It is said that it is noon, but it actually feels a little later than noon.

Kraft and Lucius took turns resting against the relatively clean plank, changing rounds until the sleeping people woke up.

It was like a loud alarm clock ringing that couldn't be heard, and within a few minutes the residents of the sleeping area were awakened in unison, more uniformly than getting up in a high school dorm room in another world.

The previously silent room erupted with the sound of activity. Different feet stepped on the planks, unknown metal and wood utensils collided, and the noisy conversation was mixed with a few unintelligible swear words.

Human consciousness is returned in large quantities from dreams and thrown back into reality, beginning a day that they have already missed.

Then there was the jerky and screeching sound of the shoddy door shaft turning, and one after another people pushed the door out, holding what looked like it might be food, and walked in the direction of the port while eating.

Kraft intercepted one of the middle-aged men holding dried fish with moldy spots.

"Hello, if you don't mind, can I hire you for a while?"

"Of course!" He agreed as quickly as he could, and glared back at the person who was watching next to him, "As long as four copper coins, I may help you do half a day's work." ”

Perhaps it was too hard to find work after noon, and he took Kraft's offer for a very low price.

The yellowish, blackened teeth bit down on the crispy dried fish, and the fibrous flesh and bones were crushed together, making a tooth-sore sound. He chewed a few bites in his mouth and swallowed it with difficulty.

"So what are you going to do?"

Kraft was shocked by this glass-like way of eating, and sympathized with his mouth and esophagus, "Don't worry, you can eat first." I'd like to ask you first, how long ago did you start waking up late? ”

"Now that I think about it, I was like this for more than a month, and I didn't feel anything at first, but I didn't expect it to be like this. It's getting harder and harder. ”

Although he didn't know why anyone cared about this, the middle-aged man answered the question as he ate, the crumbs splashing with spittle, not noticing that his new employer was moving half a step away from his front.

Kraft stood by and watched as he finished eating the fish in his hand and swallowed the last bite, his Adam's apple rolling with difficulty, thinking that he could prescribe a case report of a special diet that caused scarred esophagus.

"We came here because we were curious about this, and now we suspect that there is something wrong with the water you usually drink, can you take us over to have a look?"

"Yes, although my family usually goes to fetch water, I still know the way." The middle-aged man pressed his chest, which looked like it was caused by pain, "Then let's go." ”

He led Kraft and Lucius down the narrow alley that twisted and winded, and along the way he came across people who had just left the house looking for work.

In the opposite direction, they need to squeeze sideways frequently, or one side retreats to the back of the road to get out of the way.

In general, they traveled in the same direction as they came, staggering the route they had previously investigated, passing near the red algae well, and walking for about ten minutes to reach their destination.

A well, which looked fairly normal, was surrounded by the most regular stones Kraft had ever seen here.

An open space was set aside around it, and people who came to fetch water formed several long lines. Without a winch, putting the barrel with a rope down and pulling it up again was quite slow, and it was not easy to get them to give time to check the estimate.

The crowding of people is something that Kraft doesn't like very much, especially when this group of people doesn't take a shower so often, and getting together makes the already unclean air even more turbid.

The smell of sweat and body odor in his nose, which had just adapted to the local air, made him quickly give up the idea of queuing in person.

"It's eleven copper coins, and five are your reward." Kraft found most of the scattered copper coins in his money bag and handed them to the middle-aged man, "Go buy a clean bucket for the rest and help me line up for a bucket of water." ”

It's shameful to be a lazy dog, but it's very comfortable.

Kraft and Lucius found a shady spot to stand and watch the queue. The small wellhead allows up to three people to take buckets of water at the same time, and there are barely three teams at the wellhead, but they are scattered at the back, and it is impossible to distinguish which one is which.

The middle-aged man negotiated with a few people at the end of the line and successfully bought a bucket, and jumped left and right without a trace in the blurred line, choosing the nearest direction to move over.

In the crowd, Kraft soon lost sight of his position, and began to get sleepy in boredom, propping his head on his hand.

When the sun was up, it was already the time when he usually took a nap after lunch, and the biological clock urged him to find a comfortable plane and put his face on it to enjoy the rare relaxation time every day.

Today, in order to reserve time for the investigation, I set off from the college very early, first on Yumu Street, and then in the salt tide area, and I didn't even eat at noon, and I didn't have the appetite to eat.

When I am suddenly idle, I am tired and I feel like I can fall asleep while standing.

The slightly squinted eyes shine through the red lenses, and the unrealistic picture becomes more and more blurry, and the crowd shakes in front of them, and the outline is blurred.

