Emerald Star: Lan of Bonds

Xinghua's physical condition is like a domino that suddenly collapsed. Xiao Taidao doesn't know why this happened, and this is not the point. The most important thing now is how to get out of this sick forest, and then...

"Xinghua?" Xiao Taidao called out tentatively, but the person who was hugging him behind him couldn't even speak, only heavy breathing.

"Xiao Taidao." Mr. Butterfly said from behind, he managed to catch up with Xiao Taidao, "What should we do after we leave the sick forest? Now there are Orgs looking for their masters outside."

Kodachi didn't make a sound, just stared at Moriyu in front of him.

"What's wrong with Xiaohua? Are you okay? Will we be arrested immediately if we go out?" Meimei choked up, and she followed Xinghua by the hem of her clothes.

Because of Xinghua's illness, Mr. Butterfly thought that Xiao Taidao was also panicking, so there was nothing he could do for the time being.Seeing Xiaodachi's heavy face, he made a shush gesture to Meimei, and the two obediently followed behind them for the time being.

Mori Yu led them to continue walking until the dense trees in the diseased forest gradually thinned out and the air circulated slightly.

Bugs still appeared on the road from time to time, but most of them were solved by Senyu and Ron who took the lead.This is probably the only moment when Mr. Butterfly is lucky to have Moriyu and Ron as companions.

However, it's hard to say how things will turn out once the disease occurs. After all, they have made an agreement before, and once the disease occurs, they must settle the previous accounts...

With lowered eyes, Mister Butterfly was still thinking about how to take the next step after getting out of the sick forest, but Xiao Taidao suddenly said: "Mr. Butterfly."

"Ok?"

"After getting out of the sick forest, Xinghua may want to take care of you. If something really happens, run away, but don't worry, I won't let it happen."

"Why?" Mr. Butterfly was puzzled, he couldn't keep up with Kodachi's thinking.

"Because when I get out, maybe I'll have to beat the tall guy up front first."

"Wait, Kodachi..." Mr. Butterfly didn't dare to say that he could think of a better way, but he was sure that the idea of ​​Kodachi was absolutely terrible!

Mr. Butterfly tried to stop Xiao Taidao, but Xiao Taidao ignored him at all, so he had to follow Xiao Taidao closely all the way, fearing that he would suddenly run away again.

Mori Yu smoothly led Xiao Taidao and the others through the sick forest.After starting to feel the strong sunlight, Kodachi and the others realized that they were about to find the exit of the disease forest, which meant that they would face the pursuit of a large number of AI and hounds, or... the threat from Moriyu.

"If you go further down, you will be able to get out of this sick forest." Mori Yu said, and then he set his sights on Kodachi. "What's next? Where are you planning to go, marginal urban agglomeration?"

Kodachi didn't make a sound, and when Moriyu's eyes shifted to Xinghua on his back, he showed an extremely displeased expression.

"However, the fringe urban agglomeration is far away from here. It may take several months without taking the light train. With the current state of your Org, this is probably impossible to achieve." Mori Yu said, he didn't know What is the reason for Xinghua to become in this state, but this is an advantage for him.

Kodachi is full of weaknesses now, and Moriyu thinks it is not difficult to bring him back now.

"Tall one, do you want to return the story ball?" Kodachi said suddenly.

Moriyu raised his eyebrows, a little surprised, Kodachi seemed to want to negotiate terms with him.

"I just wanted to mention this to you. How do you think about returning the story ball to me?"

"I can pay you back." Kodachi made concessions for the first time, but his attitude was still very tough, "But I have a condition."

"Tell me."

"You said you had a stronghold for the dogs."

"Correct."

"Is it safe? Will it be discovered by the Org?"

Moriyu suddenly understood Kodachi's intention.This made him couldn't help but raise his lips slightly, because in a way, it wasn't a condition, but a unilateral benefit to him, but Xiaodachi didn't know about it.

