Lord of Mysteries: Yao Guang

When Benjamin left the station, he did not take a cab like Esther did.

He was in a good mood and thought it would be okay to walk a short distance on the street. However, this good mood was quickly ruined.

Benjamin sensed someone approaching, and it was clear that he was the target.

The ringing of the bell on the handlebar of the two-wheeled bicycle is crisp and clear, like the chirping of birds that cannot be idle, and it becomes clearer from far to near on the road. The rider was a young man wearing a plain shirt and dark trousers. His dark curly hair spread over his broad forehead, his cheeks were thin, and his dark eyes contained a vague smile.

He did not wear a monocle, but he did not restrain his unique sense of presence in front of Benjamin. The young man was also carrying a dark green shoulder bag. He didn't know what was contained in it. It was heavy and pressed a mark on the outside of his neat shirt.

"Ben, I noticed something interesting on the way here. Do you want to know what it is?" The black-haired young man quickly turned over and landed on the ground. He pushed his bicycle and walked leisurely beside Benjamin, maintaining the same speed.

In other words, their usual steps are exactly the same. From the amplitude to the frequency of their steps, the two people with completely different appearances give people the illusion of being on opposite sides of the mirror.

But passers-by would not cast their eyes on them. At the first sight of the young man, Benjamin had already deceived their sense of presence.

This is different from the effect of psychological invisibility. They still exist in the sight of others, but they will not attract much attention, only a vague impression remains.

Not hearing Benjamin's reply immediately, the young man rang the bell again in dissatisfaction: "That was something you were very interested in before. Why are you so absent-minded now? The task the body puts on you is so stressful?"

Benjamin adjusted his glasses frame: "No, I'm just not very interested."

"You didn't even ask what I noticed, and you just said that?" The young man pinched his empty eye sockets twice, "Ah, I understand, that's because you have already been in contact with it, that's why you seem so unconcerned."

"I still care about her. She is indeed a very interesting person."

The young man was slightly surprised and looked at Benjamin up and down: "It seems that even if it is promoted to sequence three, it cannot completely isolate its influence on the clone?"

"No, I just respect Esther's identity as a woman. This is her self-perception. At least we should be more polite, and you'd better be the same."

"Politeness is to conform to the expectations and etiquette standards of the outside world. I don't think it requires any 'politeness' to treat it. According to the ideas of some of us, it is at most just a fake who has taken over Zoya's incarnation."

Benjamin stopped smiling when he saw the young man: "You want to express your opinion."

"This is also true, at least that's what the ontology believes." The young man pushing the bicycle sighed, "I also want to remind you that it is not a good sign that self-perception deviates from ours. The previous examples are in each of our memories. It’s inside.”

"I thought you wanted me to be recycled by my true body." Benjamin chuckled, not caring about what the young man said.

The smile on the young man's face faded and turned serious: "Although I hate your sometimes too reserved behavior, I don't want you to leave. But this is also because I don't want to take on the tasks on you. Although I don't You know what it is, but it’s so troublesome to look at and you can’t even move freely with your appearance.”

Benjamin stopped: "What do you want to do if you are so frank today?"

The young man held the bicycle and stopped beside Benjamin, but one step ahead: "Collect intelligence."

Benjamin's mind turned quickly, and he settled on the guess that made him feel a chill behind him: "...it was an order from the main body."

The young man showed a very friendly smile again and tapped his temples in a funny way, as if he was accusing the other party of not being clear-headed: "What else? I have always had a bad feeling towards you, and you'd better not misunderstand the friendship between us. ."

"Then why doesn't He come in person?"

When hearing Benjamin's question, the young man's black pupils dilated slightly and his smile deepened: "He, haha... you actually use 'him'?"

Benjamin raised his right hand and pressed it on the lens in front of his right eye, but finally resisted the urge to take it off and put it back in his eye socket:

"Okay, I finally understand - gathering intelligence, making contact and monitoring, and even observing the changes and conditions of my 'test subject' to facilitate the ontology's analysis and decision-making, is this a set of processes, right?"

He changed the subtle names and tried to adjust his mentality, but simply sorting himself out in this way was far less professional than a certain being. Benjamin was not even sure whether it was effective.

The black-haired young man blinked his unsmiling eyes: "Yes, we will proceed according to the 'research' process, but this proposal came from a paranoid man. The main body just thought it made sense and accepted it."

"Then why doesn't He himself become the object of observation..." Benjamin sighed deeply, his eyes fell on the shiny new frame, and he raised his hand and patted the seat of the bicycle, "This The things look pretty good, let me borrow them for two days.”

