Shamingway slept in a movie theater.

Closing his eyes, his consciousness slowly sank to sleep with the long music of the movie, the instantaneous roar of the big scene, and the small laughter and discussion.

The world in his dreams seemed to be close at hand, and it had nothing to do with him, like an exquisite stage play being staged in some ancient and distant village and town, and he was just a distant listener.

He didn't sleep very deeply.

These cacophony sounds were like a hand, tugging and pulling his consciousness back and forth between dreams and reality. He was in a fragile equilibrium, but for some reason his mind was very clear, as if he was floating on the surface of the sea, looking down on his subconscious self from afar.

Relying on these small voices, his subconscious weaves scenes that match them in his dreams.

Even though the eyes were closed, the faint light that seeped into the eye mask was still colorful, but it was hazy and gray, like a dim ray of sunlight, shining into the dead deep sea.

The changing colors are like a series of yarns, gradually converging into a ball of yarn in the sea, and as the lines become more and more, the messier and larger the woven yarn ball.

And then, in an instant, it collapsed...... It was completely scattered, as if thousands of rays of light fell to the deepest part of the sea, swallowing up this vast ocean.

There was a sudden burning sensation in his neck, and he frowned, slowly raising his heavy eyelids.

Xia Mingwei woke up.

As the film ended, it was time for the screening room to turn on the LED lights and the incandescent light pierced his eyelids, making him squint his eyes.

"Dad, did you just see that?" There was a girl next to her who whispered, "This big brother was asleep when the piece of his neck suddenly glowed......"

"Hey, my good daughter, don't make a fuss, don't eat the popcorn, and your mother will have to cook later."

Xia Mingwei supported his swollen forehead with his hand, and turned his head in a drowsy state.

What caught her eye was a girl in a school uniform, her smart eyes looking at this side, and she was whispering something to the middle-aged man next to her.

Seeing Xia Mingwei wake up, the girl covered her little face in fright, her eyes widened, and she stared at him through the gap between her fingers:

"Ah...... Daddy, his neck suddenly stopped glowing. ”

"I'm sorry, the little girl is not sensible." The middle-aged man smiled at Xia Mingwei, then picked up the briefcase, took the girl's immature hand, and the two quickly left the screening room.

…… What's wrong with my neck?

After watching the two leave, Xia Mingwei stretched out his right hand and rubbed his neck, there was still a trace of burning sensation left, and his skin was ridiculously hot.

"Ding."

The phone vibrates, and a chime comes.

Xia Mingwei took out his phone from his bag, and the time was five o'clock in the afternoon, and a text message popped up from the top of the interface.

- [Boss: I have something to do today, come and take a look at the store for me.] ]

He picked up his bag and left, his well-defined fingers quickly typing out the text and clicking send.

- [Shamingway: I'll be right back.] ]

After Xia Mingwei sent the message, he slowly walked out of the empty screening hall, the corridor of the theater was rendered with orange and yellow lights, filled with the smell of disinfectant water, and it seemed that it had just been cleaned.

Walking out of the slightly dreary theater, the fresh air rushed to his mouth and nose, and he looked up at the sky, where the sunset was about to sink below the horizon, slowly retracting the light that was sprinkled on the earth, and the distant airplane clouds passed through the madder sunset.

The pale yellow streets are full of people and traffic, and even the overhead corridors above the highway are crowded with people during rush hour to get to and from work.

This city is the capital of China, and the flow of people is naturally not comparable to other places.

The person who sent the message just now was the owner of a coffee shop.

Shamingway is seventeen years old.

When he was fourteen years old, the boss adopted him without a father and mother, and let him live in the attic of the coffee shop, the residence was a little simpler, but the boss treated him well, and the life of the past few years was okay.

After a short walk, he walked through the bustling crowds to a coffee shop in a remote corner of the city.

Stopping outside the store, there is a soothing piano music in the ears - the boss likes Bach very much, and today there is still the same "Aria on the G string" in the store for thousands of years, and Xia Mingwei's ears are almost calloused when he listens to it.

Pushing open the wooden door with the "OPEN" sign, the setting sun sets into the store, illuminating the old wooden tables and chairs framed in mahogany frames.

The owner is very stylish, and the door, chairs and tables are all made by himself.

Fortunately, there were no customers yet, and Xia Mingwei breathed a sigh of relief.

Moving his eyes, the glass of the coffee grinder reflected his cheeks, which were a delicate and good-looking face, but the indifference between his eyebrows and eyes added a sense of distance to him.

