Chapter 16 Chapter Sixteen

Arthur wasn't quite sure which one caught his attention first.When he finds one missing, his mind immediately jumps to the other, and immediately he knows that both are gone, and that in the end, something crazy bad is bound to happen that he can't handle. Langdon was not in the hut, nor was the package. All day long he had left it on the shelf, undisguised.It's an exercise in trust. He knew that one of his responsibilities as a parent was to trust his child and to lay a foundation of mutual trust in their relationship.Before he did it, he had a sinister premonition that he was going to do something stupid, but he did it anyway.Needless to say, he found out that this was really a stupid thing.You are always learning as you live, at least you are living anyway.

And you have to panic. Arthur ran out of the hut, and it was midnight, and the light was growing dim, and a storm was brewing.He couldn't find her anywhere, not even a shadow.He asked around.No one has seen her.He asked again.No one else had seen her.Everyone is getting ready to go home and sleep.There was a slight breeze blowing by the side of the village, blowing things up into the sky and throwing them around with a frighteningly casual attitude. He found the old brush Shiba to ask him.Shu Shiba looked at him expressionlessly, then pointed in a direction.That was exactly what Arthur was afraid of. In fact, he had already intuitively guessed that she had gone there.

So now he knows the worst. She went there because she thought Arthur would not go there to find her. He looked at the sky, the blue-black sky looked gloomy and irritable, if the four knights in the "Apocalypse" had to choose a time to ride out of the sky, probably only this kind of weather would not make them feel like they were all gangsters big idiot. Arthur embarked on the path to the next valley with the heaviest and most foreboding.He tried his best to drag his body to run, and heavy raindrops began to hit the ground. Langdon was on a hilltop overlooking the next valley.It was farther and more difficult to climb than she had imagined.She was a little worried that it might not be a good idea to walk this way at night.But her father hung around the hut all day, trying to look like he wasn't guarding the parcel, and didn't know if he was trying to fool her or himself.He ended up having to go to the smithy to discuss the knife with Slinder, so Langdon took the opportunity to grab the package and slip away.

Obviously, she couldn't unpack in the hut, not even in the village, because he could show up at any moment.That meant she had to find a place where he wouldn't follow. Now the place should be fine.He chose this road because he hoped that he wouldn't follow, and even if he did, now that the night was getting darker and it was raining again, it was impossible for him to find himself in such a large forest. All the way the package bounced under his arm.It was a satisfyingly bulky thing: a square box top about the length of her upper arm, the length of her palm, wrapped in a brown organic material, with a new type of automatic knot, very delicate.She picked it up and shook it, and there was no movement in it, but she could feel its weight in the center, which was thrilling.

However, now that she had come this far, she vaguely felt that it would be more fulfilling not to linger here, so she continued to go to that almost taboo place-the place where her father's spaceship crashed.Langdon wasn't quite sure what exactly "haunted" meant, but it might be interesting to go and see.She was going to move on and wait until she got there before opening the package. But it was getting darker and darker.She hasn't taken out her small flashlight yet, so that people won't be able to spot her from afar.She had to use it now, but it probably didn't matter because there was a hill separating the two valleys, and she was going down to the other side soon.

She turns on the flashlight.Almost at the same moment, a thunderbolt illuminated the valley she was going to, and startled her badly.The darkness shivered back around her, and a series of thunder rumbled across the ground, and she suddenly felt that she and the tiny light in her hand were so small and lost.Maybe she should stop and unpack the package right here.Or she should go back and come out tomorrow.But it was just a moment of melancholy.She knew she couldn't go back tonight, and felt that she would never go back. She continued running down the hill.The rain is getting heavier.A moment ago, it was just a few heavy raindrops, but now it has made up its mind to pour down.The rain hissed in the trees, and the soles of her feet began to slip.

At least, she thought it was rain that was hissing in the trees.Her flashlight swept across the trees, up and down, shadows were jumping and watching her. She took ten or fifteen more brisk steps.Now she was drenched and shivering from the rain, and was beginning to realize that there seemed to be some other light ahead.The light was so weak that she wasn't sure if it was her imagination.She turned off the flashlight to get a better look.There does seem to be some faint light ahead, but nothing can be seen.She turned on the flashlight again and continued down the mountain, no matter what it was, she had to go there.

