The world controlled by dice [Western Fantasy]

Friday, October 10.

At four o'clock in the morning, Siles and Qindo woke up from their dreams.

Today, Siles still hasn't made any progress in the dream, and the people he was looking forward to - Garrett Gielgud, Hed Dreyson, and Emile Harrison - didn't appear in the dream among.

This created a delicate stalemate, as if the three had to show up together and make progress together.

In contrast, Siles is more worried about the situation of the emir.He considered whether it was necessary to write a letter to the old painter, Emile's grandfather, Alden Bridges.

Justification can be readily available.

Siles still kept some contact with the old painter, and occasionally he would write to Alden, asking for some relevant academic knowledge, or sharing some information in the art field.

Just a few days later it was time for the academic team from Kansas to visit, and he might use this reason to write a letter to Alden.He was really worried about the situation over there.

So, after they got up, Siles first went to the study to write the letter to Alden.

In the letter, he mentioned the issue of the academic team in Kansas, and the fact that the Lamifah University will establish a School of Fine Arts (this matter is now almost known to everyone), and at the end of the letter, he seemed to inadvertently ask about the recent Mill's academic record.

…For a moment, he thought ironically, maybe they each knew about the existence of the shadow believers, but now they had to talk in such an evasive manner.

I don't know if the shadow believers will know the existence and content of this letter, but the birthday of the god is not far away, and there is no need for him to continue to hide his clumsiness now.This is already the moment when the picture is empty.

Rather, the shadow believer might secretly feel contempt because he is so "slowly" aware of the problems of the Bridges family.Siles hoped they would keep their contempt till the end.

Just as he was thinking, Qin Duo came to the third floor and knocked on the door of the study.

"What's wrong?" Sirius asked after recovering.

"Mr. Postman is here to deliver the letter." Qin Duo shrugged and said, "You can hand over your letter to him and let him take it to the carriage house along the way."

"Okay." Siles said, and he put the letter in an envelope, and then went downstairs with Cendo.

Qin Duo always maintained a subtle expression, until Siles handed the letter to Mr. Postman, his expression did not change.

This made Sirius give him a slightly strange look.

"Uh... well, I have to admit, after hearing about your paradise, I find these papers strange." Qin Duo spread his hands, "I can't control this thought."

Siles couldn't help laughing, he said: "It's not my paradise yet, I haven't become a god yet. So these papers are just ordinary papers."

"That's about the same." Qin Duo came over and kissed Sirius affectionately.He involuntarily breathed a sigh of relief, like this kind of kiss, and the temperature on Sirius' lips, finally made him feel calm and... "everything as usual".

"...does it disturb you that I become a god?" Sirius was a little confused.

For a long time, Qin Duo seemed to worship him like a god.He's used to Qin Duo's attitude, but now it's quite novel.

"It's not uneasy, of course I believe in you." Qin Duo whispered, "but it will indeed be a little different. At the same time, I feel a little excited. I will witness you become a god and follow you to that new era... everything Seems like everything will change.”

"But it won't change that much," Siles said. "Like us."

Qin Duo was stunned for a moment, his emerald green eyes gradually showed a bright smile.He said: "Yes...you're right. 'We' will never change."

Siles kissed his lips, and then said, "Then let's see the letter that Mr. Postman delivered?"

There was a hint of shock in Qin Duo's eyes, as if Sirius didn't choose to deepen the kiss at this moment, but chose to check the letter.

But he could only mutter and complain in a low voice: "Okay, okay...the letter."

It was a letter from the Praia family.

The address of 99 Kelly Street is not actually on the envelope, which means Mr. Postman dropped by.

Qin Duo tore open the envelope, unfolded the letter and read it.Siles went to the kitchen to bring out the breakfast for the two of them.

By the time he walked out of the kitchen with two dinner plates, Qin Duo had finished reading the letter.He said with great interest: "A good news or a bad news, which one do you want to know first?"

Why is this kind of question popular in both the earth and Fisher world?Siles couldn't help thinking in his heart.

He said, "Bad news."

"Then..." Qin Duo casually put the letter paper on the table, and said, "The Fillmore family placed a huge order for a hat factory, and they expect to deliver the goods after God's birthday."

"... hat factory?" Siles was indeed a little surprised.

