Lord of Mysteries: Yao Guang

The flute sounded long, and the smoke-filled locomotive drove out of the station, carrying passengers to the east.

Esther carried the suitcase and sat in a window seat in the second-class carriage. It was still thirteen hours' drive before arriving in Tillis.

Thanks to the identity certificate Thomas gave her, she doesn't have to waste more gold coins and time on carriages. Intis's carriage industry has almost been squeezed out by steam trains, except that no identity certificate is required, that kind of "old times" There are no advantages to this mode of travel.

Aaron finally gave Esther a small crystal ball. Thomas laughed at Aaron for a while seeing how painful his heart was. Fortunately, Esther still had room to put the gift in her suitcase.

What Alexander gave Esther was a book, a diary of a Loen poet's observations of falcons, which surprised Esther.

"I think you'll like it," Alexander said.

At this moment, Esther is sitting on the seat that is slightly swaying with the car. She now wears a pair of fingerless leather gloves when going out, covering the patterns on the palms and backs of her hands. What is spread out in her palms is this gift book, "Youth". Falcon》*:

"I have always longed to be a part of the external world, to go to the outermost place, to stand on the edge of everything, and let my human filth be washed away in the void and silence..."

Her eyes wandered between the lines, and she quickly became immersed in this not-heavy narrative.

But Esther's quiet reading time did not last long. A man with golden hair came over and coughed twice.

"Can I sit here, please?" he asked, pointing to the empty seat next to Esther.

Esther raised her head. The man's blond hair had grown slightly past his shoulders. It was obvious that he had not taken care of it and was hanging messily on the back of his head.

He wore a long black windbreaker with a high collar, and most of his face was bandaged, with only one left eye exposed. He had a beard on his chin, which made his appearance more vicissitudes of life than his voice.

The corners of his mouth curved, and his amber eyes were very bright, swirling on Esther's face with interest, and then landed on the book in her hand.

Esther did not open her mouth to agree to him, but remained silent. Facing this person, she felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity, which made Esther feel a little wary.

The man, who was no more than a teenager, smiled even deeper and sat down on the empty seat next to her very calmly:

"Then I'll take it as your acquiescence. Have we met somewhere, beautiful lady?"

Esther shook her head and responded with a gentle smile: "I am not from Intis. I'm afraid there is no such possibility."

The young man also imitated her movements and shook his head, with exactly the same amplitude: "So that's it, I guess you are from Loen."

Esther showed the name of the book in her hand: "Did you recognize it from this book?"

"Of course, this prose book has good reviews in Loen. There is a passage in it that I like very much." The young man looked at Esther intently, as if observing every subtle change in her facial expression.

This look made Esther feel more familiar. She was still calm on the surface: "Which paragraph is it?"

The young man talked and seemed to be quite familiar with this book:

“All birds feed on living flesh at some stage in their lives. Think of the song thrush, a carnivore hopping briskly through the grass, an assassin of worms, a killer of snails. We should not I only sympathize with their singing and forget that what sustains this singing is killing.”

Esther pinched the corner of the page, and her hand that was about to turn the page suddenly froze.

She turned her head in disbelief and looked at the young man's right eye covered by a white bandage. She was stunned for two seconds before slowly standing up: "Sorry, I need to go to the bathroom. Do you mind making way?"

"I mind, because you don't need it." The young man blinked. His curious expression was like a bystander watching a human show, such as the kind of crow that would land on a street lamp.

"I do know you." Esther's hand fell on the "Logan's Claw" hidden on her lower back.

"That depends on who you're talking about, Luna."

The name Esther is only used in one place.

The memory went back and became clear in an instant. Esther immediately recognized who the body of the man in front of her was. Calvin Leples, the man who had interacted with her in the apartment on Lily of the Valley Street, and who had tracked her inexplicably. The "audience" should now be a Sequence Seven "psychiatrist".

His hollow right eye still has a scar from being scratched by a crow, so it's wrapped in a bandage.

What left Esther speechless the most was, why on earth did he appear here?

No, the more important thing is that the person using this body now...

"Aren't you in Backlund? Or overseas."

"Don't be so nervous. Galvin is originally from Intis, and you seem to remember this."

"I'm not talking about him, it's -" Esther swallowed the next words, her face gradually became confused, "You are not the true body. That's right, He will not appear in Intis so 'accidentally'. If it were the true body, He We have already taken action directly.”

"Gavin," or the clone Amon who occupies this body, looked back at her with a smile: "Of course not, I encountered a little trouble. But now that I can encounter the source of this little trouble, I also Very surprised."

