"Cause trouble? Don't talk nonsense. I'm just reminiscing about the past with an old friend who's been living alone for a long time. "
Russell tilted his head and lit a cigar. He suddenly asked, "Huai Shi, when was your happiest time in the past?"
Huai Shi answered without hesitation, "When it's time to make money!"
"Ha, you're really straightforward."
Russell was amused. "Other than that? It's not this kind of temporary peace that lets the panic temporarily leave, but the time when you're sentimental from the bottom of your heart and can't bear to let it go … When was it? "
Huai Shi thought for a moment, lowered his head, and looked at the instrument that was frozen in amber on his wrist.
"It's probably when I was playing the cello."
He sighed softly. "When I first learned to play the cello, I didn't know anything, but I instinctively liked it.
In the sound of the cello, all listeners can be very satisfied and feel happy. I didn't lose anything … Even after becoming an Ascended One and being able to enjoy unscrupulously, nothing can compare to this feeling. "
"But you didn't have a good life in the past."
"That's right." Huai Shi nodded.
"No matter how difficult a life is, there will always be light, right?"
Russell smiled and stared at the gradually setting sun in the distance. "Everyone has it, and Sharma is the same."
"…"
Huai Shi glanced at him from the corner of his eyes and looked at his happy smile as if he was looking at the beautiful past. He only felt that this old man was really sick. "You were clearly thinking of ways to make things difficult for him just now, okay?
Before you left, you even used your old enemy, Ying Fangzhou, to embarrass him. No matter how you look at it, it's revenge! "
"This isn't contradictory, Huai Shi."
Russell turned back with a happy expression. "It should be said that this is the most amazing part — the happiest time in Sharma's life was spent with the person he hated the most."
"What?"
Huai Shi was dumbfounded.
"If there's anyone in this world who can truly understand Ying Fangzhou, it should be him, right?"
Russell turned around and stared at the stone ball that was gradually disappearing into the distance. He muttered softly, "After all, other than Ying Fangzhou, no one else can drag him out of his shell …"
In short, they were mortal enemies, right?
Scholars who closed themselves off to the point of not listening to any persuasion, and Ascendants who were too proud and rigid to listen to any suggestions.
Sharma, a scholar from India, and Ying Fangzhou, an ascender from East Xia, had completely different strengths and weaknesses. They had never been teammates on the same channel.
As early as the first moment they met, they had already determined that the other party was a person who would never get along with them. Whether it was rationality or instinct, they all coincidentally blacklisted the other party.
If possible, he didn't want to stay in the same room with her for even a second.
In truth, both sides had never concealed their dislike and disgust for each other, but that did not stop them from cooperating closely without any gaps during their exploration of the Abyss.
Above personal likes and dislikes were missions and work, and hidden under the dispute was the "recognition" that even they themselves would not admit.
If they wanted to realize their own value, if they wanted to fulfill their own ideals, then they had to rely on the other party's existence!
No one else could achieve the results that the other party could bring.
It was not an exaggeration to say that such an efficient and awkward combination was using each other. They were not sworn brothers, but partners who tried their best to endure and restrain each other.
But other than that, there must be something else.
If the other party was no longer around.
He would definitely be lonely …
.
.
When Russell left and returned to the silent stone ball, all the isolation measures prepared for outsiders disappeared.
But the stone statue remained in the same place, silent.
Until a phantom that did not belong here appeared. He sighed helplessly. "Looks like it's not the right time to visit. Even at this time, I collided with that bastard Russell."
Woodman from Golden Dawn shook his head and seemed to pity him. "Even now, you still haven't given up on your dream of rebuilding Heaven. As expected of you, Russell …"
As he spoke, he turned around and asked, "Since you rejected him, what do you think about our proposal?"
"I won't even consider it."
The stone statue remained motionless. "I said, I'm not interested. You should go."
"Then, sorry for disturbing you this time."
Woodman responded with a smile and did not pester him. He just lifted the brim of his hat and politely said goodbye. But before he left, his footsteps paused.
He sighed silently.
"Sharma, I know how much you hate the outside world and how much you hate those who keep disappointing you … But no matter how prosperous and lasting the world inside is, it doesn't have any value or meaning.
"You should make a choice," he said.
"Not between the remnants of the Republic and the rebels of Golden Dawn, but between the inside and the outside — between the puppets who will never let you down and the others who will hurt you."
"Woodman, I've already made a choice."
The Creator in the ecological bottle opened the door to leave and told him bluntly, "The world inside is very good. Please don't disturb me anymore."
"If that's the case, why do you still want to see Russell and me?"
Woodman turned around, took one last look at him, and asked softly, "Will there really be no regrets in the world inside?"
The stone statue did not answer.
Woodman's phantom had silently dissipated, like a ghost evaporating under the sun, disappearing without a trace.
In the long silence, the huge ecological bottle closed again.
Everything returned to order.
