"That's good. This story is about a very powerful god who can do powerful magic, and was considered the most powerful god at the time. You know, he's a Norse god. Once upon a time there was a Viking ship with a Viking king on it – a Viking Age story. If there is no wind, the boat cannot move. So the king said that if the demon god gave them wind and let them return to land, he would sacrifice one of his men to the demon god. Well, soon the wind picked up, and they managed to land on land. Once on land, they drew lots to determine who would be sacrificed. Unfortunately, it was the king himself who was drawn. Of course, he was unhappy, but his men came up with the idea that they could perform a mock fake hanging on him, and it would definitely not hurt him. They found a cow's intestine, tied it loosely into a noose, and hung it around his neck, and hung the other end from a thin branch. And they took a reed, and pretended to be a spear, and pierced him. At last, the crowd shouted, 'All right, you've been hanged,' or are you about to be hanged? ’”

The road begins to turn and passes another country town, home to the under-12 speed skating championship finalists. On both sides of the road, there are two large funeral parlors belonging to a giant chain group. Ah Xiu really couldn't understand why a small town with only 300 people needed so many funeral parlors......

"Well, as soon as they mentioned the name of the demon god, the reed immediately turned into a sharp spear and stabbed the side of the guy's body, and the thin cow intestine instantly turned into a thick rope, and the small branch became a thick branch, and the tree itself continued to rise and thicken, and the ground fell. The king hung himself from a tree, with a wound on his side, and his face turned dark. The story is over. You see, there are so many gods who are eccentric and unwilling to be fooled, Mr. Asher. ”

"yes. Ashu said, "You're not Caucasia?"

"I'm half-blooded. She said.

"Half-blooded?"

"Well, only four pints of white blood. My mom was an Arab and my dad was a real gypsy. He came out of the gypsies, married my mother, and had me. After their divorce, he returned to the mainland. ”

"Back in the Gypsy Ghetto?"

"No, he borrowed money to open a small shop selling Indian cornmeal and bean rolls, and the business was very good. He didn't like me and always called me a mongrel. ”

"I'm so sorry for you. ”

"He's a weirdo. Still, I'm proud to have Celtic ancestry, which can help me waive my tuition fees. If one day, my bronze statue doesn't sell, my Celtic ancestry can help me find a job. ”

"That's right. Ah Xiu said.

He stopped in another town and told Sam to get off in front of a house on the edge of town. In the front yard of the house is a huge reindeer model made of wire, surrounded by countless flashing lights. "Would you like to come in and sit down?" she asked, "and my aunt can make you a hot cup of coffee." ”

"No," said Ashu, "I'm going to keep going." ”

She looked at him with a smile, suddenly looking a little fragile for the first time. She patted him on the shoulder. "What a mess your life has, sir. But you're okay. ”

"As everyone goes, people are like that. He said, "Thank you for being with me." ”

"You're welcome. She said, "If you run into a god or something on the way to Cairo, remember to say hello to me." She got out of the car, walked to the front door of the house, and rang the doorbell. She stood in the doorway and waited, never looking back. Ah Xiu sat in the car and waited until the door opened and she was safely inside, then he stepped on the gas pedal and turned back to the highway. He drove through the towns of Notting, Brooke and Lauda.

At eleven o'clock that night, Ah Xiu suddenly shivered all over. At this time, he had just entered the town of Midland. He felt like he needed a good night's sleep and couldn't drive anymore anyway. He drove to a hotel, paid £35 in cash in advance, and walked into his room on the first floor and straight into the bathroom.

A black cockroach lies on its back in the middle of the tiled floor. Ah Xiu took a towel to wipe the inside of the bathtub clean and turned on the faucet. He went back to the bedroom, undressed, and laid it on the bed. The bruises on his body have turned blue-black, which is very conspicuous. He sat in the bathtub and watched the color of the water slowly change. Then, naked, he washed his socks, panties, and T-shirt in the sink, wrung them out, and hung them on a clothesline pulled out of the wall above the tub. Out of respect for death, he didn't clean up the cockroaches on the ground.

Ashu crawled onto the bed. I wanted to watch an adult movie, but it was too dangerous to call a pay TV show and require a credit card. Besides, he doesn't think it's a joy to watch others have sex on TV, but without his share. He turned on the TV and pressed the sleep timer on the remote three times so that it would turn off automatically after 45 minutes. It's fifteen minutes to 12 a.m.

The TV is very poor, and the colors are flashing around. He kept snapping and changing channels. It's garbage time for the TV station, and he's switched from one nightly talk show to another, unable to concentrate on it. Someone was in the kitchen demonstrating what to cook, and in the process about a dozen different kinds of kitchen utensils were replaced, none of which Ah Xiu once had. Smack, another station. A man in a suit is giving a speech saying that now is the last moment to collect donations, and that as long as Ashur donates, Jesus can make Ashur's business more successful and prosperous. Smack, continue to change the channel. "Son of God" has just finished an episode, and "Conton Manor" begins.

Ah Xiu hadn't seen the TV series Conton Manor in several years. The TV series made him feel very comfortable, so he put the TV remote next to the bed and turned off the bedside lamp. He watched the TV, his eyes slowly closing, but in his heart he realized that something was not quite right. He hadn't seen many episodes of Condon Manor, so it wasn't surprising that he couldn't remember the previous content. What made him feel strange was the voice of the people in the play.

