Longmen Memoirs

The white-haired deer came to his senses.

"Is something wrong?"

"I heard from the villagers that a painter came to the village."

"I haven't seen you."

"I am a villager who came from the next village to exchange things, not from this village."

"so."

Both sides fell silent again.

Alina sniffed slightly.

"Are you cooking something?" she asked, "It seems to be burnt."

"It's my wheat porridge." Chen Mo said, "Come in and talk about anything. By the way, have you eaten?"

Alina hesitated and tied the trailer next to the camel beast under the wooden shed.

"It's not very tasty, and you know it's mushy."

In the room, Alina finally did not refuse the wooden bowl he handed over.

It's indeed blurry, but not too serious.

Her eyes fell on the fingers handed over by the other party. The hands were rough and had thick joints. Although they were slender, they did not look like the fingers that a painter should have.

"Thank you. I'm really sorry that I came here without saying hello. Please entertain me."

"Nothing." The other party replied nonchalantly: "Did you come here because of those paintings?"

Alina was holding the wooden bowl. She heard the man say this. He did not look at her, but gathered the charcoal of the campfire with his back and boiled a pot of cold water.

"Do you like painting?"

"I like it very much."

"Then you can probably tell that I am not actually a professional painter."

Alina was stunned. She didn't expect the other party to answer so frankly. She was indeed a little confused, because it would be difficult to distinguish the brush strokes of those paintings with the knowledge of the villagers if they didn't have some understanding of this aspect.

Alina felt a little uneasy.

She wondered if she shouldn't have come just out of curiosity.

"But that doesn't seem right. I can barely be considered an amateur painter." He said, and then asked, "What do you call me?"

"...Alina."

"Miss Alina, my name is Lev, Lev-German, a painter's apprentice from the south of Ursus who is planning to travel around to hone his skills." Chen Mo said: "I think, one day I Maybe I can be called a real painter, if I can persist until that day."

"Mr. Lev, do you think you won't be able to survive that day?"

"...Your question is very pointed. Don't they usually ask why I am telling you this?"

"Then, why did Mr. Lev tell me this."

"Because ideals always require someone to talk to, and I think you won't go around talking to others, so I don't have to worry about being laughed at."

Alina felt that his words seemed like a joke. Of course, he said it very seriously on his face, but it did not prevent Alina from thinking that he was a humorous person.

"So this is ah."

"Is your village far away from here? I see you brought something here to exchange."

"It's not too far, but it snowed heavily the past few days, so people didn't come around much."

"It was very heavy. It snowed that day and I lost my way. I didn't see the firelight in this village until it was almost dark. Maybe if I hadn't gone in another direction, I might have gone to your village."

"Why did Mr. Lev think of coming to Snowfield?"

"Ah, in fact, the snowfield is not the beginning of my journey. It is better to say that the snowfield should be the last stop of my journey. I have actually been to many places before coming here."

"Like Letania?" Alina asked tentatively, and in the face of the other party's doubtful eyes, she explained: "I have seen the spire of Letania in one of your portraits before."

“Not only Letania, I have been to many other places, including Victoria, Sargon, Colombia, Syracuse, and Kazdaele. Each city, mountain, and river in these places has a completely different scenery of its own. Those buildings and unknown scenery that hide the past history make me yearn for it." He said: "If this journey to the snowfield goes well, I will probably return to my hometown and compile what I have seen along the way. , re-recorded on the drawing paper.”

By the time Alina came back to her senses, it was already getting late.

Unknowingly, she and the painter named Lev had been chatting for a long time, but what was surprising was that Alina did not feel the passage of time.

Maybe it's because Lev is very talkative, or maybe it's just because after so long, Alina finally met someone who has the same hobbies and very similar ideas to her.

Like a bosom friend, Alina doesn't know how to describe it, but some people have obviously never known each other before, but the strange thing is that when you talk to them, they seem to be long-lost friends.

This is something that Alina has never encountered before. Lev is very well-educated, and unlike the Ursus people Alina knows, she does not have many inherent ideas of the Ursus people. He said that maybe it was because of his experience of traveling around this land that he became different from the Ursus people.

Some of his views often make Alina agree with her. In fact, some of his views are in perfect agreement with what Alina thinks.

Alina did not feel Lev's malice, and when she inadvertently talked to Lev about the infected, Lev's attitude reminded him of Tallulah. Lev believed that infected people are not inherently malicious, but The cruelty of the world has reduced the infected to what they are today. He does not have much sympathy for the infected, nor does he have any prejudice. His cognition does not contain any mainstream ideas of Ursus, but it is difficult to find him. reasons for rebuttal.

