Chapter 35 Chapter Thirty-Five

It was foggy and chilly in the morning.Thick fog billowed towards the ruined streets.The fog was so thick that Schelling could not make out the sun in the sky.Onas, of course... somewhere, but its golden light, almost completely engulfed in fog.The southwest sky glowed slightly, and it was likely that the rest of the suns appeared in pairs, but he couldn't tell whether they were Sisar and Tano, or Patru and Trey. He is very tired.He wanted to travel alone, walking hundreds of miles between Salo City and Amgando National Park, Extremely unrealistic, this was all too clear to him. Damn Theremon!If he agrees to go together, at least, there is still a glimmer of hope for success.But the journalist firmly believed that Sifna would be found in the forest.What a whimsical, whimsical ah!

Sherin looked up at the sky, his eyes piercing through the dense fog.He needs a place to rest temporarily.He needs to find something to eat, maybe a change of clothes, or at least get himself a wash.He had never been so dirty, so hungry, so tired, so disappointed. Throughout the long public opinion about the coming darkness, from the first moment he heard Beanie and Arthur talk about the possibility, Schelling's psychological fear fluctuated back and forth, from pessimism to optimism, and then Back to pessimism; from hope to disappointment and back to hope.His wisdom and experience told him one thing, and his natural adaptability told him another.

Maybe Beanie and Arthur were wrong, and astronomical catastrophes simply couldn't happen. No, disaster is bound to happen. Darkness, despite his unpleasant experience in the mysterious passage years ago, if it really came, it would not be so annoying. wrong.The darkness will create a generalized state of madness. Going crazy is just a brief moment of insanity. For most people, madness will be permanent. The world may be chaotic for a few hours and then return to normal. The world will be destroyed in the chaos brought about by the eclipse. Back and forth, over and over again.The two Schellings, who are like twin brothers, are in a state of endless struggle.

Now he found that he suddenly fell to the bottom of the valley, unable to move, unable to struggle no matter what.His adaptability and optimism evaporated when he thought of the angry eyes he had seen while roaming the previous few days.It will take decades, or even hundreds of years, for everything to return to normal.The mental trauma has run deep and the social fabric has been generally damaged.The world he loved had been conquered by darkness, broken beyond repair.That was his professional opinion, and he knew there was no reason to doubt it. It was now the third day since Schelling parted from Theremon in the forest.On the way to Amgando, he was so carefree at first, but now it is hard to see him like that!

He'd managed to break out of the forest...a couple of times with difficulty, when he'd swung his ax and looked around for any mortal danger or threat, and though it was all his own scaring himself, it worked... In the last day or two he passed through the once pleasant southern suburbs. Everything here is burned down, the whole neighborhood has been burned down and uninhabited.Many buildings are still billowing with smoke. Schelling knew that the main road leading to the southern provinces started a few miles away from the park... If you drive forward, it only takes ten minutes.But instead of driving, Schelling had to push through fallen logs with incredible tenacity, climb through the trees, and climb to the top of the majestic Cape Onas.The distance was only a few hundred yards, but it took him half a day.

At the top, Schelling found that this small hill was more like a plateau... endless.He walked and walked and kept walking, but he still didn't come to the road. Is he going in the right direction? yes, yes.From time to time he saw signposts on street corners indicating that he was indeed going on the Great Southern Highway.But how far?Road signs are not marked.There was another sign every eleven or twelve blocks, and nothing else.He had no choice but to keep going. But reaching the road is only the first step towards Amgando.In fact, even if you get there, you are still in the city of Salo.What to do?keep walking?Or something else?He thought about hitchhiking with someone, but it was next to impossible.Where there is still traffic, the public gas stations that have not been burned have run out of gas a few days ago.At his current speed, how long would it take to rush to Amgando on foot?how many weeks?How many months?No...he'll never get there.Before he got close to that place, he had already starved to death.

Even so, he had to keep going.Running around aimlessly, he'd be dead in no time, and he knew it.It seems like a week has passed since the eclipse, maybe longer.Time has created confusion in his mind, his daily life and diet are no longer regular, but he is the most punctual person.Several suns in the sky rise and set, the sun is bright or dark, the air warms up for a while, and cools down for a while, time is passing; the time of breakfast, lunch, dinner and sleep is not fixed at all.Schelling didn't know how the time passed, he only knew that he was running so fast that he was almost exhausted.

He had not eaten properly since evening.From that moment of darkness, only bits and pieces of food were eaten, bits and pieces of fruit from trees, any raw seeds that didn't look poisonous, blades of grass, whatever they found.Although these things did not make him feel uncomfortable, they could not maintain his body's needs, and the nutritional content was almost equal to zero.His clothes were torn and hung like a veil.He dared not look in, he could imagine his skin must have been loose, wrinkled and clinging to the protruding bones.His throat was parched, his tongue appeared swollen, there was a horrible blow mark behind his eyes, and there was a constant dull, numb, hollow feeling inside.

