When the chaos reached its peak, Yaleriga was still locked in the spherical transparent cover that emitted a strange rainbow light, thinking about why this incident happened unexpectedly. Her original plan didn't necessarily go well. No matter why the man she met in Outer Harbor wanted to deceive her in the current situation-perhaps some kind of temptation, or hoping to force her to help do something that the Evangelical tribe is good at-it would not be easy for her to see him again, but At least she figured out a bit of the city lord's character. She suspected that he would never drop a request for a duel in front of another person, which meant that negotiating with this person would have to go through several rounds, many rounds of back and forth and probing, several verbal exchanges, and maybe even There are several puzzles to solve.
Now these mysterious intermediate processes are probably all eliminated. Even someone who loves solving puzzles, she thought, would have to hold back her unnecessary words if faced with a giant beast that was burying its head and stamping on his house.
The wind echoed and swirled throughout the Golden Hall. It was no longer as strong as it was at first, but it persisted for a long time. Its continuous noise is like a beast howling in the darkness, making the listener tremble from trembling to numbness. All the golden guardians within sight were either swept down the bottomless abyss, or melted into a pool of viscous gold liquid. Yaleriga devoted some energy to counting them and knew that about 342 golden guardians had been destroyed. She didn't know if the same one among them had been killed repeatedly, because they all came from the only staircase leading to the outside world. When she used her eyes to explore the other end of the staircase, she could only see a piece the size of a fingernail. hazy blue.
It might be a door, just like other portals in the Gate City that span the stars and time. Sometimes, although these doors appear to be open, they are actually tightly guarded. If the correct password cannot be given, forcing one to cross will only lead to unpredictable disasters.
She had emphasized this matter to Jing Huang before entering the city, and Jing Huang obviously listened. In the initial conflict he had captured two or three Golden Guardians and asked them for the entry and exit passwords. Naturally, these loyal golems did not give in, and he stood at the end of the stairs leading to the scales, knocking down the steady stream of guardians coming down the stairs. At first he would wave his sleeves and arms, or let flaming emeralds disintegrate his opponents, until he found a more convenient method. He sat there, using his strange white rope to hang and coil along the steps, forming an extremely long and narrow noose. When a sufficient number of golden guardians slide down the stairs, the noose rises and tightens, getting stuck in the gap between the guardian's body and the base, pushing them to the ground and squeezing them into a bunch, dragging them toward the darkness below. At this time, he had completely liberated both sides of himself, so he sat at the end of the stairs and fell into the kind of distracted state that Yaleriga often observed.
When things developed to this stage, Yaleriga tried to call his name, making him look at her blankly, seemingly still conscious.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
She thought she could get the answer, because Jing Huang's lips twitched visibly, as if he was planning his words. But then he hesitated and shook his head slightly. He even turned his face to the other side, pretending not to hear Yaleriga's voice.
This was an unprecedented situation, not even at the beginning of their acquaintance. Yaleriga felt a slight pressure in her chest, as if she was suddenly submerged in deep water, but that did not affect her mind from continuing to function. So she sat in that impregnable bubble and considered the matter from the beginning.
Next to her, within arm's reach, three equally solid bubbles were floating. All the prisoners there had stood on the other side of the scale opposite her. The goblin kept mumbling stray syllables that she didn't understand, while the dire kept discreetly quiet. They obviously didn't intend to attract more attention to themselves in this unexpected incident. Only Qiaoqiao Tianyi—who Yaleriga now believed to be her true self—was still anxiously curled up in her bubble, trying to understand the current situation.
"What does 0305 mean?" she shouted to Yaleriga, "Which factory model is he talking about? Or is it the code name of its designer? I don't remember which spacecraft manufacturer is called 0305!"
Yaleriga could not answer these questions. Even she herself has been lingering on this issue for a long time. Some civilizations have special worship of numbers, some numbers refer to special holiness or evil, and there are also code words woven into numbers. All these assumptions were rejected by Yaleriga. That wasn't a code, since Jing Huang would ask a stranger directly, and there wouldn't be any complicated argot in the words he used.
"That boat," she said, "he knows that boat."
"Obviously!" Qiaoqiao Tianyi replied, "I was ordered to find this dangerous child but I didn't hear about him! Is this the reason why the master came to you?"
