The sun is shining brightly. The sun that has been hanging in the sky in the alien world for countless billions of years is still shining on the earth with its bright and dazzling sunlight on days when it is not obscured by dark clouds.

chergonykin.

One of the beast cities, it cannot be specifically defined, but it happens to be located next to Rota County, which has the characteristics of monsters.

To the King of Beasts, and even to Barthalom, this was just one of the ordinary subordinate cities that existed in the world by abiding by the rules.

Ordinary, common.

That is not the distant past.

At least according to the unicorn, Bartholomew Christian.

A blurry figure appeared, holding a set of cultivation resources in his hand, with a look of joy on his face, and he did not forget to say, "Barsalom, I got more cultivation resources."

"Other friends I work with told me that there are new rules coming down recently. But compared to the previous extreme resource division, now there is a new rule that the more you do, the more you get."

The so-called rules were just random words, without any in-depth discussion. The man just continued, "Now, use this extra cultivation resource."

"Speaking of which, has your strength improved significantly recently? If you cannot reach the next level planned by the king before the next strength test day, you will be driven out of Tasakh City."

The scene changed, and the figure was concealed by the sudden fog, and the scene changed to the street.

Barsalom was grabbed by a man carrying a backpack. Inside the backpack were various plants whose concentrations were several times higher than the element reserves in natural air.

After the man grabbed Barsalom, his expression was full of gossip and he said, "Barsalom, Ido, who wants to become your family, has been working much harder these days than before."

"It's understandable that they do it for resources, but I heard that the so-called "the more you do, the more you get" is a misunderstanding. Wang originally wanted to test how many people choose to be lazy at work..."

"In order to take care of you, who had just been sent to Tasahe City and had not yet completely gotten used to the rules of the monster society, Ido gave you a long time to adapt. He paid much more than you can imagine..."

The gossiper gave Bartholomew enough time to ponder, and during this time he saw the interesting changes in the unicorn's expression, before saying, "But my suggestion is that you'd better stop him from trying, and get to work yourself."

"You are unable to accept reality. Sooner or later, you will die in a remote corner of Tasahe City because of violating the rules."

"You really make the monsters worried, not to mention that the element you possess is the light element that is in opposition to the king..."

The scene jumped again, and this time, the scene before my eyes had turned from day to night.

During the free time outside the rules, even though most monsters would choose to rest, there were still some monsters who, whether out of kindness or wanting to see the excitement, gathered at Barsalom and Ido's homes.

"What a shame, I never thought that Ido's own resources would be given to Barcelona."

"Me too. This is unimaginable. The king allowed everyone to have access to the same resources, wasn't it to accurately measure everyone's talents? Ido is taking advantage of the situation... Now he has brought this upon himself."

"Don't say that... Everyone has been through the same situation as Bartholom. It's just that we didn't encounter monsters like Ido back then."

"So after his inspection day, Ido was driven out of the city of Tasahe due to his insufficient strength." Someone said with disdain.

"Is he going to die?"

"It doesn't matter whether it happens or not."

Several monsters looked at each other, and when they spoke the next words, there was no shame on their faces.

"After all, we came here just to observe Edo's house. After he left, it's impossible for Barsalom to live alone in such a large space. That would be a waste of space, wouldn't it?"

"Whether it's the rules or loyalty to the king, I don't think I want to see such a waste of resources."

"Why do you think Ido would choose to give his training resources to Barsalom?"

The monster asking the question was genuinely curious.

The monster who answered, however, could not empathize with the other monster that had been driven away: "How should I know this? I'm not Ido. But to be honest, I really want to be Barsalom, but it's a pity that I will never ignore my loyalty to the king because of personal feelings."

"Ido..."

What happened next?

Barsalom, who was watching all this with a cold eye, saw another version of himself rushing out of the city of Tasah.

The bystander behind him looked puzzled and asked, "Is Barsalom going to look for Ido? Isn't it natural for a monster with insufficient strength to be driven out of the city where it lives after its strength is determined on the inspection day?"

