The sun is high - #186 - Chapter 185 The Temptation of Theseus
Shuge must admit that before he said those very powerful “farewell words”, he actually thought about some very bad and terrible possibilities.
For example, after saying these words, he was sent back to Black Forest Castle by chaotic and disorderly teleportation magic, or simply “face-to-face fast teleportation”.
If this thing really happened, then he would admit it.
However, the moment the magic took effect, all thoughts and ideas were completely eliminated by the shock in the mind.
It was as if a huge meteorite had hit an empty world.
At the moment of the impact, Shuge’s sea of memory boiled completely. All the information deposited in the depths of Shuge’s mind, regardless of whether they had been read or sorted out, were now forcibly pulled out.
Those unimportant fragmented memories were thrown high into the sky, followed closely by those memory fragments that Xiuge had mastered by devouring the descendants of An Yuan – they were “heavier” than those fragmented memories, but they were not much better either. They are constantly circling in Xiuge’s spiritual world, as if they are looking for the opportunity to fall again.
In this extreme chaos, a silver starlight flickered among the flying memory fragments. It was like a silver fish caught in the terrifying waves, looking for a hiding place in a panic.
Those frivolous memories without “quality” were naturally thrown away by it. This “swimming fish” sank into the sea and began to look for those memory pictures that were more stable and complete.
It gives a glimpse of the foundation of Xiuge’s memory, which is the past of an ordinary young office worker in another time and space.
It seems a little repetitive and boring, but compared to everything that is turbulent, it seems peaceful and beautiful.
It’s a pity that they are too stable. Even after withstanding huge impacts, there is still no crack.
Therefore, “Disorderly Tracing” could only change its goal. It looked for another relatively complete subject, which was the memory belonging to Schuge Ernst. It was well connected to the solid foundation below and connected with the foundation. Different from the ordinary and solid memories, the past of these miserable illegitimate children appears extremely bleak, and there are a lot of cracks on them due to the impact that just happened.
These memories seemed to be quite attractive to the silver magic light, so it immediately hovered nearby, and soon it found its target.
It was a crack that was extremely close to Xiuge’s memory base. It seemed to be the junction of two identities, two time and space, and two souls.
So after a brief pause, it rushed straight towards the crack.
In just a moment, it was submerged.
And with the operation of the “Disordered Tracing” magic, all the commotion and uneasiness in Shuge’s spiritual world stopped at the same time at this moment.
Only the memory fragments that were thrown everywhere began to fall lightly towards their original positions.
…
Metal, gears, steam, chains…
Boundless ocean.
Endless waves.
Dark clouds and storms joined hands to shroud this huge ship sailing on the sea.
Xiuge once again came to this strange dream.
The ship grew larger, beyond even the concept of “ship” itself.
Perhaps it should be called “giant wheel” now, but in fact, Xiuge felt that the word “giant wheel” also lacked some meaning.
Storms and huge waves were constantly washing and slapping the hull of the ship, while Xiuge stood on an empty corridor. Through the porthole next to him, he could see the terrifying scene outside, with countless tentacles and various powers. Huge shadows of soft-bodied creatures were moving around and accompanying the ship.
In the sky, there seems to be some kind of giant fish-like, but extremely weird shadows that are constantly swimming. There are countless vine-like translucent tentacles hanging from the bodies of these “giant fish”, and they are constantly touching. The rocking ship, or the gentle tapping of those transparent windows.
“here we go again……”
Shuge sighed helplessly.
He is very awake now and knows that he must have fallen into a deep sleep or coma due to the use of the unstable “Disordered Tracing” magic. In this case, in addition to continuing to explore the dream, he seems to have no other choice. There is no other choice.
So Xiuge lowered his head and looked at his body. In this dream, he put on a more formal outfit.
Black trousers, white top, and a slightly old but very neat and clean gray long windbreaker.
On the breast pocket, there is also a pair of thin-rimmed glasses.
There was nothing else, as if he was now getting ready to attend some big meeting.
“It’s really weird.”
Shuge shook his head, so he stretched out his hand to support the wall, and while adapting to the bumps caused by the waves and storms, he walked along this empty corridor. Anyway, he had no sense of direction now, so no matter where he went, all the same.
I don’t know how long it took, but he finally came to the end of the corridor, and here was a simple metal door with a pattern in the middle. But strangely, Xiuge, who was in a dream, found that he couldn’t I couldn’t see its details clearly, and could only barely make out that it was probably a regular pattern with a circle as the outer frame and other details inside.
Xiuge has been a little confused about this dream that has a certain degree of continuity and seems to contain some special meaning. He squinted and carefully looked at the pattern that he could not successfully observe and recognize, and then stretched out his hand. , pressed on the door.
The heavy door slowly opened as if it was alive, and what appeared in front of Xiuge was a picture that was completely beyond his imagination.
It’s not a conference room, a banquet hall or a restaurant.
At this moment, the dream that Xiuge was in showed him how broken and fragmented he should be.
Behind this gate, what he saw was a wide and straight street. When Xiuge wanted to look back, he found that the gate behind him had long disappeared, and the road under his feet continued behind him. There is no end at all.
At this time, Xiuge lowered his head and found that the pair of shoes he was stepping on had become extremely worn, the front ends were worn, and the toes were almost sticking out, and the gray-black windbreaker on his body seemed to have experienced The baptism of sand and dust.
“I know this is a dream…but is it too…”
Shuge frowned and looked around.
