Chapter 27 Chapter Twenty Seven

The two of them walked down the spiral staircase to the downstairs room together.There is no change here, and people are lighting torches.Beanie alone was busy in front of the three computers, processing the observation data from the upstairs telescope; the rest of the astronomers were doing other things, of which Theremon knew nothing.Schelling wandered around alone, bewildered.Fleming moved a chair and sat directly under the torch, continuing to read him.He opened and closed his lips, reciting the prayers of the Star School in a single tone. Words flashed through Theremon's mind as he wondered how to describe what had happened here.These few words he had intended to use in tomorrow's issue of The Chronicle.There were a few times when it was just after dark that the writing machine in his head was still rattling away...a very methodical, conscientious process of writing that he knew full well was meaningless .But he fantasizes that there will be an issue of "The Chronicle" tomorrow, which is ridiculous.

He exchanged glances with Severa. "The sky," she whispered. "I saw it." The hue of the sky changed again.It was still black, a horrible crimson, a monstrous color that looked like a great wound in the heavens was bleeding. The air seemed to thicken.The air thickened, and twilight filled the room as if it could be reached.The flickering yellow flames became more dazzling in the growing twilight.The smell of fireworks downstairs is as depressing as the smell upstairs appetite.The crackling of the torches as they burned, and the footsteps of Schelling, a heavyweight psychologist, circling the center table, disturbed Selimon's mind.

With or without torches, it was increasingly difficult to see what was around. It's beginning at last, Theremon thought.The hour of total darkness... the hour of the stars has come. It immediately occurred to him that perhaps the wisest thing to do would be to find a comfortable closet and lock himself there until it was all over.This keeps you out of danger, out of sight of the stars, and crouching there waiting for everything to return to normal.But a moment of contemplation made him realize that the idea was impractical, that a closet...a closed place...would have no light.Instead of being a haven of safety and comfort, it would become a house of horrors more creepy than an observatory room.

Also, if something big happened, something that would turn world history upside down, Theremon didn't want to curl up with his head in his hands when it happened.If so, he would be too cowardly and stupid.Maybe he will regret it for the rest of his life. Once he decides that something is newsworthy, he will never run away.In addition, he is quite confident, believing that no matter what happens, he can bear it... Besides, he still has at least a little doubt about whether there will be any major event coming. He stood motionless, and Severa's inhalation could be heard from time to time, which was the rapid breathing of a person trying to stay calm when he was rapidly disappearing into the dark world.

Then came another voice, a new one, broken and indistinct.Had it not been for the dead silence in the room, and the impending totality of the eclipse, and the unnatural concentration of Salemone, it would have been impossible to hear it. The journalists stood nervously, listening with bated breath.Then, he moved cautiously to the window and stared out of the window. Theremon uttered a cry of surprise, breaking the silence of the room. "Sherin!" There was a commotion in the room, everyone looked at him, pointed and asked questions.The psychologist came to him after a while, and Severa followed. Even Beanie, who was curled up in front of the computer, turned to look.

Outside, Dovim was like a dark, unlit fire, trying to get one last look at Kargash.In the direction of the city, the eastern horizon has disappeared into darkness.The road from Salo City to the Observatory turned into a dark red line. Under the dim light, the trees on both sides of the road could no longer distinguish individual trees, and all they saw were shadows. But it was the road itself that caught everyone's attention, for across it another shadow moved, horribly like a monstrous beast shambling its way up the slopes of Observatory Hill. "Look!" cried Theremon at the top of his voice. "Tell Arthur! The madman from the city! The Flemish men! Here they come!"

"How long until total solar eclipse?" Schelling asked "Fifteen minutes," said Beanie in a gruff voice, "but they'll be here in five minutes." "It's okay, let's keep working," Schelling said, calm in his voice.He tried his best to restrain himself, and what he said unexpectedly had a commanding tone. At this climax, he seemed to want to release all the strength hidden in his heart. "We're going to hold them back. The place is built as strong as a fortress. You go upstairs, Severa, and tell Arthur what's going on; you, Beanie, keep an eye on Fleming. You can beat him if you have to." Flip on the ground and teach him a lesson, but don't let him out of your sight. Come with me, Theremon."

Schelling walked out of the room, Theremon following closely.The spiral staircase descended, disappearing into a dank gray haze. They plunged 50 feet, flickering dim yellow light from the open door behind them The line disappeared, and the black shadows up and down pressed down on them. Schelling paused, his chubby hands grasping his chest.His eyes were protruding, he was coughing dryly, and his whole body was trembling with fear.Whatever good strategies he had found just now seemed to be of no avail. "I can't... breathe, you... go down, close all..." Theremon took a few steps down, then turned around and said, "Wait a minute! Can you hold on?" His own breathing began to rush, and the air was coming in and out of his lungs like thick syrup.When I think that I will enter the mysterious darkness alone, I can't help feeling extremely terrified.