When the mood is good, he tells himself that there must be a reason why he has been allowing himself to build up such a large layer of fat all these years, and now he is realizing why. But there are only a handful of good times every day.Hunger tormented him, and he realized that it wouldn't last long like this.He was obese, maintained by a normal diet, and was able to persist for such a long time because of his strength.Now, however, it has become so weak that it cannot push itself forward.Quite simply, before long, something like this will happen: he'll be curled up in the Behind the bushes, I couldn't move until...

He needs to get some food.be quick. The area he was passing through, though as deserted as all the others, appeared to be less devastated than those he had passed through.Although there have been fires here, not everything has been burned.The flames leapt over the houses as if on purpose, sparing them from damage.Schelling patiently went from room to room, trying to open every door. All doors are locked. How fastidious these people are!How neat, he thought!As soon as they heard that disaster was coming, in blind fear, they lost their homes and fled to forests, campuses, cities, and God knows where... and even risked locking the door before leaving!It's like just going on a short vacation during the chaos and coming back to their house to read and play with their bric-a-brac, their cupboards full of gorgeous clothes, and their gardens, the inner courtyards of their houses .Don't they realize that it's all over and that the chaos will go on forever?

Perhaps, Schelling thought wistfully, they hadn't left at all, and were hiding behind those doors they locked, huddling in the cellar as I once did, waiting for things to go back to normal, perhaps in the upstairs Staring at me from the window, hoping I'd go away. He tried another door, and then two more.All locked and nothing happens. "Hi! Is anyone home? Let me in!" It was silent. He stared sadly at the thick wooden door in front of him, imagining what was hidden behind the door, edible food that was not bad, the bathroom and the soft bed.But he was outside and couldn't go in.He felt a bit like the little boy in the fable who was given the magical key to open the garden of the gods, with flowing honey springs and gumballs (a kind of candy) on every bush. )!And he was too small to reach up and insert the key into the lock.He really wanted to cry. Then it dawned on him that he also had an ax with him.He began to laugh. Hunger must have made him stupid!The little boy in the fable persevered, and in order to ask for help, he gave his gloves, boots, and velvet hat to various animals passing by: the animals put their backs on their backs, and then he crawled. Got to the top and inserted the key into the lock.Here Schelling is not so small, staring at the locked door, and carrying an ax in his hand! Break in?Only break in? It was the opposite of what he believed to be true. Schelling looked at the ax as if it had become a viper in his hands.Breaking in... Why, that's burglars, professor of psychology at Salo, Schelling 501, how could he break open the door of a law-abiding citizen just to make himself a full meal? He calmly told himself, look what you think, and laughed at his stupid idea even more. He swings the axe. But it was not so easy, his muscles, weakened by hunger, were no longer in control.He can lift the axe, no problem, and he can swing it, but it's sadly weak.A spark flickered from his arms as the ax touched the thick wooden door. Did he break open the door?No.Cracked the door a bit?Maybe yes, maybe only a little bit.He swung again, again, harder each time.Come on, Schelling, you only cut a little now.wave!wave! For the first few swings, he felt almost no pain.He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and swung, and swung.The door is cracked, with a visible crack in it.One more swing...one more...maybe five or six more hard blows and the door will snap in two. food.bathroom.bed. Wave, wave, wave. The door in front of him broke open, and he was so surprised that he almost fell in.He staggered a few steps, leaning the handle of the ax on the door frame to support himself, and looked up. Six angry, wide-eyed faces were facing him. "Did you knock, sir?" one man asked, while the rest howled almost frantically. Then they reached out, grabbed his arms, and pulled him in. "You won't need this," said someone, taking the ax from Schelling's hand with little effort. "You'd hurt yourself with something like that, don't you know?" Another burst of wild laughter... a burst of crazy howling.They pushed him into the middle of the room and formed a circle around him. There were eight or nine of them in all.There were men, women, and a half-grown boy.Schelling could tell at a glance that they were not the owners of the house, which must have been neat and well maintained before they moved in.And now the walls are stained, half the furniture is overturned, there's something wet on the carpet... wine? He knew what kind of people these were. They were all people who squatted in other people's houses.They looked vulgar, ragged, bearded, and dirty.They wandered here, and when the owner of the house ran away, they occupied the place.One of the men was wearing only a shirt, and a woman, almost a girl, was wearing only a pair of shorts.They gave off a strong, unpleasant smell, and had a tense, glazed, uneasy look in their eyes.In recent days, he has seen it hundreds of times.Even if you don't have any clinical experience, you will know that it is the eyes of the mentally disturbed. Yet amidst the stench of these illegal dwellers, there was one delightful smell that almost delighted Schelling, somehow: the smell of cooking food.Someone is cooking in the next room.Is it stewing?Anyway, something was cooking there.He wavered, his hunger made him dizzy, and finally he couldn't bear to comfort his hungry stomach. He said gently: "I don't know