In the dark tunnels, Anker held a torch and went all the way down. He leaned against the wall and walked very cautiously, for fear that he would fall into the bottomless abyss with one foot in the air.

At first, he thought about writing down the stairs he had taken, but he soon gave up on the idea. No matter how he walked, there was no end in sight to the steps, as if the end was linked to the other side of the earth.

I don't know how long I left, but the torch in my hand began to sway, and I was running out of fuel. Boundless darkness swept in from all directions, it was the most primitive unknown, the most primitive fear.

Anker stood still, reminding him of his childhood days when he went to climb a mountain, standing on a high place and looking up, his feet weak.

He glanced back.

The entrance to the cave is no longer visible.

He gritted his teeth and leaned against the wall as he stepped back.

But he just took two steps back, but he didn't move.

The corners of his mouth twitched twice, and a trace of unwillingness and shame surged out of his heart, occupying his brain in an instant.

Back off?

Back to that cave?

"You think you can scare me like that?"

Thinking of the sneering eyes of the gray-haired young man, his voice resounding in the corridor like the neighing of a poisonous snake, causing a burst of echoes, he sneered and repeated: "You think you can scare me like this?"

He raised his head abruptly and roared: "You think this will scare me? You think I'm the Mudblood of Aldo? My father was the greatest capitalist in Germany, and my grandfather was the most famous slave owner in Europe." I, Anker von Kleist, have killed countless people in thirty years, and the corpses of my enemies are enough to build a high dam on the Rhine, and the darkness can make me afraid?

Call!!

With that, he blew out the torch and smashed the stick on the stairs, plunging the surroundings into endless darkness.

He didn't care, and strode down.

At first he fell a few times because he couldn't see, but soon he got up and walked down angrily.

As he walked, he sneered and said to himself: "Let me see what you can do, come on, let me see what you do." ”

He kept his fighting spirit high and walked in the dark.

Ten minutes.

Twenty minutes.

Thirty minutes.

One hour.

Two hours.

Three hours.

Ten hours ......

Fifteen......

Maybe longer.

The darkness gave him no response.

The fighting spirit gradually dissipated.

His steps seemed firm, but his back was soaked in cold sweat.

I don't know how long I walked, I may have walked to the Moho face, or I may have walked to the Gutenberg face, and I may have even crossed the mantle and walked directly into the core of the earth.

Finally, Anker was tired and couldn't do it, he said unwillingly: "Count you to win me once, wait for me to rest for a while, let's come back again, see if you are deep or I can go!"

With that, he lay on the steps in the darkness. Close your eyes. The ground was uneven, cold and hard, but it didn't take long. Anker actually fell asleep.

In other words, he woke up from another layer of darkness, and there was still an unchanging corridor in front of him, and the so-called rest and sleep were nothing but an illusion.

He finally panicked completely.

The momentary compromise and retreat were exchanged for a rapid decline in momentum, and one day after the fighting spirit was high, he recognized the fact that this could be a bottomless pit and climbed to the ground instead.

The terrible thing is that he can no longer feel the presence of gravity, and the feeling of climbing up is no different from climbing down. Coupled with the darkness all around, there was no reference at all, and he didn't know if he was going up or down.

Darkness pressed his nerves all the time, and countless emotions played in his mind.

He regrets going underground and begins to hate Bach for the deal, Aldo for the bugs, and Lemay, the damned mission target.

Everything in this cave, everything in this dream, there is nothing that he does not hate, and being played with in the palm of his hand like this makes him extremely humiliated. If he could get out of this dream and find the source of the dream, he would definitely break it into pieces, no matter what it was. Based on this humiliating hatred, he prayed to the gods to get rid of this darkness, even at the cost of his soul.

A glimmer of light appeared before his eyes.

Incredible!

Anker rushed over like a traveler in the desert for more than a month who saw a spring.

The light is getting bigger and bigger.

His heart was beating harder and harder.

What will it be?

Will you go back to the real world, or see the source of the dream, no matter how bad it is, it's not bad to go back to the previous cave.

He came to the position of the light, and suddenly his eyes opened up.

It turned out to be a hemispherical room......

The room was very strangely furnished and full of bones.

In the center of the skeleton was a whist table filled with colorful chips and surrounded by four card-playing animals.

They were a fox, a bear, an eagle, and a milky pigeon.

"Oh, hi, hello. ”

The fox's position was directly opposite him, and he was the first to greet him. He seems to be very polite.

The other three animals also turned their heads to look at each other at the same time.

Anker's heart pounded in the face of three beast heads, and everything was taken over by chaos and incredulity.

Sensing his fear, he secretly clenched his fist, he was a wizard, only others could fear him, he should not be afraid of any weirdness.

"You've come just in time. The fox said. "I'm going to lose, can you help me win the hand?"

Anker looked at the fox's smiling face, swallowed his saliva, and held back ten thousand questions in his heart without asking a single question.

Under the fox's smiling gaze, he walked uncontrollably to the table and picked up the deck of cards that the fox had thrown down.

"This card sucks. Anker said: "I can't win. ”

"I believe in you. ”

The fox put its furry paws on his shoulders.

"When you see the cards, you have to play. Eagle said.

Bears and rabbits stared at him.

Anker shuddered, picked up the bad deck, and began to play.

In the first game, he was in a panic, racking his brains, and every step was cautious, but in the end, he still lost.

The bear laughed, and the eagle hissed, and its sharp claws reached out from under the table, grabbed the chips in front of the fox, and dragged them in front of him.

