The Uncanny Valley Travel Guide

The thick, perennial mist climbed on the outer wall of the stone castle, and the gloomy water vapor seemed to soften the rough wall a little.

The shape of this fortress is simple and simple, the lines of the outline are very simple, and the dense white mist like a curtain covers it, making its appearance almost shabby.

It seemed that something had come, and suddenly curled up and twitched in the depths of the mist, and then, like a group of expelled snakes, hurriedly cleared a position.The sound of spreading cold ice gently rubbed against the eardrums, and the white mist quickly condensed into water droplets, and the water droplets shrank into dead ice particles, which fell to the ground like heavy rain, making a heavy rustling sound.

A woman came out of the mist.

Her slender heels hit the ground, her calves were slender and graceful, her light white silk stockings shone with a silvery light, and the classic knotted lines outlined a tight arc behind her legs.The woman is wrapped in a pearl white silk skirt, her snow-white plump arms are holding the same snow-white long mink fur, and a bunch of fluffy white feathers are pinned on her veil hat, like a Hollywood porn star from centuries ago, with the gesture of stepping on the red carpet Walking on the desolate ice surface, the short hair stuck to the forehead is actually the same ice-like blue-silver hair.

She approached the gate of the stone castle without stopping. The thick iron chain had been shattered by the low temperature spreading like a field in the sky. The extreme cold was like a carnival whistling elf, flying around this sexy but thin visitor, all the while. A beam of light sprayed out from the collapsed gate, but it was not real light, it was pure and clear ice like light, and it could shine like crystal in the dimmest mist.The solid ice filled the distance between the door and the ground, and slowly leveled it—this heavy log door, which required fifteen people to lower it bit by bit, was like a child's toy in front of her. .

The woman continued to move forward, and her steps were always graceful and unhurried.Inside the castle, the burning heat of the torches was as powerless as mosquitoes and moths in the cold winter. It was not until she walked through the first stone gate and then through the second stone gate that the golden light suddenly shot out from her eyes, and she shrugged. Frowning, he slowed down.

She walked into the open and high main hall.

This place is extremely inconsistent with the rough and simple appearance of the castle. It seems that from the entrance to here, someone placed a portal leading to another world in the middle. The crystal chandeliers on the zenith are layered on top of each other, with complicated tassels. They are the most common shape of candlesticks. , but what is embedded in the lamp tube is not a candle, but a fire diamond cut into a pear shape. The chandeliers are one by one, and the light is like a real burning fire, illuminating the hall brilliantly and warmly.The walls and domes depict the battle scenes of Ragnarok: the crowned Helya unleashes the death hound Garm, the golden wolf Skul chases the sun, the silver wolf Hati hunts the moon, and their father Fenrir opens his mouth to devour The upper and lower jaws of heaven and earth fought desperately with Odin, the god king who was riding a horse with eight hooves and wielding the eternal spear made by the branches of the world tree. Looking at the world tree with withered branches and leaves, the dragon wings cover the sky and block out the sun, and spit out the black fire of death and slaughter from its mouth... The painter narrates these stories with epic brushstrokes. As a result, the whole hall is also filled with flowing tragic beauty, with the sadness that is destined to end like fate.

The woman does not look sideways, these are already tiresome scenery for her.She walked across the thick scarlet carpet, poured with interlaced patterns of bronze and gold, to the high seat that was as majestic as a throne.

Here, her Wang Ban closed her pupils, flipping through an old thread-bound book.

"I often think that the world is drifting and impermanent, such as the dew in the morning, the moon reflected in the water..." The man's voice was like a dream, "The prosperity is fleeting in an instant, and the romantic people are not what they used to be...ah."

He sighed softly, lifted his eyelids, and his scarlet pupils were burning with malicious light.

The woman has already taken off her exquisite veil hat, her face is as radiant as snow, her eyelashes and eyebrows are all ice-white and plain, her lips are also as white as porcelain, faintly revealing a bewitching blue, as if looking at it more, the deadly The icy cold will spread along the line of sight, frostbite people's eyes.

"You shouldn't disturb my rest time," He Rui whispered, "Ymir."

The ancestor of the frost giant lowered his eyelashes humbly, and said, "The mad angel is dead."

