rises, as soon as the 4S store opens, customers step through the threshold.

The security guards are armed with live ammunition, not only to check whether the customers entering the store are suspected of infection, but also to guard against zombies that come from the roadside from time to time.

Zombies are rampant, the service life of vehicles is greatly shortened, and the car market is suddenly tight. Fortunately, 4S stores have sufficient stocks. As long as citizens can enter the store safely, they can buy cars safely.

The exhibition hall is overcrowded. Almost every model is surrounded by shoppers. They want to sit in and have a try, and they have to be numbered. There is only one place, the northeast corner of the hall, which is a little deserted.

A purple Beetle is on display there.

There were only two male customers standing next to him. One was taller, taller, and handsome, with long hair that few men would wear. He didn't feel unusual on him, but had a refined demeanor; the other was a little shorter than him, but Also young and handsome, youthful vigor.

Extraordinarily handsome, looking at the purple beetle with fascinated eyes.

Young and handsome, his eyes almost rolled to the sky.

"Beautiful." Meng Zhang thought for a long time, but only wanted to get this word.

Ding Xiaoche despaired: "Your aesthetics are too distorted."

Meng Zhang turned to look at him.

Ding Xiaoche swallowed: "You, what do you see me doing."

The corners of Meng Zhang's lips are slightly raised, and his smile is light, like a breeze, like a bright moon: "Beauty is beautiful, not as good as you."

Ding Xiaoche: "..."

"Shopping guide—" Ding Xiaoche finally surrendered to the sweet talk.

I'm not afraid that the god has no aesthetics, but I'm afraid that the god will open his mouth.

The two paid on the spot, picked up the car on the spot, and soon drove back to Ding Xiaoche's house in the purple Beetle.

Although it was a done deal, Ding Xiaoche still complained all the way until he entered the house, still thinking about it: "Charm red, mint green, ice flake blue, macaron powder, lavender purple...every car you bought can be in any color. Make a tropical fruit basket!"

Meng Zhang was changing shoes, he was stunned when he heard this: "Tropical... fruit basket?"

"It's just a bunch of colorful tropical fruits in a basket," Ding Xiaoche said while gesticulating, "Pile up into a hill, full of enthusiasm..."

Meng Zhang was still confused: "How are tropical fruits different from the fruits in the fruit shop downstairs?"

Ding Xiaoche couldn't describe it, so he simply drew it with a pen and paper: "This one is called mango, it's yellow-orange-orange, it's not available in the fruit shop downstairs!"

Meng Zhang looked at the painting that looked like a pebble, but it was still difficult to have a specific image of this tropical fruit.

Ding Xiaoche looked at his work, and he couldn't explain it, and finally sighed: "I knew I would have taken it with my mobile phone." He looked at Meng Zhang a little sorry, "The gang of foreigners didn't bring the real thing, they just looked at the mobile phone. Photo albums, small talk, I took a peek."

Outsiders, that is, people who appear in the city at a certain time every day.

Meng Zhang and Ding Xiaoche once said that if you meet a stranger with something new or hear something they don’t understand, try to write it down. It may be useful or not. Have more fun.

Having said that, there is no need to be serious and remember everything, but it is obvious that Ding Xiaoche cares about it and apologizes for not doing his best.

Serious to the point of being silly, this is the most worrying part of Ding Xiao's body.

But also the cutest place.

Meng Zhang hooked him over and stole a kiss skillfully.

Ding Xiaoche was stunned, unable to react for a long time.

Meng Zhang thought about it, and kissed him a second time.

Ding Xiaoche's face turned red, but she kept her mouth stubborn: "You, why are you kissing me?"

Meng Zhang hugged him, head to head, sandalwood all over his body, making people unconsciously peaceful and quiet: "Thank you for letting me choose a car."

Ding Xiaoche muttered: "It was you who spent the money..."

"No," Meng Zhang corrected him, "Every copper coin I spend now is your money."

Ding Xiaoche: "..."

"I said that the other day, from now on—" Meng Zhang distanced the two of them a little, eyebrow to eyebrow, eye to eye, solemnly looking into the depths of Ding Xiaoche's eyes, as if swearing sovereignty, "My The incense money belongs to you, you, and me.”

……

Shenjun Mengzhang didn't remember anything before Yuanshen came out of his body.

One day five years ago, he suddenly broke away from the shackles of the idol, and his soul was freed, so he began to have memories.In the following year, although he was still in the Hall of the Three Religions and never left, he roughly pieced together this world from the chats of the "pilgrims".

