Chapter 6 Chapter 6: The Hunter Fallen into the Mortal World

I left the Stranger's Tavern through the gate, thinking about what had just happened as I walked.I always knew Nightside was an ancient place, but if Merlin was right, Nightside was a very old place when he was very young.How old is it?If the Nightside was created for a specific purpose, who created it?I suspect that I know the answer to this question very well, but just refuse to admit it. My long-lost mother. I led everyone through the dark alleys and back to the colorful and noisy streets.My companions followed me calmly.The sinner and the beautiful poison held hands along the way, talking and laughing, just like teenagers in love.If it weren't for knowing that there is a female demon from hell among them who has been corrupting people's hearts for thousands of years, they would actually be a pleasing couple.The lunatic walked at the end alone, looking into the distance absently.That's a good sign, because when he starts noticing what's going on in the real world, he should really start worrying.A thought suddenly came to me, not for the first time; perhaps I should have thought more carefully before choosing a partner.

On the sidewalk of Main Street, I immediately noticed that someone was watching us.Walker wasted no time.At this moment, there is no trace of Bad Penny, but she belongs to the kind of ruthless character of "If you don't make a show, you will be a blockbuster".I wasn't surprised to be spotted by Walker's people so quickly. He knew that the Stranger's Tavern was my most frequent haunt, so it made sense to send someone to guard it.Strictly speaking, his men were well-trained, and it was not so easy to expose their whereabouts.It's just that Walker sent people to spy on me so often that I already recognized their faces.In fact, whenever the investigation encounters a bottleneck, I often sit down with them for a drink, and discuss the case with them by the way.Anyway, at that time, we have no other place to go, so we just get together and chat.Most of them will accept my invitation, because in the Night Side, today's enemy may be tomorrow's friend.Of course, the reverse is also possible.Neither of us mentioned the situation to Walker, because he certainly couldn't understand it.If he found out, these people would probably be tried for collaborating with the enemy.

I looked around, secretly counting the number of stalkers.As far as I can see there are about twenty, half of them are newcomers, because they still try to hide their whereabouts.twenty?I couldn't help being a little surprised.This figure was much higher than Walker usually sent, and it seemed that he really took this case seriously. My companions didn't notice anyone following them at all, so I pointed them out one by one. "Don't stare at them." I said softly. "Save them some face." So we decided to wave to them.One of them was so scared that he bumped into a utility pole.

"I don't like being watched." Beautiful Poison's tone was fierce, completely destroying the original innocent expression on her face. The sinner patted her arm. "They just don't know you as well as I do, honey." "I'm sure it's just bait," I said. "It's a trick to make us ignore the real watchers behind the camouflage spells and invisibility cloaks. It seems Walker really cares about our progress." "All the great people in the Nightside don't care," said the sinner. "What we discover is bound to affect everyone. Maybe we should get a few more helpers to avoid some... troublesome situation."

"No." I immediately rejected it. "Walker represents the people in power, and the people in power only care about maintaining power. If we get too close to the truth, they will definitely issue a kill order. It's better not to involve too many people in it." The sinner looked at me and said, "You don't seem to be worried at all." I shrugged. "Anyway, someone wants to kill me at any time. If those in power like to line up, let them line up. Besides, Walker and I have played this game many times. As long as I lead the way and he follows, then I can still keep the advantage."

"I don't like being watched," said the madman suddenly. "But I know who is watching us. We are not alone, there are always people watching. They watch us from the other side of the mirror; they hate us because we are more real than they are. Remember Turn the mirror over to face the wall when you sleep so they can't enter our world." "Okay..." I answered after a while. "thanks for your reminder……" "I'm not crazy," said the madman sadly. "While it would be better for me, and for others, if I were really insane, but... if you've seen what I've seen... you'll know that the world is much more than it seems. Where are we going next?"

I blinked and decided it would be good to answer his last question. "We're going uptown to Restaurant Street. I can track Hearn there, but I don't know how far away. It's just that Walker's men can't be escaped by any public transportation, and I don't like having them Follow us so easily." "Why don't you buy a car?" among sinners. I was a little surprised and said: "Are you serious? Look at the traffic on the road, what is it called traffic? It is a living history of monster mutations! At least half of the vehicles on the street are not real cars, while the other half are used The fuel for it is a powerful magic that even the beautiful poison can't ignore. Not to mention sticking your thumb out of the window and it will be eaten in no time."

