Chapter 24 24. World's End (Shadow Plaza)

After three days of bright and sunny days in a row, it was over when I woke up this morning.The sky was covered by thick dark clouds without a single gap, and the sun that had finally climbed to the ground had already been deprived of its inherent warmth and brilliance.In this gray, gloomy, cold sky, the trees thrust their leafless branches into the air like fish traps in the sea, and the rivers broadcast the sound of frozen water in all directions.Looking at the cloud situation, it could snow at any time, but it didn't. "I'm afraid it won't snow today," the old man told me. "That's not a snow cloud."

I opened the window and looked up at the sky again.But it is not clear what kind of cloud can make snow and what kind of cloud cannot. The porter was sitting in front of the big iron stove, taking off his shoes and warming his feet.General shapes in the stove and library.On the top is a stove cover that can hold two kettles or pots, and on the bottom there is a moving iron plate for digging out ashes.There are two large metal handles on the front like a western-style decorative cabinet. The janitor sat on a chair with his feet on the handles.The room was damp and suffocating with kettle steam and the smell of cheap pipes—substitute tobacco, presumably.Of course it was also mixed with the stench of his feet.Behind the chair he was sitting on was a large wooden table, on which there were neatly arranged whetstones, hatchets, and axes.No matter which knife or ax was used, it was so powerful that the handle part completely changed its color.

"The scarf thing," I said, "I can't stand the cold without a scarf." "Oh, I'm afraid that's the case," said the porter seriously. "I know that very well." "There are clothes that no one uses in the reference room in the library. If I can use some of them, I think..." "Oh, that," said the porter, "you can use it as you like. You can use it. Whether it's a scarf or a coat, it's up to you." "Is there no owner?" "You don't have to mind the owner. Even if you have it, you've forgotten it." The janitor said, "By the way, you seem to be looking for a musical instrument?"

I nodded, this gentleman knows everything. "In principle, there is no such thing as a musical instrument in this town," he said, "but it is not completely absent. You work hard, and there is nothing wrong with asking for a musical instrument. You can go to the power station and ask the administrator there, and they say Might not find one." "Power station?" I was surprised. "There are power stations and the like." As he spoke, the janitor pointed to the light on his finger. "Where do you think the electricity comes from? You don't think it's from the apple grove, do you?"

The janitor smiled and hooked Qin's route to the power station: "Go straight up along the road south of the river. About 30 minutes on the right, there will be an old granary. The granary has neither a roof nor a door. Turn right and walk for a while, there is a mountain, and there is a forest on the other side of the mountain. Walking 500 meters in the forest is the power station. Got it?" "I figured it out," I said, "but isn't it dangerous to go into the forest in winter? Everyone says that. I've suffered myself." "Oh, yes, I forgot about that, or I pushed you up the hill with the cart." said the porter. "Now are you all right?"

"It's all right. Thanks." "Do you have any lingering fears?" "Well, a little bit." The porter smiled slyly, and switched his feet over the handle of the stove. "It's a good thing to have lingering fears, so that people will become cautious and avoid suffering. An excellent woodcutter has only one wound on his body, no more, no less, just one. Do you understand what I said?" I nod. "But you can safely go to the power station. There is an entrance at the edge of the forest, and there is only one road, so you won't get lost. And you won't run into people in the forest. The danger is in the depths of the forest and around the wall. Just avoid these There is no need to worry about the two places. Just don’t deviate from the road and don’t go into the power station. If you go, you will be in bad luck.”

"The manager of the power station is someone who lives in the forest?" "No, that fellow is not. He is neither the forest dweller nor the town. He is not quite a man. He cannot go deep into the forest nor return to the town. He is harmless and has no guts." "What kind of people live in the forest?" The gatekeeper tilted his neck, looked at my face silently for a while, and said: "From the very beginning, I said it first. It's your freedom to ask what, but it's my freedom to answer." I nod. "Forget it, anyway, I'm not willing to answer." The gatekeeper said, "By the way, didn't you always say that you wanted to see your shadow? How about it? How about seeing you now? It's winter, and the shadow is much weaker. I'm afraid to meet you." There's nothing wrong with that."

"Is the situation bad?" "No, no, he is alive and well. He is put outside for a few hours every day to let him exercise, and his appetite is also very strong. It's just that the days are short and the nights are long and the cold is getting colder in winter. As a shadow, no matter what kind of mood it is, this is not which. Human responsibility is a very normal law of nature. I can neither blame me nor you. Let you go to see me immediately and have a direct interview with me." The janitor took off the chain of keys hanging on the wall and stuffed them into his coat pocket, and put on his sturdy lace-up shoes while yawning.The shoes look extremely heavy, and the soles are studded to facilitate walking in the snow.

