Dow and Carbon-Based Monkey Breeding Guidelines

Chapter 1025: Inside the Wall (Part )

At some point afterwards, Jania fell asleep. Later, she thought it was incredible because it was impossible for her to sleep peacefully under the circumstances. Her relatives were missing, and she would soon enter a dangerous place, and she was accompanied by a mysterious person who could not be killed even with a bullet to the head. She should have been extremely alert and vigilant like an owl at midnight, but from another perspective, she had slept too little and thought too much in the past few days, and her nerves were tense in the past few hours. Therefore, it was not surprising that her eyelids were fighting when she sat in the seemingly safe and comfortable car and listened to the driver in front of her chattering in a hypnotic tone.

She was convinced that she had never fallen asleep too deeply, but just wanted to close her eyes and rest her mind, to take a short nap before the real dangerous action came, so that she could think more quickly. But in fact, she must have slept for more than a few minutes, because she had a very long dream. She couldn't tell when she fell asleep, because Chilabin's voice kept lingering in her ears, making her think she was still awake. He told her about the rituals and powers of the big monsters, how they looked down on the world they lived in, cause and effect, past and future, like a reader flipping through a magic book that would change at any time. They could even pick up a pen and scribble and modify it themselves, adding characters to the whole story, and moving the role of this person to that person, but every time they changed one place, the context of the whole book would change accordingly. They could not accurately foresee the results of such changes before modifying them, and when too many people could read and modify the book, the chain reaction caused by each other made things more complicated, so that even the most rough prediction became impossible. This is the disadvantage of co-creation, especially when everyone has different requirements for the final ending.

So, Jania continued groggily—she felt that she had not fallen asleep yet and was indeed talking to Chilabin who was driving, rather than dreaming that she was talking back—this was not reading at all, but more like playing some kind of multiplayer game, where everyone was a player and everyone was allowed to use cheat codes.

We are not. Chilabin seemed to refute her. Not all people are players, Liaotou. In fact, we are just part of the game, and the big monsters are the players. Our existence is only to make them have a richer experience, and they constitute the experience of the ultimate monster. Do you think this answer will make you happy, Liaotou? Are you willing to admit this fact?

This is bullshit, Jania replied. If she was still awake, she might have restrained herself a little, but at this time she was definitely close to the dream state, so her words became more emotional, and she no longer tried to think about the intention behind Chilabin's words. At the same time, like many dreamers, she felt that she had known everything very clearly and accurately from Chilabin's mouth - as for what this "everything" specifically meant, she couldn't say it at all when she recalled it later, so it was just an illusory cognition in a confused state.

We are totally unimportant. Chilabin said patiently, if we accept this theory, then we are not important at all. No matter what we do, to create, reproduce, conquer, kill... in the final analysis, it is to create "change", which is to create food for the monster. Is there any way to hit it? It seems that there is only one way that is logical, that is to do nothing.

Do nothing. Jania repeated, trying to convey her contempt for this conclusion with her tone alone. She stared at Chilabin's face - yes, she must have fallen asleep by now, because Chilabin was not driving but sitting across from her with a large square table between them - and declared that this was all ridiculous. For everyone to do nothing and for nothing to happen, wouldn't that be the heat death of the universe (or any similar concept)? Were they going to commit mass suicide over a giant invisible monster because they didn't want it to be the origin of the universe? What was the point of fighting for such a title? Whether the universe originated from a singularity, an abyss, a machine, or a monster, it had no effect on their current lives. If they had any reason to find out, it was for one motive - to make their own lives better, not to make their enemies' lives worse. They were working for what they already had.

