The tip of the pen touched the shoe, and the upper of the shoe was slightly sunken like a soft cheek poked by a finger.

Judging from the vision and feel, there is no problem, it is still the normal shoe, but the color is different, and the part of the nib that is in contact with the shoe has not changed.

But I lost this pen just to be on the safe side.

Then he took out a little change and put it in Adam's pocket, which was regarded as compensation.

I wanted her to get back in the car and stay by herself, but I couldn't feel at ease with her state.

I took her hand, led her to a place where she could see at a glance, although it was some distance away, and told her to stand here and not to walk around. She nodded obediently, but her mind was still not functioning properly.

While noticing her, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a piece of charlk that looked special.

The chalk is bright red, as long as a finger, and it doesn't get dirty when held in the hand, and it doesn't feel like chalk but more like a cold, rough metal rod.

It doesn't look valuable, but it's actually expensive, and I spent a lot of money to buy it from a merchant in the Black Zone. The magic of chalk itself is also very simple, that is, it can replace most of the materials needed to draw ritual patterns, and it is portable and durable. Although it is difficult to continue when drawing advanced ritual patterns, in the case of drawing relatively rudimentary ritual patterns, this chalk can even bring out a superior quality over the original material.

The ritual I am going to set up now has the effect of "containing spiritual fluctuations here", and although I don't know if it can have an effect on the "residual influence" at the moment, I can only give it a go.

Soon, with my hands, bright red, blood-drawn patterns were painted on the ground, on both sides of the alley, and on the walls at the end.

When I finished the last stroke of the last pattern, all the patterns around me glowed with a strange red light.

At the same time, the distant sunset had completely sunk away, and the alley was plunged into darkness, with only the red light faintly illuminating the surroundings that was reminiscent of evil, weirdness, and fear, and the dark shadow that I breathed slightly appeared on the wall.

After three seconds, all the patterns disappeared into the ground and walls like water spilled onto the beach, leaving no trace.

The red light also faded away, and the surroundings were plunged into complete darkness.

This is a sign of the completion of the ceremony.

I took out my phone and turned on the flashlight function to provide the lighting.

Immediately after, there was a confused "huh" from behind him.

I looked back and saw that Adam, who had just been led out of the ritual by me, was leaning against the wall beside him, raising his right foot, which was only wearing a white sock, and bowed his head in dismay, although his eyes were clear, as if he was confused: Where are my shoes?

It seems that the ritual worked.

"Residual Effects", containment successful.

*

"I see......" Adam seemed to lose his memory, and then walked out of the alley with me, whispering, "I almost got into the wall at the end of the alley......"

Now she even threw away the shoes on her other foot, and let her feet stand on the ground with only white socks, like a poor little girl who finally escaped from her parents with serious domestic violence, but in a hurry, she didn't even have time to put on her shoes.

I asked her if she would have a sore foot, and she said that although it hurt, it was better than wearing shoes on one foot.

"Why don't I lend you my shoes?" I say.

"That's not good." She shook her head.

"Then forget it."

"Hey."

"What's wrong?"

"It's all right......," she sighed, "you say, if I do get into the wall, what will happen after that?" ”

"I don't know, it's possible to get stuck in the wall, or it's possible to enter other spaces with completely different rules." I thought, "That wall shouldn't function as a door to another dimension, but ......"

But what? I couldn't describe for a moment that she was in a strange chaos of consciousness, seeing the walls as nothing, and as a result, the walls really became "nothing" to her.

This is also too idealistic - but in this side of the universe, idealism also has a market, and the universe occasionally gives idealism a face.

I wonder if in my hometown, the universe will occasionally be willful, it's just that I don't know? Or is it like a strict grading teacher, who is not allowed to pass even the slightest mistake, and must all "do things according to the rules"?

And if she continues to walk, where will she go?

"But you should have dealt with the 'residual effect', right?" She asked instead.

