After getting on the bus, Jiang Xueming found a seat and sat down.
Consciously or unconsciously, he looked at the other passengers in the carriage, trying to blend into the environment and gradually relax his tense nerves.
However, I don’t know why. The other guests in the carriage left their seats in unison, as if they had seen the plague, and hurriedly went to other places.
"what happened?"
For a moment, Xueming was confused and didn't know what these passengers were afraid of or what they were avoiding...
It would be better to be cleaner - thinking this, he turned his gaze elsewhere to relax his mind.
Counting from the luggage rack at the train entrance, there are a total of sixteen rows of seats in one carriage, which is considered a luxurious configuration with a lot of space.
There are three seats in each row, and the aisle in the middle is wide enough to accommodate a dining table.
The window is open and there is no protective net. Guests can lean on the window to watch the scenery, or even jump out of the car directly.
Each location is equipped with a work surface and dining side table.
Xueming tested the weight and feel of the countertop. It should be high-quality solid wood furniture, with smooth repairs. Top-notch paint and waxing techniques make the board feel like warm jade.
The carpets on the seats and the leather on the armrests, the fragrances in every two rows, and the violin music playing from the invisible speakers hidden in the overhead luggage rack.
These expensive and luxurious materials made Xueming feel very strange.
He has never been in such a nice car. He has never seen any hotel with such a level of decoration.
The sound of the flute outside the car window is long-lasting, and the air inside the car window is sweet.
He thought, if there was a cup of hot tea at this time...
"Mr. Jiang Xueming, your afternoon tea is here." Before anyone arrived, the woman's greeting and the steam of the tea soup arrived first.
Xueming looked back and saw a dining cart pushed from the aisle and parked next to his seat.
"Sorry to keep you waiting." The woman said hello. She was wearing a burgundy suit and short black hair, exactly the same as in the portrait.
Her movements in serving tea and water were casual and natural, her hands and feet were as nimble as a handyman's, without any airs.
To be honest, Xueming has never seen such a cold and solemn woman.
When she handed the tea, she stretched her waist gracefully, her face was expressionless, her cheekbones and nose bridge were very high, her facial features were very three-dimensional, her eyes were small and very sharp.
The bright red tea soup fell into the white porcelain cup quickly and hard without splashing any water.
Xueming wanted to say hello.
But this woman never seemed to take Jiang Xueming seriously.
She just sat on the other side of the table and started pouring herself a drink.
At this moment, a dark cat emerged from the dining car, which was very eye-catching.
Since it appeared on the table, it seems to have become the absolute protagonist, stealing all the scenes.
It is like an elegant lady, pacing gently on the table.
Looking at Jiang Xueming curiously, a pair of big green eyes resembled emeralds. Sometimes they turned into line boys, and sometimes they were round and perfect, as if they were zooming in at any time, trying to see Jiang Xueming clearly from the inside out.
Xueming only felt that the little black cat was as clever as a child. He wanted to tease the cat, but the hand he just extended out was froze in midway - because the cat rejected him.
Specifically, it was this black cat that, like a human, stretched out its front paws and pressed on the back of Xueming's hand.
Jiang Xueming only felt embarrassed and laughed a few times.
Listen to a series of soft sounds like "bang rumble".
The sound of the steel chain noose and the brakes engaging was heard.
The sudden start of the train alleviated the embarrassment.
He put aside his curiosity about the cat and said hello to the strange woman at the opposite table in a serious manner.
"Hello, BOSS."
"Hello, Jiang Xueming."
The black cat spoke.
Yes, the black cat opened its mouth.
It stuck out its pink tongue, exposed its white teeth, and the white hairs under its throat trembled along with its vocal organs, and spoke human words.
Its sound was very strange, exactly the same as the sound made by the confidential number Xueming contacted in the hospital.
Xueming looked at the woman and then at the black cat.
Then the process is repeated.
Looking at the woman, she shrugged helplessly and continued drinking tea.
Looking at the black cat, the black cat pursed its lips and squinted its eyes, looking sulky.
