Haidu: Top of the Tower

Chapter 1 The Gouging Sound of Interruption
Whenever the scepter leaning on the high seat was warmed by the sunlight outside the window, Milady knew that another summer had arrived.

She can't help but think that the day that changed the trajectory of her entire life was in the early summer when she was 17 years old, and it was gradually starting to heat up.

Its initial appearance was a "New Mechanism Promotion Conference" on the streets of Haidu.

Haidu is like a huge round dial under the blue sky, sitting firmly in the middle of the sea.When summer comes, the squares and streets are blown by the moist and long sea breeze; the shadows cast by various flying mechanisms slowly pass over the complex buildings; the tens of meters high giant mechanism unfolds in the air. A pipe merchant's advertising banner... In the white-hot sun, everything in Haidu is shining brightly.

Including Milady's sweaty brow.

"'Shadow Appearance' is one of the most innovative mechanism techniques. It combines the strengths of Haidu and Chang'an, and uses newly discovered materials... Please see 'Shadow Appearance Mechanism'!"

On the booth, Uncle Chang'an, who was still wearing a robe on a hot day, waved his hand, and his young assistant hurriedly brought out a box-like mechanism.

Although Milady was attracted from a long distance, the scale of the "New Mechanism Promotion Conference" is actually very small, squeezed between an air travel agency and a snack shop, leaving only about ten square meters for spectators. place.Standing in the hot crowd, she forgot to wipe off the sweat on her head, and stared at the mechanism without blinking.

She has lived for 17 years, has used organs and dismantled organs, but so far she has not had one of her own.She can afford to buy assembly materials for basic basic products, but she doesn't like them; she is fascinated by them, but her family can't afford them—her mother just nodded her shoulder and scolded her for being too high-spirited and unwilling to use them. At once.

"It doesn't look too surprising," someone said.

really.The mechanism is square and square, only the size of a teapot, so it should be able to be used as a component of a large mechanism; the only special thing is the small metal cube that rises and falls under its belly.

Even though she knew that she couldn't afford the finished mechanism, nor could she afford to learn it, Milady still thought about its construction model in her heart.

"Its effect can open your eyes." The middle-aged uncle said with a smile, "I'll show you how it works. Please look at this table."

The table was covered tightly with flannelette, covering the floor.

"We put an item under the table beforehand, and I'll keep it a secret for now, because you're about to find out."

The young assistant held the organ between his hands and aligned it parallel to the table.

Amidst the buzzing sound of the movement, several beams of light were cast from the bottom of the gray cube; as he swiped the mechanism in a circle, the beams also followed on the table, but after waiting for a while, nothing happened.

Just when everyone was puzzled, they saw the light beam suddenly retracted, and then a ball of light jumped out from the top of the gray cube, and a faint shadow floated in the light.

The shadows are interlaced to form an image of the object, as if it was condensed with Chang'an ink; it has a slender neck and a round body, and the label on it can be recognized if you look closely.

Amidst the low uproar, someone with sharp eyes recognized it: "Wine bottle?"

"That's right," the middle-aged uncle proudly lifted up the tablecloth, revealing a wine bottle on the ground that resembled the image. "What it shows is this bottle of wine. The shadow display mechanism can pass through the barrier and reproduce the items behind the barrier!"

At this moment, the crowd became excited.Some people discussed its usefulness, some wanted to see it again, some asked about the starting price, and some asked loudly: "What are the limitations of it? If I use it to shine through my father's small coffers, can it penetrate?"

Amidst the roar of laughter, the middle-aged uncle opened a few paper boxes, took out a long paper roll with the introduction written on it, unfolded it and hung it on a rope that had been drawn long ago.Even though he is from Chang'an, he has a clear understanding of Haidu's business promotion methods, and he has explained clearly the scope and limitations of the "Shadow Show Agency".

"Can we go up there and try? What if it doesn't work?" A young man asked defiantly.

The middle-aged uncle thought about it. "Yes, as long as you follow the instructions and operate correctly, I guarantee that the agency will be able to display the image smoothly... If not, I will give you this agency for free."

