me and my monster neighbor

Standing at the door, Xu Lala took another look at the middle-aged man. The man seemed to be mad, with a dark yellow and gloomy complexion. He was also angrily swinging his bare hands against the wall, crying, laughing, making noise and going crazy, until his hands were bleeding.

The old grandma stood behind the door and called Xu Lala softly, Xu Lala then looked away, raised her legs and stepped on the threshold.

Xu Lai noticed that the rings on the door leaf were already rusty, the two gold hoop door rings were rusted, the appearance was rough, and each of the bronze lotus door rings held a cluster of dried flowers. When the grandmother pushed the door, the loose dried flowers were still A little broken petals fell off.

The color of the dried flowers is dark red with gray tones, like decayed dry roses.

Xu Lai has only heard of putting mugwort leaves and peach branches on the front of the shop to ward off evil spirits, but he has never seen dried flowers placed on the door, but maybe it is just for ornamental purposes, but Xu Lai did not find its beautiful eyes.

Xu Lai also noticed carefully that the dried flowers inserted in the shop were of the same kind as the hair ornaments on the old man's head. The calyx and buds that should have been fluffy and swollen were all shriveled into a ball, and the flower spikes were lying softly on the petals, making it difficult to identify The delicate appearance when it is in full bloom.

Seeing that Xu Lai's eyes fell on the dried flowers inserted into the title ring, the old lady smiled softly and said, "My granddaughter brought these back yesterday and put them in for me."

The old man stroked his temples subconsciously, and his withered fingers gently slid over the dried flower in his hair.

As soon as Xu Lala looked up, he saw a strip of yellowed red paper hanging on the eaves of the door, and the word "Miqi" was written on the town house talisman.

Xu Lale:?

Xu Lala walked into the room full of doubts. There was a solid wooden square table in the room, and a large light bulb hung from the ceiling of the square table, illuminating the room brightly.

The grandmother put the bamboo plaque on the square table, pulled a long bench for Xu Lai to sit on, brought a wet towel for Xu Lai to wipe his face and hands, and poured him a glass of warm water.

Xu Lala thanked her, the grandmother sat down and listened to his experience, Xu Lala nonsense said that he ran out of a small village, and the small village was about to fall, and he escaped the eyes and ears of big monsters and mobs all the way, and finally came to the dream town.

The old lady sighed and nodded again and again: "...the world is not peaceful, and so is Haomeng Town..."

Suddenly they heard a coughing sound from inside the room, interrupting their conversation, the old woman hurriedly got up and poured a glass of water, and brought the water into the back room.

Xu Lai took a look at the furnishings in the house. The interior furnishings were minimal, but clean and tidy.

There is a small window on the north wall facing the gate, the window is tightly closed, and there are two half-shaped bottles and jars on the window, and two handfuls of withered dried flowers are inserted in the bottles.

A crayon drawing in a glass frame on the closet caught his attention.In the painting, a little girl of six or seven years old is lying on the back of an old grandma, who is carrying her on her back and walking on the hillside at night. She points to the stars in the sky to show grandma.

They are all laughing.

There are a few immature words written in crayons on the painting: When I grow up, I will go to see the stars with my grandma on my back!

Xu Lala's eyes fell on the big pink padded jacket worn by the little girl, because this dress was too wide for the little girl, and the length of the dress almost covered her knees.

Xu Lala looked around, the grandma's house was very simple, but it had all the internal organs, but Xu Lala always felt that something was missing.

Xu Lala withdrew his gaze, put his hand into his schoolbag, and touched Chu Chu's icy cold head to make sure that Chu Chu stayed in his schoolbag well.

When he pulled his hand out, he wet a small finger—it was licked wet by Chu Chu.

Xu Lale: "..."

Xu Lala put his fingers into his schoolbag again, and smeared the saliva from his knuckles onto Chuchu's head.

At this time, the old grandma also came out, and Xu Lale had no intention of haggling with Chu Chu.

