Gunfire, Punk and Necromancer

At 5:30 in the morning, Zhuang Xuteng was awakened by a nightmare, causing him to lose all sleep. So he got up, dug out the third to last portion of dehydrated sauced meat instant noodles, boiled some hot water and made a bowl of it for Zhuang Feifei's breakfast.

He moved a piece of dehydrated instant food and hid it, pretending that it had been used by himself, so that Zhuang Feifei could rest assured. Regardless of whether the sister inside is awake or not, Zhuang Xuteng will still do the whole show. He waited for ten minutes, cleaned the empty bowl, pretended to have eaten, then changed his clothes and went out.

Start walking at this time, just in time to catch the shuttle bus from Hongyue Commercial. These buses travel around the city, going around and around, collecting customers for the mall. Zhuang Xuteng, who set off early, had no money left, but he had plenty of time. He wasn't worried about the car's trajectory, he wouldn't be late anyway. During this time, he could close his eyes and rest his mind for a while.

He didn't dare to take a nap because he didn't know if a thief would get in the car. Hungry is one factor, and another problem is nightmares.

There is a saying: Dreams are the cry of the spirit and soul, and are a mirror for examining oneself. If we push it back to 2000 years ago, before the gods ascended and left, nightmares were often regarded as warnings from the gods, and it was necessary to find temple priests for divination and analysis. Even if there are no gods now, the custom of attaching importance to dreams still continues.

Nightmares are lingering, but Zhuang Xuteng has very good observation and memory. He sees more and remembers more clearly than others.

In the dream, he was tortured by life and death. First, he watched his relatives die miserably in front of him one by one, unable to save him; finally, death came to him, and he died slowly and slowly. He thought that his final death was actually a reward for relief, but he did not expect that he would be resurrected and continue to suffer endless sorrow alone.

In the dream, he clearly knew that it was a dream, but the feeling was too strong, and he was 100% immersed in it, wandering in the endless whirlpool of sorrow and regret, ups and downs, unable to break free. He was trapped in the dream, as if he had been there for years. In this process, he was both a bystander and an eyewitness. The first-person and third-person perspectives were repeatedly changing and gradually merging, ultimately accumulating a huge mental burden on him. He had a splitting headache, and then he was thrown out of the dream.

He woke up covered in sweat and not feeling well emotionally and physically. However, a dream is still a dream, and will be completely defeated by the reality of waking up, so its mental and physical effects quickly subside. Just like when the tide recedes to reveal the beach, Zhuang Xuteng can recall many details in his dream.

He has always been very good at observation and can find the details that need attention while grasping the overall vision. Parents and teachers say that he has a strong memory for graphics and pictures, which is worth cultivating and exercising - and he has indeed exercised well.

He has become accustomed to observing his surroundings through his eyes at all times, always looking for details worthy of attention. For those important contents, he can also deepen the impression by repeatedly recalling them, making the memory more lasting. To this day, he can recall every illustration in the textbook, and he can never forget the appearance of any of his classmates. This can be said to be a rare talent. But his talent came with a major flaw: when it came to words, things would go wrong inexplicably.

After examination, his parents also admitted that Zhuang Xuteng's memory talent had serious flaws.

It is perfectly fine to memorize a certain page of the textbook as a whole pattern, but as long as Zhuang Xuteng re-opens the page of patterns in his mind and reads the words inside, he will find that they are not consistent with reality. There is nothing wrong with his observation, but the words stored together with the image memory will be tampered with by the brain and turned into something else that is coherent but has nothing to do with it.

At the same time, his ability to recite pure text content is far inferior to that of his peers.

Zhuang Xuteng's poor academic performance was largely caused by this strange effect. He can easily get full marks when looking at pictures to find faults, but he will fail when reciting textbook content. He really wanted to be a detective, but his grades didn't allow it.

Although this kind of observation has some flaws, it can still produce excellent results in the right field. Observing environmental information can make him safer, and being more sensitive to words and expressions can help him make friends better. And recalling the details of the dream was no problem for him.

