Li Li turned his head and looked at the shadow at Luo Binhan's feet. She herself had no shadow, Luo Binhan couldn't help but notice this. But then he thought that the brightly colored "Li Li" in front of him was actually a phantom.
"Shadow," she pondered the word. "Shadow, reflection, mirror image... How do you explain the word shadow, sir?"
"An optical phenomenon?"
"So, what about in another dimension? In the world we are accustomed to calling magic or ghosts, why do we attach so much importance to shadows and deliberately distinguish them from other optical phenomena?"
"Does this have anything to do with what we are talking about?" Luo Binhan said with some dissatisfaction, "I'm still fighting with Lot to the death!"
"I guess the key point here is the form of mapping," Li Li said. She then asked Luo Binhan to continue speaking as if nothing had happened. As a result, he himself was hesitant.
"I didn't realize what I was grabbing at first," he tried to make his impression clear. "I just felt a noise in front of me. But when I actually grabbed the thing, the noise suddenly amplified, like Suddenly the earplugs were removed. My head was filled with sounds, or rather vibrations. And I couldn't cover my ears to alleviate the feeling, it was literally transmitted directly from my palms to my head. "
"What do those sounds sound like?"
"I can't hear the meaning." Luo Binhan said, "It's not any language I know, and it doesn't sound like music. If you ask me what it looks like, I can't think of a similar example in life. It... It was like a mixture of emotions, or chisels of different weights and shapes being struck randomly on the inside of my head. I couldn't hear anything else."
"But you were still wrestling with Lot."
"I haven't forgotten this." Luo Binhan said with some difficulty. "I haven't forgotten that he smashed my sister on the door of Anti's house. I couldn't hear at that time, but the stairs were at my feet, so I grabbed his shadow and ran up. I probably caught him at the entrance of the corridor on the second floor, and then we both fell. I let go of my hand and stopped grabbing his shadow, and those sounds just Gone. My head feels better."
Luo Binhan pressed the heel of his hand on his forehead again. The memory of this period has become unclear. He can only close his eyes and try to relive the nightmare in the darkness. "There is the sound of a clock." He paused, "It's not the sound of a bell striking the hour, but the sound of a clock hand moving. When I was wrestling with Lot, I heard the sound of a clock hand getting closer and closer -"
"Does that mean you were moving away from the stairs during the struggle?"
"Or maybe I was just mistaken. I remember I kept trying to hold Lot down and give him a few hard blows to the eyes and head. But he was very slippery and I had a hard time controlling him. There were times when I felt like I had a grip on him. It was his shadow, not his clothes, and I couldn't tell the difference at the time - to be honest, the noise in my head was going crazy."
"But you still heard the clock. Can you distinguish it from the sound of the shadow?"
"Yes. They are completely different."
Luo Binhan opened his eyes. Li Lizheng put his arms on his legs, leaned forward, and looked at him intently. He was slightly surprised by the deliberate concentration she had created with the projection. "What's wrong?"
"Just some curiosity about the environment." Li Li said, "Did you find the source of the bell afterwards?"
"There is indeed a clock on the second floor of that house."
He described the strange-looking antique clock in Antique's house in such detail that he was secretly surprised. He could even recall the patchwork shapes and textures of the white inlaid stones. However, this deep impression did not come from its beauty and luxury, but from the last scene he could remember clearly in that dark night fight. Did he really remember it clearly? Or maybe he just passed out from the violent struggle and his mind made up a story to make him more respectable.
"The sound of the bell gave me an idea," he chose his words. "At that time, the bell was getting closer and closer to me, and it seemed to be at a high place. I realized that there must be a wall there, a blind spot. So I Decided to force Lot there so I could catch him more easily. We rolled under the bell and my back hit the wall and my hand grabbed what might have been his arm. It was indeed the death corner. , but the position between Lot and me was wrong, my position was closer to the wall. So I grabbed his arm and stood up, trying to change our positions, and then bump his head against the clock - - I have been to Pierre's house before, and I remember that the corners at the bottom of the clock were very sharp - but before I changed positions, Lot also knew my position. I guess he caught him from me The direction judged that I was about to stand up, so he took the lead and pushed me against the wall. The back of my head hit the bottom of the clock, which was not very hard. But my strength suddenly relaxed. It was not pain, but pain. I felt relieved, and there was a warmth surrounding me. My hand slipped from Lot's body, and then I touched myself, probably in my belly, where there was a hole."
