Crown of Silence

The secret room of the Black Octopus Tavern late last night.

The house was filled with smoke, the smoke was rising from the pipe, and the ghost hand was waiting quietly.

In the silence, someone pushed open the door and entered. The visitor took off his cloak, revealing a long robe from the East. He looked very old, and his hair was a mottled gray somewhere between black and white. It moves silently, like a dead ghost.

"Lost again?"

Mr. Chang sat opposite him: "To be honest, I am very disappointed with your work attitude."

"There is no way, this is Avalon City, you always have to be a little cautious when doing things." Guishou shook his head and restrained his anger.

Mr. Chang's expression was indifferent: "Mr. Ghost Hands, before Yunlou is usurped by the rebel thief, if we want to find someone, he will be sent to us. If what I want is his head , what is sent is his head, if what we want is his hand, what is sent is his hand. Anyone who moves a little slowly will have his eyes gouged out. If anyone dares to harbor him, he and his family will also. Pay for your mistakes.”

"But this is Avalon, and it's not what it used to be. It took me a lot of effort just to hide you guys!"

Guishou frowned: "Mr. Shaman doesn't want to cause too much trouble. You don't want this matter to be noticed by the royal family, right?"

"It's been almost four days."

Mr. Chang said quietly: "Mr. Guishou, we can't wait too long."

"Mr. Chang, I said, I need time."

"I already gave it to you. Didn't I?"

Mr. Chang stood up and disappeared like a ghost under the lamp filled with white smoke.

In the silence, Ghost Hand leaned on the chair, smoking and washing the pipe, and the meerschaum pipe broke between his teeth.

"There's going to be chaos in Avalon because of these two oriental kids."

He spit out the residue in his mouth and crushed the pipe into pieces in his palm.

"—and that damn dog."

-

"Let's go back."

In the carriage outside the tavern, Chang Lao, who had not moved from beginning to end, silently opened his eyes.

The carriage drove silently, and the entourage who had just received the news presented a bamboo slip with cryptic text.

Chang Lao stretched out his finger and swept it from top to bottom, his brows gradually furrowed. As the fingers flicked it, it gradually withered and broke, turning into dust.

"You mean, the shaman is still looking for another oriental child?" he asked.

"Yes, he also has white hair and is carrying a dog. Someone saw that child with the fugitive we are looking for. I don't know who put him on the wanted list. The shaman still pays more attention to him than our fugitive. above."

Chang Lao frowned: "What are the shaman looking for?"

"It seems to be about a box or something. It doesn't matter whether you live or die, as long as the box is there. No matter how much you ask, you won't be able to find out anything else."

"In the country of the barbarians, the rules are really chaotic."

Chang Lao snorted coldly: "These Yi people have small calculations in their hearts. Although the shaman has credibility, after all, he is not of my race and cannot be relied on."

The entourage asked: "What does father-in-law mean, that we find someone else?"

"Anyway, there are plenty of people in Avalon who can help us find them."

Chang Lao thought for a moment,

Suddenly asked: "Is there any movement among the group of usurpers who now control Yunlou?"

"They handed over their credentials and are about to enter the city."

"Hmph, Yunlou Qingshu, that wolfish and ambitious man, not only usurped Yunlou City, but also wanted to unite the Yi people and seek self-reliance. He has no king and no father! Princess? Who can be deceived by a fake!"

Chang Lao snorted coldly, "Go on, don't betray the prince's trust and bring that little girl back! One day, when the prince returns to Yunlou, drives out the traitor Yunlou Qingshu, and rewards you for your merits, you will be indispensable. A portion!”

"Yes, father-in-law!"

The attendant hesitated for a moment and looked confused: "It's just that I don't understand something."

"Um?"

"Why did my father-in-law bother to work hard for a little girl with dragon blood?"

Chang Lao was silent.

For a long time, he raised his palm, then put it down, and finally sighed softly: "You have been with me for so many years, and today I will teach you a lesson that always stays with you.

He glanced at his subordinate who had just walked past death, his eyes filled with the gloomy and moist aura of rotten wood: "——Only by following the rules and staying within the realm of danger can you live a long life.

The more you want to know, the faster you die. Do you understand what I mean? "

"Ming, understand." The subordinate was sweating like rain.

"Then go ahead."

Eunuch Chang closed his eyes and rested his mind: "Remember, you have to bring it all back with you tail and tail. Not a single hair is allowed to fall out."

"Subordinate, I understand."

-

-

From that day on, Bai Xi never spoke to Ye Qingxuan again.

Although she is indeed a bit more honest, most of the time she probably just doesn't want to pay attention to others. After finishing his work every day, he would sit quietly in the corner.

When she was silent, she looked at the dust in front of her, but her eyes seemed to penetrate the dust and fall somewhere else.

Only Lao Fei could 'talk' to her, but Lao Fei couldn't speak when he came, and she couldn't say anything to a dog when she came. But sometimes when Lao Fei fell asleep next to her, she would reach out and touch Lao Fei's long hair carefully and seriously.