The old man sat down at the square table with a melon planer, peeled the skin of the lotus root joint, and said to Xu Lai: "My old man is in poor health, especially when it is rainy, his feet will recur. His feet are so swollen that he can't get off the ground." Come on. Son, you can stay here for the time being tonight, as long as you can survive until dawn tomorrow, everything will be fine. "

Xu Lala nodded and asked, "Grandma, that person at the intersection just now..."

Xu Lala is a newcomer, less than half an hour after entering Dream Town, but there are a lot of doubts in his heart, and the one that worries him the most is the middle-aged man who went mad.

The old lady sighed, and said: "That man's name is Hu Gaohuan, he is also from Haomeng Town, he is completely crazy now, he is also a hateful and pitiful person."

The old woman let out a heavy breath.

Xu Lala continued to ask: "Then about the Meridian Flower Field you mentioned just now, where is that place? This is the first time I've heard of this kind of flower."

Although it may be a coincidence, at the door just now, the old lady seemed to have slipped her tongue before mentioning "Ziwu Flower Field", and her intuition told Xu Lai that the middle-aged man was suddenly stimulated because Xu Lai mentioned "Ziwu Flower Field" Crazy.

Hearing this, the old grandma pursed her pale and shriveled lips. She hesitated for a while, reached out and picked off the flowers on her hair, carefully placed them in front of Xu Lai, and gently smoothed the curly spikes.

The old lady said to Xu Lai in a low voice: "This is Meridian flower, but this flower has completely withered and lost its effectiveness. Meridian flower blooms at midnight and withers at noon. It only has a lifespan of twelve hours, and it The flower stems of the plant will dry up in a few minutes after being removed from the body, and it has extremely high requirements on the growing environment, so far it has not been able to be transplanted into the village.”

The old grandma treated this dried flower with both preciousness and importance, so Xu Lai had to carefully look at the dried flower in front of him with awe, trying to restore its original delicate appearance with imagination.He blinked under the lamp, raised his head and asked the old woman: "Then what is the effect of this flower? Why did the mayor and the others take the risk to pick this flower?"

Xu Lala recalled what the old lady said just now, saying that the mayor and all the able-bodied young people in the town only returned to the town during the daytime, and would set off for the Meridian Flower Field after [-]:[-] noon.

The old people in the town stayed here because of their lack of physical strength.

The old woman sighed and said, "Because monsters...are afraid of Meridian Flowers."

Xu Lie was surprised when he heard this.

The old lady went on to say: "Oh, it's a pity that there is no way to transplant it elsewhere. The mayor also said that it should not be announced to the outside world. The number of acres of Meridian Flower Fields is limited and can only be supplied to the residents of Haomeng Town... I, an old woman, don't understand these things. , I only know that this is a good thing, so it should be reported to the higher authorities, if the human race’s residence can be surrounded by meridian flower fields, the human race can be safe for generations.”

The old lady's voice was very low, for fear that the old man in the back room would hear her leaking the treasures of the town and village to outsiders and blame her for being a woman with short-sightedness.

After Xu Lala heard it, he looked at the withered flower on the table again and felt a sense of awe. He didn't expect that there was something similar to Jiutian River water in the human race's residence that could be used to deal with monsters.

But when he was surprised, he felt that this was just a matter of course. If there were no magical weapons to compete with monsters, how could the human race, who had no power to restrain chickens, gain a foothold in the demon world where demons were rampant.

Xu Lala also suddenly thought that he felt that there was something missing in this room just now—it was a kind of spiritual comfort similar to Buddha statues or murals of gods and Buddhas.

The human race lives in the chaotic world of monsters, unable to change and contend, and must rely on spiritual support. The aborigines here should have believed in gods and Buddhas more.

but.

Perhaps, it is precisely because Meridian Flowers replace burning incense and worshiping Buddha for peace of mind.

The old man took advantage of the opportunity to talk about the origin of the Meridian flower, and then mentioned the mad middle-aged man Hu Gaohuan.

