Vega.

"You're late. Rute Lesenbra glanced at the woman who appeared at the door, the woman in the work suit, "Lily. He gave us a note of identity, "As my secretary, you shouldn't be late." ”

"I'm sorry. Lily's face was as usual, and she handed over the document in her hand, "This is the interracial audit you requested this month." Nothing special, just the newly born soul alien aspect, something special, I marked it. ”

Rutt Lesenbra took the document and flipped through it quickly, he didn't seem to have much patience, he didn't read the contents of the document, he went straight to Lily's note, "The number of groundbinders is growing. He frowned and glanced at Lily, asking for an explanation, "Why are the Earthbinders growing in number?" And the question, in Vega, in the western land, is more correct to say, "why do they exist in this world long enough for their numbers to accumulate." ”

Bound spirits. We all know the regular 'way' of the groundbinders. Disappear there, those who belong to another world, heaven or hell, and those who find their own way to survive become something else.

This is where the living space allows the Bonders to choose the future, and the West, the city of Vega, is not such an inclusive place. There is no need to revisit the social stratification 'system' in the west.

"The church is hiring a lot of ground-bound spirits. Lily turned the page for Rut Lesenbra, and it was clear that the answer to the question was the back page of the document. But Lily did not complain about the impatience of her leader, and seriously did her duty as a secretary, "Including the state where Vega is located, more than half of the states in the west are covered. ”

"The Church is studying the trials that manipulate the affiliation of faith (Constantine and Seth). Rutte Lesenbra still only looked at the conclusion. He gave a thoughtful look, then closed the file, "I see." "Bow your head and do the job of a mayor and stop looking at your secret orders," back to your desk, the phone won't pick up on its own. ”

Oh, answer the phone~ This is the job of a secretary, no problem.

Lily nodded, turned around, and prepared to leave. Took two steps and came back, "Thank you." ”

"Don't thank me, if you're late, your salary will still be deducted. "Ruter Lesenbra is saying what a leader should say to an employee who makes a mistake. Tantrum reprimands, accusations? There is no need, deducting money is the real thing. It's not this truth~

"I know that. Lily smiled as she raised her hand to take out a metal vial in her pocket and placed it on the mayor's desk, "You saved my life, this morning." ”

Root's gaze lingered on the metal vial for a moment, then moved to Lily. Without speaking, he put down his work and picked up the metal bottle that Lily had put down, felt the lack of weight in his hand, and spoke, "You used my blood. ”

"Yes. So I'm still standing here and serving you. ”

Root's face ...... Icy cold, "That's why you're late." It is impossible to speculate on the follow-up questions.

"Nope. The answer was crisp and neat, and it was in line with the criteria of a secretary, "It took some time to remind my daughter's teachers that she might have brought up the topic of 'death' a lot today." ”

Speaking of when you 'learned' to death, as a person who hopes for a better world, I, for example, hope that this 'learning' will happen late enough.

Rout was not satisfied with this answer because it was easily distracting - "You have a daughter?"

"Adopted daughter, don't you remember, adopted last year. ”

Root's expression said it all, "Oh, how old. ”

"4 years old. Lily looked at Root's changing expression, "I sincerely hope that you don't have to contribute your daughter to your food, it is a perk that comes with this job as the mayor's secretary." "That...... It's kind of scary.

I don't know if you remember that when Zach first came to Vega, he had a short discussion with Rout about food. We know that the reverence for 'virgin-woman-blood' is led by Lesembra, for the reason that the senses of eating will not be disturbed by inexplicable information when eating.

4 years old, it seems to be more worthy of admiration than virgin-female-.

