The rain kept falling, like a terrible punishment.

The stench of acid rain will make anyone who smells it suffer for the first half of the month, grieving their tormented nasal passages. However, as long as time passed, they would no longer care about the torture.

Because a new torment has come.

Factory.

In the words spoken in Nostramo, the plant is four syllables. It's awkward, and, if pronounced according to the full name of the factory, the syllable increases to a terrible level.

So the workers will only be called by four syllables.

Anyway, what difference does it make to which factory you work in? The end result was that they were all sick and died in shantytowns. They had expected it and didn't feel much sadness.

After all, the vast majority of people have long been numb.

A scrawny man crouched in the corner of his home, hunched on his back.

His posture was weird, and if a man wanted to crouch comfortably, he shouldn't stick his back up like that, but he did.

Not only that, but he didn't even feel any discomfort.

The acid rain hit the tattered wooden planks above his head and invaded his home through the cracks, creating shallow puddles on the ground. The man's expression was glazed and he didn't intend to speak, or do anything to the puddles formed by the rain.

He just endures.

There was a faint cough outside the door, and there was a footstep. In the rain, the two things got closer and closer, until the sound of a door opening overcame them.

"Joseph!" A man shouted hoarsely at the door. "Again!"

“...... What? ”

"There are many dead people!"

The caller said in a tone that was a mixture of fear and a mixture of emotion. "He did it, and there can be no mistake! Blood on the walls, and words! ”

Joseph coughed and slowly stood up. His scrawny body slowly unfolded in the darkness, looking startlingly ugly. The man coughed and began to put on the only coat he had.

Then he asked, "Is the column gone?" ”

"Go, he's got those words down too!"

"Just write it down......," muttered Joseph. He was illiterate. ”

"Don't say it, come here!" The person who shouted him turned away excitedly, and his sick body had never been so excited. There was a light in his cloudy eyes, a light that was different from numbness.

But...... Nor is it hopeful.

Joseph shook his head and walked slowly out of his house.

There are already a lot of people walking on the roads in the shantytowns, and they don't have to go to the factory to work these days, but at this time, it is quite confusing to see so many people walking together in a certain direction.

Good thing Joseph won't.

He knew what they were going to do.

He silently followed the procession, marching slowly in the acid rain. The foul smell of rain drenched his hair, drenched his clothes, and his exposed skin burned to the point of pain, but he didn't care.

- There was that glint in his eyes, too.

After walking for some time, they reached their destination. A towering minaret overlooks these emaciated, unclothed ghosts in an eerie rain curtain. They looked up and stared at it.

Joseph heard some slight conversation coming from the front of the crowd, and he began to move on. It wasn't easy for his body, and he started to wheezing after squeezing through a few people, but he didn't feel tired, he just kept moving forward.

A few minutes later, he reached the front of the crowd.

"Eternal night......" He heard someone muttering to himself, a fear in his voice that was hard to suppress, but it was not only fear.

Yes, the eternal night is above.

Joseph's eyes widened - he didn't know how to describe how he was feeling at the moment, he only knew to look, he could only look.

The steps in front of the uninhabited spire were strewn with corpses, and the gang stared at the sky with godless eyes. Acid rain fell from the sky, smashed into their eyes, shattered, and brought up a little blood.

A few lines of characters forged in blood stared at them silently from the wall next to the corpse.

"Joseph."

A voice called softly, and then, a man tapped him on the shoulder.

Joseph turned his head and saw a pale, young face.

Column ......

"It's horrible." Column said. "He's been killing more and more lately, and it's all over the place, isn't he?"

"yes." Joseph replied stunned, and turned his head back again. Keep staring at the corpses.

After a while, Joseph suddenly asked, "Have you written it all down?" ”

"Yes."

"Karles, have they found someone who can read?"

"It is said that there is an old man in the east of the city, who used to settle accounts for adults in the factory, and he can read a little bit."