He knew how to arouse the audience's interest-and soon, many people tried it on stage, using various barriers and objects.Someone pressed a ring under the masonry; someone stuffed copper coins into a tobacco box; someone held up a board to show him the shape of a tattoo on his chest-- Milady stared at the young assistant, seeing that he was about to The mechanism turned over, and the beam hit the wooden board horizontally, which was also successful.

Every time, the mechanism can display the image of the item from the opposite direction of the light-emitting surface.

This mechanism is really good, Milady thought a little regretfully, it must be very expensive, right?

The middle-aged uncle saw that the emotions at the scene were getting higher and higher, and asked with a smile: "Who wants to challenge?"

Wait, if you use that method...

Milady looked at the stage, then at the store next to her, and suddenly an idea came to her mind—maybe she can really get this mechanism today?
"I see," she exclaimed with conviction, "it can't see through paper."

There is no paper in the introduction, and no one may think that the paper that can be broken if it is torn is considered a barrier.

The middle-aged uncle thought it was funny. "Masonry is fine, let alone a thin layer of paper?"

"No, I'm sure of it," cried Milady, pushing her way through the crowd.Someone behind laughed and said: "Little girl, you don't really think that paper can block the trap, do you?"

"If you can prove it, this mechanism is yours." The middle-aged uncle said with a good temper.

Milady suggested: "But it's not very interesting to try it dryly. Let's play a small game. Have people in Chang'an ever played 'variable'?"

Just as the middle-aged uncle shook his head, the young assistant let out an "ah". "Should each take some small things and guess how many each other took?"

"Not exactly." Milady walked up to the booth generously, picked up two paper boxes on the stage, handed one to the middle-aged uncle, and naturally took out the change she had prepared earlier, handed it to the assistant, and gave it to the assistant. He ordered: "Can you go to the nearby snack shop and buy ten candies? Remember, only ten candies are required."

He glanced at the boss suspiciously, and after getting his nod, the assistant left in a daze, and soon came back with a small paper bag, which really contained ten round, soft and flat persimmon candies.

"We each have five candies and a carton." Milady gave half of the persimmon candies to the middle-aged uncle, led him to the table, and stood on one side.

"We can decide how many candies to put under our respective cartons, or leave one alone. Be careful in this step, don't let the other party see it, and put away the remaining candies. Then we count the total number of candies in the two-person box, Take turns guessing a number."

"But my mechanism is not for guessing," said the middle-aged uncle happily, seeing that they were attracting more and more audiences.

"Yes, so I am willing to let you take a photo of the candy under my box with a camera, and then say a number. But I can only guess, and I must avoid the numbers you have guessed."

"Then you are sure to lose, aren't you?" Someone from the audience immediately asked.

Milady was deaf.

"I want to try if your mechanism can succeed twice in a row, so after you propose a total number, I will put my hand under the box, and I may increase or decrease the amount of sugar, or it may not remain... Afterwards, you can do it again , look at how many pieces of candy I have in my box. Don’t worry, my candy will be opened one by one, so that you can use the camera to take care of it. When you mention the number for the second time, it’s my turn to say one. You have Two chances to guess, but I only have one."

After confirming that everyone understood the rules of the game, she smiled and said, "I promise, in the end I guessed right and you guessed wrong."

"Your game can't make money from tricks!" The middle-aged uncle laughed, "Do you think that the images presented by the tricks have time differences, which makes me count messy? Then you are wrong, even if there are several items , the image is also presented uniformly.”

"Really? If the agency makes a mistake, then you will make a mistake too."

Seeing him shaking his head, Milady seemed to think her words were ridiculous, and said with a smile, "Then let's try."

"Okay," the middle-aged uncle nodded and said, "If I'm wrong, the agency will give it to you for free."

As before, the man who operated the mechanism was the young assistant; Milady and the uncle put the candies in their pockets first, and then took a handful with their hands, and put them under the box to put them away.They were all very careful, and Milady even used one hand to block the outside of the box, and the people in the audience stretched their necks and didn't see how many they put in.

"You can come and take pictures." Milady instructed the assistant.

