The rain kept falling, like a terrible punishment.
The stench of acid rain will make anyone who smells it miserable for the first half of the month, feeling sad for their tortured nasal cavity. However, as time passes, they will no longer care about this torture.
Because a new torment has come.
factory.
In Nostramo terms, factory is four syllables. It's a mouthful, and if you pronounce it based on the full name of the factory, the syllables increase to a terrifying point.
So workers would only use four syllables to address each other.
Anyway, what difference does it make in which factory you work? The end result is that they all get sick and die in the shanty towns. They had expected this and did not feel very sad.
After all, most people are already numb.
A skinny man squatted in the corner of his home, his back hunched.
His posture was weird. If a person wanted to squat comfortably, he shouldn't have his back protruding like that, but he did just that.
Not only that, he didn't even feel any discomfort.
Acid rain hit the tattered wooden boards above his head, entering his home through the cracks and creating shallow puddles on the ground. The man's expression was dull, and he didn't intend to speak or do anything to the puddles formed by the rain.
He just endured it.
There was a faint cough and footsteps outside the door. In the rain, the two things got closer and closer, until the sound of a door opening overwhelmed them.
"Joseph!" a man shouted hoarsely at the door. "More!"
"......What?"
"There are more dead people!"
The person who called him said in a tone that was mixed with fear and some complicated emotions. "He did it, there is absolutely no mistake! There is blood on the wall, and there are writings on it!"
Joseph coughed and stood up slowly. His bony body slowly unfolded in the darkness, looking startlingly ugly. The man coughed and began to put on his only coat.
Then, he asked: "Have you left?"
"He went, he also wrote down those words!"
"Just writing it down..." Joseph muttered. "He can't read."
"Stop talking, come here quickly!" The person who called him turned away excitedly, and his ailing body had never been so happy. There was a light shining in his cloudy eyes, a light that was different from numbness.
But...it's not hope either.
Joseph shook his head and walked out of his house slowly.
There are already many people walking on the road in the shantytown. They don't need to go to the factory to work recently, but at this time, it is quite confusing to see so many people walking in a certain direction together. thing.
Fortunately, Joseph doesn't.
He knew what they were going to do.
He followed the team silently, marching slowly in the acid rain. The stinky rain wet his hair and clothes, and his exposed skin was burned to the point of pain, but he didn't care at all.
——He also had that light in his eyes.
After walking for who knows how long, they arrived at their destination. A towering spire overlooked these thin, half-clothed ghost figures in the eerie rain. They raised their heads and stared at it.
Joseph heard some quiet chatter at the front of the crowd, and he started to move forward. This was not easy for his body. After squeezing through a few people, he started to pant, but he didn't feel tired and just kept moving forward.
A few minutes later, he reached the front of the crowd.
"Eternal Night is above..." He heard a person muttering to himself, and there was a kind of uncontrollable fear in his voice, but it was not just fear.
Yes, eternal night is above.
Joseph's eyes widened - he didn't know how to describe what he was feeling at the moment, he only knew to look, and he could only look.
The steps in front of the deserted minaret were covered with corpses, and the gangsters stared at the sky with their blank eyes. Acid rain fell from the sky and hit their eyes, smashing them to pieces and bringing a little blood with them.
Several lines of characters made of blood stared at them quietly on the wall next to the corpse.
"Joseph."
A voice called softly, and then someone tapped him on the shoulder.
Joseph turned his head and saw a pale and young face.
"List......"
"It's terrible," Lie said. "He's been killing more and more lately, and it's everywhere, isn't he?"
"Yes." Joseph replied blankly and turned his head back. He couldn't stop staring at the corpses.
After a while, Joseph suddenly asked: "Have you written it all down?"
"Yes."
"Calles and the others have found anyone who can read?"
"It is said that there is an old man in the east of the city. He used to settle accounts for adults in a factory. He can read a little."
Lie said, shaking his head. "But we're not sure if this is true, because a lot of people have died in Chengdong recently...Ah, we have to leave."