But there was something odd about the woods. She didn't immediately see what the problem was.The branches hung lazily and sickly, looking pale and haggard. More than once, Langdon felt startled that they reached out to him, but it was just a trick of the flashlight, making their shadows flicker. , swaying. Suddenly, something fell in front of her from the tree. She was so startled that she jumped back quickly, and both the flashlight and the box fell to the ground.She bent down and took out the specially polished stone from her pocket. The thing that fell from the tree was moving.The flashlight lay on the ground, pointed right at the thing, and a large, eerie shape slowly leaned towards him through its light.Above the regular hiss of the raindrops, Langdon could hear something moving, rubbing.She groped on the ground, found the flashlight, and shone it.

Just then, another one fell from another tree a few feet away.She frantically flicked the flashlights, illuminating them in turn.She raised the stone in her hand, ready to throw it. In fact, they are quite small. Just now, the angle of the light was wrong, which distorted their body shape.Not only small, but small and fluffy, the kind that people can't help but want to hold in their arms.Then another one fell from the tree.It fell right through the beam of the flashlight, so she could see it clearly. It landed cleanly, turned, and approached Langdon as slowly and decisively as the first two.

It stays put.She was still holding the stones, ready to throw them, but at the same time she was becoming more and more aware that the targets she was holding the stones to hit turned out to be squirrels, or at least squirrel-like things, soft, warm, and cute. Squirrel-like things—but they were stalking her in a way she could hardly tell she liked. She shone a flashlight on the first of them.It made a domineering, bravado-squealing noise, and held a tiny wet pink rag in one tiny fist.Langdon threateningly lifted the rock higher, but it had no effect on the squirrel that was driving towards him with the rag.