Alina suddenly wanted to introduce this person to Tallulah. He thought Tallulah might be able to chat with him, but as soon as the idea came up, Alina dismissed it from her mind. She couldn't just rely on it. One person's words at this moment reveal everyone's position.

Maybe Tallulah was right, there had been enough back-tracking.

Alina didn't think about telling her that she was an infected person, because she felt that maybe after knowing that she was an infected person, Lev might have a different attitude. Alina didn't have too much idea about this. She has no big expectations, and she is not prepared to try this kind of behavior of counting on others.

But this is good. Today, the village girl Alina met someone she thought was good.

For Chen Mo, continuing a relatively perfect lie is already an easy task. Often he only needs to change a few words and experiences to create a completely different life.

This girl named Alina was indeed called Chen Mo. It was a bit surprising that he could meet a girl with a considerable degree of her own opinions and vision in the village of Ursus. It is not that Chen Mo thought that most people outside the wilderness were ignorant. Yes, it’s just the difference in cognition and knowledge that will indeed limit people’s ideas.

It's like suddenly seeing a different color on a white snowfield. It may not necessarily be black, but it will definitely look slightly different from the white and attract people's attention.

"It's already so late before you know it. Do you want to go back? Isn't it safe? Can I see you off?"

Outside the house, looking at the gradually dimming skylight, Chen Mo looked at Alina who was about to leave.

"No, I'm sorry to have disturbed Mr. Lev for so long. Our village is not far from here. I've been here several times. It doesn't matter if I go back alone."

Alina took the camel beast she brought, smiled and shook her head.

"I'd better see you off. After all, this period of time is not peaceful. A few days ago, the villagers said they saw the shadow of pickets in the west. It's very unsafe for you, a girl, to carry a bunch of things."

"It's really not necessary." Alina replied: "If I ask Mr. Lev to send me off again, I will feel very sorry, and Mr. Lev doesn't think that it would be inappropriate to ask to go with a woman I just met at this time. Does it make women feel worried?”

Chen Mo was stunned for a moment.

He looked at the smile on the other person's face. The deer seemed to have said that on purpose. Chen Mo didn't expect that she still had such a side.

"I never thought about that."

"So you are a good man."

"Then... well, be careful on the road." Chen Mo said, "I will probably stay here for a while. If there is anything else you want to know, you can come back then."

"Okay, then I'm leaving."

Chapter 3 Besides fate, there is also destiny

[Hui Jie:

According to our agreement, I will write you a letter every half month to let you know that I am safe, but I think that by the time I send these letters back to Longmen, there will be more than one.

Continuing from what we said last time.

I found clues about Tallulah in the snowfields in northern Ursus. It seems that this name has been circulated among a group of infected people called guerrillas. I don’t know if this Tallulah will be the little tower we know. , but this is the only progress I have made so far.

I came to the north and searched for clues about the guerrillas. However, due to the attitude of the Ursus people towards the infected, I achieved little success. Most of the infected were very wary of outsiders. When I try to ask them about the topic of the infected organization, they often choose to remain silent. I can't threaten or force a group of people who may know nothing about it to answer a question that they don't know the answer to.

However, this journey has not been without any gains. At least the infected picket team has dealt with this group of people a lot. I plan to find out if there is no trace of that group of people before spring, I think I must find a way to contact the Wu I got in touch with the SARS military, and an organization I met in the south might be able to provide me with some help in this regard.

I stopped short for this plan.

Ten kilometers away from my village is the outpost of the Ursus Fourth Army. During my time in Kazdaele, I collected intelligence about Ursus-related armies in order to deal with some possible emergencies.

The Fourth Army is one of the two major armies under the main war faction of Ursus. It originally belonged to the same old noble camp as the Sixth and Eighth Army. However, after being frustrated in the battle between the old and new factions within Ursus, the two armies It defected to the reformists for the first time. Except for the Sixth Army, which had been destroyed in the power struggle, this army is now in an embarrassing situation. It has changed its flag twice and is not trusted by both parties. Therefore, it was squeezed to the north of Ursus to serve as border defense. Whether it is due to geography or other factors, if I want to borrow the Ursus military's intelligence network, this legion is the best and easiest breakthrough.

Well...you probably don't want to read what I wrote in such detail, like a mission briefing, so let's talk about recent events.

Today I met an Elafia named Alina, a very interesting girl. She didn’t feel like an ordinary villager outside Ursus Village.