"It's hard to say that it's been solved, but it's contained at the end of this alley." Based on my own experience, I analyzed, "Because the 'residual effects' are left in one place, the density is higher, but sooner or later it will be saturated, and the density will not continue to increase." ”

"But it's more dangerous than just now, isn't it? If someone strays in, won't it be a disaster? She asked.

"That's right, so we have to do a second job." After saying that, I looked at the truck not far away, which contained a large number of bricks and cement materials and other items, "Build a wall." ”

In fact, if I just want to keep the average person out of the alley, I can also take some more time and arrange a small ceremony near the entrance, so that the person who wants to enter the alley feels inexplicably unpleasant and far away.

But in this world, there are always some people who will take the initiative to approach when they see something that makes them unhappy;

There are also those who are naturally uninspired (though impossible to reach my level) and are immune to the effects of such small rituals;

There are also people who simply think that they are psychic, and they can see through the ritual here at a glance, and they go in to see what is inside, but they can't get out again.

For the above three types of people, it is better not to play any bells and whistles and rituals, and simply build a wall here.

I chose to put this wall on the first corner of the alley.

Out of efficiency, Adam also changed into a blue overalls and accompanied me to build the wall.

There was an episode in the middle.,The drone suddenly called.,It's for an after-sales interview.,First asked me if I was okay with the "information of Adam's real body".,After I made a satisfactory evaluation.,He couldn't control his mouth again.,"I didn't expect this Adam.,It's still a beautiful girl.。 ”

"She's already graduated from college, so she can't talk about a 'girl'." I say.

"You can't say that, a woman with a face and body like a girl will always be a girl." He was saying strange things again, "And judging by this information, don't you think she's a good match for you?" She's in the Black Zone, but she's jealous, and you're the Faceling who terrifies the psionic criminals of Beaver City. Maybe she's still a fan of yours – no, it must be! If it were me, I would have chased her immediately! ”

"I'm not interested." I say.

"How can you say you're not interested? That's right, as an idol, if you take the initiative to chase fans, you are too unreserved. Otherwise, your first step can start by suggesting to her, 'It's okay to chase me,'......" He wasn't done yet.

I just hung up so he didn't continue to chatter.

But they all blamed him for saying something superfluous, and when he returned to Adam's side, he unconsciously paid attention to her face and figure.

As the drone said, Adam is indeed good-looking, although the face is easy to look at now, but the original face is not inferior to the present, and the figure can be called beautiful. I've never paid attention to this kind of thing before.

That being said, I didn't mean to have a "beautiful encounter" with her because of this.

Many things that seem beautiful today are beautiful because of keeping a distance. Once you close the distance, it becomes just "seemingly beautiful". Many men and women are very fond of each other before they become lovers, but after they become lovers, they hate each other; There are also many lovers who try to show their strengths to each other when they are in love, but after they get married, they think they can feel at ease, but they expose many flaws, and they still hate each other in the end.

Since my previous life, I have only had pessimistic and negative imaginations about love and marriage, and the countless complaints about my partner from a large number of experienced people on the Internet and in reality, as well as the endless pragmatic problems, have strengthened my opinion.

While building a wall, I squeezed the nonsense of drones out of my head.

Next to her, she sat high on the herringbone ladder, building a wall on one side, and showing a somewhat complicated smile on the other, "When I was a student, I would never have imagined that one day, I would actually help a man move bricks; And at this time when the sun has already set, I will build a wall with him......"

I don't even wear shoes...... She seemed to be muttering something like that.

When she said that, I felt as if I had done something outrageous.

*

It was already ten o'clock in the evening when the wall work was over. After all, it was the first time to build a wall, and neither of us had much experience. The appearance of the whole wall can only be said to look like a wall, but in fact it is quite unusual, not only is the surface uneven, but the wall itself is also somewhat disturbingly crooked on closer inspection. It's as if you just find a bicycle and hit it, and it will fall apart in an instant.

