East of Eden

Sui Sui lives with his grandmother. Their house is the only steel frame structure in the village, with iron sheets nailed on the outside and pipes laid behind it, like a steam fortress. Grandma is a mechanic.

Nian Sui invited them to live at home. His house is divided into upper and lower floors, and the space is not large. Some hand-made mechanical gadgets can be seen everywhere, such as dancing puppies, radios that generate electricity by pedaling bicycles, and parrots that tell the time on time. There are still several scrapped motorcycles hanging from the ceiling, and the bottom has been converted into an electric fan.

The boy's granny is cooking in the kitchen, she is a cool old woman with a large dragon tattoo on her arm, various ornaments on her neck, wrists, fingers and ankles, holding a large stick in her mouth Smoking pipes, peeling potatoes while listening to the Rolling Stones.

"A Sui, did you bring someone back?" She asked from afar without even turning her head.

"I met them in the rain forest, and they were surrounded by several armored beasts." Nian Sui took off his equipment and hung the motorcycle key on the horns of a small tin deer.

Seeing the furnishings in the house, Sophia couldn't help but ask, "Are you from a family of mechanics?"

"That's right, my grandma, dad, and I are all mechanics!" the boy said triumphantly.

"Don't worry about breeding beasts?" she said. "It's all metal here."

Hearing this, the boy took out a bottle of liquid from the drawer and shook it: "It doesn't matter, as long as you apply this essential oil made of Echinochloa sinensis on the machine, you won't provoke those guys, but it can only defend 60%. It’s still up to grandma and me to clean regularly. If you need it, let’s share some with you.”

"Thank you." Sophia said.

Nian Sui went to the sofa to watch TV, as if he was no stranger to outsiders like them. Nian Sui's grandma was also in a state of complete connivance, humming rock and roll melodies in the kitchen and stir-frying potato shreds.Sophia was a little suspicious of their attitude, but she didn't dare to say anything. She straightened her skirt and sat down opposite her.

"Little brother, it's our first time entering the rainforest. Do you have a few questions?" She said persuasively.

Nian Sui made a "please feel free" gesture.

"Are these armored beasts made by you Yepulong people?"

"puff!"

Unexpectedly, the first question made the age spray out, and the boy jumped up emotionally: "How is it possible! How could we come up with such a thing that hurts others and does not benefit ourselves? If it was made by us, we would have to work hard to paint it with purple thorns." What are you doing with such a troublesome thing as grass oil?"

"Uh, that seems to make sense."

"The armored beasts will attack all human beings, whether it is the Yepulong tribe or others, and we are also very troubled. 20 years ago, before I was born, they suddenly appeared in the rainforest one day and forced Su Huang's army back. We I thought it was a partner, but I didn’t expect that it didn’t distinguish between good and bad, and it also killed the residents of the rainforest. We and Su Huang both died a lot of people at that time..."

"Did they arise suddenly?"

"That's right, everyone said it was Ye Pulong's curse! Not only the soldiers were cursed, but our clansmen were also cursed. What a horrible Ye Pulong... woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

Before Nian Sui finished speaking, his grandma grabbed his ears and said, "Gods are above, you can't say whether you heard bad things about Ye Pulong." Grandma's eyes were full of anger.

The boy wailed: "Okay, okay, I know." He hugged his head and did not forget to straighten the goggles on his hat, like a little hedgehog that has been wounded.

Grandma let go and left.When she came out to teach her grandson, the situation in the kitchen was not good, the flames were whizzing upwards, and things were crackling in the pot, but the old man showed no signs of fear, wiped her hands on the apron, and calmly Walking into the hot kitchen, he continued to shake the spoon with one hand.

A group of people paid tribute to grandma with their eyes from a distance, and continued the topic just now.

Xing didn't want to go around in circles anymore, and asked directly: "Have you heard the news about Liang Shiheng's 'sacred object'?"

Unexpectedly, Nian Sui slapped his head: "Ah, I was about to tell you that the holy object is guarded by Yepulong, and it will be there wherever the dragon is."