Jiang Xueming finally came to his senses, figured it out, and wanted to change his story.
——Who would have thought that the boss of this station is a cat?
"If my guess is correct...the person in front of me...hiss..."
"Majesty." Black Cat interrupted: "If you can't find the adjective, I can give you a dictionary, Mr. Jiang Xueming."
"Yes, the majestic webmaster." Jiang Xueming changed his words in a shocked voice. His sister's life was still in the hands of this weird-tempered cat, and he did not dare to offend him at all.
The black cat seemed to be angry. It stood up on its two hind legs, hugged each other with its forelimbs, and tapped its tail restlessly on the table.
"Did you just-"
The longest claw popped out from the flesh pad, like the index finger of the palm, pointing at the woman behind it.
"——Take my servant as the station master? Don't lie to me. No one can lie to me at my station."
"I..." Xueming explained: "When I first saw your portrait, that's exactly what I thought..."
"Then you remember it for me, Mr. Xiaochi." The little black cat used its body length of only forty centimeters to say a line with an aura of four meters high: "I am the BOSS of this station, and I am also the portrait.
The absolute main content. The servant behind me, you can think of her as the human cat climbing frame used to support me to climb up to the main body of the painting."
Xueming nodded immediately: "Understood."
The black cat changed his position, watching Erlang's legs sitting on the edge of the table, and sat in front of Xueming.
It waved its little paws and shook its head in a serious manner: "You have something to ask of me, and I also have something to entrust you to do - let's get straight to the point and get straight to the point. Talk about something if you have something to say, and let us go if nothing happens."
Xueming breathed a sigh of relief: "It couldn't be better, BOSS."
Black Cat...oh no, he should be called BOSS now.
The BOSS briefly explained the main purpose of this trip to Xueming.
"What you have to do is follow this bus to the corresponding stop. Ten minutes before the bus stops, the announcement will announce your name to remind you to get off."
Xueming: "What are you going to do after you get off the car?"
"Observe, carefully observe things outside the station." BOSS pointed out Xueming's main task bluntly: "Record what you see and experience in your passenger log, and be detailed and appropriate. Don't treat it as a travel diary.
Write."
"Then what?" Jiang Xueming immediately took out the manual that Xiao Qi had tucked into his clothes. There was a pen in the folder. He listened and took notes, for fear of missing details.
"I will arrange a comfortable and safe journey for each passenger." BOSS continued: "For a newcomer like you who enters the underground world for the first time, the train ride should take more than three hours.
——During this period, you should clarify the rules and regulations in the ride log. You can ask your seniors or fellow travelers for their ride experience."
"What's the name of the place I'm going to? What will I encounter? How long will I stay? Is there any danger?" Jiang Xueming continued to take notes without raising his head.
BOSS speaks very fast and answers fluently. "The place you are going to is tentatively named SW.
The station has just been built and will be renamed in the future, so there are not many security personnel.
However, the concentration of spiritual disasters in that area is not high, and the madness index is also very low. The astral residents in the unknown area are not aggressive and hope to communicate with people from the outside world.
To put it simply... it's very safe.
According to the information provided by previous passengers, it is a Feng Shui treasure land suitable for building a transfer hub.
After getting off the bus, our security personnel will send you to the nearest supply station to rest. After two days of sightseeing, you can return to Jiujie Station and get your rewards."
Xueming left scrawled writing under the diary, and added a few unfamiliar terms.
SW represents the place name and the temporary name of the station.
Spiritual disasters and spiritual disaster concentrations represent dangerous disasters.
Unknown areas should refer to places in the underground world that have not yet been explored.
What the inhabitants of the star realm are talking about may be underground creatures, or it may be other things. Let’s put a question mark for now and check the detailed explanation in the log later.
The madness index should be related to the mad butterfly and Vita Brand.
What this seemingly innocent and harmless little black cat is saying is anything but simple.
This journey was by no means "safe and comfortable" as it claimed.
Xue Ming understood the logic and continued: "You want to build the railway to a farther place."
BOSS snapped his fingers, and his knuckles and claws made a crisp sound.
