The anxious wait seemed endless, in a world where time seemed to have vanished, when the darkness of loneliness and despair had a glimmer of light, when the chaotic clues showed possible patterns, Lucas felt that he could not wait even a minute.

He fidgeted restlessly on the golden platform, pacing back and forth crampedly, looking into the distance. I don't know how long it was, but he finally waited for the image he was looking forward to.

In the golden mist in the distance, Steven reappeared without warning, and he hurried as he had done the previous two times, and in an instant he had reached the golden steps of the high platform, and this time Lucas had decided to stop him and ask what was going on.

He stretched out his hands to block the other party's way, Steven stopped, just stared at him with those godless eyes, and Lucas stared at him just as deadly, he opened his mouth, but did not speak, at this moment he had a thousand questions in his heart, but for a while he didn't know where to start.

"Get out of the way, you can't stop me." After a long time, Steven finally said that he tried to bypass Lucas, but this time Lucas would not let him go.

"Block?" Lucas continued to spread his arms. "What the hell are you doing?" He asked.

"What to do? You know. Steven said. Stop trying to fool me with this, haven't you had enough of this trick? ”

"What's the trick? What the hell are you talking about? Lucas wondered why this phantom, who kept doing the same thing, dressed up as Steven? What is the purpose of them using his image to disturb their minds? But why did he say that he was deceiving him?

"Whoever you are, you win." Lucas only had one idea left. "Help me get out of this place."

"I don't know what you're talking about, get out of the way, you damn puppet." Steven in front of him suddenly reached out and pushed him away, and he staggered and instinctively grabbed the other party's hand.

This isn't another phantom?! Lucas found that he had grasped the substance in his hands, and the warmth coming through his fingertips made him even more convinced of his own thoughts, and he even felt the pulse of the other party.

"Steven? Is it really you? He was shocked, and hurriedly stretched out his other hand and grabbed Steven's arm,

"Let go! Don't think I don't know what you want to do, you old fool? Another lie, another scam! I've got it all figured out, I'm not going to be fooled, I'm not going to be fooled! Steven waved his arm away from him, and his hands were suddenly pulled apart, and he found that the strength of the other party was amazing.

"You really ...... Is it Steven? Is it or not? Lucas, who was suspicious again, hurriedly asked loudly.

"Get out of here!" Steven pushed him away with his hand.

"Don't go, you'll die in the past!" Lucas tugged at the other man's clothes from behind, and although he was skeptical, he didn't want to see him swallowed up by the metal again.

"Nonsense, Lucas, I've been dead a million times ago." Steven told him without looking back.

"Do you know who I am? But why are you ...... again" Lucas became more and more confused, he was still walking forward at the moment, and he could no longer hold the other party, but was dragged together to the altar.

"Stop, stop, listen to me." He desperately tried to hold Steven.

"Let go of me."

"Listen to me, Steven!" Lucas shouted, and Steven finally stopped.

"Since you know you're going to die...... Why go for it? "Lucas wanted to figure everything out.

"Because I don't have a choice." Turning his back, his tone was calm, but there was a hint of helplessness in Steven's words.

"Look, as a puppet they made up, you are so realistic that you almost deceived me, thinking that my good fourth brother really appeared here." Steven laughed as he spoke, and he turned to look at Lucas.

"But how could Lucas be here? He was far away in the odd of a dozen galaxies away, and even if he had two wings, he wouldn't have come to Cadmus so soon. He shook his head mockingly.

"Lucas has not been a talker for as long as he can remember, and has never spoken to him in more than four words, and it is a secret that you can get everything from my head and ignore this fact."

After Steven said this, he wanted to turn around again, but Lucas stopped him in time, he pressed Steven's shoulder with his hand, and said solemnly:

"I don't talk because it's unnecessary, but the situation doesn't allow me to do that anymore." Staring into the other party's eyes, Lucas told him: "Steven, you have been missing from Cadmus for more than a year, and after the family received the news from the base, my father specially asked me to follow the investigation team of the Development Commission to find out the truth. ”

"One year...... Many? Steven frowned when he heard this, and he looked at Lucas suspiciously, and only sighed for a long time.

