The post road is smooth and smooth, the carriage is stable and comfortable, and the tireless five-sided corpse crunched and turned the winch in the back, and after watching it for a long time, I also feel that there is nothing strange about this strange scene. Jonah lifted the silk curtains of the car window and looked out at the traffic of all kinds, and the main post road was divided into three parts, the innermost side for fast horse-drawn carriages, next to the special lane for low-speed animal-powered carts such as ox carts and donkey carts, and the outermost side for rickshaws and pedestrians. He had never seen such a well-equipped and well-built modern road in the Western and Southern Continents, and even the "Golden Road" from the Tocharian Empire to the capital city of Bactria was not so carefully planned, at best it was a qualified main road.

As the "Chuanding" rickshaw moved northward, the scenery along the way began to change, the southern part of the Nanshang Kingdom is close to the Shenghe Gunan, the climate is humid and suitable for the growth of rice since ancient times, and the farmland is planted with rice in a large area, Jonah saw that many farmers wearing hats are working in the green paddy fields on both sides of the post road, now it is close to June, the rice seedlings are green, the fields appear to be full of life, the children with bare buttocks are chasing and playing on the ridges, some people are squatting on the edge of the field to pick up mud snails, the thatched huts in the distance are smoking, the sky is high and the earth is wide, the chickens and dogs smell each other, a peaceful scene. Fifty miles to the north, the alluvial plain on the riverbank gradually turns into a hilly area, the post road is like a jade belt through the hills, and the terraced fields cut the hills into one by one, thick green, light green, dark green, and light green are blended into a brightly colored watercolor painting.

"Has it been a long time since there has been a war in the Eastern Continent?" the 17-year-old couldn't help but sigh when he thought of his devastated hometown.

"It's been too long. Long Shenlan replied absentmindedly, still not looking like he had anything to talk about.

"Kid, it's not a good thing to have no war. Just like the Western Continent, it is precisely because of war that there is vitality, destruction and construction, death and rebirth, and pressure and progress, these big truths, you must not understand......" Master Basta took out his sleep and woke up, opened his eyelids and preached to the two teenagers opposite, while feeling out a small wine jug, unscrewing the lid and pouring a sip of wine into his mouth. "What's the name of this guy next to you, and I'm not interested in you, but I'll have to introduce each other. ”

The man in black glanced at him coldly, "Witt-Wittson." ”

"Are you from the Western Continent?" the magician sat up straight in surprise and turned to look at him with a big black face, "I can't see your face, I always thought you were a local." Wittsen sounds like a name from the Bazelal area?"

"Listen, magician. The man in black had a twinkle in his eyes that was not friendly, "None of us should cause trouble, and when we arrive at the Mulberry, we will go our separate ways, okay?" I respect your robes, and please respect my privacy, not everyone likes to share unnutritious stories with others, right, man?"

Master Basta was stunned for a moment, and said angrily, "Are you looking down on me? Looking down on a dignified fifth-level fire magician? I can burn the entire carriage to ashes with a single fireball technique, including your stinking face that looks down on people!" he picked up his staff and gestured to cast his magic.

“...... Hum. Werther-Wittson stopped talking, and bowed to Jonah, closing his eyes and recuperating.

Jonah has completely failed to understand the roles of several people in the car, the magician should be an enemy, but he doesn't look like an enemy anyway, and he hasn't even released a little magic fluctuation, I don't know if he is unsuspecting, or if his strength in cultivating qi has reached a certain point? The astrologer was the least adept at dealing with human relationships, and he decided not to talk much until he found an opportunity to meet this Mr. Wittson alone, so as not to cause trouble.

Jonah began to pretend to be asleep, Long Shenlu was silent, and the car fell silent. Master Basta was stunned for a long time, and threw his staff away in frustration: "It's boring!" After a while, there was another snoring.

In this strange atmosphere, the sun soon sank into the western mountains, and the coachman Wang lit two gas lamps and hung them on the cornices of the car to illuminate the road,—— which were not much different from those in the western continent. There are still cars coming and going on the post road, lights of various colors are flickering, and the sound of hooves, horses, wheels, and human voices is still noisy. An hour after dark, the car finally drove off the main road and followed the fork in the road for three hundred yards into a secluded town. Jonah lifted the curtains and saw a dark and dreary building, the town lit only a few or three lights, silent in the night, like a forgotten ruin. "Ladies and gentlemen, the accommodation has arrived today, let's get off the bus and do the activities, I will arrange rooms and dinner for everyone after parking the car. The voice of the coachman Lao Wang sounded from the carved cover on the top of the carriage, and the carriage slowly stopped, and the five-sided corpse let out a low grunt, and sat down on the platform with a thud, and the winch system that had been working all afternoon was steaming.

