No.12 night

I walked slowly through the rose garden, and the petals brushed against the back of my hand, soft as silk; the dew dripped on my heart, sounding like pearls.The bushes were full of sharp thorns, and I walked through them, and it didn't take long for me to be covered with scars.

Yesterday, I saw you.You stand in the middle of the garden, surrounded by rose-colored flames; you wave your long sea-blue hair, stepping on the stone steps, walking towards me step by step.

My eyes stopped on you, and there was no other color in my eyes for a while.Behind you is where I want to go, and you stand in front of me with a look full of vigilance and contempt.

"Hackers," you said, "Investigating the defense system of the court has cost you a lot of hard work, right? Is four days enough for you to figure out the situation so that you can inform your companions to follow the steps?"

Of course, I never forgot what I was going to do.The Hypnos Society is engaged in academic research on the surface, but in fact it is devoted to cracking the codes that are strictly guarded by various institutions, and every action strives to be watertight.Unfortunately, one of us still went wrong and he was arrested while on a mission in Athens.The local court has already intervened in the case, and the suspect Niobi is facing prosecution; once the court conducts a background investigation on him, more secrets will be revealed, and even the society will be implicated.So I took the order, I will enter the database before and after the public trial, and steal Niobi's information, and it is best to take him away.

"The hackers are so daring now, they come to the court a few days in advance, just to let themselves see an information wall that can never be broken through." You gave me a mocking smile, as if you had seen through all my tricks.

You're waiting for me to crash, and if I go back like this, I won't find a place in the academy.So I laughed too, ready to pay back your insults to me one by one.

"The courts of Athens are so useless that they rely on gardeners to act as gatekeepers. Shouldn't they think of building walls with roses to resist invasion? - But I always feel that your appearance is more useful to foreign enemies than using flowers as a barrier Confusing..."

I got more than information.The Royal Rose Garden is only separated from the court by a wall. On the surface, it provides flowers to the latter, but in fact it is guarded by special personnel to monitor all criminals who try to invade.

Today's courts have long lost their former glory, and the judges are huddled in the afterglow of the co-government era. Once the think tank takes over the trial of the case, their professional skills will only be used for writing their own memoirs.But before that, the face that should be taken into account still needs to be preserved, and the court still has a considerable amount of autonomous power to defend its own authority, and the rose garden is the specific form of this power. "Royal" is a metaphor, it represents those things that should have passed away long ago, just like the monarchy that disappeared a hundred years ago.

You were unhappy for a moment, I caught the subtle changes on your face, and I knew it in my heart.You don't like being talked about what you look like, it's more like a non-essential extra to you, and knowing that is enough for me to take the lead and piss you off at the right time.

You didn't let me go on. "You wouldn't be so naive as to think that the only thing that threatens you is me in front of you?" You said, tapping the bricks and stones under your feet lightly, thinking you could turn the tables.

The so-called drama is manifested in this moment.I quietly planted a hidden danger in your back, waiting for you to detonate it yourself, and I am happy to appreciate your stunned appearance.You flip a switch, then look down slightly in surprise to find that I've cut off the information network from the Rose Garden to the courthouse.

But then you didn't look overwhelmed, which disappointed me; instead, you threw away everything you could rely on, sat on the floor, hugged your knees and said to me: "Come on, let's talk about the terms. .”

Of course I am willing to accompany you.I lean against the stone pillar not far from you, prop up one leg, put my upper hand and look at you.

"If I had set up guards on your way here, where would you be now?" You scratched the slate with your fingertips, as if talking about trivial things, "You're a top tech hacker, I'm not going to Catch you; in fact, we need someone who is good at laying data walls to help the court build a new branch."

"Is this what the court meant?"

"No—just a sudden thought on my part."

Negotiating privately and wooing foreign enemies is considered dereliction of duty for you.I just think it's interesting, but it doesn't mean I will agree to your request.

But I still say I can try it.Walking with you can make me feel better, and that alone is worth the risk, not to mention that I have no intention of making any promises with you.So on the second day, I came here again, and you waited in the same place, still holding a dried bouquet in your hand.There is no need for swords and swords between you and me. There is a lot of time for us to sit and talk.