This is a city full of zombies.

Zombies will bite people, and those who are bitten will be infected or even die. The mission of the pilgrims is to escort the vaccine to the central hospital.

His task is to give blessings to these pilgrims.

As long as someone finds his statue and burns incense, countless weapons and objects will immediately appear in his mind, as if they were rooted there thousands of years ago, and he only needs to choose two of them at random and give them to the other party.

In this way, more than 300 days passed in an orderly manner.

Ding Xiaoche is here.

It was a rainy night, and the guy tied into rice dumplings fell into the hall of the Three Sects with a bang.

It was four pilgrims who kicked him in. After entering the hall, they didn't stop, and they kicked him a few more times.

The person lying on the ground has no power to fight back, but he can fight back: "I lent you your car, and you beat me back, repaying kindness with hatred, and going to the eighteenth floor of hell—"

Meng Zhang, who was floating in mid-air, was speechless for him. At this time, he was yelling, and there was no other word to describe him except stupid.

Sure enough, the four of them became even angrier and kicked harder: "Why didn't you f*cking whistle to lure the zombies? Ah? I almost died on the embankment—"

The kicked person hummed in pain, but he refused to give in: "I told you the car, I want to go home, I don't want to go to the north of the city, why don't you let me go!"

There are always grievances and grievances among pilgrims. Most of the time, several teams play together, which is spectacular. Therefore, Meng Zhang is not surprised by this kind of situation.

Turning around, he was about to float back to the statue behind the wall, waiting to be found, a cold snort made Meng Zhang pause.

"Fourth, you scolded an NPC, you're full."

NPC, this is the name that many pilgrims would call him when they worshiped him.

He didn't understand what this meant, but he understood that if everyone was called an NPC, they should be of the same kind.

Meng Zhang has never seen the same kind in the Three Religions Hall.

He has only seen pilgrims and zombies following them.

"Ah—" The kicked person suddenly let out a shrill cry.

Meng Zhang trembled inexplicably, turned his head stiffly, and saw the one with the coldest eyes among the four, piercing the forearm of the kicked man with a dagger.

The wounded person didn't change his face, he pulled out the dagger, shook the blood, and retracted the scabbard.

The kicked person was too painful to scream, his face was pale, and his forehead was covered with beads of sweat.

The other three pilgrims were also dumbfounded. The one who kicked the hardest just now showed an expression of impatience: "Don't be so cruel..."

Sighing coldly and unbearably, he raised his eyes and glanced at them: "How many times have I said this, don't take it seriously, this is a bunch of NPCs, they will never die, and I will restore the factory settings tomorrow, OK?"

After finishing speaking, he looked at the kicked person who was huddled into a ball, and asked softly, "Now, will you take us to the north of the city?"

The kicked person clenched his teeth and remained silent.

Squatting down coldly, he said unhurriedly: "It seems that I have to make up for it."

The person who was kicked panicked, and the eyes cannot deceive people. Meng Zhang could feel the trembling of extreme fear from those eyes.

But he remained stubborn and silent, almost biting his lip.

Seeing that Leng Yan didn't care, and took out the dagger again, Meng Zhang suddenly became angry, and the anger was so violent that he didn't even think about what to do, the whole Sanjiao Hall shook violently!

"Fuck, an earthquake?!"

The three pilgrims panicked all of a sudden, and even their cold eyes changed.

But the shaking of the Hall of the Three Religions not only did not stop, but worsened. Dust fell from the beams, and tiles on the roof outside kept falling and breaking!

"What are you waiting for, run now—"

"Hidden eggs..."

"If you're dead, you're going to be a fart!"

The four fled in a panic, and the one who ran at the end didn't forget to hold on to the rope, dragged the kicked up, and dragged him out of the door.

How could Meng Zhang give him a chance to close the door of the Hall of Three Religions at the moment he went out!

The two door panels were like steel knives, cutting the hemp rope at once, and the kicked person fell to the ground before being pulled out in time.

Meng Zhang stepped forward to see his situation, but the man sat on the ground for a few seconds, probably because he realized that the rope on his body was loose, suddenly jumped up, and ran under the incense table in a hurry, hiding it so well that it was called a concealment.

Meng Zhang was puzzled. Hearing the sound of the car, those people must have run away, so they simply stopped and shook the ground.

