Chapter 2 Chapter 1 The Abyss-Like Boy

In the spring of 1888 in the holy calendar, the Republic of Gawain, the small town of Marston.In the season when laurel flowers are in full bloom, the city is full of fragrance. In the afternoon, the students of Bossey Public School leaned against the ivy-covered wall and chatted in twos and threes. The wind blew the skirts of the girls like blue hyacinths. Bertha College is the only aristocratic academy in this small town, and it is also a seminary with hundreds of years of history.In countries that believe in the holy religion of the Messiah, the clergy have a high status. When they meet a distinguished cardinal, even nobles have to bow and salute. Therefore, children of noble families are proud to receive theological education.

"Anne, Anne, have you decided what dress to wear at the Midsummer Night Festival?" The two girls leaned against the drinking fountain and chatted. "I made a sixty-two-weight plain gauze dance skirt, how about matching it with the pair of silver high heels and the moonstone necklace you've seen before?" The beautiful girl named Annie twirled lightly with her school uniform skirt , as if she had already put on that light dance dress and appeared under the eyes of thousands of people. "Oh! Six taels of plain gauze skirt? It has to be the oriental organdy to be so light?" Another girl widened her eyes in embarrassment, "I heard that the most popular skirt in Emerald Jade is made of organdy. light skirt!"

"The tailor said it's not a problem to wear that dress to Fei Leng Cui's top ball!" Annie raised her delicate eyebrows but lowered her voice, "Would you like to come to my house at night and I'll show you that dress? Susan and Shayana know, they always dress like me!" Now it's just April, and the girls have already started discussing the skirts at the Midsummer Night Festival. It can be seen that Marston's slow pace has not had many major events throughout the year. Marston is famous for its hot springs. As early as the era of the Roman Empire, this was the royal hot spring palace. Every summer, the emperor would bring a large number of nobles and female relatives to visit Marston's hot springs.Hundreds of years have passed, and Marston still maintains the slow pace of the year, living off hot spring tourism and planting laurel and tulips.

"Cesare! Cesare! Who has seen Cesare?" The roar came suddenly, rousing the sleeping birds in the fig tree.A young nun in a disc spectacles ran across the corridor, the hem of her nun's gown flapping from side to side. "Good afternoon, Aunt Ainoya, are you looking for César?" The boy leaning against the wall touched the brim of his hat and saluted the nun. "Which of you saw César?" Sister Ainoya looked anxious and seemed very angry. As a seminary, half of the teachers in Bossey Public School are priests. Sister Ainoya is the dean of the sixth grade, and manages dozens of noble children, among whom Cesar is the one who gives her the most headache.

In her own words, "There is only one benefit to me being a teacher to that child, and that is that I will go to heaven sooner!" Today is the day of the priest qualification examination.Boys spend six years at Bertha College just to get a priesthood certificate.In the previous week, the lights had been on all night in the library, and the students were busy studying and preparing for the priest's qualification exam, except for César. He was always like this, going his own way, wandering on the edge of the school rules, and faced the punishment of being expelled from school many times, but in the end the principal searched the school rules and found that he was one step away from being expelled. Mixed in the public school until today.

Fortunately, his grades are quite good, and he obviously didn't see him practicing the piano, but in the piano exam, he played the first chapter of the complicated "Brilliant Concerto", even the picky piano teacher, Sister Denis, had to give it to him. With a perfect score, I don't usually see him reading poetry collections, but it took him half an hour to write three decent sonnets during the poetry exam, and he became the first place in the whole grade without dispute.Ainuoya thought that the child might have prepared for the priest qualification exam, so she didn't take it to heart.But when Cizell didn't show up when the exam started, Father Roman, who presided over the exam, was furious and almost wanted to disqualify him on the spot.

Failure to pass the priest qualification examination results in dropouts, and Ainoya doesn't want students under her command to drop out.She tried her best to persuade the priest to postpone the exam a little bit, and she searched for César all over the campus. "For César, go to the casino in the lower city and look for him, he should be gambling among a group of low-class people!" A boy said. "Casino?" Ainoya was taken aback. "Ma'am, don't you know? César has been fascinated by the study of gambling recently." Another boy laughed, "Probably because he thinks the career of a pastor is not easy, so he plans to change careers and become a professional gambler?"

"Can César be a pastor? Sister, are you right? Where have you ever seen a devil serve a god?" Someone booed. "This, this, this... is really an evil act!" Ainuoya was trembling with anger. Marston is a mountain city. The higher urban area is the "upper town", with an elegant environment, where the city hall, opera house, and church are located; the town below the mountain is called the "lower town", where the streets are narrow and sewage flows, casino , brothels, slaughterhouses and warehouses are all there; the upper and lower towns are connected by a narrow-gauge railway.