"Shouldn't your people also be responsible for protecting the sacred objects?" Shano was furious. Their Sakuwa clan had guarded the sacred objects for thousands of years. How could this unreliable race put all the responsibility on the dragons! "Besides, Yepulong is not necessarily a real animal."

"It really exists." Nian Sui's tone was very firm, "My dad has seen it before."

When it comes to father, the age is visibly depressed, and the head hangs down, staring at the toes of his shoes.Seeing him like this, Sophia and Shano tactfully stopped the questioning.

But Xing suddenly stood up and looked around: "Is there anyone else in your house?"

His expression has always been serious. If his heart is a little weaker, he may be scared to cry by this serious man with deep black eyes.He didn't react for a moment, he was stunned: "Huh?"

Xing pointed to the kitchen: "Before we got here, you had already butchered the chicken and sheep, and prepared enough food for six people."

For an old man and a boy, the amount of food in the kitchen was indeed too much, so Xing made this guess.

Nian Sui came back to his senses and scratched his head: "So you are referring to this, our family has a big brother who came three days ago, he said that his partner will be here today, and asked me to pick you up in the rainforest .”

"Big brother?"

"Yeah, you guys are called the Weaver Party or the WiFi Party, and you're looking for a relic, and he told me all about it."

Several people looked at each other in blank dismay, no one knew why a "big brother" suddenly appeared and leaked their hole cards.

At this time, there was a sound of footsteps on the stairs, and a man with blond hair, high ponytail and a peaked cap came down with his hands in his pockets. He had a pair of golden eyes and a mole on his chin. The first impression he gave was "A pure and good young man who is so delicate that he looks like a woman."

His skin is very fair, and he doesn't look like someone who has been on missions all year round. If he is a scholar, his temperament seems to be too frivolous.The corners of his mouth are slightly turned up, his eyes are slightly smiling, and he has an attitude of playing in the world and looking down on the world.

"You're talking about me. I'm sorry. I was reading upstairs just now, so I didn't greet you." The blond man bowed, "I'm Helios, an IT engineer from the Weaver Party. Borrow his name, and you all think I'm a poor imitator."

"Helios?" Sophia laughed, "You really are the leader's believer."

Shano had seen the leader in the wheelchair before, so she didn't have any doubts. Although Sophia had never seen the leader, she guessed that the leader was an old man over 50 years old, so she didn't have any doubts.

From their point of view, this is just a somewhat mysterious young man. They don't know that he is an AI, and they don't think that the person standing in front of them now has the appearance of Liang Shiheng.

The only one who knows the truth is Xing, but because of the previous agreement, Xing can only keep silent.

Helios took out the gold-rimmed book, Messiah, the emblem of the Weaver party joint.His business card was clipped on the pages of the book, and the fake identity was very clean. After all, he controlled the intelligence network of the entire organization, and he could replace whoever he wanted.

"So you were arranged by your superiors to pick us up?" Sophia asked.

"That's right." Helios smiled, "I stayed three days longer than you guys, collected some information, and will pass it on to Dr. Sophia later."

Hearing his name mentioned, Sophia was slightly surprised: "Little brother, do you know me?"

"I've heard your name for a long time, and I've seen your profile."

Helios shook hands with her politely, then turned to the silver-haired man next to him: "Shanuo, Sakuwa from the eastern region, please give me your advice."

"..."

Finally he turned to Xing, and the two met their eyes, knowing each other well, but pretending not to know each other.

"Cang Xing, an ancient man from 3000 years ago, it's the first time I met you, very happy to meet you."

The moment the two shook hands, Xing felt that he had stuffed a note in his palm.

The "young IT engineer" Helios quickly gained everyone's trust. He is a man who is very good at integrating into the team... a man.With just the right smile, cheerful tone, throwing a few jokes to adjust the atmosphere from time to time, all social rhythms are in his hands.

As the night deepened, several people returned to the single room to rest.Xing opened the note from Helios and asked him to meet at a tavern in the village at 12 o'clock in the middle of the night.

Xing randomly picked up a coat and went to the appointment. He has always been a punctual person, but this time he didn't want to arrive early, but was 10 minutes late.The village at night is much quieter than the city. The night is thick, and distant dogs bark from the streets. Under the paper lanterns in the tavern, Helios is standing there waiting for him, wearing a white jacket.

