Why play in a band if you don't form one for life?

Chapter 48: Demon King's Castle (Happy Birthday, Lock~)

MASKING looked at the empty seats next to LAYER. When she first set out on this journey, they were empty. Later, they were filled with LAYER. Now, they were empty again, which made her feel a little lonely.

"Well, Rui," she lay on the empty seat and looked up at LAYER, "you just left the others in that city? Didn't they say there are still people alive in the center of Eden? Maybe they have a way?"

"Haven't I explained it before?" LAYER lowered his head and met MASKING's eyes. "Number Five said that the road ahead starts to get closer to the center of the Garden of Eden. The sediment left over from the catastrophe back then is all there. The danger level is completely different from before. Their strength is not enough to deal with it. The best option is to concentrate all their strength on one person, me."

"Ha..." MASKING opened his mouth and seemed to be yawning, "Sorry, did you say that? I didn't listen."

"Yi Mu, have you been a little too lazy recently?" LAYER frowned. "I remember you weren't like this before. Is it because you can't play the drums recently?"

The remaining light of the black sun locked onto the speedboat. MASKING's eyes followed the black sun. When LAYER mentioned the drums, she immediately felt itchy after not touching the drumsticks for almost half a month. She used her fingers to beat the rhythm on her belly: "That's also the reason, but I'm just a little tired."

She turned to the other members of RAS, mainly CHU? and PAREO. CHU? seemed to be making a scene because of a bottleneck in composition, and PAREO was trying to comfort her. "Before we met the others, it was just the three of us. After all, I am older, so I naturally have to take on the responsibility of protecting the two of them. To be honest, it's really tiring..." She turned her head and continued to stare at the black sun, "PAREO is okay, CHU? always makes her own decisions and issues some outrageous orders. When asked, she just says 'I'm the producer!' But I can only try my best to satisfy her with PAREO. After all, her orders are for the good of everyone."

"After arriving here, the pressure has been reduced a lot, and I can be myself again..."

LAYER heard this and smiled: "That's good."

MASKING closed his eyes and asked back: "What about you? Have you changed since joining here?"

LAYER thought for a moment, put down the scabbard he was wiping, and raised his head slightly: "Let me think... apart from the experiences during this period, the biggest change is that I joined the band."

"Ah, speaking of the band, I also find it hard to believe CHU? That girl just accepted that you stayed in the last city for so long." MADKING said, "Isn't she very optimistic about your skills?"

"A band... doesn't need four or five lead singers, right?" LAYER thought of something and lowered his eyelids. "I am still a little worried after all."

"what?"

"About the guitarist. Look, don't we already have Liuhua? Will CHU give Xiaohua a chance to audition when the time comes? Although there is room for two guitarists in the band, I'm still a little worried."

MASKING sat up: "You only have this attitude when it comes to her. Why are you so obsessed with her?"

There was nothing that could not be said. So LAYER began to talk about how they met as children, how they parted, and how they sang the last song together in an abandoned tram.

Recalling the past, LAYER couldn't help but reveal a nostalgic smile on his face.

MASKING had started wiping away tears without knowing when.

"Don't cry." LAYER comforted her with a wry smile.

"No." MASKING said, and wiped his eyes again.

"Masking, stop crying..."

"Did I tell you?" MASKING opened his eyes and saw Rikka looking at him with a worried look on her face. Looking across, CHU? Didn't care about this side. PAREO had already handed over a pack of napkins: "Do you need it?"

"Ah—you people—"

At the bow, Shizi was not so relaxed. She had been sailing for who knows how many days in a row, and she was bored to death, but she dared not relax, for fear of a sudden sharp turn ahead. However, this was not a solution, and her eyelids opened and closed, and her body swayed back and forth, like a spirit of seaweed.

"Mr. Wu, if you are really tired, let me take over." Saya couldn't bear it any longer, "Drowsy driving is very dangerous."

"No." Shizi shook his head drowsily. "No matter what, I need to control the accelerator and brake, so it's safer for me to sit here."

"Then let's take a break?" Hong Xia interrupted. Anyway, Shizi had been driving for a long time this time.

In the river of light, the speedboat gradually slowed down and stopped at a concave bank. The bank was still made of flat glass, but the inside was a little turbid and no longer as shiny as before. Yukina stepped on it and frowned. The sound of the pedaling also changed a little. What this meant, combined with the warning left by the fifth layer, there was no need to say more.

Three days later, filled with worry, they saw the light of the exit.

"What kind of city will the next one be?" PAREO looked at the gradually expanding light in the distance, full of anticipation.

CHU? Also looking in that direction, without answering.

The time spent in the previous city was the last journey I experienced with the ghosts of the four LAYERs. All the heritage in the city had been taken away by No. 5 and handed over to the LAYERs. What remained were just simple historical relics.