A few days ago the school cook went to the town downhill to buy food and brought back word that boys in Bertha uniforms were haunting the casino down town.At that time, Ainoya still didn't believe that the students of Bossey College were all noble children, living a noble and elegant life, never having to worry about money, how could they fool around in the casino?Even passing by those inferior people will stain their delicate school uniforms. But it is not impossible for César.Ainuoya can never understand what Cesare is thinking, no one can figure it out, there are a thousand Césars in the eyes of a thousand people.

In the eyes of the girls, he is a delicate, elegant, polite boy, very mysterious, he may be a little cold, but he is not repulsive, he doesn't smile much, and when he is ridiculous, he will surprise or hurt people. a warm.In the eyes of the boys, it was a monster through and through, their worst enemy. César didn't care about other people's eyes at all. He rarely participated in club activities, never appeared at any classmates' birthday parties, and didn't even bother to attend class.He travels alone and doesn't seem to need such a thing as a "companion".

At this moment, in the casino in the lower city, the boy sat down at the gaming table, flicked the table with his slender fingers, "Hello." This is a boy who will impress people any time he sees him. He is sixteen or seventeen years old, tall and tall, with delicate and sharp facial lines, like a portrait drawn with a hard pencil.If we want to talk about the shortcomings, it is that his face is slightly pale, and it seems that his body is not that good. His companion was slightly shorter, with delicate features, soft brown hair and smart, beautiful eyes. He was looking around with a nervous expression. The man on the other side of the table slowly drank the brandy in his glass, turned his white clouded eyes, and looked up and down at the two boys, "Students from seminary shouldn't come to the casino, especially those from Berthe College .” The boys all wore school uniforms with stand-up collars and blue scarves with golden cross-star collar buttons. Only the school uniforms of the seminary can have such decorations, and there is only one seminary in Marston, Berthe College. . "Cesar! He has seen who we are!" The short boy was taken aback. "Don't make such a fuss, just now he only knew that I was a student of Bossey College, but now he even knows my name." César smiled, "Then let me introduce myself, my name is César , this is my friend Minai, the son of the Steele family, the future Baron Steele." "Hey! Why did you say my name too? Are you worried that my death at Daddy's place wasn't bad enough?" Mi Ne was shocked. "I heard that your father also likes to gamble, maybe he will think that you have inherited the family tradition." César smiled, drooping his long eyelashes, and glanced at the three gold-plated cards on the table, "Saving time ,let's start." "Do you understand the rules of the game?" The man raised his eyebrows, "This is not a poker game in your seminary." "I've been here for a week, and I understand the basic rules." César said, "I've heard a lot about you, Colonel." "Colonel" was the nickname of the man across the way, whose real name no one knew.It is rumored in the casino that he used to be a naval colonel, and he always wears a navy uniform with various medals on his chest.He is the caretaker of this casino, and he solves all kinds of troubles in the casino.When he is free, he sits at the gambling table in the center of the casino and plays the small game of "guess the king" with the guests. Three specially-made cards, namely "King", "Queen" and "Knight", are laid out on the table first so that you can see the position of the king, then turn them over and slowly shuffle them, lined up in a row, you have to do The only thing to do is to turn out the king, and if it turns out, the colonel will return you five times the betting money. Blind Meng also has a 1/3 chance, but if he wins, he will earn 5 times the profit. It stands to reason that this game is very unfair to the colonel, but the result is just the opposite, and the colonel always wins in the end. Every time the gambler turned over the wrong card, the colonel would turn over the other two cards to show that he had not changed the cards secretly. The king was clearly in the gambler's hand, but the gambler just couldn't turn it over.At this time, the colonel would chuckle and say his classic line, "Only the hand of the king can overturn the king. Unfortunately, you are not a man who has the order of the king." Some people say that the three cards were a gift that the colonel got from a certain sea witch when he was in the navy. The cards flow, so the gambler always misses.But the rumors belong to the rumors, everyone is still willing to gamble and admit defeat, and obediently take out the money.In the casino, no one dares to fight against the watchman. The watchmen are not good people. Some of them used to be gangsters, and some used to be robbers. There are many disputes in the casino, and only desperadoes can guard it. All the old gamblers knew to keep a respectful distance from that gaming table. Recently, this gaming table was always empty. The Colonel drank his brandy and looked more and more lonely until Cesare sat down opposite him. The boy's sitting posture aroused the colonel's interest. There were various people sitting opposite the colonel, some were cautious and alert, some were