The Hall of the Three Religions returned to silence. Meng Zhang raised his hand and flicked his sleeves. The fallen incense burner and candles returned to their original appearance, and there was no trace of the mess just now.

"What are you doing hiding there?" Meng Zhang landed, revealing his real body.

"Who, who is talking?" A chattering tooth came from under the altar.

Meng Zhang didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "You'll know if you come out."

"No." The person under the table insisted, "In case there are aftershocks, it's safest to hide here!"

What is an "aftershock"?

Meng Zhang memorized this new word and prepared to study it later, then took two steps forward, came to the altar table, and squatted down.

The lips of the people under the table turned pale, their entire bodies were shaking violently, and their arms were covered with blood.

In this state, the moment he looked at him, the man was stunned for a long time, and said: "Your hair is so long."

Meng Zhang was stunned on the spot, suddenly he didn't know what to say.

After a long time, he found his own voice: "Doesn't it hurt?"

The person under the table was stunned, as if he had finally found his three souls and seven souls, gasped for air, and howled out: "It hurts——"

"very painful--"

"They're not human—"

"Son of a bitch--"

Resisting the urge to cover his ears, Meng Zhang blew lightly on the arm of the crying NPC.

The wound and pain disappeared together, leaving only blood, which proved that the bad guys had been there.

The person under the table looked unbelievable, first tentatively poked his arm lightly, found that it didn’t hurt, it wasn’t enough, then slapped it hard a few times, it really didn’t hurt, he was happy now, and asked him with a surprised face: “Are you Is it a fairy?"

The four eyes met, and the air was suddenly quiet.

Meng Zhang pondered for a long time, and found that the only answer he could answer was this one word: "...Yes."

All his calmness, all his immortality, disappeared in such a totally unpredictable communication.

"Did you also cause the earthquake just now?"

"..."

"It's just the mountains shaking and the ground shaking," seeing that he didn't seem to understand, the young man still insisted on gesticulating with his hands and imitating the sound in the cramped space under the table, "The bang just now—"

Meng Zhang swallowed hard: "...um."

The young man stretched his brows and gave him an unreserved bright smile: "So there are really gods in this world, and they are so handsome."

For some reason, seeing him smiling, Meng Zhang couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth.

"My name is Xiaoding." The young man clasped his hands together, burning incense as if prostrating, "Thank you god for saving me."

"My name is Meng Zhang." He couldn't help himself, and he also announced his name.

Xiao Ding was surprised: "Gods also have names?"

Meng Zhang: "...um."

Xiao Ding frowned and looked at him: "God, why do you always 'hmm'?"

Meng Zhang: "..."

Xiao Ding: "It's over, even the 'um' is gone."

Shenjun Mengzhang had never been so passive before, he decided to take back the dominance of the conversation: "Are you also a blessing?"

Xiao Ding looked at him blankly for a while, then suddenly asked: "Can I come out?"

"Aren't you worried about the 'aftershock'?" I don't understand the words, but Meng Zhang remembers the words clearly.

Under the low table, Xiao Ding, who had tilted his head for a long time, wrinkled his face pitifully: "I'm worried, but my neck is so sore..."

Meng Zhang pulled the man out angrily, and Xiao Ding moved his head up and down, left and right for a long time, feeling comfortable: "What did you ask just now?"

"Are you the blessed one?" Meng Zhang repeated with a sigh, Xiantu felt tired for the first time.

"No." Xiao Ding shook his head firmly, and then asked, "What is the blessing?"

Meng Zhang: "..."

It rained all night, and Xianjun also "talked with candlelight" with Xiaoding all night, and finally figured out that although Xiaoding is not a pilgrim, he is not a blessing like him. If you have to say, Xiaoding should be Once the "car giver" meets a pilgrim, he has to struggle a bit before letting the other party snatch the car.

At the same time, Meng Zhang also learned that there are still many people in this city, like Xiao Ding, struggling to live under the siege of zombies.

Night is the most dangerous time in the city. Shops were smashed, shops were robbed, corpses ran rampant, and rivers of blood flowed.But during the day, these traces will fade away, the shops will reopen, most of the zombies will be dormant, and the armed forces in the city will be on duty, so people's lives can still go on as usual.

"Go back to work in the north of the city?" Hearing that Xiao Ding was about to leave, Meng Zhang suddenly felt reluctant, "Aren't you going to the north of the city even if you die?"

"It was night, so it's fine during the day." Xiao Ding looked worriedly at the blood on his sleeve, "It's just that it's too late to change, and the leader will definitely scold me."