Hu Gaohuan was originally a pharmacist in Haomeng Town. He was kind and honest by nature. He was keen to taste herbs for the benefit of the neighbors. He was widely praised by the neighbors.

In the evening of that night, Haomeng Town was attacked by monsters for the first time, and the whole town panicked. Hu Gaohuan never thought that when he was in a panic, he hit the right side by mistake, and repelled the afterimages of the invading monsters with Meridian Flowers.

Afterwards, Hu Gaohuan distributed Meridian flowers to other villagers. Relying on Meridian flowers, the residents of the town worked together to repel several monsters from invading Haomeng Town. The neighbors and villagers in Haomeng Town praised "Fortunately, there is Hu Gaohuan".It's just that Hu Gaohuan never disclosed the location of Meridian Flower Field to the villagers, and the villagers could only allocate Meridian Flowers from Hu Gaohuan.

Gradually, Hu Gaohuan seems to regard himself as a "person" with more than a thousand people in the town, and Haomeng Town has become his hall of speech. Anyone who does not listen to him will not be able to share the Meridian Flower...

This situation lasted for a month, and during that time, Haomeng Town began to rain every night, and there were occasional afterimages of monsters at night. Until half a month ago, the residents of the town secretly followed Hu Gaohuan out , finally found the location of Meridian Flower Field.

Hu Gaohuan's words suddenly collapsed. He desperately stopped the neighbors in the village from allowing them to go to the Ziwu Flower Field. Huatian ordered the residents to go crazy and hysterical, and over time he really became so crazy.

……

The old lady was so embarrassed that after a kind and simple good person came into contact with power, even the most basic conscience of being a human being was swallowed up.

The old man shook his head and said: "The man is completely crazy now. He is crazy during the day and prevents people from going to the Meridian Flower Field, and wanders around the town at night, saying that he wants to protect the town and drive away the monsters. Alas..."

The old man sighed, smiled at Xu Lai again, and said, "But since you can escape to Haomeng Town, it means that the good luck of Haomeng Town has come."

Xu Lale asked tentatively: "Auspicious and good luck, grandma... are you referring to the prophet of the human race?"

The old man nodded, shook his head again, and said: "When I was a child, I heard that there was an adult who specially guarded the human race. That one wore a cloak and a mask, and he came and went mysteriously. Rescue the troubled human race and take them to nearby villages and towns... My mother was rescued from the hands of monsters by that adult and sent to Dream Town."

Xu Lai was suspicious: "Wearing a mask?"

The old man nodded and said, "When I was a child, I heard my mother mention it many times, the one wearing a black cloak and a white soft leather mask..."

Hearing this, Xu Lala narrowed his eyes, and blurted out, "Are there still golden patterns on the white soft leather mask?"

The old grandma was overjoyed when she heard it: "Have you really seen this mask? Was it really Master Miqi who saved you?"

Xu Lale:?

Xu Lai has naturally seen this white soft leather mask, which is called a philanthropist mask by monsters. He saw Mr. Fu wearing it every day in Zhongnandong, and Mr. Fu is also used to wearing black, which is different from the "black cloak". unanimous.

It's just that the "Mickey" blurted out by the old grandma made Xu Lai think that the words written on the red town house talisman he saw on the door just now matched. The ancestor of the savior is really a time traveler like him.

—I'm afraid I'm still a loyal fan of Disneyland.

But the question is, why did this soft leather mask later become the unified philanthropist mask in the demon world?

Does the monster wearing a philanthropist mask really do good immediately, or is it convenient to do evil among the human race by wearing a philanthropist mask?

After all, due to the "Miqi" effect, the human race must blindly worship this savior.

Xu Lai was worried that the mask of the philanthropist was a hoax, so the old lady continued: "My mother was only a ten-year-old child when she was rescued in Haomeng Town. God-sama Miqi has never appeared again..."

The Philanthropist Mask has no follow-up.

Xu Lala frowned. After talking with the old lady, he had too many questions.For example, if Mi Qi was a prophet of the human race, he might have died of old age. Could it be that no prophet has been summoned in the past hundred years?And the grandma called Mi Qi the patron saint of the human race, why did she shake her head just now to deny the prophet of the human race he said.

