Zhongjing, 08:00.
"Good morning, it is now eight o'clock in the morning on December 31, 2027. Dear citizens, it is sunny and good weather again today. In an hour, the New Order Joint Conference Civil Service Examination will officially begin. I wish every candidate Let us all thank Xi'an for achieving good results!"
When the marquee announcement sounded, the square in front of the Joint Conference Headquarters Building was already overcrowded. More than 37,000 candidates under the age of 17 from seven cities around the world gathered here to wait for the exam to start.
A cordon was set up around the outside of the square, and a Bureau of Order patrol boat was parked every few meters to prevent anyone from approaching.
For hundreds of years, the Joint Conference has never organized a selection examination on such a large scale.
As the exam approaches, there are more and more "inside information" on "Zhongjing Online", and the analysis is clear and logical. The beginning and end of the goblin invasion, the inside story of gang integration, the fortress being built in the western mines, countless evidences that this exam is unusual, a netizen claiming to be a staff member of the joint meeting revealed that those selected this time will have the opportunity to join the legion, and even directly Work for Xi'an.
At this moment, the atmosphere in the square is tense. Everyone is using the remaining time to review. Even if the conditions are not good and there is no bracelet or tablet computer, they will hold a "New Testament" and look through the "test points" in it.
08:50.
On the roadside a few hundred meters away from the square, Dou Ming got out of the pontoon and waved to Uncle Li in the boat.
After watching the pontoon go away, he looked around and took a deep breath.
Finally home.
Starting from Denali, to the Fuji, and then to Bay City, he traveled all the way. He originally thought that he could go home after leaving Bay City, but he did not expect that the next trip would be even more exaggerated. Within a week, he would travel six places except Zhongjing. Walked all over the city.
Every time he went to a city, Spades would join forces with local gangs and the Order Bureau to look for people based on a list he didn't know where to find. In the end, he would only find one or a pile of corpses. There was never an exception.
Uncle Li quietly told him that these people were all believers of the Natural Sect and were silenced at the same time. Judging from the previous tasks, Mr. Li Liang's investigation during this period was likely to end in failure.
However, on the way here from Dongjiang Port just now, Uncle Li said that the arrest of the Natural Sect believers had just begun, but the subsequent actions probably had nothing to do with Spades.
However, Uncle Li didn't know that the only thing he cared about was whether he could catch up with Tao Yiran's exam.
After confirming the direction, Dou Ming walked forward quickly. At the same time, he took out the bracelet he had just returned and pressed and held the touch panel to turn on the phone.
Buzz~buzz buzz——
After a series of rapid vibrations, he froze on the spot, staring blankly at the light screen that popped up on his bracelet. On it were hundreds of voice call requests and countless text messages, all from Tao Yiran.
He flipped through the texts one by one. At first, Tao Yiran just asked him if he was back, but gradually he became anxious. In addition, because he couldn't get any news from Levi, he began to worry about whether he died in action. Later, the girl became calm again. She would send more than a dozen messages every day, talking about her review progress and what was happening in her life. A week ago, she mentioned that her home was suddenly attacked and her father was taken away.
The latest message was sent a minute ago: "I'm so nervous, I really want to see you waiting for me on the other side of the road when I turn around."
Dou Ming ran like crazy, knocking over several passers-by along the way, and finally reached the edge of the square before nine o'clock, but was stopped by agents from the Order Bureau.
He took out his bracelet and initiated a voice call to Tao Yiran's ID. The result showed that the other party was offline. Looking up, he saw that people from all over the square were rushing towards the joint meeting headquarters building. It was impossible to tell which one was Tao Yiran. back view.
"I'll wait for you right here."
Dou Ming murmured to himself.
Next, he stood motionless at the only exit of the square until the exam ended at 4:30 p.m. However, he did not see Tao Yiran until the last candidate came out, and when he initiated a voice call, it still showed that the other party was offline. .
In the end, even the patrol boats of the Order Bureau left one after another, and he was the only one left outside the square.
