The sun is high

It was a bit abstract to stay up most of the night and compete with a raven that didn't seem right, but seemed to be just being mean.

Seeing that the other party had no intention of leaving for a while, Xiuge didn't bother to pay attention. He forcibly took away the newspapers and documents that were trampled under the feet of the raven, and continued to read by the light of the desk lamp. During this period, he saw Nadu Crow really didn't drink the tea, so he simply took the tea cup back and drank it all in two gulps in front of the other party.

This series of actions made the blue raven in the room a little sluggish. It barked twice in protest, but Shuge directly plugged his ears with magic, completely blocking out the noise.

Xiuge has his own method on how to get into work quickly.

After quickly reading two current commentary articles, he took out his notebook and a brand new magic ink pen from the desktop, and began to record these important news. When he wrote, his spirit became clear. Concentrated at an extremely fast speed.

Before long, he was completely immersed in reading and writing.

The magical ritual used to warm the room began to work again, and soon warmth filled the entire room.

For a while, there were only the sounds of sporadic snowflakes hitting the window, and the sound of the pen tip rubbing against the paper.

Augustin Sophia was a little confused now.

As the recognized princess of the Walter Kingdom and the best student of Ernst, she has always had the power to pass through the Ernst Manor at will. However, these days, because there are too many people who need to be directly in the Leyland District She naturally moved into the Ernst Manor to handle important matters.

Here, there are two villas specially prepared for the Walter royal family to deal with certain special situations.

She often has the greatest freedom when moving around Ernst Manor. Here, she does not need to be followed by guards, bodyguards or royal butler Finn, but can freely use her transformation magic like a real bird. Also flying in the sky and shuttle wantonly.

This is the unique talent of the Walter royal family in magic.

This is also the reason why members of the royal family like to call themselves "heirs of the sky."

Princess Sophia, who had been busy all day, was certainly tired. However, when she was about to arrive at her residence, she was surprised to find that in this late night, there were still rooms with lights on in the villa area, and the resident seemed familiar. …

On a whim, she landed on the window sill of this room, and then jumped directly into the bedroom with the idea of ​​​​testing.

Then there was everything that just happened.

Sophia was sure that she had covered up the magical aura on her body this time, and she tried her best to disguise herself as a real blue raven - she wanted to see if Shuge had really been aware of her existence before, But she never expected that Xiuge's attitude towards animals would be so...

She really couldn't find the right adjective.

His attitude towards a raven that rashly broke into the bedroom and was unwilling to leave easily was indeed very friendly... but this was simply the friendliness of a human when facing animals or even pets!

This kind of strange treatment was the first time for Sophia.

Sophia has always been a person who places great emphasis on logic. She believes that this is the key to her ability to stand out from the royal struggle.

But now that she had managed to get a full set of treatment from Sugar Ernst as a raven that would have been reserved for a real raven, she was a bit confused as to what to do.

Fortunately, Sophia is equally good at endurance and adaptability.

She quickly adapted to the current scene, and combed her feathers under the light like a raven that was really used to humans, and then wandered around the bedroom. It didn't take long for her to find I found a position that suited me very well.

So she flapped her wings and flew nimbly to the lampstand of the magic wall lamp near the desk. Here, she could observe Xiuge's movements from a high position, and she could also see his desk clearly, and stay away from Xiuge's sight.

She wanted to see if this guy was pretending, or if he really didn't realize anything was wrong with him.

…

Shuge was indeed pretending at first.

But when he used magic to block the sounds from the outside world and focused all his energy on the words in front of him, he began to ignore the existence of the raven.

Although he has always been able to slightly feel the gaze from above, he is not writing anything strange now, but is simply making some simple speculations and sorting out, so he does not feel uncomfortable because of the external gaze. comfortable.

In this state of complete concentration, the "identity" of the raven is no longer so important. Regardless of whether it is Princess Sophia or not, Shuge has no other choice now - he will pretend to be stupid. In the end it is the best solution.

He gently flipped through the latest newspaper and saw an article on a large page.

Like all newspapers in Vann, the Bolden Daily News also invites some scholars or critics to comment on important current events and publish them.

Generally speaking, critics who speak fiercely will be more popular with readers, because they tend to write their articles as plainly and understandably as possible so as to arouse public resonance and emotions, but those scholars are about If you write a manuscript, it is less likely to attract attention.

After all, the vast majority of people who read newspapers are more concerned about breaking news that may affect their lives, or they hope to kill time and have fun...

However, the Bolden Daily News was obviously more professional than other newspapers in this regard, because Shuge could see the author of this long article at a glance.

"Meyer?"

He read the name softly, then adjusted the lamp and placed the newspaper squarely in front of him.

This is the second time he has seen this pen name.

The last time he saw it, Shuge had only arrived in Vanen a few days ago. At that time, all he could think about was how to escape from Salem City. However, now, he was already in the most comfortable residence in Bolden. , the contrast before and after made him feel a little unreal.

"Okay, Meyer, let's see what you have to say this time."

Shuge poured a cup of tea again, and then he began to read carefully and carefully.

"Tick tock, tick tock..."

The hands of the magic clock beat with a gentle rhythm. The snow outside the window was getting heavier and heavier, and the cold impact on the window made the room feel even warmer.