Everyone in the show is concerned about Thomas, who has been absent from work for a few days and has not been at work. Everyone went to his house to look for him, but he locked himself in the bedroom, and finally persuaded him to come out. He was drunk and walked staggeringly, but he was still so arrogant and annoying. He kept whispering, "Don't hit me, please." I can do anything, don't hit me anymore. ”

"Hell, what the hell is this!" Ah Xiu couldn't help but say something.

The TV screen turned into a snowflake, and when it returned to normal, "Conton Manor" somehow turned into "The Biography of Merlin". Morgana Pendragon tried to convince Merlin to abandon Arthur and help another group of people. After Merlin left the house, for some reason, she walked over and sat in a chair, crossed her legs, put her hands on her thighs, and walked through thousands of years, silently gazing at the outside world from the black and white TV screen.

"Ah Xiu," she said suddenly, "we have to talk." ”

Ah Xiu was speechless in surprise. She picked up Merlin's pipe from the rough wooden table next to her, took the tobacco from the bag, lit it with a beautiful spell--- and extinguished the small flame in her hand. "I'm talking to you," she said, "Hey, do you hear me?"

"It's crazy--- the witch on TV is talking to me. Ah Xiu said.

"Do you mean you're normal for the rest of your life? ”

"Say whatever you like, Morgena Pendragon talking to me on TV, it's so weird, it's a few notches weirder than anything else I've ever experienced---- I think I'm completely insane. Ah Xiu said.

"It's not Morgana Pendragon—I'm not the woman you see---- to be precise, it's just one of my countless skins, yes, countless skins..... I'm just looking for a convenient way to meet you, in a familiar environment as a backdrop. That's it--- to show my sincerity. She moved around on the couch, looking uncomfortable.

"Who are you?" asked Ashu.

"Very well," she said, "a good question." I'm this idiot box, I'm TV. I am the eye that can see everything, the world of cathode rays. I'm just a little converter that the whole family gathers to worship and worship, and this converter collects magic for me to keep getting stronger without much effort. ”

"I don't understand, are you on TV? or someone on TV?"

"The TV is the energy harvester, and I am the object of people's magic and life force. ”

"Magic and life? Do ordinary people have magic too? What are they dedicating?"

"Most of the time, they dedicate their time. "Sometimes it's something else. She raised her two fingers, gestured in the shape of a pistol, and blew the smoke from the imaginary muzzle. Then, she winked mischievously.

"Are you a wizard?" Ashu asked.

Morgana Pendragon smiled triumphantly and took a puff on her cigarette with a lady's graceful movements. "You could say that. She said.

"Sam greetings you. Ah Xiu said.

"What? Who's Sam? What the hell are you talking about?"

Ah Xiu glanced at his watch, it was just over midnight. "Nothing," he said, "So, Morgana Pendragon on TV, what are we going to talk about? ”

The TV screen shifts to a close-up, and Morgana Pendragon purses her lips with a concerned expression. "I hate people doing that, I hate those who beat you, Ashur, dear, I will never do that to you. I want to give you a job. ”

"Do what?"

"Work for me. I've heard about the trouble between you and the agents, and I'm very impressed with the way you solved the problem in the end: efficient, no nonsense, simple and effective. Who would have thought you would have such a skill? They were quite annoyed right now. ”

"Really?"

"They underestimate your abilities, sweetheart. But I'm not going to make that mistake. I want you to join me. She stood up and took a few steps closer to the camera. "Look at it, Ashu. We are a new force for the future. We're a big shopping mall, and your friends are just annoying little vendors on the side of the road, and we're shopping online on the Internet, and your friends are sitting on the side of the road, pushing carts and selling what they grow. No, they're not even fruit merchants, just a bunch of peddlers, obsolete characters who fix whale bone bindings. We belong to the present and the future, and your friends, not even yesterday belongs to them. ”

Strangely, there was a familiar tone in her tone. Ah Xiu asked her, "Have you ever met a boy in a stretch limousine?"

She spread her hands and rolled her eyes comically. Now she's the funny Merlin's witch from the TV series, eager to get rid of her relationship with anything unclean. "Hi-tech kid? You've seen a high-tech kid? Look, he's a good boy, one of us. But in front of people he doesn't like very much, he doesn't perform very well. If you work for us, you'll see what an amazing kid he is. ”

"What if I don't want to work for you?

There was a sudden knock on the door of the cabin where Morgana Pendragon was, and Merlin's voice could be heard calling her outside, asking her what had happened to her and had delayed her for so long. In the next scene, they have to rush to the castle.

A look of annoyance flashed on Morgana Pendragon's cute cartoonish face. "Hey," she said, "listen, whatever the old fellows pay you, I can give you two, three, a hundred." No matter what benefits they give you, I can give more. She smiled, immaculate, mischievous and adorable Morgana Pendragon. "As long as you make an offer, my dear. What do you want?" she began to unbutton her blouse. "Hey," she said seductively, "want to see Morgana Pendragon's breasts?"

The TV screen suddenly goes dark, and the sleep remote takes effect, automatically turning off the TV. Ah Xiu glanced at his watch. Half past 12 midnight. "This is not true. Ah Xiu muttered to himself.

He lay on the bed and rolled over and closed his eyes. He preferred Drinkward, Mr. Nancy, and the rest of the gang to the opposing side. He suddenly understood why. It's very simple: they may look scruffy, dirty, poor, and their food is terrible, but at least they speak interestingly and are never full of clichés.

He estimates that one day he will visit the roadside stalls, even if the goods there are all counterfeit. It's always much more interesting than a shopping mall.