Meng Zhang recalled the pilgrims he had seen, picked the one he liked the most, and raised his hand lightly, Xiao Ding changed from head to toe into the same clean clothes as that one.

"You are too easy to use!" Xiao Ding looked at the new outfit happily and praised from the bottom of his heart.

"..." Meng Zhang has already given up, Xiao Ding loves to say whatever he wants, as long as he smiles.

The young man, full of vigor, walked to the gate of the temple, suddenly remembered something, and hurriedly turned around: "Can I still come to play with you in the future?"

"Of course." Before Meng Zhang had time to think about it, the answer had already been given out.

Xiao Ding smiled, satisfied.

"Wait a minute," Meng Zhang suddenly remembered what he had been thinking about all night, "What is your name Ding?"

Name, name, there should always be a name.

Xiao Ding stared at him blankly, as if he didn't understand at all: "Just call him Xiao Ding."

Meng Zhang frowned: "Is there no name?"

It was the first time Xiaoding received this kind of question, and he thought about it seriously. At the end, he shook his head regretfully: "No, my surname is Ding, and everyone calls me Xiaoding."

Watching the other party leave, Meng Zhang repeatedly recalled the phrase "Can I still come to play with you in the future", and unconsciously gave birth to a glimmer of expectation.

Ten days passed quietly.

In the past, ten days were like flowing water to Meng Zhang, fleeting, but this time, the days are like years.

He suspects that there is a discrepancy in the perception of "the future" between himself and Xiaoding.

His "later" is a few days later, what about Xiaoding's "later"?

Meng Zhang didn't know, but couldn't wait any longer.

For the first time, he had the urge to leave the Hall of the Three Religions.

And after thinking about it, I did it without any hesitation.

Xiao Ding went to work in the north of the city, and returned to the south of the city when he got off work. Meng Zhang went out early in the morning and floated over the north of the city for a whole day.

This is the first time he has seen the doomsday city that the pilgrims talked about, but he is not in the mood to appreciate the scenery at all. He just wants to find Xiaoding, and when he finds it, he just asks, do you know what it means to lie to the gods?

However, this city is full of people, all kinds of buildings, all kinds of shops, and all kinds of traffic.Finding someone, even a god, is like finding a needle in a haystack.

When night fell, the north of the city was in chaos and screams, and then fell into dead silence, and the south of the city was no longer noisy during the day. People hid in safe areas and spent the long night holding their breath.

At this time, the car still driving on Chengnan Road became conspicuous.

Every time Meng Zhang saw one, he floated down. His soul was invisible, neither the pilgrims nor the people in the city could notice his existence.

In this way, I finally met Xiao Ding in the ninth car.

This time, the four people who borrowed the car were very polite and entertained the car owner with delicious food and drinks. When Meng Zhangyuan drifted into the back row, the young man was chewing potato chips, feeling very comfortable.

Meng Zhang blew on him.

Xiao Ding felt a gust of wind make his face itchy, raised his hand to wipe it, and continued to click, without the consciousness of being stared at by the gods.

Meng Zhang held back his breath until the car arrived at the pier, the group abandoned the car and boarded the boat, and Xiao Ding sat back in the driver's seat, ready to drive home, only then did he show up in the co-pilot.

Full of dissatisfaction, before he could complain, the driver Ding screamed when he saw him, almost breaking through the roof of the car.

"Ahhhhhhhhh-"

Meng Zhang collapsed, really lost his temper, and slapped him hard on the forehead.

The ghost screaming stopped abruptly. Driver Ding covered his forehead and looked at him pitifully: "Why did you hit me?"

Meng Zhang sighed secretly, and suddenly felt a little regretful. He should have played softer, but his tone was still firm: "Those who break the contract will be abandoned by both men and gods."

Xiao Ding frowned inexplicably: "Break the contract? What contract did I break?"

"You said that you will come to the Hall of Three Religions in the future, and if you don't come for ten days, you will break the contract." Meng Zhangcai doesn't care about other things. With him, the "later" deadline is at most ten days!

There was no guilt in Xiao Ding's eyes, but more doubts: "Three... church hall?"

There was no joke on his face, just plain dazed, Meng Zhang felt his heart tremble when he saw it, and suddenly panicked: "Xiao Ding?"

"You know my name?" Xiao Ding raised his eyebrows, completely surprised, "Do we know each other?"