In the dream, Chilabin listened to her opinions very carefully. He sat back in a chair, holding a bottle of ginger ale in his hand, the brand that Jania had drunk on the beach last time. The soda in the bottle was gone, but somehow a sea of ​​water filled it; while studying the schools of fish swimming in the bottle, Chilabin nodded repeatedly and explained to her why things had to be done this way. He spoke for a long time, and he seemed to speak very logically, in the usual style of a playwright. Jania listened there with her hands folded, and wrote down each of his arguments one by one. At that time, in the state of undoubted dream, she actually felt that every argument she wrote down was reasonable and crucial, and it was worth her effort to refute it. When she woke up and thought about it again, she was very puzzled, because the key words she could remember were extremely outrageous: shock therapy helps the stomach's rationality, the honor of the scenery is supreme, the stone must jump out of the tip of the hair...

In the dream, she wanted to continue the debate, but suddenly changed her mind. She realized that she was tired of this topic and there were more urgent issues to deal with. So she waved her hand quickly, and the soda bottle in Chilabin's hand was empty. I don't care what you want to do, she said to him, now I have to save my brother, Captain, we are sitting here to discuss the rescue operation, right? Why are we talking about these trivial matters?

Oh, Chilabin also shouted, I actually forgot, head! We have to go quickly... hurry up... time is running out, you have to see him immediately! Now it all depends on you. You ask me what to do? It doesn't matter, as long as you go, it will definitely be solved.

He was so sure, but suddenly Jania began to question this conclusion. She was disturbed by the fact that she had not done enough preparation: she had not packed her luggage, did not finish her homework, did not say goodbye to Hannah and her mother, did not fill Leo's automatic feeder with dog food, did not bring her mother's gun and Miss Anti's bread knife... How could she have become so careless? If she did not do these things well, what should she do when she got there? How would she deal with the enemy?

Chilabin produced a pocket watch from nowhere and kept looking at it. "It's too late, we're too late," he kept saying, "We have to hurry, boss. We have to set out immediately and can't sit still any longer."

I need a weapon! Jania yelled. But Chilabin reached out to pull her regardless. "Enough, enough!" He kept saying, "The weapon you have is definitely enough, it can solve the problem just right, as long as you do it right... Now we have to go, these people are not easy to talk to!"

His quick warning was like a light switch, lighting up the whole environment. Jania suddenly realized that they were still sitting in Guns N' Roses, surrounded by Maggie Wall's men, and Marty Tao was standing on the street outside the window, looking straight in, stepping on the hapless bakery owner, with his hand already under his coat. She realized what was going to happen next and quickly jumped up and sat on the table, blocking Chilabin.

Until this moment, Jania still didn't realize that she was dreaming, but she was strangely thinking that what was happening in front of her was very familiar, as if she had experienced it before. She shouted Miffy to the window, and the shouting shifted most people's attention to her. Someone reached into his pocket, but couldn't take the thing out immediately. Maggie Wall didn't want to hurt her, and she was now very sure that this was true because she had verified it once.

In the dream, this moment was infinitely prolonged, and the details were so detailed that she didn't really feel it: the damp and stuffy air in the store was blown by a fresh breeze, which came from outside when Matitao walked out of the store just now; Chilabin made a strange inhalation sound behind her, which sounded a bit like surprise, a bit like laughter, but not quite like fear; right in front of her sight, Matitao's lips opened slightly and shouted through the window: "Open the door--" Then he stopped, as if he realized it was too late. She was still staring at Jania, the gun in her hand gleaming in the sun, and she was still stepping on the person she had knocked down. The scene was framed in the window, like a deliberately choreographed shot.

Jania was deeply impressed by the scene she had seen, because she felt that it was very much like the scene a person would see before dying. Her heart was pounding, waiting for the next moment for the gunshot to sound, which would make her eyes go black like a screen with its power cord unplugged, or for Chilabin behind her to be the first to splatter blood on the spot.

In fact, death is not scary. She actually had time to think about this. Many ways of dying look much worse from an outsider's perspective than they actually are, because pain and nerve reactions take time. Take the matter of being eaten by zombies, for example. There are no pain receptors in the brain tissue anyway, so the torment area should be limited to damage to the meninges and scalp. Of course, this is only theoretical, and she has never really seen someone's brain being eaten alive - but recently she has been wondering from time to time what Luo De felt before his death. As for being shot in the head, that is even less painful. Before the pain nerves react, the person's soul has already escaped, but it would not look very decent to outsiders.

