Cyborg No. 36.
The room was quiet. Amber quietly looked at the line of letters in the diary. She did not say a word for two minutes.
But just as Gawain was about to say something, Amber's fingers moved again. She pursed her lips and very slowly flipped to the next page of the diary.
Surrey?? Randolph's story continued:
"… My mechanical watch broke down. After recording the date twice by relying on my pulse and intuition, I had to give up the pursuit of 'time'. Now I don't know how many days it has been, but I guess I have been in this ancient fortress for at least half a month.
"During this period, only 'Amber' accompanied me.
"This little girl sleeps very quietly in her 'bed' without making any noise. I've been trying to talk to her for the past few days. Of course, she doesn't respond, but I still do it every day. Talking can keep one's mind awake, and a sleeping little girl is at least more suitable for listening than a rock in the corner of the wall.
"… In such a long period of time, those shadowy residents have appeared twice. To be honest, the appearance of those 'ghosts' actually brought me a little surprise. They are indeed strange and somewhat scary, but at least they are some kind of 'living thing'. Sometimes, I even had some crazy ideas and wanted to try communicating with those 'ghosts', but it was too dangerous ….
"I finally put my crazy idea into practice once, but the shadowy natives did not pay attention to me at all. They just wandered around the room for a moment, and then gradually dissipated.
"In the end, only Amber accompanied me.
"… My health is deteriorating. This is inevitable. The only supplies I could find here were moss and water. In fact, it was a miracle that I could rely on them to survive to this day. The fact that the moss that grew in the Umbra Realm could sustain a person's life was already a blessing in itself, wasn't it?
"I was terrified and had a low fever. Maybe it was because the floor was too cold, or maybe it was because I was too weak. This insignificant illness almost made me plan all my future plans. But what's the use of planning my future plans? Today, I cursed the king for the first time. Honor has left me.
"… How much time has passed outside? I had long since given up on keeping track of dates. Estimating the time had become an impossible task for me. I can only rely on my instincts. Maybe I've already been here for a few years, and the Captical has already listed me as a missing person, or according to the rules of the Royal Shadow Guards, I've already been listed as a 'suspected defector'.
"During this period of time, I've been reducing the number of times I write in my diary. I've also tried to simplify the letters and reduce the size of the font because I'm running out of ink. Even though I've added water to them several times, it's still not enough. Tomorrow, I will try to burn the moss to ashes and see if I can make some ink with water. If I can't … If I want to write anything in the future, I'm afraid I can only use my own blood.
"I made some crude inks. The color is a little strange, and so is the smell. But obviously, they can be used to write!
"… Something absolutely worthy of being recorded happened today! It was definitely worth recording!
"Amber moved a little — it's true. I'm sure she moved her little hand. She was sucking on her fingers!!
"She's alive! She really is alive! "
After that, it was Surrey's turn. In his excitement, Randolph wrote a lot of scattered notes, including some of his experiences of surviving in the Shadow Fortress. Amber seemed to become impatient. She turned the pages faster until she stopped at a page where the writer's handwriting was a little shaky. It seemed that the writer was very excited.
"… I don't know what I did. Maybe it had nothing to do with me. But the ancient device in the room suddenly made some noise. There was a strange sound of water and buzzing coming from the big pillar. I almost jumped to the place where Amber was sleeping. Oh gods — what did I see?
"The crystal container was opened, and Amber was climbing out of it. She was on all fours and almost fell to the ground.
"To all the gods and ancients that I know, I can't even use words to describe my feelings at that moment. I slapped myself a few times, slammed my head against the wall, and then yelled and screamed. I used all kinds of methods to eliminate the possibility that it was an illusion. In the end, I confirmed that it was all real, and Amber just sat there on the ground, staring at me blankly!
"Damn, I didn't scare her, did I?
"I found that I could only feed the little one with moss. Is there anything more depressing, nerve-wracking, and frightening than this? This poor child … How could she survive in this godforsaken place?
"There was still some light yellow liquid left in the egg-shaped container. At least it was not poisonous. I tried to feed it to Amber. She ate some of it quickly. But it was too little. I had to find a way to solve her diet.
"She didn't drink blood.
"There was only a little bit of liquid left in the container. I had no other choice.
"I fed her the moss — I made a pot out of some of the iron containers I had collected, and I made a fire with some of the flammable garbage I found in the warehouse. I boiled the moss until it turned into some sort of mushy soup... When I let Amber drink it, I even felt like I was feeding the little one poison.
"She ate the moss and seemed to be fine for the time being. But I'm not sure what will happen later … I had to stay awake for a long time to prevent her from vomiting …
"… Thank God! She's fine! "
The handwriting on this page was shaking violently. The nervousness and excitement of the writer seemed to have been preserved for decades through the strokes, and now it was overflowing on the page. Hu Po stared at the grayish-black handwriting and suddenly said softly, "No wonder I can't grow tall … Isn't that right, Old Zongzi?"
This was the worst self-mockery Gwen had ever heard.
He reached out his hand and pressed Amber's hair. When his big hand covered the top of her head, the half-elf's body trembled slightly. Then she took a deep breath and continued to turn back.