But that’s not the most important thing, Hui Jie. What surprised me the most was that she was different from the Ursus villagers I met along the way. She actually took the initiative to talk to me about the infected, even though we were only very close. We briefly chatted and then stopped, but I felt like she seemed a little different in this regard.

Maybe she had dealt with infected people, or maybe there were several infected people hiding in her village.

I plan to follow her and visit her village. In fact, even if I don’t meet her today, I plan to visit several nearby villages after the pickets active in the west leave.

When you see this, you will definitely think that I am seeking medical treatment indiscriminately.

Yes, but the Northland is too big. Hui Jie, it is not easy to find a person here just by name. The only clue in my hand is the three words "infected person". I followed their clues all the way. Up to here, but so far, we still haven't been able to find out their whereabouts.

So I can't let go of any possibility.

This is not the first time I have done the same thing, because most infected people will not reveal any clues they may know to a stranger they have known for a short time. The persecution of Ursus has made them accustomed to looking at them with suspicion. Everyone who tried to get close, but I couldn't reveal that I was also an infected person, because if I acted as an infected person, maybe not many villages would dare to let me stay for a while.

Maybe we won't make any progress this time, but it doesn't matter. At least for me, the scope of the search has been narrowed again. There are known villages of all sizes on the Ursus Snowfield map. Each time, the scope is narrowed a little. It’s not always a bad thing. The only thing I need to worry about is my own negligence, which will lead to deviations in the planned itinerary range, thereby missing important clues. The way to solve this problem is also very simple, that is, to avoid omissions as much as possible.

...]

Chen Mo closed the letter. This letter will be sent back to Longmen together with the previous ones, provided that Chen Mo can find a city with a messenger station.

That will probably be after spring.

He put the letter back into his bag, put out the bonfire, picked up the long box, put on the thick cloak and left the house.

The sky outside the house is getting darker, and the smoke from the village is gradually rising into the gray sky. It always gets dark very early in the snowfield, and maybe it will continue to snow tonight.

Chen Mo pulled up the hood of his cloak, and he felt surprisingly calm. Repeating one thing too many times will always make him calmer. Maybe he had some unrealistic expectations at the beginning, but after every disappointment, he just became calmer. What remains is a habit, and the only reason why I haven't given up this behavior yet is probably due to a bit of luck.

Chen Mo felt that she might understand Kelxi a little.

Chen Mo, who was thinking this way, quickly walked into the snow.

"This won't work, they must be hanged."

In the room, the shield guard put his hands on the long table, looked at Tallulah seriously and retorted loudly: "The captain is not here now. If he were here, he would definitely give this order."

"Guerilla fighters, we are not an army, at least not yet."

Tallulah looked directly at the serious shield guard, and her eyes swept over several other guerrilla fighters.

"The impact was too bad. They originally joined us because of trust, then became suspicious because of hunger, and finally made a mistake." She said: "But the premise of this is that we did not fulfill our promises at all."

"Promise them to eat what little food we have left?"

"We promise to give the infected a place." Tallulah replied: "...Don't expect everyone to come here for a noble purpose. This is unrealistic. If we can deliver that batch of machines early, we can get these grains." , can increase their trust.”

"Ha, you mean, it's us who are at fault, Tallulah, you blame us." The shield guard looked at Tallulah in disbelief and asked.

"That was not what I meant."

"We have no responsibility or obligation to provide them with anything, Tallulah." The shield guard said loudly: "We respect you, so we are willing to obey your orders, but this does not mean that you are our leader."

"The guerrillas have been rescuing infected people. This is what the captain taught us. We don't ask for anything in return, but we are not fools. They should understand this before joining this team. We don't ask them to help each other, but at least we must Get the punishment they deserve for their actions.”

"Such consequences will only cause others to be unwilling to trust and join us, and we will only have fewer and fewer people."

Tallulah tried to convince the shield guard.

"No, Tallulah, what you did before this will cause loopholes in our team. An undisciplined team will only collapse. Unknown rewards and punishments will make more people follow suit." The shield guard said resolutely: "No matter what, I will We do not agree with their continued presence in our ranks.”

"Then exile them," Tallulah replied, "but no additional violence is allowed, and they are given a week's rations."

"Impossible! None of our soldiers are treated like this!"

"..."

Tallulah fell silent.

She looked into the shield guard's eyes, then looked at the others.

The shield guards did not avoid her gaze.

"We will never give in on this, not because of merit or anything, but because their actions are simply unworthy."

Tallulah understood the attitude of the shield guards.

She took a step back.