Different from the deep coldness, after stepping into the wooden door, Lebius felt a sense of warmth from the inside out. When his vision returned to clearness, he was already standing in a corridor, with the slowly closing door behind him.
wooden door.
The world behind the door is not a sinister hell, but a hotel full of warm sunlight. Lebius walked through this familiar road, just as he remembered.
The front desk of the hotel was empty, except for a record player, with the vinyl records spinning and playing the never-ending song.
Opposite the front desk is the door of the hotel, which is a double-leaf glass door. Lebius cannot see the world outside the door, but only the endless and warm sunlight that comes through the door and spreads evenly.
Sprinkle it on your body to dispel the cold.
"Mother! Warn your children not to make the same mistakes I made."
In the empty hotel, such singing sounded. The volume of the singing was not loud, but it echoed in the ears with a vague feeling.
Lebius crossed the front desk and headed towards the corridor on the other side. On both sides of the corridor were rows of rooms, and the doors were closed tightly without any gaps.
There are green plants in the corner and a standing mop. The mop is wet, as if the cleaning staff is nearby and has not gone far.
Everything was warm, and even the air had a sense of warmth. Through the light, you could even see the floating dust clearly.
Stepping on the red carpet, Lebius moved forward, but the corridor seemed so long. Gradually, he even had the illusion that he could not reach the end.
His physical strength has always been good, even with a cane, but now Lebius feels extremely tired, as if he may collapse at any time.
Along the way, he could still hear the chaotic sounds coming from the tightly closed rooms.
The breathing of beasts, the chewing of monsters, the whispers of men and women, loud curses, the conspiracies being talked about, the future being planned...
It seemed that the hotel was filled with all kinds of people and it was extremely crowded.
Lebius knew how big this hotel was, which could be said to be endless, just like Hilbert's hotel in the mathematical paradox, where there were always empty rooms for new guests.
No one knows how many people live here, only the house numbers that extend infinitely.
Then... while crossing a certain room, Lebius heard a familiar voice.
"There is no other choice. We can only do this...at any cost."
The voice of the words was like a vicious curse, reaching his ears.
For a moment, it seemed as if there were sharp bone nails piercing through the body, completely nailing Lebius's joints. He froze in place motionless, his pupils froze, and then as if escaping from a nightmare, he pushed the crutch stubbornly.
, dragging the lower limbs like iron and stone, moving forward forcefully, without stopping for a moment.
He didn't dare to listen, let alone look at the door. He just wanted to move forward.
But the man continued to murmur, and his voice passed through the door clearly and echoed in his ears. He seemed to be trapped in this day and in this room forever.
"The end justifies the means...the end justifies the means..."
The sound struck Lebius's soul, almost crushing it.
Lebius recognized that voice, and he would never forget that voice even if it was burnt to ashes by fire and thrown into the deep, cold sea.
It was his own voice, the voice of Lebius Lovisa...
A ghostly song chased him.
the man sang.
"My life is full of misfortune and sin."
For Lebius, this warm and beautiful hotel is a crazy hell.
No... this is hell for everyone, but they don't know it yet.
As if fleeing for his life, he came to the end of the corridor. It was a fork in the road. The bifurcated corridors each extended to unknown ends. There was a white door between the two. Lebius knew that he would eventually
Still came here.
When he opened the door, the light in the room was very dim. After a brief blur, Lebius could see clearly what was inside.
This is a movie theater. A movie is being shown on the huge screen. People in the movie are talking to each other. They are preparing guns and ammunition to fight the final battle.
Rows of seats were placed under the curtain, but there was no one in the audience. The line of sight moved to the middle, and then there were some figures. The man was sitting in the auditorium, and behind him was an old-fashioned projector.
The aisle is filled with shadow boxes, stacked together like a hill.
Lebius leaned on a crutch and walked past the scattered cassettes. His eyes scanned them, and their names were written on the outer shells.
That's not the name of the movie, but the names of the people.
Some of the cassettes were damaged, and the film was spread out like entrails, swaying slightly like rolling seaweed.
Looking around, Lebius realized that this cinema was larger than he had imagined. The darkness around him was almost endless, and the same was true for these mountains of shadow boxes, which were constantly rising and rising into the darkness.
"Hey, Lebius, long time no see."
The man noticed Lebius, turned his head, and waved to him excitedly.
The man was wearing light blue pajamas, and his face was a little blurry. Lebius couldn't see his appearance clearly. He forced himself to look at it, but he could only see countless faces flashing on it, and they were never fixed.
It's as if he has a thousand faces and a thousand titles.
The man was smiling and his face could not be seen clearly, but Lebius could detect that the other man was smiling at him.
He didn't feel any oppression at all, just like an ordinary movie lover, waving to Lebius and enjoying the movie together.
Lebius came to him and sat down. He was about to say something, but the man spoke first.
"About Borogo Lazarus?"
Lebius was a little surprised, but he soon remembered the power of men. These things were not secrets to him at all.