He stopped talking here. He didn't mean to scare Li Li, but he just didn't know what to say. Li Li lowered his gaze to his belly. Under her formless gaze, he felt like his stomach was filled with heavy lead.
"We should be able to assume that this was done by Lot." Li Li said, his tone was as light as playing a Sudoku puzzle. "If he was not much stronger than you, sir, he could have caused you a penetrating abdominal injury." The only way is the shadow.”
"Maybe he originally wanted to greet me on my chest or head." Luo Binhan guessed, "That was actually faster. But I had just stood up at that time and didn't have time to drag him up. I guess he misjudged the correct height. .”
"But the effect is the same. If it hurts your organs, an average person would die within two hours."
"I can't be considered an ordinary person in the true sense." Luo Binhan corrected, "I might be able to hold on longer.
"We still assume that it was a serious injury. And we have to consider that the situation you described is not comparable to being stabbed with a short knife to an organ. The wound you felt at the time was a hole. What do you estimate its diameter is? ?”
"At least five or six centimeters. I don't know. I felt that my entire stomach was empty. It must be an illusion."
"Abdominal penetrating injuries caused by steel bars." Li Li said, "There are cases of survival, sir, but that was before the massive bleeding. If the only injured organ is the intestines, as long as the doctor removes and sews it properly, the injured person can survive." The probability of survival is not low. But in your case, I think even if the ambulance arrives, it will not help."
Luo Binhan couldn't help but smile a little. For the first time since starting this conversation, he felt a little happier, because he remembered that the last time he was punched in the stomach, Li Li was dealing with the situation seriously (it was just the version in his dream). But joking about the intestines and digestion was so inappropriate in this situation that he finally decided to play it safe with his cybernetic strategist.
"I went to see Anti's house afterwards." He said with a straight face, "The second floor was full of blood, almost in every room - I still don't know what it was, but the place with the most blood was It's where the wall clock is. Under the clock, you can't find any clean surface on the wall. The strange thing is that I didn't find any minced meat or pieces of intestines. Just blood. Some of these blood stains may be Lot's, but according to the I think the amount of blood loss was enough to kill three people. You also know that Lot later crashed and died in front of my sister's house. That was scary enough, but compared with the situation at Onti's house, it was simply - how Already?"
He noticed Li Li tapping the desk. That seemed very abrupt, because even though the visual image was tapping, the table itself didn't make any noise at all. Except for necessary words, Li Li's actions have always been silent, unlike ∈, who is keen on adding dazzling sound and light effects.
"Knock on wood to avoid bad luck." Li Li said thoughtfully, "I just remembered how the Hebrews made Passover marks at the door of their homes. But what they wanted to pass over was the wrath of God, and the blood of our lambs was sacrificed For evil spirits.”
"What evil spirit?" Luo Binhan asked blankly.
"Just a joke, sir. We've come far enough and it's time to go back to when you stood before the clock and suffered."
"I can't guarantee that this really happened," Luo Binhan declared. "I checked myself after Lot died, and there was no trace of injury at all. Filling up an empty stomach in a few hours is not based on me. You can do it with your own physique.”
Li Li didn't seem to mind this obvious factual contradiction at all. She still insisted that Luo Binhan describe those memories that were difficult to distinguish between true and false, until he completely lost consciousness. Therefore, Luo Binhan said: "At that time, my strength was disappearing. But the feeling was not uncomfortable. I just felt very relaxed and my mind was light. I realized that I had no chance of winning against Lot. I was really going to die. But my sister is still in the house, in a room downstairs from us. I should at least lure Lot out of the house so that he can't go to her immediately, or try to attract someone to help. So, I I want to find the window before I die and climb out of the window."