This is also a step in my plan.I wouldn't be so stupid as to let my intentions be seen through in the first place.The Royal Rose Garden is a tough nut to crack. Instead of trying to break through it head-on, it is better to reveal the identity of the hacker first to mislead the watchers, and then let others take the opportunity to break into the loophole.This is the greatest irony of fate, you trust me, but I take this as a joke, and figure out how to squeeze the most value out of it.

I learned your name during the conversation, so I handed over mine—actually it was just the code name that the Academy gave me, Minos Griffin.

"Have you read Dante's Inferno?" you ask.

I raised my eyebrows, taking it as a mockery of me.I live in an old-fashioned and wealthy family, and I owned a whole library before I was 16 years old; I can sort out the rare books of all poetry classics so far, from the number of dill dedicated by Sappho to the god of beauty, to Ovid's arbitrary art of adultery , like counting the stars in the sky.

And what you said next surprised me.You say: "There is also a Minos, stationed in the second ring of hell to judge sinners, and the number of rings around his body with his tail determines which layer he puts them in."

I throw you a disdainful look.This is not a good joke. Most of the time, I can answer you easily. Occasionally, there will be situations like this, where you cite some ancient classics and quote them, which makes me really unable to compliment your accomplishment.

My silence gave you encouragement, and you thought you had won the victory, so you smiled smugly: "That is you in Dante's writing, my noble judge of hell."

So let me tell you that I have no intention of serving in the courts.After all, the future will be an era of integrated information, and it is more promising to switch to a designer. Who would care about an ancient profession like a judge that should have been eliminated long ago?

But you disagree with me.

"It's too early to draw such a conclusion. No matter how widely the technology network is applied, there must be a defender. Designers can at best make a draft for it, and it may be those powerful judges who can ultimately affect the direction of the finished product. .”

I tilted my head: "Who told you?"

"My teacher, Mr. Ruggness."

I've heard the name before.He is the predecessor in this rose garden, the last guard of the nest—this is what the society usually calls such people, and the Royal Rose Garden is the nest they built to protect the court from hackers.

"Strange opinion, I mean Rugnis—what's the matter with him?"

"He has passed away."

You narrated the whole story plainly, but I can still read from your eyes how much you cherish this person.

Rugenis, the nest guard of the Sage court, worked hard until he was 36 years old, and was injured in an operation to track down the hacker stronghold.At that time, he was in the wild and couldn't get the medicine to stop the bleeding, so he had to use the nearby weeds as a simple bandage.At dawn, he swayed a few times and fell before your eyes; you recognized that besides the most common white grass on his arms, there was also a kind of red lily of the valley leaves.

The task this time is not complete, it not only made the court lose the Wei Chao people, but also exposed your position.Someone came up in the direction where Rugnis had fallen and claimed that he had stolen his young son 16 years earlier. "You deserve it, Vader," said the man.

"But in fact I was abandoned. Their organization was hunted all over northern Europe and I became a liability that deserved to be abandoned. My teacher decided to take me back to Athens and raise me alone " You stared into the distance, "When they came over, I took him to crawl in a ravine. Do you know what I was thinking at that time? I pinched lily of the valley into my palm, and I was ready to fight with them at any time. ——Fortunately, those people did not find me. This is the only place I thank God. I did the bandaging work. It was too dark to see the herbs on my hands. The poison of the lily of the valley entered the Lugenis along the blood The whole body of the teacher, it was my mistake that killed him. I have the blood of hackers like you, as long as it is still flowing in my body, I cannot atone for the death of the teacher."

As you speak, you always look towards the corner of the garden, where a dozen or so red lily-of-the-valleys are quietly growing, descendants of the lily-of-the-valley that killed Lugenis.This is your unique way of confessing, remembering your mentor, and reminding yourself to always be cautious.

The nesters of the Royal Rose Garden live as solitary as solitary waterfowl, but there are others like you around.Aside from talking about other places, the library of the court is also a place that is not humane. It has all kinds of top-secret collections in it, and it is difficult for their administrators to deal with the outside world.I have never seen any court sitting on such a large number of treasures, which have gone far beyond the scope of books. The only reasonable explanation is that the court hopes to still maintain its original power in the days to come. For this reason, they need No expense was spared to start the business early.

