The world controlled by dice [Western Fantasy]

It's Saturday night, March 3th.

Siles and Cinder returned to 99 Kelly Street.Cendo went to take a shower to wash up, while Siles came to the study, turned on the wall lamp, and opened the letters.

The first thing he opened was a letter from Lady Catherine Kinsey.In fact, Siles is also looking forward to the content of this letter.

"Professor, Zhan Xinjia.

"After returning to Lamifa City, I began to search for the relevant information about the follower of the old god who dressed himself as a female knight that you mentioned. I did find some information.

"However, the relevant information is the internal information of the Church of the Past, so you need to come to the Church of the Past in person. You can come at any time if it is convenient for you. I have already sorted out the relevant information and informed the bishop about it, even if I am not here , you can also check it yourself.

"Katherine Kinsey."

Siles read the entire letter and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Siles was not surprised that there were indeed some relevant materials on the followers of the old gods in the Church of the Past.However, it would be a good thing if useful clues could be found from the church of the past.

He put the letter aside, thought about his schedule, and decided that without delay, he could go to the Church of the Past tomorrow morning.

Later, Siles opened the second letter, which came from the merchant Ranmere.

In the letter, Langmeer mentioned some of his cooperation with Siles, including Noel's Solitaire and Geisha Grocery Store.

The Noel card contest in Lamifa City was indeed initiated by Langmier, but it is still in the preparatory stage and has not been officially announced to the public.But some poker players in the city have already heard about it.

Naturally, Langmire wrote the letter for the relevant procedures of this card game and to invite Siles to watch the game later.In his letter, he mentioned with surprise the rapid speed with which Destiny Poker became popular all over the world.

He said that this kind of card-playing trend has also begun to become popular in the Land of Never Embers and some countries further west of the Land of Embers.They don't gamble, it's just entertainment.

It is not known how much of this is due to the claim that the cards of fate hide the secrets of the old gods, as mentioned by Sirius.

Ranmeer also said that in those areas, some merchants had started selling counterfeit cards of fortune.This kind of thing is inevitable, but it also annoys Langmire, so he is planning to urge the Jilini family to produce it quickly so that he can distribute the playing cards all over the world.

And another thing is about the Geisha grocery store.In the letter, Langmeer cautiously asked about Siles' thoughts, that is, whether he intended to promote the toys of Geisha General Store to more regions.

Although the Geisha Grocery Store is still an inconspicuous small shop, Langmeer has keenly discovered the profit margins, so he wants to develop in-depth cooperation with Siles.

Siles couldn't help but laugh at this.

Not long ago, when he communicated with Hal Goss, a young boy from Beadle City in a dream, he thought about the possibility of bringing Geisha's toys to other regions, because he realized that children in this world are quite I love this novelty.

However, after he returned to Lamifa City, before he had time to realize some of his ideas, Langmier, a big businessman with a keen sense of smell, had already written quite enthusiastically to inquire.

It should be said...Langmier is worthy of being Langmier?

Siles wrote a letter back, inviting Ranmeer to find a time to discuss the matter.However, Siles carefully considered his schedule, and finally set the time cautiously at noon on Wednesday, still at the old place - the restaurant in Atherton Square.

On Wednesday morning he will meet with Grenfell, and in the afternoon it will be time for club activities.If there was time, Siles originally planned to visit the Geisha Literature Club.

But since Langmeer wrote to inquire about the business, Siles had to find time to meet him.

...It is the beginning of the semester, and he still has a lot to prepare for.In April and May, he should be a little free.But he doubted that there might have been other things to occupy his free time at that time.

He put the reply letter in an envelope and planned to post it when he left the house tomorrow.

He has a third letter to read, from an unexpected source - Detective Jon Mansfield.

Siles put this letter together with the letter from Langmere, and couldn't help but feel a little delicate.He meant that these two letters came from a certain character card in the running group plot.

And as time went by, Siles gradually realized that the characters in these running group plots seemed to be closely related to this world to some extent.

Their choices and their actions will affect the world.At the same time, they have already, seemingly without a trace, all been related to Sirius.

Doctor, detective, businessman, knight commander, bishop, student, clown, tramp.Each holds a clue to the mysteries of the world.

Siles opened the letter in no hurry.He thought about his previous conversation with Jon.

