What kind of place is this?

When Jill opened his eyes, he saw a long night sky, dotted with countless stars, some bright and blinking, some faintly hidden. He rolled his eyes from side to side, and as far as he could see, the silver-gray facades of the towering towers, flickering in the night in the distant light. He sat up, and found that he was deep in a deep alley, and suddenly three spirited wild cats passed by the alley in front of him, and after glancing at him one by one, they immediately turned and ran away.

"Even they are more energetic than me." Jill thought to himself. He felt his stomach empty, as if he hadn't eaten for half his life, and his whole body had been deactivated.

At the end of his body was the wide, faintly honking street, which was the best place for him to find a sign to check his bearings and a place to fill his stomach. He thought that as long as something entered his stomach, the cold in his body would be relieved.

He subconsciously went to dig into his pocket, only to find that there was nothing.

But he wanted so much to figure out the time. After some hesitation, he turned and walked out into the street.

The buildings on this street are painted in orange, yellow and green, and are full of lively atmosphere against the backdrop of street lamps. The clothing store, themed restaurant, and gift shop connected to the first floor have all closed. There are very few pedestrians on the road, and even if there are, they are in groups of three or two, and they are all in a hurry, and they all look frightened when they encounter anything. Hovercars sped through the air, as fast as bullets, completely ignoring the 60-yard speed limit sign standing on the side of the road.

As soon as Jill arrived on the street, a cool breeze blew through him, and he shivered with the cold. He was shocked when he saw a man and two women—all haggard and dressed in gothic dress, with one man on the left and one on the right on the shoulders of the two women, as if they had just returned from a party—walking towards him head-on, retrograde. "Wait, I want to ask ......" He was about to go up and ask for the place and time, but before he could say the word "next", the man roared at him in his throat, and he froze in place.

By the time he came back to his senses, the three of them had already walked away in a burst of laughter. He shrugged and involuntarily tugged at the hem of his crumpled short-sleeved shirt. After walking forward for a while, diagonally diagonally on the right, he saw a small bakery, a faint light shining through the window, and immediately ran over after noticing that no cars would pass by

A wooden board hung on the wall of the entrance with the inscription "191, East 68th Street Branch" on it, knowing that it was not far from Central Park. Through the wooden-framed glass window, he saw a figure, the flashlight on the side was upside down, shining on the bread cabinet in front of him, because it was too close, only a layer of incomparably white light appeared, but the outline of the figure was even darker. The figure fell to one knee and frantically frantically took all kinds of bread and pastries from the bread cabinet and filled them into the cloth bag on the right.

"He's like a little thief." Jill suddenly came over.

Jill knocked three times on the window with his palm. When the figure heard the sound, he subconsciously and panicked to turn his head, and when he saw Jill standing outside the window, he picked up his things and ran away, and he didn't bother to pick up the flashlight on the ground and spin it. In a panic, the figure knocked down the metal vessel that was placed there, making a sound of metal colliding with the ground. Finally, there was a loud knock on the door.

He chased after him. He had in his mind the figure turning his head to look at him. The little thief was a girl, about ten years old, and a pair of clear eyes that contained both hesitation and tenacity stirred waves in his heart, making his curiosity run wild.

He ran into a nearby alley, went around the back door of the bakery, and chased a little further, but could not find the girl.

"It's pretty fast." Jill muttered this, but in his heart he thought that she must be hiding somewhere, and in that case, he had to give up. He was about to return when a scream came from an alley not far ahead on the right.

Jill heard the sound and hurried away. When I arrived, I saw only the girl's distant back: her steps were flustered, and the cloth bag in her right hand was heavy, hitting her joints from time to time, making her steps even more strange.

At the same time, he found his left foot on half a French stick, and as he looked ahead, a small area of ground was littered with large pieces of cream cheesecake, 5 canes of wheat beer, another half of a French stick, and a dozen disposable panties still in a torn paper bag, and at the end of them was a male corpse with a hideous face, a sliced abdomen, and hollowed out of his internal organs.

He lay on his side in the corner, grasping the ground forward with one hand, as if he was trying to crawl forward, but apparently unable to crawl a bit; Its clothing was soaked open by the blood, and it was close to drying. On the wall on the side are half-human-high blood stains that are repeatedly superimposed and covered, which looks very miserable. Seeing this scene, Jill's stomach acid couldn't help but churn.

