The City of Marronligar

The author has something to say: Moonlight Night-July

My friend was imprisoned for killing the Governor, and walked to the execution ground in the shadow of the Goddess of Conviction.To this day, I vaguely remember the downpour, the noisy crowd, and the smoke that billowed from the harbor area.

Some were scolding him, some were mocking him, some were sympathizing with him, those fragmented voices were like the turbulent flow of the Pearl River during the flood season, and soon disappeared in the waves of the sea of ​​time.

If some things have not been recorded, they cannot be discovered by later generations; but even if they are finally known to later generations, a few words that lose their temperature may be misinterpreted by observers who stay out of the matter.This is an important insight about history that Yinwan Tower taught me.

——Miscellaneous Notes of Silver Bay Tower: Gossip and Conspiracy in the Governor's Mansion

When the horn sounded to close the city, Adrian had already led Louis out of the encirclement of the square, and a team of guards were chasing after them.

The rain curtain did not block the view of the pursuers, but the rain-filled armor and the weapons in their hands still slowed down their pace. The long street in the central city of Marenliga seemed to have no end.

The two ran across the avenue in front of the library of the Silver Bay Tower, when an out-of-control carriage spun around behind them, blocking the guard's view and briefly blocking the way of the pursuers, giving Adrian and Louis a break. Get some time to escape.

The horse, frightened by lightning, screamed and ran. The horseshoe stepped on the wet stone slab in the rain and almost slipped several times.

"Miss Liz, come down quickly!" Several handymen in the Silver Bay Tower jumped anxiously.

Liz hugged the horse's back, trying to calm the horse: "No, what if it overturns the carriage! There are still two boxes of books in there!"

On one side is the important criminal who needs to be arrested urgently, on the other side is the granddaughter of the curator of Silver Bay Tower and the books that seem to be very important, neither side can be neglected.The officer was so angry that he had to leave two soldiers to help rein in his horse, and shouted to the rest: "Hurry up!"

The other guards immediately circled the lively carriage, but saw that the two figures had disappeared into the dense rain, so they could only bite the bullet and continue chasing in the general direction.

The officer had raised horses in his early years and knew how to bring these frightened animals back to tame condition.Soon, the horse stopped its kicking hooves, and the handyman hurriedly pulled it aside, and then moved the wooden box covered with thatch into the library.

Liz's robe was soaked by the rain and stuck to her body wetly, making her even more slender and thin.She was standing under the eaves opposite the Silver Bay Tower, wearing the robe handed over by the orderly, still shivering for a while.

Seeing the out-of-control carriage disappearing the figure of the fugitive, and not knowing whether his subordinates could catch up with the target, the officer was very troubled: "I don't know if there is a public execution in the square today at the Silver Bay Tower, how did you choose to transport things at this time?"

Liz had just finished thanking her for the horse training, and her face changed when she heard this: "You kill your people, do you have to let the whole city watch? We at Silver Bay Tower can't do our own job? "

The officer was speechless for a moment, and turned his head annoyed.

Nor were the guards chasing fugitives in the rain along the boulevard.

Not long after being briefly blocked from view by the carriage, they lost Louis Cormac and the other mysterious man, and could only guess where the other was going based on experience and the direction of the road.

Not far from the Silver Bay Tower was the temple, and they immediately asked the young priest standing at the entrance of the temple: "Which direction did those two people go just now? One was wearing guard clothes, and the other was a prisoner."

The priest wearing the green stone talisman looked confused, thought for two seconds, and pointed to the east: "Over there. Excuse me, this is..."

"Looking for death row prisoners." The guards didn't have time to thank them carefully, and ran towards the direction pointed by the priest.

To the east of the central city is the market and the harbor area, and it may also turn north into the aristocratic area full of mansions.If hiding or fleeing, the possibility of entering the harbor area is more likely.

The clarion call for the city closure and arrest has already sounded, and the guards scattered at various guard posts in the city are waiting in full force.The pier will be closed soon, and ships will not be able to go to sea during the rainstorm, so Louis can only stay in the city.It is not impossible to capture him and bring him to justice with sufficient manpower and some time.

With this in mind, the guards finally had a bottom line in their hearts.

Seeing that the guards chasing Louis had gone away, Priest Shadu breathed a sigh of relief, and his nervous gaze drifted past the entrance of the sewer near the temple.

He returned to the hall of the temple, looked up at the row of tall and majestic stone statues piously, clasped the amulet hanging on his chest with both hands, and made a silent repentance in his heart: Supreme Gods, please forgive my lies.

Even though they are both incarnations of water, the expressions of rain and snow are quite different.