Hearing this sudden news, He Rui didn't comment much, but murmured like a dream but not a dream: "The 50 years of my life are bustling and bustling, floating in illusions... Fame goes down in history, achievements and failures are annihilated, it's just fate and cause and effect..."

Ymir didn't speak.She and her master both knew who killed the mad angel, so she didn't need to say that name, it would only annoy the man.

"His knife is getting faster and faster...isn't it?" He Rui asked suddenly after the aftertaste of silence lasted for a long time.

"No matter how fast the knife is, there will always be something that cannot be cut through."

He Rui opened his eyes and looked at her with great interest. Ymir still lowered his head obediently. In her eyes, this man is a god. God is always omnipotent. Even if he fails, it is a test that God must go through. , Just like the precious blood that the saint must shed on the cross, the Buddha's child is also weak when he has not been fed with the milk of a thousand cows.

"He's just a person." She insisted on repeating, "A person, especially a person with weaknesses, always has things he can't do."

He Rui laughed out loud.

"You don't seem to know my little brother very well." He lazily fell backwards, onto the glittering gold eyes, "Monsters are born monsters, monsters grow up to be little monsters, little monsters grow up It's an adult monster..."

He murmured, unable to extricate himself from falling into the quicksand of memories.

Every child of the He family is instilled with the pride and dignity of controlling the world when they are born. They are all the proud sons of heaven. N-star's tentacles extend to every corner of the world, so they are also like grandsons of noble blood , in the youthful time waiting to grow up, I simulated and imagined the appearance of the world crawling under my feet thousands of times.

Only He Qin was the most distinctive one.

This younger brother who was born with his own compatriots doesn't value or care about anything. Their parents are a couple with a combination of interests, but when he was a young and ignorant child, He Ruishang would feel immature because of their marriage. of fear.One day, He Qin had a fever, and he was wearing pajamas and pajamas, hugging the tiger doll that was sleeping with him, dodging the servants and housekeepers, shuttling back and forth in the snow-white corridors that were stacked, and almost knocked off the wall hangings along the way. The whole "Four Seasons" by Paul Cézanne is a mischievous imitation. Among them, the woman in "Autumn" with a water jug ​​on her head is similar to the masterpiece "Fountain" by the neoclassical painter Ingres, so he put it in a corner of the painting. Deliberately signed Ingres, perhaps just to repay the evaluation of the Paris Higher School of Fine Arts: he has the temperament of a color painter, but unfortunately abuses color.

It was one of their mother's favorite possessions, and he stumbled and nearly scratched his forehead as he fell out.

When He Rui finally opened the door of his younger brother's room and explained to him his hidden worries about his parents' marriage, he will never forget He Qin's eyes, those pale pupils seemed to be filled with a pool of ice water, He Qin asked him: "What does that matter?"

He Rui laughed endlessly, and now, recalling his blood relatives and his past has become one of his few pleasures: "I am so anxious to sweat, for a child, his parents are his whole world , the world is about to split into two halves, but he seems to be a hundred times more indifferent than me."

"There's nothing to be nervous about," said He Qin, who had taken the medicine, and his illness would recover soon. "Divorce is not death. Since they are not suitable, they should separate."

When he said this, he was sitting on the bed with his spine straight. He Rui seemed to be meeting his taciturn younger brother for the first time. He suddenly felt chills, because when He Qin said the word "separate", his tone So natural, like separating two apples in a fruit bowl, or separating the cap of a pen.

Perhaps in his heart, he did not accept the man and woman who gave birth to him and raised him as parents.

"When I'm older, I'm still competing with others for the qualification to be an heir. He has already gone to learn the knife, ha!" He waved a thousand times. Everyone thought he was a freak, and my mother got angry and wiped tears at my father, saying how to give birth to such a son, so I went to comfort her, I said you still have me, don’t Afraid, Mom. As it should be, the resources that should have been shared equally between the two of us have all been tilted towards me alone."

"Maybe I should thank him for this. I went to the place where he learned swords to find him. I felt that as an elder brother, I should protect this younger brother who might not get anything in the future. As a result, I saw many He family children surrounding him. .”

"Are they... are they here to see a joke?" Ymir interjected at the right time.