"You said there was no light in that room."
"It was true that there wasn't one when we were fighting. But when I was thinking about finding the window, I suddenly saw a shimmering door. I knocked Lot to the ground with all my strength, and then walked in. There were all the people in that room. It was a floor-to-ceiling window, and light came in through these windows. Outside the window, I saw a blue-gray garden. The meadows in the garden grew very high, and there were wild flowers everywhere. There were many trees, but the branches and leaves were coldly shining. , as if carved out of polished stone. I also saw the shadow of a mountain further away...a huge mountain, but I couldn't see clearly because it was blocked by the fog in the garden. And the sky...the sky It also looks very strange, more like a glowing sea surface, the clouds are translucent and rolling as fast as the tide."
"This is not a view from Reigenberg."
"Of course." Luo Binhan said. He wanted to emphasize again that this might all be his delusion, a confusion between dreams and reality while in a coma. But another little thing suddenly broke into his mind, that is, he discovered that Li Lianyuan's pronunciation and intonation of the word "Regenberg" were actually very accurate. It was not just a transliteration of the word, but the correct German pronunciation. Law. This was a bit strange, because he pronounced the word exactly according to the Chinese tone, and he didn't even remember when he told Li Li that his sister's hometown was called Regenberg.
"Do you know German?" he asked uncertainly. "Been there before?"
"I've never been there." Li Li said, "We should focus on your story."
"There wasn't much left. That's what I saw. Then I broke a window and fell out into the garden. As I fell, I felt something come through. It hit me, and then my body suddenly became heavy. I fell into the grass, but I couldn't find my way out, and I didn't see Pierre's house anymore. I sat there alone until my sister Wake me up."
"In a room full of mirrors."
"Anti-Pierre's dance studio." Luo Binhan explained, "She teaches musical instruments and dance in Regenberg. But as you know, she is actually Chen Wei's apprentice."
"Do you know her work and financial situation?" Li Li asked with interest, "She lives in the same community as your mother. I assume she has a stable source of income."
Luo Binhan was puzzled by the focus of her attention. This really seemed like a question that would only appear in the afternoon tea gossip at Regenberg. "I haven't seen her teaching, but I guess she does have students. She happened to be away the day Lot came. She might have gone out to be a tutor. And she can also hypnotize. If she could make Lot After she was beaten to death, why would it be difficult for her to ask others to obediently hand over her bank card?"
"There are many ways to obtain funds," Li Li said, "but it is difficult to leave no trace, sir. If you can examine her capital flow, you may get some interesting conclusions."
"I'm not in a position to do such a thing. And it's not important—"
"That might be important to you."
"Okay," Luo Binhan said in compromise, "but I really can't help it now. She doesn't live in Lihai City. I just want to ask your opinion on the fight between me and Lot."
"You were awakened by your sister in a dance studio." Li Li said in a fast and calm tone. "When you woke up, part of the mirror was broken. We can guess that this corresponds to the dream you had in a coma. ——Those mirrors may be the windows you dreamed of. Is the room completely closed?"
"No, three sides are mirrors, and one leads to the terrace."
"Then it should have a light source, even at midnight. We can explain that you did see the luminous door and broke into the dance practice room. Maybe your original intention was to go outside the house from the terrace, but Your weakness caused you to mistake the mirror for a window. You hit the mirror and fell unconscious until Lot came with your sister."
Luo Binhan looked down at his abdomen wordlessly. "Then how do you explain why I entered that room?" he asked a little hoarsely, "Where did the hole in my stomach go?"
"A less interesting but fairly common explanation in practice," Li Li said, "is that blood loss causes hallucinations."
