Endless Debt

"Oh...who is she?"

"Maybe she was just a dream."

The woman sang softly and whispered in her ear.

"You chase vague daydreams until fire and thunder knock you down."

The voice gradually became harsh, like a high-pitched and sharp noise, and vaguely, she seemed to be hugging her face, and then all the noise disappeared, leaving only her deep and elegant words lingering.

"You fell in love with a ghost you have never known."

Irwin woke up with a start. His face was pale and stained with blood, and his eye sockets were deeply sunken and shining brightly.

He was like a resurrected corpse, his eyes wide open, and all the breath and vitality returned to this old body. Like a drowning man, he gasped hard, coughed painfully, and spat out a mouthful of blood.

It took Irwin a long time to get his disordered physiological system back to normal, and then he found himself slumped on the soft sofa, relaxing his body naturally, letting the pain and exhaustion wash over his will without reservation. .

Then came the memories.

The confused consciousness gradually recalled everything he had experienced before coma, and Irwin couldn't help but think of the man named Belphegor again.

Ever since he became curious about the extraordinary world, Irwin has been using various means to understand this world. To this end, he also deceived Nolen... Irwin felt that it was not a complete deception, at least the extraordinary world. The knowledge indeed brought a lot of inspiration to his writing, allowing him to write better stories.

Irwin knows that in addition to the Sublime People, there are things in this world that are far more dangerous than the Sublime People.

Such as the devil.

Irwin was a little confused. According to the previous injuries, he would definitely die in the hands of the devil, but suddenly all his injuries were healed. In Irwin's knowledge, there should be only so-called existences with such strange powers. of the devil.

Belphegor.

The name of the devil appeared in Irwin's mind, and Irwin broke into a cold sweat, then smiled with relief.

He could feel that he was still a human being and did not sacrifice his most precious soul to the devil. Until the end, Irwin still maintained the bottom line, and he was still the noble man.

Irwin tried to stand up from the sofa, but as soon as he was halfway up, he sat back uncontrollably, breathing heavily from exhaustion.

Then Irwin remembered his counterattack against the demons and took back his ticket while roaring...

ticket.

Irwin started to panic, and he opened the pocket close to his chest. When he touched the familiar texture of the tickets, Irwin's panic calmed down. Then he took out the tickets, and they were still clearly visible in the dimness.

All of my desires, fantasies, persistence, expectations... are all poured into this ticket.

"You know? Your expression now looks like a pervert."

A crisp voice sounded next to him. Irwin had heard this voice many times in the past few days, but this time there was a bit of fatigue in the voice that should have been full of energy.

Irwin looked in the direction of the sound. Cinderella was sitting under the sofa. She tilted her head and continued, "You should really see that stupid expression you just made. You looked like you were going to eat the ticket alive."

Cinderella didn't like the way Irwin looked at the ticket. He looked like a paranoid madman, no different from those demons.

Irwin put away the ticket, rubbed his eyes, and gradually saw his surroundings clearly. They were back in the room at the beginning, only this time they were all sitting in the living room.

Irwin asked, "Did you save me?"

"You're so heavy, it took me a lot of effort to drag you in."

Cinderella nodded. Her delicate little face was also gray at the moment, with many scratches and blood stains solidifying on her forehead.

The blast of air knocked the exhausted Irvin unconscious, and also hit the thin Cinderella with bruises all over her body. There was a long trail of blood on the ground, which looked shocking. It was left by Cinderella when she dragged Irvin.

As if there was an earthquake, the entire living room shook slightly with the Paradise. Looking out from the side portholes, there were only foggy scenes. From time to time, thunder passed through the turbulent clouds, lighting up the sky into a strange blue. Purple.

"Is that ticket important to you?"

Cinderella asked, "Even if you fainted, you kept your hands on your chest, as if you were afraid that someone would steal them."

Irwin didn't answer, his hands became extremely heavy and placed tightly on his chest.

He didn't answer, but Cinderella had already thought of it. She had always been an alert girl, so this kind of thing was not difficult to guess.

"This is your ticket for the train that came from the wilderness and changed your destiny."

Listening to the girl's voice, Irwin laughed helplessly.

Cinderella closed the door tightly and pushed the wardrobe and other items in front of the door. There was a stench of burnt flesh and blood in the crack of the door, and heavy footsteps could be heard faintly.

The demons have completely invaded this paradise ship, and the defenses of the people of Tidal Wave are constantly shrinking to the core area. No one will protect Irwin and Cinderella, and no one even knows that they are here.