"I have a way to go to the upper city." Beautiful Poison said suddenly. "I can take everyone straight there. If you want, Sidney." "Of course," said the sinner. "But I didn't know you could..." There was a sudden buzzing on Beautiful Poison's head, and a halo of flies appeared.Then she stretched out her terrifying claws, drawing weird symbols in the air in front of her.A shadow struck, covering her entire face, leaving only two fiery eyes burning quietly.I took a step back in fright, and the lunatic stared at her with a sad expression. Beautiful Poison uttered a spell that made everyone's ears hurt, and then, a hellfire erupted violently around us.A great smell of sulfur burst from the yellow flames, but we did not feel the heat of the flames at all.The fire of hell spewed upwards, and then disappeared without a trace in an instant.

After all the dust has settled, we have appeared on the streets of Uptown, and the beautiful poison has returned to its original pure appearance.I felt light-headed for a while, so I shook my head vigorously.Although the transmission time just now was short, I seemed to hear countless miserable screams in my ears... I looked at the beautiful poison, and she smiled at me pretending to be dignified. "I didn't know you had this ability." The sinner's voice sounded very calm. "It's just a shortcut to go through hell." Beautiful Poison said. "After all, I'm a female demon, dear Xi Ni. We must have the ability to go anywhere at any time, and it's written in the job description."

"I saw you." The sinner said. "At that moment just now, I saw your true face." She lowered her head and said, "A girl like me cannot choose her birth background, Xi Ni." "It doesn't matter," he said. "I don't care. I've seen you for what you are before. When I went to hell, the first thing they showed me was what you looked like. That didn't change my love for you, I loved you your essence, not your appearance." "I'll never understand this feeling," said Beautiful Poison. "Of course." The sinner said softly. "Because you are a female demon from hell."