Thinking about this might be to help her eliminate her fear and withdraw from the crisis she was in. But when the muzzles of the guns of those people on the wall were pointed at her, she seemed to really think nothing, just observing as if it had nothing to do with her. The first person in the store to pull out a weapon was a man standing at the end of the porch. He stood at a rather subtle angle, and could hardly hit Chilabin's vitals, but could only hit Jania who was blocking in front; the weapon he pulled out also looked very strange, with a particularly slender launch tube, but the receiver was extremely short, Jania didn't even know if it should be called a gun.

She had no chance to judge from the bullets fired from this weapon. In the dream, just like what she had experienced in reality not long ago, the man had just raised his hand holding the gun to his chest and was about to raise it horizontally to shoot, but suddenly he stopped in place, like a vivid human statue, frozen in a state of motion by the creator's skillful hands. His facial muscles were completely stiff, but there was still surprise in his eyes, so Jania believed that he had not lost consciousness.

A shadow like a stream of air shot out from his feet. It was so fast that it was impossible to distinguish its shape. It would make people feel dizzy when eyes are tired, or the air distortion caused by cold and hot air currents. This shadow, in the real scene that actually happened, was not visible to Jania at all. She could only speculate Fina's movement trajectory at that time through subsequent observation, knowing that it sneaked in from the door, first attacked the nearest person, and then rushed to the corner with the most people.

She had long observed Fina's extremely unique and amazing color-changing ability, and knew that if it wanted to, it could be almost invisible when it was stationary, and even when it was running fast, it could roughly adjust to the same color as the environment, which was enough to make it difficult for people to catch it, so she had no chance to study how it moved so quickly on its four short legs. In her dream, she imagined its high-speed movement as a twisted and colorless smoke, bouncing around the entire store, occasionally floating in the shadows of the shelves or table legs, revealing a translucent facial outline, which looked a bit like the smile left over from the Cheshire cat before it disappeared every time.

In her dream, Jania vaguely understood the outcome of this conflict, so she had time to observe carefully. Chilabin behind her patted her on the shoulder: "Don't be careless, boss, there's another one outside." This sentence seemed to have really happened. She thought about it, and felt a little bit of admiration for him, or at least a little envy, because the fake playwright seemed to be really not afraid of any scene. In order not to lose out, she had to pretend to be accustomed to the ups and downs, while keeping her chin slightly raised and looking sideways to the left and right. This posture was learned from the most difficult old lady in the community, specifically to show her arrogance while taking in the gossip of the neighbors. She saw three other people by the wall: two stood diagonally in front of her, and the "reading girl" Pari was a little behind. They were all facing her, all holding weapons except for Parry; one of the weapons was a pistol that Jania was sure was loaded with gunpowder bullets, but the other was a strange-looking one that she had never seen in Malcolm's gun guide. Parry didn't have a gun, but only a small spray bottle in his hand, but the packaging was different from the color of the one that had knocked Anthony unconscious before.

Maggie Wall had equipped each of her men with a different weapon. Jania hadn't had time to think about it before, but in the dream, things seemed to slow down, allowing her to reexamine her memories. Why did she do this? She thought it might have something to do with Chilabin. Maybe Chilabin was hiding something, and it would take more than just two well-timed shots to kill him. She looked carefully at the weapons in each person's hand, wondering what they were used for. Unfortunately, she could only guess, because none of the four people in the room had a chance to actually use their weapons.

