After wandering around for an hour, Tao Yiran finally understood that the magic of "Koko Wonders" was far beyond her imagination.
On the surface, it looks like there are only a dozen criss-crossing paths and hundreds of tents. In fact, each tent has an independent magical space inside, and the spaces are connected to each other, like a maze.
Keke is present in every space, enthusiastically promoting the "treasures" he has collected.
As for the types of "treasures", they are sometimes quite surprising.
Once, the three of them broke into an endless wilderness and found a mountain range stretching above their heads.
Koko appears as a young male human in a suit and leather tie, explaining the origins of the mountains to a few "tourists".
The three of them listened for a long time before they realized that this mountain was a "treasure", and there was a "high probability" that there was a "10,000-ton level" Yaling gold mine inside, and the price was quoted at 70 million spiritual beads.
With such a sky-high price, he refuses to explore in any way before "the money and goods are settled". This is simply less reliable than gambling.
But even so, there were still a few tourists who showed great interest.
Tao Yiran realized at that time that Tongtong's transformation into human form might not only be an artistic creation, but also a bit like the rules of the black market. Buyers wear "masks" to cover up certain transactions that should not be exposed.
However, not all "treasures" are astonishingly expensive.
Some tents only have a few hundred square meters of space and are filled with all kinds of gadgets. The prices are often only a few beads. Such tents naturally have the most "customers".
Although most of the bits and pieces on the floor had no apparent material or purpose, there were some shiny decorations or "small toys" that could move. Tie Hui was very interested in shopping. If it weren't for Tao Yiran's resolute attitude, he wouldn't have been able to do it at all. Can't walk.
"Look at this...wow..."
Iron Hammer carefully held up a beetle with his palm. It looked like a ladybug, but its round elytra were transparent. Inside, there was a precise mechanical structure with countless small parts rotating rapidly.
"What's inside here..." Li Xing observed for a moment, then raised his head blankly, "Engine?"
"What?"
"An ancient fuel vehicle engine, one, two, three... um, inline four-cylinder." Li Xing rubbed his eyes, "Did the consultant talk about this? Am I hallucinating?"
At this time, Koko appeared out of nowhere and smiled: "As you can see, it is a cute mechanical creature. Where do you think it comes from? The physical world of Cybertron? No, it comes from the outer realm of Cybertron." An ancient relic in space, rare, rare, and exquisite, it can be called a miracle of life.”
Iron Hammer asked cautiously: "How many beads?"
"With thirty spirit beads, you can take it home. It only needs to be fed with some hydrocarbon compounds occasionally, and it can survive comfortably in the human basic world, with a lifespan of up to two hundred years."
Iron Hammer looked at the other two people pitifully, his eyes clearly expressing one meaning: "Buy it!"
Tao Yiran turned her left and right trouser pockets out and spread her hands, her meaning was clearer. Her pockets were cleaner than her face. Not to mention the beads in the spiritual world, there was not even a banknote printed by Xi'an.
Li Xing on the side smiled dryly and said: "How about next time?"
Just as Iron Hammer reluctantly put the mechanical beetle back into the stall, a casual voice sounded from behind the three of them: "We bought it."
They turned around at the same time and found that the person who made the noise was a woman wearing a sweatshirt with her face hidden under the hood.
However, when she raised her head, the three of them were stunned for a moment.
Cain? !
One of the nine followers of the Twin Gods, a rumored close companion, the de facto supreme commander of the Guards, the legendary Lord of the Mayfly, and the once notorious most wanted criminal...
"Should..." Tao Yiran uttered a word in confusion, and was kicked by Li Xing. He quickly stood up and raised his hands in salute. When he was about to shout "General" loudly, Cain covered his mouth again.
"Shh~" Cain put his fingers between his lips and smiled, took out a handful of beads from his jeans pocket and threw them directly into the box in front of the stall.
"Thank you, from now on, it's yours," Koko picked up the mechanical beetle and placed it on the hammer hand.
