At 5:30 in the morning, Zhuang Xuteng was awakened by a nightmare that left him completely sleepless. So he got up, took out the third to last portion of dehydrated sauced meat instant noodles, boiled some hot water and made a bowl of it, which was Zhuang Feifei's breakfast.

He moved a piece of dehydrated instant food and hid it, pretending that it had been used by himself, so that Zhuang Feifei could rest assured. Regardless of whether the sister inside was awake or not, Zhuang Xuteng would do the whole show. He waited for ten minutes,

I cleaned the empty bowl, pretended to have eaten, then changed my clothes and went out.

Start walking at this time, just in time to catch the shuttle bus of Hongyue Commercial. These buses travel around the city, going around and collecting customers for the shopping mall. Zhuang Xuteng, who set off early, did not have any money left, but he had plenty of time. He was not worried.

The car's driving trajectory means that he won't be late anyway. At this time, he can close his eyes and rest his mind for a while.

He didn't dare to take a nap because he didn't know if a thief would get in the car. Hungry was one of the reasons, and another problem was nightmares.

There is a saying: Dreams are the cry of the spirit and soul, and are a mirror for examining oneself. If we push it back 2000 years, before the gods have ascended and left, nightmares are often regarded as warnings from the gods, and you need to find a temple priest for divination and analysis.

. Even if there are no gods now, the custom of attaching importance to dreams still continues.

Nightmares are lingering, but Zhuang Xuteng has very good observation and memory. He sees more and remembers more clearly than others.

In the dream, he was tortured by life and death. First, he watched his relatives die miserably in front of him one by one, unable to save him; finally, death came to find him, and it was delayed and slow. He thought he would finally die.

His death was actually a reward for relief. Unexpectedly, he came back from the dead and continued to suffer endless sorrow alone.

In the dream, he clearly knew that it was a dream, but the feeling was too strong, and he was 100% immersed in it, wandering in the endless whirlpool of sorrow and regret, ups and downs, unable to break free. He was trapped by the dream,

It seemed as if he had been staying there for several years. During this process, he was both a bystander and a witness. The first person and the third person were repeatedly changing and gradually merging, which ultimately accumulated a huge mental burden on him. He

He had a splitting headache, so he was thrown out of the dream.

When he woke up, his head was covered in sweat, and he felt uncomfortable both emotionally and physically. However, dreams are always dreams, and they will be completely defeated by the reality of waking up, so the mental and physical effects it brought quickly subsided. Just like

As the tide recedes and the beach is revealed, Zhuang Xuteng can recall many details of the dream.

He has always been very good at observation, able to grasp the overall vision and find the details that need attention. His parents and teachers said that he has a strong memory for graphics and pictures, which is worthy of training and training - and he does exercise well.

.

He has become accustomed to observing the surroundings through his eyes at all times, always looking for details worthy of attention. For those important contents, he can also deepen the impression by repeatedly recalling them, making the memory more lasting. To this day, he has

Being able to recall every illustration in the textbook and not forgetting the appearance of any of his classmates can be said to be a rare talent. But his talent comes with a major flaw: when he encounters words, he will be inexplicable.

An error occurred.

After examination, his parents also admitted that Zhuang Xuteng's memory talent had serious flaws.

It is perfectly fine to memorize a certain page of the textbook as a pattern. However, as long as Zhuang Xuteng re-opens the pattern in his mind and reads the words inside, he will find that they are not consistent with reality. His observations are not consistent with reality.

No problem, but these words stored together with the image memory will be tampered with by the brain and turned into something else that is coherent but has nothing to do with it.

At the same time, his ability to recite pure text content is far inferior to that of his peers.

Zhuang Xuteng's poor academic performance was largely caused by this strange effect. He could easily get full marks when looking at pictures to find faults, but he would fail when reciting textbook content. He really wanted to be a detective, but his

Grades don't allow it.

Although this kind of observation has some flaws, it can still produce excellent results in the right field. Observing environmental information can make him safer, and being more sensitive to words and expressions allows him to make friends better. And recalling the details of dreams can help him make friends.

For him, there is no problem.

"In the dream, I was in a large hall, firmly fixed in a dilapidated stone seat. Outside the hall was shrouded in black mist, and I couldn't see anything clearly; inside the hall were 72 black stone pillars with strange patterns on them, and the ground was full of corpses.