The assistant pointed the bottom of the mechanism at the carton with ten times more carefulness than before, and walked around a few times. After a while, the image jumped out: there were three candies in the Milady box.

The middle-aged uncle smiled. "You can't guess the number I guessed. Even if you know how many candies I put in through my report, you must avoid the correct total and guess a wrong one?"

"Yes, unless you are wrong." Milady put her hands in her pockets and said with a relaxed expression.

"I've seen it clearly, how can I be wrong?" The middle-aged uncle frowned and said, "There are four candies in our box."

"Are you sure?" Milady confirmed several times, seeing that he still did not change his words, she said with a smile: "Then I have to change the amount of sugar."

All eyes from the audience were on Milady.She put one hand into the box again, and kept the other hand out of the box. After a while, she said, "Okay, let's take another photo."

This time, four candies were clearly displayed in midair.

Obviously everything went well when reading the image, but Milady looked as if she was in control.The middle-aged uncle looked at her, hesitant, and said slowly: "You...you put an extra candy, and mine, now there are five candies in total."

"Are you sure? Your mechanism made a mistake." Milady shook the candy in the carton as if worried about him, and said, "This new mechanism is expensive, right? Do you really want to give it to me? You don't want to give it to me again." Consider it."

"You want me to doubt myself and make mistakes?" The middle-aged uncle gritted his teeth with sweat on his forehead and said, "Five! I believe in the shadow mechanism, it must be right."

"Looks like I'm going to take the mechanism home today." Milady said, shaking her head.

The crowd in the audience couldn't hold back any longer, and they all asked her to open the box quickly; those who came on the way were also busy asking others what was going on.This group of noise gradually spread to the street, causing a few teenagers who were walking from a distance to stop and stand outside the crowd, staring at the booth of the promotion conference from a distance.

When Milady raised her head, she happened to meet the eyes of those people.

She remained expressionless, turned to look at the middle-aged uncle, and said, "But I guess there are six in total."

People in the audience probably didn't expect that they would pay so much attention to a few persimmon candies today - when the two boxes left the table, everyone was silent for two seconds before the noise erupted; the audience in the front row turned around and shouted: "Six One, really six!"

There are six persimmon candies in total, five of which are under the Milady box, and the orange-brown candy color is slightly blurred on the tablecloth.

"I won." Milady laughed again.

"How is it possible?" The middle-aged uncle was shocked and asked the assistant, "Did you not operate well just now?"

"No, no." The assistant also panicked, and said, "I have captured every corner and kept the correct distance... You saw it!"

"Don't blame him." Milady raised her hand, signaling for everyone to be quiet; the eyes of the boys in the distance were like needles on her body. "He did a good job. Uncle didn't lie, and the Shadow Discovery Agency is indeed a very good agency... Actually, I made a move."

"What trick?" The middle-aged uncle was taken aback.

"When we started playing the game of variables, uncle, you wouldn't win." She said with a smile, "The reason why I changed the candy again is to ask you to guess twice, in addition to knowing how many you put in, more importantly Yes, I'm buying time."

She pointed to one of the candies on the table and said, "Look, isn't the color of the candy blurred?"

The middle-aged uncle nodded.

"When I repeatedly asked if you were sure, I put my hand in my pocket and kept holding it."

Milady opened the box, pointed to a little orange on the inside of the box, and said: "In summer, the body temperature will rise. After I hold the persimmon sugar in my palm for a while, it will gradually melt a little bit and become sticky. .When I changed the number of candies, I put another candy on the table, and the melted candy stuck to the wall of the box. My hand outside the box is not to block the view of the audience, but to be able to When I stick the candy, I hold the box in place so it won't be pushed away by me."

The middle-aged uncle opened his eyes.

"After you confirmed that there were four candies in my box, I asked you to reconsider. I took the opportunity to shake the box and let it fall." Milady saw his unspoken doubts and explained: "Because Your assistant bought the candies, so you have no doubts, right? But the snack shop sells them one by one, the only persimmon candy that is very convenient for me."

The middle-aged uncle understood. "That's why you specifically asked for only ten... The money given to him must have been calculated."

