............

"Hey, I didn't expect you to arrive first." When I turned around, it was the demon in the red robe.

I looked at it, around it and behind it, it was empty.

It said it was going to wait for a companion to come along, but what about people?

Could it be that it was pigeons?

I asked curiously, but it said:

"Are you curious why you can't see my companion?" The demon seemed to smile, "It's now one with me." Wisdom machines exist differently than yours, you know. ”

"......," I pondered for a moment.

I don't know much about your smart machines.

Could it be that this is the legendary divine friend?

Then the demon led me through the clouds. To be honest, it wasn't a good experience, as the high-speed howling clouds washed over my body and clothes, mixed with the wails of many shadows that had been swept up in it. It felt as painful as I had been pulled out of the ground not long ago.

Behind the clouds, I lay straight on the ground, dizzy and dizzy. My shadow lay on the ground weakly, even though it was like that.

After a while I got up, and when the demon saw me standing up, he was speechless, "The human body is a little too weak. Recently, the Holy City seems to be popular for biochemical modification or something, are you interested in becoming a smart machine? ”

“...... Don't do it. I slowed down and looked around.

Although it has only just passed the cloud curtain, it is as bustling as the core of the Holy City. On both sides were still two hard-clad soldiers in heavy armor, staring at the nearby groups of merchandisers, not far away the buildings were standing, the lights were bright, and in a trance I felt as if I had returned to the day of the fall of the Holy City, and I always felt that the next thing would be a wave of shaking.

I stood firm, and was suddenly caught by a familiar shade of red—a huge screen in the distance, and a picture was playing on the screen—a magnificent butterfly lying quietly on a white velvet cushion, flapping its light wings slightly, harvesting the eyes of onlookers.

On the right side of the screen, a paragraph of text flashed at the right time-

【Wucheng brand wool mat - new】

【......】

It turned out to be an advertisement.

I blinked, coming back to my senses from the butterfly's peerless beauty.

Using the image of a butterfly as an advertising picture is indeed ruthless, and the eye-catching effect is directly full. And the butterflies that appear on the screen don't seem to have the kind of soul-stirring shock that they can directly observe with the naked eye, and only retain the beauty in them, so obviously there is no harm......

The person who came up with this idea has something!

"Huh?"

When I came back to my senses, the demon didn't know where he had gone.

"It said before that it was going to the Great Electric Yin Temple to steal Buddhist scripture data...... "I asked a passer-by for directions, and walked slowly towards the Great Electric Yin Temple.

"It's a pity that I didn't bring anything this time." When I think of my "good quality" light bulb, I can't help but feel a little pity.

On the way, I encountered a number of monitors standing on the side of the street, which were full of images of butterflies, but not all of them, many of them seemed to be some kind of performance called "live broadcast", and the butterflies in them could interact with the viewer.

I inquired curiously for a while, and learned that because of the changes in the world, many living beings have gradually gained higher intelligence, such as butterflies, which can now communicate with other intelligent beings - but because of their own characteristics, it is still a little difficult to communicate directly, but with the help of Buddhism's technology, it is much more convenient to broadcast the picture through the device.

I've found that many viewers throw a lot of black chunks into some kind of container under the screen just for the attention of a butterfly, as if it were the currency of the Holy City.

Not only the road "people" are watching, but many non-people are also watching. For example, some strange shapes of life that I have never seen before, probably brought in after the world merged, and some of them are probably sheep and wolves with enlightened minds, but the most are big eyes, floating in the air in flocks, and they don't speak, just silently looking for better butterflies to stare at there.

I wonder if the big-eyed balls who always like to play chess with me are still there?

I frowned, glanced at the eager but quirky streets, and walked on.

As I passed by the corner of an alley, out of the corner of my eye, I suddenly saw a dark shadow rushing by, and it looked like a ......

Like a black cat.

“！” I immediately paused and turned into the alley, searching for the black cat.

There were a lot of miscellaneous items piled up in the alley, and I couldn't see the familiar figure after much effort.

Hey, I guess I'm dazzled.

"Hey." The bonsai next to him suddenly spoke! "What are you looking for?"

I was so startled that my heartbeat almost missed half a beat. When I looked closely, it turned out to be some kind of translucent creature sitting on a potted plant, and the light in the alley was dim, and I really didn't see it for a while.

"Uh, I'm looking for a black cat." I looked at it and replied, "Have you seen her?" ”

It's translucent all over, and its overall shape looks like a tentacle monster, which reminds me of the tentacle creature on the Copper Coin Mask Man before, except that it's translucent, and it's only black.

Along with its voice, there seems to be a faint flash of light in its body, which is very magical.

"Black cats? ......" it seemed to think, "What is her relationship with you?"

"Oh yes, you're not comfortable with this conversation." Before I could reply, it said something more, and then a cloud of darkness erupted from its body, enveloping me.

"Huh?"

The darkness around him began to subside, and in front of him was an antique study, an old man sitting quietly in front of the window, half of his body shrouded in the shadow of the curtains, holding an ancient bowed string instrument in his hand, slowly pulling, and the perfect notes as if they were numbers were flying out one after another with his precise and unmistakable rhythm.

"Don't be afraid, it's an illusion." The old man said: "I usually try to use the most acceptable scenes and images to talk to others, so that it will be more efficient." ”

"Hmm......" I nodded, found a chair and sat on it: "Black cat, it should be ...... My friend. ”

"Friends?" He nodded, "I see." ”

Be...... Friends?

Actually, I don't know if it's a friend or not, but it's certainly not an enemy. If I really want to say it, the relationship between the black cat and me should be closer than that of friends, in that case......

"I haven't seen the black cat you mentioned, but I know where you're going." It says. "You should go back to your 'home'."

"I'm not talking about your house, I'm talking about your real 'home'."

"By then, though, you'll probably not be looking for the black cat."

Then, the illusion vanished.

The surroundings were swallowed up by darkness again, and only the empty alleys and me sitting on the ground remained.

............