Missouri. The morning glow is snow-white, spreading dazzlingly across the entire horizon, with a wave-like orange glow on the edge. It's like a raging fire in the east, boiling the surrounding areas in the desert.

Kitahara and Kaede held up their cameras, trying to find a suitable angle to take pictures of the scene in front of them. Sigma stood on tiptoes looking at the huge cactus growing on the side of the road, reaching out to study the needle-like features on the other person's body.

Leaves, and also want to see through the holes in the cactus body.

It's hard not to be curious about this mysterious-looking little thing.

"This cactus looks cute."

Kitahara and Feng stood behind Sigma. After taking a few photos of the sky, they also bent their eyes and said.

This giant cactus does look very interesting: it is a very big tree, with two arms stretched out neatly on one side and one on the right. It looks like a giant showing off its muscle power. In addition, the black holes on the cactus can be used as

As eyes, there is quite a naive feeling.

"And it feels like there's something else inside. I just heard the sound of flapping wings..."

Sigma frowned, murmured in his mouth, and still insisted on taking a look inside, but because the opponent was covered in thorns, he didn't dare to get too close, so he simply found a dead branch from the surroundings and placed it on the cactus.

Knocked.

"Could it be a bat - eh!"

"Uh-huh!"

There was a scream that sounded a little scary, and then an unusually petite owl emerged from the small hole in the cactus. It flew towards Sigma angrily, flapping its brown wings with great momentum.

As if he vowed to peck out a bunch of hair from this stupid human being who disturbed him.

An owl's head also emerged from the other hole, but it did not fly out. Instead, it just stood around and watched. At the same time, it encouraged the owl that was chasing after it and flapped its wings twice from time to time.

"Uh-huh!" Bastard! Peck you!

"Hey, hey, I didn't mean it, don't peck your hair!"

"Pfft." Beihara and Feng looked at the man and the bird chasing each other under the sun. They couldn't help but turned their heads and laughed, but they pressed the shutter in time.

"Hi, little guy!" Only then did he say hello to the bird in the sky, successfully attracting the attention of this rather grumpy-looking owl.

The owl turned around and landed on the cactus tree. It turned its head ninety degrees downward and looked at the traveler cutely with its head tilted, without any intention of attacking.

"Cuckoo?" It made a soft voice tentatively.

The traveler pulled down his scarf and exposed his neck to show that he meant no harm. He also made a "coo" sound in his mouth and smiled to tease the two little owls.

Finally, the slightly larger one jumped into the traveler's palm and squatted firmly on it. The pupils in the golden eyes had turned into a thin line and looked dull.

Kitahara and Feng touched each other's soft feathers, and gentle smiles appeared on their faces.

It has brown feathers with pearl-like white spots on them, and it looks extremely beautiful. It is not tiring to drag around, and it is probably not much heavier than a deck of playing cards, but it looks very fierce.

Most of the small animals are so vicious in order to protect themselves in nature.

"It's the Cactus Brown Owl." Kitahara and Kaede said the name of this animal very skillfully. They rubbed the bird's head a few times with their fingertips. They did not have more contact with the other person, but shook their wrists to let the other person know.

It flew away by itself.

"This bird has become increasingly rare due to urban expansion. However, there are still large areas of wasteland in the United States that are temporarily sufficient for it to inhabit."

The traveler gathered his scarf and looked at Sigma with some amusement, who was rubbing his wrist that had been pecked red by a bird. There was a hint of joking in his voice: "Now you know not to tease animals in the wild?"

"Well, I understand." Sigma sighed, rubbed his wrist vigorously, and finally realized that the traveler's behavior could not be replicated.

If I were not wearing gloves, this peck would at least break the skin."

Kitahara and Kaede just touched Sigma's hair, brushing off the yellow sand mixed in by the wind, and then they held each other's wrists and pressed them gently.

"The bones haven't been injured. Just apply some medicine on it when you get back to the car and it'll be fine. Just bear with it until then. I'll see if there's any medicine I can buy when I get to the gas station."

His voice sounded very soft, with a hint of helplessness for his children.

Sigma moved his eyes a little embarrassedly, and then responded briskly: "Yeah!"

The vehicle quickly started and returned to the road.

There are many gas stations along Route 66. These were built by the state government to prevent vehicles from running out of fuel or breaking down on the road. However, over the years, many gas stations have been abandoned.

But these abandoned gas stations might as well be a special scenery on the road to the west. Just like the dilapidated Taoist temples and temples encountered when rushing in ancient China, many people were unable to reach the next city.

Sometimes, I would rest here and chat with the people who gathered here in twos and threes.

After the autumnal equinox, when the days are short and the nights are long, there are always one or two random people to pass the time chatting with.

"Mr. Faulkner, is this gas station abandoned?"

The girl's voice sounded softly, like a vague dream.