——————————
In the newly renovated reception room on the top floor of the Joint Conference Headquarters Building, Li Liang stood in front of the entire wall of floor-to-ceiling glass, overlooking Beijing in the evening.
On that morning eight days ago, he finally gave up his desperate attempt and did not venture into the "Bridge of Time."
In order to save Mesai, he could risk everything like a fool. During the civil war in Dros, he never looked forward or backward. Facing the invasion of goblins, he declined the kindness of Dododisar and chose the most dangerous path. But from the moment he took control of Xi'an, he was no longer alone. Behind him were not only a group of friends who had experienced life and death, but also the entire human civilization.
The temple and the clan, the upper city and the lower city, the legion and the gang, seem to be in harmony. Once he fails to come out of the hole, the fragile balance will quickly collapse.
The opening of the Spiritual Gate is about to begin, and a civil war breaks out in full view of the public. All that awaits mankind is a ruthlessly divided future.
Perhaps, the secret of the Time Observer is in the cave, and the answers to many questions are close at hand, but at this moment, he is not sure that he can escape unscathed when facing the Time Observer.
He will definitely cross the "bridge of time", but not now.
Yao Zhengping provided a lot of useful information, coupled with the information found from the Via Mi House and the altar, the pursuit of the Natural Sect is not over yet. "Eye of the Void", "Strange Stew Smell", "Titan Lilianmi" and Via's last words, these things also need to be clarified urgently, as well as the opening ceremony, the border war situation of the Central General Region, "foreign affairs"...
Thinking of this, he already had a premonition that the next period of time would be very stressful.
Old Tang hurriedly walked into the conference room: "The exam is over. According to what you said, we have kept all the candidates whose inspiration level is level three or above."
Li Liang turned around and smiled: "Let's go, take me to meet them."
——————————
The ninety-seventh floor of the Joint Conference Headquarters Building.
In the lecture hall, which can accommodate a thousand people, more than a hundred candidates who had just taken the civil service examination were sitting together. They had been waiting for three hours, and no one told them why they were left behind.
There were fresh fruits and bottled juices on the table in front of everyone, but no one dared to reach for them.
This is the ninety-seventh floor, and two floors above is the chief executive's office on the top floor. This group of children, whose youngest is only twelve years old and whose oldest is no more than seventeen, can already feel the huge sense of oppression brought by "power".
Among the crowd, Tao Yiran looked at the door from time to time, looking a little anxious.
The attack she suffered a week ago had always made her uneasy. At that time, intensive gunshots rang out from all directions, and a group of people claiming to be her father's "friends" suddenly appeared and escorted the family of three to escape without fear of death. She still doesn't understand. Why he was attacked, and I can’t figure out where his father, who has been a worker all his life, got such armed “friends”.
After that, her father left home for a "business trip". She thought for a while that her father was in big trouble. Fortunately, the next day, her father made a voice call home, and she was relieved.
Now that she was left behind inexplicably, it was hard for her not to think of what happened before. Her bracelet was taken away before the exam, and she couldn't contact her family. These three hours were simply torture.
In addition, she still had a glimmer of hope in her heart. Maybe Dou Ming had returned safely and was waiting for her outside the square.
Thinking of this, Tao Yiran couldn't sit still anymore, stretched his neck and looked around.
These people who were left behind like her seemed to have nothing in common. Generally speaking, there were more women than men. Some looked poor, some were well-dressed, some spoke Mandarin, some spoke English and Japanese, and some looked calm. They looked very mature, some looked like children, sitting there with nails in their butts, and there were even a few gang members, shirtless with tattoos and airplane scalp jackets, gathering together to whisper.
Withdrawing his gaze, Tao Yiran glanced at the girl next to him. She was short and fat, with dark and rough skin. She had two pigtails. She was wearing a baggy T-shirt, overalls that were washed white, and her hands looked like they had been there all year round. Doing physical work makes you covered in calluses.
The weirdest thing of all is this girl. From the time she sat down until now, she has been staring at the ceiling. Sometimes she will stretch out her hand and shake it up and down like a fire.
At this moment, the guy raised his arm nervously again, and Tao Yiran couldn't help but ask: "What are you doing?"