Fina's smoke flew around the store, and every time she passed a clumsy enemy, the enemy immediately became a stiff statue, with only eyes rolling around and funny and exaggerated expressions. None of this was real. Jania knew it very well. She remembered that the truth was that these people's reactions were actually very fast, and Fina subdued them in just one or two seconds; it must have run close to the corner and attacked their feet or calves one by one, so she had no chance to see the whole process clearly. Now the dream made up for her regret, allowing her to witness the moment of life and death again in her imagination. Afterwards, she found that the spray in Pari's hand was aimed at her, and it was difficult to figure out what was in it, but if she really inhaled a little at that time, even if it was not fatal, she would probably feel dizzy and even fall asleep until the next morning.

Jania remained sitting on the table, looking around at the frozen figures. She did not try to run over and take their weapons, because she had somehow foreseen the result (in fact, because she had tried it in real life). Fina's poison caused more than just paralysis or insensitivity, but a horrible stiffness. They were all holding their weapons so tightly that they could not even bend them. If Jania had forced them to disarm, she would probably have to break or even cut off several fingers. She might have done something similar in her childhood fantasies, but when the time came, she found that she was not ready, and the situation was too urgent, and she did not know whether Maggie Wall would send reinforcements.

She looked at the last remaining enemy. Matitao was looking at her through the window, his face a little pale, but not panicked at all, and he was obviously thinking about something. After witnessing how her accomplices lost their ability to move in an instant, it was completely wise for her not to rush in rashly, and it could actually be her advantage. As long as she kept her eyes on the store door, Fina wouldn't be able to easily deal with her like she did with the others. After she figured this out, the muzzle of the gun in her hand was no longer aimed at Jania, but pointed diagonally in the direction of the store door. The meaning was obvious: if there was any movement at the store door, she would shoot immediately.

Jania's eyes quickly scanned the area. She didn't find where Fina was hiding, but she knew she must still be in the store, so she shook her head vigorously, warning Fina - or more precisely, warning the more human Miffy - not to do anything for now. It was difficult to shoot Fina in the dim and narrow store, but if Marty Tao just guarded the exit with a gun and watched whether the door of the store, which was making a lot of noise, was pushed by something, it would be hard to say.

"Alas," Chilabin said behind her, "we're at an impasse, boss."

In her dream, Jania knew that this was not the first time she had heard this. It was just a replay of her memory. But this time she suddenly became angry at his attitude of watching the show, so she did something she had never done before. "Then maybe you can think of a solution," she retorted, "What suggestions do you have for the current situation? This is also related to your life."

"I'm a man of my lot," said Chilabin. "Besides, you've got the matter sorted out, Captain, and you know it. We can certainly get rid of this formidable enemy, and soon we'll find my boat and go after your brother. We'd better get him on board, away from Maggie and Joe, and maybe take a trip to the bottom of the sea. We must hurry before the stage comes down."

This was completely absurd and had no place in her mind. Jania wondered if Chilabin had gone mad; and just as she had thought of this, Chilabin began to sing behind her. "I have a gold pocket watch," he sang, "and a small mirror, both wrapped up, a thoughtful gift."

"What on earth are you doing?" Jania asked loudly. She wanted to look back at Chilabin, but Matitao was still staring at her from the window, as if she hadn't heard Chilabin's singing at all. She didn't dare to look away, fearing that things would get out of her control. Yes, something was wrong... Her memory told her what was going to happen: she couldn't give Matitao too much time to think, or the opportunity to call for more reinforcements, so after just a few seconds, she had made up her mind, first shouting Miffy, then she took the initiative to rush to the window and hit the glass hard with a chair. At the same time, Fina also rushed out of the door with her... Matitao had to make a choice, deciding which of the two directions she would attack. Jania already knew what her opponent would choose.