restless, but they all showed expressions of eagerness to try.But César was different, he was clearly only a sixteen or seventeen-year-old child, but he was calmer than all adults.As soon as he sat casually like this, he became an existence equal to the colonel. "Minet, have you brought any money?" César said, "Lend it all to me." "I brought out all the pocket money for this month, twelve silver coins." Mi Ne grasped the cowhide rope at the mouth of the purse tightly, "but... I said César, don't you have an exam this afternoon? The exam is about to start Bar?" "I will hurry up. The colonel's game is won and lost very quickly. If you take the Dangdang bus back to school, fifteen minutes is enough. I will be late, but according to school regulations, I can still enter the exam if I am late for a class. Don't worry, I will get the priest qualification this afternoon." César stretched out his hand, "Didn't you agree to lend me the money? Aren't you my only good friend in Berthe College?" Minet had no choice but to hand over the purse to Césaire.He did boast that he was Cecil's best friend at Berthe, and his only friend, and there was always a sense of loyalty between friends. "It's a kind of arrogance to take out all your pocket money to gamble, but twelve silver coins are not enough for you to play a few games." The colonel said. "It's really less, so let's bet it all." César changed hands and put the money bag on the gaming table. The colonel sneered in his heart.If the boy thought that bluffing could overwhelm him, he was dead wrong. Professional gamblers bluff, and the Colonel had seen it a lot. The colonel began to shuffle the cards, and Minet stared at the colonel's hand.The colonel's movements were not fast, but the Medusa pattern gilded on the back of the card was too gorgeous, and Minet rubbed his eyes nervously, for fear of missing it.The colonel smiled, and washed more slowly so that Minet could see clearly. The three cards were lined up in front of César, and the colonel put a stack of silver coins on the table, "Find out the king, these are all yours." César reached out and touched the back of the card on the right. "Turn it over! Turn it over! It's right!" Mi Nei yelled in his heart. He didn't blink at all, seeing that the king was shuffled to the right, César was right on the flop, and he won five times when he flopped. "You have a sharp eye." The colonel smiled. César didn't turn over the card, but turned to the one on the left. "It doesn't matter, make a decision after you think about it," the colonel continued to smile, "Try to touch each card, maybe you can hear the answer of the soul inside." At the other gaming tables, the guests also played their own games. Occasionally, some people cast their gazes over, but they were all in a hurry.No one was curious about the result. Veteran gamblers had seen this kind of thing too much. From the moment César sat down at the gaming table, winning or losing had already been decided. The colonel had no intention of urging Cesare at all. He drank the brandy and looked at the incandescent sunlight outside the door, as if wandering away. The calmer the colonel is, the more uncertain Mi Nei is. Is the king really on the right?Maybe I was blinded for a moment?Or did the Colonel add some neat little tricks to his shuffle?The Colonel claims to have never lost!There used to be many people who sat opposite the Colonel with great momentum, stared wide-eyed at him shuffling the cards, and then confidently flopped the cards, and finally lost everything and lost the strength to even walk out of the casino. So many people lost, why can the two of them win?Where are the two of them better than those old gamblers who have seen the world?The more I think about it, the more nervous Minnie becomes.The bet is twelve silver coins, which is not a big number in the eyes of adults, but Mi Ne still points to relying on these silver coins to finish the month. "I lost all my pocket money in the casino, and I want to advance it next month." This kind of reason does not make sense to my family. The colonel's watch was placed on the table, and the seconds were ticking away. Minet's heartbeat was several times faster than the ticking. He felt like a prisoner waiting for the sentence. Lost...lost...lost . . . as if the devil were whispering curses in his heart. A drop of sweat hung on his nose, and as the weight got heavier, the sweat finally couldn't hold it, and dripped onto the countertop with a "pop". At that moment, César stretched out his hand to flip the card, and the king with the sword sat on the skeleton throne!king! Mi Nei screamed in surprise, and he couldn't tell what it was like. It was just a small game of twelve silver coins, and the king was flipped out of three cards. In Mi Nei's eyes, it was so thrilling, as if he hadn't seen it for a long time. "It looks like I won." César said flatly. The colonel was stunned for a moment, and with a lazy smile reappearing, he clapped his hands slowly, "Beautiful, beautiful! Today we have a young man with a king's hand here!" He pushed the silver coins on the table to the west Zell raised his voice, "This young man with the Hand of the King has just won sixty silver coins from me. The next game will be even more exciting. Friends who are interested, welcome to watch!" A few idle gamblers gather around, this is really a rare thing, a seminary student, the colonel actually regards him as an opponent. César piled all the silver coins he had won on the gaming table and