"That's right."
"We passengers can see things that ordinary people cannot see, and are very sensitive to unknown dangers and the spiritual disasters you mentioned. We can take part in troubleshooting during the railway construction project."
"Yes! I like you, your understanding ability is good! You are very smart!"
"Like a pilot's navigator, he will memorize the route book for you, record the situation around each station node, and may also come into contact with some unknown creatures. You call them astral citizens -
——It’s best to find out some of the secrets of the unknown areas of the underground world, right?”
BOSS nodded with satisfaction: "YES! YES! YES!"
Xueming then asked: "In return, will I receive the panacea?"
BOSS was elated and emphasized the correction: "To be specific, it is a complete journey. You provide me with a travel log with clear value——
——And I will give you a panacea for two, which will not only restore your sister's health, but also keep you in good condition for traveling."
Xueming was silent for a long time. When he heard the vague price, he felt a vague feeling of uneasiness in his heart.
"BOSS, with all due respect, don't take things too seriously.
This is not equitable - your employees have always acted according to the rules of fairness and reciprocity. This must be a ritual quirk imposed by your repeated orders.
Writing a diary and memorizing instructions for you is just one thing that I have accomplished, but you are thinking about giving me medicine for two people. What are you thinking about?"
"What are you planning? Do you think I'm lying to you? Want to trap you?" BOSS, this smart little guy, immediately changed his tune, his tone was playful and he used harsh words: "I take back what I said before, I don't like smart people at all -
From what you said, there’s no need to talk about it?”
"No, in addition to the medicine, I have to add money." Xueming immediately increased the price: "A lot more money. I am a very realistic person, a timid and lustful layman. I don't know what the panacea you are talking about is.
It's not really a cure-all for all diseases as you say. But the tickets you mailed me before were all real money."
The little black cat was lying on the edge of the table, shaking its paws nonchalantly. "What do you mean, Mr. Xueming?"
Jiang Xueming closed the diary and put away the pen: "BOSS, I can't stay underground for a long time. My sister is still waiting for me to come home. If you think about it clearly, you can include the money in the equal conditions and give it to me.
More difficult commissions.”
The little black cat smacked his lips, seeming to find the man in front of him very bored.
After a long time, BOSS seemed to have figured it out. It finally spoke and stared at Jiang Xueming with interest, as if it had discovered a novel toy: "To the station, banknotes in the ordinary world are like waste paper."
It changed its face as fast as flipping through a book, and became serious: "Mr. Jiang Xueming, you are really humble when talking about money. I don't know what you have been through, and I don't understand you.
There are also other people who have offered more outrageous conditions to me, including those who have all the power, sex, and money, and some even want to go to the moon——
——But usually they don’t understand what a peer-to-peer transaction is, and they offer outrageous prices for outrageous goods.
I really don’t know what equivalent these waste papers can get from you. You have posed a problem for me——
——This time, even if I made a loss-making transaction, I won’t ask you for anything.”
Jiang Xueming extended his hand without even talking about the amount of money.
"make a deal."
The little black cat laughed happily and stretched out its paws.
"make a deal."
When leaving, BOSS bowed gracefully to Jiang Xueming, like a polite gentleman, and then jumped back into the servant's arms without being a gentleman at all.
"Mr. Xueming, you are very special."
Jiang Xueming raised his eyebrows and asked, "How do you say this?"
The little cat yawned: "Do you know why the other passengers in the carriage left as if they were seeing a disaster star when they saw you?"
"Why?" Jiang Xueming was confused.
"Because you are like a dangerous person, their [inspiration] is warning them to leave you immediately. Passengers will also rely on this [inspiration] to avoid disaster during the journey."
The kitten clapped its paws, pointed to the sky, and described vividly: "You feel cold and cruel to others. If there is a chance, I will definitely send you to the inspiration review room for a comprehensive security check. Your soul
I'm afraid there are a lot of contraband inside, and every newcomer should go through the security check before getting on the bus, but it's a pity that we don't have enough time."