The last city was built by a girl called the Angel of Light, but there were few records about her in the city, and the few records were mostly incomprehensible letters. Only in the documents used for inter-city communication could Shizi see familiar characters, and thus learned the name of the guardian and the name of the city: Cecil. Seeing this name, Shizi's face naturally looked strange, but he still obediently wrote these words on the cover of a new booklet.

The guardian seemed to have survived the catastrophe. Perhaps because of this, there was little praise for her in the city. Instead, there was a worship of the Garden of Eden itself: the symbol of a double-branched tree and a sword could be seen everywhere in the city. It was presumably the symbol of the Garden of Eden in this city.

As usual, in order to appease the remaining soul in Kita's body, they took away the half of the golden scepter found in the Central Cathedral. It was also inlaid with the emblem of the double-branched tree and the sword, from which No. 5 had inherited.

Recalling these experiences, the light from the next city has already touched the bow of the ship.

Shizi exhaled. She could finally rest for a while.

However, at the last moment of this abstract world they left, the pure white light in their eyes instantly turned purple and black. Before CHU could react, a new landscape had already appeared in front of her.

They sailed in the blood river. What greeted them was a hellish city. A solid sky, choking black haze, dim light, biting cold wind, dead jungle, broken streets, and the most conspicuous Gothic spire in the center of the city, completely wrapped in darkness. The spire had long since collapsed, and the rubble formed surrounded the tower in a gravity-defying manner.

It feels like I have arrived at the Demon King’s Castle in the game.

Chapter 49 Broken Streets and Bronze Statue

"It's... the Demon King's Castle..." Rinko was the first to say this.

"This, this, this..." There was a gleam in Yazi's eyes and she stuttered rarely, "I want to live here!" She stood up suddenly, regardless of the poor air quality, covered her eyes, and was about to say something childish.

"Hehehe... little girl, a tree that stands out in the forest will be destroyed by the wind... so many geniuses have fallen along the way..." Before she could organize her words, Shizi at the bow let out a hoarse and strange laugh and looked at her provocatively. Obviously, this magic city also suits her taste.

However, basically no one cared about the two of them, and they all went ashore first.

Putting aside those magical parts, the city still looks close to the medieval style. The ground is paved with broken stone bricks, full of dark gravel. From time to time, strange purple crystals can be seen in the cracks between the bricks, and you can hear a slight friction sound when you step on them.

The air was really bad, even worse than on the coast. "Do you want a mask?" Lisa asked everyone. She took out a few strips of cloth that she had prepared in advance. Shizi was not able to make a structure more sophisticated than a piece of cloth, so they could only use this as a substitute.

Most people thanked and took the cloth strips. Yukina, Rikka, and Layer didn't take them. They might need to do strenuous exercise and couldn't wear them. CHU? Apocalypse had already been activated, so it wasn't necessary.

CHU? With a thought, he scanned the surroundings. This city was comparable in size to the previous ones, and the terrain was more complex than the previous towns. The Blood River passed through the city, circled around the tower, and continued to flow forward. The dock side was a flat area, and there was a hilly area a little further away; there was also a small flat area on the other side, but soon there were towering mountains rising up, and it was unknown what was on the other side of the mountains.

She looked down and found that the other members of the RAS were still standing beside her, waiting for her to conduct them, while the people from the other two bands were already in the front.

"Let's go." She walked ahead.

The dock was completely silent, with only the sound of footsteps echoing. It was still quiet, but the atmosphere was more terrifying than the previous cities. The bones on the street were denser and more broken, and they were mainly from humans and birds. Every door on the street was wide open, or there were no doors at all. Some doors were half-broken by something, leaving only remnants. Most of the wooden windows were also broken. Behind the doors and windows, there was solid darkness, and it seemed that there were countless sights hidden inside, causing the few timid people in the team to hug the people around them tightly.

For example, Rikka hid next to MASKING, who summoned a substitute. The golden Buddha light of the substitute gave her a full sense of security. PAREO looked calm, but he had secretly buffed everyone. Feeling the AI-like virtual personality that suddenly appeared in his mind, CHU? frowned, but did not stop it.

Before they knew it, Layer had already walked in front of the others, knife in hand. Chu? felt that she was blocking his view, so he took a step to the side, but Layer didn't care.

There is a small square near the pier. In the center of the square is a small fountain, which has naturally dried up. However, there is a bronze statue on the fountain, which is a girl wearing a crown, holding a spear, wearing armor, with a white dove on her shoulder, looking proud and lifelike.