"Yes, I'm sorry, I'm a Haidu bullying outsiders." Milady said with a smile. Aim at the barrier. When taking pictures of the tattoo on the chest of the older brother, your assistant had to turn it over... That is to say, the light used for detection can only detect items behind the barrier at a vertical angle .

"When you reflected the wine bottle under the table, I was thinking, obviously the circle of the mechanism is very big, why didn't the legs of the table appear together? That's because only the items at the end of the beam can be 'seen', Things that are parallel to the light itself will not appear in the image... That's why the persimmon sugar stuck to the box wall escaped the trap."

"You observe very carefully, and you can take advantage of this blind spot immediately..." The middle-aged uncle sighed, "I underestimated you."

Milady turned around and said loudly to the audience: "It's true that I have tampered with it, but first, the effect of the shadow display device is indeed excellent; second, because it is a rare good thing, even if it is used as a As a member of the Gaota family, I will not hesitate to make some small moves in order to win it."

When she first proposed to play games, her "little movements" began.In order not to give the middle-aged uncle a chance to doubt and object, what she asked was not "Can we play a game", but "Have people in Chang'an ever played with variables?" With the opportunity of answering and explaining, the premise of "playing games" It was defaulted.

"Great tower," someone murmured in the audience, "isn't that one of the 'Sea Wave Concerto' family?"

"What's that?" The young assistant looked blankly at his boss.

"The sea is governed by several families. This mechanism is called waves... Alas, now is not the time to talk about it." The middle-aged uncle is less patient with his assistants than with his customers.

Milady smiled and said to him: "I belong to Victory of the Unarmed, it is your decision whether to send me to this institution or not."

After hesitating for a while, he finally picked up the Shadow Mechanism on the table and approached Milady.

"I'm willing to admit defeat," he said with a sigh as he put the mechanism in Milady's hands, "After all, the rules of the game depend on how many candies are in the box... Although you have tampered with it, the candies are indeed in the box." Inside. We were blinded by blind spots and didn’t check the inner wall of the box. You won, and this mechanism should be given to you as a matter of course.”

Everyone in the audience didn't expect that today they not only saw the promotion of the new mechanism technique, but also watched an interesting bet, they laughed and shouted, and some applauded.

After the episode, the next step of the promotion meeting also started.Someone placed an order to buy an organ, and someone signed up to learn the shadow technique... Amidst the bustle and bustle, Milady thanked Chang'an and the others very politely.

When she left the stage, she had a square mechanism and a beating heart in her arms.

She still can't believe that she has really succeeded, she finally has her first organ, and it's still such a novel category!
When Milady walked onto the street, the three teenagers who had been watching the booth from afar also followed.Their footsteps were like a cool wind, cooling her gaze.

"Unexpectedly," the leading boy walked over, stared at the mechanism in her arms, and said, "I can still see such a shameful scene."

"Why, you don't usually look in the mirror?" Milady asked softly.

The leading boy was taken aback for a moment, and when he realized it, the freckles on his face were flushed red.

"For a mere small organization, you use tricks and help others to promote it. It's not enough to use your mind. You still use the name of our Gaota family to endorse that mechanism? Do you think that your last hint will not be seen by others? come out?"

Milady was only willing to watch the people and institutions coming and going on the street, as if his face was too much for her to bear.She knew very well that when she put on such a very high-minded and arrogant appearance, it was very annoying.

"Speaking of which, you and I are also cousins..." she said slowly, "the views on backbone are really different. I accept challenges from outsiders and earn money from others, but you don't even dare to walk too far away from your family , I'm afraid that when the patriarch calls out, you can't immediately jump under his feet."

"You think girls won't be punished for talking casually?" another young man said darkly.

The leader held back his anger, and sneered: "It's obvious that the family is just a cleaner, and you still have an attitude of looking above the top, no wonder no one likes you. Why, aren't you going to clean up the dirt today? Let your mother go?"

The words caught Milady unexpectedly, and made her stomach churn—they knew too well where their sore feet were.She immediately said: "Coincidentally, I'm going to the crystallization pollution area. Since the cousins ​​have such a good chat, why don't we go together?"