The last time I had a conversation with Jon was last year.At that time, he and Qindo were investigating some relevant clues in Darwin Hospital, and accidentally met Jon in West City, and then talked with Jon about the extermination case of the Darrow family.

Until then, Siles didn't know that Jon was the detective who found the wig and got the calendula.And then he found something else in that trash can: a painting.

Jon concealed the existence of this painting, and at the same time concealed the answer to a very subtle question: why he was able to discover the problem of the trash can, while other revealers and investigators did not pay attention at all.

In any case, Jon also brought Siles a very important clue: In fact, a group of people in the city of Ramifa knew about the existence of "Shadow", and Professor Kabell was one of them.

This group of people may not understand the essence of "Shadow" enough, but they do know that there is such a god, and they all have a certain relationship with "Shadow".

It may be some pollution, it may be some relevant information, it may be a scholar who has studied deeply like Professor Kabell...Jon established some friendship with this group of people because of the first reason.

The ritual of "self-reappearance" developed by Siles before allowed Jon to completely get rid of the pollution brought to him by that painting, and at the same time, Jon was willing to share this matter with Siles.

Although Jon's cooperative attitude is not very candid, Siles believes that he does have some useful information, and at the same time, he can also be said to be related to the Darrow family murder case.

...Thinking about it now, that is already quite a distant thing.Siles suddenly thought.

Brewer Darrow.A companion he met shortly after he came to this world.Brewer collapsed at the moment of first glimpse, and his death, and the downfall of the Darrow family, are clearly connected with events that occurred in more distant times.

In other words, when they first thought that the Darrow family's demise was due to the conspiracy of the followers of the old gods, they didn't know that this conspiracy was actually related to the secrets of the entire world.

The predecessor of the Darrow family, the Cremer family, was an ancient aristocratic family from Kansas. They used to be Ruthmi's faithful believers, and at the same time, they obviously knew some... inside information.

"Under the light, there must be a shadow." These words were mentioned by the wandering poet when he was talking to the member of the Cremore family, Graves Darrow Cremore.

Aldous Gershwin even said that Graves must have known "that".

what's up?

……"shadow".Siles silently recited the god's code name.

So far, he still doesn't know where the "shadow" comes from and what it is in essence.This feeling is frustrating, but they have actually had a good harvest.

Contented and happy.he reminded himself.

Then, he took a deep breath and opened the letter from Jon.

"Zhan Xinjia, Professor Noel.

"I've been hesitant to write to you. But you haven't heard from you for the past few months, so I thought maybe your investigations have stalled, so maybe I should tell you about my case. progress of the investigation.

"Of course, I know that you have always had doubts about me, and I can quite understand this. In any case, at least in matters related to the Darrow family, I will keep myself as honest as possible.

"Anyway, what I want to tell you is... remember those weirdos I mentioned to you?

"They seem to have made a new discovery recently, about the 'Shadow'. I tried to ask them, but because I joined them later, they were not willing to share specific details with me, just mentioned and some related clues.

"In other words, they seem to feel that the conspiracy is not far away.

"I'm not quite sure how they came to that conclusion, I asked them, but they just made neurotic references to 'dates' and 'times' and stuff like that.

"Considering that the believers of 'Shadow' disguised themselves as followers of Ruthmi, and the Darrow family also had some connection with Ruthmi, I also tried to investigate some related possibilities in terms of astrology—perhaps some a special day?

"But I still haven't gotten anywhere. So I figured I could write you a letter and let you know what they think. I'm not sure that would help though. Anyway, at least I should let you know .

"Looking forward to your reply.

"Jon Mansfield."

After reading the letter, Siles couldn't help squinting his eyes.

He thought that Detective Jon seemed to be secretly urging him to share the information he got.

After Siles met with Jon before, he investigated that the Darrow family is essentially the Cremo family from Kansas, and they were also followers of Ruthmi.

Siles shared this matter with Jon in a letter.However, after that, Siles did not share with Jon, including Professor Kabell's thesis, the investigation on "Shadow", etc.

On the one hand, too many affairs occupied Siles' time, so he didn't think about it; on the other hand, the cooperation with Jon was always in a state of uncertainty.He could not fully trust the mysterious detective.

However, since Jon has expressed his attitude, Siles believes that he should also maintain a candid attitude at least on some matters related to the Darrow family.