The next moment, an identical beetle appeared on the stall.
"Huh? Isn't it rare?" Cain raised his eyebrows.
Keke's expression remained unchanged and he smiled calmly: "Relatively rare, relatively rare."
"Hmph, profiteer," Cain took out another handful of beads from his pocket, "Then one for each of you."
For a moment, Tao Yiran, Tie Hammer, and Li Xing each held a mechanical beetle with awkward expressions.
Cain stood opposite them, tossing the beetle in his hand, and said slowly: "I know you, Tao Yiran, Tao Chong's daughter, you, Hammer, Inspiration Level 5, and... I'm sorry, who are you?"
"General, I am Li Xing," the smile on Li Xing's face was uglier than crying.
"Don't call me general, you are here... patrolling?"
Tao Yiran almost blurted out, "We are arresting an old man." However, facing Cain's direct gaze, he suddenly felt guilty.
If Li Liang and Sorge made her involuntarily in awe, then the woman in front of her, who was only a few years older than her, made her fear from the bottom of her heart.
For as long as she could remember, whenever there was a "riot" in Beijing, the joint meeting would say that Mayfly was responsible. But after "Cain" came to power, the rumors about Mayfly became more evil and bloody. Before the New Year, no one had seen Cain, and the only impression she left on the people of Beijing was that of a mob leader who killed people at the slightest objection.
Although the Cain in front of her was wearing a baggy sweater and a smiling face on his chest, making him look like the sister next door, she was really not sure what she should do if she told the old man's story and searched for it all night but couldn't find it. Will Yin think that he has been fooled, and then...
Thinking of this, Tao Yiran suddenly got excited and shouted loudly: "General, we... uh uh~"
"Keep your voice down," Cain covered Tao Yiran's mouth, "No matter what you are doing, from now on, you, you, and you are under my command."
"Ah?" Tie Zhui shook his head, "No, we still have to look for it..."
"We still need to report to the battalion commander!" Li Xing quickly interrupted Tie Hanhan.
Tao Yiran nodded abruptly: "I was going to go, but there's no need to go now."
"Well..." Cain narrowed his eyes: "Are you okay?"
The three of them giggled.
"..."
Cain looked around suspiciously, then shrugged nonchalantly and snapped his fingers as he turned around:
"Follow up."
Tao Yiran breathed a sigh of relief, and used his eyes to remind Li Xing to adapt to the situation. As for the hammer... he was immersed in teasing the mechanical beetle in his hand, and he didn't even bother to make eye contact with her.
However.
Over the next few hours, her perception of Cain changed completely.
This is not the general in charge of the Guards. She is clearly a girl who sneaks out to go shopping. Her taste is surprisingly the same as that of Hammer, both of whom like shiny and brightly colored things.
The so-called "recruitment" basically means finding three followers, and the division of labor is quite clear.
Iron Hammer is responsible for "making a fuss" and looking for "good stuff" in the nooks and crannies, such as eye-catching jewelry, cloaks made of weird materials, weird toys, etc., while Li Xing is responsible for carrying two "magic pockets" that come from nowhere. , occasionally providing some "aesthetic advice" from a male perspective, and she had no choice but to act as a "try-on model".
So when the group of four arrived at a large tent called "Koko Aesthetics," she looked like a flamingo that had fallen into a dye vat.
"It looks good," Cain said after looking up and down and giving a "fair" comment.
"Very nice," Hammer nodded in agreement.
The corners of Li Xing's eyes twitched and she cast a look that said, "No matter what, you are still beautiful in my heart."
Tao Yiran just wanted to roll his eyes.
At this moment, there was a "ring of fire" suspended above her head, and she wore a colorful shawl made of hard feathers from an unknown monster on her shoulders. Underneath, she wore a strange long dress that flowed like a liquid, with grinning figures constantly blooming on the surface. "Flower", with his feet a few centimeters off the ground, his whole body floats in the wind.
