don't open your eyes [unlimited]

The skipper won the fourth game.

He looked at the scattered cards on the table, but there was no happy expression on his face, he just lowered his head in thought.

The singing of the crew could be faintly heard outside the door, and the sound of quick and brisk footsteps passed through the corridor from time to time.

Those boys hadn't sung their hometown songs for a long time, and they seemed to have finally broken free from the threat of the big guys with guns in their hands, and they were doing something together with the enthusiasm they hadn't seen for a long time.

The captain stretched out his hand and slowly gathered the cards into a pile: "Are you guys hiding something from me? That's why you came to play cards with me?"

Zhuang Die didn't refute or explain, just nodded and reached out to straighten the desk lamp.

It is impossible to hide this matter forever—the lights outside have ended their fourth cycle, and the submarine is getting closer and closer to the lighted place, and the entire space has begun to be affected.

It's like a train that has been going through a dark tunnel for too long. When it finally approaches the tunnel entrance and is about to enter the light that pours in, no matter what the people on the train are doing, it is impossible to see what is ahead. changes are unnoticed.

The captain's consciousness has been integrated with the submarine, if there is still no response by this time, it will only mean that they are going in the wrong direction.

The captain suddenly shook the poker away forcefully, leaning forward with both hands on the table, staring firmly at Zhuang Die.

"You don't even bother to lie to me?"

The captain's voice was hoarse and deep, and there was a terrifyingly strong pressure lingering in the room: "What kind of benefits did they give you, so that you agreed to do things for them? What kind of conspiracy..."

Zhuang Die was nailed to the chair by this cold and terrifying force: "Captain, Gus will not lie to you."

The captain suddenly froze.

His headache got worse and worse, and countless chaotic and broken memories kept rampaging in his mind, as if to tear his whole life apart.

The cards were scattered on the ground in disorder.

"You still intend to destroy the submarine."

The captain groaned in pain, his body was shrinking rapidly, as if all the skin was directly covering the bones: "Why? I have tried my best to transform it, what is not good enough? Why can't it stay, why? Can't find peace..."

"It's fine now." Zhuang Die interrupted him, "You are a great captain."

The captain's body trembled violently.

He raised his head suddenly and looked at Zhuang Die who was suppressed by his own strength and couldn't move.

The captain stood for a while, then he seemed to suddenly recognize the person in front of him again, and his expression suddenly revealed guilt.

He lowered his head and looked at his hands in a daze. This action made him look like a kid who was at a loss after making a mistake: "Gus, I messed up."

"I'm sorry I made a mess of everything." He grumbled hoarsely. "I threw all the cards on the floor. I don't want to lose my temper with you."

At the same time as the captain's attitude eased suddenly, the terrifying pressure also disappeared without a sound.

The captain's cabin returned to calm again, as calm as an ordinary afternoon.

"It's because you're under too much pressure."

Zhuang Die got up and picked up the cards one by one: "You should rest, captain."

"Maybe it is... I also feel that the recent energy is obviously not as good as before." The captain whispered. "But I forgot, I can't remember how to return - there are always not enough people, but how can we sail if there are not enough people?"

The captain squatted down and cleaned up the mess he had made together with the lookout: "I don't want to leave anyone in the cold sea. Especially you, Gus, what if a guy like you is left in the sea by himself? "

Zhuang Die put away the cards, cut and shuffled them again: "Would you like to play another game?"

The captain seemed very cooperative this time, he sat down again without saying anything, and took the cards given to him by Zhuang Die.

In the last round, Zhuang Die didn't use cognition to modify the cards, but just distributed the cards one by one in front of the captain and himself.

"Gus, aren't you afraid you will lose to me?" The captain looked at his movements and suddenly asked, "What if you lose?"

So far, the two have won two games each, which is considered a tie.

According to the rule of five rounds and three wins, the result of the last round will mean the final win or loss.

Zhuang Die stopped dealing the cards and looked over the captain's head: "Do you plan to get a haircut recently?"

The captain was stunned: "What?"

"It's okay." Zhuang Die didn't intend to let the situation develop to this point for the time being. "My luck is generally good, so I don't worry about losing—even if I lose, I won't stay in the submarine."

The captain was silent for a while, sighed and said with a wry smile: "The answer is really in line with your personality... Well, you can always beat me."

The captain knew very well that it was impossible for him to stop Gus from doing anything.

Even if Gus loses the game, the captain won't actually stop Gus from leaving - as long as it's something the other party really wants to do.The captain was even willing to introduce some good places for growing flowers to Gus, such as his hometown.

