Go to the City of Golden Bells, the doctor told Zha clearly. In the infinite city where every household has a golden bell hanging, Mrs. Red walked back quietly from afar through the frost. The dark sky will disappear forever, and Zha will see the true shining night. Of course, there is also the matter of life. That is the door that must finally be pushed open.
However, the doctor did not reveal to Zha how to get to that city. He only said that it was very dangerous. This was true for the leader of the Collectors, and it was also true for him. But danger does not mean time-consuming, and he speculated that if everything goes well, it may not take a few years to return.
Zha found this statement very strange, as if the doctor already knew where the miracle city was and was even planning to set off. But if that's the case, what should the collectors do? And what will their old leaders do? He expressed his thoughts to the doctor without any concealment, and the doctor showed a strange smile. That smile was not friendly at all, and even looked a little scary to Zha.
On that most frightening day, a foreigner visited the doctor's single house. The man was of slight stature and wrapped himself in an extremely large overall. The style of clothing is familiar to Zha, but the fabric is unfamiliar. The size is too big and long for the owner of the clothes. The sleeves completely cover the hands, making it impossible to communicate with others. He also wore a three-cornered hat, probably sewn with leftover fabric from clothing, that covered his entire head like a helmet.
The strange man didn't say a word to Zha, and his whole body exuded a pungent putrid odor, which reminded Zha of the wreckage hanging under the chariot. But the smell on this stranger's body was more bitter, as if it was mixed with corpse ashes. He walked straight to the doctor in the room, his footsteps clattering as if his shoes were filled with mucus.
A vague fear kept Zha away from this strange visitor. The doctor also sent him to the waterside to wash some old clothes that he had never seen him wearing. When Zha came back, the strange man was gone. He hesitantly asked the doctor about the strange visitor's purpose.
The doctor told him that the strange man was an escaped prisoner. This person had suffered a lot of inhuman abuse and eventually became completely out of control. Not even the one who created him could destroy him, so he had to be imprisoned. The physician chanced upon him during one of his travels, released him from captivity, and provided him with some degree of healing. But that doesn't mean the other party is completely trustworthy. In the doctor's opinion, the prisoner's mind has been completely changed by physical changes and long imprisonment, and he may no longer think rationally. He only kept the other party to get enough information, and the other party also needed his ability to survive and think. They have an agreement to provide appropriate assistance for each other's purposes.
The strange man came to him to urge him to take action, because the prisoner's desire for revenge was uncontrollable, but the doctor was in no hurry to do what must be done. He once led Zha into the basement, and in front of Mrs. Hong's flower tree, he made a final entrustment to Zha.
This room will soon be vacant. He revealed this to Zha. It may take several years, or more than ten years, before he comes back here. During this period, someone may come looking for him, maybe some local people who are curious or need help, so Zha doesn't need to pay attention to it. The setting of the house itself will prevent these people from entering. However, if some strange guests - visitors who are obviously different from ordinary people like escaped prisoners - find Zha very definitely, then Zha must answer the questions very carefully. Don't think about hiding anything for him, or trying to tap out anything, because those visitors are likely to be dangerous. Cooperation is the best way to reduce unnecessary risks. The basement will no doubt be discovered as well. That doesn't matter, Zha can take the initiative to bring visitors here in exchange for some of his own safety and benefits.
Among those possible visitors in the future, the doctor painted two images for him, reminding him to pay special attention to these two people: one of them would be a young man, with his eyes closed most of the time, or staring at no one. place, he might call himself "Square" or "Number Six"; another special visitor might be a lanky animal resembling a sandpiper, a gray smooth flying orb, but the largest might be a hairless man . The name this person will use is also uncertain, but compared to the first person, this person will appear to be easy to talk to and is more likely to appear. The doctor even suggested that if Zha had any trouble at that time, he could ask the hairless man to solve it for him.
The two men's ears may have been as deformed as today's doctors, but they could also have been normal. Therefore physicians cannot give an exact image of them. The doctor seemed to be convinced that as long as these two people came, they would be able to find Zha and they would not hurt Zha. But they will not appear at the same time - the doctor specifically pointed out this. The two people may come one after another, or neither of them may come, but in any case, they will never appear in front of Zha at the same time.
After giving these instructions, the doctor stretched out his hand to the branches of the flower tree. There was absolutely no blade or fire knife in his hand, but the metal flower branch was easily broken off. It was not a rough break, because there was an unusually neat mortise and tenon groove at the break, as if it was a movable part from the beginning.
The doctor left with the flower branch. He told Zha that this was a short trip to deal with minor problems left over from the failure of the last war. But there was no need for Zha to stay in the single house. He suggested that Zha go back and live his own life. Then he walked out of the single house and disappeared without a trace before Zha found him.
Zha followed his advice and returned home, living a peaceful and stable family life. But there is still a part of his heart that remains in the single room, thinking about the missing doctor and the city of golden bells that the doctor wants to reach.