The girl was indifferent.
"What's on top?" Tao Yiran raised his head.
"Fire," the girl finally said.
"ah?"
"It's very warm, the fire."
Tao Yiran was stunned for a moment, then lowered his voice and asked, "Are you sick of your eyes too?"
The girl turned to look over and said blankly: "The fire above is very warm, can you feel it too?"
"Uh..." Tao Yiran raised his head and held it in for a long time, and finally shook his head, "I'm not sick at the moment, I can't feel it."
"Oh, maybe I'm more seriously ill," the girl sighed, a little frustrated.
Tao Yiran pursed his lips and patted the "patient" on the shoulder.
next moment.
The girl suddenly sat up, looked diagonally upward, and said with a trembling voice: "The fire is coming down."
——————————
Nine p.m.
Dou Ming stood outside the courtyard door of Tao Yiran's house, slammed the door several times, and then looked inside through the courtyard wall. The courtyard was in a mess, and the two-story building was dark.
During the day, he waited from the end of the exam until the lights came on. Tao Yiran was nowhere to be seen, and his communication ID was never online. He made a series of voice calls to Tao Yiran's friends to no avail, so he had to ask Levi for help.
Levi scolded him first, then rushed to him and told him that Tao Chong's identity was not simple, let alone Tao Yiran's, and told him to stop having such wishful thinking.
He asked about the attack a week ago mentioned in Tao Yiran's text message. Levi said that the incident had now become a secret. The boss had given a death order, and anyone who leaked it would die.
Later, Levi imprisoned him in Spade's secret stronghold on Fourth Street. Fortunately, he was one of his own, and the guard was very lax, so he found an opportunity to escape.
Now it seems that Levi was right, Tao Yiran has moved away.
Dou Ming slowly raised his head and looked at the window on the second floor.
Once, Tao Yiran was grounded at home and his bracelet was confiscated. He threw stones at the window, then stood in the alley doing various funny actions and assuming funny postures, while Tao Yiran stood there By the window, he covered his mouth and laughed until Tao Chong rushed out with a musket, then he ran away.
Those days seem so far away.
After an unknown amount of time, a series of footsteps sounded in the darkness, approaching from far away.
Dou Ming immediately turned his head to look, but the surprise on his face turned into shock.
The person who came was not Tao Yiran, but her mother, who seemed to be named Wu Ying in the impression, and was followed by an enhanced semi-bionic commando team.
"Ah, Auntie," Dou Ming was so nervous that he didn't know what to do.
Wu Ying was a little surprised. She turned back to the squad leader and said, "This is Ranran's friend. He may be here to see Ranran." Then he unlocked the door and said casually, "Come in."
Dou Ming followed Wu Ying stiffly, walked through the yard and walked into the house.
The commandos stayed in the yard. As soon as Wu Ying entered the house, she dug out a box and started packing the living room cabinet.
Dou Ming realized that Tao Yiran's mother came home this time to bring something she had not taken away.
"I thought I would be back in a few days..." Wu Ying seemed to be talking to herself, "It's better now, we have to move to such a far place."
“Where are you moving to?”
"Oh, it's really far away," Wu Ying shook her head.
Dou Ming wanted to ask where Tao Yiran was, but he opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything.
More than ten minutes later.
Wu Ying packed up a box of things, sat on the sofa, looked around the dimly lit living room, and said softly: "Little Dou..."
"Um."
"What are you willing to pay to make life easier for the people you love?"
Dou Ming raised his head: "Everything."
"Yes, everything," Wu Ying said quietly, "faith, strength, life, everything, as long as she lives well... I must do this... I must do this... the eternal torrent..."
"What do you mean?" Dou Ming asked blankly.
"Nothing." Wu Ying stood up, carried the box and walked out. She stopped at the door but did not look back. "We are about to move to Shangcheng District. Tao Yiran will definitely have a bright future, but I don't want to She hates me because of you, so... there will be a spaceship to pick us up tomorrow morning, and the boarding location will be at North Cuiping Park. You can decide for yourself whether you want to come or not."
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