Everything happened as she remembered. The muzzle of the gun outside the window changed direction, aiming at Jania's face as if instinctively, but then tilted a little to the side - it still looked like it was going to hit her - then there was a flash of fire, and the bullet passed through the glass and flew out, brushing her cheek. She could feel the stinging pain of the hot wind scraping against her skin, but it was not a terrible thing. She should have thrown the chair in her hand towards the glass window to keep Marti Tao's attention on her side... Things got weird here. The chair in her hand suddenly became lighter, flew up like a piece of paper, and was swallowed by the dense paper roses on the wall. Outside the window, Marti Tao was still standing there, unable to move because of Fina's poison. This result was completely expected by Jania, but her face was not the distressed and helpless expression that Jania remembered, but deep fear. The fear was so strong that her face was completely deformed, twisted into another person Jania did not recognize. This was not what happened at all. Jania thought blankly, and then immediately discovered more things were wrong: the sky outside the window was gloomy, almost indistinguishable from night; the bakery owner who was originally stepped on by Matita was gone, and there was only a thin skin floating in the wind like a snake's skin under her feet, which looked very much like the one that Anti-Pierre had found on the holiday island; Fina should have been resting on her shoulder, but there was no trace of her, as if she had never existed.

Matitao's eyes were fixed behind Jania.

By this time, Jania was acutely aware that she was not in reality, because she knew how the incident had actually unfolded. She knew that Matitao had shot Chilabin at the last moment, and then released the trigger when Fina jumped on her. What was Matitao thinking at that time? Perhaps she was trying to catch Fina with her hands, or perhaps she intended to give Jania some means of self-defense. In any case, she let Jania take the gun from her hand; in return, Jania also dragged her back to "Gun Flower" so that she could lie in a relatively comfortable position in the staff lounge, and stole the hypnotic spray from Pari's pocket. As she did all this, Matitao's eyes seemed to say: Naughty boy! Naughty boy! Naughty boy! Jania was sure that she was conscious, just unable to move, and should not have been cursed and turned into stone.

She was only one step away from realizing that this was a dream. She blinked her eyes hard, trying to force herself to wake up, but the stone sculpture of Matitao was deeply embedded in her memory. Its horrified eyes stared behind her, making her wonder what could be so terrible. So she turned her head and saw Chilabin's body leaning back in the chair, blood flowing from the hole in his forehead. This scene did not scare her now, because she now knew that "heterotopic brain" creatures had two thinking centers; in less than half a minute, Chilabin would sit up with his hands on his forehead, first wipe the blood off his forehead, and then make a face at her. "This is different from what you promised before, boss," he would complain, "Fortunately, I am not a person who falls down easily." Then he would stand up, jump and jump with his head down, holding his temples with both hands and squeezing hard, and the bullet actually fell out of the hole in his forehead!

This time, Jania was determined not to be fooled. She would not panic about the playwright's fake death and run over to regret it. She was just about to think of something to say in response when the fake corpse suddenly changed its appearance; the bullet hole on the corpse's forehead gushed blood like a fountain that suddenly unblocked, splashing all over the ceiling and walls, and even Jania's body. The blood was cold, which made Jania shudder with surprise. She quickly protected her face with her arms and checked the situation under her elbows. Chilabin's body was changing rapidly. The color of the skin faded as the blood drained away, from reddish brown to light pink, and finally it was as pale as ice and snow, and covered with thick salt grains like frost. The crowded and ugly features on the face stretched out at some point, and the body suddenly shrank and became thinner.

Jania dropped her arms in shock. She was horrified to find that the body lying on the chair was not Chilabin, but her brother's. He was dead, but not only because of the bullet hole on his forehead. His clothes were still wet, with seaweed and salt grains hanging on them. He had drowned in the sea. She felt a dull pain in her heart, as if she had been punched. She immediately forgot how unreasonable this scene was and ran up to check the body to find out if it was a prank. When she trembled and lifted the body from the chair, his head was bent back at a grotesque angle, as if his neck had been twisted; Jania reached out to support the back of his head and felt several huge lacerations under his hair, as if they had been torn by the claws of a wild animal; the wounds were so deep that the skin and flesh on both sides rolled up, and her fingertips could touch the hard bone fragments. Suddenly, a fierce anger swept over her heart, completely washing away the grief. She knew what the wound was, and she knew who did it...