The era I live in is noisy and fickle, and the flood of new discoveries is enough to make people numb. The public has not yet digested the existing knowledge, and pioneers have long swarmed towards the gray area.People keep occupying new areas, spreading tirelessly like mold on cereal.

"Mold", a less than positive metaphor I use to describe people who follow trends aimlessly, seems unfair to people who really do research, and I am in no way disturbed by it.Since the pursuit of efficiency has been the trend for centuries, it may be better to leave the decision-making power to an inhuman being.

The hottest project at the moment, the Korolus nerve sharing plan, aims to achieve the most balanced distribution while eliminating potential totalitarianism.I should have scoffed at that.To be honest, I don't care where the authority is transferred; I don't trust this bloated world.Tons of information are born every moment, and everyone is lost in the endless acceptance. The vainness of the skin and the shrinkage of the soul achieve a weird harmony in the same body, which is only soaked in concentrated salt water all day long. will appear.

But I was quickly proven wrong.Korolos can form a natural induction field around the human body, and access the top-level sensing equipment without even using physical lines; the connection to the external network is like a layer of frivolous bubbles, only the controller in the hands of the person involved know how to catch it.Perhaps the most unique thing is the shielding device of this technology. The designers have carefully created a transparent shell, which allows it to filter out most of the redundant data from the outside world-"only take what you need".I like its simplicity, and I have an absolute need for a quiet environment, and I will not refuse to embrace Korolus.

Athens is the forerunner of the Korolus system.This technology was put into use long before I agreed with you.In fact, if you use the established connection when you meet for the first time, I will probably be caught off guard.After knowing this, I am more interested in you. How likely is it that a person who has endless regrets about the past will be reborn so that he can adapt to the present life?

You don't like the project.Korolos is developing towards the whole world, and it now has a new name - Divine Consciousness Library. The name "spiritual consciousness" endows it with a strong religious connotation, representing the awe of the public, which makes you feel dangerous.When you spoke of it to me with some concern, I thought you were nostalgic for something that was destined to pass away.

"You are not much better than me. You would rather believe in a hacker like me than leave a way out for your fellow accomplices." I said to you with a bit of malice, "I have to remind you that until now the court doesn't know You did it in private. If I suddenly changed my mind and surrendered to them, your former friends would regard you as enemies because of your presumptuous claims."

"I'm just confirming the teacher's opinion. Today's hackers may become the rule-makers in the future. Think about it, Griffin, the integrated network has developed to the scale it is today, and ordinary people can hardly understand the principles of it." , let alone operate these sophisticated instruments. We really need people who are proficient in all technologies, even if they can’t control the overall situation, they can at least maintain the stability of the system in a small area.”

I have the advantage of being a hacker, so you hope to join hands with me to deal with the unknown; but I don't think I should be responsible for the future, I am not the only one who is good at this skill, you will pick me, but you just take it for granted I am used to being alone as lonely as you.Solitude is a noble privilege, and you are not proud of it.

Once you asked me what I thought of you out of the blue, which surprised me a little; at that time we were sitting in the rose garden waiting for the sunrise, and the time fell into your eyes all night, stirring up the delicate and warm Bing, I suddenly feel that I no longer have any reason to be stingy with your beauty.

"Arrogant, obstinate, rough, and stunningly beautiful."

You tilt your head, as if listening to a gust of wind blowing gently. "Then what do you think is your image in my eyes?"

I smiled indifferently: "It will never be similar to how I feel about you, because you are trying so hard to find a sense of identity—"

You lower your eyelashes: "You never see other people's pain."

"Ah, that's right, why do you want to see it? I don't think pain is a reality that can be accumulated."

"The information network you criticize is a channel for the weak to speak out. Without the development of communication technology, they will only sink in the long river with despair. You are a perfect politician hidden in your bones. For you, population means nothing but Looking at the data, it is a performance worth cultivating. History does not pity the weak, and Korolos will only be a more ruthless existence than the political arena."