He took Joseph by the shoulders and led him backwards. Some violent shouts and curses came from behind them, even mixed with a few violent strong sounds. Joseph shuddered and buried his head deeply.
"It seems we are unlucky this time." Lie said in a low voice. "They actually came too...don't they go out when it rains?"
"Stop talking..." Joseph responded in a low voice, his tone urgent. "Let's go quickly."
"What are you afraid of?" Lie said in a pretended calm tone. "He's looking for them."
They stopped talking and just followed the crowd, squirming little by little in the acid rain. The scolding still didn't stop, but the crowd didn't resist.
They are already used to it.
Walking - continuing to walk, the neighborhood they walked through was gradually driven back to the original shanty town under the malicious or indifferent gaze of the gangs. The moment he entered here, Joseph finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He grabbed Li and whispered, "Don't say that next time."
"What kind?"
"You know what it is, Lie. If they hear you, you'll die."
"Then die." Lie said nonchalantly. "They will die anyway, and he will kill them for me."
"How do you know if he can?"
"He will definitely do it," Lie said firmly. "Did you see him kill anyone else? No. Right? All gangs, and those two that day..."
"Only you saw it," Joseph said quietly. "To be honest, even I don't really believe it. How could those adults die?"
"Forget it if you don't believe it, Joseph."
Lie shook his head: "Anyway, that's it."
"etc."
"What's wrong?"
"Aren't your walls already filled with writing?" Joseph asked. "Those words... do you have room for them on your walls?"
Lie was stunned for a moment. He thought for a while and nodded: "It's full."
"Then come to my house." Joseph turned around and began to lead him to his house.
There are many coughing people on the roadside who are being baptized by acid rain. Some people are dead, while others are still alive. They were indifferent to the burning of acid rain, and just stared coldly at the gloomy sky without saying a word.
They didn't look at them.
A few minutes later, Joseph opened the door and walked in, avoiding the puddles on the ground, and Joseph did not close the door. He knew it would take a tiny bit of light to do what he wanted to do next.
"Your wall is not bad." Lie said.
"Rotten wood." Joseph smiled. "It's not bad."
Lie also smiled. He bent down and pulled out a coal from his shoe - which he had obtained from another man in exchange for three days of food rations.
Coal can leave marks on walls.
He walked into the rotten wooden wall and began to write meticulously, taking every stroke very carefully.
"...Do you think he is really, uh, a ghost?" After a while, Joseph suddenly asked.
"I don't know." Lie whispered.
"you do not know?"
"Of course I don't know, Joseph, and I haven't seen him...but he must exist, doesn't he?"
"That's right..." Joseph muttered. "He definitely exists."
He nodded, and then smiled unconsciously. "He definitely exists."
"Besides, they couldn't find him." Lie also smiled. "They were looking for him every day, but they just couldn't find him."
"So, he's a ghost?"
"I have no idea."
"He must be," Joseph said firmly. "I heard Thumbtack say that only ghosts can do this kind of thing."
"The thumbtack has been dead for a long time, Joseph."
"He said it anyway."
Lie sighed. "Well, he said it—I'm done."
Joseph was startled. He immediately stepped forward and waved his arms stammeringly: "Can I, can I - can I take a look?"
"Of course." Lie bent down and stuffed the piece of coal into his heel.
He said dullly: "But you can't understand it either."
"Don't you understand?" Joseph said unconvinced.
"No one understands it - so if you want to see it, go ahead and see it."
Lie stood up and sighed.
They stood side by side like this, observing the walls in the narrow and dilapidated shack with a bit of broken light projected from the outside world. The three lines of black words were so obvious and so difficult for them to understand.
They couldn't understand the language they were speaking.
After a while, Lie spoke softly.
"I hope they all die," he said softly. "What about you, Joseph?"
"...Me too." Joseph said blankly. "But will he help us?"
"He will." Lie used that confident tone again. "He's already helping us."
The rain continued, and from distant blocks beyond the hearing of these poor workers, chaotic gunfire and screams alternated.