Xueming didn't say anything. He just opened the diary and wrote down a few new vocabulary words familiarly.
It's like a killer is studying the target's behavior patterns and trying to figure out the target's travel habits.
In his opinion, it is not difficult to understand these things.
It's the same as how he usually chops up the beef offal and uses the knife to cut the veins of the meat.
For a person who sells braised food in the subway station and cooks red and white eucalyptus with a knife in the kitchen, this is also a philosophy.
Their complex tendons and blood-stained masses often amaze chefs——
——What kind of unscrupulous thing did this cow do with this piece of meat on its body to cause the connective tissue, lymph glands or organs to become congested in places where they shouldn’t be, and to have lumps in places that shouldn’t be?
It became like a ball of mud stuffed with anaerobic glue. The glue was still dry and twisted into tough and elastic ropes.
It is extremely difficult to separate them clearly with a knife and water, but if you throw them directly into the pot and boil them until they are cooked, then take them out and cut them, the trans fatty acids and organ tissue fluid will turn this dish into a horrible dish.
This metaphor sounds complicated, but it is actually very simple.
Even though it is a piece of beef offal, a bargain that only costs more than ten yuan per kilogram, not many people care about its taste.
But Jiang Xueming cares very much.
No two pieces of brain are exactly the same, and no two cutting and routing are exactly the same.
Every day's work is like peeling off the cocoons, marveling at the large cold storage where animal carcasses are stored, and what top-notch animals have been delivered.
Every day my sanity is on the verge of collapse, huddled in a pigeon coop that is uninhabitable for humans, and I get to know some monsters and monsters.
He wrote a suicide note in his diary.
"If I can't come back, please give this diary to my sister. She is in bed 405, Ward 2, Building 2, HK Anshan Health Center, and the attending doctor is Li Kangming."
"Jiang Bailu, brother wants to tell you something."
"Brother is going to a place far, far away, 17,000 meters underground. I'm going to find a medicine that can cure your illness."
"If my brother dies, he will turn into sand, turn into soil, follow the clouds, wind and sun, turn into the rain in the sky, and turn into the sea."
"Only I won't become a human again——"
"——Don't look for another Xueming brother in your life, that's not me."
"I won't take any chances and hope that another Jiang Bailu will appear in my life. That's not you."
"There are no two pieces of beef offal in the world that taste the same and have the same shape. They are all unique, just like every book I've ever read, every person I've ever met, every breath I've taken, and every blink of an eye."
"Look at the world with curious eyes like we did when we were children. Everything is new. We haven't grown up yet, and it's still early for us to become sad-faced adults."
"We are human beings for the first and last time, and bad things will inevitably happen to us."
"Don't blame yourself and feel sad about your illness."
"Have a good life."
"I will not leave you."
…
.....
The train runs quietly and smoothly on the railway.
The suspension bridge extends all the way into the deeper abyss.
The scenery outside the window is bright and dark at times, and the vast underground cavity, various fluorescent plants, and electrical pipelines for lighting create a beautiful and beautiful scene.
BOSS was leaning against the window, smelling the smell of sulfur coming towards him, along with the starfire flames that burst out when the bubbles in the magma lake exploded.
The cat's face showed laziness and ease, showing an intoxicated expression. It described: "The little man just now... is very special. I like him very much. I have to find a way to keep him."
"Are you still thinking about him?" The servant said with a cold face and a serious smile: "It's strange that you rarely pay attention to a new person."
"We have already issued him many, many tickets, which can be used as money. To us, the tickets are just waste paper. We can print as many as we want."
BOSS raised the goblet, and the golden light of the magma lake reflected in his green eyes: "But he insists on settling the account of this piece of waste paper with me."
"Sounds like an honest man." The servant filled the BOSS's goblet with goat's milk.
"No, he is not honest at all." BOSS shook his head: "Didn't you hear it? He wants me to be honest."
The servant asked doubtfully: "Then you still like him?"
"He understands my aesthetics and wants me to do a reciprocal transaction honestly." The black cat teased his little tongue and spread the goat milk into his mouth little by little, "I like this about him."