"Are you dreaming," the leading teenager turned around, as if she had turned into a piece of crystal pollution. "We are not the same kind of people as you, not the same kind of fate."

They left, but Milady stood there in a daze for a long while.

The joy when I first got the agency just now has almost dissipated.She didn't care about the attitudes of those clan brothers; however, the familiar guilt and worry crawled in her chest like countless insects and ants.Milady made up her mind, turned around and walked quickly to the nearest locomotive stop—she wanted to see her mother, and let her see herself and the new locomotive.

There is no means of transportation that will bring people straight into the crystallized pollution area.

If you want to enter this circle of crystalline pollution that appears intermittently from the seawater and surrounds the outer edge of Haidu, you must get off at the slums closest to the crystalline pollution, and then walk through the dirt and chaos step by step.

Therefore, people begging for life in the slums often suffer from crystal disease: a disease that can turn flesh and blood into hard blue crystals, causing people to lose perception and limb control-often when they raise their hands or turn their heads, they will The light blue hard crystals on their bodies were exposed; the crystals replaced their dry and rough skin, shining with a beautiful and indifferent light.

Once it starts, nothing can stop the crystallization from spreading, and I can only watch myself gradually degenerate from a human being to a thing, and finally become a substance no different from a floor, a pottery vase, or a stone brick.

At the end of life, when they were moved to the seaside, the fine crystals that fell from their bodies were once part of their flesh and blood, and will be trampled under the soles of pedestrians in the future, creaking.

Haidu, which has excessively abused energy, is silent but firm when demanding human beings to pay the price.

It's not just people; in the sea a little far from the sea, the giant fish and sea beasts who tried to escape from the crystallized iceberg before death and struggled to jump into the sky, also solidified into the form of the last moment of life under the spread of crystallization in their bodies, as if Floating between the sky and the sea, the shocking giant sculpture.

It's just that for foreign tourists who don't need to worry about getting sick, the various sea animal crystals and light blue icebergs standing on the turbulent waves are unimaginable and hard to see. The organ is slowly moving across the blue sky.

Milady walked among the rolling crystals like hills, always feeling that something was trying to penetrate her skin.

Every day, my mother walks on the artificial path among the large light blue crystals, breathing the air with a faint burning smell.Maybe my mother is also deeply aware that human skin is such a fragile barrier... One day, the crystals that emerge from the sea will gradually stretch out from her body.

Logically speaking, cleaning up the pollution was originally a job that both mother and daughter had to participate in.

No, logically speaking, cleaning up the pollution was originally the job of the patriarch's family - this is the condition attached to their getting the position of patriarch, discussing political power, and business management rights.It's just that since Milady can remember, the patriarch has assigned the cleaning work to the families at the bottom of the tower on a per capita basis; it's not employment, it's distribution, because they can't refuse.

The so-called decontamination is to smash the crystals clinging to and condensing around Haidu, and let them sink into the sea and be washed away by the waves that can wash away everything.

The days of man's life in this world are smashed into pieces one by one with a chisel.

Milady stopped, looked at the figure on the artificial path in the distance, and even felt that it was not her mother.

The mother in her impression is full of flesh and blood, happy and angry.Yidan can't rest for a moment at home, and can always find a hundred or eighty things to do; even in the highly polluted Haidu, where the environment is highly artificial, she still manages to get a pot of the little beauty fern the size of a thumb, and put it in It was green and lovely, and stood on Milady's bedside table.

In Haidu, fresh animals and plants are precious things; Itami wants to raise it, and then sell it to supplement Milady's tuition.

She said that she wanted Milady to see a different world.

She said that Milady's future is a magnificent and vibrant sky and sea, and she should not focus on trivial matters of cleaning up pollution.

The Yidan in my memory has never been as numb and indifferent as the Yidan in the distance; her chisel and the cleaning mechanism around her are much more dynamic than her.

"Mom?" Milady whispered with a trembling feeling that she didn't understand when she approached.

This sound seemed to reinject life into that humanoid mechanism——she turned around sharply, her eyes just fell on her daughter, and a vivid expression suddenly appeared on her face, and she became the familiar mother of Milady.