Lao Fei is really a dog that everyone loves. Although he is ugly, he is much more popular than Ye Qingxuan.

There is no way, the troubles of this world are like this. It takes countless reasons to hate a person, but you don’t need any excuses to like a dog.

Moreover, in most cases, dogs are much better than people: as long as you treat it well, it will not harm you.

But Ye Qingxuan feels that this is not a solution... and Lao Fei is my dog! Why do you touch it? I have to touch it when it is happy!

After writing the last ‘0’ on the account book, he raised his head and sighed helplessly.

Beside him, Seton remained silent. This monster-like uncle has been sitting cross-legged behind the counter, stumbling and reading the fairy tale, turning it over and over again.

Hearing his sigh, Seton raised his head and suddenly said: "The boss sent a letter from another place yesterday, asking about you."

"Does he know me?" Ye Qingxuan was stunned.

"Although he is a psychopath, he is always well-informed." Seton said in a rude tone: "He wishes you good luck in your entrance exam and said he would bring you a gift."

"Really?"

"It's better not to expect too much. That guy's personality and gifts are so bad that they are beyond imagination."

Seton's face turned black: "The last time he went out, he brought me a huge donkey head mask that can be put on my head. There was blood on it..." He paused, and his expression became even uglier: "I hate donkeys."

"Is it really okay that the relationship between the boss and the employees is so bad?"

"If that guy can die in the gutter, it will be a good thing for the whole world."

After Seton finished speaking, he closed the book angrily, took out a handful of money from the drawer, and went out to drink. He didn't even close the cash box, which really fits his simple personality.

Ye Qingxuan looked at the golden light reflected from the crack of the cabinet, swallowed his saliva, and then closed his eyes and closed it tightly.

There is really a lot of money...

"Huh." There seemed to be a sneer in the corner. But when Ye Qingxuan looked up, Bai Xi was still silent.

He sighed.

Bai Xi squatted in the corner behind the window, on the chair she occupied, with the counter as the boundary, clearly separating her from Ye Qingxuan. It was as if they had agreed to ignore each other.

The hot afternoon sun was blocked by the huge clock, hiding her in a dark corner. Occasionally, the flying shining dust fell on her hands, reflecting her silent eyes, making people feel pitiful.

Ye Qingxuan's hand touched the crystal ball, and he sighed and lowered his head again:

You pity her, who will pity you?

-

Four days, if you count the night, it's four days and five nights.

Three runes, all the standard syllables have been memorized by heart, and they are fluent, but I just can't pronounce them. In almost no less than 100,000 times of practice... there was no resonance with the ether!

Even Ye Qingxuan began to despair:

——Has he been cursed by the ether?

Even if other people have poor qualifications, after practicing 100,000 times, they can at least increase their success rate by one percent, right?

But Ye Qingxuan is still zero, a despairing zero. No matter how many times he practices, no matter what runes he changes, it is still zero.

It is easy to go from 1 to 2, as long as you work hard to add, but how to go from 0 to 1? Ye Qingxuan doesn't know.

No matter how hard he tries, things that don't exist still don't exist. A tall building rises from the ground, but where is his own ground?

He stared at the ether ball in his hand silently, at a loss, and gradually became depressed.

In the silent shop, there was only the rhythm of countless ticking sounds overlapping, monotonous and persistent, constantly jumping from this second to the next second, and then ringing again.

In the afternoon sun, he couldn't help yawning, feeling very sleepy. When rubbing the string ring on his fingertips, he would question whether all he did was meaningful?

The ring made of silver strings silently refracted the sunlight, flashing light.

"Musician."

He sighed softly, closed his eyes, and felt the wind blowing from afar.

But soon, he realized that this was in the store.

The door was closed, where did the wind come from?

I don't know when it started.

Everything was silent.

-

He opened his eyes and saw the counter in front of him silently turned into dust under the wind.

In an instant, thousands of years passed, the window was broken, and the glass was shattered into powder under the destruction of time. The wooden furniture was decaying rapidly, and the cracks expanded and cracked on the wall, allowing the hot and lonely sunlight to fall from the cracks and shine on his face.

He wanted to jump up in fear, but he felt that his body was pressed on the chair and couldn't move.

The familiar world seemed to be moving away from him at a rapid speed, and all the familiar people and voices could no longer be heard. Lao Fei disappeared, Seton disappeared, and Bai Xi disappeared.

Only the lonely self was left in this lonely house.

He sat on a chair, staring at the rapid decay and decay of everything. Weeds grew out of the cracks in the floor, and vines climbed up the walls. The hustle and bustle of traffic outside gradually disappeared, and the street scene became broken and lonely.

The whole world was silent, and Ye Qingxuan could only hear the "tick-tock" sound surrounding his ears.

In the sky, the blue moon, representing an ominous sign, hung high!