I stood in front of the door of the chapel, the wide sky was overcast, the leaden clouds flashed with thunder from time to time, and after a breath, the muffled thunder rolled in. The rain has not yet fallen heavily, but occasionally drifts to the face, moist and cold, and does not give people a sense of purity that has washed anything, on the contrary, it makes people feel that it is not clean rain. It seemed to have rained before, the ground was slippery, the earth was mixed with water, mixed together, black and red, reflecting a layer of oily light, and the surface of the stone was very rough, and the water from the pits was dimly reflected in my face.

With each deep breath, the air is accompanied by a smell of decay - it's hard to tell where the rot is, it seems to be everywhere.

In this nightmare, all the buildings are made of wood and stone, showing huge blocks and rough textures, and the window glass is all painted with some kind of metaphorical pattern, of which the eye-like pattern is the most common. Through the window and the crack in the door, I could see the light, and there seemed to be someone, but I didn't lightly step forward and knock on the door.

The environment here is quirky, and there is a smell of "mystery" everywhere. The light, the colours, the textures, the climate and the shapes are all gloomy and ominous.

I couldn't help but slow down, and I had the feeling that if I moved too much, I would alarm some weirdness and cause trouble for myself—though at this moment it was impossible to tell where they were hiding by the eye alone.

The space outside the chapel was spacious and looked like a town, but the humanoid "department" said it was just a hospital. The buildings around the chapel are either wards or workshops. Those who stay here are either patients or doctors. No, the latter words are just my personal thoughts. All in all, if it is set according to a fixed scene plot. There may not be a normal person in the true sense of the word.

From time to time, there was a whispering or prayer in the air, or a low cry and a maniacal laugh, which was buried by thunder the next.

I stepped on the stagnant water and made a clicking sound. Then a few birds flew up from the side roof. The bird was all black and looked like a crow.

Saw something familiar and iconic again. I couldn't help but think.

According to the humanoid "tie", after leaving the chapel, turn right, it is a long, gentle stone staircase, which extends a hundred meters away and turns into a bush, and it is impossible to see what is at the end. When I was half-asleep, an old man named Hall brought me to this place and seemed to have done something to me. Although in the narration of the humanoid "system", he seems to be a good person. However, there was a kind of madness to what I heard of him at the time. I don't just want to know what he did to me, but why he did it.

Listening to the humanoid "department", he has a lofty ideal, guarding this hospital for many years. But before the night came, he had already failed. "He was not blessed with forbidden favors" - this is how the humanoid "system" describes him. And this "taboo" word is also used on me. Not only is the humanoid "department" mentioned, but also in the whispers of Hall himself.

I think that "taboo" may refer to "Jiang", but the people here. Can you really feel the preservation of "Jiang"? Or do they also confuse "river" and "virus"? Even, they don't really know much about things, but only based on the concept of "deep night", and there is a kind of terrible and opposing mystery. Describe it in your own way?

In any case, I can't look at the current nightmare in isolation from the Repeater World, the Doomsday Vision, or even the reality of the Hospital. However, if you connect them, there are so many associations that can be generated. I had to first determine what was going on here and what the others were doing, just in terms of the current nightmare environment.

The humanoid "system" didn't give me a detailed answer, so I had to turn to the others here, like Old Hall, who had become insane in my eyes.

In terms of mental state alone, people here can be regarded as "mentally ill", and I even think that even a "doctor" is not much more normal than a "patient". Even though I haven't met these people yet, I'm ready in my heart.

Walking on the gentle steps, I could hear heavy gasps, someone digging something, shovels hitting hard stones, clanging sounds. The digger exploded, threw the tool on the ground several times, and after a while, he began to cry, and the peculiar voice of the man immediately made me realize that the man was Old Hall.

After turning around the bushes, you can see a figure from the slope of a half-body high, with its back bent, about two meters if it stands upright, and its whole body is covered by a tattered cloak, the hem of which seems to be torn at any moment when the wind blows. The humidity in the air had increased again, and I couldn't tell if it was day or night, and although it was gloomy, I could still see what was around me even if I didn't light it, and farther away, it seemed to be shrouded in fog - yes, gray fog, not surprising at all.

When I stepped on the slope, I found that there was a large area of stone tablets that surrounded Old Hall, at least a hundred of them, and these stone tablets were of different heights, and not all of them were straight, some seemed to be about to collapse, and some were already broken. And these steles, all of them tombstones, just in front of the entrance, have a wooden sign with words on it that I don't recognize, but know the meaning of directly. It's not a simple word "cemetery", more euphemistic, more verbose, but that's what it means.

Some people were buried here, and Old Hall was fiddling with something here - he was carrying a shovel and digging in a place where there were no tombstones, but he didn't have any bodies around him that needed to be buried, and it didn't look like he was digging other people's graves.

I said hello and looked at the tombstones around me from a distance of two or three meters. Then, it dawned on me that the recognizable inscriptions all around, and the place where the deceased, were all written with a shocking name: Takakawa.