"I am also very interested in this guy. If you hadn't selected him and released him, I wouldn't have noticed that there is such an interesting guy in your Order Bureau."
The man waved his hand, and the movie stopped, and the picture was frozen in the endless wilderness.
"How interesting..."
He was fascinated by the mystery of Bologna.
"I..." Lebius tried to say something, but facing such an ordinary man, he only felt pressure coming from him.
"Do you feel uncomfortable? What about this face? You should get used to it, right?"
The man was keenly aware of this. He was very considerate and even friendly. The blurry face soon became clear. It was a familiar face, Jeffrey's face.
Facing Jeffrey's face, he reached out and put his arm around Lebius' shoulders.
"What about this face? You are friends, right, just like you and me."
He said, it seemed that the man and Lebius had a close relationship, as close as good brothers, but Lebius didn't think so, the man's closeness made him feel sick.
"About his 'gift'... I want to know what's going on. That perfect 'resurrection from the dead' is not a price he can pay."
Resisting the disgust in his heart, Lebius asked.
"This...maybe related to his 'value'," the man hesitated, "'value' for 'value', an absolutely equal transaction, you should understand this."
"so what?"
"We will not violate this principle, maybe..."
The man asked in a long voice with a smile on his face.
"Perhaps Bologo Lazarus is really capable of paying such a price."
"How can this be."
Lebius's voice became louder. He didn't believe this. "I have seen those people in the 'Immortal Club'. They are in high positions and as rich as the country, but they still cannot get such perfect immortality."
"However, being in a high position and being as wealthy as the country is still worthless to us, isn't it?"
The man turned sideways and looked at Lebius. Because he was wearing pajamas, he looked very casual, but the lingering sound in his words was enough to shock everyone.
"You don't understand the way we judge 'value', Lebius. No matter how much wealth, no matter how terrible power, as long as it cannot impress us, then it is worthless."
The man's expression gradually became weird, something was recalled in his mind, and even Jeffrey's face became distorted and hateful.
"If this is the case, then this Borogo Lazarus is being cared for by one of my brothers. He was moved, so he loved Borogo Lazarus so much and thought he was of extraordinary 'value'
, so that he can be given such a 'gift'."
"Bologo is of great value to that devil, isn't it?" Lebius said.
"Probably...maybe it's due to some of our own little quirks."
The man continued, picking up a dark box and reading the name on it.
"For example, Scott Martin, he is one of my favorite mortals. You know who he is, right?"
"A famous explorer in history. It is said that he filled the gaps in the world map and made the world know the full picture of the world."
Lebius replied, in class, Scott Martin's name is known to all students.
"Yes, I like to be able to peek into this world and watch your lives without leaving home... It's like scenes from a movie."
The man caressed the film box obsessively and peered through the cracks at the film inside. This was his treasure.
"So I will share your 'sight', what you see, I can also see, and the most exciting and interesting life, the movies it produces, are the most 'valuable' to me.
"
He put down the shadow box and suddenly approached Lebius, almost forehead to forehead, eyes looking at each other. Lebius saw a vortex that was constantly devouring and turning, as if the man's eyes went straight into the abyss.
"Do you understand this?"
The man slowly distanced himself and leaned back on the chair, looking lazy.
"'Value' is the most important and the only criterion for judgment.
But...my brothers all have different hobbies. For example, my other brother is too paranoid about ‘value’. As long as it is ‘valuable’, he will accept it, no matter how high or low it is.”
He mocked casually.
"We used to call him the garbage man because he collects all kinds of garbage."
The man seemed to have told a very interesting joke. He laughed loudly, and the laughter gradually became distorted and crazy, causing the whole theater to tremble. The cassettes collided with each other, making a harsh low sound, as if someone was trapped in a trap.
The soul inside is crying loudly.
In the midst of the madness, Lebius had no expression on his face. He had long been accustomed to men's crazy words.
"But there is another possibility, one of many factors, Lebius."
The man stopped laughing and remembered something interesting again. He rubbed his hands, looking eager to try.
"What?" Lebius asked.
"We cannot directly interfere with this world, so debtors are our tentacles, our agents in this world."
There was a strange light in his eyes, and his voice was evil and hoarse.
"The devil who made a deal with Borogo Lazarus...some of my brothers, he may need Borogo Lazarus to do something for him..."
The man's voice gradually dropped, turning into a vague and hoarse whisper.
"Yes, this is also one of the possibilities. He needs Bologo Lazarus to do something, but why him? Why this unknown person?
what to do?"
The man rubbed his head troubledly, harder and harder, until his head began to bleed under the friction of his fingertips, and sunken wounds appeared one after another. The blood soaked his face, making Jeffrey's face distorted and dilapidated.
"why?"
He kept whispering.
"What exactly does Borogo Lazarus need?"
The man suddenly stopped moving and rushed towards Lebius again. His face covered with blood was right in front of his eyes, his expression was artificial and exaggerated, like an actor who exerted too much force.
"Beware of him, beware of Borogo Lazarus."
