Sunny days for two consecutive days.
Although the temperature has begun to rise, the grass covered with morning frost is still a dull yellow-white color, looking like half-melted snow from a distance. The vegetation in the park was all covered in such bleak colors, and there was nothing worth seeing at all.
Despite this, he and his invitee sat on the bench on the shore of the park lake early.
Chen Wei held his cell phone and tapped his right knee thoughtfully. Although I had already gone to the hospital for disinfection and bandage, the wound was still painful intermittently for the past two days.
"...So, this matter is over. In the end, I didn't see the true face of the ghost."
The person sitting behind him said coldly: "Are you looking forward to seeing it?"
"That's not true. However, I have been waiting hard for three nights, but in the end I didn't get the answer. I can't help but feel a little disappointed. It would be fine if I really didn't find anything. In the end, I had to stop because I hurt my leg. , it was far from what was expected. Speaking of which, classmate Zhou, after you sent me to the guard room, what did you do back to the teaching building with that umbrella?"
"Just going to take a look."
"Then there's no need to lock the guard room from the outside, right? It's a complete overreaction. To be honest, I thought I would be trapped until I starve to death. Classmate Zhou, your attitude at that time put me in such danger An illusion. If you don’t show up by dawn, I’m going to call the police. We might all have a criminal record by then. Is this kind of death together what you want to do to me? "
"There's nothing like that. But it's too cumbersome to carry a person with handicapped legs. If you don't lock him up, he might be chased. I don't want to deal with unexpected situations."
"Are you complaining that I'm in the way?"
"That's exactly what it means."
Without any politeness, she answered without mercy. Because he was used to her attitude, he just smiled and said: "If I chase her, nothing will happen, right? Or will it break into your magic barrier or something?"
"There is no such inexplicable thing. I just don't want to see you accidentally fall to death while going up the stairs. It suits your way of death, right? Classmate Chen, your name is only suitable for someone who died in the first ten minutes of the movie. Role."
"Name shaming has started again, classmate Zhou. Most of the time, the name has nothing to do with you, it only reflects the thoughts of your parents."
"It seems your parents don't care much about names."
"I haven't asked about this. However, simply speaking from the word itself, it doesn't have a bad meaning, right? 'I hope my children will become great people', although there is no unique meaning, it is just an ordinary parent's wish. "
"...Ordinary parents?"
"It's very common. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many people with the same name. It's a pity that there are very few positions that can be called 'great'. In a situation like this, devaluation is natural."
"Do you think the concept of greatness will be devalued?"
"Ah, I don't know the concept itself. But at least as a vocabulary, it does, Mr. Zhou. No matter how serious the word is originally, as long as it is used widely and poorly, the seriousness will be dissipated. For example In other words, if you call anyone you like a 'god', it will not increase the value of that person, but will make both you and the word 'god' cheap. The more pretentious the words are The more you use it, the less it will be treated as one thing in the end. This is generally the rule. However, there are exceptions."
"exception?"
"That is, if the existence of the fact itself is strong enough. Classmate Zhou, have you ever heard of the 'Hundred Animal Sacrifice'?"
"It's an ancient Greek sacrificial ceremony, right? It's used to celebrate important events."
"That's right, it's the sacrificial activity that involves killing a hundred animals. It is said that the Pythagoras School once held such a ceremony to celebrate the discovery of the Pythagorean Theorem. I don't remember the English of this word. If it’s wrong, it should be Hecatomb. Although the original meaning still refers to the sacrifice of a hundred animals, it has derived a completely different meaning when used today.”
"The meaning of derivative..."
"—meaning massacre."
He flipped through the messages sent by Zhang Mumu on his mobile phone and continued: "There is a story in "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea". It tells the story of Captain Nemo, who was once an Indian prince. He attacked the enemy out of revenge for his hometown. He sank a British warship, causing the death of everyone on board. Although he personally issued such an order, he cried and repented late at night. At that time, Professor Aronnax was also shocked by his cruel behavior, Only then did he make up his mind to escape from the Nautilus. The name of that chapter is Hecatomb - it originally meant a grand sacrificial ceremony, but in the end it evolved into a terrifying and unsettling word. What is the reason? If you look into it carefully, I'm afraid there are many complicated historical factors, but the most prerequisite is, I think, that the original meaning of 'Hundred Animal Sacrifice' no longer exists. Whether it is the form of the sacrifice or the gods who are the recipients, Today, people no longer believe it at all, so the connotations of words have naturally migrated. Speaking of this, classmate Zhou, the word 'Nemo' means 'non-existent person' in Latin. . I always think it sounds pretty good, and I'm considering using it as my online nickname. If it goes well, I'll change it to 'Chen Nimo' from now on. What do you think?"