"What are you doing here?" Seeing his daughter happy, Yidan couldn't help being angry, threw the chisel to his feet, and walked over a few steps: "Didn't I say that you are not allowed to go near the polluted area no matter what!"

As she spoke, she suddenly became worried: "Is something wrong at home?"

"Hey, there's nothing bad, but there's a good thing." Milady made ten years younger in front of her mother, handed her the organ in her arms, and said with a smile, "Look, I won this today." .I finally have my own mechanism, and I want to show you right away...Besides, I want to help you a little bit now and then."

"Really? Won? What's the matter?"

Itami caressed that square mechanism, those translucent green eyes exactly like Milady's, at this time they were almost transparent by the strong sunlight, shining with an unbelievably clear light.

But she is not someone who is easily distracted.Yidan stuffed the mechanism into Milady's arms again, and said: "I won't listen now, tell me later in the evening. I told you that you are not allowed to come, but you still dare to come. Let me see how I teach you when I get home. It is not you who cleans up the dirt." You need to get out of here immediately."

No matter how serious her face was, she couldn't hide the smile in her eyes.Milady fell on her arm and said in a thin voice, "I won't get out."

"Go back quickly!" Yidan raised his eyebrows, and the anger he had pretended just now gradually became a little real. "You haven't taken anti-crystallization drugs, don't you know? If you touch the crystallization, what should you do if you get infected?"

Seeing that Milady couldn't find anything to say for a while, she calmed down and comforted her, "Haven't I already taken all the medicine? How many times have I analyzed it with you? If you come to help, we will each take one medicine, and both of us will take the same medicine." It's not safe. If you don't come, I'll be much safer if I take anti-crystallization drugs for two. You're a smart kid, won't you settle this score?"

... anti-crystallization drugs.

As much as Milady disliked the patriarch, she was as grateful to the patriarch.

This sounds unreasonable, and she is very unwilling to be swayed by a small favor; but since the work of cleaning up pollution is an unchangeable reality, it is fortunate that mother does not have to be exposed to the crystal without protection—right?At least, the anti-crystal drug provided by the patriarch protected Itami, at least the patriarch did not completely give up his responsibilities, and provided a little safety and comfort for their family of two.

This is why she always does not cooperate with the orders of the patriarch's family, and is unwilling to participate in the affairs of the clan, but never publicly opposes the prestige of the patriarch.

"No medicine can guarantee a [-]% effect... There are not people in the Gaota family who are not infected with crystal disease. Haven't you been coughing and panting a lot recently?" Milady argued in a low voice, "If we Take turns to clean up the pollution, and the person who cleans up the pollution takes two doses of medicine, so everyone's risk is reduced by half..."

"I taught you the probability. Can I not know?" Itan feigned anger, "But you forgot that medicine needs a long-term process of continuous accumulation in the human body. It is not okay to take it every day and stop it every day. You see, other Many of the people who are responsible for the cleaning have been ill for two or three years. I have been cleaning for four years. Where is the crystallization on my body? Even my hair and nails are fine. The cough is my itchy throat, which is related to the crystallization disease It doesn't matter."

This is true.

Milady knew that she couldn't talk to her mother, so she chattered about for a while, and was pushed up the artificial path by Yidan, who grabbed the back of her neck. "Go back quickly, I want to eat fish soup tonight."

By comparison, Milady felt a little relieved.

Knocking crystals is a physical effort, so the sound of mother's breathing sounds shallower and laborious than usual; other than that, Itami is still the same as usual, her skin and hair are very healthy and moist.Seeing such a mother with her own eyes made her feel more at ease.

The heavy muffled sound when the human body hit the ground came when Milady walked more than ten meters away.

At first, she didn't realize what the muffled sound meant.She just stopped in unknown and faint panic, because the sound of the chisel hitting the crystal stopped.

When Milady turned around, the machine fell to the ground.

She had never run so fast in her life.

Itami lay livid on the path, motionless; her arms were stretched out in front of her, as if she was about to call out to her daughter.

(End of this chapter)