I spread my hands and prepared a stack of sneers for you: "But unfortunately, this is the way our world is. Even if everyone can hold wealth and stay away from disasters, they will still experience jealousy and hatred, and bear the burden of their loved ones. The separation and the fear of death, thickened in an insatiable need. Let me understand human suffering, and invite me to see how an antelope is preyed on the grassland. There is no good or bad in life , Existence itself is misfortune, the difference is that life is a great tragedy, and life is just a boil accumulated by a series of farces. Instead of complaining about the process, embrace the end, the continuous time is the red on the fingertips of nightmares , that is not the form of life, only the blackness of death really belongs to you and me."

As if saying that wasn't enough to annoy you.You just looked a little tired, lowered your body, and buried yourself in the foreign land.

During this period of time, I am fascinated by the concept of reincarnation in Indian theology. I asked you what you think about the infinite cycle. If this is the way the world works, then the so-called death will lose its meaning, and life without end will be even more absurd.You stare at your hands for a moment, then reply that you don't care.

"Then let's make an agreement." You looked into my eyes calmly, "If the situation changes in the future, you will take on the responsibility of bringing the situation back on track, and as a true adjudicator, you will walk with Crolos. "

"I can't guarantee it." I pinched off a leaf, with a loose attitude, "Besides, I hate jobs that are too restrictive."

You didn't show any disappointment, but went on to say: "The other is my personal thought. If you can really meet me again in a reincarnation somewhere in time and space, and you still have the memory of this life, you can use I'm a test subject to see where the world has come."

It is true that an orderly life makes me boring, and rebelling against fate is a great romance. I don't reject taking risks with you, but I still can't promise you.

"This is beyond what I can do at the moment." I said, "Okay, tell me when I need to do the outer wall of the branch?"

The expansion speed of the Divine Consciousness Library is astonishing, and it didn't take long for it to cover the entire Balkans.Our place was incorporated into a large region, and corresponding management agencies were set up under it, one of which opened west of Greece, near the Adriatic Sea.It wasn't until I stepped into that area that I realized that the so-called supervisor was the court.It seems that you guessed it right, Athens' efforts can make all the old things look different, and the judges have transformed themselves into the regulators of the new era.

As you wish, I have taken over most of the design tasks of this court, so I have cut off the contact with the society, I hope they can use this gap to settle the matter of Niobi, and for the first time I will devote myself to Put in my work.

This doesn't make me feel boring. Every time you pass by me, it can properly inspire me. From the hall to the courtroom, I carefully nested decorations of different styles in the details of the building.Rococo curly leaves grow from the ends of your hair, permeating the fragrance of grass juice outside the window; then take a little rose red from your cheeks, add acacia nectar, and make a Turkish carpet, dyeing the current autumn colors dimly yellow.Sometimes you will lick your lips inadvertently, half or six of the wetness, and the rhythm of the vibrating Adam's apple, one step lower to the collarbone, like two beautifully shaped side doors, and you just need to stand here, is a pair of An old painting with clear tones.I enjoy everything you have brought me, and the perfect integration of them with the modern building is enough to call it a masterpiece; there is only a certain room on the side of the third floor, and I have not set up any channels for it to transmit information flow. It's my little joke about your memory of the past.

I thought it was going to last and I would be involved in building more courthouses soon.But one day, I accidentally encountered the communication code of my subordinate Biak, but I couldn't sense his message.I realized that you had done something wrong, and in a daze, I opened the secret code of the society, but did not receive any reply.

The Weichao people have already adapted to loneliness. It is unusual for you to take the initiative to approach me. What's more, I calculated the court first, but you just followed the plan and dug out the lair of Hypnos. Everyone, including the president, was arrested .I didn't expect the connection of the Divine Consciousness Library to cover the old equipment so quickly. This is the horror of Korollos, it can change everything silently.You notified the court to thoroughly investigate Niobi very early on. The reason why you stayed with me was to hope that I could make amends.

On the day the court was completed, I was put under house arrest. I was locked up on the third floor, the only room that couldn’t be connected, a dead corner that couldn’t be manipulated by hackers.I touched the wall designed by myself inch by inch, and it cut me off from the world deeply; the reeds in the mountains in the distance were undulating in large swaths, and I didn't feel their beauty, only that the moment was extremely noisy.

By the time you arrive, I have carved all kinds of sharp symbols in the room with my fingernails.

"Is it fun to set up a game for me?"

You nimbly sat down on the window edge, and even smiled at me: "It's your own stupidity."