The corpse opened his eyes. His pupils were facing Jenny, but his eyes were unfocused, like a blind man. But he seemed to know that it was Jenny who was supporting him, so a smile appeared on his face.

"You are too late," he said. "Go to the jungle..."

Jania let go. The body fell to the ground, among the blood-red rose bushes that looked like a velvet carpet. She looked around and saw that she was in a rose garden at midnight, with thorns and flowers everywhere. I am dreaming. She told herself firmly. The ground shook, and she closed her eyes and opened them again...

The jolt did not stop. It was already dark, with a few particularly bright stars hanging diagonally by the car window. Jania twisted her body and found that Fina was still sitting on her lap. Her right hand was still tightly holding the gun she had seized from Matitao, and she probably never let go during her sleep, so the muscles around her thenar began to ache. While she was thankful that nothing had happened while she was asleep, she glanced out the window. The road outside was dark, and there were empty factory frames everywhere. They must have driven to some very remote place.

"Awake?" Chilabin said. He was still driving. Jania glanced in the rearview mirror to make sure the dent in his forehead—now so faint that it was almost invisible—had not turned back into a bloody hole.

"How long did I sleep?" she asked. "An hour or two?"

"Oh, no, not that long. I think it was only half an hour at most. You only stopped talking after we left the city. I think you must be too tired. Don't worry, I think we still have some time to reach our destination." Jania was silent, a little annoyed. She felt that she shouldn't have fallen asleep in this situation, and even slept so deeply. If Chilabin had any bad intentions, she would be a complete fool who asked for trouble. However, she had to admit that the reason she was able to sleep was, on the one hand, because Fina was on her legs, and on the other hand, she trusted her escape partner to some extent. Out of some kind of intuition, she always found it difficult to imagine that Chilabin had any bad intentions towards her, but from a rational point of view, this impression was unfounded. She couldn't act solely on the so-called intuition, otherwise she would get into trouble sooner or later because of her credulity.

She was lost in thought when Chilabin said, "You seem to have had a bad dream, head. I heard you moving about behind me and mumbling something."

"What did I say?"

"It sounds like someone is messing with you and making you angry."

Jania glanced at the rearview mirror again. "I dreamt about what happened this afternoon," she said carefully, "when we left Guns N' Roses."

"Why, I suppose you were frightened by the shot I took?"

"That's nothing." Jania said immediately. She didn't want to be looked down upon on this matter. "I'm not afraid of blood, nor am I afraid of corpses... But this dream got a little strange later. I dreamed that you really died, and the corpse suddenly turned into my brother."

She didn't say anything more, not wanting to make the other person think that this ridiculous and ominous dream really bothered her. Chilabin said considerately: "This doesn't prove anything, boss. I don't think you are the kind of dreamer with prophetic gifts. You know, such people usually have bad tempers because they suffer from sleep and health problems."

Jania forced a smile at him. She reminded herself not to trust a guy with a spare brain and a spaceship. "I still remember what we were arguing about in the first half of the dream," she changed the subject, not wanting to think about the horrible dead man in the dream, "I think I was arguing with you about the monster theory."

"We were actually talking about this before you fell asleep."

Jania couldn't quite remember the dividing line between the bedtime conversation and the dream, but she was sure that Chilabin had told her about the monster theory and the sea monster. They also talked about the trouble her brother had caused and what to do when they arrived at their destination. But she didn't remember how the topic evolved from discussing the action plan to a heated argument, and the content of the argument had nothing to do with her brother. She thought quietly for a while, then said, "Captain, I'm thinking about the theories you mentioned."

"I'm glad you listened, Boss. I thought you wouldn't be interested."

"We were talking about this even in my dreams... I was wondering, could it be possible that these theories are the same thing? They are just described in different ways? In the final analysis, they are describing the same phenomenon on a factual level."

"Facts," Chilabin said. "What's particularly strange is that, from a macro perspective, you can't even define the word 'facts'. Basically, you can only choose what you want to believe."