Grandma doesn't think that Mickey is equivalent to a prophet?

Xu Lala wanted to ask again, but Old Man Hu coughed again, this time so badly that the bed boards creaked.

The grandmother put down the lotus root festival in her hand, and said when she got up: "It's starting to rain again."

The old man said with the word "again" that it rains constantly in Dream Town.

Xu Lala raised his head and looked out the window. There was no wind or rain outside the house, only old man Hu was coughing badly in the back room.

Strange to say, just as the old grandma walked into the back room to take care of her wife, Xu Lai suddenly heard the sound of rain hitting the tiles outside the house, and the subtle sound of rain was exposed by the tiles.

Xu Lala heard Shenwugui say: "There is a monster outside."

Xu Lai's expression suddenly became tense.

Shenwugui never let go of any opportunity to mock the useless human race, and mocked Xu Lala at every turn: "You have our protection, and you are afraid of some nameless little monster."

What Xu Lala was worried about was the safety of the old lady and other old people who stayed in the town.

Xu Lala calmed down and asked, "Didn't you say that even if you come here with your own bodies, you can't break the barrier of the human race? Why are there still monsters invading the town?"

Shenwugui snorted coldly, and said: "Stupid thing, if the enchantment that even we cannot enter, it must be impenetrable. The evil spirit outside the house is very weak, and it is not monsters that come in, but demon magic. The only spells that can invade the enchantment are The two phases of water and fire that turn nothingness into reality, this rain is the method of monsters, but if they want to pass through the enchantment barrier, they must be greatly weakened. Judging from the force of this light rain, if the monster wants to use this water to drown In a small town, forcing the human race to escape from the town is really ridiculous, and I don’t know where the brain-dead little monster came from, trying to embarrass the monster race.”

Xu Lala was speechless, only to hear Shenwu Snake "squeak" and said with a smile: "I don't die, tell me, does this rain have another purpose, for example... to break the barrier?"

Shenwugui subconsciously opened his mouth to retort: ​​"It's absolutely impossible! This is absolutely impossible!"

Even he hasn't broken the human barrier yet, so he must not allow monsters to check in before him!

Otherwise, his majestic ancestor of the formation, Wu Gui, would die here today!Rest forever!

Shenwugui said anxiously: "Little waste, you go outside for me immediately, my ancestor must first find a way to break the barrier of the human race!"

Naturally, Xu Lai would not let Shenwugui break the enchantment of Haomeng Town, but no matter whether he wanted to break it or establish it, he had to find a way to form the formation. Even if Shenwugui didn't ask for it, Xu Lala still needed his help to find a solution.

Xu Lala immediately got up and walked out of the house. Before opening the door, he yelled into the inner room. He yelled urgently: "Grandma, I have lost a precious item outside. I have to look for it now. I will look for it in the town. You don't have to worry."

The old lady ran out of the house immediately after hearing the sound, wanting to remind the boy that the town was not safe anymore, and she wanted to stop the boy from going out, but Xu Lai had already left, and the door was closed again.

The old man stood on the spot worriedly for a while, only to recover when he heard his wife coughing, and walked back to the back room.Her wife was sitting on the bed drinking water under the tofu quilt, his ankle was swollen twice, the pain was unbearable, and he coughed weakly: "The foreigner you took in...isn't it really a monster? Keke..."

Although the old man was also afraid, he had already become numb after being in fear for a long time, not to mention that they were already half-entrenched in the loess, and staying in this unsafe Haomeng Town was just waiting for a relief.

The old woman shook her head resolutely, and replied: "Impossible, you can't hide the monster's eyes... I was thinking..."

The old man coughed twice and asked, "...what do you want?"

The old grandma sat down on the edge of the bed, pursed her lips, and said with tears in her eyes, "Could it be that Master Miqi has reappeared..."