Her attempt at a "friendly" smile resulted in a spray of colored mist.
This was a sequelae of using a "Tanwa" snuff bottle. The only advantage was that it was the first time she knew she could exhale such a large puff of air when she opened her mouth.
"The show is about to begin!" Iron Hammer waved his little hand, and the small toys hanging all over his body jingled.
"Set off!"
As soon as Cain turned around, the newly purchased earrings made a strange sound of "xiuxiuxiu" and a swarm of flying bugs appeared.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute..."
Tao Yiran tapped her toes to the ground and floated forward in a bouncing posture. She was graceful but extremely slow. In the end, she had to be led by Li Xing like an anti-gravity cart.
More than ten minutes later.
The four of them followed the crowd of Wuyang Wuyang into the "Koko Aesthetics". What was about to be performed was the highlight of the "Koko Wonders", a performance art performed by the great magician Keko himself.
The magic space in the tent is open and bright. The stepped auditorium surrounds a circular open space. The ground is cement-colored and rough. There is a special "bed" in the center, which seems to be made of the white bones of some kind of creature. .
Not far from the "Bone Bed", there is a human grand piano.
Nothing else.
The performance was about to begin, and the audience stage was "full". The four people who arrived late had to stand not far from the door.
Tao Yiran looked around the audience and found that under Keke's magic, all the audience looked like humans, but she herself was more like an "alien".
At this time.
The light began to dim and the surroundings became quiet.
Everyone heard the sound of "crackling and peeling", a bit like the popping sound of firewood burning in a campfire.
A beam of light was thrown into the open space, illuminating a half-mechanical, half-bionic "human". The face and torso were indistinguishable from those of real humans, but the back of the head and limbs exposed mechanical structures and blue pipes.
With no obvious gender characteristics, it walked step by step to the piano, sat down, and started playing.
Accompanied by the soft sound of the piano, Koko's deep voice sounded: "Human composer, Johann Sebastian Bach, "Twelve Well-Tempered Piano Collection", "Prelude in C Major"."
He added: "Life."
Then, a human woman slowly walked into the open space and climbed onto the bone bed. She lay flat on her back without a strand of hair on her body.
"Prelude in C Major" started over and over again, and all the audience stared at the body under the light.
Then, Koko appeared in the form of a human male, also without any hair, and walked to the bone bed at a slower pace.
"pain."
He said.
Then, he had a silver scalpel in his hand. He leaned over and put the blade against the woman's throat, stabbed it gently, and cut it bit by bit along the central axis of the body.
In the crowd, Tao Yiran's mind went blank, staring blankly at the moving blade.
There was no blood in the extending incision, and it was like some kind of soft leather being gently cut open, silky and gentle, all the way to the lower abdomen.
The woman began to shudder, a look of pain on her face.
"pain."
Koko said.
Four pairs of bone claws extend from the bone bed, extending into the wound and slowly spreading to both sides.
Tao Yiran suddenly felt nauseated, but he couldn't help it and couldn't look away from the incision.
What was seen inside the completely opened body were not bloody internal organs, but irregular gray stones. The only human organ was a beating heart.
Koko stretched out his hand and held his heart.
"pain."
He said, and then gently took off the heart.
In an instant, the woman regained her composure and was no longer in pain.
Then, piece by piece, Keke removed each piece of "organ" at a steady and soothing speed, harmonizing with the "Prelude in C Major" that lingered throughout the space.
at last.
He lay down in the open cavity, with his shoulders hunched and his back hunched, as if he were returning to his mother's body.
"pain."
next moment.
The two bodies on the bone bed melted like liquid wax, boiled, and surged, until they condensed into a baby... crying loudly.
For a moment, everything returned to darkness and everything was silent, leaving only a long sigh: "Empty."
this moment.