Rout looked at Lily, "Are you miscognizing something, you're not working for me." Notice that the metaphorical content of this statement is somewhat 'philosophical', "You exist for me, you are my slave, and your role in this world is to serve your master, me." "The 'philosophical' part," and this age calls you a secretary. That's all, your character, without any perks. ”

Lily kept her emotions steady, "I'm sorry, I said the wrong thing. ”

Rult has also returned to his job as mayor, "As spring approaches, hospitals in the city are coordinating flu vaccinations, and citizens under the age of 10 can get free shots with their parents. "Just said, the mayor's job," your daughter?"

"Yesterday it was injected. ”

"Tsk. This ruins the taste of the whole season. "Try to keep up with Rout Lesenbra's thinking, hey.

"Thank you. "Thank you from Lily seems sincere.

"Don't thank me, thank you Giovanni. Industry. It's they who make humanity so fragile right now. "So you need all kinds of additives to maintain your health? Well, this logic, it seems that there is nothing wrong with it.

Lily bowed her head and turned to leave again.

"Wait. Root abruptly put down his work as mayor again, leaned back in his office chair, and refocused his gaze on the empty metal bottle on the desk, "Who?" ”

"Two men, human. I didn't know. ”

"Human?" said Root's face, confused.

"They used a silver thorn net to restrict my movements, and then salt water (ghouls are afraid of salt water, first at the time Rivench saved James). It felt like they had done their homework and knew what they were going to kill. ”

"Hunter?"

"Nope. Lily shook her head, "They didn't take my daughter, it doesn't feel like a hunter's style." ”

Hunter's style. Recall that when we described such civilian armed groups, we said that the reason for supporting them in this 'profession' was based on hatred. The hatred of aliens that ruin human life.

That, killing the mother, uh, adopting the stepmother, leaving a 4-year-old girl with no ability to survive, does not fit the characteristics of a hunter. Can you turn a corner? This is the life of a four-year-old girl.

Rout looked at Lily, "You mean it's murder against you. ”

"Feeling, yes. Lily nodded, "Thank you, they failed." ”

Rout looked sideways, as if thinking.

It took a long time to think about it, and Lily waited a while, and without being instructed by her master, turned to leave, to practice her raison d'être.

"Did you call the police? Rout spoke again, asking, though without a tone.

"Nope. Lily turned around and shook her head, "I don't think the police would care about this kind of thing. "The mayor's secretary, besides the mayor, is probably the one who knows the city best.

"You're talking about it. Rout stood up, his voice raising in confusion, "The mayor's secretary was assassinated, and our city's enforcers wouldn't care about that?" Rout leaned against his desk and looked at Lily as if it was a serious question......

Sorry, ironically, that's a serious question. Rout looked at Lily, "Push off my entire trip for today and pick me up with Vega Police Chief." ”

"Yes, Mayor. ”

......

I would be happy to continue to show you what happened in the mayor's office in Vega. After all, it is interesting to analyze the strange atmosphere of western society and ridicule the definition of interpersonal relationships in modern society~

But the real protagonist of this book, the story, Zach, is trapped in danger, passively trapped in a repetitive period of time, waiting for rescue. For humanitarian reasons, we need to take care of him.

So, let's go back to Barton. It's not really Barton, it's just a place at a certain time.

"How many times have we repeated this here?!" James felt like he was going to collapse.

"I didn't count. Louise frowned and held James down, because they were not the only 'creatures' in this cycle of time, and there were at least half a hundred citizens of Barton who were all filling out the ballots for the future mayor in such a cycle. James's collapse is a very puzzling move in the eyes of the citizens who are just repeating time.

"24 times. "There's a number, Murphy, no expression," multiplied by the time each time it started and ended, and we've been stuck here for two hours. ”

"It's only been two hours. Benjamin confirmed, glancing at Zach, "I'm hungry." ”

"You're not hungry. Zach was also expressionless, "You're just bored." ”

Everyone is bored. Reason –

"Do we really have to be on this scale? Murphy asked. What is the range? The scope of the soul self-detonation, remember, in the night school of Back Bay Community College, we have seen it, this range, super small......