"Everyone is abiding by these rules, and we still have to go to work tomorrow. If Barsalom doesn't come back before tomorrow morning and violates the rules, it will be tantamount to betraying the king..."

As if being controlled by some unknown giant hand, a crazy scene appeared, and all the monsters were saying, "We will never forgive anyone who violates the rules! Under the rules, all beings are equal!"

Barcelona, ​​who had already left the city, apparently didn't hear any of this.

The unicorn that looked like a young boy was scurrying around outside the city like a headless fly.

During that period, the earliest expulsion rules had already been established. However, compared to the perfection of the rules in the later period, the rules were just in their infancy.

What will happen to a lone beastman?

Unlike later, the lone beastman tribe at the beginning will become an important channel for the other two tribes to understand the beastman intelligence.

One of the rules is: Do not reveal any beast tribe rules to the feather tribe and the water tribe...

This meant that Ido would say nothing.

Interrogation and torture.

Most monsters that end up interrogating and torturing people will be disappointed.

In the end, the aliens who still need to eat will end up being killed on the spot.

Some people are so unscrupulous that they will even force the transformed monsters to return to their original form...

The young-looking unicorn knocked over a series of aquatic creatures, but in the end, the only one left for him was Ido, who had been dead for a long time.

Barthalom later discovered that the aquatic monsters did not intend to eat Ido. They just wanted to see if Ido was really alone, and if possible, whether they could use his corpse to catch other monsters that might reveal information...

Ido said nothing, but Barsalom would rather he did.

In the end, the unicorn buried Ido on a hill, and before the sun rose completely, it would never be able to see the rising sun that Ido should have embraced with Ido together.

He could only return to the city of Tasahe at dawn under the compulsion of the rules.

Rule 1: When there is a possibility of violating the rules, all the rules that have been issued will be given priority as one of the principles to be followed.

Most monsters can abide by those rules naturally. Bartholomew doesn't know whether he and Ido are too special, so they have been forgotten in the past before they can keep up with the new era.

Nor is it clear what the point of following these rules is.

With the same resources, people with talent can become stronger——

But when they become stronger, they will be pitted against another level of monsters.

There is no end.

It seems that in the end, every monster faces the fate of being driven away.

But no matter how gifted a monster is, there will always be times when it cannot beat other monsters.

But the rules are still being enforced.

It even gradually became a situation where it was no longer forced, but each monster began to spontaneously uphold the rules.

That is the only way up.

When the monster above dies, there will naturally be room for the monster below...

If no monster thinks it is wrong, then what all monsters are experiencing now is correct.

The gray area in the world is vast, but the orcs' thinking is narrow and narrow.

But it is undeniable that this rule, which Bartholomew could not describe specifically, was realized by the transformed monsters giving up something, and it actually made the monsters who still retained their "hearts" lose too much.

I don't know when it started, but familiar monsters, like Ido in my memory, were exiled one after another, and died one after another in the war, until their original positions were replaced by new monsters.

In the world of beastmen, time slows down to the point where everything is exactly the same except for the monsters.

Without thoughts, we are like branches swaying in the wind.

It was not until later that Barthalom saw the king of beasts.

That is Clemens——

The original form of Tiger at that time was not even a hundred meters tall. He was like a giant dragon, living in a building with a very high dome.

Bartholomew was terrified, but deep in his heart, there was a dead silence different from before, and he felt an unnecessary curiosity.

Why is the king so powerful?

So powerful that it's like a monster.

However, only such a powerful existence can establish a hierarchy to divide the power of other monsters.

Bartholomew knelt on one knee to show his submission.

Unicorns appeared on more and more battlefields.

Sometimes, someone would tell Bartholomew, as the gossiper had done, that the king did not like the light elemental monsters.

This was not understood as jealousy, Bartholomew simply asked the reason.

Clemens responded: "No monster would expect the element that has the power to kill him to be in the hands of another individual."

Barthalom seemed to feel the coming of winter in his confusion. But even in the coldest winter, the temperature made no difference to the monsters.

Clemens later asked Barsalom, "What are you going to do now that you know this answer?"