In the foot-deep pool of blood, the nearest and clearest corpse to me was Feifei. She was lying on her back, making no sound. Other corpses lay scattered and piled up, and their faces could not be seen clearly. But from the feeling inside

Said, I think they are elder brother, parents, teachers, classmates and some relatives and friends far and near. There is always the wind howling in the hall, and ghosts crying..."

He couldn't bear to see his sister's face when she died tragically, so he focused his eyes on the pillars. The shapes there were complex and non-repetitive, beautiful and full of meaning, and he "felt" in his dream that he was very familiar with those shapes. He tried to grasp

With this feeling, I carefully recalled the graphic details, but immediately felt mentally exhausted and started to have nosebleeds at the same time.

Such a situation had never happened when he was trying to recall details! He felt something was wrong, so he quickly retracted his attention and blocked his nostrils with a handkerchief. At this time, he felt a fever on his back, and the hot spot was near his heart.

Immediately I thought of Ying Cong.

"That's it! Nine times out of ten, this dream was influenced by 'that thing'!" Zhuang Xuteng frowned and immediately found a lot of circumstantial evidence: "If it was my own dream, I wouldn't be unable to remember the faces of my relatives. And Ying Ying

It only knows the appearance of Zhuang Feifei, and it has never met its parents and eldest brother! In the dream, only Zhuang Feifei has a face, and the others cannot see their faces, but they only have strong feelings. Yes, the dream is definitely caused by Ying Cong!

"

As we all know, untamed shadow followers can make people go crazy. Most of them are affected emotionally, which then feeds back to the body, destroying each other in a vicious cycle, until they finally collapse and die.

"Before you sell your movie, you must not be killed by it!" Zhuang Xuteng thought about it for a while and came up with a way, or a key point: "I must distinguish between dreams and reality, and I must be honest with myself.

I have a clear understanding of my state, and I must not easily leave my knowledge and vigilance to Ying Cong. I have to pay special attention to the details and distinguish what is my reality and what is Ying Cong’s illusion.”

Zhuang Xuteng didn't know whether this method would work, but it was the best solution he could think of at the moment.

"You want to use nightmares to influence me, and I have to learn about you from nightmares!" Zhuang Xuteng smiled slightly, put his hand around his shoulders, and patted me on the back. "Pink Skull, as long as you try to influence me, you will definitely be exposed.

Some information. Dreams, to me, dreams can be as clear as reality. I will definitely be able to find your weaknesses and find ways to subdue you."

There were waves of burning sensation coming from behind. Zhuang Xuteng regarded this as a sign of Ying Cong's stubbornness, guilty conscience and continued struggle. He even more believed that his judgment was correct. At this time, the bus stopped at Hongyue Square, and Zhuang Xuteng got off the bus.

He found a place to sit next to the statue, and then focused on "examining" the information revealed by Ying Cong in his dream.

The patterns of the 72 stone pillars are different. Each group of patterns is composed of hundreds of patterns, images and shadows, with different colors. Zhuang Xuteng tried to extract as much content as possible from his memory, but once he made such an attempt,

, the memory will become blurred, and his head will immediately feel a dull pain.

He has encountered this situation before, and he is not panic at all. He is always observing, and a large number of new memories are generated every day, and he cannot remember them all. Out of self-protection mechanism, the brain has set up a memory for his images.

"Shelf life". Only those photographic memories that are constantly consolidated can be preserved, and other memories will quickly become blurred over time until they fade away normally.

Every time he tries to restore the details, he is actually strengthening this memory, and it should become more and more clear. It stands to reason that the memory that was just generated this morning should be full of details without strengthening it, but he always feels that the stone pillar pattern

It seemed to have been stored in his memory for a long time. The pattern was clearly right in front of him, and he could see it clearly from a distance, but he couldn't take a closer look.

It's as if he is highly myopic. When he is far away from the pillar, he wears glasses and looks good. But once he wants to get closer, the glasses are taken off and it immediately becomes very blurry.

"Huh, do you think I will give up like this? If it doesn't work once, I will do it several times. I will describe it slowly and strengthen the impression from a distance first!" Zhuang Xuteng shook his head and tried again. "I will find your weakness first, Pink Skull.

!”

The "fight" between him and Ying Cong all happened in his mind. In the eyes of others, he was just a weirdo who kept winking, gnashing his teeth, and competing with himself. People going to and from Hongyue Commercial Plaza would walk around him vigilantly, fearing that he was actually

He is a dangerous person who is about to be driven crazy by Ying Cong.

