Lird looked at Jim in deep thought, after spending more than a month together, he was very trusting of Jim Lird, and even at the moment when it was particularly annoying to him, Jim's words were able to calm Lird down a little.

Jim said, "What I can tell you is that the secrets of our tribe are far more than ordinary people think, which is why we have kept a low profile. ”

Jim then patted Lird on the shoulder and said, "You may be very unhappy with our sacrificial claims, but this kind of thing is indeed extremely inconceivable to the eyes of other people, because you have gained the trust of the priest to a large extent. ”

Lird frowned and said, "What do you mean by that?"

Jim said, "Mr. Pym is the best friend of our tribe, and we might even say that we regard him as our own people, and he probably knows more secrets about our tribe than many of our own. ”

Hearing this, Lird was quite surprised and said, "This... How is this possible?"

Jim shook his head and said, "This is not an exception, but a very normal reality, the only person who can guard the secret can only be a trustworthy and reliable person, not a member of his own clan, these are completely different things." ”

Lird's mind couldn't help but think of the situation described to him by his father, and it had to be said that Lird didn't believe that all Atlanteans would have the same experience as their father, they may be vaguely aware of what the tribe holds, but they may not know what kind of form and value the things they have mastered, otherwise the role of sacrifice will be too useless.

Jim continued: "It's understandable that Mr. Pym wants to see you, but it's surprising to let you in right here, and to be honest, it was a bit hard to accept when I first got the assignment. Lird shrugged his shoulders to show that he understood.

Jim smiled and said, "But after a period of contact, I began to recognize the nature of your personality, which can be said to be very trustworthy. ”

Lird said, "I want to thank you for this, if I have some greedy thoughts, you will sink me into the Ganges." Jim smiled heartily, "Not really!"

After the two of them talked and laughed, Liard's heavy dissatisfaction finally improved a little, and Jim continued when he saw this: "Besides these things just now, didn't the priest say anything more to you?"

Lird was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then said in a somewhat vague voice: "That... There are indeed some things that he... She asked me to come there once every two or three days to be with her... Talk. ”

Jim nodded when he heard this, his face did not show any suspicious suspicion, and at the same time he said to himself: "It seems that Lord Sacrifice wants to know more about the outside world, well, at this time of danger, it is indeed more important to keep pace with the times, and it is important to keep abreast of the pulse of the times." ”

Lird grinned and said with some embarrassment, "It's... Oh, yes. Even so, the image of the maiden priestess making this request came to mind.

"After that, if you are bored here, you can come and sit with me, there are not many people in this valley who can communicate with you, after all, Jim is about to become a father, and he must spend more time with his wife. After that, he knocked on the chessboard and said: "When the time comes, we will continue to play chess, to be honest, there are not many opponents here who can match me on the chessboard, you are one!"

Looking at the appearance of the maiden's sacrifice, it seemed that she was very pleased to find Liard, a chess player of the same level, but Lird was in anger at that time, completely ignoring the other party's invitation, and left his tent directly.

...

In the blink of an eye, three or five days have passed.

During this time, Lird was arguably agitated.

Somehow, his father's health suddenly deteriorated, as if the virus in his body was strengthening and eating away at his body, which made Pym feel deeply embarrassed.

Every day Lird went to his father's tent to watch, Pym was too much to say hello to, and he looked very weak after only a few words of conversation with Lird. Seeing this scene, Lird couldn't ask his father about things in depth, so he could only let him slowly recuperate.

After a period of rest and recuperation, Pym's body finally began to recover, and his pale face, which had been like silver paper, finally became a little flushed.

At the same time, the maiden priest ordered someone to build a wooden wheelchair and sent it over, saying that Pym's health had improved, and he could use the wheelchair to go out slightly in recent days.

Lird felt that he had regained his composure in his recent reflections, and that he was able to suppress himself, although he still had a lot of questions in his mind.

It was a sunny day and the breath was very mild. Lird didn't expect such weather at this time, so he beckoned Jim to help him put his father Pym in a wheelchair and go out.

When he stepped out of the tent after a long absence, the gentle light made Pym feel quite remarkable, but he did not flinch, and after a few attempts finally adapted to the light, feeling the warm light and wind in front of him, and finally a heartfelt smile appeared on the face of the old man, who had been greatly weakened.

Leard walked slowly on the flat grass with his wheelchair in his wheelchair, Jim following him, as if he didn't want to disturb the father and son, always keeping a certain distance from Pym and Lird, and following more slowly.

Lird looked at the valley and said as he looked at the mountains that still exuded navy blue, "I can't believe that you can still see such a scene in winter." ”

Pym smiled: "Yes, it's just like that if you want to come to the world's famous spring cities." ”

Liard thought for a moment and said, "But I don't think Spring City is necessarily an absolute paradise, an area is the most beautiful when it has four distinct seasons, and that is the scenery that the world should have." ”

"That's right, at least winter is something you can't refuse," Pym said. ”

"Winter in my hometown is very good, and I always like to go into the pine forest on the east side of the town with some friends, but my grandmother always stopped us, because Father Scar said that there are bears in winter. ”

Pym laughed, "I know this, Father Scar said when I was a child, and your grandmother wouldn't let me go to the pine forest at that time. ”

