In September, before the scorching heat has passed, the summer sun of Millican's "Los Angeles" blooms through the leaves of the tall French plane trees on the solid cement road.

In the center of the city, in front of the grand steps of the 'Conexian Museum of the 20th Century', a young Asian man with thick black-rimmed glasses hanging from the bridge of his nose, dressed in a gray jacket and trousers, and with a wooden face with black hair, black eyes and yellow skin, stepped out of the back door of a yellow city bus.

From cool public transport with air conditioning to hot streets, he seemed to quickly feel the discomfort of the temperature, took out his mobile phone to look, and saw that it was not yet the opening time of the museum, muttering to himself, "What the hell, it's only so hot at nine o'clock in the morning, is the earth really going to explode...", looking around to find a shady place to stand.

Opposite the Cognère Museum, there is a large green space living next to it.

It is the largest city park in Los Angeles, the second largest metropolis in the country with a population of 10 million, known as the 'lungs of Los Angeles', and there are many places for citizens to spend their time, the most distinctive of which is that on holidays, a spontaneous flea market appears on the side of the street near the street.

To put it simply, a 'flea market' is a market where people who don't have useful items at home and don't want to throw them in the trash bin gather to sell thrift on a temporary basis.

Some of them are professional vendors, selling strange things that are not easy to see but are not expensive, and take the opportunity to make a little money.

It was Saturday, and although it was still early in the morning, the prototype of the market had already appeared, and hundreds of them were holding parasols;

Or wear sunglasses and soak up the sun directly, men and women of different ages and different clothes, decorate the grass with large cloth blankets, sit in the thrift pile and happily drink beer, cold drinks, eat hot dogs, and burgers.

Look at the way they look, it's more like a picnic than a sale.

Stroll into it, the table lamp covered with gorgeous Chinese embroidery gauze cover;

Eighty percent new, clean and clean fruit and vegetable blender;

A small fishing boat motor covered in thick grease... The same kind of old goods that have no connection with each other give people a sense of fun and curiosity.

The Asian teenager, who was afraid of the heat, crossed the street and sat in the shade of a tree for a while, but he was bored, so he ran into the flea market and wandered around.

He didn't mean to shop, but the curiosity of young people was always strong, and after walking around for a while, he couldn't help but stop in front of a stall full of odd shapes, unknown routes, and goods that seemed to be quite old.

Pointing to a three-inch square piece of wood carved with an owl pattern on the top of a pile of antique objects on the ground, the young man asked curiously, "Sir, what is this?" ”

The stall owner, a bald old man with brown hair and an Arabic beard in a wrinkled black shabby suit, rolled his eyelids when he heard this, and replied in a strange tone: "This is the young man with the personal seal of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutamfamen, and the owl represents his authority." ”

The young man seems to be not deeply involved in the world, but in fact he has been tempered by the hard life, so he naturally does not believe this outrageous thing of selling the seal of an ancient national king on the street.

Pouting, he squatted on the ground and touched the mottled piece of wood and touched it: "Sir, I see that the material of this wooden seal is very similar to the Hu tree in the park, do Egyptians also like to plant this kind of tree?" ”

"The young man, the great Greek philosopher Emogus once said, 'The history of mankind is made up of coincidences,'" as if he did not hear the sarcasm in the young man's words, the bald old man replied solemnly: "Couldn't the ancient Egyptians plant the trees that the people of Los Angeles liked?" ”

Hearing this, the Asian teenager knew that he had met a cheeky 'old oilman', shrugged his shoulders and stopped talking, intending to stand up and leave, when suddenly his eyes unintentionally swept over a mottled wooden board, and he was immediately attracted to his gaze.

The planks are an old box, the walls are open and spread out in the shape of a chessboard, and it looks dull and dull, with patterns symbolizing waves on all sides, and a serpentine land about fifty centimeters in length is depicted in the center surrounded by sea waves.

The land is covered with green trees that symbolize forests, triangular peaks that symbolize mountains, and dirt bags that symbolize hills.

"This, what is this, map or, or chessboard?" The Asian teenager asked in a trance.

"Maps, chessboards, haha, no, no, no, this is a mysterious treasure map, young man, the destined person who finds the treasure in legend will have unparalleled wealth and power." The bald old man said with an unfathomable expression.

