In the early afternoon, Carmen walked into the bookstore.

Tianyi still sat behind his old desk, reading a book and drinking coffee.

It seems like he's in this state every time someone visits.

But people who really know him know that when you have the idea of visiting him, he already knows when you're coming, so it's hard to tell what he's usually doing.

"What a rarity." Tianyi took the initiative to say hello to Carmen.

Carmen walked to the desk, didn't sit down, and said, "I want to see Lance." ”

"Hmm......" Tianyi said in a deep voice, "it's really polite to open your mouth and let people do things." ”

Carmen said: "You can make conditions, and I can agree to anything." ”

Tianyi didn't even raise his eyelids, still looking at the book, picked up the coffee and took a sip, and then said: "Girls, don't say this kind of line at every turn." ”

"I didn't want to ask for ......," Carmen continued, "and a week after Lance disappeared, I went to the priest and asked him about Lance's origin and whereabouts; Then over the last few months, I did a lot of research trying to figure out how to track down Lance, but I ended up with only one conclusion......"

"I'm the only one on earth who can help you right now, right?" One day.

"Of course," Carmen continued...... "You already know all of what I said through the Book of the Heart." ”

"I'm not Zilin, and my dependence on the Book of Hearts is not as strong as you think." Tianyi, "What you just said, I can know through simple reasoning...... In fact, the few seconds between the moment you walk into my bookstore and the words 'rare guest' pop out of my mouth are all the time it takes me to reason. ”

"Okay, whatever." Carmen said, "Can you help me?" ”

"Absolutely." Tianyi responded in a very casual tone, "No matter what you say, he is also a direct descendant of an old friend of mine, and he has also helped me do a lot of things this time, without a single complaint, I should still return this favor to him, but ......"

As soon as he changed his words, Carmen asked eagerly, "Is there any difficulty?" ”

"I don't have any problems, it's you who have problems." Tianyi continued, "You've been doing research for months, and with your intelligence, which is on par with Lance, you should have understood that humans are creatures...... Neither the body nor the soul can safely travel between two parallel universes, even for extremely high-level abilities. ”

"Yes, I know that." "But there should be exceptions that I don't know about, do they?" ”

"Huh...... That's right. Tianyi put down the book with a smile, took another sip of coffee, and said unhurriedly, "First of all, there are some methods of direct crossing with the body on the 'Daomen' side, and the people who 'soared' in the mouths of the ancients are the ones who have found the way......; With your overly serious character, it should not be suitable to take this path. ”

"And what else?" Carmen Road.

"What's more, a small number of god-level abilities whose abilities happen to be related to crossing can also pass through safely." Tianyi said.

"Looks like I'm not suitable for this either." Carmen Road.

Tian nodded slightly: "Or, you can use the power of 'ghosts and gods'." ”

"Are you?" Carmen asked directly.

"I ...... Not really. "Tianyi, "At least it's not the kind of ghosts and gods in the 'magic' system, by the way, there are no high-ranking ghosts and gods in the reality dimension of our universe, unless you die and go to another dimension, then maybe there will be a chance to meet a few." ”

Carmen said, "I have to die first?" ”

Tianyi waved his hand: "No need, because there is still one way, and that is 'science'." ”

"I've studied all the 'scientific' methods." Carmen said, "But...... I guess you're talking about some kind of science that I don't know about, that is beyond the current level of human civilization, right? ”

"Exactly." One day.

"So what are we waiting for?" "I'll be able to leave now." ”

"Don't worry." Tianyi, "There are a few more things I have to make clear to you first. ”

"Say it." Carmen was still in a hurry.

Tianyi: "Generally speaking, if you go, you can't come back." ”

"Lance isn't here, why should I come back?" Carmen asked rhetorically in a natural tone.

Tianyi smiled again, and then said: "My method can only ensure that your soul and memories are intact in the past, but your body will be shattered into elementary particles in the universe in the process of traversing, so when you get there, you will be like 'borrowing a corpse to return the soul', and possess someone who has just died." ”

Carmen thought for a moment and continued, "Does that mean that I may be attached to someone who is dying in the ICU, such as a patient with an advanced tumor, a victim of a traffic accident, or a person with a sudden cerebral hemorrhage?" ”

This was indeed something she had to consider, in case she had just crossed over, was rescued for two minutes and then died, or crossed over to someone who was dying and incapacitated, or was rescued and became paralyzed or vegetative...... Then she is equal to nothing.

"You can rest assured, I'll say hi to my 'friend over there' and ask him to put you on a little girl who is close to Lance's biological age." Tianyi, "If you have a need, I can even ask him to take special care of you and arrange you to a rich man's home, after all, there are billions of people on the earth over there, and it is not difficult to find a time point when Miss Qianjin died unexpectedly." ”

"Is it possible to pick the time point?" Carmen asked.