It seems that the unicorn only has one choice left.

But this cannot be seen as a choice at all.

It is just the only way out after being pressured by facts.

Barthalom became a pure physical force user, and from now on no monster would see him using long-range attacks of light elements as a means of power output.

——I couldn’t resist. That was the clear message from the first moment I saw it.

After that, facts repeatedly told Bartholomew that no monster could resist Clemens.

That is neither a human nor a monster.

It's just a monster.

A monster whose mere existence is equivalent to darkness.

Clemens told the unicorn: "It is no longer convenient for me to travel. From now on, you will carry out my instructions."

Clemens told the unicorn: "The existence of monsters has a limit, but I don't."

The beast king told his men: "Darkness will one day cover the earth."

Clemens said too much to Barcelona.

It was even possible that for nearly a hundred years, the orcs only knew Bartholomew but did not know Clemens.

The king called by the beastmen seemed to have become just a label and a code name.

But there was no betrayal, and no seizure of power.

Anyone who sees the existence of the tiger will not have the desire to resist.

Barcelona will never be an exception.

He would not resist Clemens, nor would he express his views on the rules, nor would he indicate that even in his dreams, Ido's face would only be slightly blurry because of his subjective influence.

That figure is still clear today, hundreds of years later.

And now.

The humans who had actually seen that existence attempted a charge towards the monster city, which was doomed to fail.

"It will only take about three hours to reach Dargonykin. The water monsters are much faster than we imagined, right?" Leia looked at Suli with an expression that the human boy could not understand at all.

"Since we are ready to go to war with Clemens, instead of waiting until one day he leads his troops to attack the sea, it is better to mobilize all the aquatic forces now."

Monsters that can transform into human form all act in human form.

What cannot be changed is to directly wrap oneself in water elements, like a tumbleweed, constantly rolling on the land...

This eye-catching scene made Sully realize countless times that he could not communicate with the mermaid naturally, so he could only turn his head away and pretend that he was listening carefully. In fact, both his brain and eyes were obviously empty.

"So this is why you choose not to treat me as a prisoner to be guarded in the rear, but to travel with the army?" Barsalom looked at the mermaid with a look that was full of the desire to stab him.

Later, he turned his eyes to Suli and said, "Don't tell me that for a human like you who considers many aspects, it is really necessary to take me with you to this battle."

"This... I don't think it's necessary." Suli boldly expressed his thoughts.

Egbert also wanted to kill the mermaid with his sword, and his sharp eyes kept flying over. If he had not been strong enough to defeat the mermaid, he would have dragged the mermaid to a corner to fight her.

"Let's not talk about whether or not it takes a lot of manpower to attack a city. Just the fact that we're bringing a unicorn that will definitely betray us once it recovers its strength... No matter how you look at it, this is irrational, isn't it?"

Roy nodded vigorously: "I think so too. Or do you have any reasons that can convince everyone?"

Lan Zhe tossed the bottle of medicine in his hand up and down. He looked at the mermaid whose expression did not change at all, and once again clearly felt that anyone who tried to steal Suli's attention would burst out with fighting power that others could hardly resist when trying to steal it.

The Dark Son said, "It's obvious that there is no reason to completely block out the wrath. He did this just to impress Suli, didn't he?"

"It really sounds like what you mean is that the only value of my existence here is to make Suli have unexpected emotions." Barsalom feels very bad now.

In every aspect.

"I thought you might ask me what I think." Elvi sneered, his open eye full of murderous intent. "Your existence is to make Sully feel unexpected. Then I am here only to be the most suitable person to kill the mermaid when he wants to die."

Leia shook her head: "No, even if one day I really don't want to live, I hope that my death will be given by Suli himself."

Before Egbert could control himself and take action, the mermaid took the initiative to change the subject.

"After all, the reason I chose to bring you along was simply because I thought Clemens would have some limitations."

"Two armies facing each other, we, the ones holding captives, face those beings that you have repeatedly described as monsters. This is the only advantage we have."

Merman has always been good at conspiracy. He always lives in the shadows and can never give up playing with things he is used to.