He thought for a moment, then wrote a reply letter.In the letter, he mentioned that he was not in Lamifa City for some time in the past, so he had no time to investigate the affairs of the Darrow family.

In addition, he also mentioned the relevant clues about the female knight in Professor Kabell's thesis, and the fact that he was about to go to the Sunday Church to read the relevant files.

He also made an appointment with Jon to meet - at three o'clock in the afternoon on Wednesday, at Ernestine's Tavern in the West City.

Visible to the naked eye, this Wednesday, April 4, is going to be quite busy for him.

Siles put this reply in an envelope, intending to post it tomorrow.He thought, no matter what, I hope these things can have a good ending.

There was a knock at the door.

Qin Duo stood there, leaning against the door frame, and said, "It's almost nine o'clock."

Siles suddenly glanced at the time.He informed Qin Duo of the contents of the three letters, and then said, "I don't know what I can gain from going to the Church of the Past tomorrow."

"You'll get what you want, always," Cinder said. He laughed. "Tonight...?"

Siles thought for a moment, and then laughed the same way: "You will also get the result you want, Qindo." He paused, and then said, "I'll take a shower first."

"Shall I go with you?" Qin Duo asked a little aggressively.

"The more you wash, the dirtier it gets?" Siles asked back, and then said, "Wait for me in the bedroom."

Qin Duo murmured something in a low voice, and went to Siles to ask for a kiss, and then returned to the bedroom obediently.Siles tidied up the desk, confirmed what he was going to do tomorrow, and then got up to leave.

He turned off the light in the study.

At eight o'clock in the morning the next day, Siles first sent letters to Ranmeer and Jon, and then came to the Central Cathedral of the Church of the Past.

The atmosphere in the nave of the church was as calm as ever, and only Grosvenor stood in the nave, silently praying to the statue of Antinam.Siles didn't bother him, but just looked at the statue of Antinam in silence.

The only god in this world is still looking at the world with his gentle, calm, silent and cold eyes.

After a while, Grosvenor recovered from his prayer.He greeted Siles with a smile: "Good morning, Professor Noel. Long time no see."

"Good morning, Monsieur Bishop," said Siles. "I've come to see Lady Catherine Kinsey."

"Oh, I heard about it from Catherine. A group of shadowy followers of the old gods, that's very worrying indeed." Grosvenor said, "I know you're looking into it now, if we If there's anything you can do to help, just say so."

Siles nodded, thought for a moment, and then asked: "Mr. Bishop, about the Sea of ​​Folio..."

Grosvenor's expression became slightly gloomy.After a while, he said: "It's still early now, if you're not in a hurry, why don't you go to the office and let's talk carefully?"

"Of course," said Siles.

They went to Grosvenor's office together.Like the previous meeting, they sat down facing each other.

Grosvenor thought for a moment, and then said, "You know, there are many people in this world who stand against my God."

Siles nodded.

He did know about it, and it was something he had been reminded of when he stepped into the threshold of the Revelator.At the beginning, he saw a crossed eye symbol on Professor Kabell's manuscript.

And he later learned from Grenfell that this pattern just means the opponent of Antinam.

Siles also learned from various channels why there are such opponents.

It stands to reason that Anti-Nam is the only god in the world, and when the Middle Ages came, he protected the last glimmer of human existence.If it wasn't for this god, then human beings would have probably perished in the mist.

But even so, there are still many people who don't respect Antinam, and even hate him.

And that is entirely based on a kind of thinking of the old god system.

Some people think that Antinam is just a more powerful revealer. He has stolen the name of God. He should not be called God, but he calls himself God.Others believed that not only should Anti-Nam be called a god, but even his power itself was stolen from the old gods.

Some people even believed that Antinam caused the fall of the old gods.They thought that Antinam was the perpetrator, but now he turned into a protector of human civilization.This notion makes these people quite resentful.

In other words, some people do not recognize Antinam's status as the "new god".And Antinam itself and the Church of the past have never dealt with these opponents in a strict and radical manner, so the latter became more rampant and determined.

They firmly believed that Antinam should not have achieved the status he has now.

Siles used to be very troubled by this thought.After all, even if these people think that Anti-Nam should not be called a god, Anti-Nam has power after all, right?After all, there are countless believers, right?

These opponents, don't they really worry about being defeated by angry gods and gods' believers?