"But what if I believe all three theories? There's really no conflict between them, right? Maybe there really is a giant monster, and it's also a machine, and it lives in a place like heaven."

"That's very kind of you, Captain. You don't want to get into a fight about such a thing, but most of the time people aren't really fighting about theories--in name, but not in reality--and our dilemma is that theories are meant to guide our lives; and these three theories, and the myriad variations on them, point to completely different and even contradictory courses of action. We can't just sit there and talk and figure out who's right. But the cost of testing is so high, so high that it might ruin our lives, that we have only a few chances to decide whose way to test."

"But why do we have to know who is right?" Jania asked, "even if it costs so much?"

"What do you think we should do? Ignore all theories? Just manage our lives well? Like wild animals foraging on the grassland?"

Jania looked at the desolate street outside the window hesitantly. "You can start with the least costly things." She said a little unconfidently, "Try those methods that will not destroy your life first. Since you said that theory is to guide life, then we should not lose sight of the main point, right?"

"That's true. But you don't sound confident, boss."

"I'm just not sure if there is such a method. Maybe you have always been one-size-fits-all in your approach and there is no gentle way."

"Oh, so that's it."

His tone made it clear that he didn't believe it. Jania immediately raised her head again: "Why do you think that is, Captain?"

"I thought it was your adventurous spirit that was at work... Thinking about what happened since we met, I think you are a girl who loves adventure. When we say 'love life', we usually advise people not to do exciting or dangerous things, not to seek trouble for themselves, but to live a peaceful life and find happiness in the ordinary. It is not difficult for some people to do this, but I think you must understand that such 'the thing with the least cost' is inevitably monotonous and boring. It is not as easy to love it as it is to say. It consumes no less energy and strength than a gamble. In the end, when you can't do anything, you may regret not taking that gamble. Our lives are always intertwined and repeated between these two mentalities, so I think, Luotou, you can't be considered a very gentle person."

"But I'm not a gambler," Jania retorted unhappily, "I won't make myself uncomfortable just for the sake of excitement."

"I think this is what it means to be an adventurer," Chilabin said tactfully. "But, boss, my opinion is that you are a very rational adventurer. You would fasten a safety rope before exploring the cliff, instead of jumping off with your eyes closed. And you would plan your own goals and itinerary. You know how to manage your territory and take care of the present. You are not a vagrant who runs around wherever you want... So I think this is also a way of choosing life."

Jania wanted to say something else, but the car, which was moving smoothly, suddenly jolted violently. Fina, who was resting on her lap, was thrown out like an arrow, and the force almost scratched her leg. She gasped in pain and quickly held the gun steady to avoid accidental discharge. Chilabin stepped on the brakes and looked back at her. He didn't make any sound, so Jania didn't say anything, but just looked at him to ask what was going on. There was no light in the car, making Chilabin's face look a little dark; he winked at her and shook his head, as if to say that he didn't understand the situation either, but just felt that something was wrong.

Something was indeed amiss. Jania crouched down, pressed against the bottom of the window, and peered out. Outside the car window, the empty streets and abandoned buildings were silent, without a trace of human habitation. The moon had just climbed over the eaves while she was asleep, casting its light across the night sky. The night was unusually clear, as if even the slightest cloud had been carefully plucked away, but the wind was strong, blowing the fallen leaves and bits of garbage in the distance up, bouncing around as if they were queuing to cross the street. Jania lowered the car window a little so that the noise outside could see through the gap. The doors and windows of the abandoned factory room were blowing air out, and there were clanging sounds coming from nowhere, like a machine with parts falling off and being shaken by someone. These were just noises made by the wind, and she listened intently for a while, but didn't notice any movement of living things.

They waited there for nearly a minute, and nothing new happened. "I think I just ran over something," Chilabin said, "We'd better check it out." He was about to open the car door, but Jania stopped him, "I'll go down and check it out."

