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The imperial capital of the Alki Empire has always been called a city that never sleeps. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoWhen the sun fades and night falls, people often show their truest selves. In San Diego, the former Imperial Opera House, it can be well interpreted here.

Opera had been abandoned hundreds of years ago, because suddenly not many people in the imperial capital liked to spend an hour or two in the opera house in a lethargic sleep. Santiago endured for decades, and the most elegant temple was no match for the embarrassment of lack of money. It went bankrupt, and the owner of the opera house could no longer afford to maintain the huge daily expenses of the opera house with gold coins, so he had to sell it to another merchant.

The businessman turned the opera house into a dance floor. The first thing he did was to remove the hundred-year-old artifact, the white jade plaque of "Santiago", and then replace it with another metal plaque, "The Land of the Fallen". He dismantled the centuries-old stools that he casually took out, and then rolled out a cheap red carpet.

"Fallen Lands" is more popular than "Santiago", and people are more willing to writhe on the red carpet in masks than to sit on a stool and listen to the hypnotic opera for them.

So Santiago was defeated, and she was defeated. Only ten years have passed, and people only know about the "Land of the Fallen" and forget about the "Santiago" that used to be.

But not everyone has forgotten.

It was raining heavily in the imperial capital on this day. The rain was so heavy that many people worried about whether the waterproof system of the imperial capital for a hundred years could withstand it. During the rainstorms, people's activities tend to be polarized, most people choose to stay at home and sleep, and a few crazy people still choose to go to the depraved lands to party. There were hardly any pedestrians in the wide streets, and even the gatekeepers of the Fallen Lands couldn't stand the chill of the rainstorm and wondered if they might find a mask and go in for a revelry.

One of the great features of the Fallen Lands is that you never know who the masked man is who you're dancing like crazy with. The person who danced the craziest was probably the well-mannered godfather in the church, the most revealing and well-built woman in the audience, and most likely a conservative and reserved nun under the godfather. Or under the clown mask, the person who has the most fun revelry, maybe the prince of the royal family.

Here, there is no identity, only masks and revelry.

It's just that this carnival was alarmed.

An old man in a robe suddenly stood at the gate of the Fallen Lands, startling the gatekeepers. Because he didn't move when he appeared, one moment the place where he was standing was still stormy, and the next moment it was an old man, an old man with an umbrella.

"Hello. The old man's face was covered by an umbrella, so he couldn't see clearly, but his voice was gentle, "I'm looking for Santiago." ”

The gatekeeper was stunned, he vaguely felt that he had heard the name Santiago somewhere. It's just that he couldn't figure it out, so he waved his hand impatiently: "This is not some egg Santiago, you are in the wrong place, old man." ”

"But Santiago is right behind you. The old man's voice was inexplicably convincing, making the gatekeeper subconsciously glance back.

The black metal plaque is engraved with the words "Fallen Land" in jet black.

"See, Fallen Lands. The gatekeeper pointed to the plaque above, "It's not Santiago." ”

The old man took the umbrella, raised his head, and finally showed his face. But he was just a very ordinary old man, so ordinary that no one would look at him on the street, but he had one eye that was very special, green, that kind of ruby green.

The black and green pupils, which should have appeared in the cat, appeared on an old man, and it looked really weird. The gatekeeper shivered subconsciously, but he thought it was because the cold wind was stronger.

So he was even more impatient, waved his hand again, and wanted to go in to keep warm: "I said that I don't know what Santiago, if you want to come in, you will pay four gold coins, and if you don't come in, you will get away." ”

The old man grabbed him and said calmly: "Ten years ago, it wasn't this plaque that hung here. ”

"You're insane!" The gatekeeper finally became angry, and he tugged at his hand vigorously, but was surprised to find that the old man's hand, which was so thin that he could almost see the bones, was so powerful, like an iron tong, clamping him tightly.

"Tell me where San Diego is. The old man's voice was still calm, "If you don't know, I'll go in and ask." ”

"Fuck off!" the gatekeeper slapped him in the face.

The old man stood calmly and did not react. His pupils reflected the closer and closer palms of the gatekeeper, and he only moved when he was about to touch his face.