The young man held the handle of the car tightly and rang the bell deliberately: "Impossible, this is a new one I bought. I brought it all the way from Backlund."

"You tell me that, I want to give it a try even more." Benjamin bent down, pointed his fingers on the chain, and then turned the pedal over. "It's a very clever transmission...really not working? I think it's very convenient." subsequent actions.”

"Absolutely not. If you want to defraud it, you should have a more reasonable excuse."

Benjamin observed the structure of the bicycle for a while. When he stood up again, his expression was serious: "It can effectively improve the efficiency of meeting and traveling with my target. Isn't this very convenient for getting closer?"

After the two met, for the first time, there was an expression other than a smile on the young man's face. Because of the strong dissatisfaction, the emotion in the young man's eyes became more humane: "Don't think about it, I have to step on it to deliver a message!"

The young man immediately jumped onto his brand new bicycle, pedaled quickly, and rushed straight to the end of the street without looking back, almost riding on the wind, leaving only a black back of his head for Benjamin.

Benjamin chuckled, but as he continued to walk forward, the expression on his face synchronized with the sky, becoming darker as time passed.

The other Amon clone received clear instructions. This was not only a direct message to Benjamin - "You have a problem, and we will keep an eye on you", but also a warning from the original body in disguise.

Benjamin took off his round glasses and hung them on his collar. The world outside the lenses was still clear, no different to the mythical creatures.

The dim gas lights illuminated the run marks left by the public carriages, and the shadows of the lampposts neatly cut the ground. The voices of passers-by mixed with the aroma of stew wafting from the houses, and as the night turned dark, Rich.

She seems to be very accustomed to the way ordinary people travel, including steam trains, carriages and walking... She really lives from the perspective of ordinary people.

Thinking of this, Benjamin grabbed the ball with his backhand and stole the distance.

He is too familiar with Pulitzer Harbor, having stayed here for hundreds of years. No matter how far he steals from any direction, he can accurately reach the house he currently owns.

He didn't expect to keep his encounter with Esther a secret for long, and he didn't even plan to hide it, but he had previously planned to report it to the main body, but when did it start to be shelved?

Benjamin lowered his eyes slightly, and a trace of fatigue came over him, which made him feel incredible.

Standing in front of a house inlaid with a ghost orchid totem, Benjamin shook his head slightly. Like other Amons, he also preferred his family's totem - irregularly distributed dials, covered with ordinary shadows. with black pointer.

Benjamin pushed the door open and calmed down his mixed emotions.

——

Esther and Rabbit found a hotel near the west. After settling the boy, Esther went to the address told to her by the "Hanged Man".

This is also a tavern, so Esther didn't bring the rabbit directly, but went out alone.

The name "Pelican Bar" was written on the huge wooden sign at the door, which did not make Esther go to the wrong place. Noisy shouts came from the door. She tightened her black cloak and pulled up the brim of her hat. Lower.

The moment she opened the front door of the pub, Esther saw the boxing ring facing the door, and many spectators surrounding it. As one of the contestants' uppercut missed, many people were shaking. He laughed with the wine glass in his hand.

Esther had to bypass the crowd before she could squeeze to the bar and told the bartender the secret code for joining: "Any recommendations today? Forget it, rye beer."

The bartender took a look at the lady wrapped in a cloak and tapped the counter twice: "South Wales, renzi, or wine?"

"Have a glass of half and half, Enmat beer and wine." Esther also raised her hand and tapped on the counter.

The bartender nodded: "Five pence."

Esther was stunned for two seconds, then smiled and looked for the coins in her bag: "I thought this was just a process."

"If it wasn't for the purpose of collecting money, I wouldn't have deliberately asked them to change the slogan to 'Half and Half.'" The bartender took the sixpence with the tip added, smiled and blew on it before putting it away, "If you can make money, why not earn?"

After quickly bringing Esther's order, the bartender pointed to the stairs in the corner: "On the second floor, the first room on the right, Jonas is in there. You don't need to knock on the door, just go in. If he If he is sleeping again, just wake him up."

"Thank you." Esther took a sip of the wine in the glass, tasted it, and then walked up the stairs with the glass in hand.

"Remember to tell him who recommended you here, so that he will complain about others instead of you." The bartender shrugged and gave an extra reminder because Esther gave him an extra penny.

Esther nodded thoughtfully. It seemed that the gentleman recommended by "The Hanged Man" was very angry when he got up. (End of chapter)