But as Siles gradually understood the world, he also gradually understood the root of this mentality.

It's because of the old gods.

Antinam is the new god, even though he is the only god today, but he has only appeared for 400 years.And what about the old gods?In that distant, long, grand past time, the old gods ruled the world.

How can the short 400 years compare with the past?

Moreover, the power of the old gods still exists in this world in some way.People, especially the Revelation, are still under the shadow of the old god - not the "shadow".

Antinam couldn't solve this problem either.Anti-Nam couldn't solve many problems in this world - fog, pollution, out of control - completely in an instant like a real god.

So there will naturally be a group of people, even though they have received the favor of Anti-Nam, even though Anti-Nam's blessing has allowed them to be born, they are still angry.

And a rather ridiculous thing is that Anti-Nam can't compete with the "past", but his godhead is precisely the "past".Perhaps it was the past of Fischer's world that shaped the god Antinam, so how would he defeat the "past"?

Beat yourself?

Siles stared silently at the Bishop opposite him.

And Grosvenor saw Siles nodding, and said: "Now that you know, let me briefly explain. In the past, there have always been people like this.

"They may be with the followers of the old gods, or they may be just ordinary enlighteners. They always have a feeling of hostility and loathing to my god in their hearts.

"I can't understand this kind of emotion. However, my god has not been particularly concerned about this matter. In the past many years, we have not had time to take care of so much... After all, we have many things that need to be done.

"However, in recent years, this situation has intensified. Perhaps because 400 years have passed since the Age of Fog, some people can't bear it and dare not continue to bear it.

"Or perhaps, as the mists faded, people gradually realized that the time of the Old Gods had passed; but some could not believe it.

"In addition, Duke Const's Blight Wasteland development plan is also a problem. This matter puts a fact in front of some people, that is, the Land of Eternity is no longer a horrible, terrible place that was ruled by the old gods. A place of shadows.

“It’s a fertile ground that needs to be developed urgently.

"Everything tells them times have changed. So, they're going to do something about it."

Grosvenor's voice was rather deep.It can be seen that even though Antinam doesn't care about these things, his followers are still angry at the existence of those who challenge the authority of the gods.

Siles nodded, and he said, "So, that apostate..."

"Hamlyn." Grosvenor whispered the name, "the apostate, Hamlyn. He used to be a priest I trusted a lot, and I even considered, after me, taking the bishop's position." Leave it to him."

Siles looked at Grosvenor, and after a while, he said, "But he betrayed you."

"I also betrayed my god." Grosvenor sighed, showing a tired expression, "I... I can't understand this situation. However, according to our follow-up investigation, it is very likely that he There was disagreement from the beginning, rather than a sudden change of concept recently.”

Siles nodded.He thought that Hamlin might have been a secret agent sent to the Church of the Past by certain people from the very beginning.

but……

Siles frowned, and asked a little confused: "So, those people behind Hamlin, are they...?"

He knew that Hamlin was an apostate, someone who stood on the opposite side of Antinam.

However, it is impossible to clearly describe the true purpose and position of this group of people in the category of Anti-Nam's opposite, and they each have their own ulterior motives.

They may be believers of "shadows", believers of some old gods, or a combination of the two, or they may not believe in gods at all, but they just don't like Anti-Nam.

In this case, only if they have a clear understanding of the true identities of this group of people can they completely solve it.

Like what happened at Hales House.It seems that they have dealt with the followers of Huddoka, but in fact, the followers of "Shadow" are still secretly observing the progress of this matter.It's not over yet.

Grosvenor pondered for a while, then said, "We think they should be followers of the Old Gods, but..." He hesitated, and then added, "However, their beliefs seem rather vague."

"Fuzzy?" Siles couldn't help being confused by such a statement.

Grosvenor nodded, and then said: "In other words, we can't sum up a very typical image of followers of the old gods from their performance, especially Hamlin's performance, so we can't determine what their beliefs are. Which old god."

Sirius nodded slowly.

He suddenly realized that the situation seemed to be the same in the running group script.

He has never been quite sure which god in Fisher's world the "evil god" that the apostate Hamlin and his party want to resurrect corresponds to in the script, because the description of that concept is quite vague, and it seems to be just a certain Evil, mysterious gods.

Which god is it?