It seems that it is correct to place the wall at the first corner, but if it is placed directly at the entrance of the alley, it will inevitably attract too much attention because it is too ugly.

But she seems content, like a child who bakes bread for the first time in her life, even if her cheeks, hands, and overalls are stained with black and gray "flour", and the "bread" she makes is very poor, she will be easily moved by the flavor in the name of "handmade".

"What a good wall!" She said.

Is it a good wall? I looked at it for a long time, but I couldn't find even a single advantage.

*

On the way back in the truck driven by Adam, because I was finally free, I thought out of my mind and remembered what I had just had.

It's easy for me to forget that she's actually a few years older than me.

When I was active as a Faceling, I always forgot my current age, and unconsciously regarded myself as a twenty-four-year-old social person, and then this "social person" began to learn martial arts one day, and then accumulated some practical experience, although he was a coward, he was good at intimidation and raiding, and he also dressed himself as a scary character, and slowly gained some fame;

But in fact, I am only eighteen years old now, and I am in the third year of a certain high school in Beaver City, and my classmates only know that my academic performance is not bad, and I used to be good at sports, and the identity of the black zone has been since I was fifteen, and I am not twenty-four—that sounds really, doesn't it? However, as long as I wear a mask, or go through a disguise, and make up my voice, and speak in an adult voice, other people don't know, don't believe, and don't think, that I'm actually only officially an adult this year.

Unconsciously, I don't think so myself. Because I do have an adult soul hidden within me.

But after all, she is a few years older than me, and although she stands with me without being disguised (assuming this opportunity), and is no different from her peers, it is not so easy to mix things up.

And if you add up the age of my previous life and this life, it is my old cow eating tender grass, which is also nondescript - except that because I have never experienced life after the age of twenty-four, it is impossible to think of myself as a middle-aged person at the age of forty-two. The phrase "forty-two years old" sounds more like self-deprecation.

As I passed the time with these thoughts, Adam held the steering wheel with his left hand, picked up a cardboard box from his foot with his right hand, turned to me and asked, "Shall I take this back?" ”

Inside was the shoe that had lost its color.

"Whatever you want." I had nothing to do with it, the shoes were weird, but they were hers. I'm not a researcher, and I don't have research equipment, so she can take it if she wants.

If the shoe suddenly mutates, say, a large, foul-smelling, drooling mouth, and then crawls up to her when she's unsuspecting, and eats her into her stomach in one bite — that's regrettable, but it's also her own responsibility for mismanagement.

"Tell me more, what are you going to do with this?" I asked.

"What to do? I didn't think about it myself, but I can't just throw it away. She said.

When we passed by the small restaurant before, we glanced at each other and went to see the boss and the hostess in the name of having a supper. The two had reconciled as before, and seemed to realize that some strange cloud had dissipated over them, and they chatted with us with a relieved smile. I responded with a few hits, but I also felt that I had finally let go of my burden.

"Are you at ease?" After eating supper and walking out of the small restaurant, she asked.

Peace of mind. But of course I won't say it directly. Instead, he answered the question and put forward a commission, "Go back and help me investigate whether there have been vicious incidents in this neighborhood in the past two days." I'll pay for the money. ”

She smiled and said, "Since this is the kind of thing, I'll give it to you for free." ”

*

The next evening, she really got her to investigate a vicious incident.

But it had nothing to do with the residual effects of the Blood Sacrifice Ritual, and it didn't happen near that side street, but in the fourth district of Beaver City, where a psyker man attacked another passerby in broad daylight at noon, and it quickly made the news today.

The man on the news was wearing sunglasses and a mask.

He is Hasegawa who is going crazy.

However, after discussion, we didn't put "catching the crazy Hasegawa" in the next action plan, and we didn't know where to catch him if we wanted to, because he was now hiding again.

The focus is on this attacked passerby.

If nothing happens, the essence of the mysterious organization is likely to be within our reach.