Neverland

When Xu Muzhou opened his eyes from the Neverland bedroom, it was raining outside the window.

The sound of fine rain fell on his window sill, and the raindrops left meandering water stains on the window. Just listening to the sound of rain outside, it should be heavy.

Xu Muzhou stared at the ceiling for a while, then closed his eyes again.His limbs were a little weak, so he didn't want to move lazily, so he simply maintained this posture and listened to the sound of rain outside.

Most of the raindrops fell into the never-ending sea, where they mingled with the salty rain.The bad weather made the originally calm sea unpredictable. Xu Muzhou lay quietly on the bed, the roaring wind outside mixed with the sound of the waves rushing into his ears.

Being in the midst of storms, people would subconsciously feel uneasy and panicked, but Xu Muzhou probably felt peaceful because he was tired instead of being afraid.

He listened for a while, the sky-high waves outside, and the second hand of the bedside alarm clock in the house were extremely clear, following his ears and drawing lines like pictures in his mind.

Xu Muzhou closed his eyes for a while, and felt that his eyes were no longer sore, and then opened them again.

There was a slight sound of closing the door in the living room, it should be Yan Cen who came out.Xu Muzhou weighed it in his heart, got up from the bed, and walked out with his slippers.

——He still has questions to ask Yan Cen.

At the end of the last mission world, he had asked Yan Cen that question, but he hadn't gotten an answer yet.

Yan Cen was wearing a loose T-shirt with an unlit cigarette in his mouth.He had just woken up with an unhappy face, his eyes were slightly squinted, and without the modification of the glasses, the gentle temperament of the previous "Doctor Yan" was gone.

He came out of the bedroom, still holding the "One Hundred Years of Solitude" in his hand.

Yan Cen held the book and walked to the bookshelf in the living room, randomly picked an empty space, and stuffed the book in his hand into it.

Yan Cen compacted the book, then picked up a lighter on the bookshelf, flicked away only a thin layer of kerosene, and said without looking back, "What are you looking at?"

Xu Muzhou was accustomed to his "supernatural powers", so he didn't ask the other party how he found out that he was watching.He walked unsteadily to Yan Cen's side, and found that he had stuffed the book next to a copy of "Walden Lake".

Xu Muzhou's eyes fell on the words on the spine of the book, and with a thought, a ridiculous idea appeared in his mind.He poked Yan Cen's arm, and asked hesitantly, "Brother Yan."

"Huh?" Yan Cen lowered his head slightly and lit the cigarette, a question came out of his throat.

"...These books are all 'bridges', right?" Xu Muzhou said.

Yan Cen paused his hand to light a cigarette, and gave him an extremely speechless expression.

"Tsk." Xu Muzhou poked him again: "Speak."

"Watch less TV dramas, and read less novels." Yan Cen said: "...How come there are so many weird ideas, these books are just books."

"But this is a 'bridge'." Xu Muzhou said, "Is there really no other influence?"

Xu Muzhou said something when he remembered something, and took a step back with lingering fear: "...By the way, 'Remembrance' won't be in this book."

"What are you thinking about?" Yan Cen looked at him helplessly: "Let me ask you, what is the meaning of 'bridge' itself?"

"Communicate the two places." Xu Muzhou answered quickly: "It's a 'path'."

"So when the two places don't exist, the 'bridge' is nothing but a pile of stones and wood, which is no different from other flowers, grass, or bluestone roads." Yan Cen sighed: "So the same reason, it is lost now The role of communication is nothing more than a printed paper product... As for 'Remembrance', at the moment the 'bridge' collapsed, she went where she should go."

"Where?" Xu Muzhou asked.

"There is no place for illness and obsession." Yan Cen didn't want to say more, he took out the cigarette case from his pocket, and motioned to Xu Muzhou: "Do you want it?"

Xu Muzhou hesitated for a moment, then reached out and took out one.

Yan Cen threw the lighter into his arms, stepped on his slippers and went to the balcony.

It was raining heavily outside, and the railing on the edge of the balcony was wetted thinly by the rain. Yan Cen was biting a cigarette, squinting his eyes and looking at the churning black clouds and sea waves outside.

Xu Muzhou followed him out of the house. He didn't smoke very often, and the brand Yan Cen liked was a bit choking for him, so he just held it in his hand and took a puff intermittently.

"What is hope?" Xu Muzhou asked.

Yan Cen bit his cigarette holder, leaned against the railing, and said inexplicably, "...you have a lot of problems today."

"Help me." Xu Muzhou smiled and said, "If you don't hear the answer, you won't be able to sleep well."

Yan Cen glanced at him, and the little fox blinked at him, so innocent.

Xu Muzhou had already discovered that Yan Cen was soft but not hard, and even opened a lot of privileges to him. As long as there was nothing out of the ordinary, if he discussed it carefully, he could almost get what he wanted.

"It's 'hope' itself." Yan Cen said: "That pendant is a 'bridge' connecting Neverland and different timelines, and also a unit for judging obsessions. Those black liquids are the obsessions of those mission goals, and The original white hydrangea was their 'hope' for life."

