The fire inside the shopping mall was not as fierce as the fire inside the Sheepshorn Stairs. And wherever the red leaves passed, it turned into a clean passage about three meters wide.
Along this long road with the flames out, Zhou Yu ran in small steps while looking around at the scene around him.
From the temporarily extinguished flames, many clocks with burnt surfaces could be seen. Most of them have been deformed and damaged, but a few are still turning counterclockwise.
This is the clock house they passed before.
Soon after coming to the conclusion, he caught up with the red leaves in front. Former travelers stand at the end of the wall. The wall that was not yet lit was covered with clocks in the shapes of various animals.
Through the reflection of the clock face glass, he saw the red leaves smiling silently.
"Come out, Osle. We've found you."
She declared to the clocks all over the wall.
In response, the clock showed no reaction and continued to turn backwards quietly.
Hongye let out a soft sigh. Different from the distressed and helpless tone of the past, it was a deliberate and mocking voice.
"Don't you understand? Your puzzles are just boring enough."
She said in a condescending tone, like an elder admonishing a child: "Your whole life was supported by the Horn of Plenty, and it ended a long time ago. Will it be different if you do it again? This is your fantasy. Because your The realm is only here. Until today, you are just an empty wretch."
That melodious and beautiful voice kept spitting out cruel and mocking words.
"It's better to return to nothingness than to choose pain, isn't it your logic all along? Since you haven't changed anything, even if time goes back, you will still find my father and make the same choice.
"This is who you are," she finally said. "This is your destiny."
After saying these words, Hongye stretched out her white palm and pressed it on the face of the sheep's head clock in front of her. The glass mirror of the clock rippled like water, swallowing her whole palm into it.
"Come out, your debt has not been paid."
Along with the cold voice, Hongye withdrew his arm and pulled out a person from the clock face.
No, saying it was "pulled out" is not accurate enough. Because the man did not resist, but held Hongye's palm and waltzed out of the clock. He slid half a circle around the red leaves, naturally let go of the two people's hands, walked up to Zhou Yu with flowery steps, and bowed in an exaggerated manner.
"Good night, young lady."
The man raised his face. It was a very young face, probably in his early thirties, with dark eyes and curly hair, and the outline of his facial features showed obvious foreign origin. Overall, this is a very handsome young man.
After saluting Zhou Yu, he said with a lazy and exaggerated smile: "I am Osier, welcome to my territory. Madam, what do you think of the design of this building?"
"Boring as hell."
The cold reply came not from Zhou Yu, but from Hongye who turned around. At some point, her eyes had returned to their original state, leaving only some light silver color.
"First you pin your whole life on a fragile horn, and then you wallow in the prison of memories. It seems that even death has not brought you any progress."
Despite such harsh comments, Ausle still smiled as if he didn't care. He turned around and gave an even more playful and exaggerated bow to Hongye.
"Good night, little master. Come see me here. Do you have any orders?"
Red leaves stared at him.
At this moment, the last trace of silver light in her eyes completely disappeared. As if she felt helpless about Auster's performance, she finally sighed and said, "Let's restore this place to its original state first. We won the bet, right?"
"Yeah, yes," Ausier said. He snapped his fingers briskly, and the entire space suddenly fell into absolute darkness. The flames, the blazing wind, the sound of burning, everything disappeared.
After a brief moment of dead silence, Osier's distinctive voice that seemed to have an exaggerated smile echoed throughout the space.
"Ladies and gentlemen! ...Oh, no, no 'men', welcome to my home!"
The light, as strong as daylight, suddenly turned on as the words fell. Zhou Yu narrowed his eyes uncomfortably and looked around.
The clock shop has been completely replaced. This is a rectangular and spacious room decorated mainly in gorgeous and warm gold and red colors. The interior is filled with large floral silk blankets and wall hangings. In the center of the room is a long dining table, surrounded by armchairs with gold frames. This seemed to be a small banquet hall in a mansion.
Zhou Yu lowered his head and looked at the silk blanket under his feet. He didn't know how to identify the value of fabrics, but he could tell that the carpet was new and showed no signs of dirt. The patterns on the carpet are mostly domestic animals, fields and village girls.
“There is a saying where I come from that a good blanket is more valuable than gold.”
Ausier was wearing a silver-gray suit and walked briskly from across the room. His leather shoes lightly stepped on the silk carpet, and his movements even seemed a bit like jumping. The style of the suit is quite modern and does not match the style of the entire banquet hall.
The eccentric host of the banquet hall put his hands in his suit pockets and looked down at the silk carpet for a while. Suddenly, he whistled and picked up from the corner a small silk rug woven with many birds.
"Oh, look, swans." He chanted, unfolding the blanket with his hands and staring at the patterns on the blanket with interest, "Loyal birds, love birds... Poets all said that birds love more than humans. More loyal.”
"……Are you talking to me?"
"Of course, pretty girl. Who else can I talk to?"
Zhou Yu looked around knowingly. Hongye and Cai Ji were not in this space. He was the only one in front of Osier at this moment. He said nothing and put his hands in his pockets.
Seeing his action, Osier grinned happily and let out a long hiss.
"Relax, relax, lady, relax! Alas, I have no intention of doing anything. Let us continue with the subject of swans... Poets say that birds are more loyal to love than people. Unfortunately, this is a pure lie. I have one myself There were a few swans, ten pairs in total, who started out in pairs and never separated, just like in the legend.”
Ausier commented casually while holding the silk carpet under the candlelight to look at it carefully.
"But... I used to be a very curious person, and I was always willing to go one step further than ordinary people. So I asked the chef to choose the materials for the banquet. He had to choose three female swans and three male swans, but he couldn't take them. Their mates. Guess what? All I can say is that the meal was really good and the six that were left alone immediately formed new pairs.
"Alas! Not even one breeding season has missed! Alas! Little girl, this is the loyalty of birds. It surpasses the loyalty of humans."
The silk carpet woven with swans gradually turned into ashes under the burning candlelight. Ausier picked up the remaining piece of cloth as if nothing had happened and blew on the ashes on it.
"Despite this, I still like swans. They may not understand love, but they are still better than humans - they understand rules, integrity, and efficiency. Fixed partners cooperate better in reproduction, then they will not think about looking for Try something else, this guy can't do it well. Humans always like novelty. And do you know what species is the most loyal to love? I think it's insects."
He put his hand into his pocket, took out a silver crystal chip, blew the butterfly pattern on it gently, showed it to Zhou Yu, and grinned.
Seeing his actions, Zhou Yu suddenly realized that the only thing left in his pocket was the cold touch of the knife handle.
"Butterflies, butterflies. They are very loyal. After the male butterflies have finished mating, they will start a hunger strike and die within a few days to leave food to the female responsible for reproduction. Many insects have this habit: as long as it is completed After coupling, the male has to fast, or simply let his lover eat him. Do they understand love? I can't say for sure, but their loyalty surpasses any higher species, because they die quickly enough. Yes, short life is to ensure that the mind remains unchanged The only way."
The handsome male host brought the chips to his face and kissed the butterfly pattern gently and tenderly.
Then, he closed his palms forcefully, and fine crystal powder leaked from between his fingers.