"And if what you want to know is why I brought you here before the attack on Ergonkin was completed... Then I can only tell you that compared to spending a lot of power to occupy an enemy city, the fact that I captured you two, who are equivalent to powerful monsters, is enough to tell those useless monsters that we have power that they can't resist at all."

The mermaid didn't want to explain at first, he thought the human boy would understand even without him saying anything.

As for the other things I don’t understand…?

Who cares what idiots think.

"It is much better to achieve victory without losing a single soldier than to occupy it at great cost."

"Besides, I don't care about the death of those idiots..." Leia glanced at the strange aquatic monsters behind her.

Whether they are humanoid-looking, transformed monsters that retain some of the characteristics of aquatic monsters, or pure aquatic monsters... maybe it's because the deep sea is too dark, so they all look very casual.

"But if we can save energy and let them exert more effort when facing Clemens' battlefield, wouldn't it make Suli spend less energy?"

This made the unicorn and the dragon want to strangle the mermaid to death.

Humans suddenly realize it.

Egbert concluded: "So what you're saying is that instead of asking Lord Sully to do what he wants to do, why don't we do it in advance, and this will save Lord Sully the effort?"

"Yes, but not entirely." Based on this point, the mermaid is still interested in discussing with humans.

The rest of the time passed in various bizarre conversations about Suli.

Egbert was also certain that Leia was a little crazy.

It's just that the mermaid's previous madness was all kinds of incomprehensible neurotic behaviors, but now it's...

"I will follow Suli's thoughts and Suli's principles. Rather than letting an unknown entity control my thoughts, I'd rather take the initiative. At least Suli saved me."

Of course Suli explained that he was in the sea at the time, but he did not kill Leia. Not killing him does not mean saving him.

But the mermaid acted as if she didn't hear it, and still unreservedly engraved the gratitude for saving her life in her heart.

Worst of all, Egbert had some traits that led him in that direction.

Ignore these "normalities".

Gornikin was already within sight.

This city was not much different from the one Gabriel brought them here before. Bartholomew, who was forced to give an explanation, also made an expression that he was being forced.

Then he said: "Ergonkin is just one of the most remote cities of the beastmen. Instead of using their strength as a fighting force, it is better to keep it unchanged. Let the monsters in this city be screened according to the rules and gradually provide soldiers who can contribute to the war."

"And since he can't be a soldier, he will just be like now, in a daze?" Matilda looked at where Gabriel was. The gray wolf now looked like a wolf.

As a king, no matter how weak Matilda looked, he would not miss out on the information she needed to know.

The rules of the orcs to drive out inferior coins have long become well known with the help of time.

“No, monsters like him would have acted like heroes and died together with the reconnaissance intelligence teams of the Feather Tribe or the Water Tribe.” Barsalom’s expression did not change as he spoke, and his face still seemed to show a little dissatisfaction from not long ago because he had traveled with the army as a prisoner.

It's just plain weird.

"Okay, stop talking about this." The person who finally interrupted the conversation based on the governance of the country was the mermaid who had already aimed at the main gate of Ergonkin.

Just like what Bartholomew said, the people of this city do not have the strength to be real orc monster warriors.

Leia only needed to send out any one of her men to find the beastmen in the aquatic army, and they would choose to compromise, just as the mermaids had expected.

But it was not because of the information about the unicorns and dragons being captured that they understood the truth.

But soon after they saw the aquatic army, they realized that they had no ability to defend the city in this siege.

Compared to letting the entire city be trampled, the monsters under the rules also follow the rule: "Do not waste the resources owned by the king."

The orcs, whether cities or various resources, are under the pressure of rules and are defined by the monsters of the orcs as - all belong to Clemens.

Colin, whom Gabriel was familiar with, was loudly criticizing the city manager who wanted to surrender.

"I don't want to know what complicated things you have considered. I only know that once you surrender here, other cities will definitely regard Ergonkin as a shame. What's worse, the monsters in other cities may also choose to surrender in the future because of Ergonkin's surrender!"