They looked at each other and smiled.I looked around. People on the street saw four people appear out of nowhere from the halo of hellfire, but no one gave us a second look.This is the Nightside, after all, and people—and other lifeforms—are used to keeping the door open, and expect other people to stay out of their own business.However, no matter how we ignore our presence, everyone will still deliberately stay away from us.I walked forward without saying a word, and my companions immediately followed.I recognized the place, and I knew where to find Hearne.I've been here before.With all the best restaurants and clubs, Uptown is a social haven for those at the top of fashion.However, even the most gorgeous light will inevitably cast shadows, and Hearn's current position is this darkness hidden in the light. I pass a very well known overpriced French restaurant and turn down a darker alley.The bright and bright signboard of the restaurant formed an extremely sharp contrast with the eerie darkness in the alley next to it.The alleys are wet, cold, dirty and dirty, and within a few steps there is a feeling of stepping into a completely different world.This is a very gloomy alley, leading to a maze of back alleys with few people.Trash is everywhere, and every few steps you will see the back door of the restaurant.These back doors are places where the customers of the top restaurants have never been, the entrances for suppliers and employees, and the collection and distribution centers for all the bad water, vegetable residues and garbage; and this is why all the homeless in Night City like to come here. .They gather here for food and to escape from the indifferent world outside. I stood at the entrance of "Mouse's Back Alley" and looked inside. It hasn't changed at all. It is still the darkest place in the whole night city.The darkness here has nothing to do with the lack of streetlights.It is a darkness that comes from the soul and can touch the deepest fears in the heart of the heart.The neon lights of the streets can't penetrate it, and even the blue-white moonlight can't illuminate the place.The smell here is very bad. In addition to the strong rancid smell, there is also an unbearable smell of despair.Even the big rocks on the ground are sticky like nothing.In this disgusting shadow dwells a community of society's outcasts, lost souls, forgotten by the world. I stopped at the entrance of the alley, and the sinner walked beside me. "Here the hunter lives here? The ancient forest god?" "It's really falling from the clouds to the bottom of the valley." I said. "But there is no power that can guarantee that there will never be a day of losing power. At least he is not alone in the rat back alley, where many homeless people gather, because the restaurant will dump out the bad water before closing, from odds and ends. Everything from scraps to whole pieces of beef. Anyway, for restaurants, it’s much cheaper to throw leftovers to homeless people than to hire a car to carry them.” "Why is it called the mouse's back alley?" Beautiful Poison asked. "What do you think?" I said. "Be careful where you step." "I didn't know there were so many bums in the Nightside," said the sinner. "It's a community here, a town of lost souls." "I heard that we should call them homeless people, not homeless people," I said. "If you call them homeless, you have to face a question, why don't we help them find a place to live. They have been here for a long time. The economic base of Night City is squeezed from the losers. Losers are cruel." Rat's Alley is what the people of the Nightside call this area.These alleys are full of large cardboard boxes, crude shelters, dilapidated tents, and people huddled together under blankets to keep warm.Men and women of all shapes and ages gathered together like victims of a shipwreck or refugees from overcrowded countries.Bright eyes shine everywhere in the darkness, and the fierce light of weapons hides everywhere in the shadows.Maybe they've lost their old powers, but they still don't like being stared at. "Didn't they have a dog?" asked the madman. "I thought all homeless people had dogs." "Nobody here has a dog," I said. "As soon as a dog appears here, it will be eaten immediately. Whether it is eaten by humans or rats, the rats here are very scary, so homeless people have to gather together and dare not stand alone, otherwise, it is difficult to guarantee that they will sleep at night. won't be dragged away by mice." The sinner looked at me. "You seem to know this place very well, John." "I've lived here for a while," I said. "Many years ago, I was cornered. It was the only place in Nightside where no one asked me about my past, and no one cared who I was. They were willing to accept anyone. And only this place could completely hide from everything." The gaze of people, including myself. Here, food and clothing are everything, and the only thing people care about is where the next meal will come from. For people who worry too much, this is a good choice. " "How long have you been here?" Beautiful Poison asked. "I don't know. It's been long enough anyway. This is where I met Razor Eddie. He sometimes comes back here to sleep." I stepped cautiously into the back alley, adapting to the surrounding darkness while looking for familiar faces. "That one over there is Sister Morphine from the Carmelite Order. She volunteered to live with homeless people here, hoping to help them through the power of faith. Her blood vessels can produce any kind of medicine, and then through her Her tears enter the world. In Rat Alley, there will never be a day of shortage of tears. Her tears are shed exclusively for the suffering people around her, and she never rejects any soul in need. A while ago, a group of punks wanted to To kidnap her and use her to produce endless drugs for profit. They came here defiantly, forcibly dragged the morphine nun away, and was beaten to death by street friends, and even the body was eaten