"Absolutely." For example, a person in Universe A in 1900 travels to Universe B, spends 20 years and then travels back, he may not return to 1920 in Universe A, he may return to 1900 in Universe A, to the day he left, or to 1980, or 1400. ”

"I see." Carmen groaned for a moment, then continued, "But you just said that you were going to put me in a person whose biological age is close to that of Lance, so there is a time limit, right?" ”

"Yes." "Because I'm going to send you sometime shortly after Lance's return." ”

"Well......" Carmen thought for a moment, "I've heard it from the sacrificer, but I'll confirm it...... Lance is still a kid over there, right? ”

"Physiologically teenage." Tianyi replied, "But the mental age is much older than you." ”

"Huh...... Good. "That's the little girl, or just ......."

I don't know what she thought, but she rarely showed a smile that revealed a bit of evil.

"It seems that not only do you have nothing to worry about, but you are quite looking forward to it, so I will rest assured." Tianyi said, stood up, and opened the door behind him, "The first room on the left hand side of the corridor, remember to knock...... My wife will explain to you some details related to the crossing, so that you don't cause unnecessary trouble when you get there; I'll go get something ready in a moment, and I'll call you when I'm ready. ”

Carmen answered, and walked through the door, and when she passed by Tianyi, she suddenly remembered something again, and continued, "By the way...... Speaking of no concerns......," she paused, "though I don't know my ancestor well, but by 'an old friend' you mean Mr. Krauser Wittstock, right?" ”

"It's him." Tianyi replied, "What, you want to see him before you leave?" ”

"Is that okay?" Carmen asked.

"Unfortunately, if you come a day and a half early, you can find him in a nearby laboratory, and he should still have time to chat." Tianyi, "But he just happened to have some personal matters to do at this moment...... Otherwise, you will wait another day and ...... tomorrow."

"Then you don't have to." Carmen interrupted him, "I just asked casually, after all, I am a legendary figure and my ancestor, so I want to meet him...... Since it's not a coincidence, forget it. ”

With that, she took another step and stepped into the door.

Tianyi glanced at her back, closed the door with his hand, and then sat back at his desk, picked up his coffee, and said to himself, "It......'s okay if you don't see it," he shrugged, "You two are not like each other at all, your ancestor is much gentler than you, and he is good to everyone except himself...... Where is it like you, for your own coolness, chasing a little devil across the universe. ”

…………

On that day, dusk.

in a hospital ward.

An old man was sitting in a wheelchair in front of the window, staring at the sunset with glazed eyes.

And Krauser stood behind him, silently watching him.

This old man's name is Ji Jue.

Half a month ago, he looked like he was only about forty years old, but now, he looked like he was eighty or ninety years old, and he was described as extremely haggard, and his face was always accompanied by a little pain.

There is no doubt that this is caused by the "curse" of Dereya.

At first, Ji Jue didn't know what Dereya had done to her; Aside from the fact that his physical fitness had become ordinary and he was no longer able to use his abilities or perceive energy, he didn't feel anything else abnormal.

Until...... The moment he fell asleep.

He slept for only four hours that night, but in the "dream" he experienced about four months.

The content of the dream is that he uses the physical fitness of an ordinary person to play a survival game on the "Chosen Island"; But in this game, there are no competitors, no people to exploit, and no intelligent beings to communicate with, just endless dangers and horrors.

In this dream, he doesn't "grow", nor does he awaken any abilities, he is always in the state of an ordinary person.

He couldn't fall asleep in this dream, but the fatigue and pain kept accumulating.

He fell off a cliff and waited quietly for death in the pain of his fractures; He fell into a trap and slowly bled to his death; He was torn apart and eaten by animals; He was caught, tortured, and killed by monsters...... Every death he experienced was real and painful, and every time the pain reached its extreme, he started the next round of the game.

That night, after waking up, Ji Jue looked in the mirror and found that he had aged five or six years overnight.

Obviously, the tremendous mental torture had changed his body, which should have lived a very long life.

He knew that this "dream" was definitely abnormal, and he also speculated that it might have something to do with Dereya, and in order to avoid falling into this horrible nightmare again, he hurriedly began to use drugs to prevent himself from falling asleep.

This method kept him from falling asleep for the next four days, and he didn't enter the nightmare.

But on the fifth day, something even more terrible happened......

Because of the effects of the drug, although he could "not go through any stage of a normal person's sleep cycle", he began to experience symptoms of "mind wandering".

People like Ji Jue usually don't get distracted, because his brain is very developed and has been trained for many years; He doesn't daydream or get distracted by thinking about things for a long time, like most people, he thinks rationally all the time.

But the refusal to sleep, coupled with the side effects of the drug, destroyed his brain, and he began to "wander" frequently.