"What are you doing here?" A familiar voice and a huge shadow enveloped Zhuang Xuteng, which is exactly the image style of Ge Gongdao. "Haha, are you practicing your lines in your head?"

"Brother Dao!" Zhuang Xuteng quickly stood up and glanced at the clock at the door of the commercial building. "You came early too!"

"Aren't you the same?" Ge Gongdao waved his hand and asked Zhuang Xuteng to follow him. As he walked, he asked: "Hey, what lines have you thought about?"

"Line? What does the line mean?"

"It's just the kind of cool words. For example: I am your god of death unless you pay tribute!"

"I'm not thinking about this." Zhuang Xuteng rubbed his face. No wonder passers-by behaved like that. It seems that I need to pay attention to control. Then, he had an idea and asked: "Brother Dao, when you first became a mercenary

What lines did you think of?"

Ge Gongdao's face turned red, his eyes wandered away, and he immediately avoided the topic. "Zhuang Xuteng, do you still remember what you should pay attention to when meeting an intermediary?"

"You tell me, I'll shut up, prick up my ears, and protect your back."

"Indeed, the most important thing is to shut up and talk when I ask you to speak. I heard that today we are not only registering but also receiving tasks. In other words, we can get a deposit right away." Ge Gongdao laughed.

, asked: "What should you say at this time?"

Zhuang Xuteng was about to open his mouth when he suddenly reacted. He pointed to his mouth, then to Ge Gongdao, and made a "please" gesture.

"With this kind of vigilance, you are very suitable to be a mercenary. But don't be so nervous. Only when you need to do the task and meet the middleman, you should talk less. When we are just two people, there is no need to be restrained. Don't forget, we are splitting the account in half.

partner."

"Okay, partner." Zhuang Xuteng said.

"Our middleman Lucy lives at No. 76 Punk Street. You will definitely notice her figure, which is indeed very attractive, but she doesn't like to be stared at. You can only look at it twice at most and then you have to look away.

Otherwise, she will lose her temper and look down upon you, thinking that you lack self-control." Ge Gongdao said: "I have taken over six tasks from Lucy, and the cooperation is very pleasant. She prefers jobs without much risk.

Although this kind of work doesn’t make much money, it’s quite suitable for newbies.”

"Brother Dao, if you take me on a mission like this, won't it delay you in making money?"

"It has an impact, so you have to grow up quickly!" Ge Gongdao waved his hand and said: "There are very few opportunities for big actions. You need to wait for the opportunity, and you need to be prepared at all times. Once you find an opportunity, you must take it.

Grab it and go all out!"

"Okay, I'll try my best."

"You can definitely do it! No problem." Ge Gongdao patted Zhuang Xuteng on the shoulder and said: "Although you can find any middleman to register, I think Lucy is more reassuring. And she has more comprehensive things here.

It can test your abilities and expertise. When a middleman is looking for mercenaries, he first looks at reputation, secondly looks at ability, and thirdly looks at cost. Reputation is the most important, but ability is related to cost, so nothing can be careless."

"Brother Dao, I haven't made any preparations!"

"Don't worry, you can always find an intermediary to test your ability and then register. Ability is important, but the most important thing is the opportunity! Don't let it go if you have the opportunity!"

Along the way, Ge Gongdao introduced the precautions for novice mercenaries, and soon arrived at the bottom of Building 76. This is an old-fashioned apartment building in a black and yellow style. It is at least 30 years old and looks shabby due to lack of maintenance.

It sucks. It has no gate, and a few homeless people camped beside the entrance, leaving only one-third of the width for people entering and exiting.

The homeless people's debris piled up into a hill, mostly cardboard, carts, tarps and the like. In the corner of the "hill", the notice board of the apartment was still functioning stubbornly, with advertisements layered on top.

Dao went over to check, and then said confidently: "She is on the fourth floor."

"Room 420, right?"

"That's right. You really saw it." Ge Gongdao chuckled. He knew that with Zhuang Xuteng's keen observation, he would definitely notice the yellow moon on the bulletin board and the arrow pointing to the number 420 next to it.

PS: Double updates at 12:00 and 18:00 every day, with additional updates from time to time to give back to book friends. Please collect and recommend more, thank you!
Chapter completed!