up after death." Sister Morphine straightened her tattered nun clothes and came to me, exuding a faint noble temperament.She looked much older than I remembered, but living in this kind of place always ages faster.Her robes were stained, but she had a weary, kind smile on her face. "John Taylor. I knew you'd come back someday." "I'm just here to run some errands, Sister." "That's what everyone says." "I want Hunter Hearne, Sister. We have something to talk to him about." "But is he willing to talk to you?" Sister Morphine glanced at Beautiful Poison. "This woman reeks of hell." "We're not here to make trouble," I said cautiously. "You are a trouble yourself, John." Sister Morphine said and turned to leave. I looked around for anyone willing to help.This place can buy quite a bit of help with just money or booze.I saw the "Bone Scary Demon" hiding under the wooden slatted blanket, glancing at me listlessly.This guy lost everything at the gambling table, even his own flesh and blood.He lost his whole body until only a pair of bones remained, but he still didn't want to die, or he couldn't die.Some of the bones on his body are covered with tooth marks, and I just hope it's rats that bite him.I saw many other famous people, but none of them showed me kindness. In addition to humans, there are also a bunch of monsters, and even a few dilapidated robots, unwilling to fall down easily until the energy in the positron brain is exhausted.In the Nightside, even the lowest ranks are willing to tolerate everything.There's even a little gray man in a tattered space suit, who seems to have been abandoned by his companions and ended up here.Aliens can be seen everywhere now.He scrawled "willing to help you do anal probing in exchange for food" on the cardboard next to him.I really wanted to kick the alien kidnapper out of his ass, but I resisted the urge.No matter what kind of past someone has, Mouse Back Alley is willing to accept it unconditionally.If it wasn't for this, why would they have taken me in in the first place? "Is no one willing to help the people here?" the sinner asked. "Does no one care at all?" "Don't forget where you are," I said. "Nightside is famous for not caring about anything. People flock to Nightside for that. There are still people who care, like Sister Morphine, and Pio occasionally comes here to hand out food and spread the word .Also, Julian Advent will also raise various relief funds through the "Night City Times". It's just that most Night City people prefer to pretend that this kind of place and these people don't exist. Because they don't want to think What happens to these Nightside losers." We're starting to attract attention.Even in a place like this, there are still quite a few people who recognize our faces and have heard our stories.More and more homeless people gather around us.I always pay attention to whether there are any unscrupulous plots hidden in the shadows.Homeless love to fight outsiders invading their territory in groups.All outsiders, including those who are friendly to homeless people, may become the target of homeless people.I've been here, and I remember the days of looting unconscious people.Homeless people will not be afraid of us, they don't care about our background and strength at all, for people who have fallen to this point, there is nothing in the world that they can fear.At this time, many people on both sides began to pull the blankets on their bodies and stand up.I looked back and found that the way to leave was still clear, and if I wanted to retreat, I still had a chance now.I don't want to hurt anyone.The street friends began to approach me, and the sinner and the beautiful poison stood on my left and right sides.I found that the homeless people seemed to be coming for me, and they didn't care about other people's existence at all; it shouldn't be possible for them all to remember me? Then they knelt down in front of me, bowed their heads and recited my name, as if they were praying for blessings.Some took my hand and rubbed it against their face, others touched my coat hopefully, as if a mere touch could cure all their ailments.I looked over to Sister Morphine, but she still had her back to us.The vagrants knelt in front of me like a pilgrimage, their filthy faces showing a look of incomparable admiration. "Well..." said the sinner. "This is really...unexpected. I can't help but feel a little worried." "Trust me," I said, carefully stepping back out of reach of my fellow homeless. "If there's one thing we can be sure of, it's that I'm definitely not the Second Coming Jesus." "Absolutely not." Beautiful Poison said. The tone of her words was a bit strange, so the sinner and I looked at her at the same time. "Do you know anything that we don't?" I asked. "I know more than you can imagine," said Beautiful Poison. When the street friends found out that I was not here to perform miracles, they immediately lost interest in me and left completely on the spot.The lunatic wandered into the crowd, and the street friends quickly took him for one of their own, because they could see that the lunatic, like them, belonged to the kind of people who were abandoned by the world. "I'm like poor Tom in King Lear," said the madman. I was tempted to say "then find a nunnery!" but I refrained from it.I'm here to do business. I made my way through a maze of big cardboard boxes and battered tents, until at last I found Hearne the Hunter where the talent had shown me.He was still squatting in the damp broken cardboard box, wrapped in a dirty blanket.Seeing me, the sinner, and the beautiful poison coming in front of him, he shrank into the cardboard box.We coaxed and coaxed him to come out, but in vain, and it was only after I gave my name that he finally agreed to show up. I saw him slowly leaving the big cardboard box, his face full of uncertainty, like a frightened little animal, ready to run away at any time.At last he stood timidly before us, looking like any ragged tramp, were