"Shut up, Colin." Ergonkin's manager said grimly.

"Do you think war is such a simple thing? Once we choose to resist, this city and all the monsters in it will die here. Have you ever thought about who will take over the work that we should have handled after the death of these monsters? Will the resources that we should have obtained eventually disappear because of our death?"

"Since resistance is useless, then choosing to preserve our strength, whether it is to be used as an insider or simply to preserve our strength, is the best choice after weighing the pros and cons."

Colin shouted, firmly believing that what he thought was right: "That's not the case at all! The only correct choice is to resist. All the monsters in Ergonkin have chosen to resist. It doesn't matter even if we die in battle. But once we choose to surrender, our lives will only be controlled by those ugly fish!"

"After all, I'd rather let myself choose than transfer the right to my own death to an ugly aquatic monster!"

"It doesn't matter if you die." Colin said what he thought was the key point, "It is an honor to die in battle!"

"Knowing that other cities we fought so hard against would fundamentally eliminate the possibility of surrender. Only in this way can we avoid a large-scale fall in a short period of time, and instead buy enough time to wait for the king's army to come to support us."

The manager didn't want to face death so mindlessly: "But by that time, all of Ergonkin's monsters will be dead!"

The dispute was still intensifying, and before it turned into a fight, the monster that humans had only heard of but never seen before spoke.

"Then wouldn't it be fine for my brother and the adults to each take people with the same ideas? Everyone's goal is to protect the king. In that case, why don't we just follow what we think is right?" Connie said without any expression.

The tense atmosphere came to an abrupt end.

Both Colin and the manager finally stopped arguing in this strange change of atmosphere. In a very short time, as Connie said, they started to act on their own.

Those who advocated fighting did not go out through the main gate. The manager said that as long as he was still the manager, he had the responsibility to take responsibility for the future of the monsters in this city.

Compared to the majority of monsters who agreed with the manager's ideas, a minority of people including Colin could only choose to start from a side door in the end.

But he left his sister behind.

One of Leia's men, he becomes an opponent who tries to intercept Colin.

The aquatic monsters that had participated in countless battles were not comparable to this kind of logistics, and Colin was easily subdued.

Before the aquatic monster could try to break Colin's neck, Gabriel interrupted him with an attacking gesture.

After a moment, he showed a bewildered expression, stared at the monster whose arm was bleeding, and said, "Sorry, I didn't mean to do that!"

This action also made Colin discover him.

"Gabriel! I didn't expect it to be you. You actually hang out with the aquatic monsters. Are you dissatisfied with the fact that Gabriel was exiled and turned to the aquatic monsters? You traitor!"

"I knew that you, who has a brother without any talent, would have no means to do anything. You are a piece of trash, a bastard, a traitor who has sided with the enemy! Why don't you just die?!"

Compared to what Colin said before, that death is equal to honor, this transformation into a monster is purely to vent emotions.

Is he ready to die?

Are the people around him ready for this?

For someone who is willing to give up everything to achieve his goal, should he be considered crazy or should he have the absolute rationality that comes from a sober assessment of the current situation?

Neither the former nor the latter is Colin.

Before Leia's men could target Gabriel and attack, Leia stopped him.

The mermaid focused her attention on Gabriel, her eyes were mysterious: "You are stopping your own people from killing the enemy on the battlefield. Can I take it that you want to become our enemy?"

"No! I know him, and I think he shouldn't die here..." Gabriel couldn't give an explanation that the man in front of him was the brother of the girl he liked, so he couldn't just watch him die.

At least in Colin's eyes, Gabriel is still his younger brother Gabrielkin.

"So what do you think we should do? You were very close to Suli, so you should have heard everything I said. I didn't intend to kill this city before."

"But for a monster that actively attacks us, I don't think it has the qualifications to continue living."

Colin shouted, "Kill me if you dare!" but was ignored by the mermaid and the gray crane.

"He, he is the one who understands the king's rules the best among all of Ergonkin!" After saying this, Gabriel's voice became smoother. "He has always taken the rules as his principle of action. If you choose to interrogate him, you will definitely get a lot of information related to the rules. The value of his survival is greater than his death, isn't it?"

