Chapter 13: The Tin Frog
Fang Bai sat on the sofa in the living room, holding a cup of tea, with a strange illusion. Pen, Fun, Pavilion www.biquge.info is obviously not my home, but I am inexplicably at ease.
Mr. Wu pointed to the room and said, "This suite, I didn't decorate it after I bought it, I only repainted it, and the overall layout was retained, you look very familiar." ”
"Indeed, it brings back a lot of memories for me."
The girl Wu Zhen brought out a plate of tofu custard from the kitchen and shouted, "The dishes are ready, Dad, let's eat!" ”
Mr. Wu got up and beckoned Fang Bai to dine together, but Fang Bai was not polite, washed his hands, and sat down in the dining room.
The table is full of home-cooked food, although it is not hearty, it tastes excellent.
Fang Bai took a few bites and praised: "This craftsmanship is amazing!" Mr. Wu has a good daughter. ”
Mr. Wu listened to others praising his daughter, and his face almost lit up, "Xiao Zhen is usually busy with classes and rarely cooks, and now that the college entrance examination is over, he just has time to ......."
"Oh, it's still a senior in high school? I don't know how the results were? Fang Bai asked playfully.
"After estimating the score, it's still ideal!" Mr. Wu looks honored.
"Dad-" Hazel seemed to be very disgusted by the father's showing off of his daughter, and protested softly.
"Okay, don't talk about it, then have a drink, Mr. Fang?"
"Ah, you don't have to drink, right? Also by car. ”
"Hey, I didn't think it through, so let's drink some juice."
……
After the dinner of the guests and the hosts, Fang Bai carefully asked Mrs. Wu, who had not shown up, and a sad expression appeared on Mr. Wu's face.
"I passed away a few years ago......"
Fang Bai knew that he had poked other people's sore spots, so he didn't ask more, but Mr. Wu didn't care, and asked his daughter to take Fang Bai to "visit" the room.
The house is only more than 90 square meters, which is not too big, and you can see it in a minute. Fang Bai wanted to see "his" room, but the door kept closing.
Wu Zhen saw that Fang Bai was interested, so he explained: "I live in that room. ”
Since it is a girl's boudoir, it is indeed inconvenient to watch, and it is a pity.
But Wu Zhen seemed to remember something, opened the door and entered the room, allowing Fang Bai to take the opportunity to take a few glances.
The boudoir is very plain, with a big stuffed bear on the bed, and a desk next to the bed, with a lamp, books and a computer. The bookcase in the room is two sizes larger than the wardrobe, and it is full. There was no wallpaper, no poster decorations, only a world map pasted on the head of the bed, which was very conspicuous.
Wu Zhen found an iron frog from the bookcase, walked out and handed it to Fang Bai.
"I guess this one was left by you."
Fang Bai took the tin frog and took it to his eyes to observe, most of the patent leather of the old toy had fallen off, and it looked very ugly. The winding bracket is broken and cannot be screwed.
"The desk I used at the beginning was still your old one. The lock on the leftmost drawer of the table was rusty and never opened. When I was in middle school, my dad bought me a new desk. Just about to change it, I picked the lock and found this. ”
Although he had no impression of this object at all, Fang Bai had a hunch that this tin frog might be the key to completing the task.
He feigned surprise and said, "That's right! This frog was my toy when I was a kid. How do you think about keeping this thing? ”
"It's rare to see this kind of old toy, and it's rare for me to look at it, so I've always put it in the bookcase." The girl curled the ends of her hair a few times with her fingers, her face shy.
"It's wonderful! What about this...... Can you give it to me? "Fang Bai has to inch in.
"I was meant to give it back to you. Take it, you're welcome. The girl smiled.
"Thank you, Hazel!" Fang Bai said excitedly.
"Why don't you learn from my dad?" The girl was disgusted, "Call me Hazelnut." ”
"Haha, I said the wrong thing, little hazelnut, don't be angry!"
“……”
After getting the task items, Fang Bai didn't stay long, said goodbye to Mr. Wu and Little Hazelnut, and drove back to the hotel.
As soon as he returned to his room, he hung a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door, took out a multi-purpose knife, and dismantled the tin frog.
He guessed correctly, the inside of the half-palm-sized iron frog, in addition to the bracket it should be, there was an additional metal cylinder the size of a thumb. The cylinder and the bracket are very close together, which jams the operation of the mechanism, which is also the reason why the mainspring cannot be screwed.
Fang Bai took out the cylinder and found that the surface of the cylinder was covered with long and short inscribed lines, which were combined into geometric figures of different sizes, like runes.
At the end of the cylinder, a small piece of transparent crystal is connected, and the crystal and metal are not known how to bond.
"It's a craft? Or is it a part from a huge machine? Fang Bai guessed.
He reassembled the tin frog, tightened the clockwork, placed it on the bed, and tapped the frog's back lightly, and the tin toy jumped forward.
The frog falls on the edge of the bed and lies on all fours. Fang Bai grabbed the tin toy and was silent for a long time.
Are Mr. Wu and Hazelnut insiders of the Fourth Trial Program? Or are they NPCs that are used as key items to pay? There is too little information to judge.
How to use rune cylinders? Blister fire diamond? If this thing belongs to a larger system. Where is the system?
Putting the rune pillar into an empty ring box and putting it away close to his body, Fang Bai recalled the title of the task:
Homecoming.
Is it not just to return to Xiaocheng, but also to return to Yujin Mountain?