Esther closed her eyes and instantly entered a state of perception that was out of the norm. After noticing the twisted fate of "Gavin", she observed carefully for a moment. The silver river that had been disturbed was like a cocoon. A worm of time.

Esther had corroded and absorbed Calvin's own destiny twice. Although it did not reach the level of destroying the spirit body, Esther did not expect that it would leave such consequences. Instead, it made this man who wanted to be deeply parasitic 's avatar is restricted.

Perhaps the power of those light spots had a wider impact than Esther imagined, which left a trace of doubt in her heart.

Esther opened her eyes again and looked at the unlucky Amon clone in front of her with amusement: "Why, have you been tricked by your dear head of the family?"

"The main body reminded me not to directly parasitize deeply, but staying in shallow parasitism for a long time is boring." "Gavin" said this confidently, "If you want to kill me like this, I won't resist, but the main body Maybe you'll notice something strange about me."

The smile at the corner of Esther's mouth disappeared immediately: "Let me guess, this is not credible. The reason you don't resist is because Galvin is in a bad state. It is easier to lose control if you attack me, which means 'you' will lose control together." "

This time, the smile on "Calvin's" mouth slowly disappeared: "Speculating and analyzing the truth through my tone and expression cannot be called 'guessing'. It is true that it is unbelievable. You have returned to 'Zoya' Already?"

Esther silently sat back on the chair, not obsessed with leaving here. The state of this Amon clone was not right, which meant that Esther had other opportunities.

What she is more worried about is the other people on this steam train. If they take action here, there is no guarantee what will happen if the other party loses control. When the carriage is derailed due to the fighting, it will attract the attention of Amon's body, that is A snowballing disaster.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Esther said.

She does not need to answer any questions from the other party unless she wants to mislead or pry out relevant information.

This can also be regarded as a unique way of communication between "thieves". When it is difficult to deceive each other, everyone can shut up together.

But "Gavin" didn't have the consciousness to shut up at all: "Why don't you look happy at all when you meet old friends in a different place? This is not appropriate. 'I' will feel very sad."

He deliberately added an accent when referring to himself. Esther heard the malice in it and shook her head indifferently:

"You are not Galvin, what is there to be sad about? And I heard that as clones, you are not supposed to remember 'Zoya'. Is this a new internal announcement within the family?"

"Gavin" pinched his right eye socket that was wrapped in a bandage. This action seemed to affect his injury. The corners of his mouth twitched upward: "Ha, you keep denying that you are 'Zoya', but you also deny us You know your action patterns so well, is this how you play the trickster? Deceive yourself?"

Esther weighed the book in her hand and considered a plan to use it to knock the opponent unconscious, but the weight of the book was not heavy enough: "I am not 'Zoya', and I didn't deliberately pretend to be anything. I don't need to and shouldn't." ."

Esther has realized that the method of ordinary extraordinary people digesting magic potions and adapting to extraordinary characteristics is not suitable for her. The more she leans towards the mentality of "stealer", the more her self-awareness is in danger of being shaken. The pain between her eyebrows recently It was getting more and more intense, which was one of the reasons why Esther didn't rush to "absorb" the monocle.

"You discovered it quite quickly. What a pity. I know someone in Trier has set up a bet. Guess how many months Zoya can hide. I made the bet in May. I hope you can live up to your expectations."

Esther squeezed the book harder and harder: "You are really boring..."

"If it's not me who meets you, there's probably no one else in the car. You should be happy."

"You can't parasitize others now, don't you deserve it?" Esther's expression was very sincere, as if she was hoping it wouldn't rain tomorrow, instead of teasing the other person's pain provocatively.

The clone beside him smiled brightly: "Of course I'm here to seek help. Is 'Zoya' here?"

"Don't use me as a microphone. I can't let you communicate with Him." Esther's expression was as rigid as a piece of wood when she spoke.

Now she would rather be just a piece of wood, then she wouldn't have the strong desire to attack and escape.

After "Gavin" thought for two seconds, he didn't know what he thought of: "How about we be honest with each other. You see, I came alone without notifying anyone else. This is enough to show my sincerity. "

Esther's smile was a little distorted: "Do I look stupid? Be honest with you?"

"yes."

Esther was not sure for a moment whether this Amon clone was agreeing with the previous sentence "very stupid" or the latter "frank". His answer was quite sincere.

There are still two hours until the steam train reaches the next station.

Esther snorted coldly: "Okay, you say it, but don't expect me to believe it."

* "Peregrine Falcon" by J.A. Baker, translated by Li Siben, the original text of the Black Song Thrush in the following text is European Song Thrush.