The ink-like black soaks the gold in the sky, and the diffuse fog interprets last night's dream.
This is how the night falls in the outer city. At least compared to the wasteland and the outer city, you can really see the changes between day and night here, instead of the sky slowly getting darker and then getting slightly brighter. Lu Ning and his party walked along the deserted road, using some distinctive landmarks as a guide, and slowly found the "address" that had not been given to them long ago.
In this deserted city, everyone finally smelled a hint of "human" smell. It was the smell emitted by the flames burning the air, mixed with the sweet aroma of food. It can be seen that it was once a temple. Of course, like other buildings, it has long been abandoned, leaving behind a huge outer shell and an inner temple. There was a strong and bright fire in the temple. Seven people gathered around the fire, with tents scattered around it.
"Seven people?" Yan Rong was slightly surprised when he saw the number of people, but Lu Ning didn't care much. The appearance, age, and gender of these seven people were different from the prototypes of the seven nobles, so there was no need to worry about the numbers. So sharp.
Sitting closest to the fire was a young man with blond hair. He was wearing the most ordinary brown adventure clothes, with various gadgets hanging everywhere. The young man was holding a huge ham in his hand. He had cut off the moldy parts on the outside. He was using a knife to cut off the pieces of meat and handed them to a big man next to him. The big man was skewering them with wooden skewers and placing them next to the fire. Roasted, this is where the aroma comes out. In addition to these two people, two young women with red-haired twins next to them were preparing a pot of ingredients. One of them threw all kinds of food into the pot, and with a snap of his fingers, clear water flowed down into the pot. After she closed the lid, the other person pressed her hands on both sides of the pot, but within a few seconds white steam began to spurt out of the small hole in the lid.
At the same time, a middle-aged man with a long beard squatted far away from the fire, peeling fruits, and the last two men in armor were cutting vegetables and making drinks. At first glance, this group of people looked serious and thought they were a group of professional chefs who had come to this wilderness to cook.
Even when Lu Ning and others walked into the entrance of the hall, these people ignored them.
"We came here based on the address we didn't give you a long time ago." Lu Ning spoke directly, "So... someone here is the 'boss' in her mouth?"
After she finished speaking, the blond young man peeling the ham finally turned his head. One of his eyes was covered with a blindfold and his expression was indifferent. After seeing Lu Ning, he just nodded and said nothing.
"Did you say you wanted to come and talk to us about the Dark Sage?" the big man asked.
"If you are not just here for this, I think we have more things to talk about." Lu Ning said, "Did you form Yoshimitsu Katayu?"
"We are Yoshimitsu Kataha, and those people are just some suitable people we arranged for the outer city." The big man shook his head gently, "Looking at you, you should know something about the past of the outer city and the inner city, and have some knowledge of these. interest?"
"Of course I'm interested." Lu Ning nodded.
"Did all the treasures you obtained come from here in the inner city?" Rang asked.
"Most of them are from here. We don't leave often. Some insignificant treasures left here just take up space... There is almost gold everywhere in the inner city. As long as you have the life and ability to get it." The big man took a plate. , started to stack the roasted ham on top, and said in a leisurely tone, "You are not the first group of people we have met, and you are probably not the last group. There are no rules in the outer city here. As long as you do not enter the noble territory, you can explore freely. Anywhere, including the royal capital.”
The meaning behind these words was that Lu Ning and others would go to the royal capital.
"So, have you been there?"
"No." The big man shook his head, "We have our own plans and arrangements. You came here on a risk, but we have goals."
"The soup is ready!" A red-haired woman waved.
"If you brought food, we can eat and chat here, but we won't share. Food is difficult to replenish in the inner city," the big man said.
These seven people formed the original Yoshimitsu Kataha. The identities of these people are not difficult to guess. The blond young man is the legendary "Morning and Twilight", but he is obviously not a lone ranger, but has companions around him. The big man was not well-known. He introduced himself as the historian Tahan. He met Chenwen because of his interest and later joined his team. The man who peeled the fruit claimed to be a mercenary, and his name was also a mercenary. He didn't like to mention his past, and his temper was dull.
The two twin sisters are the rumored "Red Warblers" - this legendary assassin actually has two people, and they were the last to join Yoshimitsu Kataha. "Morning and Twilight"'s expectations for the future attracted the interest of the two assassins.
The two people wearing armor were people who were rescued by Dawn and Dusk and later became companions.
These introductions are actually just the simplest explanations. Obviously, Yoshimitsu Kataha's people don't know them as well as Lu Ning and others. At most, the Hongying sisters prefer to talk about themselves, so they just said a few words more.
"Let's stop introducing each other." Chenwei finally spoke, his voice a little hoarse, "You know the Dark Sage and some of the past events in the inner city. You probably have some understanding of our Yoshimitsu Katayu's goals, but even if you know Even if you know this, you can’t say that you have the necessary information for us.”
"What do you need?" Jean asked.
"The king's whereabouts. The weaknesses of the seven nobles. Where is the most precious treasure. Where did the people in the past go." Chen Dui raised several difficult questions, and no one here could answer them.
"Yoshimitsu Kataha... We have collected a lot of 'past'. The king made his memories into treasures and sealed them everywhere, and we are on the road to restoring everything. You also know the environment of the outer city, I don't think that kind of life is a good thing, especially after understanding how prosperous the world once was."
I took a sip of soup in the morning and evening and felt a little more relaxed.
“You can feel the prosperity here once just by looking at the city,” Li Qianqian said.