"Yes, it's very safe. In order to protect all the traveling dogs, it's a hidden place that no Org knows about, and it's not too far away from here." Moriyu said.

"You take us there, let me hide Xinghua, heal him, and I'll return your story ball to you." Xiaodachi said.

It turned out that Kodachi had this idea!Only then did Mr. Butterfly realize that it was no wonder that Xiao Taidao wanted him to take good care of Xinghua. He originally planned to coerce Moriyu to bring them back to his stronghold. If Moriyu refused, he planned to beat him to death.

Really bad idea.Mr. Butterfly couldn't help covering his face and sighing.

"Why should I agree? Whether your Org is harmful or not, he shouldn't be allowed to enter that place casually." Moriyu pretended to be embarrassed, "This is just in case."

"I'll go to you just in case! You have only one choice to take us there or not." Xiao Taidao said in a low voice: "Hurry up and agree to a good deal when I offer you, otherwise you won't even get the story ball, And I'm going to beat you up and force you to take us to that place!"

"Xiao Taidao, your Org is so sick now, do you think you have a chance of winning if you fight with me? If I accidentally get rid of you, I can't let your Org go so kindly."

Moriyu's words made Xiao Taidao angry. His black eyes were bright and fierce, and he clearly warned Senyu that as long as he made a little provocative move, he would immediately rush up to show him off.

"Wait a minute, our master is already so ill, it is impossible to pose any threat to you." Mr. Butterfly said, he must prevent the worst from happening. "If you are worried that he will reveal the location, at worst, we can cover his eyes all the way."

"Senyu! Agree quickly, or I will have to turn the request into a coercion!" Kodachi narrowed his eyes, looking ready to move.

Ron looked at Moriyu on the side, a little panicked, he didn't know which side he should help if Kodachi and Moriyu really fought.

Mori Yu sighed, with a troubled expression on his face, "The story ball was originally mine, and this deal doesn't seem fair."

"We'll give you our story ball too!" Mister Butterfly made the condition before Kodachi made an attack.

"Mr. Butterfly!"

"Don't be naughty, Xiao Taidao, I don't want to drag you and your master to escape under the pursuit of a bunch of Orgs after you and Moriyu have lost both. Do you really think there is a way!" Mr. Butterfly glared at Xiao Taidao , it is rare for Kodachi to be stared at for a moment.He looked at Xinghua behind Xiaodachi, "The first thing to do now is to find a place for Master to rest!"

Little Taidao stared at Mr. Butterfly, he pursed his lips and remained silent for a long time, but finally he still didn't speak.

——It looks like a compromise.

"How?" Mr. Butterfly asked.

Moriyu nodded with a smile, "Deal."

***

As they expected, after leaving the sick forest, a large number of maglev vehicles and AI appeared in the fringe cities where there were few maglev vehicles.

This made Moriyu more suspicious of Xinghua's identity. It's really abnormal to work so hard for an Org, but looking at the current state of Kodachi, he can't find out why. He can only wait to bring everyone together. I'll talk about it when I go back.

Mori Yu hijacked a maglev vehicle with Ron on the road, Kodachi destroyed the AI ​​on it in an extremely brutal way, and Mr. Butterfly covered Meimei's eyes almost the whole time.

Since Senyu seemed to be very defensive and didn't want Xinghua to know the exact location of the dog, they had to cover Xinghua's eyes as agreed, although it didn't matter whether they covered or not.

Xinghua's face continued to appear small cracks, his pupils changed from the original clear emerald color to extremely pale, Xiao Taidao called him several times, but his reaction seemed slow, and they were not even sure if he could see.

Moriyu was very careful to ask them to cover their eyes, and Ron didn't know why he was the only exception.

The maglev vehicle went all the way to an unknown direction, and they drove non-stop for about a day's journey. When Mori Yu asked them to take off their blindfolds, the sky was already getting dark.