And as soon as he "wandered", Dereya's curse crept in.

It can be as short as 30 minutes or as long as an hour, if converted into the time in the "dream", that is, every time he wanders his mind, he will be tortured in that dream for half a month to a month, and the number of times he wanders his mind in a day has gradually developed from three or five times to more than ten times, and there is a trend of more and more.

In just half a month, his spirit has collapsed, and he is only awake for a short time every day. And in the time he was awake, the nurses in the hospital were able to feed him something; His toilet problem is basically solved by urinary catheters and adult diapers......

If he continues to be tortured like this, it is estimated that in another half a month, he will complete his transformation into a vegetative state, and live in that "nightmare" forever twenty-four hours a day.

Looking at Ji Jue like this, Krause's mood was also complicated.

Although they are not related by blood, if you really want to talk about it, Ji Jue can be regarded as a descendant of Krause's adoptive father (that is, the last emperor of the former empire more than a hundred years ago).

Ironically, Krauset, a man who is not of the Wittstock family, has inherited this surname by his descendants, while Ji Jue, who is really related to the former imperial family, has changed his surname.

"Maybe I shouldn't care about this......" Krause had been standing behind Ji Jue for a long time when he said this, and he had waited for the other party to come back to his senses before he spoke, "Maybe you deserve this torture, and you deserve to repay the pain you brought to Dereya, but ......" he said, raising his hand, "forget it, at least in my opinion, it's enough." ”

Indeed, as Tianyi said, Krauser is more soft-hearted, and his private matter today is to give Ji Jue a pleasure and a relief.

However, just as Krause's hand was about to fall, he seemed to suddenly realize something.

After a brief hesitation, he put his hand down again.

Then Krauser turned, walked briskly out of the room, and glanced meaningfully to the side of the hallway, before leaving in the other direction.

A minute later, in the same direction Krauser had taken a look, around the corner of the hallway, an elevator stopped on this floor.

The elevator door opened, and a man walked out.

His name is Zhang San, and his real name is - Ji Qi.

Ji Qi is still like that, looking about forty years old, Asian, slightly fat, and mediocre-looking, wearing a shirt and jeans that are neither very expensive nor cheap, like a passerby everywhere.

He walked straight to Ji Jue's ward, barely stopped, and came to the other party's side step by step.

After standing still, Ji Qi put his right hand on Ji Jue's left shoulder, and like the latter, he faced the sunset outside the window and said indifferently: "Don't worry, father, your pain will be over soon." ”

Ji Jue heard this, but he was no longer able to respond, even if he looked up at the other party, he couldn't do it.

However, the phrase "father" still let Ji Jue know the identity of the other party.

Although he has been separated from his son for many years, although he is old and dizzy, and his spirit is weak, Ji Jue still believes that the person who is talking to him at this moment is Ji Qi; After all, he is already a waste, and there is no need for anyone to lie to him again.

"I know you must have approached me with the 'Book of Lies,' and I'm sure you can figure it out...... The reason why I can't find it is because the Boss of Heaven has obscured the clues. Ji Qi didn't intend to wait for his father to respond, but continued to think to himself, "I can tell you that he not only obscured the clues that you found me through other people, but also covered my true heart......" He said this, paused, and then said, "Yes, you are right, Zilin can't see my true heart." ”

"Ahem-quack-" Ji Jue squeezed out a few notes from his mouth, but he couldn't speak, but it looked like he was excited, and his whole body was trembling slightly.

Ji Qi gently patted his father's shoulder again, comforted his father, and said: "This era belongs to Zilin, this is the judgment of the guide, and it is also the inevitability of fate; So, in the same way, the next era will definitely belong to me...... It's just that it will be many years away, maybe a hundred or two hundred years...... But that day will come eventually. ”

Ji Qi said this, raised his head, and sighed: "It's a pity, father, that your time will never come, because you don't understand the guide......

"You despise him and think you can replace him......

"Zilin is right, you are a hero, and because of this, at the end of this troubled world, you lost to ordinary people.

"I don't expect you to understand Tianyi or Zilin, and I don't expect you to understand me.

"Don't judge right or wrong by success or failure, until the end, don't admit mistakes, don't regret it, even in the face of hell from which there is no return, this is the true character of the hero.

"So, please go without regrets, I will get back the regrets you left behind in the next time...... ...... to the world"

When the word "world" came out of Ji Qi's mouth, Ji Qi gently tapped Ji Jue's neck with a ring on his hand that contained a poisonous needle.

In less than five seconds, the toxin traveled all over Ji Jue's body, causing the functions of his heart and brain to stop instantly.

The legendary Juzun, like this, sat quietly in a wheelchair like an ordinary old man and died in the hospital ward.

Under the setting sun, his old countenance, in the last moments, seemed to have a hint of a smile.