bet all-in again. "Why not divide into more piles? That way you can play longer." The colonel suggested with a smile. "Thank you, but no need, I have an exam in the afternoon." César also smiled. King, king, still king! As the king was turned over again and again, more and more people gathered around.At first they still believed in the colonel's luck and the three magic cards, but today Lady Luck is firmly on César's side. When he opened the king for the third time, someone exclaimed, and when he opened it for the fifth time, the exclamation turned into cheers.The scene in front of him was so exciting, the cursed magic card lost its effectiveness in front of the boy, as if God's hand was pressed on the back of his hand to help him turn over the cards. More and more silver coins were pushed in front of César, and the silver coins were exchanged for gold coins. The colonel's shuffling speed became faster and faster, and his techniques became more and more fancy. In the end, only a few balls of golden light were left flipping in his hands.César's flopping speed is also getting faster and faster, every time he grabs a certain card and throws it on the table, it must be a king. With the cards up and down, César turned over the king for the thirteenth time, and the cheers subsided, followed by a terrible silence. The colonel stared at the king in César's hands, his face was ashen, and his eyes forced out the sharpness of a blade. The colonel was outraged that this boy from the seminary could push the colonel to this extent.The spectators were all terrified. It is said that those who offended the colonel never ended well. "Very well, now that you have enough bets, why don't we make the game even bigger?" The colonel's voice was obviously fierce, "I am so happy to finally meet the boy who has the king's life! But Young man, you have to be clear about one thing, the king must win consecutive battles, and the king who fails will be beheaded by the enemy! So when you embark on the road of kings, you have to go all the way to the end." "I'm sorry, I can't play with you anymore. As I said, there is an exam in the afternoon." César stood up and put away the gold coins on the table. The money he won was eventually exchanged for sixty gold coins, each with a unicorn stamp on the back.That was the crest of the Medici family. The Medici family was the wealthiest family in the Pope's kingdom, and the gold coins they issued circulated everywhere. Someone praised the boy's cleverness in his heart, and it's good to stop here if he wins here. If he continues to win, who knows if he can walk out of the casino with the money. "Mine, let's go, we won't be able to catch the clang car if we're late." César didn't take a few steps before he heard the sound of a gun being loaded behind him. "As I said, the king's road has to go all the way to the end, and the king who quits halfway will be beheaded by the enemy." The colonel held a heavy large-caliber short gun and pointed at César's back. There was a sound of gasping from the crowd. Everyone in this casino knew the colonel's temper. He was a real desperado, and his short gun was not for decoration.César wanted to accept it, but it was too late.He slapped the colonel in the face in front of everyone, and the colonel's myth has ended since then, and the colonel couldn't stand it. "I don't win a lot, so I shouldn't have to do this." César turned around, and Minet hid behind him in fright. "It's true that you won't win a lot, but I can't tolerate people playing tricks in front of me. You'd better show me how you cheat." The colonel looked grim. "How can you be sure I cheated?" "You have won thirteen times in a row. The odds are about 1 in 1.6 million. No one will have such good luck, only cheating. The casino will not allow anyone to cheat. I shot through a cheater The heart is also reasonable." People took a step back subconsciously, lest the blood rushing from César's chest splash on themselves when the colonel shot. "I just saw through your secret of never losing." César smiled. The colonel was taken aback, "My secret?" "About your magic card, your identity, and your ever-changing tricks." Cesar said flatly, "You are actually playing a mental game. In the East, it is called the cup game. Street performers put a red The ball is buckled in the cup, and the position is swapped with the other two cups. Finally, people guess which cup the ball is in. People always think that they can see clearly, and they can win the bet, but in the end, the busker always wins .” "Go on," said the colonel coldly. "The losers are always not reconciled, thinking that the street performers are playing tricks, but they are only induced by the techniques and words of the street performers. The street performers are well-informed people, they can distinguish different people, a Most people who are nervous will turn over the card that he thinks is right, and those who are hesitant always doubt their own eyes. Street performers will also constantly exert psychological hints during the process of turning over cards, such as, "If you think about it, don't think about it." Regret' or 'don't worry there's time to think about it', even the highest level buskers will use a little hypnosis. It's the same trick as you play, once the opponent is seen by you, it will be very difficult for him to escape from you Just like a marionette, it will reach out to turn over the card you want him to turn over. This sounds difficult, but if you are a person with