The streets are straight, but they are not paved with cement or asphalt, but with huge stone bricks that have been cut regularly. The tall buildings erected on both sides of the road are not familiar high-rise buildings, but some very regular ones. It is a two- or three-story building with a bit of retro style.
In addition, he could also see crystal street lamps with obvious Vann style, as well as some magical steam equipment whose functions were difficult to distinguish and installed on both sides of the street.
The streets seemed clean but empty.
There seemed to be a faint call from ahead, so Xiuge walked forward following the sound. After a while, he finally saw the figure.
To be precise, what he saw was a small round table placed in the middle of the street, and a dark figure sitting behind the round table.
Just like when Shuge first met, Theseus was wearing a straight dress and a black top hat aside. His face was still dark and chaotic. It was impossible to distinguish the specific expression and expression, but when Shuge arrived, In front of and behind him, you can feel his happiness at this time.
Shuge pulled out a chair from under the table, and then he slowly sat down opposite Theseus.
He glanced at Theseus in confusion, and then asked: “What is this dream… about?”
Theseus shrugged and pretended to be indifferent: “Dreams, it’s normal to be a little bizarre. And don’t you think that dreaming about these things is more normal than visiting the shelter every day?”
“If it was just an ordinary dream, of course I would feel this way…but in a normal dream, it is absolutely impossible for you to exist.”
Shuge smiled and said: “What’s more, you seem to have just completed an important event?”
Hearing Xiuge ask this question, the black chaotic figure leaned on the back of the chair. He put his hands in front of himself and said, “It’s just a part of the necessary actions. It’s not something important.”
Theseus “looked” at it carefully and said, “It’s true, you did a good job, beyond my expectation.”
Such direct praise came from Theseus’ mouth, which surprised Shuge. However, after Theseus finished speaking, he fell into silence for a long time. It seemed that he was thinking about something. A difficult problem, or preparing to make a very difficult decision.
At this time, Theseus was completely different from the previous one who was full of joking and black humor.
Finally, Shuge decided to break the oppressive silence. He leaned forward slightly and asked, “It seems like you want to tell me something?”
“yes.”
Theseus was straightforward. He nodded: “I originally wanted to say something to you, but when it came to the end, I was a little unsure.”
He said this, but then he sat up straight, pinched the air with his fingers made of dark mist, and pulled out a cigarette out of thin air. Then, in Shuge’s strange eyes, this The faceless god just “stuffed” the cigarette into his chaotic face.
After several rounds of “vomiting” in a way that ordinary people could not understand, Theseus suddenly said: “I want to confirm something with you.”
The smoke of the cigarette drifted out irregularly from his chaotic misty face, and then Theseus asked: “Suppose I tell you now, as long as you can open another closed door in the ‘sanctuary’ , you can immediately return to your past life…what would you do?”
“You mean, the door that can only be opened by using the ‘Crown of the Black Sun’?”
“Yes.”
Theseus nodded: “As long as you open it, you can immediately enjoy the regular life you have lost, and the people and things you are familiar with will return to you.”
This question was indeed quite strange. Considering Theseus’ past bad performance, Shuge did not answer immediately, but carefully confirmed: “Are there no other additional conditions?”
“No no.”
Theseus shook his head honestly, and a classic “sweating soybean” expression appeared on his chaotic face: “Don’t think that I am so shady. This is really just an ordinary discussion. Please answer truthfully.” That’s fine…of course it’s okay to lie, I’ll make my own judgment.”
Even though Theseus said this, Shuge still couldn’t treat it as an ordinary question. When he started to think about this question seriously, he found that he seemed to be in a dilemma.
This is indeed a very tricky question.
It is naturally extremely tempting to leave this turbulent and crisis-filled world, but judging from the information that Shuge has obtained so far, the “Crown of the Black Sun” as a condition for opening the door may be associated with the Black Sun Association and what they desire. The Black Sun and the Lost Gods are all closely related.
Even this so-called crown is most likely an “official certification” given by the lost gods.
Shuge thought for a while, and then he slowly shook his head.
At this time, Theseus happened to finish smoking a cigarette, so he rubbed his fingers vigorously and crushed the cigarette butt into a void of mist: “Huh? So, your answer is rejection?”
Shuge shook his head: “To be honest, this result is very tempting, but I have no way to evaluate the risks and possible consequences of this choice, so my current answer is ‘I don’t know’.”
After hearing Shuge’s answer, Theseus let out two strange laughs that seemed to have special meaning: “What is this? A cautious choice? Or maybe the ‘good old man’ problem has broken out?”
In response to Theseus’s teasing, Shuge smiled and said: “In my opinion, no matter which world you are in, ‘both’ and ‘want’ are extremely luxurious ideas. What you said is very important to me.” Of course it’s attractive, but I don’t think I can get that crown without harming myself and others… If my choice will bring greater disaster, then I can only choose to give up.”
Hearing this, Theseus rubbed his fingers gently and pulled out a cigarette from the void again.
At this moment, Shuge finally seized the opportunity, so he asked: “Before we talk about the follow-up topic, aren’t you going to explain something else to me?”
“What?”
Theseus held a cigarette in his mouth and put a big question mark on his chaotic face.
“Whose side are you on?”
Xiuge stared at the black figure in front of him who was obviously pretending to be stupid, and seriously asked his question: “What you do does not seem to match the titles and titles you have… Are you doing something for the Black Sun?” Are you serving those ancient gods, or do you have some other plan? It’s all at this point, why can’t you reveal it?”