"Yes." Qin Duo nodded, "Because of your guess about hats, the Praia family has been paying attention to the sales of hats in the city recently, but overall there is no major change.

"But yesterday they noticed that the employees of the hat factory were very excited - a gentleman postman happened to be there to deliver the letter - and after inquiring, they found out that they had just got a huge order, and of course they were very excited.

"The order is from the Fillmore family, because Mr. Postman sent a letter from the Fillmore family, and the envelope is from the bank, probably for a deposit.

"...At the same time, it is also because there is news from inside the factory, and the Fillmore family doesn't seem to ask them to keep it secret.

"In short, this factory is fully engaged in production, and the batch of hats will be in the hands of the Fillmore family after God's Birthday... It is not certain what they ordered the hats for, but maybe..."

"Perhaps it's for their plan, isn't it?" Siles said in a low voice, "They've been ready in the morning."

According to Siles' speculation, the hat most likely points to Trisley's contamination.

Trisley's pollution makes people imagine that their bodies have mutated, mutating in the direction of plants or (possibly including) animals.This kind of imagination may only stay in the brain at first, but it may eventually become a variation in the actual sense.

Many of the mutated creatures born of the mist apparently came from this way.

When this kind of pollution is still in the imaginary stage, human beings can still retain a certain amount of reason at this time, but the uncontrollable illusion will make them instinctively want to wear a hat, as if this can cover up and stop pollution. To survive the variation of the body.

In theory, rituals of "reincarnation" could combat this pollution.

But the embarrassing thing is that the pollution of the Kanla River may have completely polluted the residents of Lamifa City in the past 14 years. That pollution may be subtle, and these humans may not be aware of it.

This kind of stubborn, difficult to get rid of, and no one is even aware of the pollution, will also stick to it when they use the "self-recovery" ritual.

In other words, the "self" that the revelators reproduced may have carried the pollution of Trisley without knowing it.

In this case, if you really want to reproduce yourself, it may be counterproductive and even make the situation worse.

Siles believes that this is the reason why shadow followers know the existence of the "self-reappearance" ritual, but they are still calm.Because even the "self-reappearance" ceremony cannot erase the influence of time.

In addition, Siles can indeed use the power of judgment to completely remove the pollution suffered by the residents of Lamifa City.

But on the one hand, this approach will obviously expose the true situation that he possesses the power of "fate", at least it will make "Shadow" doubt this.

Siles wanted "Shadow" to think that he had illusory powers, or inherited Antinam's powers, or whatever.He didn't want to expose his power related to "fate" at this moment.

On the other hand, he has never tried a judgment of this order of magnitude before, and perhaps it will cause him to be equally polluted—this kind of equivalence he has heard from Qiuqiu before, and the change of the past time will definitely be rejected. Things that the long river of time eats back.

He doesn't believe in the power of fate. There is no corresponding saying here. Wouldn't "changing fate" be backlashed by fate?It's just that he hasn't judged too many people in the past, so the power of this backlash is very weak.

...but he still remembered that Dice had mentioned "dust on the soul" to him.

At that time, he thought that it might be because he went to the Dark Sea, so he might be contaminated with the so-called "dust".But after that, he went to the Sea of ​​Darkness and the Universe of Gods several times, but he didn't see any dust from the dice.

Therefore, Siles secretly suspected that the so-called "dust on the soul" was likely to be weakly counterattacked by the power of fate because he judged the fate of others.

After all, he is not the god of fate. Even though he uses the power of fate through dice, even though his will is already quite high, there is a price to pay for using power.

... On this issue, Qin Duo is better.The power of Lycardia has always flowed in the blood of the Praia family, which is what they were born with, and it is their own power.

It's just that the blood of Lygardia can never cross the boundary between humans and gods, and can only "use" rather than "own" this power.

All in all, there is a high probability that shadow believers intend to use some method to stimulate and deepen this terrible pollution on the birthday of God, and welcome the arrival of "shadow" with this terrible doomsday picture in Lamifa City.

And Siles naturally intends to stop them - to stop them from the source, so that they don't take such actions.

Siles doesn't want this kind of pollution to really happen, so that people really think that they will mutate in the direction of animals or plants.