He trotted forward. He just wanted to be comfortable for himself, so he wasn't very fast. At the fork in the road ahead, in the middle of the intersection slightly to the left, he saw a cheesecake glowing with an apricot yellow glow. It seduced Jill's taste buds, causing him to slowly stop and crouch down.

He was so hungry that he didn't care that the girl had stolen it from the store.

He peeled off the outer bag and took a big bite of it, choking on it because he was in a hurry. He hammered his chest in an attempt to get the food through his esophagus, but he didn't succeed and instead caused a series of hiccups. At the same time, he was surprised to find that his shadow was becoming clearer and shorter rapidly. When only half a shadow remained, he sighed "not good", and hurriedly straightened his right leg and rolled low to the left. A bright white arc of light with a wave of heat streaked two inches from his right ear; There was a small scorch mark on the left shoulder of the shirt, and there was a burning pain on the surface of the skin.

"Who?" Jill got up, just about to see who was cruel to him, but unexpectedly, another flash arc had already galloped in. He ducked in a hurry and ran away.

"I'm not familiar with you, beauty!" With a quick glance, he saw a woman in her twenties. The woman wears short beige ear-length hair, a white bandeau on top and an open black slim jacket, and a medium blue skinny denim on the bottom, combining slimness and wildness. The purple three-foot knife she held in her hand was even more eye-catching. He wondered why such a good-looking woman could appear on the streets of New York with such a dazzling weapon, which was supposed to be the source of the two white arcs.

The woman was stunned, and couldn't help shouting "Jill" and immediately chased after her.

The two chased after each other. The woman kept shouting Jill's name to tell him to stop, and Jill was puzzled by the fact that the woman knew her name, but she didn't dare to slow down, as if she was calling someone else with the same name as her. In the process of running, Jill no longer hiccups, so he solved the remaining cake in his hand as he ran.

Along the way, twists and turns, Jill was chased through many thick alleys, calculated to be several kilometers. Whenever the woman approached, he accelerated as hard as he could, controlled a safe distance, gasped for breath, and resumed running. He ran out of the alley and into a wide, flat asphalt road. At its end is the huge Central Park, which is also a great hiding place. Across a horizontal outer avenue of the park, he found that the original oak trees in the park had become Wangtian trees and large banyan trees, which were scattered and grew unusually tall and dense. He was surprised in his heart, and couldn't help but slow down.

"Jill ......" came the woman's shout behind her.

Jill sped up again. As he crossed the avenue, he looked down and saw a huge spaceship hovering high in the east, like a whale on stilts, looking down on all of New York. Asking himself, "What the hell is going on", he hurried into the park in three steps and two steps, deliberately scurrying left and right in the woods, confusing the other party and looking for a place to hide his figure. He found a nearby tree and climbed it. The trees are not big, but they are dense enough, and with the cover of the night, the body is extremely well shaded, as if they are integrated. He waited with bated breath, hoping to escape.

After about a minute, the woman appeared under the tree, looked around, and walked away.

Jill let out a long sigh of relief. But in the next second, an arc of bright white light sped in, slicing through the tree he was using to cover up. Because of the unsteady center of gravity, he fell from the tree on his back, and in the process of falling, his clothes were cut open by the protruding branches. He landed on his back and shivered at the sight of the scorch marks in the trunk.

Just as he wanted to get up from the ground and escape, the purple three-foot knife was already on his neck.

Jill slowly pressed her ass back to the ground.

"It's really you!" The woman stared at Jill left and right, and after confirming it, she said excitedly, "Since you're not dead, no, it's okay, why don't you come back sooner?" You don't know me...... We're worried about you? ”

Jill looked at the woman suspiciously, and quickly looked away from her.

The woman was still staring at Jill. After dozens of seconds, the woman finally looked away, "I don't know why you pretend not to know me, but it's okay, just come back." You come back with me first, okay? ”

"Wait. My name is Jill, but I'm not the Jill you know and are looking for, and I don't pretend not to know you. One more thing, I have to make it clear, that the person in the alley was definitely not killed by me. I just passed by and picked up some food, and it wasn't the same person...... Hey, it's a long story, anyway, I'm not the Jill you're looking for, let alone a murderer, so let me go, okay? Jill folded her hands and looked tentatively at the woman.