"You're worse than me being stupid. I've never seen anyone stupid enough to lock a criminal in a room suitable for escape." I pointed to the window, and by breaking the glass I could climb out.

"But you didn't do that." You simply raised your cheeks, full of playfulness, "I remember you were extremely afraid of heights."

"do you have anything else?"

"Your accomplice is imprisoned not far from you, and I shall be the first judge here."

"Then I don't think others will come to see how you handle the case, but just to see the face of your lordship. ——After talking, can I leave?" This topic made me uncomfortable, and I deliberately provoked you , Your eyes suddenly became sharp.

"If you want to go out, unless you kill me."

You really are damned.I didn't say any more, and suddenly rushed over and bit your neck, you didn't break free, but closed your eyes, as if everything had nothing to do with you.I felt that your breathing was beginning to become difficult, so I deliberately prolonged the torture for you, and let go when you were about to suffocate.You looked at me paralyzed on the ground, your blushing bite marks mixed with sweat.

This location on the third floor is very remote. I don't understand why you dare to come here alone. Until you calm down your heartbeat and struggle to get up, I subconsciously reach out to help you, but you throw me heavily on the ground and use your knees in an instant It reached my lower abdomen and buried his face towards me.Prolonged lack of oxygen makes you physically exhausted, your mind is a little slack, and I am afraid that you no longer know what you are doing.

"Griffin," you whispered in my ear.

A person with a beautiful face like you is an irresistible temptation to me. I vented my desire like venting anger, making this unilateral plunder seem depressing and insane.I should have snarled at you, questioning your deception, and came close to whispering when I came up to you; and you accepted it, and sometimes added fuel to it.After you're done, you spread out your body, as if showing off the layer of skin I've peeled off.

I am the sin given to you by God, and you will be my punishment.At this moment I feel that you will become my sweetest nightmare, haunted in my breath forever, until I die.I lowered my head, and it took me a long time to realize that tears were falling.

Hypnosology is gone, and I have nowhere to go, so I stay, in this prison made for me, at the cost that if you leave, I will be arrested again as a criminal protected by a previous judge sue.

But most of the time you don't regard me as your prisoner, and I can even follow you to various places within limits, or do some old business.On a certain unknown hilltop, I ingeniously designed a path, paved with glass, with no view of the valley bottom at a glance; but you insisted that I go up, and laughed heartily after witnessing my embarrassment——I It's the first time I saw you laughing and laughing, as if releasing years of depression together.Getting along with you can make people forget the past and the future, and I would suspect that there is some power that freezes time until one of us dies first, and then it will be broken.

"Does your feeling for me qualify as love?"

I ask you this when the day finally comes.You were killed in a secluded corridor. The assassin was one of the group of Nordic hackers. He pretended to be a member of the academy and was caught together with Biak. He secretly hid a sharp blade used as a decoration somewhere in the court. Looking out of the window, he stabbed you twice in the back.

You asked me to bleed all your blood so you could go to your teacher without any apology, and you avoided answering my questions.I closed my eyes for you and decided to take a walk in the square outside.In this way I went as far as the towering steeple of the courthouse, and then I looked up like a drowned man looking from the bottom to the surface.

It took you a night to drain your blood, during which time I performed a simple disinfection treatment, which will prevent you from rotting so quickly.Afterwards, I asked forensic doctor Dieter to get some formaldehyde solution, a full twelve liters, and I watched him stick them all into your arteries, while I was asked to press evenly along the blood vessels, and put the stagnant embalming solution into each place. Tweet here and there so that you look as good as ever.In doing this I kept touching your skin like a tarnished piece of satin.

Your assassination hastened the repair of the connection facility. After it is fully connected to the repository of consciousness, the court no longer needs the old-style guardians, and the Royal Rose Garden remains as an ordinary scenic spot.I buried you in the depths of the surging sea of ​​flowers, where we first met.

I thought that after all this was done, I would end up in prison for the rest of my life.One day, a stranger approached me and asked me if I would continue to help them build other branches, and said that this is an opportunity for me to change my past.

"I don't need to change anything. If you think I can't extract value anymore, you might as well let me die here." I was indifferent, but the man named Aspoulos didn't give up.He thought about it for a while, and made a condition to me.

