We stand in this desolate world, we are the beings of the old century, in its darkness, we have machines and institutions but no civilization, we have complex feelings but nowhere to return, we have many voices but no truth, we come from one conscience but each hides.

--------- "History of Antiquity"

There used to be an old fable in the Far East, where two poor laborers sat in the field and gnawed on their nests, and they took a little rest to think of the emperor's life: "Does the emperor have to work every day?" "Of course not, he must sleep as long as he wants...""Where does the emperor sleep every day?" "I heard that he sleeps on cotton as white as a cloud...""That's so comfortable?

"That's, or someone else is the emperor. But what I envy the most is what the emperor eats every day. ”

"Food?" Changgong looked at the blackened chaff in his hand, "What can the emperor eat?"

"Hehe, don't you see what the landlord's mother-in-law eats every day? You didn't smell it after work? I saw it that day, Bai Bao Bao! That fragrant!" Hearing the word Bai Bao Bao, the two long-term workers couldn't help but drool.

"Yes, yes, if you can let me eat a white bun every day, it will really be the emperor's life. ”

"Bah.... Look at your income, if you eat a white bun a day, you can be regarded as a landlord at most. is the same as the fierce landlord's wife, if he becomes an emperor, how can he eat like that. ”

"Then what do you think the emperor should eat?"

"If you want me to say, the emperor must be much more powerful than the landlord's family, well... Certain... You have to eat at least 100 white buns for one meal...."

That night, in their smoky dark chapel, the bard sang an old ballad. It is Odin who sings, the Father Almighty, who offered himself as a sacrifice to himself. In the process of sacrifice, he was as brave and noble as all those who had been sacrificed before. The bard sings that the Almighty Father was hung from the World Tree for nine days and nine nights, and that one side of his body was pierced by a spear, and blood flowed down his wounds. He also sang of all the things the Almighty Father had learned in his agony: the names of nine worlds, nine spells, and twenty-nine and eighteen magics. Speaking of the spear piercing Odin's body, the bard began to tremble in pain, as if feeling the pain experienced by the Almighty Father. Everyone shuddered, imagining the pain he was experiencing.

The following day, the day of the Almighty Father, they found the victim. He was a small native, with long hair as black as a raven's wings, and skin the color of red clay. He spoke a language that none of them understood, not even their bards. The bard sailed aboard a ship to the Pillars of Creation and was well versed in the mixed languages spoken by the traders of the Mediterranean. The stranger was dressed in feathers and fur, and had a small bone stuck in his long hair.

They led him to the camp, gave him meat to eat, and gave him wine to drink to quench his thirst. He stammered and sang when he was drunk, his head drooping on his chest, but he actually drank less than a horn of honey. They laughed at him and gave him more drink. Soon he lay down under the table and fell asleep with his head in his hands.

They lifted him up, one on each shoulder and one on each leg, and lifted him to shoulder height. Four men carried him like an eight-legged horse. They carried him to the front of the procession, to a cen tree on the top of a hill overlooking the bay. They put a noose over his head and hung him high in the wind from a tree as a tribute to the Almighty Father, the God of the Gallows. The victim's body swayed in the wind, his face darkened, his tongue sticking out, his eyes bulging, and stiff enough to hang a leather helmet. Then they began to shout, shout, laugh, and take pride in offering sacrifices to the gods of heaven.

The following day, two large crows landed on the corpses of their victims, one standing on each shoulder. They began to peck at the cheeks and eyes of the dead. They knew that their sacrifice had been accepted by God.

It was a long winter, and they were all hungry, but they were inspired by the strength of the spirit. When spring comes, they can take a boat back to the north, and they will bring more immigrants, bring women. When the weather gets colder and the daylight hours are shorter, some of them begin to search for the villages where the victims lived, hoping to find food and women. They found nothing, only the place where a bonfire had once been lit, a small, abandoned camp.

One day in winter, when the sun rose as far away as a dim silver coin, they found the remains of the victims being lowered from the trees. It started to snow that afternoon, and heavy snowflakes slowly fell from the sky.

The men from the Northland closed the gates of the camp and withdrew behind their wooden walls.

That night, the warriors of the tribe of the victims attacked them: five hundred men against thirty men. They climbed over the wooden wall, and over the next seven days, they killed each of the thirty people in thirty different ways. These crews were forgotten by history and their own people.

The walls they had erected were torn down by tribal warriors, and their bodies and camps were burned. The longboat in which they had come was also burned. The tribal soldiers wanted these pale-skinned strangers to have only one ship, and burning it would ensure that no other Northlanders would ever come to the shores where they lived.

Asho and Drinkward had breakfast at a country restaurant on the street next to their hotel. It was just eight o'clock in the morning, and the weather was foggy and cold.

"Are you still planning to leave town?" asked Drinkward, "I have a few more things to do." Today is Friday, Friday is a day of holiday, a day of housewives. Tomorrow is Saturday and there's a lot to do on Saturday. ”

"I'm ready. "There's nothing left here for me to leave behind." ”

Drinkward piled up his plate with a variety of meats offered at the breakfast buffet. Ah Xiu only took a few slices of melon, a bagels, and a small dish of cream. They sat down in chairs.

"You must have had nightmares again last night. Drinkward said.

"Yes. Ah Xiu admitted. When he woke up in the morning, he found Laura's grave-stained footprints clearly on the hotel carpet, from his bedroom to the reception hall and outside the door.

"Why do you call you Axiu?" asked Drinkward.