The four people got out of the car one after another, and found that the car was parked in front of a hostel, saying that it was a hostel, but it was just a dark two-story small building, with a broken wood sign of "Nanyi Yi Yi Reverse Brigade" hanging on it, and there was no light in the porch, and no one came to greet it.

Sensing the surprise of the guests, the coachman Lao Wang explained: "This is Nanyi Station, which used to be a very prosperous post town like Nan Yi Station. From here, there is an old city called 'Tongshi' on the road to the east, backed by Dongyin Mountain, which produces the best copper ore and coal in the Southern Shang Kingdom, and has been a rich place for hundreds of years. Later, the coal mine was hollowed out, and the bronze tools were gradually replaced by iron tools, and the same city declined, and was finally abandoned into a dead city, and this Nanyi Station also lost its role at once. Because it was only more than a hundred miles away from the north and south of Suiyang City, almost no carriages would stay here overnight, so the Southern Shang Kingdom ordered the cancellation of this post station, and there was no population here. Because we were going in the direction of the Mulberry and had to cross a very dangerous mountain pass to-morrow, we could not walk at night tonight, so we made up here for the night...... Do you understand, guests?" he turned, and then steered the carriage to the back of the inn, which turned out to have a steering wheel on the roof, and it was almost as easy to operate as a boat.

Looking at the eerie ghost building in the night, Jonah swallowed his saliva, and Long Shenlu seemed a little excited, for him who practiced the shadow hiding method "Blind Dragon", the darkness was simply a natural shelter. "Tsk, what's going on so dark?" said Master Basta impatiently, "Jonah, can you ...... By the way, I have a prop here. He took a small wooden tube from the sleeve of his robe, unscrewed it and shook it, and the white phosphorus in it lit the wick stained with vegetable oil, and the flame ignited. "It's a lot, come with me. He swaggered into the hostel with a floter.

The man in black looked at Jonah and wanted to say something, looked around, and closed his mouth in concern. The astrologer had an idea, deliberately slowed down, drew several patterns on the ground with his feet, and drew an arrow. The motif is an oval with three ripples, an hourglass and an eye, with arrows pointing to an abandoned courtyard diagonally across from the hostel. The teenager deliberately waited a few seconds to make sure Wertherson saw clearly, and then erased the pattern with his foot. The three-rippled ellipse is a specific symbol of the Western continent that represents "bread" and can be seen in all communions where the Anglican Church distributes free dinners, meaning "supper". The hourglass is the standard Western timekeeping apparatus, and the time it takes to do two handstands and let the fine sand complete a cycle of flow is one hour, which means "one hour later". The eye means "to meet", and the arrow of course points to the meeting place. If you are from the Western Continent, there is no reason why you can't understand such a simple code. Sure enough, the man in black nodded to him, indicating that he understood.

The astrologer let out a sigh of relief and followed Long Shen into the inn. Like most buildings in the East, the first floor of this small building was hollow, with several sets of dusty tables and chairs, the corpse of an unknown small animal lying in the corner of the room, long since it had been air-dried, and the staircase leading to the second floor was so mothed that it was not sure if it could support the weight of an adult.

The faint light of the fire illuminated a large, stiff black face. "Come and sit down, it's surprisingly emotional. Master Basta sat on a bench with a lighter on the table, illuminating a space of a few yards. Jonah walked slowly, choking on the smell of putrid air. "Sit down, sit down, I've already wiped the tables and chairs. The magician said triumphantly, "Use that thing." It's quite ash-absorbing. He pointed to the dried animal carcass.

The four of them finally sat down at the table, occupying the four corners of the square table. "I'm very particular about what I eat, and what kind of environment do I eat...... That's already good, I hope the dinner doesn't disappoint me hahaha. Master Basta unconcernedly dusted off a strand of spider silk from his pointed hat and spoke.

"This place is a bit quirky. Long Shenlu said, half of his body was hidden in a black shadow, looking blurry.

"Weird, I don't know about this place...... Jonah said. He felt his hairs stand on end, and he felt that something bad must be happening.

"Whatever. Witt-Wittson said coldly.

"I've been waiting for a long time!" At this time, the stairs creaked, and the four of them turned their heads to look at it together, and found that the coachman Lao Wang walked down slowly from the second floor with a tray, "I just went up to check the room, and the two rooms are no problem! Dinner is cold wine, preserved meat, oil cakes and raw green onions, all the guests can make do with it, and you can have a good meal tomorrow night." He came over, laid the tray on the table, and arched his hand: "I still have to take care of the brute, so go first, and I will wake you up tomorrow morning,—— if you can still get up." By the way, don't go to the backyard when you're a child or when you're ugly, if you're disturbed, that brute ......"

The voice was still there, and the round-faced coachman had already left the room.

Without being polite to others, Master Basta had already picked up the oil cake and chewed it with dried meat and raw shallots. At this time, Jonah was suddenly stunned, and he thought of a question.