Shadow's dwelling is midway between the town and the outside world.I can't go outside, and shadows can't enter the town.Therefore, "Shadow Square" is the only place where people who have lost their shadows meet their shadows.Walking out of the back door of the janitor's hut is the shadow square. It is said to be a square, but it has no name.It occupies a small area, only a little more spacious than ordinary people's yards, and is surrounded by eerie iron fences. The janitor took out a keychain from his pocket and opened the iron gate.Let me in first, then come in by yourself.The square is an upright square, and the end is separated from the town by a wall.There is an ancient elm in one corner, and a simple stool is placed under it.The elm tree has turned white, whether it is alive or dead.

In another corner, there is a small makeshift house built with old bricks and scraps.There is no glass in the window, only a sliding wooden panel window.There is no chimney.From this point of view, I am afraid there is no heating equipment. "Your shadow lives there," said the doorman. "It doesn't look very comfortable, but it's actually not that bad. There is basically water, toilets, and a basement. The basement can't get any wind in. It's not a hotel, of course. More than enough shelter from the wind and rain. "Go in and have a look?" "No, just meet here." I said.I had some headaches from the extremely bad air in the caretaker's hut.A place where you can breathe fresh air even if it is a bit colder is much better.

"Forget it, just bring it here." After finishing speaking, the gatekeeper walked into the small house alone. I turned up my coat collar, sat on a stool under the elm tree, paved the ground with the heels of my shoes, and waited for the shadow to come.The ground was very hard, and there was hard residual snow everywhere, and the snow remained intact at the foot of the wall because the sunlight could not reach it. After a while, the gatekeeper led the shadow out of the small house, and he strode across the square as if he was about to smash the frozen ground with the soles of his leather shoes, followed by my shadow slowly.It seemed that the shadow was not as handsome as the janitor said, his face was thinner than before, and his eyes and beard were particularly eye-catching. "Let's stay alone for a while," said the doorman. "I must have accumulated a lot of words, so we can talk slowly. But the time should not be too long. If we can't stick them together, it will be troublesome to separate them again. Besides. It's useless for you to do that, it will only add trouble to both parties, right?" I nodded in agreement.Presumably, as he said, even if they become one, they will still be separated, which is nothing more than repeating his old tricks. My shadow and I kept our eyes on the gatekeeper, watching him lock the door and go to the gatehouse.The sound of the studs gnawing on the ground gradually faded away, and the sound of a heavy wooden door closing suddenly came.After the janitor disappeared, Shadow sat down beside me, digging holes in the ground with his heels like I did.He was wearing a rough-eyed sweater with holes on top, work pants underneath, and the old work shoes I gave him on his feet. "How are you?" I tried to ask. "It's not good." Shadow said, "It's too cold and the food is poor." "I heard that I exercise every day." "Sports?" Shadow looked at my face inexplicably, "Oh, that can't be called sports! It's just being pulled out from here by the janitor every day to help him burn unicorns, pile the corpses on the cart, and pull them away. The apple grove, poured oil and burned. The janitor cut off the head of the beast with a hatchet before lighting the fire. You have seen those beautiful hatchets in his collection, right? Cut everything to pieces." "He's from the town too?" "No, it's not. That guy was hired. He burnt unicorns for fun, and the townspeople aren't interested. They've burnt lots and lots of them since winter. Three died this morning, and we'll have to kill them soon." To burn." Shadow and I also paved the frozen stone-hard ground with the heels for a while.Winter birds soared from the branches of the elms with their shrill calls. "I found the map." Shadow said, "The drawing is better than expected, and the text description is also essential. It's just a step late." "Wreck the body." "I've heard. But it's too late after winter. I wanted to get it earlier, so that things will go smoothly and the plan can be made faster." "plan?" "The plan to escape from here, needless to say! What other plans are there? Do you think I want the map to pass the time?" I shook my head and said: "I thought you were trying to teach me what this strange town is all about. Because you've taken almost all my memories away." "It's not like that," said Shadow. "Yes, I have most of your memories, but I can't make full use of them. That must be done after we become one, and that's not realistic. If that's the case, we I don’t even think about seeing each other again, and the plan also fell through. So now I can only think about it alone, thinking about the name of this town.” "Think about it?" "A little bit. I can't tell you yet. Because it's not convincing, I need to fill in the details. Let me think about it again. I think I'll understand soon after thinking about it. The problem is that it may be too late by then." After all, my body