What if the security guard left the door wide open? It wasn't the thugs that he was afraid of, but... dark. Theremon realized that he too was afraid of the dark after all. "Stay here and don't move." It was unnecessary for him to say that, for Schelling collapsed limply on the step that Theremon had just left him. "I'll be right back." He ran up two steps at a time, his heart pounding...not all because he was running too fast.He stumbled indoors and picked up a torch from a stand.Severa stared at him, bewildered. "Can I go with you?" she asked.

"Yes, no, no!" He ran out again.The torches smelled so bad that he couldn't keep his eyes open due to the smoke.But he clung to the torch as if he would kiss it for joy.The flames drifted backwards as he sprinted down the stairs. Schelling couldn't move.He opened his eyes and groaned as Theremon bent over him.The reporter shook Schelling's body vigorously. "Okay, hold on, we've got torches." He straightened his arms, held the torch high, supported the staggering psychologist with his arms, and walked downstairs under the light of the torch. The ground floor was pitch black.Theremon felt the terror overtake him again.But the torch pierced the darkness and showed him a way.

"Security..." Sherin said. where are they?ran away?Appears to have run away.No, there were a few security guards arranged by Arthur, huddled in the corner of the hall, trembling all over.Their eyes were blank, their tongues stuck out of their mouths, and there was no sign of anyone else present. "Listen," said Theremon gruffly, handing the torch to Sherin, "listen to noises outside." They heard it.The hoarse calls were fragmented and intermittent. Still, Schelling was right.The observatory was built like a fortress.It is a building of the last century, when the neo-gavotte style of architecture was in its heyday, characterized by solidity and durability rather than beauty. One-inch iron bars are inserted into the concrete window sills to create iron bars to protect the windows.The walls are made of stone blocks, which will not collapse even if there is an earthquake.The gate is a large oak plank, reinforced with iron in key places.Theremon checked the latches. They were all well inserted. "At least they can't come in by the way from Flemish," he gasped. "Listen, hear them coming! They're just outside the door!" "We have to act!" "That's right," said Theremon, "don't just stand still! Help me, drag these display cases against the door . . . put the torches Take it away, the smoke is killing me! " The cabinets are full of books, scientific instruments, etc., like an astronomy museum.God only knows how heavy the display case is, but at this moment of peril, Theremon seems to have been injected with some kind of superhuman strength.Pushing and pulling, he put the display case in place...Sherin helped him...as easily as moving a pillow.As he moved and adjusted the bulky cabinets, the tiny telescopes and other instruments in the cabinets wobbled to and fro, and glass shattered. Beanie will kill me, Theremon thought, these things are his lifeblood. But there is no time to think so much.He pushed the cabinets one by one against the door with all his strength, and in a few minutes a barrier was erected which he hoped would hold out for a while if the mob did break through the oak planks. From somewhere in the distance came the sound of a fist beating on the door, which was indistinct; screaming...howling... The truth is a nightmare. The desire to save drove this group of thugs, swarming from the city of Salo.The Flame faction told these people that as long as the observatory was destroyed, they would be saved immediately.But as the darkness approached, an unbearable fear almost made their brains lose their ability to think.They didn't have time to think about finding cars, weapons, choosing a leader, or even forming an organization. They walked to the observatory on foot and attacked it with their bare hands. Now, here they come.Dovim's last ray of brilliance, the last beam of red light, was powerlessly scattered on this group of people who were only terrified! Theremon grunted. "Let's go back upstairs!" There was no one in the room where everyone had gathered just now. They all went to the round room of the observatory.When Theremon rushed in, he froze for a moment, and there was a mysterious calm in the room, like a painting.Yemot sat in a small armchair next to the control panel of the giant astronomical telescope, as if tonight was just an ordinary night of astronomical research.The others gathered around the small binoculars, Beanie directing in a tense, unnatural voice. "Listen everyone, it's critical to get a quick photo of Dovim before the total solar eclipse and change the negatives. Here, each of you has a camera. We have to get all the relevant information, and you all know...know the exposure time ..." People held their breath, murmured, and agreed. Beanie wiped his eyes with his hand. "Is the torch still burning? Don't worry, I see it!" He leaned back hard in his chair, "Now remember, don't...don't just try to take a good picture. When the stars appear, don't waste time going to If you want to take two photos at a time, one is enough. And... If you feel that you can't hold on, just get away from the camera." At the door, Schelling whispered to Theremon, "Take me to Arthur. Where has he been?" There was no immediate answer from the journalist.The figure of the astronomer flickered in front of his eyes, looming, and the torch on his head turned into a yellow spot.The room was deathly cold.Theremon felt Severa's hand touch him once... just once... and then he lost sight of her. "It's too dark," he wailed. Schelling held out his hands. "Arthur," he staggered and groped forward, "Arthur!" Theremon took a step forward and grabbed his arm. "Wait. I'll take you there." He managed to cross the room.He closed his eyes so as not to see the darkness; he stopped thinking so that his mind would not be confused. No one heard them move, and no one noticed them.Schelling staggered into