Her tone was desperate but gentle, not fearing for her life. Yaleriga also heard that she had some trust in her, even though she and Jing Huang were actually a team - once a team, the current situation could only be described as this. Once again she was behind bars, and it was still the man she trusted. So far she didn't feel like the matter needed a serious rethink, but at any rate, she had to admit that her standards for cuteness might be questionable.
"What do you know about that ship?" she asked her new cellmate.
"That paper boat? As I said just now, its design is very peculiar! I wouldn't be surprised that the child could recognize it, if he knew the designer of the boat."
"Tell me more about this."
"What?"
"There's something special about that ship. I just thought it was quite small."
Yaleriga said these words against her will. She knew more about the ship than she was letting on, but there was nothing to point out the truth of her words now. Now she doesn't want to explain anything, she just wants to hear other people's explanations.
"Micro ship," Qiaoqiao Tianyi said, "Of course, this is an important point. The usual conclusion is that the magic rudder requires at least four and five standard volume units of space. And if the ship is much smaller than that, it It would be impossible to sail stably in the ether - but that’s not to say it’s completely unfeasible. It’s just difficult to travel long distances.”
"As long as it fits the definition of a boat."
"Oh, that's right. The ether will carry all 'ships'. But it does not include any additional systems on it. But the paper ship we encountered is different. I am 100% sure that it has its own power source and navigation system. I just want to know how it works. It might be a design system I’ve never seen before.”
"or?"
"Or a very small pilot. Some races are like this. Very small, or not solid."
Yaleriga didn't think so. "Why did it send the baby?" she asked. "You know it sent it and you know when it will come back. Why don't you follow its whereabouts?"
"That's exactly the problem! We're not willing to track that ship...I don't mean what I think, but when I was told about it, the owner didn't approve of me tracking it too far. The best we know is that it's It comes from a certain area between the Divine Light Realm and the Eternal Light Realm. A certain continuous trap zone, I think, at least a place where the signal is not very good."
"Why not follow it? Does he think it's some kind of trap? Who's setting him up?"
Qiaoqiao Tianyi suddenly shook its wings twice, and its mane started to fly high.
"Oh, I haven't thought about this yet. I'm still studying the problem of the ship. Indeed, maybe he is worried about something... but it has nothing to do with us. We shouldn't speculate on other people's privacy."
Her eyes showed alertness again, and she seemed unwilling to discuss this topic with Yaleriga any more. Yaleriga stopped and looked at Jing Huang sitting at the end of the stairs. She was sure that the latter could hear all the conversations between her and Qiaoqiao Tianyi, but he still pretended that they did not exist.
"Maybe we should talk to the Lord of the Gate City in detail." She said to herself in the air. "This is an easier way to find the ship."
The air above the abyss was silent.
"I don't see the benefit of a stalemate here," she continued. "That ship has been here so many times that it was a coincidence that we came across it."
"It's not that coincidental." Qiaoqiao Tianyi added, "Honestly, you were the first person to witness that ship put down the baby. It usually doesn't do this when there are watchers. I didn't mean to be offensive. , but I’m curious as to why you can be the exception.”
"The little goblin also saw it." Yaleriga said.
"That's true. But he saw it after you, right?"
Yaleriga did not answer lightly. Before Jing Huang showed the current abnormality, she had no answer to this. Now she had some suspicions, but she didn't want to make herself look special. Jing Huang still didn't look at her.
"We'll see what happens," she said. What followed was a long wait. The siege of the Golden Guardians became a monotonous assembly line activity. She counted the number of them falling to calculate the approximate passage of time, and recalled various things at the same time. Being locked up in a bubble by Jing Huang for such a long time was something she had never imagined. He might not have the intention to hurt her - but, didn't they still love each other, Deborah? Even in the prison of Tianqiao? That stupid old lover went crazy because of the imaginary paradise. What was Jing Huang thinking about? When in that unconscious trance he showed vague anger and frenzy, to whom was he conceiving terrible deeds? She thought the matter could be figured out slowly, but now it seemed urgent.
When she counted to about thirteen thousand, the little goblin had completely passed the panic stage and fell asleep soundly in its own bubble. Qiaoqiao Tianyi lay listlessly, and suddenly made a thunderous noise.