One day, at a certain time when everyone at home was asleep, Zha was awakened by an unknown coldness. When he opened his eyes, he found the doctor in red robe sitting beside his bed. There was another person in the corner of the room, the weirdo who was covered in clothes.
Let me see you. The doctor gestured. He asked Zha not to wake the others, so Zha said nothing. He quietly followed the doctor out of the house, followed at a distance by the strange man. Zha was originally very scared of this man, but at that time he didn't care at all. From the strange look on the doctor's face, he seemed to sense some kind of sign.
They wandered along the current where broken ice collided. On the way, the doctor brought up the subject of death. Death itself is powerful - he used this strange way of expressing it - death is the ultimate form of violence, the negation of the phenomenon of life. Life and death are always the weirdest two things. Through the repeated execution of these two things, the world presents an unnatural order, which itself is contrary to reason. Only in places where there is no life emerging, where there is no structure to make up consciousness, can they observe the world as it should be. But if both life and death appear in large numbers, it is a recurring imitation of the uncanny, a natural calling and gathering. That kind of imitation itself may lead to greater unnaturalness, a qualitative change from the fundamental order level.
Zha did not understand what the doctor was discussing. But he found that the doctor was in a very high mood. He already had a premonition of what was going to happen next.
The bosses are no longer a threat. The doctor informed him simply. After the failed war, the doctor, together with his mysterious and formidable stranger, went to where the chieftains lived. They plunged the leaders into eternal slumber, but not real death - the Stranger resented this, but the Doctor wasn't about to go along with it.
They have more important things to do. They are going to the city of golden bells. The doctor originally didn't plan to bring an extra helper, but the weirdo was also interested there, and if the doctor left, there would be no one here who could be a match for the weirdo, so he thought that would be unsafe.
It won’t take long to get to the City of Golden Bells. The doctor announced. But when Zha asked about the exact return date, he found that the doctor no longer answered directly. The doctor only said that the Collectors would continue to operate - not in the short-lived way that they had in the past, because he had made fundamental improvements to them, and they still appeared to be a mixture of living people and metal, but were actually nothing more. A pile of humanoid machines. They will handle everything in the world according to the set pattern, and the running time is at least three times the life of the Zha. After that, if the doctor hasn't come back, there may be some problems with population balance. He has not set up procedures to deal with the excess population.
What a strange farewell that was. But that was indeed Dr. Zha's last memory. When the doctor walked into the distance through the frost, he suddenly looked back. The doctor said two syllables - "Ji Xun" with a sly look in his mouth.
this is my name. The doctor told him with gestures. Then he disappeared quickly and quietly.
After the first year, the doctor didn't show up again. Neither do the third and tenth years. Life becomes very boring in the twentieth year. By the thirtieth year, Zha had almost forgotten this incident, because there was a big commotion on the ground. The young people believed that since the Collectors no longer asked for sacrifices, they were completely useless and had no right to set rules for the land. Resistance and repression made the area around the market unsafe again, and Zha moved back to the edge of the highlands.
The past years are recalled as fast as water. I don’t know which year he became very old. The owner of the single house still hasn't returned. Neither did the two men he described.
Sometimes Zha still sees him in his dreams. The man in red robe lives in the city with the golden bell. In the early morning, Mrs. Hong walked through the frost-covered streets to visit him at his residence. They lived well in that far away place.
This dream appeared repeatedly in Zha's later years. Finally he came to believe that it was probably true. The doctor did not come back because he and Mrs. Hong lived a happy and peaceful life in the City of Golden Bells. This is a great ending.
That almost happened when Zha was old enough to die. A strange woman, with a strange beast of burden and two men, came looking for "Mr. Ji". They were not the only visitors over the years, but the others were ordinary, and it was believed that "Mr. Ji" was just a fabrication of the collectors. That woman was different. She seems to know who Mr. Ji is.
She didn't call herself "Fang" or "No. 6", and her hair was very lush, but Zha still took her to the private house. Women come and go. Zha didn't know where she went. He was very old, and soon he was lying on his bed, breathing heavily.
He dreamed of the City of Golden Bells again. The doctor walked slowly along the street, passed through the open gate of the city, followed the water flow of the broken ice, and came to Zha's house.
Suddenly, the sky became extremely bright, like a flowing blue glacier. The Red Lady floated in the air like a gust of wind, tapping the sword made of stone. The beautiful melody also contained tinkling bells and a fragrant fragrance that he had never smelled before.
He woke up with a start. There was a commotion outside the house. Outside the door that suddenly opened, a doctor in red robe stood there. He still looked so young, much younger than Zha remembered, almost like a child. He walked into the house from a bright and bright world, and his body seemed to be exuding warm and bright light.
Zha slowly stretched out her hand to him. The doctor sat beside the bed and held Zha's hand. The trip to the City of Golden Bells is over. Zha saw a happy smile on the doctor's face that Zha had never seen in his life. He knew that the other party must have realized all his wishes.