The old lady firmly believed in the adventures her mother had told her, but whenever Mr. Mi Qi brought the victims to the villages and towns, he would spread the words "Things hurt their kind, we can draw examples from them, and treat them kindly" to make people go Collision.

And left the word "Miqi" in the town.

But not this time.

The old man is the same age as the old lady, so naturally he has heard the elders talk about the miracle of Lord Miqi.

But they have already reached a consensus that Master Mi Qi has not been seen for a hundred years, and he is probably no longer alive. Otherwise, with the generosity and benevolence of that Sir, he would definitely not treat the human race with death in these hundred years.

The old grandma thought for a while, then sighed, "If it's not Mr. Mi Qi, could it be Mr. Prophet?"

The young man seemed to have seen a white soft leather mask before, but what he spoke was a human prophet.

And what the old lady cared about was that the boy's eyes were still bright and hopeful.

Ordinary humans, whose bodies are like duckweed and whose lives are like grass, only see compromise.

Compromise with fate, compromise with the world, compromise with monsters, compromise with accidents that may happen at any time, and be ready to compromise with the next change at any time.

Even if they find the Meridian Flower Field that can save their lives for a while, on the way from the town to the Flower Field, they have already compromised on the accident that may kill them at any time, so even if their wife and children suddenly get separated and disappeared, what you need to do Also keep going.

Regarding the prophet, there has always been a legend in the human race. The prophet who is the same flesh and blood as the human race, but has the ability to predict the future, will rescue the suffering people from suffering.

As for the origin of the Prophet, it is said that the human race was summoned from another world by a high-level leader of the human race with ancient rituals. The legendary prophet is omnipotent, knows the past and the future, and no monster can hurt him. There are more than one prophet. However, they are the only hope and light for the human race to compete against monsters.

According to legend, as long as the prophet can kill the undead legend in the Temple of Ten Thousand Monsters, the human race will be free.

But the human race has been waiting for a hundred years. The legends of the prophets that the old man heard from his parents are just legends to his parents. The freedom and liberation that the human race has been waiting for for a hundred years has never arrived.

Since the older generation, Lord Miqi and the prophets of the human race have been divided into two different categories.

The difference is that Master Miqi will save the human race, but will not kill monsters, and even take pity on small animals; while the legendary Prophet will drive and kill monsters.

Once an ancestor made a request to Master Mi Qi, asking Master Mi Qi to kill monsters and protect the safety of the human race. Master Mi Qi asked him: "If a monster race asks me to help them exterminate the human race, what should I do? "

Since then, no ancestors have dared to ask for slaying demons and demons.

Although Lord Miqi's generosity and kindness make people feel uneasy, the town still regards Miqi-sama as a patron saint.

Just because Mr. Miqi is a legend that the fathers saw with their own eyes, and Mr. Prophet will always be just a legend to the grandparents.

……

The old man shook his head, drank the water, and lay down on the bed again with the support of the old woman, who helped him tuck the quilt.

But as soon as he closed his eyes, he thought of the nursery rhyme that has been sung since childhood:

"

There are evil dragons in the north, whose scales are so strong that no sword can hurt them, and whose claws are as sharp as no sword.

There is a prophet in the south, who can slay dragons on his shoulders, invincible, and slays demons in his hands, unmatched.

'

Nursery rhymes never grow old and never die, but he grows old.

The old man opened his eyes and asked: "It is said that the Prophet has a dragon-slaying knife and a demon-slaying sword on his back. Does that outsider carry a sword?"

The old lady was taken aback by the question. She also remembered the nursery rhymes she had heard since she was a child. She shook her head and said, "No, he only carried a backpack, but..."

The grandma wanted to say that maybe all the swords and swords were stored in the backpack, but she thought it was impossible considering the size of the backpack.

The old lady remembered that Xu Lai had a wound on her right hand, and she was obviously not the legendary "indestructible" prophet. She sighed again, sat by the bed and said: "It is always a good sign that there are foreigners in the town. If it is really the prophet That would be even better, I just want to ask if my children and grandchildren are still safe..."