Qin Duo sighed, he showed a puzzled expression, and said: "'Blooming head'... To be honest, the most incomprehensible thing for me is, do shadow believers think this is very fashionable? I really can't agree with them aesthetics."

Siles laughed, mocking Cendo's cold and playful sarcasm.

However, he is actually quite clear that the brains and concepts of shadow believers are already difficult to describe in the general sense of human beings.They have completely become the slaves of the "Shadow", the antithesis of civilization.

The thought actually weighed on Sirius, not relieved.

He turned to ask, "So, what's the good news?"

"The good news is about the academic visiting team in Kansas." Qin Duo said, "Their identities are quite innocent and simple. I'm afraid they have nothing to do with shadow believers. They are indeed just conducting normal academic visits."

Siles nodded, and asked again: "About their delay?"

"I'm afraid it's because of the bad weather in Kansas recently. It is said that Kansas has been raining heavily in the first half of October this past." Cindo said.

"This is a bit strange." Siles couldn't help saying.

The climate in Kansas is actually much better than Conster's.But... Then again, with the dissipation of the fog in the Land of Never Embers and the Fuliou Sea, the climate conditions in the surrounding countries will always change.

Especially in today's days when the fog changes frequently, of course such weather changes will be equally frequent.

In any case, Siles was relieved by the innocence of the academic team.He really didn't want to meet any special changes at this juncture.

Of course, the academic team was completely fine when they were in Kansas, but what happened to them after they came to Ramifa City will be another matter.Siles still wanted to keep this group of scholars out of the way as much as possible.

After breakfast, the topic related to this letter came to an end.They went to La Mifa University together to deal with some university affairs-the time was near the end of the term, and Mr. Cindo, the teaching assistant, began to grumpily face the students' terrible homework again.

What's even more frightening is that when facing the students' homework, his rage may be stronger than when facing the "shadow"...

At noon, they still settled for lunch at Ramifah University.The afternoon is the usual time for club activities.

This is also the last club event for this semester.

If he looked back at this semester, then Siles would think that the time of this semester passed unexpectedly quickly.He thinks the most important reason is that he is more or less absent-minded.

Inevitably, he focused most of his attention on solving the "Shadow" and Shadow worshipers.At the beginning, it was to investigate many things in the city of Lamifa, and later, it was also to solve the many troubles in Fisher's world after the "Shadow" escaped.

Fortunately, on the side of Ramifa University, his academic pressure is not as high as that of the previous academic year.

And the administration was shared by Gindo and the ghost—yes, the ghost; Lygardia's ghost paired with Akamala's puppet was perfect for this kind of administration—helping.

He was not less busy, and time naturally passed by.

Students inevitably mentioned many topics about graduation in this club activity.They had discussed it at the beginning of the semester, and after a semester of course work, they also had a deeper understanding of their future.

The pressure is naturally inevitable, but they also have more certainty about the future.

They naturally mentioned topics related to the October Fair and the uniqueness of the October Fair this time—whether it is [smart fans], delivery services, or the strange, daily-updated booklet, It made them feel very surprised and surprised.

They even mentioned the surname Langmeer, as if Langmeer took advantage of this market to gain a lot of fame for himself among the residents of Lamifa City.

They also mentioned a play, the story of Miss Garland.

A student turned to Siles and said, "Professor, I didn't know that this adapted play was about to be released. I didn't expect to see related news in that brochure."

"There are a lot of similar news." Angela couldn't help but said, "That booklet is almost becoming a 'newspaper' that people must read recently!"

The students naturally discussed this topic enthusiastically.Young people are the easiest to accept these new things.

As far as Siles knew, some of his acquaintances, especially the older ones, showed a subtlety about the pamphlet that Langmeer had invented—news, merchandise list, order list, and so on. scrutiny attitude.

Of course they also use it, and even read it with great interest for a while, but they also have a subtle sense of strangeness, because it is really far from their past life, and it makes them feel very strange.

But the young people are quite different. The young people are excited and enthusiastic, looking through this thing with almost novelty and excitement, and then... want to buy this and that.

This situation is quite common.Every time Siles saw the different attitudes shown by different people, he felt that the future of this world might also be coming unknowingly.

But at this moment, he thought of Miss Garland's story.