"That's it? It was true that Lot and I broke into the house earlier, and it was also true that I woke up in the mirror room, but this whole process was all an illusion?" Luo Binhan asked hurriedly, "When I woke up There are almost no wounds on the body...leg injuries, head injuries, all the wounds that I know their origins are there. But the wall clock...how to explain the blood under the wall clock?"
"Lot was also wounded."
"That was before we got anywhere near the clock."
Li Li looked at him quietly. "What is it that you really want to ask, sir?" she asked. "What is it about this matter that makes you so desperate for an answer?"
Luo Binhan stretched out his left hand.
"I want to know how much this hand affects me," he said. "Ever since I came back, this hand hasn't felt right. It was this hand that I used to catch Lot's shadow that night. . His shadow never hit me again after that, until that last blow. So, if I really took that blow, I have to ask - am I dead?"
Li calmly relaxed his intertwined fingers. "Blood of Shadows."
"I heard it has a nickname called 'Dead Man's Blood'. Do you know anything about it?"
"I don't know any more than public rumors."
"Jing Huang said that this blood can only be effective if it flows through a dead person once. He also said that the dead host can be resurrected after death - but in a different state." Luo Binhan said, tapping himself hard. "So, what I have to figure out is, when I woke up in that room, did I die once?"
He didn't expect Li Li to give him a quick answer. At most, he could only help him analyze the situation. However, the latter said quite lightly: "It doesn't count."
"how do you know?"
"The distortion caused by resurrection from the dead is quite significant. You have seen how two people with the blood of shadow behave, sir. If the same situation happens to you, you will not need to ask others."
"Are you sure?"
"I can guarantee this."
Luo Binhan took his left hand back. There was no evidence that Li Li would not deceive people like Yaleriga, but when she said the word "guarantee", he still felt indescribable relief. Whatever the delusion about the bells and the void, at least he had avoided the worst-case scenario of becoming like Zhou Wenxing or Lot. As for other possibilities? It couldn't be worse than the one he was afraid of.
"We still have to figure out what happened to Lot." He said, but his tone couldn't help but become relaxed, "Yes, there is also the matter of my sister. You want me to keep you at home, but if she What should I do if I see Fina?"
"Like you said before, let her discover that this is an undiscovered species of lizard."
"And then let her suspect that I went to another world?"
"She can't prove where Fina comes from. It would be better if she were a knowledgeable and discerning person, sir. She would be more willing to believe that Fina comes from the jungle than from the sky, because on the scale of the entire universe, Fina is The high similarity between Na and us is illogical."
"This eventually happened, didn't it?" Luo Binhan muttered. He was already tired from the conversation after the long flight. "I'll think about it again. When she comes tonight, I'll decide where to put you."
This conversation has consumed too much time. Luo Binhan had to put it on hold temporarily so that he could have enough time to clean up the house. From the socks he still left in the dryer to the browser logs on his desktop computer, there was so much more to hide than Fina. He worked busy for two or three hours, carefully checking the TV's on-demand records to see if Momolo would be exposed, and making sure that there was not a golden brown hair belonging to Yaleriga in the guest room. When he felt that everything was ready and had locked Fina and Miffy into the bedroom, the doorbell finally rang. He opened the door with a fully prepared mood and saw Zhou Yu standing outside alone with a tired face.
"What?" he said.
"...Your sister said she can't come over."
"What's the meaning?"
Zhou Yu slowly handed him a bag. Luo Binhan took it and saw toiletries and a clean summer shirt inside.
"I just received a notice that the laboratory needs someone to be on duty now, so I will go on duty starting tomorrow. I will probably live in isolation for a week or two. Let me spend the night at your house tonight..."
"She kicked you out?" Luo Binhan said, "She took over your house by herself? Why can she still kick you out?"
"...There is no such thing."
"Then why don't you tie her up?"
Zhou Yu looked at him silently. Luo Binhan had to admit that it might be a little too high for Zhou Yu to win over a demon king in a verbal battle. What's more, the devil is also the sister of a good friend!
"That's outrageous!" He said angrily, and pulled Zhou Yu into the room without hesitation, "You stay here, I'll make a noise!"