"In the dream, I was in a large hall, firmly fixed in a dilapidated stone seat. Outside the hall was shrouded in black mist, and nothing could be seen clearly; inside the hall were 72 black stone pillars with strange patterns on them, and the ground was covered with corpses and bubbles. In a foot-deep pool of blood. The body closest to me and the clearest was Feifei. She was lying on her back, making no sound. Other corpses were scattered and piled up, and their faces could not be seen clearly. But from the feeling inside Said, I think they are elder brother, parents, teachers, classmates and some relatives and friends far and near. There is always the wind howling and ghosts crying in the hall..."

He couldn't bear to see his sister's face when she died tragically, so he focused his eyes on the pillar. The graphics there were complex and non-repetitive, beautiful and full of meaning, and he "felt" in his dream that he was very familiar with those graphics. He tried to capture this feeling and carefully recall graphic details, but he immediately felt mentally exhausted and began to bleed from his nose.

This has never happened before when he tried to recall the details! He felt vaguely that something was wrong, so he quickly retracted his attention and blocked his nostrils with a handkerchief. At this time, he felt heat on his back, and the heating point was near his heart, and he immediately thought of Ying Cong.

"So that's it! This dream is most likely the influence of 'that thing'!" Zhuang Xuteng frowned and immediately found a lot of evidence: "If it was my own dream, I wouldn't be unable to remember the faces of my relatives. And the shadow It only knows the appearance of Zhuang Feifei, but it has never met its parents and eldest brother! In the dream, only Zhuang Feifei has a face, and the other faces cannot be seen, but there are strong feelings. Yes, the dream is definitely caused by Ying Cong! "

As we all know, untamed shadow followers can make people go crazy, and most of them are affected emotionally, which then feeds back to the body, destroying each other in a vicious cycle, until they finally collapse and die.

"Before you sell your movie, you must not be killed by it!" Zhuang Xuteng thought about it for a while and came up with a way, or a key point: "I must distinguish between dreams and reality, and I must be honest with myself. I must have a clear understanding of my state, and I must not easily leave my knowledge and vigilance to Ying Cong. I have to pay special attention to the details and distinguish what is my reality and what is Ying Cong’s illusion.”

Zhuang Xuteng didn't know whether this method would work, but it was the best solution he could think of at the moment.

"You want to use nightmares to influence me, and I have to learn about you from nightmares!" Zhuang Xuteng smiled slightly, put his hand around his shoulders, and patted his back. "Pink Skeleton, as long as you try to influence me, you will inevitably expose some information. Dreams, for me, dreams can be as clear as reality. I will definitely be able to find your weaknesses and find a way to subdue you."

There were waves of burning sensation coming from behind, which Zhuang Xuteng regarded as a sign of Ying Cong's stubbornness, guilty conscience and continued struggle, which made him even more convinced that his judgment was correct. At this time, the bus stopped at Hongyue Square. After getting off the bus, Zhuang Xuteng found a place to sit next to the statue, and then focused on "examining" the information revealed by Ying Cong in his dream.

The patterns of the 72 stone pillars are different. Each group of patterns is composed of hundreds of patterns and images, with different colors. Zhuang Xuteng tried to extract as much content as possible from his memory, but once he tried, his memory would become blurry, and his head would immediately hurt.

He had encountered this situation before, and he didn't panic at all. He is always observing, and a large number of new memories are generated every day, and he cannot remember them all. As a self-protection mechanism, the brain sets a "shelf life" for his image memory. Only those photographic memories that are constantly consolidated can be preserved, and other memories will quickly become blurred over time until they fade away normally.

Every time you try to restore the details, you are actually strengthening this memory, and it should become more and more clear. It stands to reason that the memory that was created just this morning should be full of details without strengthening it, but he always felt that the stone pillar pattern seemed to have been stored in his memory for a long time. The pattern is clearly right in front of you, clearly visible from a distance, but you can't take a closer look.

It's as if he is highly myopic. When he is far away from the pillar, he wears glasses and looks good. But once he wants to get closer, the glasses are taken off and it immediately becomes very blurry.

"Huh, do you think I'll give up like this? If it doesn't work once, I'll do it several times. I'll trace it slowly and strengthen the impression from a distance first!" Zhuang Xuteng shook his head and tried again. "I will find your weakness first, Pink Skull!"

The "fight" between him and Ying Cong all happened in his mind. In the eyes of others, he was a weirdo who kept winking, gnashing his teeth, and competing with himself. People going to and from Hongyue Commercial Plaza would walk around him cautiously, fearing that he was actually a dangerous person who was about to be driven crazy by Ying Cong.