that the house is taken, but I hope you will let me stay for one night, and then I will continue Continue on your way. " "Are you from the patrol?" a tall, bearded man asked suspiciously.It looked like he was the head. Schelling replied hesitantly: "Patrol? No, I don't know anything about them. My name is Schelling 501, and I'm Salo University..." "Patrol! Patrol! Patrol!" they sang suddenly, circling around him. "Staff of..." he finished his sentence. As if he had spoken a magical spell, they stopped in place.When his calm voice stopped the menacing screams, they fell silent and stared at him in an eerie way. "You said you were from the university?" asked the boss in a strange tone. "Yes, Department of Psychology. I'm a teacher and I practice medicine in my spare time... See, I have absolutely no intention of giving you any trouble, I just need a place to rest for a few hours. If you have any extra, give I have a little food, just a little. I haven't eaten in a long time, since...' "University!" cried a woman.The way she talks, it sounds like college is something dirty and sacrilegious.Schelling had heard that tone before. On the night of the solar eclipse, when Schelling mentioned Kejia, Fulihong 66 had used such a tone.This sounds scary. "University! University! University!" They began to form a circle around him again, singing, pointing at him, making strange gestures with curled fingers, and he could not understand what they were singing.That hoarse, nightmarish tune, all nonsense.Could it be that these people are some sub-sects of the Flame sect who officially converted to the Flame sect here, and held some kind of mysterious ceremony?No, he doubted it.Their appearance was different: shabby, slovenly, terribly insane.The cultists, like the ones he'd seen, always seemed bright, restrained, almost amazingly controlled, and hadn't been seen since the eclipse.Perhaps, Schelling surmised, they had all retreated to one of their sanctuaries, delighted at the confirmation of their faith. These people, he thought, are just wandering lunatics. And from Schelling's point of view, their eyes were full of murderous intent. "Listen," he said, "I apologize if I disturbed your ceremony, and I am perfectly willing to leave right away. I managed to get here only because I thought the house was vacant, and I was very Hungry. I have absolutely no intention of..." "University! University!" He had never seen such hateful eyes, but there was also fear in their eyes.They backed away from him, tense and trembling, as if fearing that he might suddenly unleash some terrible power. Schelling held out his hands to them imploringly.If only they could stop dancing and singing, if only for a moment!The smell of cooking food in the next room drove him crazy.He grabbed one of the women's arms, trying to get her to stop, to offer him a piece of bread, or a bowl of broth, or something.But she jumped away, hissing in protest, as if Schelling had touched her and burned her.She rubbed furiously, frantically, on the arm that Schelling's fingers briefly touched. "Please," he said, "I mean no harm. Believe me, I'm as harmless as anyone here." "No malice!" cried the Boss, uttering the word. "You? You, the University? You're worse than the Patrol. The Patrol gives people a little trouble, but you, you're ruining the world .” "Me, what?" "Be careful, Tacibal," said a woman, "get him out before he can cast his spell on us." "Magic?" Sherin said. "Me?" They pointed at him again, stabbing in the air, creepy.Some began to sing in low tones, from low to high, like a car accelerating steadily and then quickly out of control. Said the girl in just a pair of shorts: "It's the people at the university who brought the darkness down on us." "And the stars," said the man in the shirt. "They make the stars." "This man may bring them back," said the woman who spoke first. "Get him out! Get him out!" Schelling stared suspiciously.He told himself that he should have been able to foretell this, that it might well have come to a point where all scientists and intellectuals would be suspect.This morbid suspicion and fear will go viral among those who survive the twilight. "Do you think I can bring the stars back easily? Does that frighten you?" "You're from the university," said the man named Tacibal, "and you know the secret. It's the university that brings darkness, yes, the university that brings the stars, and the university that brings bad luck." enough!unbearable. It was bad enough being dragged into the house and forced to inhale the maddening aroma of food without being allowed to enjoy a little!However, he was still accused by those people... regarded as a disaster star, a vicious wizard... Schelling seemed to have been cut off by something. He exclaimed mockingly: "Is this what you believe? You idiots! You deranged, superstitious fools! Blame the universities? We have brought darkness? God, how stupid! Trying to We are the ones who warned you!" He gestured angrily, clenched his fists, and squeezed them hard. "He's going to bring them back, Tacibal! He's going to plunge us into darkness! Stop him! Stop him!" Suddenly they surrounded him, the circle getting smaller and smaller, reaching out to grab him. Schelling, standing among them, held out his hands helplessly to them and apologized, motionless.He regretted humiliating them just now, not because it put his life in danger...they probably didn't care what he called them by their names...but because he knew it wasn't their fault they did that.If anything, it was his fault for not doing more to help them protect themselves from what he knew was coming.Those articles of Theremon... If only he had told the journalists, if he had urged him to change his mocking tact in time... Yes, he regretted it now. He regretted everything he had done and not done, but it was too late. Someone punched him hard, and he gasped in surprise and pain. "Lilias..." he wanted to call out. All the people swarmed up.