The winter city at night was shrouded in a little firelight, and the guards who took over the guard climbed the city wall along the steep stairs, the night wind carried a faint smell of the sea, the city wall was extremely high, and when you looked down from the top at night, you couldn't see the ground at all, like an abyss, and the abyss in the distance was like a dormant demon, no one could see its true face, even if the abyss had been so quiet for thousands of years, but as long as you looked at it for more than ten seconds, it would make people shudder.

Dick returned to the room and poured several sips of spirits, took a towel and wiped his bloodstained face, and lay on the bed without hesitation.

He was annoyed with Herlan's weakness, angry at Brandon's meddling, and even more angry at his own emotional out-of-control.

"Dick, are you resting?"

Brandon knocked on the door and pushed it in, he should have gone on patrol at this time, but Dick's state made him really unable to put his mind at ease, he knew his old friend too well, it didn't matter if he joked on weekdays, but when it came to ideas and principles, he would become paranoid, manic, and cruel, and this matter had to be solved before Dick decided to kill them all.

Dick glanced at Brandon, casually pointed to the half bottle of muddy and dull yellow wine on the table, and said weakly, "If you want to drink, pour it yourself, but don't finish it for me, hurry up and patrol with that group of waste, you'd better not let me see them today." ”

Brandon laughed twice, he picked up the bottle, took off the cork and took a big sip, and then threw it to Dick, "Those crumbs are worth your anger? They are criminals from all over the world, and their nature is difficult to change, do you still expect them to become good people with no desires and no desires when they first come to Void City? When you first came, weren't you also a brainless bastard?" ”

Dick reached out and grabbed the bottle and placed it at the foot of the bed, he was not in the mood to drink at all, he sat up and stared at Brandon seriously, "Brandon, you probably don't know yet, every time you hurt me, I will think of a way to kill you, so far, I have more than 300 ideas in my head, and their success rate is above ninety, maybe I should find a time to try it." ”

Brandon raised his eyebrows and smiled a little awkwardly, "According to you, I'm really lucky to be alive until now." ”

"Isn't it?"

The two looked at each other for a long time, and couldn't help laughing, Brandon was completely relieved this time, at least he knew that Dick had not lost his mind, and that he was still the Ranger leader he was familiar with, not the inhuman beast.

"Haha, it seems that I really have to thank you for not killing, why don't you do this, how about I let Helan be your personal affairs officer?"

Brandon wasn't joking, he was really thinking about it, firstly, as a deacon in Winter City, he had to deal with a lot of things on weekdays, and it was difficult to take care of Heran, let alone take care of him deliberately, it was this that caused Heran to be bullied in private and he didn't know it at all, secondly, Herlan was indeed a little younger, and many things could not help Brandon, the only thing he could do was to pass the word, prepare food, and maintain armor and weapons, but these Brandon could do it by himself, he was not a noble lord who needed to be served。

At first, Brandon considered that Herlan was too young and relatively thin to be able to be a ranger or a craftsman, so he made him his personal affairs officer, which was actually very well taken care of.

But what happened today made him doubt his decision, this kind of care may only make Herlan more and more cowardly, what he really needs is not care and protection, but courage and strength, in this place where he needs to face death at any time, if Heran continues to be muddy, death will soon find him, kindness and justice are worthless in this penny, in Brandon's eyes, even those bastards are much stronger than Herlan.

Dick thought for a long time, shook his head, sighed, got up and walked out of the room, and said as he looked out at the dark night. Brandon, I don't know if you have noticed, we have changed too much over the years in the Void City, to be honest, this is not what I want, I came to the Void City just to escape, there are too many misfortunes outside the Void City, too much pain and anger, the vast majority of people are dominated by the grief in their hearts, in fact, I am not qualified to accuse Herlan at all, I am also very cowardly, he has not experienced much, he will not necessarily become like me, let him continue to stay by your side as an officer. ”

Brandon paced slowly, because of his busy position, he hadn't had a good chat with his old friend for a long time, he could see that Dick had a good impression of Herlan, this kind of thing was not uncommon in Void City, after all, there were almost no women in this place, but he understood that Dick's favor for Herlan was by no means out of any physical need, but a yearning, a nostalgia, that simplicity and kindness, he and Dick had long since lost.