Ripples spread deep inside me, and I quickly walked past a few tombstones. Looking at the inscription that I couldn't see just now, sure enough, the names of the deceased were all "Gao Chuan". It seems that in this messy cemetery, all the burials are "Takagawa".

It is so, of course, not without meaning. But. In the current situation, even if you think deeply, it is still impossible to come up with an accurate answer.

At this time, Old Hall spoke: "Oh...... You're awake...... Stranger. ”

"I heard that you brought me back. Where did you pick me up? I asked.

Old Hall gasped vigorously, as if his lungs were about to be reimbursed, and with a hoarse voice and a strange laugh, he said to me, "It doesn't matter...... Stranger. Do you know what this place is? Do you know why you're here? ”

I replied with silence.

"They didn't believe me." Old Hall seemed to say to himself, "I say...... I say. It's a nightmare here. They all think, "What am I parrying...... Wrong! He smacked the shovel hard, raised his voice, and said, "I'm not analogizing, it's just a dream, a nightmare that you can't really wake up from." This is the nature of this world! He paused, and said in a decadent, deep voice, "Nightmare...... will continue the way it should have ended...... No one can stop ...... Sad, sad. The more you resist, the more you struggle. The more sad it is. ”

He stopped what he was doing, looked at me again, and said, "Can you understand? It's a nightmare. ”

"I can understand that." I replied calmly, and my answer was unpretentious.

Old Hall frowned hesitantly, staring at me as if to see if I didn't mean it. But he didn't seem to come up with an answer, just sighed and said, "I can't do it, I know, no one can do it......"

What to do? "Rebellion? Struggle? I asked.

"All the action that comes from the deepest night. It's all pointless. Old Hall's whole body was filled with a gray aura, "Believe me, in the process of the arrival of the deepest night, we can only wait, we can only accept...... Sad, sad. ”

"What did you try to save?" I say.

"Ah...... Save? Old Hall replied as if asking himself.

"So, why did you bring me back? You know, why am I here? I asked again.

Old Hall was silent for a while, and then let out a yin and yang strange laugh: "Because, this is the first time I have seen a living foreigner...... Do you know? I've always killed them in the past, because I think they're the source of the madness here, they're crazy themselves...... But you look quite normal? When he said his last words, he hesitated, and not only looked at me again: "Behold, these crazy and calm eyes. ”

Crazy and calm? Full of contradictory descriptions. I can't keep it in my head. Sketch out what he sees me as I am.

"Beautiful eyes, terrifying, full of power...... But maybe not so well. Who knows? Old Hall said to himself, digging again, "Maybe, I just want someone to fight for me." ”

Because I have lost all my beliefs, but I can't let go of my original intention, and look forward to others with despair? It's really complicated, and it's full of emotional heart. I can't help but think so.

"What can I do?" I asked.

“…… Who knows? "You can do whatever you want, but can you get the results you want?" He smiled whimsily.

"What's the deepest night?" I ignored the laughter of jealousy, mockery, and despair.

"An end, a new beginning." Old Hall's voice was stern, as if he was praying to some great being: "It has no meaning in itself, just an alternate process." It is only when people face it that they give it a meaning: when it comes, it is the time for change. Some fear change, others believe that the deep night will bring a tragic end and a painful future. There are also people who are full of confidence in this qiē. But in any case, with the arrival of the deepest night, the qiē will no longer be what they were. ”

"Mutation?" I summarized it succinctly.

"Mutation?" Old Hall didn't seem to have thought of this word, he thought for a while, nodded and said, "It's very vivid." The arrival of the deepest night made all Qiē begin to change...... No one knows whether the end result of this change is good or bad, but it is here and now. It has brought great pain, sorrow and despair to people. ”

He said, lifting the last handful of dirt aside. He turned to me and said, "Stranger, why are you here?" Who are you? ”

At this time, I saw his appearance clearly: that old face, which seemed somewhat familiar, at this age. It's a bit reluctant to face dangerous anomalies and protect others. His body, although very tall, is not strong. All in all, it's hard to imagine that he would be a warrior who used to protect this place. Fight to save what.

Moreover, the old Hall who stayed in this hospital was not a mentally ill person—when I thought so, I felt a vague connection between me and him. Because, it seems, I'm someone like Old Hall, just. When he despaired, I did not despair. When he was old. I'm still so young.

His existence is like a foreshadowing of my future? I couldn't help but think so, but I rightfully refused to let myself be like him.

"Maybe, I'm here. It's about doing what you can't do. I replied calmly.

"Huh?" He stared at me with incredible eyes, and gradually became a little angry, "Speak wildly! There's nothing I haven't done! My failure is not my fault! He paused, as if emphasizing something. Say to me, "No one can dodge or reverse into the night." Because, that's why this nightmare exists, and that's why the people here are still alive. Don't be too arrogant, Outlander, I know what you're going to do, you're going to do those things I've done, I know...... I know ......," he said, his spirit weakened again, "I know, this qiē is all delusional, what you do is no different from what I do, what I do is already what I can do." No one can save here, no one can stop the night. ”

His current state is not unfamiliar to me, because, in the past apocalyptic illusions, those mysterious experts who were full of despair and finally gave up because they deeply felt the irrepressibility of the "doomsday process" were like this.