In the past few weeks, he has promoted in various ways, please different people.

First of all, it is naturally the merchant Ranmeer.The brochures for the October fair are a natural channel of publicity.In addition, Ranmeer is also very happy to provide some small help for his son.

Secondly, after the publisher Benton heard the relevant news, he also asked the newspapers and publishing houses he was familiar with to promote it in newspapers or magazines.

In addition, nobles like Mrs. Fuller, Angela, and Dorothea, businessmen like Bertram and the noble lady, and young people like Aneurin, Jules, and Lorenzo are also in their respective fields. The matter of this play was mentioned in the circle.

Especially for someone like Aneurin, he might mention Miss Garland incidentally when contacting some acquainted revelators.

Finally, at the Ernestine Tavern and Geisha Grocery Store, they naturally also arranged related publicity matters.Even when those delivery personnel go to deliver the goods, they will intentionally or unintentionally mention a word to the customers.

This is the channel from Siles.In addition, at Carlos Langmire's place, of course, it was also advertised through relevant notices in the theater district and so on.

All in all, they tried their best to ensure that the performance of this show would be known to the residents in the city, so as to achieve the goal that Siles wanted.

It's also worth noting that the play will eventually be staged at the Lancelot Theatre.Carlos was pissed off by this before.

When he learned what had happened at the Lancelot Theatre, he couldn't help but feel cheated and fooled.So he very much wants to stage this story that he has painstakingly worked on on other stages.

If it was staged at the Lancelot Theatre, it would always remind Carlos of the accident 34 years ago, which made him feel very unlucky and uneasy... for fear that the previous tragedy would repeat itself.

But unfortunately, he failed to find a suitable stage in the end.

On the one hand, as the public opinion related to the homicide in the theater district gradually subsided in early August, the theater district began to reopen to the public.Maybe people are already suffocated. As the weather gradually cools down, people are willing to wander around in different theaters and watch different plays.

This booming business naturally made the owners of the theater very happy. They filled up the repertoire performance time on the stage. Where did they have the time to pay attention to Carlos' request?

On the other hand, Miss Garland's story was staged on the day of God's birthday, which was also a Saturday, a day of rest for people.

Theaters had planned the day early in the morning.Even those who have not made a decision are not willing to arrange such a brand new play at such a good time, which is quite risky.

So in the end, Miss Garland's story will still be staged at the Lancelot Theatre.This seems to be a matter of fate.

Carlos Ranmier recovered from a moment of depression, mainly because he had a presentiment that the story would be popular, especially with young children.

For young children, those "grown-up plays" with a strong tone are not their favorite thing.As for the theater district of Ramifa City, due to various reasons, it has always maintained this "adult" style.

But Miss Garland's story has not been fully oriented to adults since its birth.Although Siles did include many metaphors in it, the protagonist of this story is a young girl after all.

Adults instinctively reject such stories.However, they had to hold their noses and agree to their child's request.

...In fact, in Siles' view, among all the publicity, the one that got the most unexpected results may be the publicity of the Geisha Grocery Store.Because it also happens to be geared toward kids.

Young children will pay attention to this show, just like the children on the earth are always watching TV or mobile phones, looking forward to their favorite film and television works.Children's expectations are always very enthusiastic.

Of course, for Siles, what he was most concerned about was the number of people who knew about the performance of this show, and even knew about Miss Garland's related stories.

He needs as many people as possible to get involved with it—to have a "conceptual relationship" with this adventure that happened in the dream.

He needs to let as many people as possible enter the dream at that moment.It can even be said that he hopes that everyone in Lamifa City will enter the dream at that time, even the shadow believers.

That will clear the field.That gave him a chance to come face to face with The Shadow without worrying about hurting innocents.

...that's what he's been thinking all along.

Qin Duo was always worried about this.Of course, his main concern is Siles'...combat ability.

But Siles thinks that Qindo doesn't need to worry about this, because "Shadow" doesn't seem to be very capable, considering that this god has been bound by the soul of Amois for at least hundreds of years...

...Uh, although it sounds like a joke, Siles really thinks so.

In addition, if this can really be done, then no matter what happens on the birthday of the gods, the power of illusion will give them a chance to redeem, as long as people really take that common dream as reality.