"So this is the strangest thing...how did such prosperity disappear? The king's strength, power, glory and reputation have reached an unprecedented level. Things he decides can always be echoed by hundreds of people. Although there are some voices against the king, but for The kingdom at that time was just a little trick, and the biggest loss was that the kingdom’s top medical officer Isabel was murdered. From a historical perspective, this was indeed a blow to the kingdom at its peak, but Isabel’s team was still there, and she There are also many students, which will not lead to the inexplicable decline later." Tahan started talking eloquently as soon as he mentioned history.
"The problem must be the king himself." Yan Rong shrugged, "I can hear from your mouth that the king is almost a deified figure. Since he is a deified figure, there must be some distortion. At least in my opinion, He should be a talented king, but not a perfect saint."
"Unfortunately, there are not many historical records about this. No one will criticize the disasters that happened during the king's reign, because those were things that existed and the king was already doing everything he could to manage them. Maybe this can It reflects from the side that he is indeed not a god and cannot solve everything with a wave of his hand, but many of his decisions have been proven effective. Even some sacrifices are considered valuable." Tahan took out several notebooks from a box , "I have made many records of the stories that happened here, especially the treasures... I think you have also come into contact with the treasures, right?"
Lu Ning and others nodded, knowing that he was not referring to the treasure itself but the memories attached to the treasure.
"In a series of events, the king actually experienced a lot of unusual things. He and the trusted officials he organized tried their best to handle everything. These are all the achievements of the king in history. But through Judging from Cai Bao's recollection, the king himself was not particularly satisfied with the result."
"He will definitely not be satisfied. You said before, pay the price and sacrifice. In fact, I think the king has paid a lot of similar things in every disaster." Liu Yunqing said, "I can't feel the king's thoughts, but just Personally speaking, if a friend who I regard as a family member takes his own life trying to save some people, even if this is something that she and I have been mentally prepared for, we will always feel a little uncomfortable inside."
"This is human nature," Tahan said.
"The problem is that this kind of thing has happened too many times." Lu Ning tugged on his collar, "If you accidentally lose a treasure, then you will learn from the lesson, improve your psychological preparation, and take more precautions. In short, he will use many methods to ensure that this thing will not happen next time. But for the king, he is actually constantly losing. The officials he cultivates with all his heart, the talents he recruits under his command, and the companions who live through life and death are more precious. Memories become more painful for a king when they are lost."
"So...he used this method?" Tahan raised his eyebrows, "Now we can no longer analyze the king's psychology."
"But we have memories, don't we?" Zhu Qinyuan raised his head and said, "At least when I merged with Caibao, all I heard was the king's apology - apologizing, but not correcting it, on a line where right and wrong go hand in hand. I would rather abandon these precious memories than let them begin to rot and become painful.”
"Can you still feel it? Zhu Qinyuan?" Yan Rong looked at her in surprise.
"The fusion has not disappeared, has it? The Vera in the king's memories is not someone who gives up easily, and it is probably the same in reality. Do you know? Some memories will fade away slowly over time, but some will change over time. What’s more and more unforgettable is that these memories of the king are the latter!”
Zhu Qinyuan pressed his forehead, feeling very unhappy.
"We have some understanding of these things. But the only problem is that after digging up these memories and abandoning the past emotions, what about the king?" Chenhui said in a hoarse voice, "We have already visited more than fifty ruins. , countless treasures were found, and everyone was mentally tortured by the crazy and painful memories of the king, but where are the others? He should at least give up everything to let this country continue to be strong, right? "
No one can tell this answer, not even the Dark Sage - Zhu Qinyuan has already asked.
But at this time, a sentence flashed through Lu Ning's mind, something she had heard a long time ago.
——[My past, my memories, and my thoughts make up the whole of me. I will not accept any situation that affects my own integrity, at least not if I have a choice. There can be no gaps in my memory. 】
At first, Lu Ning just thought it was some kind of personal paranoia caused by past experiences. Later, she thought there might be something she didn't want to forget. But now that she suddenly thought of these words, Lu Ning suddenly broke out in a cold sweat... The person who is best at thinking about the overall situation may have already noticed it.
"What's wrong, Lu Ning?" Yan Rong, who was sitting next to her, noticed that Lu Ning's breathing was a little rapid. She knew that Lu Ning suddenly had an emotional suppression effect yesterday. Although it was more controllable after the fusion, passive suppression was quite good. It was amazing. To be able to make Lu Ning experience such obvious emotional fluctuations was obviously because she had thought of something wrong.
"Let me out for a moment, I need to collect my thoughts."
Lu Ning stood up hurriedly and quickly walked out of the door. What she was thinking about now was not just about the issues in the scene, but because her own roots had been touched upon, she would not be able to continue participating in this conversation if she didn't want to be clear about it.
No one stopped her, Lu Ning walked outside and took a deep breath of the cold night air in the city to calm down a little.
Are memories as important as souls?
Is the self who has lost his memory still the same person?
Lu Ning rarely thinks about this kind of philosophical issues because she doesn't like to get herself into a state of self-perplexity. It is not too late to think about this issue.
There were some things that she had vaguely noticed, but she just wasn't sure and didn't want to say them out. But some things have long been facts in front of us - there must be many people in the fifth level with extraordinary strength, but why do they not leave even after setting up an organization here? Not to mention anything else, there are nearly a hundred people who survived the war at the end of the last era, including Rose Cross’ superior Golden Dawn. These ancient-level bosses are probably all extraordinary in strength by now. Some Those who specialize in magic can even make their own spells when entering magic scenes, but no one with this level has returned.
And a long time ago, it seemed that she was reminded when Lu Ning was just a newcomer.
[People at Level 4 and above care very much about these things. 】
If the pollution of the soul is divided into five categories, what about the loss of memory? Will it be like the scar left after cutting off a diseased organ?