There is a bronze plaque under the statue, engraved with letters, which I think are the girl's identity and achievements. CHU? Scanned all the words, handed them over to AI for storage, secretly memorized the girl's appearance, and continued forward. The street in front is relatively wide, with townhouses on both sides. Fruit shops, bars, etc. can be recognized, but inside is as dark as the buildings near the dock.

Naturally, they didn't dare to go in, and only dared to focus on the external structure of the building from outside the door and analyze the clues. As for professional knowledge, such as the influence of geographical conditions on architectural style, they naturally didn't understand, but they could still pay attention to one or two obvious features. At the door of each house, you can see the emblem of a double-branched tree and a sword, which is similar to the previous city, but in addition to this, there is another emblem parallel to it: it is a spear that shatters the sky. Combined with the sculpture just now, CHU? has some guesses.

"(Anyway, the guardian of this city seems a bit narcissistic.)" she thought.

When she turned around, she found that everyone's eyes were unconsciously focused on her.

"What's wrong?" She asked the others in a bad mood. Most of them looked away, but their shoulders could still be seen shaking.

Only Shizi was still looking at her, covering her mouth and laughing: "I just feel that... CHU? You should have a lot in common with that senior."

CHU? was anxious and wanted to ask. Fortunately, Liang, who had been silent, seemed to have discovered something and attracted everyone's attention.

"Ryo... what are you looking at?" Rinko discovered that even in this terrifying atmosphere, Ryo had been leaving the team and walking in front. Now he was staring at the door of a house, and had been looking at it for quite a while.

"This house does look more luxurious." Hong Xia came over. Indeed, this house is a level higher than other houses on the same street. It is a separate building, and the decoration of the exterior wall is obviously much more refined. Even the gate can be seen to be made of better wood.

Liang shook her head. That was not what she was looking at. She pointed to the emblem at the door, where there was a bird-shaped emblem in addition to the emblem of the Garden of Eden and the emblem of the guardian.

This represents a new existence. CHU? came over to check and compared it with the AI's records, and found that this emblem had appeared several times before, basically appearing at the entrance of high-end places.

The bird-shaped emblem is related to the upper class. She expressed her guess. Hearing this, Youshina turned around and looked at the broken tower in the center of the city.

Generally speaking, wealthy areas can be found near the city center.

As expected, the closer you get to the central tower, the more frequently you see bird-shaped emblems. On this road, you can also often see sculptures of guardians, all holding spears with white doves on their shoulders. Seeing this, CHU? couldn't help but associate: She previously thought that the white dove was just a symbol, or a manifestation of an ability, but is it possible that it is a symbol, a symbol of a force in the city, or even the symbol of another guardian?

Combined with the obvious increase in bird bones in the city...

More intelligence is needed.

No. She became irritated. Originally, the purpose of exploring this city was to find out if there was any inheritance from the predecessors, and then leave quickly. Why was she here thinking about the distribution of power in the city at that time? She looked at Shizi, who seemed to be more focused than CHU?, and was squatting in a corner, tracing an insignificant pattern.

Infected by this guy?

No, I'm the producer. I have to lead this band. I can't get caught up in anything so easily... CHU? Cheered up his spirits and walked in front of everyone in RAS again.

Yukina, who was walking in the front, suddenly stopped. She waved her hand to stop everyone. She listened attentively and warned the others: "Something is coming."

They were crossing a deserted park. However, they had no intention of studying at the moment. Hongxia pointed to a forest and asked, "Where should we hide first?"

"Yeah." Youxina closed his eyes and was trying to determine the direction from which the vibration came. "It should be safe there."

Several people went into the forest and hid. Youxi thought the vegetation was too sparse, and thorns grew, covering everyone, which was in line with the environment. Hongxia also reached out to the ground, and the scarlet weeds and twisted dead branches grew, forming another layer of cover. There was still a little gap between the covers, which was used to observe the situation.

Soon, a dark figure approached from a distance. It was roughly humanoid, wearing tattered armor and carrying a basket. It moved like a zombie and seemed not to notice the crowd. It slowly walked towards a bush, picked some shriveled gray berries from it, put them in the basket, and then slowly walked to another place. Soon there were no more fruits in this area, so she disappeared from everyone's sight with a half-full basket.

【Apocalypse】Analysis results.

The shadow is 97.6% similar to the guardian on the statue.

ps: I hope you can grab the tickets for group r tomorrow~

Chapter 50 Phil and Belle

Others apparently noticed that Sombra looked exactly like the Guardian.

The relationship between the black shadow and the guardian is beyond doubt. Based on past experience, she may even be the corpse of the guardian, just like the old nun in Changle City.

But why did she pick the fruits? CHU? was sure that the fruits were completely contaminated and of no use.

Behind him, Sayo, who had been on guard in other directions, reminded: "Look."