the wall. "Arthur!" "Sherin, is that you?" "It's me, it's me. Arthur?" "What's the matter, Sherin?" It was Arthur's voice, yes. "I want to tell you...don't worry about those thugs...the gate is very strong and can prevent them from coming in..." "Of course," murmured Arthur.It seemed to Theremon that the sound was coming from miles away, from light-years away. Suddenly, a figure among them moved quickly, swinging his arms and beating violently.Theremon thought it might be Yermot or Beanie.But when he touched the rough fabric of the believer's coat, he knew it must be Fleming. "Stars!" cried Fleming, "there are stars! Don't stop me!" Theremon realized he was trying to get close to Beanie and destroy the blasphemous telescope. "Look... outside..." Theremon called, but Beanie was still huddled in front of the computer.When complete darkness covers the entire sky, the computer can turn on the camera and quickly capture the moment. Theremon reached out and grabbed Freemont's coat, tugged it hard, and twisted it again.Suddenly someone grabbed his throat tightly, and his body kept shaking. There was only a shadow in front of him, and his feet seemed to have stepped on the floor.A knee slammed into his stomach so hard it made him dizzy with pain.He snorted a few times and almost fell to the ground. He panted angrily, and after a breath of relief, he was full of energy again.He seized Fleming by the shoulders, shook him violently, and threw an arm around his neck.Then he heard Beanie shouting in a low, hoarse voice, "I see it! Watch out! Get ready to take pictures!" Theremon understood everything at once.Visions of the whole world raced past his battered brain...all in disarray, all screaming piercingly in terror. Then he felt inexplicably that the last ray of sunlight had gradually receded and disappeared. At the same time, he heard Fleming's last strenuous gasp, Beanie's startled and low cry, and Schelling's strange cry, a piercing hysterical laugh... Then there was a sudden silence, a strange, deathly silence that came from outside. Theremon let go of his hands, and Freemont staggered.Theremon watched the devotee's blank eyes, and saw him looking up at the sky, the faint yellow light of the torch reflected in his eyes.He saw Fleming's mouth frothy, and heard an animal whimper from his throat. With horror, he raised his head and turned his gaze to the eerie darkness of the sky. Through the darkness, the stars are shining. Not a dozen or two like in Beanie's pathetic theory, but thousands of stars, one next to the other, one after the other, like a wall with no end in sight. .Terrible light filled the sky, forming a dazzling barrier.Thousands of mighty suns cast light that burns the soul.At this time, the whole world is cold, terrible and desolate, and the cold wind blows, making people tremble.But the indifferent light of the stars is even more terrifying. They beat into the depths of his soul, they beat like flails on his brain, and their cold, terrible light was like a million gongs beating at once. God, he thought.God, God, God! But his vision was fixed so that he could not move, so he looked up through the opening of the cupola.His muscles were stiff and he couldn't move. He stared at the huge barrier covering the sky with helplessness and fear on his face.He felt that his brain had lost its function under the attack of the endless light, his brain turned into a glass marble, rolling back and forth in his empty skull; his breathing was extremely difficult, and the blood in his body was Backflow in blood vessels. Finally, he was able to open and close his eyes.He made mournful noises, gasped, and muttered under his breath, trying to regain his self-control. Theremon stood up staggeringly, his throat constricted, he couldn't breathe, and all the muscles in his body trembled with extreme terror and overwhelming fear.He had a vague sense that Severa was nearby, but he had to try to remember who she was.He had to think hard about who he was.There was a terrible knocking sound downstairs, a sound of knocking on the door... like a thousand-headed monster trying to break into the room... never mind. It doesn't matter anymore. He knew that he was going crazy, but there was still a bit of reason deep in his heart that was still shouting, trying to dispel the dark fear that came like a flood.It's scary to be mad, and it's even scarier to know you're going mad... It's even scarier to know that a moment later your body will still be there, and all sane sanity will die, be consumed by dark madness.This is the Dark Trilogy... Dark, Cold and Destroyed!The bright cosmic wall was shattered, and the terrible dark wall was collapsing, squeezing, crushing, drowning him. A man crawled towards Theremon and gave him a push.Theremon shifted, and with his hands to his stiff neck, limped toward the glowing torch; his maddened vision was filled with fire. "Firelight!" he screamed. Arthur was weeping in a corner, the whimpers sounded horrific, like a frightened child. "The stars... all the stars... we didn't know before, we didn't know anything before. We used to think that 6 stars are the whole universe, and the stars we haven't seen are eternal and eternal darkness. The wall fell down and we Don't know... we can't know... nothing..." Someone grabbed the torch, which fell down and went out.At that moment, the terrifying and indifferent Han Xing approached even closer, Theremon looked around, and through the terrible light of the stars, he saw the scientists, stunned and lingering in terror.He managed to get to the corridor, and a biting wind blew through the open window, and he stood there, letting the wind blow on his face, laughing at the cold air that was blowing. "Theremon?" someone called behind him. "Theremon?" He continued to laugh. "Look," he said after a while, "these are the stars. These are the flames." On the horizon outside the window, in the direction of Salo City, there was a scarlet light, and the light became brighter and brighter, but it was not the light of the sun. The long night has come again.