it not for the two mighty stag antlers on his forehead.He was shorter than I imagined, less than five feet tall, with a rough appearance, almost like a savage.His skin was very rough, his face was bony, and his appearance was extremely ugly. His eyes were sunken deep in their sockets, and his lips trembled quietly in the humid air.He exuded a foul stench, a sort of musky beastly smell, impressive even in a place like Rat's Back Alley.A begging bowl fashioned from a human skull is clutched tightly in one of his gigantic hands. "It doesn't look like a god at all, does it?" His voice was deep, rough, with an accent he hadn't heard before. "Actually, I should have disappeared a long time ago. It's just that there are still some believers who worship me in the world. Unfortunately, most of them belong to the hippies of the new era. Pooh! I don't have the right to criticize believers these days. Anyway, faith Still a source of strength for me. Herne the Hunter is nothing more than a child's legend these days. I know, I understand, no one wants to worship gods at the altar of blood anymore in this day and age. I don't blame them, not at all. Anyway I've never been a favorite god. Herne represents the chase, the hunt and the kill, and has always been reminiscent of claws and fangs soaked in blood." He spoke more and more fluently, as if gradually recalling the feeling of speaking. "People offer sacrifices for good luck in the hunt, for good weather, for the death of their enemies, and for me not to show up to harass them. I was once a dangerous and fickle god, very fond of teasing Mortals. That's right... the mighty Hearn has mastered the powerful wilderness power, demands too much from believers, and treats human life like nothing. However, as long as they are mortals under my protection, absolutely no force will dare to touch them. !No! No... Long, long ago... I have lost everything. What do you want me for? There are more and more powerful gods in the Street of the Gods, and the fees are very reasonable. I have lost Strength, no secrets to keep in mind, no wise counsel to offer." "We're here to find out," I said. "We're looking for answers." Hearne shook his head like a dog. "Know nothing, don't know anymore. The world has changed, oh yes. Forests gone. Cities replaced. Steel, boulders, brick walls... none of the magic in these things knows me. I hate the city, I hate the Night City, I hate getting old. As long as you live a certain age, you have the opportunity to see everything you once cared about corrupt, degenerate, and disappear in front of you." He suddenly looked at me and said: "I know You, John Taylor. I will never kneel at your feet and become your disciple. What do you want? What question do you want to ask?" "I want to know about the old days," I said. "When England was young, that was your time." He opened his mouth to laugh, showing a mouthful of missing teeth. "I still remember the glory days that belonged to me. I rode a moonlight stallion, led a wild hunt, and hunted humans happily in the dark night. A long time ago, humans were my prey, but now, because of humans' Forgotten and decayed. Anyone could face the same fate as me, oh yes. One misstep and you could fall from the top of power with no second chance. People become farmers and don't want to go on Hunting, small villages gradually turned into big cities. Forests gradually shrunk, and my abilities dwindled. Humans grew stronger, and my magic became weaker. Cities... Night City is the oldest One of the cities, and the beginning of all corruption in the world." "Isn't Nightside the first city?" asked the sinner. Hearn laughed again and said: "There have been different opinions on this point before my time. Ask the older gods, those lives that have existed since the beginning of the world and are still standing today. Those who are more savage than me , more cruel guy." "I heard..." I asked cautiously. "The origin of the Nightside is closely tied to my mother's identity. How much do you know about that?" Hearn shrugged and said: "Not sure. I don't think anyone can be sure of your mother's identity. I have an opinion, but opinions are like assholes, everyone has one. If you ask me, I Says your mother is the fairy queen Mab, the first queen of the goblin country, older than the fairy queen Titania, the beautiful Titania. I remember Mab, as beautiful as the dawn, as the seasons She is powerful. She walks in the lightning, dances in the moonlight, her expression is enough to stir people's hearts, and she can forget everything in a blink of an eye. Fairy Queen Mab is admired and feared at the same time. Fairies have rarely mentioned it. She died, but their fear of her is still the same, and they have been afraid that she will come back to the world. Since everyone prefers the lovely fairy queen Titania, they deliberately ignore Mab, and even remove her from history and legends. However, the world There are still some ancient beings on earth who remember Mab the Fairy Queen." "What happened?" I asked. He chuckled lightly, a very low and unpleasant laugh. "Ask the dead Tom Orsante. Wielding the bones of a feud, gnawing at the heart dug out of the chest of a feud, we all took love seriously in olden days. Our emotions were strong, our Tragic and bleak. Death affects us very little, because our stories all have the power of destiny, and our influence has a long history." Hearn turned his ugly head to one side, as if he was listening to a voice that only he could hear. "I still remember that when the goblins saw that cities, civilization, and cold steel had become inevitable, they immediately decided to leave the human world. Yes, I should have gone with them when I got the chance. They mentioned it to me. They really invited me! Compared with humans, Hearn has always been more compatible with goblins ...but the goblins are going to live in seclusion forever, and I don't want to be unknown. Yes, I should go with them. But no! I just want to stay and