Normally, Zach wouldn't answer Murphy's words. But this is not normal, Zach felt the gaze gathered on him, "Yes. "I looked at a random person, James is fine, and it feels like if someone is going to do some inexplicable crazy act first, it's James," I have to stay in the realm of the soul self-destructing. ”

The last epilogue of the words just appeared. The fine clumps began to radiate in the pink mist......

“25。 Murphy counted.

All the 'creatures' around them, the citizens, reset back to their original positions. The self-destructor, who had been seen disintegrate 25 times, was also fully recovered, standing at the table next to Zack and throwing an inkless pen.

Everyone has gotten used to this time reset, uh, except for James. Zach continued his explanation, "The last time I was stuck in a time loop like this, I was on a moving bus. I'm repeating the time before I was born. ”

"So you've moved your position too. Murphy answered.

Zach was still looking at James, "because the guy who blew himself up is moving." The end and reset of the time loop all happened when I died and the self-detonation finally came into normal. Just like just now. ”

As Louise did, before Murphy answered, "Is there a reset in the time loop?"

"Yes. Zach was pleased with Louise's answer, just in time to stare at James's hideous face, "When Papa 'rescued' me in the middle of the night...... everyone understood the meaning of quotation marks, "when the bus was." I was on the outside of the soul self-destruct, and I saw the self-detonation happen, time, without resetting, and I and Papa Midnight, and the republican god, were trapped in a half-simulated city of Barton. ”

"Half?"

"Geographically. Barton has things and people that are in that analog world, but they're not real. Zach looked around, the citizens who were just constantly resetting, "And the boundaries of that world, the people or things that pass through them, completely disappear from the perception of me and Papa Midnight and the Republican God." (Think about the relationship between players and NPCs.) ）

"You've said that before. "It's Benjamin," Papa Midnight used to explore the incomplete world. Benjamin looked at Murphy, "Should we do the same thing, Explore." The implication is obvious.

Sure enough, Murphy, the woman who came to Grande and leaked information in addition to being 'interrogated' by Louise, had a thoughtful look. It's understandable that she's been saying to Louise, 'This is a message I won't give right now,' and she's waiting for something to happen in Barton.

"Absolutely. Zach was mocking, and the tone could be heard, too high, for fear that Benjamin would really misunderstand, "Then you will advance time, and you will never go back to the time period when the self-explosion occurred, which is the time period we are in now." ”

Scold. James picked up, "And then Walter, who travels through the world by point in time, can't find us!!"

Zach raised his chin at Benjamin, 'Look, he's got it.'"

Benjamin did the final self-esteem maintenance, "Walter found you. ”

Zach wasn't going to leave Benjamin room for that, "But no one, not including Walter himself, doesn't know how he found me, does he." We know that it was the victim of 'Colt', Dream Mollip, who gave Walter time, "Are you willing to take this risk?" ”

No one spoke, the answer was already obvious, and no one wanted to take any chances.

So, just wait. Believe in the shady scenes of the Patton Police Department, their ability to cover up vicious events...... We know very well, isn't it, the self-explosion case has long been over in the official statement, and at this moment, it happened on the first day of the mayor's vote, hehe, the incident, it will not exist.

Another reset, in a pink mist and radiant dispersion fragments.

“26。 "A woman who was deliberately ignored finished counting, and then, she disappeared.

"Hey. Zach shook his head.

"What did she do?!" the most excited, of course, was James.

"Explore. Zach shook his head, "Apparently under my instructions, she has come to the conclusion that exploration is safe until time resets." As long as she's before the next reset happens. ”

Benjamin glanced in the direction in which Murphy had disappeared, "I should follow her." ”

Zach looked at Benjamin, speechless, "Promise me, at least wait until she verifies that this conclusion is correct, and then go, okay?"

The corners of Benjamin's mouth twitched as he looked at Zach, "I don't like your attitude. ”

"It's a shame we're stuck here. ”

......