She backed away, and a second squirrel began to outflank her from the right, still holding a cup.Something made of acorns.The third followed closely behind, also walking forward.what is it holdingA small piece of paper soaked in water, it looks like it. She backed away again, catching her ankle on a tree root and falling backwards. Immediately the first squirrel jumped up and down on top of her, running up her belly with grim determination in its eyes and a wet rag in its fists. Langdon tried to jump up, but only about an inch high.The squirrel was startled by her and startled her in turn.It froze, small claws gripping Langdon's skin through her soaked shirt, and slowly, inch by inch, it climbed; it stopped, and handed her the rag. Everything in front of him was so eerie that Langdon almost hypnotized the thing and its bright little eyes.It handed her the rag again.It kept sending the cloth toward her, squeaking and squeaking until Langdon hesitated to take the rag, though he was terribly nervous.It continued to look intently at her face, its eyeballs constantly rolling.She had absolutely no idea what to do.There was rain and mud running down her face, and a squirrel was sitting on her belly.She wiped the mud from her eyes with the rag. With a triumphant squeal, the squirrel grabbed the rag, jumped off her, and hopped off into the dark night.He jumped up a tree, burrowed into a hole in the trunk, sat down comfortably and lit a cigarette. Meanwhile, Langdon was trying to avoid the two squirrels holding the paper and the acorn cup.She sat on the ground and rubbed back. "No!" she cried, "Go away!" They jumped back in fright, and then rushed over with their presents, without any sign of discouragement.She swung her stone at them. "Get out!" she yelled. The squirrels spun around in panic.Then one of them swooped down on her, dropped the acorn cup in her lap, turned and ran off into the night.The other stood shaking for a while, then laid its piece of paper flat in front of her, and disappeared too. Now Langdon was left alone, only this time with a shudder of shock.Standing up unsteadily, she picked up her rocks and parcels, then, after a moment's hesitation, picked up the paper, too, which was soaked by rain and mutilated, so it was hard to tell what it was, but it looked It looked like a fragment of a magazine on the spaceship. She was trying to understand what it all meant when she saw a man walk into the little clearing where she was, and he raised a brutal gun and fired at her. At this time, Arthur was still two or three miles behind her, struggling hopelessly on the path up the mountain. After rushing out of the village, he turned back within a few minutes and equipped himself with a lamp.Instead of electric lights, the only electric light in the place was Langdon's flashlight.Arthur had some dim lantern of some kind: from Slinder's smithy, a perforated metal can containing a small tube of burning fish oil and a wick twisted from hay, and The guts of absolutely normal beasts are dried and made into a translucent membrane that encases the lamp. Now it's off. Arthur held it and shook it for a few seconds in a completely meaningless fashion.Obviously, there was no way he could have made the thing light itself up in the storm anyway, but a token effort was necessary.At last he reluctantly tossed it aside. what to do?It's just hopeless.He was drenched, his clothes were heavy, rolled with the rain, and now he was lost in the dark. For a moment he was shrouded in blinding light, and then plunged into darkness again. But the previous lightning at least told him that he was already very close to the ridge.Once over the hill he's... well, he doesn't quite know what he's going to do.Let's think about it later. He limped forward, up. After a few minutes he found himself at the top of the hill.At the foot of the mountain, he could see some light in the distance. He didn't know what it was. In fact, he didn't even want to think about it.But he had no other object to advance to anyway, so he staggered towards it, not knowing where he was, and dying of fear. The deadly beam pierced Langdon's body, and then, about two seconds later, the man who had fired the shot passed through her as well.He didn't even look at her otherwise.He was hitting someone behind her, and Langdon turned to see him kneeling beside the body, searching its pockets. The image froze and disappeared.A second later, a pair of front teeth replaced it, and beyond the teeth was a huge red lip, the lipstick was impeccably applied, and it glistened in the rain curtain.Then an oversized toothbrush suddenly appeared, brushing teeth with rich bubbles. Langdon blinked at it twice, finally understanding what was going on. It was an ad, and the man who shot her was a hologram on the spaceship.Now she must be very close to the place where the ship crashed.Apparently some of its systems are more reliable than others. The next half mile was especially tiring.Not only did she have to endure the cold, rain, and night, but the wreckage of the ship's onboard entertainment system came out every now and then for gusts of wind.Spaceships, jet cars, and solar-powered airships kept crashing, exploding, and shining brightly around her; ugly guys in weird hats smuggled dangerous drugs through her body; The orchestra and chorus of the National Center for the Performing Arts are performing, the program is "Won's Branwellam" composed by Lizga, and "Anga-Kutai Star Guardian March" at the end of the fourth act. Then she came to the edge of a jagged, hideous-looking crater.In the middle of the crater there was something that seemed to melt into caramel-colored chewing gum, and was still faintly warm: it was the remnant of a large ship that had dissolved. She stood there watching for a while, and finally walked around the edge of the crater. She didn't know what she was looking for, but she kept going, leaving the horrible crater behind. The rain had started to die down a bit, but everything was still wet as hell.She didn't know what was in the box, and she wasn't sure if it was something particularly delicate or easily damaged, so she thought she should find a slightly dry place before opening it.She prayed that the box hadn't been broken when it fell on the floor. Langdon shone the flashlight on the surrounding trees.The trees here are sparse, and most of them are scorched and broken.A little farther away, she felt as if there was a pile of rocks sticking out, which might be able to block the rain, so she walked there cautiously.Looking around, there are wreckage all around, all thrown out by the spaceship before it turned into a fireball.About two or three hundred yards from the edge of the crater, she saw some tattered fragments, a fluffy pink material, rain-soaked and muddy, hanging listlessly among the broken trees.She guessed it was the escape cocoon that saved her father's life.She walked over to take a closer look, then noticed something half hidden in the mud on the ground. She picked it up and wiped the dirt off it.It was an electronic device the size of a book, and under her touch, several friendly characters on the cover glowed faintly: "Don't panic".She knows what it is.This is her father's book. Seeing this, she immediately felt more at ease.She lifted her head toward the thundering sky, letting the rain wash over her face and into her mouth. She shook her head and continued running towards the stone.She climbed to the top of them and almost immediately saw the perfect spot: the opening of a cave.She shines a flashlight into it.It looks dry and safe.She went in, very cautiously.The space inside is quite large, but not too deep.Exhausted and relieved at the same time, Langdon sat down on a suitable rock, placed the box in front of him, and immediately began to dismantle it.