Standing on the magic wall lamp stand, the raven carefully stretched its neck and quietly read the article about the current tensions and the inevitable war with the young man at the desk.

Finally, Xiuge put down the newspaper in his hand.

His mood fluctuated slightly because of this article, so he stood up from the chair and walked around the room several times. After his thoughts calmed down, he finally felt a little sleepy, so he lifted the pressure on himself The magic trick on his body raised his head and looked at the blue raven.

Probably because the room was too warm, the raven seemed to have fallen asleep, so Xiuge smiled helplessly. He cleaned up the desk and pushed the window slightly open, leaving a barely accessible path. He then turned off the desk lamp and got into the cold bed with complicated thoughts and sighs in his mind.

As for the visitor who was pretending to sleep on the lamp stand, he didn't plan to care about it.

The rest of the night's sleep was restful.

The vitality and abundant magic from the "Walking Forest" made Shuge's spiritual world more stable than ever before, and the article he read before going to bed, written by the scholar Meyer, was the source of his sleep. The dream took on some indescribable colors.

Those solid and profound words were swirling in his mind, like a group of white snow cranes flying slowly from his distant past. They flapped their wings gently, but what they swept up was the cold wind. As the strong wind blows by, the phantoms of the past are entangled with the reality of the present, regardless of each other.

In the cold winter, the sky always lights up a little late, so the sky in the early morning is often still dark, but a little light shines through the heavy black.

The blue raven that visited Shuge abruptly in the middle of the night had quietly left at some point.

The cold wind blew in through the cracks in the window, causing the newspaper articles pressed on the desk to scroll continuously, as if even the cold wind was reading these words.

"Everyone knew that the war was bound to begin."

"But today we are not here to discuss the possible course of the war - many excellent people have expressed their views on it before me... What we need to discuss is another topic that has not been paid attention to, which is that Why did this war happen? What is its essence? In this upcoming turmoil, how should we, as the 'majority' of mankind, deal with ourselves?"

In another villa not too far away from Xiuge's residence, Princess Sophia, who had changed into casual clothes, was sitting at the desk. She had a pair of dark circles under her eyes and held a cup in her hand that she had just brewed and was still smoking. A hot, refreshing drink.

In front of her, there was an expired newspaper with the same page and the same article.

She read the words softly.

"This war is destined to be different from any previous battle in Vann. If it really breaks out unfortunately, then I personally may call it a 'big war'... We generally believe that the occurrence of this war is related to the new war. It is related to the impact of technological changes on the old world rules... In my opinion, this is actually a continuation of a dynastic war that mixes competing interests, resource distribution, class conflicts and other factors at the same time - all the participants in the war , no matter what their identity is, it will inevitably lead to the plunder of resources and the division of the market."

"However, if that's the case, there is no need for me to write this article - I think that what I said above is actually what will happen to our Van En world at the current stage of development. It is certainly not beautiful, but It will definitely be difficult to reverse or change in the short term..."

"...At the end of the Gin Month that just passed, we all witnessed a terrible tragedy, and the disaster that occurred in the city of Salem revealed to us a situation that may have never existed in the past. The problem."

"Or, that's a potential crisis."

"We humans, as the largest ethnic group among Van En, should we be in awe of more potential dangerous existences in addition to contradictions and conflicts based on concepts such as nation and interests?"

…

The faint skylight shone on the walls of Salem City.

There is a suffocating smell in the air here.

The terrible impact caused by the abnormal movement of magic added new wounds to this tragic city. While the out-of-control magic destroyed the ceremonial ground that enveloped Salem City, it also successfully tore apart the ground of the city. A large number of buildings collapsed and were damaged, and the ancient brick and stone streets that had witnessed two hundred years of peace were now in disarray.

The sewers that were originally buried underground were directly exposed to the sky due to cracks in the ground. This made the city residents who were still struggling to survive no longer have the courage to even step out of their homes.

In the past few days, they have learned that there is a terrifying monster under the city that can eat living people in a weird and cruel manner.

It was not a beast, but some kind of intelligent being.

The spell casters in the Law Committee branch in Salem City have launched a pursuit and hunt for this monster more than once. Initially, there were still a large number of people willing to cooperate with their actions, but as the operations failed again and again, As more and more people became thugs due to the lack of daily necessities, the frequency of actions of these spellcasters also began to decrease significantly.

Now, they can only hide in the Legal Committee's residence and rely on the resources there to protect themselves.

For the residents of Salem City, the current city streets are no different from purgatory.

From unknown time on, they discovered that there would be some suspicious figures appearing on the streets - but they were not living people at all, but human figures one after another made of thick black pus, which was even more disturbing. What is frightening is that these humanoids seem to possess human instincts and consciousness.

They can talk, move, and even do some weird things.

For example, right now, on the street near Ernst's old house, there is a group of short black figures walking slowly along the street.

Of course there was nothing in their hands, but they kept shaking their arms in a serious manner. Along with these movements, vague sounds continued to come from the depths of these liquid masses.

"Newspaper! Newspaper!"

"The latest newspaper!"

"Mr. Writer... would you like a newspaper?"

They asked questions loudly to the empty and dilapidated streets.

…

Second update