The blood-stained finger slowly stood up and touched Lebius' lips.
"Be careful of the devil behind him."
The cold and frightened face melted and turned into that weird smile. Jeffrey's face disappeared in the smile, and countless faces flashed back on his face.
The man looked extremely excited. He hadn't been like this for a long time. His silent heart was beating again and his cold blood was getting warmer.
He looked at the curtain and hummed a song. No one knew what this moody monster was planning in his mind.
"Oh, by the way, Lebius, Bologo is preparing to implant the 'Alchemy Matrix', right?"
The man suddenly asked with concern.
"Um……"
Lebius responded, his mind had been overwhelmed by the chaotic information, one bad guess after another arose, and then disappeared again.
"Have you picked out the 'Alchemy Matrix' for him?"
the man asked, tempting Lebius in his ear.
"Why not give 'it' to Bologger?"
Lebius' breathing stagnated, and he stared at the man. Obviously the man didn't say anything, but the appearance of the thing suddenly appeared in his mind.
"Hey, hey, that thing that defeated you seven years ago," the man continued to make that weird laugh, as if there were thousands of baby birds screaming in his throat, "let Boluogo implant it."
It's right."
"Don't you always have nothing to do with 'it'? You are guarding the treasure house in vain, but you don't have the key to open 'it'. Rather than being abandoned and forgotten like this, it is better to give it to Boluogo.
He can’t die anyway.”
With ghostly words swirling in his ears, Lebius looked at the man with clear eyes and asked indifferently.
"What exactly do you want to do? Tell me to be careful and ask him to implant that thing at the same time."
What is the man's purpose? Lebius couldn't figure it out. No one could figure it out. He was like the incarnation of a mystery. After one layer of the veil was lifted, there was just another layer of veil covering up the truth.
"Me? I'm just an ordinary movie lover. After all, today's 'movies' are so boring, so boring! So boring!"
The leisurely words were replaced by anger. He was like a child who couldn't get a toy. His words shocked everything, but the next second the man softened again, and his mood changed rapidly.
"Then you believe what I said? Lebius, this is really gratifying."
The palm of his hand rested on Lebius's shoulder, and then clung to the back of his neck. Lebius felt a metallic coldness.
"Whether it's true or not, you told me this information...what's the 'price' I need to pay."
Lebius ignored the man's words. He knew very well what he was facing. The man might have told the truth, but this truth was destined to lead him astray.
Thousands of faces were reflected in the bloodshot pupils.
"The price? There is no price!"
The man looked heartbroken and didn't understand why Lebius thought he wanted to demand a price.
He held Lebius's face with his blood-stained hands, his tone was sincere and hypocritical.
"Our relationship is so close that it doesn't cost anything at all. If there really is a cost..."
The man got close to Lebius and whispered in his ear.
"Lebius Lovisa, I need you to live, I need you to live a wonderful life."
The hoarse and harsh laughter echoed, cutting Lebius's eardrums repeatedly. He said nothing, stood up with difficulty on crutches, and turned around and left the theater without saying a word of farewell.
The man kept waving at his back with enthusiasm. It wasn't until Lebius left the theater that he slowly stopped and looked at the curtain expressionlessly.
The theater fell silent once again.
Stretching out his hand, he pulled up an unnamed dark box from the darkness. The man rubbed the surface vigorously and muttered.
"Be patient, be patient, and calm down."
He was talking to himself, looking lost.
"It's not time yet, it's not time yet..."
The man persuaded himself in this way, but his body could not stop trembling due to excitement, greed, desire, and all emotions that should not exist.
"A little bit, a little bit is fine."
His eyes widened, he looked at the curtain, raised his hand and snapped his fingers. The frozen picture began to flow, then flashed and disappeared. After a few seconds, the movie being shown changed.
This seems to be a first-person movie. Due to the staggering pace, the camera is very shaken. The surroundings are quiet, with only the sound of slight breathing... but no characters can be seen.
The black and white picture was a little blurry until the character walked into a certain place. He leaned in the corner and slowly sat down as if he had lost all his strength. Then a crutch appeared in the shot, and it fell upside down.
To the other side.
The character looked at the crutch, and then saw the face reflected on the metal surface, his own face.
The face of Lebius Lovisa.
He let out a burst of joyful and twisted laughter, and opened his mouth to praise loudly. His pale teeth were stained with blood. Chaos and poisonous breath erupted from the depths of his throat, and even the human body began to squirm and change, as if something was coming.
Things are going to break out of the body.
Under this body, the most abhorrent and evil original sins in the world are condensed. They are buried deeply, fermenting, and breed a long period of pain and disaster.
The evil sounds echoed in the theater, wandering in the darkness, and the silent shadow boxes trembled one after another, as if something was struggling inside. They tried to escape from the shadow box, but were bound to it almost forever.
, unable to resist.
Beyond the darkness is the hotel filled with daylight. In the peaceful afternoon atmosphere, the desolate singing seems to never stop, mourning the sadness and sadness.