Belphegor saved Irvin's life, but he would not save Irvin a second time. All help came at a price, and Irvin was unwilling to sacrifice his soul to the devil.

"Say something, Irwin," Cinderella urged this time, "Just treat it like a bedtime story."

"Bedtime story?"

Irwin smiled, "Maybe we really won't be able to sleep at all."

Taking a deep breath, Irwin felt that his head was dizzy. It might be the sequelae of the impact, or it might be caused by blood loss. He felt like he was drunk. In this state, the story he told also took on a layer of confusion. color.

"I've never met my father."

Irwin spoke up, "People say he's an interesting poet who comes from afar."

"My mother is a beauty. Every man likes her and desires her. She enjoys the praise and lustful eyes of others. She meets different men every day and enjoys the vanity they bring.

She is always on top and feels like she has control over everyone. "

Cinderella listened quietly. This was different from the version of the story Irwin told her at first, but this time both of them were quite patient.

"One day my mother met my father. All her tricks were of no use to him. Soon my mother fell. They fell in love, but it was only a one-sided love. The poet is like a bird. He will I admire a certain flower, but I will never stop for it.

After they fell in love for a few weeks, he left and was never heard from again. My mother was disappointed for a while, but she was a master of love after all, and this kind of thing didn't affect her. "

Irwin changed his posture and stretched out his body on the sofa, as if all the disasters and crises had disappeared, and now it was just an afternoon storytelling session.

"But this time it's different. My mother has me..."

Irwin laughed at himself, "My mother has always hated me. She felt that I ruined her free life. She often cursed me and yelled at me."

He imitated his mother's words and said calmly, "Without you, Irwin, without you, everything would be different."

"One day, I couldn't stand this kind of life anymore, so I left home. I guess my mother would be very happy when she woke up and found an empty bed. I finally disappeared from her life.

In fact, I also expected that she would come to me..."

There is no need to say much about what happened next. Irwin told the story about Red Nose.

"My mother kept all the love for herself and gave none to me, and then one day I encountered the other extreme."

Cinderella whispered, "Red nose."

"Red Nose is a good man, an absolute good man. Under his care, I lived a normal life for the first time. But he was so friendly that he was so kind that he was cowardly. Everyone in the town bullied him and turned him into a coward. He moved around like a slave.

The day he died, I was the only one who attended his funeral. No one else came because this ridiculous guy had no value. "

Irwin's eyes showed rare cruelty, and he gritted his teeth and said, "I burned that town and left in panic in the burning night."

“And then there’s the Freeport story.”

When he mentioned Freeport, Irwin couldn't help but smile. He had so many wonderful experiences here, such as shady factories, human trafficking, and all the bad luck that seemed to have happened to Irvin.

"I became a sailor and sailed with the ship. The captain said that once we leave the port, we will be at sea for at least half a year without seeing land. For this reason, before leaving the shore, I took a stone. I missed the land, so I touched it. Within a few months, it was polished by my touch."

Irwin stretched out his hand and gestured, as if there was a real stone being touched by him.

"I have endured a lot of hardships, but this was the first time I encountered such a cruel captain. He treated us like slaves. I thought it would be over if I endured it. After all, I am a very resilient person. But one day, He threw a sickly sailor directly into the sea."

Irwin fell silent, and the oppressive silence lasted for a while. Lightning and thunder thundered outside the porthole.

"My luck has never been very good. Years of ups and downs and hardships have also made me a little insensitive, but some character and persistence cannot be changed by time and experience. They are like imprints, deeply embedded in my heart. Etched into my soul.”

Irwin smiled at Cinderella, his smile was ruthless and cruel.

"When I was young, my peers were afraid of me because I was very stubborn, like a rough stone. Whenever they ganged up to bully me, I would not just hold my head and get beaten, but I would focus on the leader among them. Yes. I will pounce on him in one breath, ride on him and smash his head. No matter how others hit me, I will not fight back. I only have eyes for the leader, and only him.

Even if I was beaten to the ground, I would not give up. I would pretend to cry, and after they left, I would secretly follow the leader, holding a stone in my hand, and beat him hard on his way home. "

Irvin talks about his glory days and how proud he was of who he was during that time.

"They all called me a stone, a stubborn stone. Later I learned that these are all excellent qualities, patience, perseverance, and perseverance. Later I also learned that there is such an animal in the world called a jackal.