That's why Sirius needed Cindo to go to that huge dream as well.

but……

The club's activities ended soon, and a few students who knew what might happen on God's birthday stayed tacitly, probably wanting to take this opportunity to chat with Siles.

They're obviously worried, nervous, and probably not even in the mood to prepare for final exams and final week.

Sirius should have said something to calm them down, but right now he was sinking into a subtle... familiarity.

He pondered for a long time, then murmured, "It's God's birthday."

Qin Duo and several other students looked at each other in blank dismay.

... Qin Duo felt that his beloved god's thoughts were really jumping more and more recently.

"'God's Birthday'." Sirius looked at Angela and Dorothea, "Doesn't this concept make you feel familiar?"

Angela and Dorothea looked at each other, and saw the familiar blankness in each other's eyes.

Siles reminded, "Think about last year?"

Angela's eyes widened suddenly, and she even exclaimed.She said, "The eve of God's birthday!"

On her calf, there is even now a tiny scar from being accidentally scratched by a knife in the palace kitchen that night.

At this time last year, when Grayson Foods had bewitched most of the residents in the city, they always thought that if the followers of the old gods were going to do something, they would definitely choose the day of the god's birthday.

But in fact, the followers of the old god suddenly attacked on the eve of the god's birthday.

Nowadays, they are also paying attention to "the day of God's birthday", thinking that the shadow believers will also be determined to do something at that time.But what if the day of the god's birthday is not so precise?

What if it was another "God's Birthday Eve"?

Siles couldn't confirm this, but he did have to consider the possibility, as if what happened last year was all over again.Otherwise, they may have missed the opportunity to turn the tide.

He didn't think that the shadow believers would delay the matter until after the birthday of the god, and that would not serve their purpose against Anti-Nam.

However, if you do something on the eve of God's birthday, and then make the dawn of that day usher in unprecedented darkness and shadows... that sounds quite in line with the style of shadow believers, doesn't it?

Siles sighed to himself, reminding himself that he had to start getting nervous from that Friday—the next Friday.

As they talked, the expressions of the other students became serious.They immediately understood Siles' concerns and thoughts, and began to worry.

And Siles came back to his senses, looked at their appearance, thought for a while, and then said in a very calm tone: "However, if I remember correctly, you seem to have to welcome a new year next Friday. a test?"

students:"……"

Their expressions froze in unison.

Qin Duo couldn't help laughing out loud.

Although he was very irritable when grading homework and papers, it didn't stop him from laughing at the students at this time, right?

Soon, the students left in twos and threes.They still looked very worried, but it was hard to say whether this worry was due to the group of followers of the old god who were about to move, or the more imminent, their exams.

Siles and Qindo were not in a hurry to leave. He slowly flipped through the eight-petal rose paper to see if there was any new news.

What he was looking forward to more was the news from Detective Jon.

After their meeting with Jon yesterday afternoon, Jon naturally took their guess that "David may have been involved in the Grayson incident" to test David's knowledge of Jeremy Forbes' death again.

Now that a day has passed, Siles is quite curious whether there is any progress in Jon's investigation.

They whiled away a little time in the classroom, sheltered from a drizzle outside.When they were about to leave, new handwriting actually appeared on the eight-petal rose paper. 【The Invisible Pen】brought the latest progress on Jon's side.

"...

"Well, Professor, please excuse my handwriting which has become somewhat scribbled with excitement. Also, this is going to be a long letter, so please make sure there is enough ink on the paper.

"Anyway, I went to inquire about the businessman David Babbitt's schedule yesterday afternoon, and then successfully stopped this guy at a club at noon today.

"At first he was unwilling to admit it, and even said he would call the police, because of my harassment of him these days... Heh.

"But it really didn't occur to him that we had already guessed his connection to the Grayson incident. My sudden mention of the Grayson incident shocked him and exposed his weakness.

"Obviously, he didn't want to get ripped off at all. It was so far away for him that he almost forgot about it, especially a year after the Grayson incident.

"So in the end, we sat down and had a good chat. He really wanted to hide his connection with Jeremy Forbes, and I could even tell he didn't want anything to do with the Fillmores at all.

"...Of course, for his expectation, I have to say that it may be completely in vain. He may not realize that he has been quite deeply polluted. But I don't have the kindness to remind him to Learn about the ritual of 'Reincarnation'.