"Twenty-seven years to go, and I'll be seventy-three years old by then, and if I do live to that day, I really don't know whether to leave or stay, what are you going to do?" Brandon sighed thoughtfully, moving his body for a moment.

"I'm not leaving, even if I can't wield a sword anymore, Brandon, I have no place to go back, this is my home, don't worry, if you really live to that day, if you plan to leave, I will give you away, if you die earlier than me, I will dig a grave for you with my own hands." Dick laughed.

"Haha, I don't have anywhere to go, but don't worry, I don't necessarily die earlier than you, it's not good to say who digs a grave for whom, but don't always go out and wander around, the Black Forest hasn't been very safe recently, and the cause of Lord Ethel's death hasn't been found out yet, alas, I don't know who can become the next city lord, anyway, I'm no play, and I'm a member of the elf clan, after all, the strength of the people is there, okay, I should also go on patrol, you rest early." ”

"It's said that the border guards are all relatives and brothers, but if I tell you the truth, don't you don't like to hear it, you don't know what the status of the human race in the Void City is like, no matter what the Void City Lord is, it can't be the turn of the Terrans, don't look at those old things who are very reserved now, but they don't speak, who dares to fight? But I guess they also have it in their hearts, after all, even Lord Ethel died inexplicably, and the council can't figure out who the murderer is until now, and the Lord of the Void City is not as easy to be as it seems. Dick said with a solemn face.

"Three possibilities, one, there are people from the top of the Void City who covet the position of the city lord and kill Lord Ethel in a vain attempt to replace him, two, Lord Ethel is very unfortunate to encounter an organization that studies the void and was killed and killed, and third, ......"

Brandon didn't continue, but even if he didn't say it, Dick knew what he meant, if it wasn't for the first two, then there was only one possibility left, the Void Demon, if that was the case, then not only the Void City, but the entire continent would suffer.

Deathly silent, even the wind was silenced, Brandon exhaled deeply, broke the silence and said, "Let's go, it's time to patrol, if you're lucky, I can bring you some roast wolf meat." ”

"Those monsters haven't been resting well lately, they're better during the day, but maybe they'll be at night, be careful, don't let me prepare a grave for you so soon, I'm busy. Dick said half-jokingly, half-concernedly.

Brandon smiled, stretched out his right hand and touched Dick's fist and left, after so many years, he has long figured out the habits of those monsters, try not to provoke, avoid it if you can, if it's really wrong, it's a big deal to withdraw.

About three-quarters of the Great Wall of the Void City is built between the jungle and the mountains, and there are many irrational monsters in these places, ugly and terrifying, not like normal creatures, violent and bloodthirsty, and there are many types and huge numbers, I don't know if they are variants produced by the influence of the Abyss, or if they already exist, but they have never been discovered, and the main objects of the Border Keeper's patrol and defense are the Abyss and the organizations that study the Void, followed by these monsters.

Winter City is located in the east of the Great Wall, hot and humid all year round, it will rain at both ends of three days, it is surrounded by a rain forest with no end in sight, humid and hot, large trees towering, dense canopy makes it difficult for sunlight to penetrate, there are many kinds of animals, and there are countless plants, even if you step into it during the day, it is also dim and difficult to discern the direction, so it is called the Black Forest, no one knows how big it is, it is said that even if you run straight on a horse for three days, you can't run out of the Black Forest.

You don't see any traces of civilization here, only a breathtaking roar, a pair of eyes that are bright and uncertain, full of bloodthirsty ** eyes stimulate your fragile nerves, even experienced border keepers don't dare to go too deep into the Black Forest, they will only patrol the prescribed route, because no one knows what will come out from behind the bushes or trees next to you and bite your neck in the next second.

Brandon was dressed in armor and walked in front with a long sword in his hand, and behind him there were only five newcomers and three rangers about his age, the patrol area was very large, they had to be carried out in teams, every four old rangers brought five new people to familiarize themselves with the route, this month Dick was in charge of the day, and he was in charge of the night, usually except for mosquito bites, the distance was long, and the boredom was a little, but there was nothing unbearable.

But in the last few days, Brandon can vaguely feel some changes in the Black Forest, some subtle but very abnormal changes, this strange feeling makes the Black Forest strange, not only him, but almost all the older generation of Rangers have this feeling.