"I'm hungry!" she wailed, tapping the bubble twice with her hoof.
Yaleriga continued counting. She saw Jing Huang's head drooped, as if he was about to fall asleep. But the white rope still kept throwing the golden guardian down. She noticed that when he was over fifteen thousand, he stood up, picked up a small piece of gold melted on the steps, and pressed it into small pieces of gold foil with his hands. The black curved scimitar flew out and cut the golden waves into neat square shapes.
He used this square piece of gold foil to fold out a small, streamlined aircraft with sloping wings on both sides. With only one glance, Yaleriga understood the details of the paper model - it was a miniature version of the white ship that sent the baby, a paper model with completely accurate proportions. The folding and retracting angles of the ship's wings are so similar that even if you follow some kind of origami tutorial, you can't do it. Only someone who has seen the white ship can fold this paper model just right.
Jing Huang held the golden boat in his fingertips and turned it twice before gently throwing it out. Yaleriga watched it gliding and spinning over the dark abyss. The unnatural air currents carried it around and continued to give it power, as if it were a real spaceship.
Jing Huang's eyes also followed it.
"Can you hear me?" he said.
The air remained speechless.
"Where are you?" he asked next. "Don't you have anything to say to me?"
Gurgling. The air answered loudly. That was Qiaoqiao Tianyi's belly that roared with hunger. Jing Huang glanced at her.
The wind that lifted the paper boat stopped. The golden ship stumbled several times in the air and fell into the dark abyss. Yaleriga felt a little thirsty, so she continued counting.
The speed of the golden guardians gradually slowed down. They were not in a hurry to attack, but just seemed to drag the enemy in place. When Yaleriga counted to 20,300, a shaky shadow came from the blue halo at the other end of the stairs. It was a well-dressed, thin figure, with legs as thin as bamboo poles wrapped in black trousers, and a hat on his head. It held the top hat on its head with its white-gloved hands and jumped down.
As the white rope lassoed around it, it began to scream loudly.
"Don't tie me up!" it shouted, "I'm a messenger!"
Jing Huang looked at the other person in confusion for a while, as if that was not the person he expected. Finally, the white rope lasso was loosened, allowing the thin and long shadow to come forward. When it jumped halfway, a gust of wind whirled down, suddenly blowing away its politeness. Everyone saw that it had a head as black as a briquette.
"Discourteous!" it stamped its feet angrily, but Jing Huang impatiently waved his sleeves, the rope looped around the opponent's feet, and threw it directly in front of Jing Huang from the middle. The black-headed envoy danced in the air and dropped half a piece of paper from his sleeve.
Jing Huang snatched it away, held it in his hand and unfolded it. Yaleriga, who was at a high place, also looked at the letter sent by the envoy from a distance. Her eyesight was excellent and she was in the perfect position to see clearly. There was not a single word written on that piece of snow-white paper, only an extremely tiny square on the top left side. She paid attention to Jing Huang's gaze again and realized that he was not looking at the square in the upper left corner, but at the center of the paper.
She squinted her eyes, trying her best to identify any other information on the paper. Qiaoqiao Tianyi, who was a little behind her, also raised his head and looked at her with hungry eyes.
"Is this negotiation?" she asked Yaleriga, "Can we go out?"
"Maybe." Yaleriga replied.
"I recognize that devil. It should have been placed...Thank God, it seems that the respectable master finally remembered to rescue us!"
Yaleriga did not correct her mistake about the pronoun of the object. All her energy was attracted by the white paper in Jing Huang's hand. Qiaoqiao Tianyi soon followed and looked down, but her sight was blocked by Jing Huang's head.
"What is it?" she asked, her face pressed against the wall of the bubble. "What's written on that paper?"
"One point." Yaleriga replied.
"Just these few words?"
"No, not a word. Just a black spot."
But that was not an accidental ink spot. Yaleriga looked at Jing Huang standing there, staring at that point for a long time. That was all the message the piece of paper had to convey to him. He looked at it for a long time and finally turned the paper to the other side. On that side were written two symbols that Yaleriga did not recognize, some kind of unfamiliar writing. She had never mastered this kind of words, but she heard Jing Huang read them out one by one in a calm voice.
"——Ji Xun." He read.