"I know you didn't kill someone, but how do you prove that you're not the Jill I'm looking for? Could it be that there is such a coincidence in the world, the name and the person are the same, and I have encountered them? The woman asked rhetorically.

"Maybe there's such a coincidence in the world. I'm sure I'm not the Jill you're looking for, and even if I kill you, the answer will be the same. Jill said firmly, but he was a little panicked in his heart, and he was afraid that the woman would not back down.

"I can let you go, but only if I tell me your current address so I can find you." The woman paused but changed her words, "I'm still not at ease, what if you make up an address at random to lie to me?" You have to come with me, and I'll arrange a place for you to stay. She slowly moved the knife away from Jill's neck.

Jill involuntarily reached out and touched his neck to hide his mixed mood: "No need, really no need, I have a place to live." Gerson Building rooftop, you can go there to find me, I will definitely be there. The rooftop of the Gessen Building is a long-term rental place for him to watch the stars. There are camping facilities on it, and he will stay for a night every once in a while, which is not long, but it is enough for him to calm down and think about something. Of the people who have been there, he has only taken Ina except himself...... Now he is penniless, and he has to find a temporary place to stay. Moreover, he wanted to make sure that the rooftop of the Geson Building was still the same as it was—it seemed to be a lifeline in his inner world.

"The rooftop of the Gesson Building? It has long been destroyed, how can people live there? Thankfully, I didn't believe you. ”

"Ruined?" Jill's heart was instantly empty. He stood up with a "whoosh" and asked with a little urgency: "What year is it?" ”

"Huh?" The woman looked at Jill quizzically, "July 1, 2043." ”

"Why is it two months late? How so? How so...... You can't go wrong. Jill began to mumble to herself, like a bankrupt who had lost her mind.

"What's wrong? What's two months late? The woman asked Jill a question, but Jill was in a trance, so she raised her voice and shouted, "What the hell are you muttering?" ”

After the woman shouted, Jill immediately regained consciousness, and three words floated softly from his mouth: "It's nothing." ”

The woman held the knife vertically, pressed the handle with her thumb, and the knife quickly broke down into countless particles, and then reassembled into a purple metal wristband 2 cm wide that spiraled around the woman's wrist three times. Her gaze never left Jill, and she naturally noticed the surprise that Jill was exuding because of the metal wristband, but she didn't explain anything: "The place you are going to is gone." You come with me, I'll arrange a place for you to live, how about it? ”

Seeing that Jill hesitated, the woman said commandingly, "Let's go!" With that, the woman took a big step forward.

Jill stood still for three seconds before following.

The woman told him that she had come by bicycle and that it was parked near E 63rd St and that it would take about 20 minutes to walk from here.

After leaving, Jill deliberately kept an arm's length from the woman. But as he walked, the woman suddenly took the initiative to approach, and by the way, she threw out a sentence "I'm still pretty ", which made him at a loss. He knew he had no reason to hide anymore. The woman was next to him, consciously or unconsciously, and did not speak, and looked at him with soft eyes from time to time, which made him feel very uncomfortable.

In order to eliminate the crampedness, Jill decided to take the initiative to talk to the woman. Out of courtesy, he asked first the woman's name, and then the origin of the ship. Caroline didn't feel any loss because of this, but introduced herself enthusiastically like a new friend and answered: "The spaceship comes from a planet called Agria, and it claims to help the Earth solve the existential crisis, but the premise is to share resources with them to the greatest extent. The government refused. For a month, they created chaos and panic from time to time and in an indefinite area, just to make us compromise. The male corpse you encounter in the early hours of the morning is one of them. ”

"By the way, the JA I just mentioned is an institution created at the request of the coalition government to fight against Agria. That's right, it has the same name as our company. When the institution was established, the same name was used because the company had the highest proportion of capital contribution. Caroline added.

Caroline's words reminded Jill that two years ago, the front page of the New York Daily News published a report about the contact between extraterrestrial civilizations and the Earth, located in China, and its authenticity was confirmed by relevant experts. He wanted to go over and find out, but unfortunately his adoptive parents died in a car accident, so he had to cancel the plan. Now, when he saw the alien spaceship hovering in the night sky, he was more or less excited.

"Then you must have remembered something, right?" Caroline gently bumped Jill with her arm, and when she saw Jill's overwhelmed reaction, she hurriedly laughed, "Just kidding." ”