Countless laws operated in accordance with the will of the Creator, slowly making up for the damage and hidden dangers caused by the outsiders, readjusting the operation of the wind, rain, and tides, and revising the established history of the future.
In this way, the yearning extended from the present until it was ensured that thousands of years later, tens of thousands of years later, it would endlessly move closer to the non-existent eternity.
There would be no accidents, and there would be no unreasonable abnormalities.
It was perfect and harmonious.
From the beginning to the end, Sharma did not make any other movements.
A breeze blew from afar, rolling up the business card left by Russell on the table and landing in front of him, along with the invitation of Golden Dawn.
There was no need for any movement. With just a thought from Sharma, the two pieces of paper without any strange properties would begin to decompose from matter, from pulp to elements and dust, and then disappear without a trace.
But for a long time, the two pieces of paper did not change at all.
— — Will there be any regrets in the world inside, Sharma?
"I don't know …"
Sharma replied softly.
"But he died so contentedly that it makes me sad."
The disgusting face appeared in front of him, with a fearless smile that was no different from the past, and the Creator closed his eyes sadly.
Because I have nothing to gain …
.
.
The next day, after a night of sailing, Huai Shi and the others had already landed and arrived at the Hawaiian Islands, a colony of Rome in the vast Pacific Ocean.
The largest children's paradise in the Pacific Ocean.
In the past, due to the political competition and power seesaw between Rome and the Americas, Hawaii had become a rather peculiar place.
Due to its loose legal system, it had become the world's largest offshore company registration place, and the tax system was even more relaxed to attract more funds.
At the same time, while vigorously developing tourism, the education industry was also quite prosperous. The Ivy League had set up all kinds of training facilities here and used this place as a training pilot for their Ascendants. With the selling point of "Gifted Children's Education", and relying on the local legal conditions, they had set up "Mathematics", "Physics", and "Logic" classes that did not have age restrictions to search for talented new blood.
There were even "driving" and "shooting" courses for ordinary people in cars, speedboats, and helicopters, as well as "extreme sports" courses such as parachuting, skiing, wingsuit flying, and so on.
There were no age restrictions and no restrictions on the subjects. You could pay on the same day, start learning on the same day, and graduate in ten days at the earliest. As long as there was money, even an eight-year-old child could come here and learn amazing skills after a few months of training.
Unfortunately, Huai Shi and the others did not come here to inspect their peers.
After renting a car with their license, they slowly went to Honolulu.
On the way, Russell kept turning his phone in his hand, as if waiting for a call.
Huai Shi looked at the side and shook his head. "He hasn't contacted you yet. Looks like he really doesn't want to talk to you."
"Yeah, it's really sad to part with an old friend."
Russell sighed and sadly stared out the window, lonely as snow.
"Hehe."
Huai Shi sneered and stepped on the accelerator, too lazy to talk to him.
The address Russell gave was in the suburbs of Honolulu, in front of an ordinary house in a residential area.
Under the afternoon sun, one could see behind the fence, a dog lazily lying in the shadow under the eaves, using its rice bowl as a pillow and sticking its tongue out.
"What is this place?"
Huai Shi looked carefully for a long time and couldn't see anything strange. He only felt that it was worthy of being called a senior master, hiding in the city and not showing any abnormalities at all.
"It's just an ordinary house. Don't think too much."
Russell seemed to know what he was thinking and looked at him with a strange expression.
"Who are you looking for this time?" Huai Shi asked.
"After so many years, I'm afraid we can't find anyone. We're just doing our best." Russell raised his hand and pressed the doorbell.
For a long time, no one in the house responded.
"It seems that there's no one, Huai Shi."
Russell sighed. "Let's go."
But in a car slowly stopped not far from the side of the road, behind the rolled down window, a middle-aged man with whiskers poked his head out and looked at them curiously, carefully distinguishing the appearance of the two.
"Excuse me, are you Mr. Russell?"
The owner of the house got out of the car and asked with some uncertainty.
Russell was startled when he heard that. He and Huai Shi looked at each other.
In the Present Realm, thanks to the sophisticated and careful cognitive operations of the Astronomy Society, the membrane between common sense and non-common sense was very stable.
In order to protect the stability and social order to the greatest extent, the Astronomy Society interfered with the Silver Ocean and formed a complicated mechanism.
All knowledge and phenomena related to the Ascended and outside of the Present Realm were blocked by cognition. Unless there was someone like the Ascended, Alchemist or related work, even if they occasionally saw some strange things, it would be treated as something normal and thrown to the back of their mind.
Even if he was famous in the borderlands, for a normal person, Russell was probably just the president of an unpopular university. He was not worth their attention. As for Huai Shi … Who was he?
The runner-up of the ninth Muse Cup in Xin Hai City?
At this time, on this island in the Pacific Ocean, it was strange for a normal person to be able to recognize Russell's name.
Russell studied him for a moment. After confirming that he had never seen him before, he asked in confusion.
"You know me?"
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