The carriage returning home speeds through the night.
Joan sat on the soft sofa in the carriage, using huge velvet pillows to prop herself up high.
Holding the railing with both hands, his little feet lifted off the ground, swinging back and forth, yawning all the time.
After a while, she opened the curtain and looked at the strange outline of the low houses on the street. She breathed out white mist, which was quickly blown away by the cold wind.
The temperature has dropped again before the arrival of early winter in Ufranser.
"Well, we should be home soon." Qiong closed the curtain, took out the vial of 100% pure radiant spirit fluid that Mr. "Mendeleev" gave to herself, put it back with a smile on her lips.
Then he took out Fan Ning's "Death and the Maiden" string quartet score from the storage compartment under the sofa, and stared at the dedication under the title and Fan Ning's signature for a while.
Then he spread the score on his lap and read the second violin part carefully.
It sounds really good. Don’t be left behind.
She hummed happily while reading, tapping the fingers of her left hand on her right arm, imitating the fingering on the violin fretboard.
"Why do I feel like it took me a little longer to get home today than usual?"
Suddenly Qiong frowned.
My home is also in the Nelenia district, just on the other side from the University of San Lenia.
Counting from Cedar Plaza where we separated, it should be less than ten minutes' drive away.
She put down the music score, opened the curtain again and closed it again.
Dotted gas lamps glow feebly in the night, and pedestrians walk in twos and threes on the street with their necks tucked into their coats.
The low-rise houses are juxtaposed like a skewed hornet's nest. Each small room of the honeycomb is brightly lit, and a family of seven or eight or even ten people are crowded together, and they quickly retreat in their field of vision.
There seems to be no problem.
"How much longer, Uncle Gordon?" Qiong Jing said abruptly.
No one answered.
After a pause for a few seconds, Joan shouted again in a high voice that she didn't usually use: "Uncle Gordon?"
"Da da da da da da"
The only answer she received was the same sound of horse hooves.
"Creak-" Qiong jumped off the sofa and pushed open the glass window bracket in front of the car.
There is no one on the horseback outside!
Can this car still drive smoothly and fast?
A sudden chill arose all over Qiong's body, she closed the glass window with a bang and sat back on the sofa.
There was a cold feeling around the air, as if someone was peering at me from the dark.
There's something wrong in this carriage!
A look of fear appeared on her flawless face, she bit her lip, inspired her, moved her body with the back of her head, and leaned against the wall of the car behind the sofa.
The lavender fluorescence flashed, and the walls of the carriage rippled like water. Qiong's petite body became blurred, and she fell straight through the wall!
She was already prepared to fall off the carriage and roll on the ground, but unexpectedly she sat down on the sofa again.
It was still the same fast-moving car, but my position changed from the sofa on the left to the sofa on the right.
"Miss Purple Bean Cake, I didn't expect you to be so young." A polite old voice sounded.
Sitting on the sofa opposite Joan was a man wearing an old-fashioned dress, gray hair, and a black mask.
Although the tone on the other end seemed to be harmless, the strange atmosphere at night made Joan want to escape. She inspired again and tried to escape through the wall behind her.
Under the purple light curtain, Qiong's body once again poked out from the rippled carriage wall.
But she found that she still landed on the sofa, and the man was still opposite, but their left and right positions had been swapped again.
"It's just an illusion, don't be nervous." The man spoke again.
"Mr. Translator, are you looking for me? Do you have anything to do?" Qiong clenched her fists and stared at the other person with vigilance.
"I'm in some trouble and need your help."
"You mean my secret formula that stabilizes the mind?"
"Yes."
"I...I said before that I will keep it for you until the next gathering. If you pay me some of the radiant spirit liquid first, I can give it to you first if you don't need all of it." Qiong's expression relaxed a little.
The man in the old-fashioned dress sighed.
He did not expect that the purple bean cake at the party was such a naive little girl, nor did he expect that at this juncture, she would still be foolishly agreeing with him on the content of the next transaction.
How did she become a wise person?
Although he prides himself on not being a bad person, if it weren't for the fact that the unknown thing that has been bothering him for many days has become more and more concrete, he would really not want to use force on this innocent little girl at the moment.
It’s not that I can’t afford the price, it’s just that I don’t have enough time.
Sylvia, that shrewd and cold-blooded hateful woman, reduced the supply of "Oil of Black Skeleton" because of a delay in her translation work.
However, my demand for this kind of raw material is getting bigger and bigger, and the cycle that I can press each time is getting shorter and shorter.
If I had not studied the hidden knowledge of the Lord of Witnesses and arranged that damn "cocoon" secret ritual of continuous rebirth...
But, who doesn’t want to live a few more years.
I am already over 60 years old? I am only over 60 years old!
Why is human life so short? Why! This garbage world!!
The "translator" lost control in his heart for a moment and screamed, then suppressed it, slowly took out his revolver, and in front of Joan, pressed the brass bullet without haste.
"Miss Purple Bean Cake, I don't want to do anything, but you can't escape the illusion." He casually aimed the pistol into the air, "I said it is against your head now, do you believe it?"
Joan covered her open mouth.
Only then did she realize that this "translator" was not here to negotiate a deal with her.
As soon as he said this, the "translator" suddenly twitched a few times, twisted his ankles and rubbed against the ground, and then his whole body moved sideways for a few short steps like a puppet on strings, and then returned to normal.
.
Seeing this weird scene and the threatening words before, Joan shrank in fear, her eyes filled with grievances. She put her hand into her pocket and groped, and said, "I'll give you the formula."
"I will reward you according to its value, Miss Purple Bean Cake." The "translator" didn't seem to be aware of his unusual behavior just now, and was only briefly stunned.
"However, I don't have time to refine it myself. Please come with me. It will only take one day."
"No, no, no!" Hearing this, Qiong was so frightened that she almost cried. "I have to go to school tomorrow, and I can't stay up late at night..."
"Shut up!" The translator suddenly yelled at the top of his lungs. The dense scenes and squirming ghosts in front of his eyes made the fear in his heart turn into mania. "Why the hell should I talk nonsense to you?"
There are so many, stand up quickly!"
Big tears began to fall from Qiong's eyes. She slowly stood up, sobbing once or twice at first, and then sobbing faster and faster.
"Calm down, Mr. Translator, you're scaring me."
Fan Ning's deep voice suddenly appeared in the car.
The cold barrel of the gun pressed against the side of the "translator's" head.