has been getting worse day by day since winter. If this continues, even if I come up with an escape plan, I'm afraid I won't have the energy to carry it out. That's why I want to get the map before winter begins." I look up at the elms above me.From between the thick branches, you can see the disintegrating winter clouds. "There is no escape from here." I said, "Have you checked the map carefully? There is no exit anywhere, and this is the end of the world. There is no way back, and there is no way forward." "It is possible to say the end of the world, but there must be an exit. I know this clearly. It is written on the sky, and there is an exit. Birds fly over the wall, right? Where are they going? The outside world. There must be another world outside the wall , that's the only way to wall the town to keep people out. If there's nothing outside, there's no need to build a wall. And there must be an exit." "Maybe," I said. "I must find it and run away with you. I don't want to die in such a miserable place." After that, the shadow fell silent, and then planed the ground, "I remember I told you from the beginning that this town is unnatural It's not normal," said Shadow. "I still believe it: it's unnatural, and it's not normal. But the problem is that this town is so unnatural and unnatural. Because everything is twisted and unnatural, it turns out that everything is exactly the same. Flawless. It's just made in heaven." The shadow drew a circle on the ground with the heel, and continued: "We're locked in here. Over time, this and that, after thinking about it, gradually feel that they are right and they are wrong. Because they seem to be as perfect as they were made in nature. Do you understand what I mean?" "Obviously, I also often feel this way, feeling that compared to this town, I am afraid that I am too small, weak, and at a loss." "But it's wrong." The shadow drew an incomprehensible circle beside the circle. "It's us who are right, and they are wrong. We are the ones who are natural, and those guys are unnatural. I believe this, and I firmly believe it. Otherwise, I will definitely be caught by the town without knowing it." Devour. After being devoured, there will be too much regret!" "However, what is right and what is wrong is relative after all. What's more, I have been deprived of memory as a yardstick to compare the two." Shadow nodded and said: "I'm well aware of your confusion. But think about it this way: Do you believe in eternal motion?" "No, there is no theoretical eternal motion." "The same reason. The safety and integrity of this town are the same thing as eternal motion. The so-called complete world in theory does not exist at all. However, it is complete here. In this way, something must have been tampered with. Like It seems as though a machine in perpetual motion draws on external forces invisible to the naked eye." "You found that?" "Not yet. As I told you just now, this is a hypothesis of mine, and I still need to add specific things. It will take a while for this." "Can you tell me the hypothesis? Maybe I can also help with specific supplements." Shadow took out his hands from his trouser pockets, breathed hot air on them, and rubbed his hands on his knees. "No, even if it's difficult for you, I hurt my body and you hurt my heart. You should be the first to repair. Otherwise, the two of you will die together before you can escape. Let me think about this, and you can try to save you Myself, this is the top priority.” "I'm really at a loss." I looked at the circle drawn on the ground and said, "You're right. I don't know where to go, and I don't even know who I used to be. A lost How much effect can my heart have? Besides, in this town with such a strong force and value standard. Since entering the winter, I have been losing confidence in myself, and it is getting worse day by day." "No, no, that's not it." Shadow said, "You haven't lost yourself, it's just that your memory has been subtly concealed, which makes you feel overwhelmed. But you're not wrong. Even if you lose your memory, your heart still moves toward It is moving in a predetermined direction. Human beings have the ability to guide themselves, so they become themselves. Believe in your own strength. Otherwise, you will drift with the tide and be placed in an inexplicable place." "Do your best," I said. Shadow nodded, looking at the overcast sky.After a while, he closed his eyes in thought. "When I can't figure it out, I always look at the bird," said Shadow. "When I see the bird, I suddenly realize that I am not bad. To the bird, the invulnerability of the town is nothing. Relationship. At this time, you might as well watch the birds." From the gate of the fence came the voice of the gatekeeper calling to me.Meeting time has passed. "Don't come to see me for a while." Shadow whispered to me when we parted, "I will find a way to see you when necessary. The janitor is suspicious by nature, and if he sees too much, he must be wary of us, lest we do something tricky, then I will It will be difficult to deal with the matter. If you ask me, you will pretend that you are not congenial to me, understand?" "understood." "How is it?" the gatekeeper asked me when I first entered the hut, "Isn't it fun to meet again after a long absence?" "I don't know." As I spoke, I shook my head in denial. "That's all." The gatekeeper showed some satisfaction.