The diffuse ghosting, the red filter, and the humanoid color blocks move slowly, like the red pigments on the bevel fusing and spreading apart, not only are they not vivid, but the tones are gradually darkening.

The red color usually makes people feel alert and irritated, but this red makes him feel even more gloomy, thinking of the viscous venous blood flowing and coagulating on the walls of the transparent vessel, and no longer the vitality of the living organism.

He felt himself falling, the weightlessness of his usual sleep, lighter, softer, half-asleep and half-awake from the cumbersome and chaotic reality, and fell deeper, hiding in a place where there was no surgery, no complications, no investigation.

The sense of hearing also becomes dull, the noisy human voices are weakened in the ears, the non-stop consciousness no longer pays attention to what they are saying, the language area of the brain enters a low-power state, and it is unwilling to translate the vibrations in the air into valid information.

The dull sound of a bucket falling into a well, the sound of wood products crashing against a stone wall, and a loud cough are barely distinguishable from simple sounds.

Instinctively lazily adjusts itself to a half-asleep state, ignoring the nerve impulses from the senses, and allowing itself to be separated from the world.

Kraft felt like he was in the same place, as if he was no longer there, and in the drift, he heard a particularly clear sound of falling water ringing in his ears, and the weightlessness came to an abrupt end.

The foggy state was not broken, but fixed, and the sound became more delicate and gentle, like a transformation from grit to milled flour, and it was more difficult to distinguish the contents.

Consciousness spreads softly and spreads out to enjoy a moment of peace.

The only fly in the ointment is that there is still a strange smell lingering around the tip of the nose, not sweat, not rancid, not herbs in the bird's mouth, not like it is collected by the sense of smell.

It seemed to get heavier, and the soft, comfortable part of the sound approached. From the invisible to the tangible, clinging to the clothes behind him, caressing his consciousness.

The senses are all pleasing to it, sending signals of "softness" and "comfort", and the sense of smell is also involved, recognizing its strange but soft smell.

Like a girl's hand, like silk tulle, it came closer, and the feeling of weightlessness reappeared.

The eyelids drooped, and the black-red light in front of him became thinner, almost completely disappearing, replaced by a moonlit darkness, and the soft white light grew.

Consciousness bathed in it, just like enjoying every nap normally, a wisp of doubt flashed in the intoxication.

It gently stretched out its cool, soft hand, trying to remove the discord from the peace.

This self-defeating action awakens Kraft's keen consciousness, and suspicion quickly develops into alertness, and everything that happened is turned out of memory and re-analyzed.

Intuition tastes malice in a soft and gentle feeling that shouldn't exist.

It suddenly fits faster, as if sensing the change in Kraft and wrapping up faster from behind.

Its reckless movements reveal more of its incongruity, like a starfish turning over its colorful and beautiful back, spitting out its stomach pouch to eat. Extreme incongruity, viscous nausea, impacting the senses that had been immersed in comfort at the last moment, the upheaval of nerve impulses stimulating the brain and reaching deep into the soul.

Before the otherworldly part could respond, the reflexes formed by the native Kraft in his soul over the years of training were activated, and his grandfather's countless teachings and beatings gave him an extraordinary reaction speed.

The muscles of the whole body were mobilized, and he lowered his head to dodge the possible attack, smashed his elbow backwards, and turned back to open up the distance.

He felt as if he was tearing something open as he moved, and fear forced him to reach for the hilt of the sword hidden under his robe, and his newly opened eyes could only see the red of the lenses because they were not accustomed to the light.

The blade unsheathed and swung diagonally upwards toward the spot in his senses, and he tried his best to resist the urge to slash with all his might, leaving room for change. The first sword is just to force the opponent back and buy time for his vision to return to normal.

He carefully felt the power coming from his hand, whether the other party chose to avoid the edge for a while, or parry head-on, it was exactly what he wanted.

Unexpectedly, the blade seemed to cut into something, breaking through the loose and fragile object, splitting several uneven structures.

There were exclamations and screams behind him, and the chaotic footsteps in the distance indicated that many people were fleeing the place, but fortunately there were no approaching footsteps to interfere with the judgment.

Visions gradually regained, and the gaze looked through the red glass to examine the results of the slash. No matter what it is, whether it's a human or a ghost, it's definitely not good to be pulled out of a big hole.

Kraft forced his eyes to open wide, and the harsh light caused the annular muscles of the pupils to contract sharply, and the lacrimal glands secreted tears. He had to fight the instinctive reflex of closing his eyes and do his best to see ahead.

He saw that the large, hideous rift did not exist in some ooze monster or mysterious foe.

It was a wooden wall.