Moriyu seems to be very familiar with the road here, he successfully avoided the places where AI and hounds may be haunted, and walked along a road that looked like it was abandoned.

Some old buildings began to appear in front of them, some of which were in a collapsed state.

"This is... the abandoned capital." Mr. Butterfly has heard that some places with severe pests have long been abandoned by Org, and there are such sporadic places everywhere.

Due to the severe pest infestation, Org will not approach here, and of course AI and humans will not appear in such a place.

"This is the base you mentioned?" Mr. Butterfly looked out the window in surprise.

"Yes, do you have any comments?"

"Yes, Abandoned City has always been infested with a lot of insects, which is too dangerous for the owner." Mr. Butterfly said.

"Hey! Did you mean it?" Kodachi kicked Moritama's chair back from behind.

"Can you let your guard down a little bit." Senyu sighed, the real danger should be the group of people in the car. "Did I say that I would leave you guys behind? Be patient, I haven't reached the real destination yet."

Moriyu let the maglev slowly slide to a stop in the dark alley at the junction of the collapsed floors. He looked around and got out of the car after confirming that there was nothing nearby.

They got out of the car, Xiao Taidao wrapped Xinghua in a cloth, and carried him down.

Mori Yu stopped in a dark place, under which was an iron pan that looked like a sewer cover, which looked a bit old.He lifted the lid, signaled Kodachi and the others to wait, and then jumped down by himself.

Kodachi and the others waited for a long time, until they almost thought that Moriyu was going to abandon them.

***

Soon, Mori Yu poked his head out and beckoned them to follow.

Mr. Butterfly glanced at Xiao Taidao, Xiao Taidao only hesitated for two seconds, then he put Xinghua down and used the one on his back, then tied him tightly to his body, and followed.

Mr. Butterfly nodded to Meimei. They followed behind the little sword, and Ron was at the bottom. After confirming that nothing followed, he closed the iron cover, and a group of people entered the sewer.

There are more lights in the sewer than imagined, and it actually has its own power system.

I don't know if Moriyu deliberately dismissed the others. When Kodachi and the others followed Moriyu all the way forward, there was only an abandoned dog who came to greet him.

The abandoned dogs seemed to regard Moriyu as their leader, and when they saw him return safely, they were happy to pay close attention to him.

The sewers under the abandoned capital are more complicated and larger than they imagined. This place is no longer used as a place for sewage treatment, but is used as a base for all the abandoned dogs who escaped from the dog monument.

They converted several passageways or caves into rooms and dwellings, Moriyu said, and they also had rooms for medical equipment, which Xinghua needed.

The abilities of the abandoned dogs are much higher than they thought, although most of the things are probably stolen from the Org in various cities, so the Org has always regarded these wild dogs as trouble.

It was a very smart choice to establish a stronghold in the sewers under the abandoned city, because no matter how much they hated wild dogs, Org would never come to this abandoned city to check them out in order to deal with them.

Xiao Taidao hugged Xinghua tightly all the way until Moriyu led them into the room.

After entering the room, Moriyu shunned the wild dogs leading the way, and they used the on-off valve to control the water flow as a door.

Although the environment is definitely not good, it is certainly hundreds of times better than the wild environment!As soon as Xiaodachi saw the bed, he carefully put Xinghua on it.

"What's the status of your Org?"

Senyu stepped forward to investigate the situation, but the little Taidao was like a ferocious beast. He stood in front of Xinghua, and then chased him off politely, "Go out, I want to talk to Xinghua alone."

Xiao Taidao was very persistent, and Mori Yu knew that if he didn't leave, the other party would pull out the knife and fight him in the next second, so he chose to take a step back, but he took advantage of this moment viciously.

"I will go out, but you must fulfill your promise first." Moriyu spread his palms and stretched out in front of Kodachi.

Xiao Taidao was in a stalemate for a few seconds, until Mr. Butterfly made a sound, and he reluctantly handed over the story ball he had snatched from the dog monument to the other party.