He just wanted to use the gamble as an excuse to play cards with Gus for a while.

"The last time we sat here, it seemed like a lifetime ago."

The captain took his cards.

He didn't look at the cards, but staggered the cards one by one to support the triangular steeple: "At that time, the submarine had just crashed, we counted the remaining supplies and oxygen, closed the door and hid in the captain's cabin and waited. Everything is going from bad to worse..."

The captain's tone was very calm, he played with the cards, and his face was more sober than ever before: "You told me that you saw the light in the periscope, and that should be the place of eternal peace we are going to soon. "

Zhuang Die imitated his movements and played the cards in his hand one by one.

The captain sat quietly behind his desk.

His body slowly collapsed, his tall skeleton curled up, and his face was buried in his skinny and pale palms.

……

Those memories came back.

Rather than coming back, it's better to say that he never forgot at all-he thought that everything could not be worse.

He experienced a submarine wreck, dealt with seriously injured crew members by himself, worked hard to weave lies one after another that would not last long, and exhausted his energy in endless disputes...

He had thought that nothing could get any worse.

Until that day, he walked through the dark corridor with the gun, and walked to the main water tank amidst the weary snoring.

... What happened that day was actually no different from any other day.

A small group of crew members made a big fuss, and they had to temporarily hide in the captain's cabin, sort out supplies and make a list, and Gus reported to him the new discoveries in the periscope field of view.

Even though the disaster was imminent, Gus still had a serious and serious look.

However, the captain is very clear in his heart...the so-called "light in the periscope" is just a old-fashioned watchman sitting there alone, racking his brains for several hours, and finally choked out a comforting and obedient sentence That's all.

Of course Gus would never use hallucinogens or anything like that.Even if everyone fell into a hallucination of madness, this guy must be the last alien who was sober and burned at the stake.

And the field of view of the periscope has long been engulfed by sea water, there can be no light, let alone eternal peace—there is only the dark, cold, boundless deep sea shrouded in pure solitude.

The captain was forced to write a suicide note at the desk. He really couldn't think of what to write, his hair was messed up, and he had a terrible headache: "Why do you want to write such a thing? Gus, no one will ever find us of."

"Not only to write, but also to put it in the safe." Gus grabbed his hand and stuffed back the quill he threw away, "The book said that technology will be very advanced in 100 years, and sooner or later someone will come to the bottom of the sea Explore, and you will find out when the time comes."

The captain sighed heavily: "What's the point of that? After 100 years, we have all become skeletons, right?"

Gus pressed him and helped him fill the quill with ink: "That's why I wrote a suicide note, so as not to scare people who come to explore the sunken ship."

The captain was speechless, lying on the desk: "It's really a very thoughtful suggestion... Gus, I don't want to remind you, but things are already so bad, writing a suicide note doesn't seem to be the most important thing—"

"It's not too bad." Gus shook his head, "Submarines always fail, it's just that we are unlucky."

The captain froze for a while, then stretched out his hand to take the coffee he handed over.

"It's fine now, you're a great captain," Gus said.

The captain buried his face in the steam of coffee, and suddenly he couldn't hold on and fell into a collapse, and his whole body collapsed without warning.

"I messed up, Gus." The captain trembled and choked up, "I messed up everything, those crew members were about to destroy this submarine, and the other boys were waiting for me to protect them. know what to do..."

"You're under too much pressure." Gus reached out and patted his back lightly, "You should rest, Captain."

The captain didn't know how long he had been venting, he finally exhausted all his strength and calmed down exhaustedly.

The entangled thoughts in my mind were finally submerged by tidal fatigue, and everything around me became blurred and strange.

The captain heard the noise outside, which was very harsh, and he wanted to get up to check, but Gus pressed his shoulders.

"They are having a banquet, and someone is singing." Gus explained in a low voice, "I'll go and see, don't open the door for anyone."

The captain murmured: "Tell them to relax, there is no point in saving supplies..."

He didn't hear Gus' answer, the other party took the key from his pocket, touched the back of his neck and back soothingly, got up and left the captain's cabin.

...and then Gus never came back.

The captain woke up from a long dream, and he found that the door of the captain's cabin was locked.The hallway was pitch black, and the people who had had enough of the chaos had ended the completely out-of-control chaos and went back to rest wearily.

After a shot broke the lock of the captain's cabin, the captain walked alone through the entire submarine to the ballast water tank.

He found Gus' body floating in the main tank.

……

"You blame me?" whispered the captain. "I'm a terrible captain."