They are not as mysterious and aloof as wolves, but rather like dusty wild dogs, but they have the same characteristics in common: patience, perseverance, and perseverance. "

When the thunder struck, it was very close to the Paradise, so close that the pale light easily reflected into the room, illuminating each other's faces.

"I remember that night, just like now, it was also a rainy day. Our ship was anchored offshore, only a few hundred meters away from the coastline. I came to the captain's room, covered his mouth, and under the cover of the thunderstorm, used The stone killed him alive.

Haha, I broke open his safe and took away a lot of money. At that moment, I felt that I was not only a sailor, but also a pirate, a murderer, a fair judge, and a A warrior against fate.

I jumped into the sea and was repeatedly beaten by huge waves. When I regained consciousness, it was already noon the next day. I fell on the beach with nothing but the clothes that covered my body. "

Irwin's voice softened, and like himself in the story, they were just as exhausted.

"Just starting over. I've started over many times."

Cinderella stood up from below and sat on the sofa with Irvin. The lightning reflected on her face, as if it was the light cast by a TV. In the void, Cinderella saw Irwin's life.

"You also know the rest of the story. I collapsed in an abandoned station, waiting for death to come."

Irwin's voice was very soft, like a child's sleep.

“I told myself frankly that this ending was not bad, but when I closed my eyes, I was so sad that I cried like a child.

I have no warm home, no place to rest, and no place to go.

No one in this world loves me, not even my mother. The bustling and noisy world is very close to me, yet very far away from me, too far to be touched. "

Cinderella murmured, "Then the train came."

"Yes, that train is here," Irwin said. "It is the most luxurious train I have ever seen in my life. Its carriages are so big that men and women can dance in them. Music is played on the radio day and night, making people drunk. The aroma of wine spreads in every carriage.”

"She helped me, wiped my wounds, and brought warm blankets and food. She was like the warm sun in winter. No matter how hard the ice was, it would melt into soft water in front of her."

Cinderella knew who she was, the woman with fire opal eyes.

"I told her about everything along the way, and suddenly she asked me, since my experience is so interesting, why not write it down?

I said that I had written it down, but it was torn up, and then she said... Then write it down again and show it to more people. "

To this day, Irwin still laments that fateful encounter, as if there was an unknown force controlling everything.

“When I got off the bus, I was determined to be an author.”

Cinderella didn't care about Irwin's creative ideas, but cared about another point. Her eyes sparkled as she asked, "Where is that woman? Where is she?"

"She left with that train and I haven't seen her since."

"Then why didn't you find her?" Cinderella knew, "You fell in love with her, right?"

Irwin did not directly answer Cinderella's question. He explained, "Later I tried it. I looked up the train schedule, but the official record was blank. They said that the abandoned station and the nearby railway were... It was abandoned and no train would pass by. I guessed it might be a private train, but I asked many wealthy businessmen and they had never heard of anyone owning such a luxurious train."

"She just disappeared, along with the train, without a trace."

Irwin lamented the cruelty of fate.

"In today's world, information exchange is obviously so advanced. Railways connect countries, and telegraphs can easily span thousands of miles...but the connection between humans is still so fragile.

I don’t know who she is, where she comes from, and where she is going. I don’t even know her name. I only remember her face, but this face has also turned yellow and faded with age. , in the end I only remember those fire-opal eyes.

It turns out that the connection between me and her is so fragile, that first meeting meant goodbye forever. "

"Then you start writing a book and you expect her to read your story," Cinderella said.

"So what?" Irwin said, "Who knows when she will see my book and notice this? She may be married by then, or she may be dead long ago, or even say that she has already died. She has read my book, but she has already forgotten me. After all, to her, I am just an inconspicuous and unfamiliar face in the vast sea of ​​people."

Cinderella could feel the deep sadness from Irwin's words. She never expected that Irwin had such a past. That woman affected Irwin's life, but Irwin had nothing but those eyes. have no idea.

Nothing.

No...she left something else behind.

Cinderella looked at Irwin's chest, "That ticket."

Irwin's voice didn't waver at all, "The only memory."

The story was over, and the two of them were immersed in the sad aftertaste of the story. Suddenly Cinderella gently slapped Irwin, pretending to be angry.

Irwin asked, "What's wrong?"

Cinderella said, "Your story! You lied to me!"

"We're even," Irwin said indifferently, "and I just made some modifications to the story. Don't forget, I'm an author, the kind of author who is best at deceiving people."