CHU? and the others turned their heads and saw something strange: a white dove was standing on a dead branch.

It's been a long time since I've seen a real animal. The white pigeon was there, tilting its head and looking at everyone, just like a real harmless little animal. However, here, normality means danger. CHU? raised the muzzle of the gun, ready to fire.

The others did not try to stop him. They all kept quiet and did not dare to move.

As if sensing the murderous intent, the white dove flapped its wings, leaped from the branch, and flew away. Its flight left a pure white trail in the air. However, it did not fly high, but just shuttled through the woods, as if guiding everyone. Hongxia waved her hand and asked the ending band to follow. Yukina watched them leave and made a decision to follow behind with the others.

CHU? frowned, struggled for a while, weighed the pros and cons, and waved for others to follow.

The white pigeon controlled the speed, and its pure white tail meandered through the woods, marking a route. Everyone followed it out of the jungle, left the park, turned in the dark alleys of the city, and finally stopped in an alley in the rich area.

"Here..." CHU? scanned the environment vigilantly. After all, this was a wealthy area, and it wasn't cramped, but the alley still made her feel uneasy. However, at this moment, another white dove attracted her attention. The white dove flew from another direction, merged with the original one, and turned into a ball of faint light. Then, one, two, and countless identical white doves flew over, and they all merged into the faint light. Even a white dove flew out from the bird-shaped emblem on the nearby door and merged in. Soon, the faint light condensed into a human form and turned into a girl.

The girl had curly golden hair and a white dress. Her body was translucent and her bare feet were floating three inches above the ground. She had a pretty face, but there was a hint of incomprehensible sadness in her eyes.

Although the method is magical, since they are human, it is possible to communicate. Hong Xia stood in the front and tried to negotiate: "Excuse me, who are you?"

The girl's expression was a little dazed. But she recovered quickly. Without moving her lips, her voice had already echoed in everyone's mind: "Sorry, I don't understand your language. Please allow me to communicate directly through my consciousness."

They had seen this trick before, so they were not surprised. They nodded slightly and waited for the other party to continue.

"Please... help her." said the girl.

The girl introduced herself. Her name was Phil, and she was one of the twin guardians of this city, Saint Sunil City, known as the "City of the World". The other guardian was named Belu, a proud girl whose strength was one of the best among the builders of the Garden of Eden. She imitated the shape of the world and worked with Phil to define the framework of the city. After the city was built, she sat on the throne, called herself "God's Spear", and ruled the mortals. Phil himself voluntarily hid behind the scenes and collected intelligence from all over the city for her every day. Because of this, she became a symbol of "nobility" in the city, and only the upper class was qualified to use the bird-shaped emblem at the door of their house. During the hundred years of rule, she became more arrogant, and used the copper materials transported from Qingyu Town to build statues everywhere in the city to praise herself. She did a good job indeed. The city developed rapidly and gradually gained the reputation of "City of the World" among the mortals who came and went. Also because of Phil's contribution, she is well aware of the people's sentiments and sincerely cares about the common people, so the people are grateful to her.

However, this golden age only lasted a few hundred years. When the news came from the distant Qingyu Town, she immediately responded and arranged for the people to evacuate by force. Together with the guardians of other cities, she activated all the settings that had been arranged at the beginning of the city's construction and continuously improved over the past few hundred years. However, all of them were useless. All the people died in the tower, and no one survived. Even they themselves only lasted a little longer than others.

Phil had already let it go. After all, she had spent her life with Belle, and she was satisfied.

In the burning city, the two dying people leaned against each other for the last time. The fire was eating away their bodies. The speed was about the same, they should be able to die together, Phil thought.

"…Is it over?" Phil heard her monarch, her friend, ask in a sadder tone than ever before.

"……Um."

A hand, which was gradually getting cold, held her hand, crossing their fingers.

Phil's fingertips trembled. This was the first time in hundreds of years.

"...Thank you." She heard the other party's weak voice.

She turned her head and saw Belle's profile.

"...I'm sorry." she said again.

Phil held the other person's hand tightly and turned his head away: "I am already very satisfied."

However, she felt the other person shaking his head gently, and the ends of his hair rubbing against her neck. Suddenly, a warmth surged from her chest. She looked down and saw that Belu's spear was glowing with dazzling light and pierced into her heart.

There was no pain. The filth that had infected her quickly receded.

She saw that without the protection of the spear, Belu's whole body was quickly swallowed by filth, and in the end, all she was left with was a smile.

"...Since then, I have been hiding from the filth and surviving." The girl said, "As for Belle, as you can see, she only has a trace of obsession left. She has stayed in the tower for thousands of years, coming out from time to time to plunder some supplies. The tower is covered with filth, and I can't get in. I don't know what she is doing in there."