Nodding in satisfaction with the story ball in his hand, Moriyu, who had achieved his goal, didn't want to continue to cause trouble, so he turned around and grabbed Ron and left.

Mr. Butterfly was not sure that they were not included in the package that Kodachi said, but he still took Meimei with a worried face.

Leave Xinghua's matter to Xiao Taidao. As for them, they only need to be responsible for guarding, so he must first figure out everything here. If there is any accident, there must be a way to deal with it.

After all, Mr. Butterfly still doesn't believe in Moriyu.He took one last look at Kodachi and the others, and then took Meimei away.

After everyone left, Xiao Taidao came back to Xinghua's side again. He threw himself on Xinghua with a nervous face, but he didn't dare to use force, and gently touched Xinghua with his fingers.

"Xinghua! Xinghua!" Xiao Taidao was very worried, worried that Xinghua would not wake up.

Xinghua, whose eyes were closed at first, only blinked under Xiao Taidao's constant calling, and he looked at Xiao Taidao with a little blurred eyes, and the cracks on his face gradually eased.

***

Leaving the sick forest seemed to relieve the signs of energyization in his body a little bit, and the pain in his body was not as heavy as before, making it hard to move. His stiff fingers were gradually able to move.

"Hey...Xiao Taidao, what's the matter? Am I right here?" Xinghua raised his hand and patted Xiao Taidao's head. He looked around, a little belatedly, "Ah, you found a good place to rest for me .”

After he came out of the sick forest, his memory seemed to have a long blank window, and he only remembered being hugged by Xiao Tai Dao all the time, holding him tightly.

"Are you feeling better?" Xiao Taidao rubbed up, eagerly grabbed Xinghua and asked.

"Well, it's okay." Xinghua half sat up with the help of Xiaodachi.

After confirming that Xinghua was much better, Xiao Taidao immediately wrinkled his face, and he asked unhappily, his tone like an angry puppy, "Xinghua! You must tell me what happened to you, and you are not allowed to hide it. I!"

Xinghua stared at Xiaodachi, and the other party had no intention of letting him go, so it seemed that he couldn't do without talking.

Xinghua sighed softly, he stretched out his hand and patted Kodachi on the head again, smiling as if it was none of his business, "Okay, I'll just tell you, then you have to listen carefully."

Xiao Taidao nodded, with his heart hanging there, he knew that Xinghua's indifference indicated that his illness was not simple, so he couldn't help pinching Xinghua's fingers tightly, and his own fingers ached.

"Remember when I told you about "pure Orgs"? I said that the purest Orgs were born directly from the "mother"—that is, the core of this planet, and I belonged to the most A pure Org." Xinghua said.

Kodachi nodded and didn't interrupt.

"Orgs like us, life is completely taken from the mother, and the meaning of the mother giving birth to us is that when she needs it, she will take it back and use it."

Xinghua's words reminded Xiaodachi that he once asked similar questions like "Why was he born", which gave him a very bad premonition.

According to Xinghua, this matter is serious enough to be related to his life.

"You must also remember that I mentioned the "energy body" with other Orgs. The so-called energy body is another name for our Org. We are the excess energy left over when the mother created life, so when she herself Our energy is about to be exhausted, so we must take our energy back."

"What do you mean by taking it back?" Kodachi felt very unhappy.

Xinghua stretched out his finger and scratched the tip of Xiao Taidao's nose, "You know that the border city is extremely infested with insects. This has only started to happen in the past few years. Whenever this phenomenon starts to happen, it means that the mother body has begun to weaken, causing the whole The decline of the planet caused the erosion of giant insects. If this continues, the entire Emerald Planet will be destroyed.

"That's why they sent so many people to chase us—because it's time to throw the energy body back into the embrace of the mother body. This is what I call "take back."

"Don't avoid the important ones, I'm asking you what will happen after you take it back!" Xiao Taidao blushed suddenly, looking excited, Xinghua was stunned by that appearance.