"I will recommend you to be the judge here." He said, "The recommendation function of the spiritual consciousness system is not perfect enough, and there are many loopholes for you to exploit."

With little need for a reaction, I thought of your wish as a judge—the assassination came too soon, before you officially took office, and I wondered if I should let it stop abruptly.Just when I was hesitating, Aspros spoke again.

"Maybe you don't know about my work yet. I was not idle when I was in the Athens Library. I am one of the developers of the technology of the Divine Consciousness Library, and I know very well what may happen next."

"Are you so afraid that I'll lose my job?" I asked.

"I'm afraid it's worse than unemployment." He smoothed his bushy hair, as if to see through my thoughts. "We've been living in a one-way world, but it won't be long before everything changes. It might be hard for you to say that." It's hard for you to understand, but I want to tell you that the person you care about has not been officially appointed, and he will not participate in the Cairos-style cycle. The Athenian judge Saiqi decided to recommend his brother to the office. If you are interested, Be sure to act before that."

It's a bet, and I might as well give it a go.I will take over the court I designed, with you as its first judge and me as my successor.In fact, this is just a trick played by Aspros. The first generation of judges needed to be recommended by others, so he used his status as a founder to support a cronies of judges, and I supported him so that he would be sure to take the position.

The succession ceremony was unbelievably sloppy, and I couldn't feel any changes until I died suddenly in office half a year later. It seemed unexpected, but in fact the high-intensity work of the court was enough to kill me.But I didn’t go to a certain end. On a wet morning, I opened my eyes, and it was raining outside; I switched on the display, and the calendar stopped on a certain day of a certain year. I don’t remember if I have experienced this before. sky.Just like that, I confirmed what the guy said.

Then something happened in the Athenian court.My untimely death made Aspoulos lose his sponsor, and it didn't take long for the Divine Consciousness Library to appoint and remove judges, and others could no longer give him the power he wanted.Asporus, the ambitious man of action, felt betrayed by the world, so he changed his normal clothes and made himself disappear completely.Before he left, he went to the rose garden and left a sentence on the entrance floor: "become a substitute for power, or be dissolved by it." He died of illness, leaving only a legend for later generations - someone pretended to be a prisoner and assassinated in the court, which gave him the opportunity to take office in a hurry.

I can mention all this with such ease, because they have nothing to do with me.When the separation of the world first started, people could connect to any area relatively freely. As the separation strengthened, they could no longer leave the original spiritual system, even if the concept of time they believed in and the area they were in deviated from each other.I had to keep confirming which system everyone should be in before, or kill myself time and time again, so as to collect information from different time and space.I never saw Aspros again, just as there is always a part of me who will leave forever; only death is really mine, and now it is a luxury that I can't ask for.

After becoming a judge, I saw the same people at different times and in different places.I said to them, "I've seen another you." Few people believed me, they thought I was a hypochondriac.I have traveled many places, met many people, and I still remember our agreement - how can I forget the agreement to you?Regardless of whether I finally practice it or not, it has become a brand that connects me with the past, allowing me to remember that I have truly lived.I don't know where you are, if you entered a new cycle, or if you were destined in chaos, or worst case, you stayed in the world of straight time, and I will never have the chance to see your turn.

But why should I care about you?Our whole connection was born of misjudgment between us, you are a hated enemy and my elusive opponent, I can't handle you, even in bed - it always ends with scars on my body.Soon your breath becomes calm, stand up and open the window, waiting for the sun to shine into the room; then you tidy up your clothes and walk out of the room, every word and deed is still troublesome.

I keep your blood in several glass jars, arranged according to size, and filled with ice.At first, I took it out and tasted it from time to time. It was fishy, ​​salty and cold, no different from my own blood, just like what you tasted after biting my shoulder.But I know after all that things left in this way cannot last long.I sprinkled it on the roots of the roses, and watched the crimson that had begun to change color soak into the soil bit by bit; a dozen steps away, you were sleeping surrounded by flowers and leaves.

Every night I'll pluck a rose from the rose garden, and I'll wear them on your bosom; I'll take a petal and put it on the back of your hand, and I'll kiss it: "Good night, my Ruger Nice rose."