"… Every time I think about how this little brat can only eat this moss with me, I'm filled with guilt. But compared to the worst situation, being able to survive is already a great stroke of luck. I feel like I should stop complaining. At the very least, I'm no longer alone …
"Amber couldn't speak. She could only make a strange, hoarse voice. It sounded like the deepest murmur of the Shadow Dwellers, but it was clear that she wished to communicate with me. I've been talking to her most of the day. Although she can't make the same voice, I always feel that she can at least understand some of it.
"Amber learned how to make ink for me! She just poured the ashes of the moss into the water and then stirred it. But I have to keep an eye on her because she would steal it …
Amber's fingertips slowly moved across the yellowed and fragile pages. Page by page, she flipped through the words that recorded her childhood to the end. The diary was finally coming to an end.
At the end of the diary, Surry? Randolph finally discovered the abnormality of the little one he "adopted".
"… I saw Amber talking to the Shadow Dwellers!
"No, strictly speaking, it shouldn't be a conversation because Amber doesn't have the ability to fully express herself. But at least they were communicating. Amber was gesturing to those 'ghosts' that suddenly appeared, and those 'ghosts' were actually responding!
"I almost subconsciously attacked those Shadow Dwellers, and when I realized that they were close to Amber, I couldn't be more shocked …
"… Amber has some kind of Shadow talent that I can't understand. I can finally confirm this point.
"It's not the first time she talked to those Shadow Dwellers. She even pulled me in last time. She seemed to be trying to introduce me to those terrible 'ghosts'. I was so nervous that I didn't know how to react, and those 'ghosts' didn't respond as usual. This made Amber angry for a while.
"I also saw with my own eyes that she was shuttling back and forth in the room. A shadow power wrapped around her, making her run from one end of the room to the other. Even a Shadow Transcendent like me could hardly catch up with her speed.
"She even entered a completely sealed room, and through some kind of high-level shadow jump …
"I think I can probably guess why the ancient Gondor people put this little girl in a container … Such outstanding Shadow power, this may be the 'result' of those ancient Gondor people?
"I'm really curious about the secret behind Amber, and what those Gondor people are doing here …
"Curiosity made me recall the things of the outside world. I pulled Amber and told her a lot, describing the flowers and trees of the outside world, describing the bright colors. She was very confused, probably couldn't imagine those scenes at all, but she was very curious and seemed to care a lot about what I described.
"I felt guilty. I shouldn't have said those things to her … She really wanted to go out. She wanted to see the outside world. Although she couldn't say it, I could feel her emotions and thoughts. But I couldn't do anything. I couldn't even go out myself!
"Amber has been very impatient these days. She began to create some whirlpools and rifts covered in shadow in the room. I told her that it was very dangerous, but she didn't listen. I don't know what she wants to do, but it's really, really dangerous!
"… This may be the last diary I left in the Shadowy Stronghold.
"After being trapped for so long, after being abandoned by the gods for so long, after even I gave up hope … I didn't expect this day to really come …
"Amber opened a rift to the outside world!
"Although it is still slowly growing, it is still not big enough for a person to pass through, but it is really in front of me — the bright sunlight and bright colors, just opposite the rift!
"Goodbye, this cursed place!"
The diary ended here, the next few pages were all blank.
The room fell into a dead silence, even the sound of pages turning disappeared. It was as quiet as a faded oil painting.
After a few minutes of unbearable silence, it was Pitman who broke the silence first, "… When I first met Surrey, Randolph Randolph? He was lying weakly in the wilderness. His clothes were tattered, his hair and beard were very long, as if he had lived in the wilderness for several years. At that time, you were sitting beside him in a daze, with a rag on your body. You didn't cry or make a fuss. You were so quiet that it was frightening.
"At that time, I was hiding from some people, a guy who couldn't even save his own life. When I met you on the way, my first reaction was to leave as soon as possible and let you fend for yourselves in the wilderness …
"But just as I was about to leave, you suddenly moved and pulled my robe. Do you know? At that time, you looked only four or five years old, but your strength was incredible. You pulled me as if you wanted me to save the dying man next to you. You didn't even know how to speak at that time. You could only make some very hoarse noises, which didn't sound like a human's voice at all.
"I was very nervous and scared at that time. I tried my best to shake you off, but you got up again and gave me something in a panic."
Amber finally raised her head slightly and looked at Pitman. "What was it?"
"It was a pile of grayish-black 'moss'." Pitman grinned and laughed. The wrinkles on his face overlapped as if it was really funny. "It took me a while to understand what you meant. You wanted to use the moss as a reward for me to save the person next to you.
"I will always remember your expression at that time. You held a handful of moss as if you were handing me a handful of gold.
"I was amused by you, and then … my heart softened. I couldn't get rid of the two of you in this life."
Amber's eyes were a little blank. "I … I don't remember at all."
"Of course you don't remember. Your memory ability didn't stabilize until six years later, and before that, it took you four and a half years to learn to speak the first word." Pitman shook his head and sighed. "Because your soul is synthetic — you're an artificial human!"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
