Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. —Old Testament. psalm

"Come," said Glegri, "I will show you more beautiful and precious things than these." ”

The seaplane, which was faster than the yacht, landed a hundred feet from the island, and Beelzebub slid down the pontoon, the water was so warm that he swam away like a dolphin with a dark gray and black back.

"Do you want to go too?" "It's okay, I can save your shoes and clothes for you," said Glegri. He gestured, "And I've got new clothes and shoes for you." ”

"Thank you. But no. Sasha said, "I don't want to get wet yet." "In normal times, he wouldn't mind going out into the sea with Beelzebub, but now there's a guy around him who wants to put him on the auction table as a commodity.

The dinghy was coming from the dock, and one dinghy was circling beside Beelzebub to follow him so that nothing might happen to him, and another took Glegri and Sasha off the seaplane.

Beelzebub surfaced, and when he dived in, he realized that something was wrong with the island - yes, this island was not Polyphema, it was an artificial floating island, with a concrete foundation and steel plates forming its base, and humans had piled up reefs and sea sand on top of it, planted trees, and made wooden houses, painted white, "No wonder." He had just looked down from the sky and felt very strange, an island that looked like a giant's one-eyed could be said to be God's occasional whim, and there was an island in the shape of an "eyebrow" above it—that was too much to say. But as far as he is concerned, it is better not to have this eyebrow, it stays here, but destroys the original wonder and magnificence of this scenery, and makes it dull, monotonous, and ingenious. "No compromise on failure." Beelzebub muttered.

"This is the eyebrow of Polyphimoth." Glegri pretended to be witty: "Welcome to the second masterpiece of mankind." "Beautiful Narcissus, he took this name in his mouth, and he thought that this child should be called this name, which is very appropriate, and his admirers may nickname him Nasi, which is both beautiful and not awkward." There's just the staff here—like my Siren," his voice lowered, as if he was afraid to be heard: "Dancing, singing, playing, makeup, costumes, etc...... Stunt part in Polyfemor. Some of them are here, and there are a small number of distinguished guests, you, Beelzebub. That equally good dark-skinned boy, and Seneke, and some more special ...... Friend. ”

"We'll have to see Siren first, she's a fastidious and demanding banshee," Glegri said, "but I want to." She, and no matter who she is, will not have any opinion of you. ”

"Xiren."

"Yes, Xiren." Glegri sighed and said, "The most beautiful voice and purest body in the world—that's Siren." He looked at the boy: "I'm sure you've heard her records," and he smiled in the affirmative: "Sixty-nine million copies, she's already broken the Guinness Book of Records." Have you ever heard her sing live? No. That's a sad thing, and sometimes man-made machines are still hard to compare with nature's creations, kid. It's a good opportunity to hear her sing, with your own ears. ”

At the end of this eyebrow-shaped artificial island is a solitary covered corridor (reminiscent of Ariawu) that stands in the blue waters of the middle lake, which connects to a delicate two-storey wooden house. Once inside, Sasha realized that it wasn't as small as it seemed. Inside, it has enough room for a goose-down couch, two armchairs, a coffee table, a floor lamp, a bookcase, a carpet, a ten-string Greek harp and a plucked clavichord, and in the corner squats a stocky vase filled with fragrant flowers—the furniture and décor are all white, ivory, oyster, pearl, jade, pink, and purple...... Those who move inside are also dressed in white, only their skin, hair, and eyes are colored.

"Can you play a song for us?" Glegri said, "Anything goes." ”

"Okay." Sasha said that he walked up to the piano, sat down, tried a few notes, and found that it was well maintained and tuned, and he put his hands on the keys, and everyone waited with bated breath.

He pressed the keys, one G note, five irregular notes, one white key, five black keys, and repeated, repeated, relaxed and pleasant.

Gligri's face was a little strange, it was a minor key, "Sonata in G minor", but more people were willing to call it a kitten fugue - because they knew that it was for the accompaniment of the Xiren, and the interviewers before Sasha would choose the longer and more difficult pieces to play - but it didn't matter, he preferred to focus on other places for now - as for the Xiren...... He can always pick a suitable person, and when it comes to the last step, he can also use electronic synthesized sounds, which has been prepared for a long time.

Something happened to them that surprised them—they heard the song, no, not completely, if it was, because it was neither a paragraph nor a word, it followed the rhythm of the kitten's fugue, high and low, capricious, but even so, it was so intoxicating - it was like a stream of water from the condensed droplets of stalactites on the top of an underground cave, brilliant and clear; It is like a vast ocean caressed by the silver-white moonlight, calm and frank but faintly roaring; It is as refreshing as the scent of roses in the humid air in the fog-shrouded courtyard in the early hours of the morning.

You don't have time to listen to it and can't take care of anything else – out of tune, out of tune, missing words? Who remembers that?! You can't even remember what you're hearing, it's vague and indescribable, you can't put it in "popular" or "bel canto", it's there, it's unique, it's real, pure music, it's leading you, it's leading you to a hazy but real paradise.

"Xiren." Sasha said in awe that he had played it twice, when he had only wanted to play it once and then change the track.

Nishiren walked down the wide curved staircase, her hair was long and could be draped below her knees, and below her waist was curled like seaweed, and her hair was as white as snow as seen in TV. Her skin was also white, whiter than the sand of her childhood, it was an inorganic white, lifeless and bloodless, her lips were just as white, her eyelashes were too, and so were her eyelashes, and only her eyes were colored—red, with rose iris and deep purple pupils. The facial features are delicate like a doll - this extreme morbid beauty will make many people tremble when they see it, but they can't help but look at it.

An assistant hurried up to help her, and Sasha found that all but him and Glegri were women.

"I hear you playing." Xiren said that when she spoke, it was like singing, with a lingering voice: "I like it very much...... Can you play for me? In the next gigs. ”

"That's why I'm here." Sasha said.

"Great." Sairen clasped her hands together, and she behaved like a twelve-year-old girl who had been given candy or a beloved pet: "...... It's just wonderful. She repeated, "Can you come closer and let me see, my eyesight is not very good." ”

Sasha walked over, he was already able to determine that Xiren was a complete albino, her eyes had a hard time catching what was moving, he walked up to her and stood still so she could focus her gaze.

"May I ask your name?"

"Hopkins," Sasha said, "Sasha. Hopkins. ”

(To be continued.)

PS: Thank you for the Corrosive Heart, Rennie Rei, I Am Red Bean, Brilliant Fire, and Lord Ran Ran's tip!