“Then it’s time to get to the point.

"There are three main things he finally admitted: that he did give the portrait to Boleyn Elgar, that he told Elgar that he could contact the circus in the Never Embers, and that, in 8 He did meet Jeremy at the chamber of commerce on Wednesday the 14th.

"Things related to the Grayson incident can be put together.

"In David's description, he almost shirked his responsibility completely. He pointed out that he had no idea what the painting and the circus represented at the time. It was only after the Dongchuang incident that he realized it. , and was terrified half to death.

“He said he was just doing Jeremy Forbes a favor. Jeremy asked him to deal with Bolling Elgar and ask him to falsely claim he had a painting before reselling it to Elgar add.

"David said that Jeremy had provided him with a large order before, and that money had allowed him to live a rich life in the city, so he decided to help Jeremy with this. The whole process, he was actually just As a middleman, Jeremy will do what he says.

"David didn't really know where the painting came from.

"He said he just got the painting from Jeremy Forbes, and he didn't even see the real face of the painting, he just got a safe and sent the safe to Elgar over there.

"At this point, I don't think he's lying. If he had actually seen that painting, he wouldn't be as sane now. Think of Boleyn Elgar and Clarence Dwight at the time The performance, those two people have gone completely insane.

"As for the circus, David provided quite interesting information.

"He said he didn't understand why Jeremy Forbes gave such a hint. In fact, the circus-related things appeared a little later than the painting. At that time, David even forgot that he was still with Elgar dealt.

"Maybe because of this, when Jeremy handed over the matter to him and asked him to remind Elgar that the circus can come to Lamifa City to contribute to their career, David couldn't help being curious. asked why.

"David said that Jeremy's answer made him uneasy, even terrified. So after that, he thought of slowly disassociated himself from the Fillmore family.

"Jeremy's answer was, 'Because the circus holds an unknown power, we need to take a closer look.' And what Elgar and the others did was just the right opportunity for them to study this A strange force.

"That kind of interesting statement with a subtle and playful tone made David feel that the man in front of him seemed to be no longer a 'human being', or that he didn't regard the circus as a 'human being' up.

"...I have to admit, Professor, although David is not a good guy, he is at least a person. He did feel uneasy and nervous because of this matter, and it is precisely because of this matter that he finally chose to be in the Be honest with me.

"It's been on his mind for too long. Maybe he wanted death to bury it, but we happened to show up, so he finally chose to be honest.

"Thus, I realized David's sternness. I thought, even if I didn't threaten him with his connection to the Grayson incident, after tossing and turning, he might take the initiative to contact me and explain that he is the Fillmore family. do those things.

"This may be his repentance.

"In short, the connection between the circus and the concepts of 'pleasure', 'play', 'banquet', etc. is just a cover. The real purpose of the shadow believers is just for the wonderful power mastered by the circus... In other words, what is it? What kind of power is it?

"David certainly didn't know anything about the subject. We talked about his last meeting with Jeremy Forbes afterward.

"As you might guess, David went to Jeremy for the attempted murder at the trade fair. But he wasn't really looking for an apology. He even questioned what Jeremy was up to.

"Because David didn't know it was going to be a murder.

"Before Jeremy just asked him to provide the name of a porter, or other people who worked with David, especially those who might appear at the Ernestine Fair. Jeremy's statement is that it is possible to People help with something.

"David probably thought it was just... a message, or something. He didn't know anything about the conspiracy of the shadow believers—the most he knew was that Jeremy might represent a group of unknown old gods." followers.

"Of course, it can't hide his abetment. Although he had doubts in his heart, he did that favor and gave a name.

"But when the murder was going on, and when it was stopped, David was completely terrified. His horror after the incident was not faked.

"So after several days of panic and fear at home, he finally contacted Jeremy and wanted to meet Jeremy. The meeting place Jeremy finally gave was the chamber of commerce.

"According to David, Jeremy actually had other things to go to the chamber of commerce that day, so they just talked in a hurry for a few minutes.

"Faced with David's doubts and fears, Jeremy avoided talking. He was very impatient and told David to do his own thing and leave it alone - 'Don't worry about things that have nothing to do with you'.

"However, David