Whether it is the previous winter or the cold snap that interrupted the spring, the snow that falls on Marenliga is always gentle and calm.It came quietly mixed in the sea breeze, and left quietly.Can't get out of the thunderous momentum, but put everything into a soft coffin, and bury innocence and filth together.

At this moment, the rain curtain that covered the sky suddenly collapsed like the dark clouds over Silver Bay, and smashed to the ground with overwhelming force, as if venting the accumulated grievances for a long time, vowing to kill every person embedded in the cracks in the bricks of Maren Liga. A speck of dust is washed away.

However, no matter how heavy the rain is, those detested sins have not disappeared since then.

The rainwater merged into a turbid stream, carrying mud, sand and dirt into the underground channel of Maren Riga, forming another river network opposite to the Pearl River.Under the glamorous and luxurious city for hundreds of years, the turbulent water sends all the filth it wraps into the sea, keeping the surface of Maren Riga clean by hiding it from everyone's sight.

Because of the rain, the water quickly submerged the platforms on both sides of the channel for people to walk on, and the noisy sound of water and footsteps echoed in the long sewer.The thunder that fell from the sky was very far away, like the dream of a god high in the clouds.The torrential rain brought a cold wind, but instead poured some precious fresh air into the sewer.

Although it is closely related to the cities on the ground, the sewers always seem to be isolated from the outside world, revealing a strange tranquility in the dirty and gloomy.

Adrian and Louis were walking against the direction of the water flow in the darkness blocked by brick roofs and soil layers.

Even in such darkness, even without a torch, Adrian could still see the faintest light thanks to the innate sensory advantages of the Torreso people.

During his month in the dungeon, Louis also adapted to the lack of light.With Adrian's footsteps as a guide, he doesn't need to worry about getting lost.

As long as they continue to go west, they will reach the exit of the underdrain on the outskirts of Marenliga in a short time.The exit is on the edge of a deserted old river channel. The rusty iron gate has long been covered by weeds, and almost no one knows its existence.

The sewer, which was once perilous, has become the thoroughfare to regain freedom.Now, there are no Lightless Ones here—there will be no such monsters in the whole world.

But as long as they stepped into this long night of darkness, Louis and Adrian would still remember fighting them.Abandoned mine shafts, the Lightless One hanging upside down from the top of the sewer bricks, they are left as human relics after they were reduced to ashes...

The Lightless are gone, and the concept and its very existence can quickly be dismissed as anecdotes or nightmares that children might encounter after a bedtime story.

But the people who hunted the Lightless were regarded as prey by their own kind, as pawns, as victims of conspiracy, which made Adrian feel sad.

On the way from the execution platform to the sewer, he and Louis hadn't spoken yet, they just walked quietly one after the other.Adrian, who was leading the way, had already taken off his helmet, his wet black hair was dripping with sweat or rain, sticking to his cheeks and neck.

Adrian had never been much of a fan of the rain.The gloomy sky is so low that you can't breathe just looking at it; the damp wood is moldy, and even if it is piled in the corner of the woodshed, it always looks sluggish.

Now, he has another reason to hate rainy days.

At his side was Louis, emaciated from the rigors of prison, but at least able-bodied and able to move freely, having escaped the noose on the scaffold.As long as you walk out of the secret door hidden in the depths of the wild grass, you can break free from the beautiful and dangerous cage of Maren Liga.

"Louis Cormac" cannot be cleared of his crimes, but he still has a chance at a second life under a new name.

But Adrian was still scared.

He was afraid that he was just wishful thinking, which neither changed Louis' fate nor rekindled Louis' will to live.

He was afraid that he would be the first to say goodbye, and that once he said "goodbye", he would not have the confidence to say "there will be a period later".

Therefore, Adrian kept walking quickly, explaining the matter in a deliberately flattened tone: "I have arranged the horses and luggage in advance, and it is not far from the exit of the sewer. It is less than fifty steps northwest, and there is a Abandoned wooden shed, easy to find."

After walking for a while, he said again: "No matter what the truth is, Marunliga has already determined that you are the murderer who killed the governor. There is no other way but to leave here far away."

And when Louis took the initiative to speak, Adrian remained silent, clutching the edge of the helmet with his left hand, trying to divert his attention.

Louis asked him, "Adrian, are you hating me?"

Because of the noisy echo, the water in the sewer was very loud, like the tide hitting the beach of Silver Bay.

Adrian wanted to pretend he didn't hear it, but he still couldn't control the surging emotions in his heart, and stopped in the underground torrent rushing towards Yinwan.

He should have known earlier: because of the existence of Louis, Ma Lunli added to him no longer just a foreign land far away from Heshan Manor.It was also because of Louis that his heart could no longer return to the peace it had when he first came.

It's not anyone's fault, or everyone's fault.