He just tilted his head slightly, and the gatekeeper slapped him in the face.

"I gave you a chance. The old man left one last word, and then moved again.

He didn't move like an old man, no, not like a person, like a cheetah. He leaned down and leaned forward slightly, like a cheetah in a predatory pose. If Ian had been there, he would have exclaimed, "Perfect fatal blow!"

That's right, the perfect fatal blow. The old man's right hand pulled away from the gatekeeper's left hand, which was still in mid-air, so the old man's left hand slammed out, and his claw-thin fist hit the gatekeeper's thick fat.

An old man is beating a fat man in the prime of life, and this scene looks very funny. But what's even funnier is that the gatekeeper flies upside down. Like a giant ball of flesh, he rolled all the way down the ladder and tripped over two or three masked men who were dancing wildly.

Two of the masked men tripped and the masked fell as well. The crowd saw their faces clearly and let out exclamations.

Because one of them is the boss of the "Fallen Land", and the other woman is his sister-in-law. And the intimacy between the two of them just now was probably not acceptable to his brother, so the other masked man angrily took off his mask and grabbed the boss's collar and shouted angrily.

In the Fallen, once there is no mask, it is actually very sad.

The boss was slapped by his brother, and then his hot sister-in-law was taken away by his brother crying. He was decadent like a loser's dog, and then he suddenly remembered something, and pinched the goalkeeper's neck with red eyes: "What are you doing!

The gatekeeper was about to breathe, so he could only reluctantly stretch out his hand and point to the door. So the boss raised his head and looked at the door.

An old man was standing in the gateway, holding the metal plaque in one hand. That's right, the metal plaque was taken off by him, and the boss was stunned, he didn't know how the old man did it.

"Ladies and gentlemen, hello. The old man said in a brisk tone, "I didn't come here with any malice, I just wanted to ask, who of you knows where Santiago is? I remember she was here ten years ago." ”

Everyone on the dance floor looked at each other, and the crazy old man didn't know where he came from. His whole body was soaked, and he looked very embarrassed, but his expression was very happy: "Originally, I was very happy, and I came back here after ten years, but this place seems to be different from before." ”

The crowd remained silent. Until a resigned, female voice rang out: "That, Santiago is no longer here." The owner of the opera house sold it, and as far as I can tell, San Diego seems to have moved west of town. ”

"Oh, is that so?" the old man looked at the woman in the bird's mask and smiled slightly, "then thank you, pretty lady." By the way, this is not for you, and if you are willing to listen to opera, you will find that the charm of opera is much higher than that. ”

The little bird mask looked at the old man's smile, his cheeks suddenly turned red, and his heart fluttered and fluttered. Fortunately, wearing a mask, no one saw her strangeness.

"So that's it, excuse me. The old man bowed to everyone, like a well-educated old gentleman, and then he turned and prepared to leave.

At this time, the boss reacted to something, this dead old man demolished his plaque, ruined his good deeds, and wanted to run away like this? So he was ready to open his mouth and shout angrily, and make this dead old man pay the price.

"Oh, yes. The old man suddenly turned around and smiled at the boss again, "Your plaque is not good, it's too brittle." I don't like it. ”

The old man's words almost made the boss laugh out loud, it's too brittle?

However, the old man then made the boss unable to laugh, only to see the old man kick hard, and he directly kicked the metal plaque in half.

"I said, it's too crispy. After saying that, the old man left without looking back, leaving everyone with a thin back. Before leaving, he threw down the broken metal plaque, and the heavy metal touched the ground with a loud crisp sound.

The boss's Adam's apple rolled a little, but in the end he didn't say the sentence that made him pay.

......

The old man opened his umbrella and walked back into the rain.

He was alone on the wide, dark streets. He raised his head and looked at a dark cloud in the sky, and a pair of eyes of different colors looked deep and lonely.

"Well, excuse me. In the middle of the rainstorm, another old man with an umbrella walked up to him, bent down slightly, and asked, "Excuse me, do you know where Santiago has moved?"

The old man was stunned, turned around, and saw the face of another old man. After a few seconds, he smiled again: "I'm looking for it too." Long time no see, Cassius. ”