Helios was looking up at the night sky, and when the star came to him, he still didn't look back from the sky.

"Hey, Cangxing, you are here." He said, "Looking at the night sky from the bottom of the tiankeng is like looking at the sky from a well, but the night sky is so boring now, there are neither stars nor moon."

Unknowingly, Xing followed him and raised his head, looking at the dark and narrow night sky.The rock wall is so high that it is like a layer of black cloth covering it.

"Go in and drink?" Helios pointed behind him.

So the two sat down on the second floor of the tavern. Evening entertainment was not very popular in this village. They were the only ones on the second floor, and there was a resident singer.The resident singer was playing a ballad with enthusiasm, eyes closed, probably recalling his past love story, and didn't care if there were people to join him or not.

"What did you ask me to do?" They sat by the window, Xing ordered a glass of absinthe.

Helios swirled the sparkling drink in his cup, and the light fell on his long golden hair, which was plated with a layer of soft gold.

"Drink." He said with downcast eyes.

"that's it?"

"that's it."

The wind at night was cool, and the wind chime on the window was blown, and the two of them fell into silence for a while.After a while, Helios spoke first:

"Maybe there is some misunderstanding between us. You hate me because I am not a human being. I replaced the previous Helios and stole Liang Shiheng's appearance, don't you?"

"It's good that you understand." Xing said coldly.He rarely communicated with people in this tone, but Helios did annoy him.Whenever he sees his face, he thinks of Liang Shiheng, but the hateful thing is that he knows that he loves Liang Shiheng, but now this kind of love only leaves a hollow and sad feeling.

Xing felt that he was constantly losing, losing many, many things.

"Your reason for hating me is not valid." Helios was very logical. "Except for Liang Shiheng's face, other things have nothing to do with you. Besides, Liang Shiheng was already a dead person 3000 years ago. Come out sooner, my friend. You're like a poor dog now."

The blond man's eyes were full of pity, and at the same time stared at Xing's face with curiosity, as if he wanted to study what kind of person would be so stubborn.

Holding the wine glass, Xing met his gaze with black eyes without flinching, and calmly responded: "You are right." The words were clear.This kind of "replacing negation with affirmation" is the highest way for Xing to express hostility besides directly fighting.

Helios probably liked seeing him holding back his anger and forcibly indifference, and suddenly burst out laughing. After laughing for a while, he took out a piece of paper from his pocket and put it on the table:

"Forget it, let's stop teasing you, let's talk about something serious, who gave you this card with the website address of the History Museum?"

"Have you been to my house?"

"I searched it carefully, even the underwear cupboard."

If there is an anger gauge displayed above everyone's head, the star's anger value has probably accumulated to 99%.

"I don't know, I found it in Dr. Shanmu's ward." He said angrily.

"Should I put it next to the roses?"

"It seems to be." Someone did bring Shan Mu a bouquet of roses that day, and Xing wondered how he knew.

"I said it smelled like roses, but it's real roses, and the sensors in my nasal cavity can analyze it." Helios said and poked the bridge of his nose, "Do you know roses, they are extremely precious Only a few people in the south are cultivating flowers, and there seem to be some in this village. It is said that a long time ago, lovers and friends would send roses to each other, and some people would use roses to decorate their houses..."

Helios is sometimes like an energetic child, eloquently explaining rose culture, and topics jump like hares.

"You're not listening to Cang Xing at all, you've been drinking all the time." Seeing that he was distracted, Helios patted the table.

Xing had no choice but to grab a handful of coins and put them next to the wine glass, get up and leave: "I don't want to hear your nonsense."

Helios was thrown off by him, and deliberately dragged out his tone: "I know, you are only interested in Liang Shiheng's sacred object."

Star looked back at him.

"To tell you the truth, I have already found out where the sacred object is. In fact, Su Huang also knows, but there are dragon guards and countless armored beasts in that place, so it is difficult to break through." The ice cubes jingled, "If I calculate, the winning rate of humans is 1%, but you are a variable, which makes me think it is worth a try."