Tao Yiran suddenly understood what Keke wanted to express. This was not for humans to see, but to show Keke's "anatomy" of human nature to other life forms that "turned into humans".
pain……
Her stomach was churning, and she could no longer suppress the urge to vomit. She turned around and stumbled out, holding her knees and retching, but nothing came out. She just sprayed out a large ball of colorful mist.
"Are you okay?" Li Xing chased her out and patted her back.
Tao Yiran shook his head: "It's okay..."
"I'll go get the hammer."
"Um."
Watching Li Xing disappear at the entrance of the tent, Tao Yiran took a few deep breaths, patted away a "strange flower" that popped out from the collar of her skirt, and tried to touch her chin. As a result, the waving movement was too big, and her body became unbalanced and uncontrollably. Float to one side.
When she fluttered with her hands and feet and finally stood upright again, she found that she had floated to the middle of the road.
At this moment, there are many people walking between different tents on the road. It can be seen that not everyone wants to appreciate art, and there are also many tourists who simply come to "consume".
Tao Yiran tried hard to maintain his balance, waiting for Li Xing to come out to "rescue" him.
Sudden.
She noticed a familiar figure appearing in the crowd in the distance.
That old man!
She knew the hand-backed, torn robe, and the one that turned into ashes.
This time I will catch you no matter what!
The next second, Tao Yiran assumed the "immortal guiding the way" posture and stepped hard on the ground!
The "flying" she imagined did not appear. She could only drift forward at a snail-like speed, watching helplessly as the old man walked further and further away and was about to disappear again.
When she was about to collapse, a man suddenly stood in front of her, with a soft voice: "Tao Yiran."
It turned out to be...
"Li..." Tao Yiran hurriedly braked, "Li Liangxian...sister...father...Mr."
She had no idea what she was talking about.
Li Liang smiled and shook his fingers.
The magical effect of the "Air Scale Cloak" disappeared immediately. Tao Yiran finally landed on his feet, but he had no time to be happy, and he was in a state of confusion.
"Can you still see that old man now?" Li Liang asked softly.
Tao Yiran was stunned for a moment, tilted his head instinctively, looked past Li Liang and looked behind him, and found that the old man was still walking forward unhurriedly.
"Uh...yes."
"Okay, next, I need your help," Li Liang's expression became solemn.
"Huh? Well, okay."
"When I say start later, you immediately point out the old man's position with your hand and stare at him. No matter what changes happen to me, don't look away. Do you understand?"
"Uh, I understand." Tao Yiran swallowed and nervously wanted to go to the toilet.
"When I leave, forget about that old man and what happened to me. Don't tell anyone, including your family and friends, including Li Xing, Iron Hammer, Dou Ming and Cain."
Tao Yiran asked subconsciously: "Why?"
"I don't have time to explain, promise me."
Tao Yiran tilted his head again and looked into the distance. The old man was about to turn into a tent.
Withdrawing her gaze, she said seriously: "You must catch him, I will keep it a secret."
"Okay," Li Liang smiled and quickly closed his eyes, "Let's get started."
next moment.
Tao Yiran raised his right hand and pointed directly in the direction of the old man, while staring intently at the disappearing figure.
In an instant, she noticed from the corner of her eye that more than a dozen eyes, large and small, appeared on Li Liang's forehead, each of them glaring with terrifying yellow eyes.
A low, horn-like sound sounded from all directions, but the tourists around him showed no reaction, as if they could not see the two people close to Chi Chi.
Tao Yiran felt that his heart was about to jump out of his throat, but he still remembered Li Liang's instructions and stared at the old man's back.
The moment the old man completely disappeared from sight, Li Liang in his peripheral vision took a step back and disappeared into nothingness.
She didn't come back to her senses until Li Xing's voice sounded beside her.
"Tao Yiran?"
She turned her head blankly and found that Cain had followed her out and was looking at her with a frown.
"What are you looking at?" Cain glanced at the direction where the old man disappeared.
"No, it's nothing... I'm, um, looking for the bathroom."