I don't want to promise him anything, because no matter what I say, he can only understand, see and accept it from his pessimistic and hopeless perspective. His heart was already full of ashes. As the humanoid "I" said, he may have been a very strong and powerful warrior, but he failed, and only the remains of such a bad old man were left to wander like a ghost.

In this nightmare, he must be a reflection of some kind of consciousness, or a specific object to which he is associated. This is a world of consciousness, and if you give it up, it's really over.

I saw that the deep pit had been dug was just enough to put a coffin, but there were no coffins here. Old Hall's back became even more clumsy, and he threw down his shovel and jumped into the pit—and I suddenly understood that he had dug his own grave.

"You added something to my head...... Aren't you going to see if it works? "I stood on the edge of the pit and asked Old Hall, who was lying at the bottom of the pit.

He straightened slowly, his spine gurgling, adding to the gloomy atmosphere. Then, he folded his hands on his abdomen, and his expression was full of emotion, gradually relaxing.

"No, that's useless. I know ......," he said, "it prevents you from seeing more terrible things, you can't see them, you don't get affected by them, but, it doesn't work, you will see them sooner or later, because, when you are favored by the taboos, you will inevitably do things that will eat away at you little by little." You may wonder if the world is real, but you can only take it as real. No one can remain normal until the depths of the night, and mutations will follow. ”

Even though he was very vague, I understood what he was trying to say. In the past, before the formation of the theory of the two-in-one, there was indeed such an idea that every appearance of the "river" and every strengthening of the "mystery" was the surface of its own erosion. No matter what it is eroded, it must be reflected in a "vicious" way for oneself.

That's what Old Hall wants to say now—the imprint he left on my forehead, in this nightmare, can't counteract the "mysterious" erosion that accompanies the magic pattern, and he may think that the magic pattern is closely related to the deepest night. People with magic patterns can take different actions from others when facing the deepest night, and then contribute to the results that ordinary people can't do, but this qiē result, even if it seems good for the time being, can only be in vain with the arrival of the deepest night. Even, the people with the magic pattern, in the process of the arrival of the deepest night, their own mutations will allow them to destroy the results that they once thought were good.

It's not something unimaginable, and it's not how unique it is to a mystery expert. In the occult, a similar situation is not unusual. On the contrary, this abnormal change is too classic and too popular, even ordinary people have heard of such plots from time to time.

I was silent for a while, and Old Hall was as silent as if he were dead.

After a while, I asked, "Why do all these tombstones have the same name?" Why did you choose this place? ”

"Why?" Old Hall's weak voice came: "No why. Takakawa, it can be both a name and just a symbol. I should lie here, because, other people have chosen this place, and have chosen this. ”

"Do you want me to help you carve your name on the tombstone?"

“…… If you can. Old Hall said, "Please be the same as around." ”

"Takakawa?" I asked.

He was silent.

I couldn't hear his breathing, and every slight movement of his body had stopped.

He's dead.

I picked up the shovel on the ground and restored the mound bit by bit. The dirt quickly covered Old Hall's body, and he didn't move, and even if he was alive, I don't think he wanted to climb up. His heart was full of despair and pain, and he put one of his longings into a drifting bottle, longing for someone to pick it up and do what he wanted to do again, but he didn't think, or even hope that the other party could accomplish what he hadn't done.

Such a contradictory and old man is completely buried in the dirt. At the bottom of the mound was a tombstone, which I firmly inserted and carved the name "Takakawa" on the stone face with a long knife. By the time I finished, the text had taken on the same shape as the tombstones around me, strange and eerie, unrecognizable, but I could understand what it meant.

I said to the tombstone, "Hello, Hall, I'm Takakawa." ”

I don't understand why the surrounding tombstones use the name "Takakawa", and why Old Hall is buried here after his death, and the name "Takakawa" is also used. However, I know that my emotions do not become agitated by this, and that deep down, although full of pain, sorrow and despair, there is still a light of hope that I cannot stop.

It could not be more appropriate to describe it in this sentence:

They're dead, and I'm back to life.

My heart was still full of questions, but I didn't hesitate, with pity, but not the slightest fear. I thought it was time to find a place to see what it was like to be where I was. I have an idea, maybe the "hospital" in this nightmare, the overall layout is the mental hospital on the peninsula. And the people who live in this nightmare will also be associated with the patients in the Peninsula Psychiatric Hospital who have taken the seminar drugs.

So, what kind of patient does Old Hall correspond to? And since when did he have zài in this nightmare? This answer can also explain to some extent when and how far the research on "paradise" began and what kind of journey it has been.

Still, I have some uncertainties, for example, the old Hall's experience seems to be rich, and the historical time of this nightmare seems to be very long, even if it is explained by the conscious sense of time, it is not certain, it is only a short time ago.

Perhaps, Dr. Nguyen Lê's explanation of the effects of Claudia White can shed some light on the situation.

In any case, getting the general picture of the nightmare is the first priority. (To be continued......)