Fisher's world has thirteen old gods, countless weak gods, and later gods like "Shadow".

The "evil god" in the running group script must correspond to a specific god, just as those character cards correspond to a real person in this world.Siles tended that this evil god might be a "shadow", but he still felt that it didn't quite fit.

After all, the "shadow" always seems to be hidden in the dark, and his followers are quite unobtrusive, such as the mysterious Mr. Dreyson, who stayed in Hales House for so long, but no one left him. What impression do you make.

However, in the running group script, in order to revive the evil god, these people did terrible things.

Dice also told him before that the script of running a group is a preview of fate.In other words, that was something that could really happen in reality, but the arrival of Siles changed everything.

However, this does not fit well with the concept of "shadow".

What's more, "Shadow" is still receiving sacrifices from the island residents on the Sea of ​​Furiou, and he is still alive and well. Why does this group of people have an inexplicable "resurrection"?

There's clearly something wrong with this.

...Could it be that this group of believers doesn't know the current situation of the gods they believe in?

However, Knight Commander Benyan had said before that the apostate Hamlin was related to some people from the Sea of ​​Foley.That is likely to be the inhabitants of those isolated islands in the Sea of ​​Foley.

Those residents will always offer sacrifices to the "Shadow" when the sea storm is approaching, so it's impossible not to know the situation of the "Shadow", right?

Thinking about it, Sirius felt a headache.He felt that this matter involved too many people and too many clues, and these clues were gathered in front of him in a messy and irregular manner.

He wanted to try to pull out a clear thread, but as soon as he pulled out a thread end, a lot of other thread balls rolled out together.This is not a good thing.

Grosvenor added: "It is because we still have doubts about the Hamlin matter that we want to investigate the Folio Sea matter. But now, this matter may only be discussed in the long term."

Siles nodded, and then he understood.

In the past, the information the church asked from Hamlin was probably not clear, so Knight Commander Bunyan went to Middleton to seek help from Bishop Elizabeth.

However, Middleton's situation is quite different from Const's.Therefore, this matter can only be put on hold for now.Of course, Siles knows that all this is not over yet, and more complicated situations will definitely arise.

Regardless of this matter, Siles is quite curious about one thing.

He asked: "So, Mr. Bishop, if you don't mind...I'm very curious, how did you find out about Hamlin the Apostate and the Folio Sea?"

Grosvenor was taken aback, then smiled, and said, "You really like research. We used a special ritual called [Traveling Back], which used to be the domain of Lygardia's power.

"The function of this ceremony is to find the possible destination of this soul. Of course, it can only be used when this person is about to die or not long after death.

"The enlightener who uses this ritual will get a very wonderful induction, and will know the 'place to go' of the soul of the ritual target. The corresponding location of Hamlin's soul is the Sea of ​​Foley in the north .”

Siles was a little surprised to learn this.

This ritual can only be used when someone is dying or not long ago, in other words, Hamlin the Apostate is probably dead.This was not what Siles expected.The church of the past may vent its long-suppressed anger on this apostate.

Siles had no idea on the matter.He believed that revenge was, after all, human.

However, this ceremony made him feel quite delicate.This proves once again that Lygardia's so-called "journey" does not just refer to tourism.Furthermore, this once again has a stark reference to death.

In addition to this matter, Siles also thought that the church in the past showed another ritual that belonged exclusively to Lycardia.And the [Akamala's Spectacle Frame] he had obtained from the Church of the Past was equally subtle.

Lycardia and Akamala.With Antinam.

These three gods seem to be quite close, at least they have a good relationship. Otherwise, Siles would not understand why the Church of the Past could have so many related rituals and timings.

Of course, the answer to this question might just be: after all, there is only one god, Anti-Nam.

Grosvenor checked the time, and did not continue the conversation with Siles.Afterwards, Siles bid farewell to Grosvenor and found Catherine Kinsey's office under his guidance.

Catherine changed into the dress of a female knight again.She greeted Siles, and then handed a stack of documents to Siles.

Catherine said: "I just want to leave the church to do some business. You can read it here, and just put the information on my desk when you leave. Please don't take these materials with you. In addition, try not to disclose this information to outsiders."

Siles nodded and said, "I understand."

Catherine seemed to feel that he still didn't understand, so she added: "It's not that this information needs to be kept secret from you, but that the information is still quite vague and uncertain, so its authenticity cannot be guaranteed."