At this time, the boss was wrapped in an apron, wiping the cup with a towel behind the counter, as if he could recognize Xia Mingwei by listening to the footsteps, he didn't raise his head, and asked directly:

"Are you still used to the new school?"

"It's kind of a habit." Shamingway looked at the innermost table, where the boss had already prepared dinner for him—curry rice sprinkled with seasonings, a steaming cup of coffee.

He put down his bag, sat down in his chair, and took a sip of his coffee.

"It's good to get used to it, your grades have been good since you were a child, and don't let up when you get to a new school."

"Well, I will."

The boss suddenly raised his head, saw Xia Mingwei's bandaged right hand, and asked angrily:

"What's wrong with your kid's right hand?"

"It's nothing, I just scratched when I cut the fruit."

"Just scratched the back of your hand, and you got a bandage?"

"Uh...... Be conservative. ”

"You say you didn't buy a Band-Aid, it's more reliable than that." The boss sighed, "Anyway, don't fight for that at school in the future, and don't fight with people, you shouldn't want to transfer again, right?" ”

As he spoke, he put the cleaned cup into the basket and scratched his black hair helplessly.

Originally, the boss's hair was almost white, and Xia Mingwei worked part-time after school some time ago to earn some money, so he took him to the barber shop to dye his black hair.

Xia Mingwei took a sip of coffee and said softly: "It's not a big deal if you don't change schools, but you worry too much." ”

"What happened before, you can't calm down when your classmates talk about it."

"I just, I just discussed it with them."

"And then got into a fight, and you put yourself in the hospital?"

Xia Mingwei didn't speak, just lowered his eyes and ate his meal quietly.

"You kid is good anywhere, but I can't think of this." The boss pushed his reading glasses, "It's all said, it's an earthquake, it's still ...... when it's so big."

"Just an earthquake?" Xia Mingwei interrupted him, "And then all the people in the town are dead, and I'm left alone?" ”

"Man-made disasters and natural disasters, this is also something that cannot be helped."

"I don't think so, that kind of rhetoric can only be used to deceive children."

Xia Mingwei put down the cup, and his appetite was gone.

Eight years ago, in the winter, a small village near Beijing was hit by a natural disaster, and all the buildings were razed to the ground.

The official version is that a localized earthquake caused a mudslide and a nearby mountain caught fire, spreading mud and fire to the village and town.

And Shamingway happened to be the only survivor of this disaster.

He was young, nine years old.

To this day, he still fondly remembers that early morning of that day, when the mountains and the earth reflected the dull blue, as if intertwined with the pale snow into an ethereal and transparent picture. The morning sun rises slowly, the snow burns coldly in the sun, the world fades from the dark blue of dead silence, and the background of the sky gradually turns white.

In that village surrounded by mountains and snow and mist, Xia Mingwei went to the market with his parents.

But suddenly, every stall and every face in the bazaar was shrouded in a shadow that obscured the sky.

At that moment, all the sunlight that fell on the town was swallowed up, simply because the town had touched something higher than the mountain.

Young Xia Mingwei raised his head, his eyes widened, and he looked at the other side of the mountain in a daze.

It was a giant with a raging fire, standing behind a mountain, its huge body obscured by the mist, showing only its head and broad shoulders, and the fiery sword in its hand that was as turbulent as a tidal wave.

The giant was condescending, his scarlet eyes overlooking the town.

Its face facing away from the sun was shrouded in gloomy shadows, its huge pupils shining in the darkness, its face was as hideous as the king of evil ghosts on the eighteenth floor of hell, and it was as arrogant as the king who ruled the world, just like the groundbreaking Pangu in Chinese mythology, Zeus, the supreme god who ruled all things in the world in Greek mythology, and Odin who created the earth and human beings in Norse mythology.

Its slightly shrugged shoulders were like a vast curtain, almost completely obscuring the sky of the town, and the whole world was blinded by the sudden deep shadows, not even the slightest ray of light could penetrate it, as if day and night had changed suddenly.

The mere slight movement of the legs was enough to set off a deafening cracking sound, followed by the white mist and falling snow that swept through the mountains, and even the sky trembled and the mountains cracked.

The scorching wind howled, sweeping across the land.

The earth trembled violently, and the king, standing at the top of the biological chain, lifted the billowing fog, revealing its majestic form like the Tower of Ancient Babylon.

In the shadow of such a behemoth, the whole town has lost its original color, as if God had forcibly taken away the paint that had been spilled on the world, and all things must be approached with the most humble and fearful attitude to the king whose whole body burned with light.