"Xiao Taidao, I am an energy body, and I have actually lived a lot longer than you imagined, but I have been placed in a certain place by the Orgs of the cutting-edge cities before, and I have never come out."

"What do you want to express? Have you lived long enough?" Xiao Taidao was furious, he didn't know what Xinghua meant by saying this, he asked him angrily: "You better answer my question just now! "

Xinghua looked at Xiao Taidao, he had thought of many kinds of Xiao Tai Dao's expression when he heard this answer, some were calm, some were indifferent, and of course there were now... furious ones, but he never thought that Xiao Tai Dao would be fierce to the same extent as it is now.

Xinghua felt a little happy, but also a little sad.

"Xiao Taidao, you are very smart, you know the answer." Xinghua's smile did not fade, and he stroked the print on Xiao Taidao's shoulder with his fingers, "Don't worry, if I really can only end up like this in the end, I will be there no matter what. Get this off for you before then."

"It's not a question of whether to take it or not!" Regardless of Xinghua's current physical condition, Xiaodachi directly straddled Xinghua's body. "What will happen if you are taken back? Will you disappear? Will you die?"

Xinghua reached out and hooked Kodachi's neck, and he gently pinched the back of his neck, trying to comfort him.

"Once the mother needs it, the body of our energy body will start to mutate, as you can see, the skin on my body will start to peel off, and then I will become immobile—once I am thrown into the mother in that posture In the embrace of the Emerald Star, it will only become a small piece of stone in the core of the entire Emerald Star... Yes, Xiaodachi, I think it is dead in a certain way."

Xinghua saw Kodachi's expression stiff.

"Why do you have to... Is there no other energy body that can replace it?" After a long while, Xiaodachi finally spit out the words from his mouth.

Xinghua shook his head, he continued to rub Kodachi's face with his fingers, "It's gone, Kodachi... I'm the only energy body left in this generation."

"How can...it can't be like this!"

"Well, I also don't think it can be like this, so didn't I escape?" Xinghua continued: "Before I met you, I was locked up in a cutting-edge city and protected well, but in the end I escaped and are struggling now."

"That's why you asked me to help you collect story balls. You want to find out the reason why Ark left the Emerald Planet. That's why."

"That's right." Xinghua nodded, without any panic on his face, "Now that you know all the reasons, what are your thoughts?"

Little Dao paused, and suddenly became agitated, "But, if you were imprisoned before, how did you escape? And how did you know about the Ark? What made you believe that the Ark is true? If If we can escape on the ark, will we be able to cure your current illness?"

"That's it? Your feelings are just a bunch of curiosity?" A series of questions made Xinghua laugh out loud. It seems that Xiaodachi didn't realize or just ignored that his escape might cause the destruction of the Emerald Star. , he just cares about everything about his Org.

"Is there anything more important than this? You'd better answer my question carefully."

"Okay... But I'm afraid I have to tell you a long story first." Xinghua said: "Org, as an energy body, is usually proud of being able to become a mother's strength, and doesn't care about its own death That's why we stayed in that big white cage, waiting until mother needed us."

"The big white cage?"

"Well, I don't call that boring place "home"." Xinghua continued: "The previous energy bodies have always kept themselves safe until my previous energy body had a little problem... ..."

""Small" question?" Kodachi squinted his eyes.

"Okay, it's a big problem, but it has something to do with you humans." Xinghua laughed: "The previous energy body was the first Org who proposed the idea of ​​going outside to see, and he promised him at that time Will come back. Since there is no lesson learned from the past, the Org of the cutting-edge city just let him go out, leaving behind his only companion at that time—that is, me who was still young."

"What kind of partner? Our kind?" Kodachi narrowed his eyes.

"No, of course not, Kodachi is the only kind of companion." Xinghua giggled, looking much better.

"So? Has he come back?"