"Yes, that's a really cute pronunciation, Nemo-san. With this name, even you can barely survive until the end of the trilogy."
She replied with a slightly mocking tone, and then fell into a long silence.
——What are you worried about? He thought to himself as he played with his phone.
The bright red long bridge lies quietly on the blue-gray lake. Theoretically it should be the oldest building in Xiangchenqiao Park, but at the moment it looks like it's not even five years old. Seeing such a brand-new bridge, the legend of the Yuyin Girl that matches it suddenly becomes unreliable. What kind of fairy would hang out on a bridge filled with giant light bulbs like this? Even moths would be scared away.
Because it was a weekday morning, there were almost no people in the park. Only he and his friend, who had been missing mysteriously recently, would meet up in a place like this, and then they would sit on the benches leaning against each other in silence. What is the point of such a meeting? It’s almost like volunteer caregivers come to regularly visit terminally ill patients.
"Chen Wei." The person sitting behind said, "Have you had any strange dreams recently?"
"No. I reversed my schedule for several days in a row. When I fell asleep, I slept until dark. I'm not the type who dreams a lot. If I must say, the dwarf did have a few dreams, and he thought very actively. If you want to share it with me, it probably means that she dreamed that she turned into a monster and turned the city into her own territory. As a sacrifice to the monster, everyone must give her snack gift bags regularly. Ah, but You’re the exception because you’re her good friend and she gives you unlimited free coffee.”
"Then you don't have to, right?"
"I'm sorry. She stipulated that I should donate double the amount of ordinary people. If you want to ask why, the standard amount she stipulated for ordinary people is the amount of snacks I usually buy for the club. If I still provide it as usual, it means that I have not donated. This is how non-human beings are. You are so greedy, classmate Zhou. Next time, use your transformation wand to teach her a lesson."
"It's not necessary. I think Zhang's arrangement is very reasonable. Why don't we just implement it like this from now on."
We chatted like this until the sun reached the top of the Ferris wheel. She stood up from the bench and said, "I'm going to buy some drinks."
There was a tacit understanding of taking turns to treat guests. Since it was him who bought the drinks last time, it was naturally the other party's turn this time. However, he didn't know what kind of intuition drove him to stand up and said: "Classmate Zhou, I will pay this time."
She stopped.
"Ah, we are friends anyway. It doesn't matter if I invite you once in a while. It's rare that the weather is so good today. If I ask you to drop a coin, it might start raining immediately. Because you look like the kind of person whose background brings heavy rain. people."
He quickly slipped away before the other party got angry, fled to the vending machine next to the toilet, took out a coin from his pocket and put it in.
Nothing happened.
What could happen? He thought idly, pressing the select button for the can of coffee.
The coffee can rolled out. As someone's water of life, this price is really cheap. But what should I drink?
He stood in front of the vending machine and thought. He thought for so long that his companion came over and naturally took the coffee can from his hand. Without even asking about ownership, she just opened it and drank.
"Classmate Chen, how long do you plan to confront this suspicious vending machine? Is it time to use your perfect reasoning to prove its crime?"
"Well...Classmate Zhou, that's it. I'm thinking about why you can use three coins to exchange for a can of coffee. Shouldn't a miraculous thing like this that saves your life demand a heavier price? Equivalent exchange Is that the principle of alchemy? No, you can’t think about it this way. After all, saving you means saving me, and saving me means saving the entire society. Rounding up, the entire society can be said to represent the interests of the entire universe. Think about it this way Cans of coffee really benefit all sentient beings. Can you really get it for three dollars? I think if you continue to be so greedy, the whole sky might collapse later."
"...If you really have nothing to do, go and clean the public toilets, classmate Chen. Then everyone will really thank you."
He considered the difficulty of cleaning the park toilets, and finally said: "Okay, I'd better drink milk." Then he pressed the selection button for canned milk.
Milk rolls out of the outlet. He leaned over to pick it up. The friend raised his head and said, "It seems that the sky is not falling."
Then, the moment he wanted to reply, his heartbeat definitely stopped.
"...Chen Wei?"
His fingers rested on the surface of the tin. The coffee drinker also noticed something unusual. However, in just the blink of an eye, he was unable to speak.
heart stop. There is no air in the lungs. Physical sensation completely disappears. All the symptoms that had not recurred for more than ten years came back at that moment.
"Chen Wei!"
He fell without resistance. As he fell into the darkness, the story of Nemo the Avenger came to mind.