"What are you doing here?" A familiar voice and a huge shadow enveloped Zhuang Xuteng. This is exactly the image style of Ge Gongdao. "Haha, are you practicing your lines in your head?"

"Brother Dao!" Zhuang Xuteng quickly stood up and glanced at the clock at the door of the commercial building. "You came early too!"

"Aren't you the same?" Ge Gongdao waved his hand and asked Zhuang Xuteng to follow him. As he walked, he asked, "Hey, what lines have you thought about?"

"Line? What does the line mean?"

"It's just the kind of words that are quite embarrassing. For example: I am your god of death, unless you pay tribute!"

"I'm not thinking about this." Zhuang Xuteng rubbed his face. No wonder passers-by behave like that. It seems that I need to pay attention to control it. Then, he had an idea and asked: "Brother Dao, what lines did you think of when you first became a mercenary?"

Ge Gongdao's face turned red, his eyes wandered and he immediately avoided the topic. "Zhuang Xuteng, do you remember what you should pay attention to when meeting a middleman?"

"Come on, I'll shut up, keep my ears open, and protect your back."

"Indeed, the most important thing is to shut up and talk when I ask you to speak. I heard that today we are not only registering but also receiving tasks. In other words, we can get a deposit right away." Ge Gongdao laughed. , asked: "What should you say at this time?"

Zhuang Xuteng was about to open his mouth when he suddenly reacted. He pointed to his mouth, then pointed to Ge Gongdao, and made a "please" gesture.

"With this kind of vigilance, you are very suitable for being a mercenary. But don't be so nervous. You only need to talk less when you need to do the task and meet the middleman. There is no need to be restrained when it is just the two of us. Don't forget, we are splitting the account in half. partner."

"Okay, partner." Zhuang Xuteng said.

"Our middleman, Lucy, lives at 76 Punk Street. You will definitely notice her figure, which is indeed very attractive, but she doesn't like to be stared at. You can only look at it twice before you have to look away. Otherwise, she will lose her temper and look down upon you, thinking that you lack self-control." Ge Gongdao said: "I have taken over six tasks from Lucy, and the cooperation is very pleasant. She prefers jobs without much risk. Although this kind of work doesn’t make much money, it’s suitable for newbies.”

"Brother Dao, if you take me on a mission like this, won't it hinder your ability to make money?"

"It has an impact, so you have to grow up quickly!" Ge Gongdao waved his hand and said: "There are very few opportunities for big actions. You need to wait for the opportunity, and you need to be prepared at all times. Once you find an opportunity, you must take it. Grab it and go all out!”

"Okay, I'll try my best."

"You can definitely do it! No problem." Ge Gongdao patted Zhuang Xuteng on the shoulder and said, "Although you can register with any middleman, I think Lucy is more reassuring. And she has more comprehensive things here. It can test your abilities and expertise. When an intermediary is looking for mercenaries, they first look at reputation, secondly, ability, and thirdly, cost. Reputation is the most important, but ability is related to cost, so you can't be careless at all."

"Brother Dao, I haven't made any preparations!"

"Don't worry, you can always find an intermediary to test your ability and then register. Ability is important, but the most important thing is the opportunity! Don't let it go if you have the opportunity!"

Along the way, Ge Gongdao introduced the precautions for novice mercenaries, and soon arrived under Building 76. This is an old-fashioned apartment building in a black and yellow style. It is at least 30 years old and looks shabby due to lack of maintenance. It has no gate, and a few homeless people have camped beside the entrance, leaving only one-third of its width for people entering and exiting.

The homeless debris piled up into a small mountain, mostly cardboard, carts, tarps and the like. In the corner of the "hill", the notice board of the apartment is still stubbornly functioning, with advertisements layered on top. Ge Gongdao went over to check, and then said confidently: "She is on the fourth floor."

"Room 420, right?"

"That's right. You can really see it." Ge Gongdao smiled. He knew that with Zhuang Xuteng's keen observation, he would be able to notice the yellow moon on the bulletin board and the arrow pointing to the number 420 next to it.

PS: Double updates at 12:00 and 18:00 every day, with additional updates from time to time to give back to book friends. Thank you for your favorites and recommendations!