Zhuang Die was moving lightly, carefully stacking the last few cards: "I really want to answer 'never', but I'm not Gus, so I can't answer you for him."

The captain didn't seem surprised.

He moved his cervical spine twice, leaned back in the chair, and watched Zhuang Die's movements: "Why didn't you lie to me to the end? Do you have the same problem with Gus that you can't lie?"

Zhuang Die didn't answer, but just set up the last card in his hand and walked to the lookout.

It is no longer necessary to check the situation outside through the periscope.

Under the leadership of Ling Su, the crew in the front cabin successfully completed the voyage mission this time.

Every corner of this submarine is being infiltrated by that strange light, and the captain's body is also becoming blurred and transparent.

This special dream domain has completely lost its original boundaries.

It is degenerating into an extraordinarily long dream, and the memories of cruelty, pain, or fanaticism and paranoia in the dream slowly fade away as the end approaches, leaving only the tiredness that is so comfortable that people want to sleep forever.

"Cocoon" has already sent a reminder that the task is completed, and the eye-catching countdown to exit appears in the background.

The captain suddenly asked, "Will Gus come too?"

"That depends on what's going on in your place." Zhuang Die said, "Do you have a rural farm full of sunshine? There are wooden houses where you can grow flowers."

The captain was stunned for a moment, then suddenly burst out laughing.

He laughed so hard that he had to lie down on the table, rubbing his eyes vigorously: "Why not? I'm planning to get one, and I won't invite anyone this time. To be honest, they are really too noisy..."

The card tower kept shaking because of his actions, Zhuang Die was not satisfied with his work being treated like this, so he quickly walked over and stretched out his hand to protect it: "Don't move around."

"Okay, okay." The captain responded casually, raising both hands, "Do you know how I recognized that you weren't Gus?"

Zhuang Die shook his head.

"Because the coffee you ground is so delicious! I didn't say that Gus's coffee is like a witch's potion soup, and only I would drink it to coax him!"

The captain laughed loudly, threw the three queen queens of different suits hidden in his hand on the table, and waved the last nine of hearts: "I won the fifth game! You are the same as Gus, and you can be fooled by others... …What are you doing?!"

The captain's hearty laughter stopped abruptly.

He widened his eyes in astonishment, looking at Zhuang Die who was stacking cards on the table.

Zhuang Die put three king kings of different suits in front of his eyes.

"No, no." The captain held his head anxiously, stood up and turned around, "No, no, no, no..."

Zhuang Die added two Aces, four 2s and a pair of kings and kings.

captain:"……"

This time, Zhuang Die drew all the cards by luck. In front of the captain, he counted down all the cards in his hand, and suddenly punched his palm: "Ah."

The captain froze for a moment from the grief of being completely defeated: "What's wrong?"

Zhuang Die shook his head: "...it's okay."

He seemed to be wasting luck again where it wasn't necessary.

I have worked so hard to post this mission with the captain for so long, and all the luck I have accumulated is used here, and I don't know if it will affect the lottery draw.

Zhuang Die made a summary and introspection in his heart. He looked at the countdown, took out the colorful mushrooms he picked up from the kitchen, and squeezed the juice into the coffee cup as soon as possible.

"..." The captain had become translucent, he couldn't stop it, and watched the coffee that had turned into potion soup: "No, actually——"

Zhuang Di pushed the coffee over: "Say hello to Gus."

The captain looked at him, was stunned for a moment, then looked down at the coffee again.

After staring at the cup of coffee for a while, the captain suddenly seemed to be completely relieved, and laughed with his head down.

It is no longer the kind of laugh that forced oneself to look happy and relieved.He smiled slightly, swallowed all the rest of the words, and said slowly: "Okay, if we can see each other again..."

The captain's voice and figure faded away.

When he was about to disappear completely, the captain suddenly stood up and pushed the crumbling card tower hard.

The tower made of cards collapsed at the touch of a touch, and with the slight crackling sound, the dreamland that had been painstakingly maintained collapsed.

The whole submarine faded away all the decorations in an instant.There is no more Paradise Island, no more banquet halls, and all corners have returned to their original appearance.

——No scary underwater cliffs, no accidents, and no accidents ever happened.

The huge mechanical creations that went to explore the new world, surrounded and chased by the fish, roared and slowly returned from the depths of the mysterious and deep ocean.

The crew shook their hats excitedly, and the cheers drowned out everything.

The long whistle pierces the mist of dreams.

Under the guidance of the watchman, this submarine, which has been lost for too long, is heading slowly and unimpededly to the place it should have arrived long ago.

It has docked into the harbor under the lighthouse.