The sun is high

Under the midday sun, the huge clock tower located on the central axis of Salem City once again made its loud sound on time.

There are three bells in total.

The first beat was dedicated to the eternal sun god, thanking Him for witnessing the peace in Salem.

The second one was dedicated to the gentle March Goddess, thanking her for protecting the stability of Salem City.

The third tribute is dedicated to the armistice treaty signed here by the Kingdom of Votel and the Kingdom of Deland 299 years ago. Without it, there would be no current Salem City.

This is Salem City.

A neutral city that has been destined to be associated with war, contradictions and conflicts since its birth.

However, in the city of Salem today, it is difficult to see traces of war. Among the prosperous streets and buildings, there are sculptures and decorations with the theme of peace everywhere.

Everything is to commemorate the hard-won peace and the precious friendship between the two powerful kingdoms - even though these two behemoths have had several conflicts in the past two hundred and ninety-nine years. conflicted with each other, but luckily both were able to agree on their opinions in the end.

As the old proverb goes, "When Walter and Derain say hello to each other, there will be no storm in the world."

The special geographical location and special historical status give this small town a unique style. The area west of the central axis belongs to the Kingdom of Walter. The buildings here are as cold as blades, with most of them having sharp and cold lines and towering spiers. The streets The decorations on the walls are mostly gray and black.

The urban area east of the central axis belongs to the Kingdom of Delan. It is filled with all kinds of rich colors. Blue, green, and bright red and yellow decorate almost all the houses. Looking from a distance, people may even think that He came to the world-famous flower sea landscape of the Kingdom of Delan.

Those tourists who come here will regard such a scene as a wonder in the world. Those who have lived here for a long time have long been accustomed to enjoying the customs and culture from two different countries at the same time. Only those who are very suspicious will regard it as a wonder. The East XC area is regarded as the claws of two giant beasts testing each other...

Xiuge belongs to the last situation.

Now, he looked at everything in Salem City with the utmost malice instinctively.

On the streets, people can already be seen decorating their houses and hanging holiday flags. Those colorful flags, without exception, depict two hands holding each other tightly. This is used to celebrate the "Selen Armistice Agreement" Remembrance Day" flag.

"Armistice Day" is a very special holiday.

In order to commemorate the hard-won peace, Salem City will enter a strict blockade state ten days before the start of the "Armistice Celebration" every year, and no free entry or exit is allowed - Xiuge has personally verified this, Salem City's All gates are currently blocked, and as a civilian, he cannot be allowed to pass.

This state will last until the festival day, which is eight days later.

At that time, the heirs of the Kingdom of Votel and the Kingdom of Deland will arrive in Salem City at the same time. The two sides will meet and have friendly conversations under the big clock tower of Salem City, and once again reiterate their willingness for peace, and then the celebration will be announced. Officially begin.

It is said that this cumbersome process is designed to imitate the real situation during the armistice.

"Why don't I remember writing something like this?"

Xiuge reluctantly withdrew his eyes from the busy and happy residents, and began to re-examine the people and things in the tavern.

"Since Salem City has been sealed off and I can't leave easily, I have to come up with other ways."

Xiuge's eyes fell on the customers coming in and out and the female bartender Sally who was dealing with the guests, and his thoughts also followed.

In the past two days, he has been collecting as much information and intelligence as possible in Salem City. However, so far, Xiuge still knows nothing about the changes that will happen in the city in eight days. He has no idea about the future. Fear was like a deep black haze, weighing heavily on Xiuge's heart, making it difficult for him to breathe.

Xiuge stared at the cup on the table. The tea in the cup was swaying gently, and the light and shadow flashed in it, which was dazzling.

In this state, the chaotic sounds in the tavern seemed to become a little distant.

In order to solve the current predicament, Xiuge has "returned" to the strange world he saw after his death more than once. Although he never saw the strange figure in the black suit again, those places with various "prices" hanging on them The objects with "condition" still stay in place.

After walking around the entire office area, Xiuge found that most of the conditions in that world were beyond what he could afford and pay for now. The only thing that could be considered "cheap" was his workstation. of a locker.

He had repeatedly confirmed that on the front of the drawer on the penultimate floor, the words "twenty silver coins" were written in black mist.

It's a cheap-looking condition.

For those businessmen or wealthy families with a certain wealth, this can only be regarded as a small sum of money, but for those who are busy every day and night for their livelihood, twenty silver coins are enough to become a huge amount of money. Burdened.

In order to collect these twenty silver coins, Xiuge rummaged through the old house where he settled. In the end, he only managed to collect ten silver coins plus a bunch of scattered coins. This was what he did in this situation. Next, I still have to calm down and continue to write the reason why my body left behind.

"Tomorrow is the day to hand in the manuscript. The total reward is thirty silver coins..."

Xiuge silently calculated in his mind: "But if I use these silver coins to 'open' those cabinets tomorrow, it means that I have to waste almost a whole day. This is not a wise choice."

Thinking of this, Xiuge couldn't help but raise his head, his eyes drifting towards the dexterous figure spinning like a butterfly not far away between the dining tables.

Xiuge sighed: "I didn't expect that within three days of my arrival in this world, I would have to borrow money from someone."

…

"Twenty silver coins?"

The young and beautiful female bartender suddenly became cautious after hearing what Xiuge said.

In desperation, Xiuge had no choice but to explain: "Don't worry, Miss Sally, I can pay you back the money tomorrow...it's for urgent needs, and you should know that I don't have the habit of gambling or visiting 'Water Flower Street' …”

Sally wrinkled her nose: "Hey, who pays attention to this!"