strong insight, you can do it with a little training arrive." Minai was dazed at first, but finally shivered.César was right, in the game, every time the colonel looked at him, it made him uneasy!Originally, he firmly believed that the king was on the right, but after the colonel smiled and glanced at him, the certainty in his heart suddenly melted away, and then the ticking sound of the colonel's watch echoed in his ears, and every time the second hand moved, life seemed to Just one frame goes by.It wasn't until the moment César stretched out his hand to turn over the cards that the huge psychological pressure was broken. He seemed to be able to open his mouth to breathe suddenly, and cold sweat poured out of his whole body. This is the so-called hypnotism? The colonel's face was ashen, and his finger on the trigger was even more forceful, "How do you know? Who told you?" Although this secret is simple, and the hypnotism used is not very profound, it still needs to be used by experienced and determined people. If you want to seduce the other party, you must first see through the other party.But from the beginning to the end, he couldn't see through César. The person sitting opposite was clearly a boy, but he felt that he was facing a wall.You face the wall and bet that no matter what kind of psychological suggestion you give, the wall will not respond. The colonel thought that someone must have told the boy the secret, and then borrowed the boy to make him make a fool of himself in public. He was impatient to find out the opponent who was hiding behind the boy! "I saw it myself," Sizer smiled, "I wanted to win you, so I played in this casino for a week in advance. When you observe me, I also observe you. You haven't heard that sentence Famous? 'When you look into the abyss, the abyss is also looking at you.' In the past, you saw through others, but this time you are the one who is seen through." He looked up, the afternoon sun illuminating his profile, and this motion allowed the Colonel to actually see his eyes.His eyes appeared to be pure black, but when the sunlight refracted in the pupils, they flashed purple.Purple is a beautiful color, especially when it appears on a girl's skirt, but when it appears in a person's eyes, it has a thrilling feeling. Especially the strong and cold purple, just like the boy's beautiful but warm smile. While you are looking at the abyss, the abyss is also looking at you.These words seemed to explode in the Colonel's heart like a mass of freezing air, and he shivered violently. "About your identity, if I guess correctly, you are not a captain of the navy, but a gunner on a warship. Your skin is red, the result of many years at sea, and you like to smoke, and sailors like it Use this method to drive away the cold. Many of the medals you wear are from cities near the Mediterranean Sea, so I guess you have served in the Southern Fleet of the Byzantine Empire. As for the rank, it should be a captain, and the highest rank for a gunner is a captain. You like to see things with your right eye, the left eye is only auxiliary, this is a habit unique to gunners, use the right eye to aim. You are good at math, and you can immediately calculate that the odds are 1 in 1.6 million, because the gunner must be skilled in calculating parabolas " César analyzed the mysterious watchman, "But it is your sharp eyes that gave away the secret. You are too used to aiming at things with your right eye. The pupil of your right eye always follows the king. Move, I judge the position of the king based on this point, I choose to come in the afternoon, because the sun is the brightest at this time, I can clearly observe the white shadow in your pupil, follow it and I can find the king .” "That's it, this is all the secrets I know," he turned to Minet, "Let's go." Minai trembled before the gun.Just walk out the door like this?Who knows if you will hear a gunshot behind you after walking a few steps?No matter how you look at it, the colonel is the kind of thug who disregards human life! "Believe me, Mr. Colonel can't shoot. The so-called casino wardens are desperadoes. It's just a common lie in the industry. In order to prevent losing gamblers from making trouble, some bosses say that the wardens of their casinos He was born in the underworld, and gradually everyone said that, as if he couldn’t be a casino watchman without a background of killing people and stealing goods.” Cizell smiled, “But after all, a casino is a business place, and its purpose of existence is to make a profit, which one? Will the boss hire real desperadoes? Even if Mr. Colonel has been on the battlefield and witnessed bloodshed, but now he is willing to settle down in this casino for the commission, he must be tired in his heart. How could such a person Killing someone for a little money?" He turned around and walked towards the gate of the casino at a normal pace, followed by Minai, trembling. The colonel's gun didn't go off until they walked out of the casino.Minet gave César a sharp push from behind, and the two boys galloped through the sunlight. The muzzle of the gun dropped slowly, and finally hit the table, "What a boy like an abyss..." The colonel said softly, shivering slowly. For a moment, he really wanted to kill, the abyss-like boy made him feel thorns on his back, but there was no bullet in his gun.He was indeed a man who was already tired inside, César saw through him, and from the moment César sat down in front of him, his failure was doomed.