Ah Xiu shrugged indifferently. "It's just a name. He said. The foggy world outside the window resembles a pencil sketch, made up of more than a dozen different shades of gray-black. From time to time, there are some blurred red or pure white lights, as if smudging the specks of the picture. "How did you get hurt?"

Drinkward shoved six or seven pieces of bacon into his mouth and chewed it, wiping the oil from the corners of his mouth with the back of his hand. "Actually, I wasn't hurt," he explained, "I just had some disgust, disgust with those boring lustful guys anymore, so I made sure I lost, lost to a decent guy, and imprisoned myself." ”

"Okay. What are your plans?"

Drinkward had a thoughtful expression. He eats a few pieces of brightly colored ham, picks a scrap from his beard, and places it on a plate. "Tell me about my plans: we're going to meet a few people tomorrow night, and they're all great people in their respective fields. Don't be intimidated by their weird behavior. The meeting point is one of the most important in the country. After that, we will drink and eat with them. I had to recruit them to participate in the operation I organized. ”

"Where is this most important place?"

"You'll see, my child. I'm talking about one of the most important places, which are two different concepts. I've sent a letter to my colleagues. Along the way, we would make a stopover in London, where we would get some money, as if for fun, and get a lot of cash, much more than I have now. After that, we went to Coventry. Drinkward paid the bill, and the two left the restaurant, crossed the street, and walked back to the hotel's parking lot. Drinkward tossed the car keys to Ashu and told him to drive.

He pulled onto the highway and drove away from town.

"Will you miss this town?" asked Drinkward. He's sorting through a folder full of maps.

"This town? I haven't really lived here. Since childhood, I have never stayed in one place for too long. I only came to this town in my twenties, which is Laura's hometown. ”

"I wish she was here. Drinkward said.

"It's just a dream. Ah Xiu said.

"Very well," said Drinkward, "that's a healthy mental attitude." Did you her last night?"

Ah Xiu took a deep breath before speaking. "It's none of your fucking business. No. ”

"Do you want to her?"

Ah Xiu no longer bothered him. He drove north towards Coventry. Drinkward laughed and continued to look through his maps, opening and folding them back one by one, and occasionally making notes on the yellow note paper with a large silver ballpoint pen.

He's finally done. He put down his pen and dropped the folder in the back seat of the car. "The counties we're going to have one of the biggest benefits. "Coventry, Birmingham, the women in these counties were the types of women I liked when I was younger. Snow-white skin, blue eyes, golden hair, burgundy cherry lips, and plump and round breasts that are as delicious as cheese. ”

"Only when you were young?" asked Ashu sarcastically, "you seemed to have had a pretty good time last night." ”

"That's right. Drinkward laughed and said, "Do you want to know the secret of my success with women?"

"Give money?"

"Don't be so vulgar. Of course not, my secret is charm, pure and simple masculine charm. ”

"Masculine charm? This thing, as the saying goes, there is, there is, there is none. ”

"Charm can be learned. Drinkward said.

Ah Xiu turned on the radio and tuned into the classic oldies to listen to the classic oldies that were popular before he was born. Bob Dylan is singing about a heavy rain coming or something, and Ah Xiu doesn't know if the rain has fallen or not. The road ahead was empty, only small Xiaoice slag on the asphalt, which shimmered like diamonds in the morning sun.

Like migraines, Coventry slowly appeared. First they drove through the countryside, then, before they knew it, a town popped up on the side of the road, spread all the way to the distance, and then they saw the edge of the city.

They parked in front of a low, low, wide, long brown-stone apartment building. There is no snow on the side pavement. They walked into the porch. Drinkward pressed the top button on the semi-circular intercom. No response. He pressed it again, then tried the buttons in the other tenants' rooms, but still didn't answer.

"That one is broken," a scrawny old woman walked down the steps, "and it can't be used." We called the caretaker and asked when he would come to fix it, and the heating. But he didn't care at all, and went to the mainland to spend the winter, in order to take care of his lung disease. She spoke with a strong accent, and Ah Xiu guessed that she might be from Eastern Europe.

Drinkward bowed deeply. "Zoya, my dear, no amount of words can express how beautiful and charming you are. You're so radiant, and you don't look old at all. ”

The old woman glared at him. "He doesn't want to see you, and I don't want to see you. You always bring bad news. ”

"That's because if it wasn't important, I would never visit in person. ”

The old woman snorted coldly. She carried an empty shopping bag with a rope in her hand and wore an old red coat that was buttoned down to her chin. She looked at Ah Xiu with suspicion on her face.

"Who's this big man?" she asked Drinkward, "the other murderer you hired?"

"Your words hurt me deeply, good lady. The gentleman's name was Ah Xiu. He works for me, but for your benefit. Ah Xiu, let me introduce you to this kind and lovely Zoya Miss RS. ”

"Nice to meet you. Ah Xiu greeted politely.

The old woman stared at him like a bird. "Asho," she said, "it's a good name." When the shadow cast by the sun is elongated, it will be my time. And you're a long shadow. She looked him up and down and smiled. "You can kiss my hand. She said, holding out a cold hand.

Ah Xiu bent down and kissed the back of her bony hand. She wears a large amber ring on her middle finger.

"What a good boy. She said, "I was going to buy food." You see, I'm the only one in my family who can make money, and the remaining two can't make money from prophecy. Because they only want to tell the truth, and the truth is not what people want to hear the most. The truth hurts and makes everyone feel uncomfortable, so they never come back to us to tell their fortunes. But I can lie to them and say what they want to hear. That's why I was able to take the bread home. Would you like to have dinner here?"

"I hope so. Drinkward said right away.