Xiuge looked at her patiently, trying to make his expression and eyes appear as candid as possible.

Finally, the girl lost her battle while looking at each other, and she sighed: "Okay, okay, that's almost all my savings..."

While complaining, she went to the utility room next to the back kitchen and quickly retrieved a small, locked wooden box.

"For the sake of us being friends!"

Sally neatly pushed the wooden box into Shuge's hands. The weight passed from her hands made Shuge speechless for a moment.

The girl carefully studied the expression on the face of the young man in front of her, and then smiled with satisfaction, as if she had exchanged her large savings for something precious.

"Remember to pay me back tomorrow, Mr. Ernst, I know where you live!"

After saying these words, Sally left Shuge behind and returned to her work. She had only left for a while when someone in the tavern started to make a loud noise.

After getting what he wanted, Xiuge no longer planned to stay in the noisy beer hall, so he wrapped the heavy wooden box in his coat and left the pub with his manuscript that had yet to be refined.

As for the "escape version" promised to Schubert, he planned to discuss it in the evening.

It took him about half an hour to finally return to his residence. It was a small building with three floors. It was said that the Ernst family purchased it in Salem City nearly a hundred years ago. The specific reason was unknown. The only one Shuge knew was What's more, it has been abandoned here for a long time, so much so that there is even an unoriginal legend like "the ghost in Ernst's old house" among the people.

However, every time he returned to the old house, Xiuge felt that the legend had some truth to it. Whenever he walked among the old furnishings and walls, he would feel that he was the legendary ghost.

Although the old house was dilapidated, it was quite large. After returning here, Xiuge spent a lot of time closing and locking all the windows and doors. After that, he went to the bedroom on the second floor. , and then he lay down on the bed in a daze, hugging the heavy wooden box.

Soon, a faint feeling of sleepiness came over, so Xiuge closed his eyes obediently.

The moment he fell asleep, the dream of nothingness also came. An invisible and strange force acted on his body in a strange way, peeling off his spirit and leading him to another world.

Soon, a cold feeling reawakened Xiuge's consciousness. He opened his eyes suddenly, and those familiar desks and various equipment appeared in front of him again. However, in this oppressive darkness, He still saw no one else.

The heavy wooden box was right in front of him, so Xiuge stretched out his hand to open the wooden box, took out the twenty silver coins that the hard-working girl had accumulated, and squatted down in front of the table holding them.

Xiuge remembers the penultimate drawer of the locker very clearly. He used to use it to store some useless things, such as useless documents, replaced work cards, unused mobile phones, and those things that were too late to go. Redeemed moon cake and rice dumpling coupons.

The moment he stretched out his hand, Xiuge wanted to laugh for no reason.

He pinned his hope of changing his destiny and future on a drawer that he would never want to open, which made him feel somewhat ironic.

As the distance between Xiuge's palm and the line of text shortened, the silver coins lying in his palm began to faintly vibrate and buzz. Finally, when his palm stretched out in front of the floating black text, the change occurred. occur.

I saw those silver coins turning into fine dust amid the violent trembling, and then the strange words composed of black mist immediately changed. The original words disappeared, replaced by black tentacles suspended in the air. They swung rapidly, scrambling to find the silver coin powder floating in the air, just like the tentacles of an anemone busy filtering sea water in the ocean, swinging back and forth among the powder.

The predecessor of Shuge's body once served as an apprentice for two years in the Magic Academy of the Kingdom of Walter. Although during that time, like other apprentices, he was busy with various physical tasks and chores every day. But he has also seen many strange scenes. The memories that remain in his mind provide Xiuge with some confidence and prevent him from being too overwhelmed when witnessing these weird changes with his own eyes.

As a magician apprentice who wasted two years in the academy and was only allowed to learn two basic "tricks", Xiuge was very much looking forward to the changes in front of him.

"I hope my twenty silver coins can be exchanged for something useful...otherwise I will have to find another way."

Xiuge carefully looked at these black tentacles that were constantly swinging, as if observing the pets he kept. Under their activity, the silver-white powder made from exploding silver coins quickly disappeared, and then, These "fed and drunk" black tentacles also reunited, forming a spherical thick fog.

Then, the thick fog gradually dissipated.

Xiuge tentatively stretched out his hand towards the drawer. This time, he did not touch the invisible wall again, and his fingers successfully touched the handle of the drawer.

He suddenly felt that this scene seemed familiar.

Drawing cards when I play mobile games seems to be similar.

Thinking about it this way, he relaxed a little.

"It's a pity that there is no way to play songs now. Otherwise, at such an important moment, we would have to play some festive songs and then go wash our faces and hands..."

Xiuge smiled and shook his head. Then he stopped his thoughts, reached out and grabbed the handle of the drawer, and pulled it outwards.

Then Shuge regretted it.

The moment he opened the drawer, he saw a huge black mist erupting from the drawer. At this time, he was half kneeling on the ground and leaning forward. It was too late to dodge, so he was hit by the rich black gas. Submerged in it on the spot.

The next moment, the black mist suddenly shrank, forming a huge solid tentacle in Xiuge's horrified eyes. On this tentacle, countless shadows kept shaking, like huge suckers attached to the tentacles. .

In extreme horror, Xiuge quickly pulled back, but before he could take two steps back, the tentacle suddenly stretched out. It was like the arms and legs used by soft-bodied creatures to hunt prey, and moved with extremely rapid movement. The posture tightly entangled Xiuge's legs and waist, and the huge force made Xiuge's legs unable to move. Before he could make the next reaction and action, the huge tentacles tightened further, and then Then he raised Xiuge into the air.

"What the hell is this?!"

Shuge opened his mouth and roared silently.