It staggered forward, burning up the snow, burning the mountains and wilderness, as if to declare the sovereignty of the land.

Eventually, with a slight swing of the Flame Sword, the village was razed to the ground......

A "click" interrupted Xia Mingwei's thoughts.

It was the boss who turned the lighter, and a cluster of flames slowly rose from the hole.

Xia Mingwei raised his eyes and looked expressionlessly at the ray of fire floating above the lighter.

The boss lit a cigarette, picked up a book on the counter, and put it in front of Xia Mingwei: "The customer in the store asked me to bring it to you just now, saying that it was your friend." ”

"My friend?" Xia Mingwei was puzzled.

He looked at the cover of the book, which was dotted with an ancient gate against a pitch-black background, titled Norse Mythology, with a maple leaf-shaped bookmark sandwiched inside.

Flip it open, and go straight to the two pages with the bookmark, the page on the left side is printed with a black and white pattern, judging from the urine nature of the title, most of it is a portrayal of a mythological character.

As for the content of the page on the right, it is a text introduction related to it.

Xia Mingwei lowered his eyelids and looked at them nonchalantly, and according to his reading habits, he looked at the page of text first.

Surtr, the flame giant of Norse mythology,

- Since ancient times, Surtr has been the guardian of Musberheim. He has always held the Sword of Light and stood on the borders of Muspelheim to guard the kingdom.

Until the twilight of the gods came, Surtr raised his sword of fire and led his sons through the heavens, intent on destroying the world. He invaded Asgard to wage war against the gods and destroyed the world at the end of Ragnarok.

After reading the words in the book, Xia Mingwei suddenly felt an almost strange sense of familiarity in his heart.

Surprised, he looked away at the two illustrations on the left.

- A giant of the sky burning with flames, holding aloft the sword of flames, standing at the gray junction of the sky and the earth.

- Still the Flame Giant, holding the Flame Sword in its cupola, standing behind a mountain, its demonic eyes overlooking a village.

This is......

Looking at Surter's cold gaze on the illustration, Xia Mingwei's pupils contracted, and every inch of his skin was covered with a chill to the bone.

"It's ......," Shamingway pinched his fingers on the page, trembling spasmodically, "exactly like the monster I saw in town a few years ago?" ”

Could it be that the giant is a monster that jumped out of Norse mythology?

Flame Giant, Surtr......

Could it be that it destroyed my hometown with a single sword?

Xia Mingwei's forehead swelled, and he felt a trance, and the second picture in front of him strongly impacted his internal organs, and the sense of panic that penetrated deep into his bone marrow swept through his heart.

The boss came over and took away the empty plates and cups, glanced at him and asked, "Stinky boy, are you okay?" ”

"It's fine."

Xia Mingwei tried his best to calm his breath, lowered his eyes again, and looked intently checking the publication date of the book.

– November 15, 2026.

It was just published a month ago.

Why did I receive this book?

The boss said it was left to me by a "friend", but I don't have a relationship with a friend who would be good enough to deliver a book.

Moreover......

The bookmark is also sandwiched between the two pages of "Surtr, the Flame Giant", as if the person who gave me the book is deliberately guiding me to this image.

"Your kid has been really nervous lately, is it too much pressure to just transfer to another school? If yes, go out and relax more, it's not good to be bored in a book. ”

"Boss, who brought the book?" Xia Mingwei took a deep breath.

"I didn't see it clearly, there were customers in the store at the time." The boss hissed a cigarette, "Isn't that your classmate at school?" Don't talk about that yet, hurry up and take a shower after eating. ”

"Okay, I'll come down and look at the store after I'm done."

Xia Mingwei quickly picked up his school bag, and the boss swept past him, and the two walked up to the attic, and the other went back behind the counter.

Soon after, in the attic bathroom.

Hiss –

I flipped the switch and turned on the showerhead, and the hot water slapped on my shoulders and back.

Xia Mingwei let out a long sigh of relief, his hair soaked, and gradually drooped downward, covering his eyes.

Flame Giant, Surtr...... What is the connection between that mythical figure and the giant monster that attacked my village eight years ago? Xia Mingwei's thoughts were messy.

The temperature in the bathroom gradually rises, and the white mist creeps up to each mirror like a gecko.

He reached out and touched his neck, the same burning sensation he had seen in the cinema remained.

This is not the first time this has happened, I remember that one night when he was eight years old, his father suddenly woke him up and muttered:

"What's wrong with this kid's neck?"