Yujin Mountain is a lonely mountain on the eastern plain, the highest point is only 200 meters above sea level. There are many legends attached to the local area, such as the ancient famous qi refiner Ge Hong once made alchemy in this place, such as Dayu once took the gold of this mountain to cast Dading, which is also the origin of the name of the mountain.
Fang Bai's grandfather's house is in a small village at the foot of Yujin Mountain. Not long after Fang Bai was born, his parents sent him back to "Shanqian Village" because of their busy work, and handed him over to his grandparents to bring him up.
But when Fang Bai was three years old, his grandparents died in a tragic landslide accident, and Fang Bai returned to his parents and never went back to Yujin Mountain. At this point, Fang Bai's experience of the two worlds is the same.
"Looks like I'm going back to the old house."
Time has passed, and Fang Bai has long lost his memory of the mountain village roads of the past. He opened the map software, and the map showed Yujin Mountain as only a triangular mark, the surrounding area was blank, and the nearest road was five kilometers away.
Confused, he called the hotel front desk and asked for a local tourist map. A few minutes later, the waiter sent the map, but Fang Bai didn't pay the tip, and directly unfolded the map to find Yu Jinshan.
But this map, like the electronic map, has no markers around Yujin Mountain, as if it is just a wasteland.
"That's not right!" Fang Bai muttered to himself.
The waiter waiting for the tip was a little curious and asked, "Sir, where do you want to play?" ”
"Yujin Mountain!"
"Yu Jinshan?" The waiter was even more surprised, "Sir, where did you hear that?" There is no tourism development there, and few people in the local area know about it. ”
That's even more wrong! Yujin Mountain, as the only hill in Xiaocheng, is a good place for locals to go on an outing, how can no one know? There is not even a road on the map!
"I also heard someone mention it by chance," Fang Bai said casually, "There is no more detailed map?" ”
The waiter shook his head, "This one is already the most refined, if you want to go to Yujin Mountain, sir, it is best to find a local guide." ”
"Then forget it." Fang Bai stuffed a hundred yuan in tips and sent the waiter away.
"Yu Jinshan's situation is strange, it seems that if you want to go back to the old house, you have to find the third uncle to lead the way."
In the original world, Fang Bai's third uncle was a person who "had a way", with a homestead and an orchard in the village, and a car repair factory in the city, which was considered a small family property.
Fang Bai and the third uncle are very close, and they are indispensable to come and go during the New Year's holidays.
Xiao Yun, the cousin of the third uncle's family, is three years younger than him, and has been a beauty since she was a child. Later, the third uncle divorced, and Fang Bai vaguely heard that he had done a DNA test and found that Xiao Yun was not born to the third uncle.
Although this is a tragedy, there are some dirty thoughts in people's hearts, and he did have a hint of joy at that time. However, he and Xiao Yun did not have a story in the end, and a wisp of love was buried in the bottom of his heart for many years.
So, what happened to the third uncle's family in this world?
There is no number of the third uncle and Xiao Yun in the mobile phone, which is not a good sign.
Open the "Tracker" software, enter the name of the third uncle, find "Fang Qijun" unsuccessfully, and then find his cousin "Fang Xiaoyun", which surprised Fang Bai.
The tracker found Xiao Yun's TT number, WeChat ID, and three mobile phone numbers.
After Fang Bai quickly browsed Xiao Yun's recent photos and blog posts posted on social media, he immediately used Qianxun Search to search for "Fang Xiaoyun".
In my impression, the soft and weak little girl has become the founder and president of the domestic first-line women's clothing e-commerce brand "Chuyi"!
Internet topic characters with high exposure!
The legendary "Goddess of First Clothes"!
"Chuyi" is attached to the rise of Yibao, and the company is in Xiaocheng. Isn't it for nothing that Xiao Yun's life has been rewritten!
Fang Bai dialed her private number, but no one answered, and finally hung up automatically.
She shouldn't have known that this was Fang Bai's number.
He sent a text message, "I'm Fang Bai. ”
I don't have a good relationship with Xiao Yun in this world? Bad thoughts swirl around in my head.
Ten minutes later, the reply came: "I know, your number has not been deleted in the address book." ”
Fang Bai frowned, this sentence felt a little strange, he decided to test it.
"I'm back to Xiaocheng today."
This time Xiao Yun replied quickly, "Where are you?" ”
"Heaven and Earth Hotel." Fang Bai replied.
"Room number?"
This development was completely unexpected! Fang Bai typed the room number, his thumb hovered over the send button for a minute, and finally pressed it hard.
"Let the horses come, world! Let me see what kind of plot you have arranged! ”
Fang Bai washed his face and tidied up the room a little. He opened the door, let it be hidden, pulled a chair, faced the door, and sat and waited for Xiao Yun.
Less than twenty minutes later, there was a sound of "da-da-da" high-heeled shoes knocking on the floor in the corridor outside. The footsteps were originally steady, but as they got closer, they became more and more urgent.
The visitor stopped at the door, and the whole world fell silent.
The door slowly pushed open, revealing her form.
It was a woman in black, with a slim short-sleeved suit and one-step skirt that set off her perfect curves, and her jet-black hair was simply tied in a low bun, revealing her slender and graceful neck.
This beauty is her cousin Xiao Yun.
Fang Xiaoyun held the doorknob in her hand, and a look of surprise and disbelief appeared on her face.
"Silly? Still not coming in yet? Fang Bai smiled.
Fang Xiaoyun's face changed, and she walked a few steps quickly and came to her cousin. She was condescending, raising her hand to "snap, snap" two slaps.
"You still know to come back!"
The woman threw herself into Fang Bai's arms.
Fang Bai looked confused, what kind of plot is this?