Column said, shaking his head. "But we're not sure if that's true because a lot of people have died in the east of the city lately...... Ah, we're leaving. ”

He grabbed Joseph by the shoulders and led him backwards. Some loud shouts came from behind them, and there were even a few violent strong voices. Joseph shuddered and buried his head deeply.

"Looks like we're out of luck this time." Column whispered. "They actually came...... On a rainy day, don't they not go out? ”

"Stop talking......" Joseph replied in a low voice, his tone hurried. Let's go. ”

"Afraid of what?" Lie said in a calm, forced-tone tone. "He's looking for them."

They stopped talking, just followed the crowd, squirming little by little in the acid rain. And the scolding did not stop, but the crowd did not resist either.

They're used to it.

Walking - Continuing to walk, the neighborhood from which they had come was driven back to their original shantytown under the watchful eyes of the gangs, either ill-willed or cold. The moment he entered here, Joseph finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He grabbed the column and whispered, "Don't say that next time." ”

"Which?"

"You know what kind of it is, Column, if they hear you, you'll die."

"Then die." Lieman said nonchalantly. "They're going to die anyway, and he'll kill them for me."

"How do you know if he'll be?"

"He will." Lie said firmly. "Have you ever seen him kill someone else? No. Right? It's all gangs, and those two ...... that day."

"Only a few of you saw it." Joseph whispered. "Honestly, even I don't believe much, how could those adults die?"

"Don't believe me, Joseph."

Lie shook his head: "Anyway, so be it." ”

"Wait."

"What's wrong?"

"Aren't your walls already full?" Joseph asked. "Those words...... Do you still have open space for them in your walls? ”

Lie was stunned for a moment, he thought for a while, and nodded: "It's full." ”

"Come to my house then." Joseph turned around and began to lead him to his room.

There are quite a few coughing people on the side of the road who are being baptized by acid rain, some are dead, while others are still alive. They were indifferent to the scorching acid rain, and just stared coldly at the gloomy sky without saying a word.

They didn't look at them.

A few minutes later, Joseph pushed the door open and Column walked in, avoiding the puddle on the ground, and Joseph did not close the door. He knew that what Column was going to do next would require a little light.

"You're not bad about this wall." Column said.

"Rotten wood." Joseph smiled. "Yes, it's not bad."

Lie laughed too, and he bent down and pulled a stick of coal from his own shoe, which he had exchanged for three days' food rations from another.

Coal can leave marks on walls.

He walked into the rotten wooden wall and began to write meticulously, with great care with each stroke.

“...... Do you think he's really, uh, a ghost? After a while, Joseph suddenly asked.

"I don't know." Column replied in a low voice.

"You don't know?"

"Of course I don't know, Joseph, I haven't seen him again...... But he definitely exists, doesn't he? ”

"That's ......," muttered Joseph. He definitely exists. ”

He nodded, then smiled unconsciously. "He definitely exists."

"And, they couldn't find him." Column laughed too. "They were looking for him every day, but they just couldn't find him."

"So, he's a ghost?"

"I don't know."

"He must be." Joseph said firmly. "I've heard pushpins say that only ghosts can do that."

"The picture has been dead for a long time, Joseph."

"He did, anyway."

Column sighed. "Well, he's said it—I'm done."

Joseph was taken aback, he immediately stepped forward and stammered and waved his arms: "Can I, I—can I see?" ”

"Absolutely." Column bent down and shoved the section of coal into his heels.

He said sullenly, "But you can't read it either." ”

"Don't you understand?" Joseph said unconvinced.

"Everybody can't read it – so, if you want to see it, just watch it."

Column stood up and sighed.

They stood side by side, observing the walls in the narrow, dilapidated shack by a little broken light cast from the outside, and the three lines of black words were so obvious and so incomprehensible to them.

They don't understand the language they speak.

After a moment, Column spoke softly.

"I want them all to die." He said softly. "What about you, Joseph?"

“...... Me too. Joseph said dumbfounded. But will he help us? ”

"He will." Column once again used that determined tone. "He's already helping us."

The rain continued, and beyond the distant blocks, where the poor workers could not be heard, chaotic gunfire and screams alternated.