"Understood." Xu Muzhou said: "The hydrangea has completely turned black because the 'hope' has been completely buried by obsession, and this balance has completely collapsed, so it needs to be cleaned up, right?"

"Yes." Yan Cen nodded.

"So after cleaning up their obsessions, we should give them hope?" Xu Muzhou asked.

"No." Yan Cen corrected: "It is to give them back their original hope."

"But if the judging criterion is the task target itself, isn't the task of Neverland very complicated?" Xu Muzhou said: "After all, everyone has their own obsessions. Calculated according to this standard, the amount of tasks to clean up the system is also very complicated." It's too much, how can you come here alone?"

"Ask slowly." Yan Cen said with a smile: "Ask three questions in one sentence, do you think I will run away, and ask so urgently?"

"First." Yan Cen raised a finger at Xu Muzhou: "Although it sounds like this standard is easy to achieve, it is not. Because everyone is alive, there is more or less hope, just like someone hopes to have Money, some people want to be healthy, some people want to be safe - or the simplest, even patients with severe depression will have the idea of ​​wanting to live. So until now, the obsession that can completely lose hope and be captured by Neverland The number is still under control."

"Second." Yan Cen added another finger: "The two missions have passed, haven't you noticed... There is a time node for the transmission of the cleaning mission. No matter where the time of Neverland goes, just start the mission , will be sent back to the time node that is most suitable for eliminating obsessions. So on this basis, it is equivalent to all timelines being on the same plane, as long as you queue up and wait for resolution."

"There's a third one?" Xu Muzhou asked tentatively.

"Third, Neverland has its own set of evaluation criteria." Yan Cen said: "The priority of cleaning up tasks is determined according to the degree of harm to the world balance of the task objectives. Some tasks that will affect the world line Targets, or those with very serious obsession hazards, will be ranked at the forefront of the task."

Xu Muzhou took a puff of cigarette, and asked strangely: "For example, Ji Yun? How would an ordinary architect affect the world line?"

"She violated the principle of the timeline." Yan Cen reminded him: "You are right, the dead cannot return to the world of the living. She tore this hole, which in itself violated the balance of the world's operation. .”

The rain outside became heavier, and the drifting rain wetted Yan Cen's temples. After he took the last puff of the cigarette, the smoke he exhaled dissipated in the water vapor, and the remaining half of the cigarette was wet by the rain, and it flickered. The flames completely dimmed.

Overwhelming black clouds surged, and suddenly a glaring lightning flashed behind Yan Cen, straight from the sky to the bottom of the sea.

The ensuing thunder resounded through the sky, Yan Cen frowned, and looked sideways at the distant sea.

The second flash of lightning was reflected in Yan Cen's amber pupils, and a rapid alarm bell sounded in his mind, and the severe pain was instantly like a steel whip, lashing hard at every nerve in his brain, It exploded instantly.

Yan Cen covered his forehead in pain and bowed his body, his fingers trembled, and the cigarette butt fell into the sea from between his fingers.

"Brother Yan?" Xu Muzhou was startled, threw a cigarette and came over to help him by the shoulder: "What's wrong?"

Yan Cen waved his hand, he gritted his teeth, listening to the information forced into his head.

——It is the announcement of Neverland.

This notification mode is both uncomfortable and troublesome. The only advantage is that no matter the staff in Neverland or people in different timelines can receive the news, it is generally only used to report extremely serious incidents. I don't know how many years I haven't used it.

This pain only lasted for a few seconds before dissipating. Yan Cen breathed a sigh of relief, but his brows became tighter and tighter.

"Brother Yan?" Xu Muzhou bent down to look at him worriedly: "Are you all right?"

"It's okay." Yan Cen rubbed his forehead, his expression was very ugly: "It's a notification from Neverland."

"What notification?" Xu Muzhou looked at Yan Cen blankly, he was just a temporary employee of Neverland, and could not receive notifications from this kind of internal channel.

"...Song Yan." Yan Cen's face sank like water: "The notice said that Song Yan seriously violated the regulations during the mission."

Xu Muzhou didn't quite understand what this "serious violation" meant, and was about to ask further, when Yan Cen straightened up, wiped the rain off his face in a hurry, and walked out in a hurry.

Xu Muzhou chased him out in a daze, and he didn't catch up with Yan Cen until he went down to the second floor.

In addition to the accommodation area on the second floor, there is also a terrace extending to the hall, where several sofas and coffee tables are placed, which is a small leisure area.Looking from this terrace, you can see the situation of the whole hall.

Panting, Xu Muzhou chased Yan Cen down, and before he could ask any more questions, he saw the scene in the hall.

The gate of Neverland is wide open, and an obvious water mark extends in from the outside.

Song Yan was kneeling on the ground with her hands cut behind her back by two men, her whole body was soaked.

"She—" Xu Muzhou pointed to Song Yan, not knowing how to ask: "This is—"

"She violated the rules during the mission." Yan Cen said with an ugly face: "She fell in love with her mission object."