"Unparalleled wealth and power..."The Asian boy came back to his senses as he spoke, stared at the seller's wrinkled suit, shrugged his shoulders and said, "Sir, if there is such a good thing, you should go and find this treasure yourself and change into a new suit that fits." ”

Hearing this, the bald old man was not embarrassed to be exposed to the deception at all, and said solemnly: "I said that only those who are destined can find the treasure young man."

Just as His Excellency Paul of the 'Group Army' bought the strange object 'War Production Line' for only 200 meters in an antique shop, the treasures that those who are destined to get can easily get, but those who are not lucky will never be able to find them. ”

Seeing the old man's unashamed appearance, the young man had the heart to stand up and leave, but the wooden planks on the stall seemed to have some kind of indescribable magic, so that he could not let go no matter what.

After hesitating for a while, he could only ask in annoyance, "Okay sir, just tell me how much this treasure map is worth, right?" ”

"150 meters," the bald old man looked at the Asian teenager carefully, and opened his mouth to give a sky-high price.

150 meters is calculated according to the legal minimum salary of 8 meters and 50 meters per hour for gig workers in Los Angeles, and it takes nearly 20 hours to work, which is about a week's salary based on the general part-time work of ordinary work-study students for 2 to 3 hours a day.

The young man pouted his lips without hesitation, and bargained fiercely: "In addition to the lunch money of 7 yuan on me, there is also probably, well, more than ten yuan of pocket money saved, that's all." I rummaged through all my pockets and found a dozen or so crumpled banknotes with a maximum face value of 5 and a minimum face value of only one piece.

The bald old man's eyes lit up when he looked at the rice yuan in the young man's hand, but he said with a tooth in his mouth: "Twenty meters is too little, young man, my treasure map is a treasure lost from the British Museum..."

"But I really don't have any more money, you see," the Asian teenager rummaged through his pockets again to show his sincerity, "and I didn't even have a fifty-meter car fee."

If you don't have to take the bus commuter card, you'll have to walk home. ”

Seeing that he really couldn't squeeze any oil and water, the bald old man muttered in his mouth, "Well, since you are so sincere in wanting to make this deal with me."

I'll sell you this precious treasure map at a discount. If you do find the treasure one day, remember to repay me. He folded the 'precious' treasure map at his feet back into the shape of a wooden box, threw it into the arms of the Asian teenager like garbage, and grabbed the rice yuan in his hand casually, looking like he was afraid that he would regret it.

What he didn't know was that after he grabbed the money and completed the transaction in his hand, the young man holding the old wooden box in his arms instantly felt his mind dazed, his eyes darkened, and he fell into a trance as if he had seen a kaleidoscope.

I don't know how long it took for the gangsters to be nightmares, and a distant voice suddenly sounded in the ears of the young man, "Drift to the east and swing to the west, there will be no drama if there is no chance, if you can have great achievements, remember to thank Dajiaji."

After the strange poem, the voice in the darkness asked, "What kind of matter is the world made of?" ”

"The world is made up of four elements: earth, air, fire and water." Even if I can't be conscious, I think of it instinctively by a teenager who loves dungeons and dragons board games and graphic novels.

And as soon as a thought flashed through his mind, the distant voice asked again: "What is the fairest decision of fate?" This question is extremely tricky, and if you think about it, it involves humanities, philosophy, politics, and so on, and even the sages are afraid that they will be speechless for a while.

But for a teenager who has been obsessed with fire since he was a child and is used to solving problems using the so-called DD (Dungeons & Dragons) rules, it is simple and unusual. He immediately replied with his thoughts: "Dice, the decision of fate is actually just 'to do' or 'not to do', and the twenty-sided dice can solve all the problems in the world." ”

"What are the basic rules for the survival of all things in the world?" The distant voice asked for a third time.

"Natural selection." The teenager who had just learned "The Theory of Heavenly Evolution" in class yesterday thought in his heart that he was answering one strange question after another with his mind in the nightmare of the gangsters.

I don't know how long it took to answer the questions, but suddenly, he felt as if he had been poured cold water on the top of his head, and suddenly regained consciousness, and at the same time, the creepy sound of sharp brakes broke into his ears.

After that, the boy felt that time had slowed down dozens of times, and he took off into the air, flew in the air for a while, and then fell heavily to the ground. The sound of 'whooshing...' as the shards of glass shot from all sides cut through the flesh on his face were clearly recognizable in his ears.