fight the battle I have to lose, and then watch the world turn into something I don't recognize. completely lost all living space." "Thus, Hunter Hearn became his current virtue, living in seclusion among the fallen and helpless people to atone for his sins." "Atonement for what?" Beautiful Poison asked. He crawled back into his cardboard box, but never took his eyes off my face. "Ask the 'Lord Thorn'. Now please leave immediately. Otherwise I will kill you." We turned and left, leaving him crying in the cardboard box. I looked around for traces of the madman, ready to go to the next destination. "Where are we going next?" I asked. "Give me some advice." "How about going to Lord Thorn?" Sinner suggested. I got a little bit of horror on my face, and found out that Beautiful Poison did the same.I looked at the sinner very seriously and said: "Unless I have no other choice, I will never go to Lord Thorn. Lord Thorn is a ruthless character that even Walker dare not easily offend. Why mention him?" "Because Hearne sent us to him." "So what? Any other suggestions?" "All right," said the sinner. "Then how about going to the Wailer?" I was taken aback. "Why are we going after that crazy monster?" "Harne said we have to find an older life." The sinner said calmly. "And the Wailers are the oldest beings I know of." "That makes sense," I admitted reluctantly. "The Weeper knows all the secrets of the world, the problem is how to convince him to talk to us. In the Nightside, a strong and pleasant man can't survive that long. To this day, no one can be sure of the true identity of the Weeper Exactly why, just know that he can control incredibly powerful necromantic power and is crazy about it. I don't even like to say his name aloud, because I can't be sure if he will hear it. He may be an ancient demon , or some ancient god, or even just a mortal who made a wrong choice, no one knows. Some people say that he devours souls..." "He's always older than Hearne, anyway," said the sinner stubbornly. "If there's anyone who knows the origins of the Nightside, I daresay it's the Wailers." "So you're suggesting we just barge in on his turf and ask him?" I asked. "You can hide behind me if you like," said the sinner. "It's up to you, John. How far are you willing to go for this case? Do you dare to take the risk and confront the gods who have dominant power?" "Oh, never mind," I said. "It's not the first time." "Gentlemen..." Beautiful Poison said. "Looks like the madman is in trouble." I immediately looked back, and saw the lunatic dancing a ballet between the cardboard boxes and tents in the back alley of the mouse. Everywhere he went, a hundred flowers bloomed, and clear spring water gushed out from the floor and the walls.When he finished dancing, a fountain gushed wildly from his feet.A homeless man took a glass of spring water, tasted it, and excitedly told everyone that it was straight whiskey that spewed out of the ground.As soon as this remark came out, all the homeless friends looked at the madman with a new look. They rushed to the madman and asked him to summon food and water, warmth and light, and a palace compound to live in.They clawed hard at the madman, and their pleading voices gradually turned into orders and even threats.The lunatic wanted to run away, but there was no way out.I want to help him, but there are too many people between us.I yelled at homeless people, trying to convince them with my authority, but they couldn't hear anything.Then I felt a shudder in my skin, a shudder in my heart, and stopped immediately.Something bad is going to happen, I can feel it. The brick wall near the lunatic melted, and the ground shook violently. It seemed that some monster was trying to break out of the ground. The light in the mouse's back alley changed colors rapidly, and strange, insubstantial shadows appeared here and there.A sense of uncertainty builds all around, as if nothing is real anymore.It seems that the veil of the real world is about to be lifted, and the monsters hidden behind it do not want to continue to lurk.The lunatic has lost the ability to control himself. The street friends ran away from him, screaming in shock, and the feeling of terror quickly spread outward.The world around the madman begins to crumble.I grabbed the sinner's arm and felt very difficult to breathe. It seemed that I would fall into the endless night sky at any time and never come back.All the details are changing, taking on various aspects in the blink of an eye.A homeless man grabbed the madman and tried to stop all wild changes, but under the gaze of the madman, he could only scream and scream, and instantly turned into a modernist oil painting, no matter from any angle They are all flat, and there are still many parts of the body that are incomplete.What is horrifying is that despite becoming this kind of virtue, the tramp did not die.The lunatic looked at his work quietly with no expression on his face. Sister Morphine held the oil painting man in her arms, comforting him and glaring at me: "It's all your fault! You brought him here! Think of a way!" I took out a few small instruments from my pocket, took a deep breath, and when I was about to rush forward, the sinner suddenly pushed me away.He went up to the lunatic, and captured the lunatic's eyes with his eyes.I saw the two of them standing in place silently, lost in each other's eyes, and the changes around them stopped abruptly at that moment.After a while, the madman let out a long sigh, looked away from the sinner's face, and the crazy world around him began to return to its original state.With his own special existence, the sinner gave the lunatic a shelter, so that his out-of-control heart could calm down again. Mouse Back Alley returned to its usual tranquility, but there were still many homeless people trembling and crying.The sinner left the back alley holding the madman's arm, and the madman followed obediently like a child. "I really can't take you out." I said.