Anker looked at the fox with a dead face.

The fox spread out his hand and smiled helplessly: "There is still a little chip left, it is up to you whether you can turn the tables around." ”

With that, the four animals continued to shuffle the cards, making a clattering sound, and the playing cards were thrown in front of Anker, who didn't know what they were doing.

After the cards were dealt, the fox pushed the cards in front of him with his furry paws. "This time the cards were good. ”

"What are you?" his teeth chattered.

"We are gamblers who play cards. The fox said, "Come on, help me win this game, you should play cards a lot, just be entertained." ”

Anker remembered that when he was younger, he did play cards a lot, but it was in the highest clubs, smoking cigars with the most upper-class people, and the entertainment of a relaxed mind.

How can he relax and find happiness in such a place?

"I'm turning over the blocks, it's your turn. Bear said.

......

Second inning.

With good luck, he was able to pull the fox back with all his attention, but the chips in front of the fox didn't increase.

"Three wins in five games. The fox said.

"Still coming?" Anker asked, "what is this place, and how do I leave?"

"After this game, let's see, there are so many good babies, don't you want to win. It pointed to the chips on the table, "With them, you can do whatever you want." ”

"Is it okay to get out of here?"

"As long as you want. The fox's smiling speech was drowned out by the shuffling of the cards, and the three animals reshuffled the cards and placed them in front of him.

Can I leave as long as I win a game?

In another game, he tensed his nerves and was engrossed.

This time the hand was better than the last time, and he won again.

The bear slapped the table in frustration, the eagle threw the cards on the table in displeasure, and the pigeon cooed.

Two successive victories brought a certain peculiar coolness to Anker, and unlike the usual uneventful victories on weekdays, he found a kind of happiness akin to walking a tightrope.

It was like the first kiss at the age of thirteen, and it made him tremble, a feeling he had never experienced before.

The fox was right, he not only found happiness, but even wanted to do it again.

In the third game, he was in better shape and won again.

The fox clapped his hands happily, "Look, I'll just say you can win, don't you?"

"What are these chips?"

Anker asked the fox curiously, he was in a good mood.

"These are the times, the winning player gets the loser's time, and voila. The fox placed the chips in front of him with his furry paws, and when Anker looked closely, the chips were as yellow as gold, and not only that, but in the middle of each chip were all sorts of beauties, scratching their heads and making gestures, exactly like living people.

"Isn't it great. The fox asked, "With time, you can do whatever you want." ”

"It's good. Anker muttered sincerely, and he groped the chips in the fox's hand, and when he touched the woman in the middle, she clutched her chest and giggled, very shy.

"It's good. He laughed and repeated, "By the way, what if you don't have chips?"

"You can eat losing players who don't have chips. ”

The fox withdrew his paw and pointed to the circle of bones in the room with a smile: "Look, there used to be a lot of people playing here, but now there are only a few of us left." If you eat enough players, you can get endless time. ”

"Endless time?"

"That's right, a one-of-a-kind eternal life. The fox said.

"It's amazing. Anker looked at the chips in front of several other animals and licked his lips: "I'm bound to win." ”

He completely forgot what he was here for, and threw himself into the game, one, two, three. After that, the hand was no longer as easy to win as it was in the first two hands, it became normal. There are losses and wins.

But it was this cycle of winning and losing that made him feel so excited, and he kept repeating the game, and his skills improved rapidly as he continued to hone his skills. As the minutes passed, the chips in front of him became more and more.

After a protracted game, Bear was the first to lose all his chips, let out a wail, threw away his cards and ran off into the distance.

Its howl sparked a primal impulse in Anker, and he jumped over the table, crushing the bear under him like a beast and biting it on the neck.

The bear had rough skin and thick flesh, and it took all his strength to tear open its throat. The blood gushing out of it had no peculiar smell, it was as clear as amber and as sweet as red wine.

Under the baptism of blood, Anker's restless emotions were calmed, and he confirmed his place in the food chain. Close your eyes, sit on the ground, and slowly eat the bear as if it were a big meal, and eat only the bones of the bear.

As he ate, the other three animals remained absolutely silent, like waiters in a top-notch restaurant, without making the slightest sound.

After eating the bear, he sat down slowly and looked at the three animals one by one.

"Aren't you afraid?" he asked.

He was answered by the sound of shuffling.

"Good. ”

Anker smiled with satisfaction and began to draw cards.

The rules are becoming more and more familiar to him.

In less than twenty minutes, the chips in front of the pigeon were won by him, and before the pigeon could escape, he took the white bird in his hand, opened his bloody mouth, and bit off its head. He was so hard that the pigeons were directly kneaded into meat sauce by him.

After eating the pigeon, he indifferently spit out the feathers in his mouth.

"Come again. ”

The eagle came face to face with him, and suddenly, the eagle threw the cards.

"You win, I throw in the towel. ”

"Why?"

Anker was surprised.

"You've become one with the rules, and no one can beat you. ”

"I see. ”

Anker shrugged indifferently, "Whatever you want, the ending won't change anyway." ”

He grabbed the eagle's wings and tore him in half.

Blood was poured on him, but this time, he was a little tasteless, and neither the eagle nor the pigeon resisted much.

"It's boring, it's not exciting at all. ”

He frowned and looked around, saw the smiling fox, and had an idea.

"You come, you come to play with me. ”

The fox's smile froze on his face.

"Me?"