When he mentioned his deception, Irwin smiled proudly. In his opinion, the more popular an author is, the better he is at deceiving people.

Cinderella's momentum weakened, and the story Irwin told was generally the same, but the details were completely different. But it was these details that made the story take a completely different direction.

As if he knew what the girl was going to ask, Irwin continued, “I’ve always thought this is a very romantic job.

Reality is not so perfect and even a little cruel, but as a storyteller, I have the ability to make it beautiful and soothe the hearts of others. "

Irwin had rested enough and talked enough. It was time to continue taking action. He stood up and blinked hard. The wind and rain outside the porthole reminded him of the day he killed the captain.

“I often miss the days when I was young and stupid.”

Irwin said, picking up the bloody dagger and motioning for Cinderella to follow him.

Cinderella still had a lot to say, and Irwin was like a thick book, full of interesting stories. She heard Irwin say that he spent sixteen hours with her on that train, She wanted to know what had happened during those sixteen hours, and she wanted to know what Irwin thought immortality was.

It was too late to ask questions, Irwin pulled open the cabinet on the door and kicked the door open. In a daze, he returned to his youthful appearance.

Thick black smoke rolled in the dark corridor, flames flickered in the corners, corpses were everywhere, and there were still blood stains that had not yet solidified.

The elevator shaft has been engulfed in flames, and Irwin needs to find another way up. It may be that he has experienced many bad lucks, but this time Irwin is lucky.

Irwin didn't encounter any enemies along the way, and after turning countless corners, Irwin found an intact elevator.

Press the elevator button and it miraculously descends slowly.

Irwin breathed a sigh of relief, "It looks like we are saved."

Cinderella's nervousness also relaxed. No matter how big-hearted she was, she was still full of fear in the face of death.

The floors kept jumping, and when the elevator was about to reach Irwin's floor, Irwin vaguely heard the conversation from behind the elevator door.

Irwin's expression changed drastically. There was another group of people in the elevator. He pulled Cinderella and wanted to evacuate quickly, but by this time the elevator had already reached his floor.

That's too late.

Irwin grasped the dagger tightly. After staying in this dangerous environment for a long time, he actually began to adapt to this tense life and death atmosphere.

The cold sword blade was raised suddenly, and at the same time, the elevator doors opened to both sides.

Metal and metal collided with each other, emitting dazzling sparks. Irwin felt that his dagger had hit an angry bull. The huge force transmitted shocked his arm again, and the dagger was nailed into the wall.

Irwin hit the wall behind him, and then the black muzzle of the gun was pressed against his forehead.

Death came so quickly. Apart from the pain in his arms, Irwin felt nothing for a while, not even random thoughts.

The expected death did not come.

The man held a pistol to Irwin's head, with a look of shock and surprise on his face.

"Irwin?"

The other party's voice was full of confusion, as if the two should not meet again here.

Nolen?

Irwin's only acquaintance here is Nolen, but Nolen doesn't know where he is now, or even whether he is dead or alive. This attack by the Paradise Ship is for him.

The other person put down his pistol, revealing a strange yet familiar face. Then he smiled at Irwin, pointed the muzzle of the gun at his face, and introduced himself.

"It's me, Shaw, Shaw Albert!"

Irwin was stunned for a long time before he recalled who Shaw Alber was, and then the funny character of a big eater overlapped with the guy in front of him who was holding a pistol and had murderous intent lingering on his body.

"What a coincidence!"

Palmer grabbed Irwin's hand, shook it vigorously, and sighed loudly, "Fortunately, I took action slowly, otherwise you would have died!"

Irwin didn't understand what was there to sigh about, but he still cooperated, "Yes! Yes!"

"So, are you lost?"

Palmer put the muzzle of the gun on Irvin's forehead again, and Dewar and Canary walked out from behind him, everyone looking murderous.

After going through many bloody battles and killing countless demons, Palmer finally found a living person who could communicate with him.

"Finally we can make some progress."

Palmer seemed to have mistakenly recognized something, and grabbed Irwin's collar, "You are indeed a spy from the Xi Tao people, aren't you! You've been watching us from the train!"

Palmer then yelled, "Say! Where did that bastard Nolen hide Gold?"

Irwin looked confused.

It’s still two-in-one, 6300 is enough to buy a hero, the debuff on the body has not disappeared, and there is still a faintly intensifying feeling that I am dying~