"Is it some investigation conducted in the past?" Siles couldn't help but think of Professor Kabell's paper, which also mentioned many unsolved and mysterious cases that had been stagnated for many years.

In fact, the massacre of the Darrow family can also be said to be one of them. After all, until now, Siles has not seen any hope of solving this case——Marina Kailan, this mysterious woman, has never heard of it until now. Leaked whereabouts.

"Yes." Catherine added at the same time, "but those investigations failed to yield a reasonable result. I can only say...that it has something to do with the female knight. In addition...it was because of this search that I found out , which also have some commonalities.”

Sirius was aroused by the words.

Catherine glanced at the time and said, "Then I'll go first. Professor, you are free."

Siles said goodbye to her and thanked her, then sat on the reception sofa in this office, flipping through these materials with great interest.That wasn't really a lot, he glanced around and found that only three cases were mentioned.

That happened about 50 years ago, 30 years ago, and more than a decade ago.

Siles paid special attention to the timing, because it might bring some unexpected gains.

...he's pretty good at using his imagination now.

For example, is it possible that the case 30 years ago is related to Middleton's trip to sea more than 30 years ago?For another example, is the case more than ten years ago related to the great changes in the senior leadership of the Principality of Const 14 years ago?

He knew it might be far-fetched, but after all, some subtle things related to "shadow" happened at these two points in time, so he thought about it for a while.

As for 50 years ago, he couldn't think of any possibility.

After thinking for a while, Siles withdrew his attention, carefully read the relevant facts of these three cases, and unexpectedly discovered that these three incidents have quite obvious commonalities.

A man in the costume of a female knight was exposed in the wilderness.

The places where they died were somewhat different. The corpse appeared in the sewer 50 years ago, in Mount Hughes in the southern suburbs 30 years ago, and in the wilderness in the eastern suburbs more than ten years ago.

Sewers, Mount Hughes, Eastern Suburbs.Facing these three locations, Siles couldn't help frowning.

It occurred to him that, in fact, Brewer Darrow's body was turning up in the Eastern Suburbs.Is this a coincidence?Or, did someone deliberately throw Brewer's body there?

...And, hoping to awaken people's memories of a male corpse that also appeared in that area more than ten years ago?

Regardless of whether the behind-the-scenes purpose is this way, people have not thought of this after all.It was only now that Siles himself unexpectedly learned that a male corpse also appeared in the eastern suburbs more than ten years ago.

However, Brewer's body was naked, while the body from more than ten years ago was dressed in the costume of a female knight.

This difference is also suspicious.Maybe it was just a coincidence after all?

Siles read on.He focused on understanding the entire investigation process.

The investigation of the case 50 years ago was the most difficult.It was summer, and the corpses in the sewers were rotting and smelly, and this was discovered by people.And no clues could be found on the rotting corpses.

There is currently no such profession as a forensic doctor in this world—or rather, the closest thing to the concept of a forensic doctor on Earth is the ceremony that Sirius once watched at the House of Hales, [The Hand of the Butcher].

All in all, investigators didn't spend much time with the unidentified body at the time, especially after it had been around for a long time without any other relevant subsequent developments.

They additionally mentioned the issue of the "female knight" in the investigation records, and they were obviously quite confused about why the deceased was dressed like this, but they didn't find any relevant clues, so the matter was left alone.

When the body 30 years ago was discovered, the investigators at that time obviously also thought of the suspicious case 50 years ago.Unfortunately, they still haven't been able to find any clues.

The body was found by some people traveling to Mount Hughes.It was also a summer at that time. Due to the extremely hot temperature and continuous rain, this kind of weather completely destroyed the possible clues on the corpse.

Therefore, even if the investigators investigated the two cases together, they still failed to investigate any useful information.The only thing they found in common was that there were flower-like patterns on the dress of the female knight.

...Because the metal was corroded, people at that time did not know what kind of flowers were carved on the armor.

And now, Sirius knew it all too well—marigolds, didn't they?

That is the Bride of the Sun, who is also carved on the armor of the female knight by some caring people at this moment, as if implying something.

Wearing this costume will make you the Bride of the Stars?Siles was rather skeptical.It does, however, have something to do with Brewer Darrow's engagement, at least conceptually.

he got distracted