"I should have thought of ...... Unchanging state, stagnant time, endless reincarnation...... The outside world is still running, but I thought it was all because of resurrection, they made me die again and again, awaken again and again, consciousness and memories will be more or less continued, but the body is always in its original state. ”

"I believe you really came to Cadmus now, Brother Lucas, for I remember that in all the hoaxes I've been through, there has never been a replica of myself that wasn't in Cadmus." Steven pursed his lips and patted the back of Lucas's hand on his shoulder.

"It's a shame you've been dragged into this horror movie, Brother Lucas, and while I reckon you're probably another copy, this is the first time you've been ...... Oh wait, it looks like you were here before, didn't you? They washed away my memories after I died, but apparently it was a terrible thing, and you see, my head kept recalling the past, and that's the real reason why they couldn't bring me to my knees. ”

Steven's words confused Lucas, who couldn't understand a word, but could tell that he still didn't believe himself.

"I'm really Lucas." He could only try to explain.

"yes, that's what they all say...... Perry, Lenny, Kevin, Woody, Malvin, they copy almost the entire base and put on a reality show full of deception and lies, all in order to conform. ”

"I don't know why I'm talking to a replica, maybe it's just boring, you can imagine that you know you can't die, and sometimes you have to act together. Talk to all the replicas they sent about their experiences. You know what? They obviously have the ability to scan the brains of everyone on Cadmus, so as long as they don't have to deal with this damn key, it's probably true. ”

"Of all these replicas, my favorite is Perry. Gomez, do you know what he told me about his time in the Navy? He had been a qualified fighter pilot, but was disqualified from the military because he did not want to fight the boat people and violated military orders, and was forced to contract with the Colonial Administration to bring back the key from the Walken blockade after three years in Telamon. ”

"Perry? The one who disappeared with you? Where is he now? Lucas couldn't help but ask.

"Dead, I ......," Steven couldn't say any more, lowered his head and sighed, and when he looked up again, he was already in tears.

"The twisted mind, the whispers in your ears, they will disturb your mind and make you make the wrong choice, they set a trap for me to kill Perry, and I must avenge him......" Steven said here and looked up to the sky.

"So come on! All your means are directed at me, and I swear that every time you resurrect me, my vengeful anger grows stronger! He roared loudly, but there was no echo in the cave, the clouds in the sky slowly fluttered, and the colorful aurora was agitated like streamers.

"Look, there's nowhere to be found, and there's never a response, lonely and desperate, and they're just trying to drive me crazy in this way, and then finally give up, which is a great idea, so I just keep trying, thwarting their tricks, to keep my sanity awake."

As every day for so many years, Lucas was now silent, in fact he only understood half of Steven's words, he did not understand at all what he was talking about death and resurrection, but he could tell from his description that he seemed to have been making some kind of resistance for more than a year, and in this there was a key word that he seemed to understand.

"The key you just said? Is that the piece of metal that grew out of your hand? He asked.

"yes, of course, you're still pretending to be garlic, isn't everything here for that?" Steven replied.

"What's that?" Lucas asked again.

"Something that scares them." Steven said.

He was undoubtedly telling the truth, because whoever was in control of the ruin, they were clearly trying to stop Steven from putting it in the center of the altar again and again. But why do you keep letting him come back again? And if this so-called 'key' is really as Malvern and they say, it is Perry. Gomez was brought from the Ascendant ruins of the Valkyria system to Cadmus, but what role could it do to this massive prehistoric ruin?

"This thing might destroy this place completely." Steven said at this time.

"Destroy?" Lucas was taken aback by him, a huge underground world like this? He couldn't imagine.

"Or maybe it will stop what will intervene, who knows, it will destroy the core or energy supply that is functioning normally, and then lift all the bans." Steven said again.

Destroying, destroying, lifting the ban, Lucas doesn't care about that, what does the glory and destruction of the Ascension or any ancient civilization have to do with him? He wanted to live, he didn't want to die, he never wanted to come to Cadmus only to end up buried with his brother, who had been missing for a year.

"Is there any way to do it...... Can...... Get out? Lucas asked.

"It's getting more and more interesting, replica, I'm almost halfway convinced of your performance, but it's a waste of time to do so." Steven said.

"I don't know the way out, I just know that if I do it, I can provoke them......" He raised his arm as he spoke, and the radiant 'key' leaped out of his palm.

"Maybe I've done something right." Steven looked at Lucas with a smile, his eyes now shining as stars.