He Rui smiled, he didn't have He Qin's uncomfortably sharp and handsome facial features, but when he lowered his brows, he was much more sinister than He Qin: "Yes, no, the brat is the best at climbing up and down Many adults are not as good at it as they are. My brother has given up his right of inheritance, and in their eyes is a useless chess piece. A useless one who still looks serious and does stupid things Chess pieces, their feet are itchy, why don't they ask their friends to step on them?"

His thoughts went back to the day when he was surrounded by a group of He family boys and their adult bodyguards, He Qin still looked expressionless, he was holding a bamboo knife in his arms, and his spine was as straight as a knife.

"Get out of the way," he said.

In an instant, all the boys burst into laughter. Each of them has the possibility to inherit the future N-star and become the master who leads the torrent of the world, so each of them has a noble status and is invincible.Their bodyguards are also rare masters in the world, responsible for guarding their lives that are worth more than their weight in gold.

What does He Qin have?He has nothing but a bamboo knife.

"Get out of the way." He Qin repeated again.

The leading boy frowned, and he stopped smiling.He is a candidate from the lineage of the family head and the leader of this small group. As soon as he stopped laughing, the other boys also stopped laughing wisely.

"Why," he raised his chin, imitating his father's expression vividly, which is also one of the proofs that he will become a leader in the future, "does a trash who voluntarily gave up his mission have the face to order us?"

As he spoke, he raised his hand and pushed He Qin's shoulder vigorously. For a boy of this age, their curriculum has already arranged the compulsory fighting and fighting, but this time not only failed to push He Qin down, but he himself almost Shocked by the recoil, he fell backwards.

"Get out of the way." He Qin said for the third time, while raising his eyes to look at the bodyguard behind the boys.

His eyes are the color of piercing glass, and he holds a bamboo knife in his arms, so his eyes also have the indifferent sharpness of a knife.

The bodyguards were a little hesitant, and they exchanged glances indiscriminately. Although talent is a mysterious thing, they are not blind.This child has no intention of competing for the position of heir, but the clear light in the depths of his eyes is colder than anything else. He must be a born killer, and he deserves to eat this bowl of food in his bones. He is already warning them.

However, this glance was misunderstood by the boy, and his companion and younger brother hurriedly straightened his body. He stood up straight, blushed, embarrassed and proud, and taunted viciously: "Look at what they are doing. Will they uphold justice for you? Pooh! Go ahead and dream about it! Get on your knees and beg for mercy now, and I’ll let you go, otherwise you have to be careful, you never know when your hands will be gone I can't take your broken knife!"

The boys next to him also shouted and cursed one after another, and some of them eagerly rolled up their sleeves, planning to surround and beat He Qin at any time.They are still children, but the malice they radiate is genuine. They were born at the top of the pyramid naturally, which gave them the power to act with words and deeds.

He Qin glanced at them indifferently, and the bodyguards stood in a stalemate behind them. To them, no matter how much this kid could fight, it was just a farce of the powerful bullying the weak, and it would pass soon; Like a grinning lion cub, it has long been impossible to retreat, and now they just want to bite off a piece of meat from their prey.

Just when He Rui felt that it was time for him to step in and stop this farce, He Qin suddenly moved.

He is not a lion's cub. When a lion's cub was still complacent about his status as the offspring of the king of the jungle, he had already learned how to cull antelopes from trees and bite the eagle's wings, like an immature and deadly black lightning... …he is a descendant of leopards!

The bamboo knife in He Qin's hand suddenly came out of its sheath, nine knives and thirteen moves, the most basic training moves in Japanese kendo, one skill, frontal strike!Beater!Hit!stab!The bamboo knife swayed a mass of deep blue light in the setting sun. From the moment it was unsheathed, four sounds were like swift and thunderous winds, hitting the boy's still developing body fiercely and continuously. With Ji Lie and determination, before the dozen or so adults behind him could react, he cut the boy's waist and abdomen, causing him to let out a short scream in haste!