"Look, I wouldn't ask an underage child to take the blame for me."

"You're still sending minors out to sea in the middle of the night." Jania said bluntly, "At least I don't have Maggie Wall's kill warrant, so the sniper won't shoot at my head."

She held Fina, who had a bright look in her eyes, in her arms and quickly slid out of the car from the side away from the street. As soon as her feet touched the ground, Fina jumped out of her arms and crawled under the car. This action startled Jania, who thought it had discovered some danger. However, no bullets or anything else attacked her from the shadows of the distant buildings. It seemed that this was just Fina's nature of liking to hide in corners. It must have been very nervous after the bumpy ride.

Jania bent down and tried to call it out from under the car, but Fina ignored it and lay down beside the rear tire, staring at something in the dark. Jania heard a hissing sound like gas, and immediately felt something was wrong. She reached under the car and felt around in the shadows that Fina was staring at. Something sharp, like a caltrop, had pierced the tire. It was a triangular spike. She carefully felt along the nail to the tip and found that it was hollow, and the air in the tire was escaping along the nail.

She stood up and looked in the direction they came from. For some reason, the street lights in this area were completely off. Except for the area illuminated by the front and rear lights, the road a little further away was as dark as a carbon ribbon. She risked walking back a few steps, very alert to the situation under her feet, almost rubbing the ground with her soles as she moved.

Chilabin stuck his head and shoulders out of the driver's window and craned his neck to look at her: "What are you looking for, head?"

This guy's spare brain must be below his chest. She waved at him to signal him not to shout, then pointed at their tire, made a circle with her finger, and blew into the circle. She hoped that Chilabin would understand that their tire was flat, but it would be better not to let the people lurking around know about it - in fact, this was somewhat self-deception, because she had already touched the flat tire and knew that it would be difficult for the car to move forward. They fell into someone's trap...but until now no one has jumped out to catch them, and it seems that all this is just an accidental bad luck. She looked around in confusion and kicked something small under her feet.

Jania picked it up and looked at it in the moonlight. It was indeed a delicately shaped triangular nail, with a hollow tip and painted a dark blue color similar to the road. It felt smooth and flat, with no signs of rust. It was brand new. It couldn't have been left there for a long time. Someone must have deliberately placed the triangular nail on the road recently to prevent vehicles from passing... She looked up at the sky. In the corner where the moon couldn't shine, there were only five or six particularly bright stars hanging. Suddenly, one of them slowly and evenly floated towards the center of her head. She immediately ran back to the car and showed the triangular nail to Chilabin.

"How far are we from No. 206 Dongyun Road?" she asked, looking up at the sky. The shining lone star was bright yellow, a little darker than the other stars, but there was no other light source around it, so it didn't look like an airplane's navigation light. She had to suspect it was some kind of drone.

Chilabin didn't have a cell phone. He didn't use navigation when driving, as if he knew the roads in this area as well as the lines on his palm. "It's still three kilometers in a straight line." He looked at the triangular nail and said, "But if it's a route that can be taken by car..."

"We have to go there," Jania said decisively. "They have set up defenses on the road. It's impossible for the car to drive through. We have to find a more covert way to get there, otherwise we will be caught."

She pulled Fina out from under the car. Chilabin moved the car a little further to the side of the street, trying to hide in the shadows of the eaves and trees, and then followed Jania across the street and into the bushes beside. The yellowish lone star crossed the sky, paused suspiciously for a moment when it passed over their heads, and then continued to move as Jania held her breath and waited, flying in the direction of the wind. She estimated from the position of the moon that it was northeast, exactly the direction of their destination.

"Ah, it seems we have to follow that star." Chilabin said, "Come on, head, I know the terrain here well, and my skin can feel the heavy moisture. We only need to follow a river... Oh no!"

He called out softly. As they watched, the star that had already moved to the northeast corner suddenly flashed violently twice, and then fell straight down.

(End of this chapter)