Just as Adrian suffers from restless mood, Louis is trying to sort out the delicate and trivial emotions beyond the self-destructive impulse.

No, those emotions are not "trivial", they just extend too long along different threads, so that they are entangled with each other into a clueless piece, and they are firmly trapped with a specific person and the city.

On the last night in the dungeon, he told Samuel that he was afraid that once he met Adrian, he would not dare to die.But if he died in a hurry without having time to see Adrian, Louis couldn't bear that kind of regret.

It turned out to be so.

Under the gallows, the moment Louis saw those eyes, the almost barren spiritual field of Louis appeared again.Not because of his narrow escape, but because Adrian is still willing to stand by his side.

In the midst of storms all over the city, Louis found his "anchor".

"Adrian, are you hating me?"

The person walking in front finally stopped.

As far as the boundary of the ground is concerned, they have already stepped out of the range enclosed by the city wall of Marenliga.In front of the dark ditch, there is a wet wind with the smell of green grass blowing, and a little light hidden at the end of the underground waterway can be vaguely seen.

With the silhouette barely discernible in the dim vision, Louis found that Adrian's shoulders were trembling slightly, and his unstable spirit was about to cross the threshold of self-control.

Then, Adrian turned around slowly, and punched Louis mercilessly in the face, making him stagger and making Adrian's fingers numb.

Even if he could predict Adrian's movements, even if this solid punch was surprisingly heavy, Louis didn't intend to dodge it.

He didn't want to escape from this emotion that could die at any time.

The helmet in Adrian's hand fell to the ground.The cold iron shell fell into the rapids under the feet of the two, splashing a circle of cracking water.

Immediately afterwards, he stretched out his hand and grabbed Louis' head, his fingers wrapped around the wet locks of hair, and the cold chain mail gloves pressed against Louis's cheek that was equally cold from the shower and slightly hot from the punch just now, Suddenly send a tearful kiss.

"I don't want to—I can't watch you die...I can't."

Adrian's lips trembled, biting the broken words that Louis couldn't hear clearly on the tip of his tongue, and then scattered them with rapid breathing and tears hidden in the shadows.

Louis hugged Adrian's shoulders back, swallowing everything Adrian wanted to say.

In this cold, gloomy, corrupt darkness, in the filthy reflection of the city, the two kissed fiercely, as if even if the world on the ground fell apart, the majestic scene of Ma Lunli's long poem was instantly Turned into ruins, that has nothing to do with them.

From the execution ground to the underground ditch leading to the outskirts of the city, from cutting the noose to a kiss at the time of parting, this is probably the most impulsive thing Adrian has ever done.

As if trying to tear apart a vine that had been wedged into the tree trunk, Adrian withdrew his hand with difficulty, nudging Louis' chest to take two steps back, while his body temperature was still lingering in Louis' arms.

"...I can only stop here." Adrian said softly.

Louis looked at him fixedly: "Aren't you going to send me out?"

Adrian shook his head.

He said: "If I go any further, I'm afraid I won't be able to control myself... I'll want to leave with you."

"..."

"You are different. Everything that happened in Marenliga has passed, and you can start again in a place I don't know." Adrian lowered his eyes and lowered his voice.

"What about you?" Louis said with a relaxed tone, pretending to make a farewell ahead of schedule with the joy of reunion. "It's such a big mess, how do you plan to deal with the aftermath?"

Adrian just kept silent until he couldn't keep silent: "Today, I made my own decision and have nothing to do with the Torresso family, and I will not involve the Flying Lion Mansion."

His voice was quiet but firm, and Louis found it inappropriately comforting that Adrian had matured enough to protect the people he held dear even in his absence.

It's a happy and sad thing, and it's a pity they didn't have enough time to share the finer insights.

Louis finally confessed: "I lied to you. On the fireboat that day, I saw Chu De, and he was with those Kullmans. He may be bad for you, so be careful of the people around you."

And the simplest and most profound: "Thank you."

He still didn't explain why he burned the physical evidence in his hand, so that Chu De could take advantage of it.Because once he said it, Adrian would only feel more guilty.During the long years of being apart, guilt will ferment into a more deadly poison, bringing about long-term pain that cannot be relieved.

This, Louis thought, might minimize the sum of their suffering.

Adrian's opened lips moved slightly, but in the end he said nothing.

Even if he can't see each other again, he still doesn't want to say goodbye, and even the blessings are choked in his heart by the tears that flowed backwards, and he is at a loss for words between "forget me" and "don't forget me".

Therefore, Adrian just silently untied his own snake-shaped pendant, tied it around another person's neck with his own hands, pushed Louis' back, and silently urged him to walk towards the light at the end of the tunnel.