At this moment, the bodyguard suddenly realized that his knife could really kill people!But the boys surrounding He Qin's body immediately became the best cover. They didn't understand the method of He Qin's sword, but they were the children of the lion, and the children of the lion must learn to fight back against the enemy!So they rushed forward and kicked He Qin with the fighting moves they had learned, trying to avenge their companions back.Fists and feet rained down on He Qin's body, but he was like a predator staring at his target, no matter if there was any interference from the outside world, he just pinched a prey and bit it.

In the second and third stages of skill, the sword spins upwards to the right, pointing directly at the center of the eyebrows!

The boy in the center let out a mournful wail again. The bamboo knife would not cut people's hands, but whenever the momentum of the blade approached a point, he would feel severe pain like a broken bone.

Sweeping technique, left knife spins up and sweeps!Repelling technique, buckle up!

The bodyguards hurriedly rushed forward, stretching their arms, trying to grab the angry and excited boys away, one of them accidentally put his hand into the range of He Qin's knife wind, and the back of his hand felt a burning pain.

Pull out skills!Scratch technique!Out of skill!

Abandoning all defensive and retreating movements, only pure aggressiveness remains. He is still very young, even if it involves the field of swordsmanship, his teacher has not yet considered teaching him the more lethal Iai Twelve Forms.But it is the most basic, the nine knives and thirteen moves that need to be practiced by two people over and over again to master the essentials, but he wields the murderous intent like a Shura ghost!

The boy's miserable howling has turned into intermittent wailing and crying, his eyes are blackened, and the bones all over his body seem to be crushed into flying powder. He Qin is like a knife-wielding machine that knows no pain or gets tired , as soon as his knife was out of its sheath, it was running for the opponent's life, no matter who the opponent was.

Comeback!Knock down!

The bodyguard finally dragged the boy who was swollen and bloodied all over his body out of the fighting center with all his might. He Qin had already finished his incomplete nine-knife and thirteen moves.There were also bruises on the corners of his mouth, and his clothes and hair were messy, but the movement of withdrawing the knife was still calm, as if he didn't almost beat a peer to death just now, but just completed a very ordinary training.

"I said get out of the way three times." He straightened his clothes, his eyes glaring, reflecting the bodyguard's horrified face, and the rest of the boy who was so frightened that he started to cry. "This is the fourth time."

He Rui stood quietly on the spot, watching the whole process.

This incident made a big fuss, and it was obvious that He Qin kept his hand. The boy's skin trauma was more scary, but even so, their parents still wanted to give up the custody of this weird little son.In the end, it was He Huaizhou, the chief designer of Nova City, and He Qin's teacher who came forward to settle the matter.

"Tell me," He Rui laughed out of breath, "It's such a monster, haha, it's such a monster!"

Ymir remained silent. She had worked for N-star before and had never heard of this matter. It was the first time He Rui told her about it.

"So... what happened afterwards?" She couldn't help asking, "How did he become like this?"

He Rui stopped smiling.

"Because they really love each other." He said softly with a strange expression.

Ymir was stunned: "What?"

It's just that He Rui doesn't plan to say any more, he has said enough today.With his usual, slightly sullen expression, he said to Ymir: "It's just a dead dog, there is no need to notify the holy nun. You and Fafnir are ready, they will organize a counterattack, and the outcome will be fine." Be pretty, understand?"

So Ymir immediately put away unnecessary meager curiosity, bowed and said: "Yes!"

Bingshuang followed their master all the way away, and He Rui sat on the throne with an uncertain expression.

The magnificent beauty created by N-star technology is enough to conquer anyone in the world, but He Qin never takes these things seriously. He has his own closed world, which is difficult for others to enter.However, He Rui exhausted all means. After he became the heir, in order to check and balance him, the group of smart old immortals even single-handedly promoted He Qin and ordered him to be a supervisor to control his brother's every move.

He was about to burst out laughing in his heart, but he still kept his resentment on his face - if this is what they want to see, then show them, what's the harm?

It wasn't until he knew He Qin's different attitude towards that couple that he felt a little puzzled from the bottom of his heart, and then asked himself: "Why?"

"...Because they really love each other." He Qin said.

He folded his arms, wrapped in a cold and sharp aura that even He Rui couldn't look directly at, but his tone was rare with an unknown softness.

——Because they really love each other.

He Rui stared at a spot on the scarlet carpet, his pupils were as red as a bloody carpet.