"It doesn't count."

Faulkner held Helen Keller's hand and walked deep into the gas station, pulling her along the way to avoid tripping over the oil drums rolling around on the ground. He stopped and bent down when he heard the other person's inquiry.

Let her put her fingers on her lips and speak in a relaxed tone.

Even this Transcendent, who has a somewhat casual and unreliable personality, laughed briskly twice: "How did you guess that?"

Helen tilted her head in embarrassment, pressed her sunglasses with her fingers, and replied in a light voice: "Because the smell of dust here is not as strong as the abandoned gas station we visited before, and the smell of people is also single. Here

Is it an abandoned gas station that a private person bought to live in?"

"That's right." Faulkner slightly held the girl's slender fingers with his hand, his tone was brisk and casual, as if he was talking about a very ordinary thing, "There is a master printmaker living here, and we just happened to

You can look at the prints here.”

print.

This is probably the rare painting art that Helen Keller can appreciate - if the plates in prints can also be regarded as part of the painting art.

The principle of printmaking is similar to that of sealing. It is to copy the finished manuscript on a wooden board or some kind of template, carve it out with a carving knife, then mix the ink, and then transfer the engraved thing to the paper. There are many things in history.

There are few famous prints, most of which are illustrations on various books.

"Printmaking?" Helen repeated subconsciously. She had learned this word from Teacher Anne. Soon, the curvature of the corner of the little girl's mouth became brighter.

She stood on tiptoes, turned her head and looked around, as if she wanted to find the smell of "art" in the air.

"There's a smell of sawdust over there." The girl quickly found the target, pulled Faulkner's sleeves, her eyes brightly curved behind her sunglasses, and said in a clear voice.

"What a smart little girl."

Apparently someone heard this and let out a friendly laugh in the room, then opened the door and looked at the two guests standing in the lobby of the gas station.

"According to the law, anyone who breaks into someone else's private residence can be evicted with a gun, Mr. Faulkner."

The speaker looked like an ordinary old man, wearing a pair of glasses on his face, a thick beard, a light blue overalls and jeans, holding his pipe openly and leaning against the door.

Side, said with a teasing gesture with a smile.

"Helen's ability has not been activated, which means there is nothing wrong with it."

Faulkner did not shy away, shook his head, stood up and replied with a smile: "Sorry to trouble you, Mr. Bob."

"Ha... you guys are still the same. What do you want me to draw?

What? This little girl? Or the two of you. But, well, this will cost extra!"

The man named Bob took a puff of cigarette, waved his hands casually, indicating that he had nothing to trouble with, then looked at Faulkner and Helen beside him, and smiled heartily.

"Don't worry, as long as it's not too outrageous, I will try my best to make the expenses for this trip reimbursed with public funds."

Faulkner raised an eyebrow at this, took out a pair of sunglasses from his pocket and put them on. There was a bit of pride in his voice. He looked like one of those street boys who pursue cool looks.

He really wanted to whistle for everything that he could do without paying for himself, but he had to keep up his appearance when he was out and about, so he gave up in the end.

The old man opposite smacked his lips twice, obviously very impressed by the job benefits. Finally, he simply put the pipe back into his mouth, chewed the pipe and mumbled something in California dialect, and then said it out.

He took off his slippers and went back to his room with his shoes hanging down.

At this moment, the sound of being pulled sounded outside.

"Oh? New guest."

Bob wrinkled his nose, took a long puff of cigarette, and showed a somewhat surprised look. Then he quickly glanced at Faulkner and said meaningfully.

"Well, I know this is definitely not my problem. There are still people in this world who know that they should pull the bell at the door before entering."

Faulkner covered Helen's mouth and nose angrily. The little girl had choked on her cigar and was rubbing her eyes. She looked a little pitiful, but she stubbornly refused Faulkner's suggestion to take her out for fresh air:

"Hey, man, that thing looks like an ornament. Are you sure someone really knows it's a doorbell? Isn't it just for fun?"

Bob shook his pipe and didn't bother to pay attention to him.

There is no need for top artists to give in to those who surpass them. There may only be one or two top art masters in a field in the world. They are basically national treasure-level existences, and their status is not much different.

.He really dared not to give face to Faulkner, a bastard.

He opened the door and saw two young men standing outside. His eyes softened and turned into good-tempered old men - he could feel the traveler's temperament in them.

Traveler. There is no doubt that he likes this profession, otherwise he would not have chosen an abandoned gas station on Route 66 as his residence in his later years.

"I bought this gas station." Bob knocked his pipe on the door, and before the other party spoke, he took the initiative and said with a smile, "Do you want to come in and sit down?"

Sigma raised his head to look at Kitahara and Kaede. Kitahara and Kaede took a look inside the gas station and did not refuse.

"Then I'm sorry to trouble you."
To be continued...