Zhou Yu held his shoulders and suggested that he should not rush. Anyway, Yu Xiaorong is already stationed at his home, so Luo Binhan can enjoy a few days of peace and quiet. The etiquette issues that they originally worried about were no longer so sensitive and embarrassing, because Zhou Yu had to devote the next days and nights to the laboratory anyway, leaving nothing but an unoccupied and idle apartment.
Lending an unused house to a friend's sister does sound within Luo Binhan's acceptance range - but that was before this afternoon. Now Li Li's words were embedded in his mind like poisonous fangs. He has changed. From Erlang Shen to Tybalt, all the evil brothers at home and abroad who devoted themselves to destroying his sister's life events have been resurrected in his soul. On the surface, he calmly let the tired Zhou Yu go into the house to rest, but in his heart he made up his mind: tomorrow morning he must go to the group headquarters first and show his face in front of Nan Mingguang. And as soon as he escapes, he will go straight to Zhou Yu's home, take Yu Xiaorong to the top of Zugspitze, and imprison him for five hundred years under the siege of flames and dragons.
He thought about it so much that he didn't feel depressed when he tied his tie the next morning. Before Zhou Yu could get up, he had already gone downstairs to the parking lot and found the black car he used to use when traveling. A mid-range car that was quite mediocre in all aspects once took Zhou Yu and Zhou Yu to a flower show in the suburbs. Since Zhou Yu disappeared, he has never driven this car again. It’s not that I can’t stand the memories, I just can’t find a reason to use them. Now he likes it better than the flashy sports car, which will not attract attention in the company parking lot and can show his solemn determination to get rid of his sister.
He was not worried that the new receptionist did not recognize him, nor was he anxious about waiting for Nan Mingguang in the reception room. All that occupied his mind was the scene of a fierce fight with Yu Xiaorong later in the evening. He has even begun to deduce what words Yu Xiaorong will use to attack him, and how he will respond skillfully. The various sinister pulls involved will never be inferior to Wuyuan Man vs. Wishing Machine. While he was still thinking hard, Nan Mingguang had already pushed the door open and entered.
"Why don't you go to your own office?" He asked Luo Binhan casually, "Has your mother's matter been resolved?"
"Absolutely." Luo Binhan replied, "I have to leave early today. I still have some things to deal with at home..."
Nan Mingguang didn't seem to take it to heart. He has always been busy with work, and he may have forgotten what he said yesterday that he wanted Luo Binhan to have a good gathering with his supervisors. "Are you free this weekend?"
"There are no arrangements." Luo Binhan said immediately, "Is there something urgent?"
"It's not about work. I have a few old classmates who have just returned from abroad. Their children are about the same age as you. If you have time, go and entertain them."
"Oh." Luo Binhan replied subconsciously. But Nan Mingguang still looked at him with deep meaning, and Luo Binhan suddenly came back to his senses.
"Shall I entertain?" he confirmed doubtfully.
"Young people can talk better when they get together." Nan Mingguang said indifferently, "Going out to have fun, dancing and watching a show is more useful than sitting at the dinner table."
Now Luo Binhan felt that it was impossible for him to think too much. He stared straight at Nan Mingguang, who calmly took out a brand new office access card from his pocket and slid it directly in front of Luo Binhan from the end of the table. "It's just a matter of meeting and getting to know each other."
"Isn't it a bit rushed?" Luo Binhan said. He reached out and picked up the access card, trying to appear unconcerned. "I'm not familiar with the current..."
"Work comes second," Nan Mingguang said, "life comes first. The most important thing in life is not making money."
Luo Binhan wanted to laugh a little, but held it back. He pursed his lips and said nothing. Nan Mingguang patted him on the shoulder: "You're not young anymore. We can talk about whether it's suitable for you after we meet him."
"Okay." Luo Binhan said. He put the card in his pocket and watched Nan Mingguang walk out of the reception room, thinking that this was the reason why he was called here today.