"Yes," said Lird, "when I was young, I really believed in it, and I was full of fear of the beautiful white woods, and when I was a little older, after reading some books, I also learned some truths, that bears are hibernating animals, and they hibernate in winter, so how can they go into the woods to prey on children? At this time of year, Fr. Scar always brings more holy water than anyone else's home. ”

Pym laughed, "Your grandmother mentioned it to me, but I didn't think about it, but I didn't bother to take your grandmother's complaints, so I didn't stand on your side." ”

Learde only smiled bitterly when he heard this, and then said: "Every year my grandmother forces me to drink a lot of holy water, and I have no resistance to water, but I always have a lot of jealousy of Father Scar's holy water, and I always wonder inexplicably whether the old man, who is always dissatisfied with what I usually do, will take the opportunity to mix urine into it. Because of this psychological reason, every time I drink that thing, I always feel that it tastes weird. ”

"You can rest assured," said Pym, "that Father Scar would never do such a thing, even if it is a heinous sinner, and Father Scar will pray for him after his death." And I know Father Scar's secret recipe for holy water. With that, Pym had a mysterious smile on his face.

Leard leaned in towards his father, and Pym said, "The so-called holy water is actually made from the snow that Father Scar collected from that pine forest, and when it is boiled, it is holy water. ”

Learde was surprised when he heard this, "How do you know about this?"

"When I was a child, I had the same concerns as you," said Pym, "so I secretly followed Father Scar and eventually discovered his 'religious secrets'. ”

Lird laughed, "Now I finally know why Father Scar did everything he could to keep people from touching that wood, because he was afraid of polluting the source of the holy water collection. ”

Pym shrugged his shoulders and said, "No, if you urchins pee in the woods, you're probably going to have to eat the consequences!"

After the laughter, Pym sighed softly, fell into sentimentality, and after a while he said to Lird, "Father Ska... I don't see it anymore. ”

Lird nodded heavily and said, "More than two years ago, Father Scar was killed by **. ”

Pym sighed again and said, "It's a pity that I don't have enough power to protect more people, and if I can get Father Scar out of there too, maybe..."

Lird shook his head and said, "No maybe, Father Scar will never leave, he has dedicated his life to the whole town and its people, he will not run away alone in that most difficult time." ”

"yes!" Pym sighed heartily, then shook his head again, "It's a pity. ”

Lird thought for a moment and said, "My grandmother mentioned these problems to me when she was alive, and if it weren't for me, she wouldn't have left the town, and the only way that awaits her is death." ”

Pym frowned and said, "There are always people in this world who are too stubborn..."

"I don't think it's stubborn," says Liard, "but in a way it's more of a ... Believe it. ”

Pym said: "The value of faith is to make people live better, and life is worthwhile, not to make people die fearlessly, do you think that waiting for death is a very valuable thing like a fish on a board?" Lird was silent, and Pym did not say much about this matter, and was also silent.

"The beliefs here seem to be very different from the outside world. Lird abruptly shifted the conversation to the moment.

"I've lived here for a while now and find the people here to be very special. ”

"I've heard Jim say that people here share a common faith, but so far I haven't seen a single person praying, no one contributing food incense, no taboos, and people here look more fearless than the financial elite on Wall Street. ”

Pym smiled lightly, "Because their faith lives among them, as close as they do, so what fear do they have?"

Lird was a little puzzled: "It is really hard to imagine this kind of social form, it seems that there are classes, but the relationship between people seems to be extraordinarily equal. As an ancient nation, it seems that the feudal mentality is not serious here, and there is more of an openness and freedom of modern people..."

Pym corrected: "You still have a misunderstanding of the Atlantean civilization, in your thinking the so-called ancient people should have a strict feudal mentality, but you must not forget that before the destruction of this ancient civilization, it was the most intelligent existence on the earth, and its technology and culture have reached an unprecedented height." Bear in mind that feudal pedantry is only a social phenomenon created by the social environment, and this phenomenon is not necessarily strictly limited by time. Thousands of years ago, mankind could have given birth to great saints, and now there are only a few who can be called human. ”

Lird sighed: "Perhaps, if we modern human beings are wiped out, the new human beings born again thousands of years later will also repeat this reincarnation, and the appearance of pi at that time may make people's blood boil." ”

Then Lird said to Pym: "So, for so many years the Atlantean remnants have maintained such a low-key way of life, and do not want to be discovered by the world, then where do all the rumors about their tribe come from? ”

Pym chuckled: "This is very simple, first of all, there is no impermeable wall in this world, and the migration of the remnants of Atlantis will naturally leave traces, and traces will always be discovered." Moreover, the people here are not completely cut off from the outside world, and to a certain extent, they have also established their own networks, to put it bluntly, they have some friends of different races. ”

And not all of these friends were completely trustworthy, and they eventually betrayed the place in their own way, of which Plato is a typical example. ”

However, human beings do not believe in real things many times, in the case of Atlantis, many people prefer the illusory myth that belongs to the moon in the fog, many people laugh at it, and many people will use this inspiration to make up all kinds of stories for public entertainment, I have to say that it is thanks to the stupidity of the world that Atlantis has lived safely for thousands of years. ”

After listening to his father's words, Lird nodded, and after a moment of silence, said, "Then father, did you have some unknown purpose in calling me here?"