——————————
In the magical space of "Koko Wonders", the tents, tourists, sounds, and light have disappeared, leaving only the dark earth, a group of rapidly flying figures and a lingering old man.
"Lianmi!" Li Liang growled.
A figure that flickered in and out came first. When it moved, it made a sound like rolling thunder, but its voice was very childish: "Xiao Liangliang, I'm coming!"
"Child!"
Another little girl's voice sounded, full of excitement: "Nini! Dragon Curse!"
"Roar..." There was an angry roar, followed by a voice full of enthusiasm, "As you wish, my master."
Li Liang disappeared, and was replaced by a huge demon with a crown on his head, ferocious muscles, and more than a dozen eyes with slits on his forehead.
The demon raised his hand while running wildly, and a mottled and primitive spear appeared in his palm, and then he threw the spear suddenly.
In mid-air, countless triangular magic talismans emerged from the spear, and endless magic spells overlapped into a long chant: "Shout..."
The spear grazed the old man's shoulder and sank into the ground. Only a small section remained, trembling endlessly.
moment.
Li Liang returned to normal, walked out of the darkness, and said softly: "Your Majesty."
"Well," the old man looked at the spear beside him with "interest" and said in a confused tone, "You are Li Liang, not Li Liang. Who are you? I seem to hear the voices of Titan and Nidhogg, eh , you smell like the Lord of the Void, well, there is also a created heavenly spirit nearby..."
"Ha, I'm here, Your Majesty," Cain jumped out from the other side, put his hands on his hips and raised his chin at Li Liang, "What I said is right, when I met Tao Yiran, I felt She has a problem..."
"Oh, the kid with the Titan mark is called Tao Yiran," the old man smacked his lips, "I said, everyone, I'm a little hungry. Seriously, don't waste my time. Where did you hide the Dao sword? ?”
"Your Majesty, you can't take away the Dao Sword," Li Liang sighed, "at least not now."
The old man was stunned for a moment, his expression suddenly changed, and he said hoarsely: "I..."
The spear that penetrated into the earth rose several meters in an instant.
Li Liang formed a seal with his hands, and the shadow of a towering mountain peak appeared behind him.
Boom!
The mountain peak shook, and the old man shook his head and became "interested" again: "Hey? What kind of Taoist technique is this? It's interesting. Can you teach me?"
"This is the technique you taught me."
"You lied to me, how could I know this kind of Taoist skill?" The old man thought for a moment and made an identical seal with his hands. "Look, I don't know how to do it."
"Your Majesty..." Li Liang looked sad.
"Oh," the old man smiled, and the wrinkles on his face relaxed, "am I already dead?"
"The Lord of the Void deceived Yuanshi and Hunyuan," Cain lowered his head, "Old Emperor, you are just the shadow of Aqilu now."
——————————
The "New Year's Eve Dinner" is finally over.
Under the World Tree, countless swaying candlelights floated in the air, like a flowing river of fire, passing through the twinkling stars.
In a patrol boat parked on the shore, Tao Yiran looked at this extremely magnificent scene through the porthole glass, and the even breathing of Pear Star and Iron Hammer echoed in his ears.
Because of Cain's relationship, they came here directly from Kokochi Temple to "keep up the New Year's Eve".
Although the "Spring Festival" has become less and less important in Xiacheng District, she still likes this festival and always feels that it is more meaningful than the "End of the Show". This is the first time in more than ten years that she has not spent New Year's Eve at home.
According to Li Xing, the "Spring Festival" in Shangcheng District is very grand, and people will party all night long, but this guy sleeps as soundly as a hammer now, leaving her alone to "keep up the New Year's Eve".
On the platform not far away, Mr. Li Liang and Cain were accompanying the main members of each delegation to watch the ceremony. She could occasionally see Li Liang looking around and laughing from the crowd.
For some reason, she always felt that Li Liang at this moment was a little different from the Li Liang she met in Keke Wonders.