"Back, but he brought back a human. A hound, a Kodachi-style hound."

"What do you mean?"

"Heh... you mean uncontrollable! Don't have that face... that hound is definitely not as good as Kodachi." It's not as good as Kodachi's uncontrollable.

Xiao Taidao kept his mouth shut and continued to listen to Xinghua.

"The human replaced AI to serve everything that the previous energy body had, and brought a lot of outside stories, human stories, and then the previous energy body became more and more obsessed, and then, maybe humans took him, or he With humans... they escaped again, out of that shelter."

This is actually very similar to Xinghua's story, because he yearned for all the possibilities brought by the previous energy body and imitated it, didn't he?

"Just like you, isn't it?" Kodachi said the same thing.

"No...to be more precise, it should be said that I resemble him." Xinghua said. "After they left, they left me a lot of things, such as a story ball, although it was forged."

He smiled, "I remember very clearly that they mentioned the importance of story balls and their connection with the ark. If you find all the story balls, you can find the ark left by humans. So about your second and third The problem, that’s it, I know this from them. As for why I believe in the existence of the Ark, I can only answer you. I don’t know why I don’t believe it. On the contrary, belief makes me feel like I have a goal. At least life won't be so boring."

"Then did they succeed? Escape?" Kodachi asked eagerly, and then he found himself asking a stupid question.

Xinghua was silent for a while, he shook his head, still with a faint smile on his lips, "No, they failed, I don't know what happened to that human, but that Org was brought back, and he had already started to energyize at that time, There were cracks all over my body, and I can't forget that look."

Yes, if it succeeds, Xinghua will probably not appear here now, but will be used as an alternative energy source, thrown into the furnace that is called the matrix, right?

Xiao Taidao said in a deep voice, and he asked lightly: "What happened next?"

"Then? Then one day he disappeared, and I never saw him again."

Xinghua's words made Xiao Taidao's face darken, because he suddenly realized that they seemed to be repeating the incident at that time.

Looking at Xiaodachi's face, Xinghua tried to make the atmosphere more relaxed, "But he left a good escape route, which can just answer your first question: I just escaped along the passage he told me. The Orgs in the city still don't know where I escaped from.

"And it's all due to you hounds who are highly talented in exploiting loopholes and escaping, and how to escape with a bad pure Org."

Xinghua wanted to tease Xiao Taidao, but Xiao Taidao didn't smile, or punched him with fists, he just looked at him quietly, and finally asked abruptly: "They didn't succeed, so do you think we can succeed?"

"I..." Xinghua thought that Xiaodachi's question meant denying any possibility of their success.

But Xiao Taidao was not. He saw that Xinghua didn't answer, and put a palm on his head.

"What are you hesitating about? Do you think we won't succeed?" Xiaodachi raised his eyebrows.

Xinghua tilted his head, and he asked back, "Then what do you think?"

"It will be successful." Kodachi said without hesitation, and gave an arrogant smile without hesitation, "I will make it succeed."

"There's an old saying, even if you want to be an enemy of Quan Jade Star?" Xinghua laughed.

"Didn't I become an enemy of Quan Jade Star a long time ago?"

"Haha! But if you save me, the Emerald Star will be destroyed, doesn't it matter?"

"Is the destruction of the Emerald Star more important than you?" On the contrary, Xiaodachi looked at him strangely, taking everything so naturally. "That's not a problem at all."

"It's not a question, hehe—this is really a good answer." Xinghua rubbed Kodachi's earlobes with his fingers.

"Good answer, why don't you give me a kiss?" It sounded like flirting, but Kodachi said it sincerely, he really just wanted a reward kiss.

"Xiao Taidao...do you want to harm me?"

"Hey! I just said so much, and you still said that I want to harm you!"

"Because you're talking nonsense like that, it's going to make me want to do something else that's more intense, and that might just make me more energized."

Although Xinghua was made to laugh at his own joke, he was serious about what he said.