Why it never ends

Chapter 463 The Song of the Porcupine
Mantel listened quietly.

The dry sea breeze was blowing from behind the two of them. On this open deck, the sound of the harmonica was very weak, as if the wind would break the phrase if it was stronger. For a moment, Mantel even felt a palpitation. It seemed that the endless sea in front of him suddenly became a little scary.

Its peace and immensity became strange and unbearable.

At the end of the song, Mantel looks back at Ana.

"Do you like it?" Anna asked with a smile.

"Very... touching." Mantel replied in a low voice, "Is this... the ditty of the Vilyuchinsky Wasteland?"

"It is."

"Is it?" Mantel didn't quite understand the answer, "What's the name of this song?"

"The Song of the Porcupine."

"What a strange name..." Mantel laughed, "It doesn't sound like that at all, and it doesn't match the song."

"Did you hear the story about the porcupine?"

"...Ah," Mantel was taken aback, "Is it the warming story?"

"It's an old piece, last popular at the end of the golden age."

"Golden Age..."

"At that time, AI composition was very popular, and anything could be transformed into music: a piece of light and shadow, the biological waves of some plants, even a painting, a poem... After abstract digital processing, it can be transformed into musical notes; And the raw material of "Porcupine Song" comes from a story created by AI, you can understand that this is a plot-based soundtrack, with a strong Vlyuchinsky wasteland style."

Mantell nodded thoughtfully, "...so, the story about the porcupine keeping warm was created by AI?"

"No, the porcupine for warmth was a figment of a silver age philosopher, but the AI ​​added an ending to it."

"Is... what kind of ending?"

"That's what she wrote," Anna looked into the distance and said softly, "In the cold winter, porcupines gather in caves to keep warm, but when they get close, they will stab each other, and when they are far away, they feel cold. They must Adjust the distance several times until you find the most suitable position, so that you can neither hurt each other, but also keep each other warm.

"However, there are some porcupines - because they live alone in spring, summer and autumn, or for other reasons, their quills are strangely shaped, some places are long, some places are short, so that they can no longer stand well with other porcupines as before. in one place.

"Then, in order to continue to survive in the cold winter, the porcupines must make a choice, such as whether to wear off their uncomfortable long spines, in order to continue to survive this cold winter in this cave.

"Mostly porcupines do this, but there was one porcupine that walked out of the cave and into the snow. It wasn't because it thought its quills were something to be proud of, but This porcupine wants to run out of the winter on its feet rather than relying on this little residual warmth."

Anna looked at Mantel.

"This song is about the journey of this porcupine."

Mantel thought for a moment.

"This is the end... It feels like it's just the beginning? What happened to that porcupine in the end?"

"Yeah, how's it going?" Anna spoke slowly, "Did it meet a partner, did it meet a hunter? Did it run out of the snowy field and find a... country of spring where the snow doesn't fall anymore?" ?
"It's also possible that it didn't encounter anything, and just froze to death on that snowy field," Anna said softly, "When spring comes again, when its companions leave the cave and see its corpse, some shed tears on the spot, and some stayed behind." The next laugh, some didn't say a word, just secretly made up their minds... who knows."

Mantel frowned. Looking at the boundless sea, it seemed that a snowfield really appeared in front of her eyes. A porcupine was running in the boundless wild. A mist of frost splashed, and this imaginary picture made Mantel feel hot-eyed——

"Oh," Anna's tone was suddenly brisk, "It seems that you are the one who shed tears."

Mantel burst out laughing, she pressed her eyes with both hands, and quickly resumed her breathing rhythm.

"How long will it take to learn this "Song of the Porcupine" if you study it seriously, for someone like me who has no musical foundation at all?"

"Hmm..." Anna shook her head and thought for a while, "If you practice for a long time every day and study day and night, then you probably only need to—"

"Ah, why are there still people here at this time!"

A voice of gnashing of teeth came from behind the two, Mantel turned his head, Anna didn't move, just smiled happily - Qianye appeared behind them with Bo Shanfu.

Like a shepherd, Qianye silently drove Bo Shanfu forward. The man remained lifeless. After nodding to the teacher, he silently stood beside the boat and looked at the vast expanse of land in front of him. the sea.

Mantel's eyes just glanced at Qianye's face, and she immediately felt a burst of instinctive fear—Qianye's expression was stiff at the moment, but it seemed that he wanted to squeeze out an approachable smile, so that his expression was extraordinarily weird, Mantel He quickly looked away to avoid making eye contact with Chiba.

Qianye stopped by Anna's side. She didn't lower her head, but rolled her eyes down, staring at Anna expressionlessly.

The hairs on the back of Mantel's neck standing nearby have all stood up.

"You also came out to blow some air," Anna said softly to Chiba, "It's really stuffy in the restaurant, isn't it?"

Qianye didn't answer, her throat moved slightly, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then turned and walked towards Bo Shanfu.

"I'll take him out for a walk," Qianye said softly, "What's the matter with being bored in the room all this time?"

"Yes," Anna nodded in agreement, "Ms. Mantel was still telling me about the grand scene of the old theater in this area, but unfortunately I can't see it anymore."

"Yeah..." Mantel's palms were sweating, "Hahaha...hahaha..."

The four of them didn't speak any more, they just looked for places to rest their eyes. The sun in the distant sky was bright and bright, casting shadows on the unobstructed poop deck.

High above, the eyes behind several sniper scopes did not take their eyes off Anna's head for a moment.

"Is there no kill order yet?" One of them was a little impatient, and asked his partner behind him in a low voice, "Now that Bo Shanfu is beside Anna, there is no better time to kill by mistake..."

"Don't be impulsive, the mercury needle is right there, there's no point in shooting."

"She hasn't entered bullet time now, so I don't believe that she can react so quickly if I fire a shot here?"

"Don't look for death," the partner suddenly glanced at the device in his hand, "...There are new orders."

(End of this chapter)