There was already a pleading look in Gabriel's eyes.

"No." Leia walked to Colin's side and took the initiative to strangle him.

The mermaid smiled. "In war, the enemy's logistics are never worth living, no matter what he knows."

The restricted throat gradually suffocated Colin.

"Besides, killing him is far more valuable than keeping him alive. Compared to treating the captive gently and letting the enemy think that there is no danger even if they lose, I would rather choose to shock him."

"Killing captives will make those who want to resist more willing to resist, and those who try to surrender will only understand more clearly that they have no choice but to obey."

Benevolent government?

Let alone monsters, even humans do not have the actual practical embodiment of the term "benevolent government".

"Gabriel, your desire to keep him alive is not really about wanting this guy who was once your companion to live, but rather, you just want this monster to live for some reason."

Gabriel did not show any obvious concern about the deaths of other monsters.

"It's just selfish." Leia looked down at the gray wolf.

He had never seen this monster before, so he didn't know what it thought of humans when it first didn't know their strength, but the mermaid could guess it.

It doesn't matter if you don't care about Sully, but as long as you care, you can't accept any monster looking down on Sully.

The mermaid didn't give Gabriel any chance to entangle him, but directly broke Colin's neck.

That crisp snapping sound became Gabriel's lingering nightmare.

...Just died like that?

It was so easy, there was no power to resist.

Not long ago, he was still very much alive, able to shout out all kinds of insults.

Gabriel knew that Colin had always disliked him, but since the girl he liked was his sister, Gabriel could understand.

But why did he die suddenly?

confused.

The emotion Gabriel felt was not hatred, but another kind of confusion.

Why did Colin choose to fight?

The number of monsters that appeared from the side door was small, wasn't it? This meant that there were also few monsters that chose to fight, and the others were obviously ready to surrender, so why did they come to die?

Gabriel knew very well that he would never get the answer to this question by just thinking on his own, but he chose to ask other monsters.

No matter how much the guys resisted, they finally spoke Colin's mind.

"Because of the so-called honor, and because the death of the Ergonkin monster can serve as a warning to monsters in other cities, you choose to rush towards death?"

Gabriel, who had already received a clear answer, still asked in disbelief.

court death……

Gabriel could not forget that when he was exiled, although he was prepared to die with other monsters, he also imagined that if he killed a water or feather monster, he would be able to survive and continue the next battle.

Looking at the monsters in front of him, Gabriel doubted himself for a moment. Was he abnormal for wanting to survive?

On the other hand, the mermaid explained what happened and the reaction of the Ergonkin monster, and then jokingly discussed with Sully: "Die now and warn your companions in other cities. Compromise now and save your own life..."

"Which one does Sully find funnier?"

"None of them are interesting." Sully saw through the mermaid's mental disorder at a glance.

"Choosing to die voluntarily and leaving your life to others to decide, in my opinion, are both equivalent to death." Suli directly avoided the answer that the mermaid wanted.

"Instead of taking the time to ponder the great philosophy of life and death, you might as well think about why the choices made by the beastmen are all death."

"Isn't it also an option to abandon this city and go to other cities, gather all the strength that can be gathered, and resist the water tribe army?"

"Whether to surrender or to fight to the death. Are these the only two choices for the beastmen?"

Sully kicked the ball back. He had not noticed before that the mermaid killed the brother of the person Gray Wolf loved right in front of him. He just thought that Leia was having another intermittent illness.

The mermaid fell into deep thought...

Just like everyone who has communicated with Egbert, they cannot help but extend and deepen his words infinitely.

Mermaids are no exception.

This influence, which was like mind control, made Leia unconsciously start to think about why the beasts only had these two choices...

Just like the third approach given by Suli, it is hard to say whether the fourth and fifth ones exist, but at least the third one has a practical basis.

Then the question is, why don’t those monsters have a third idea?

Both previous ideas concluded in death.

Who would think that the mermaid governor was a good person who had a guilty conscience and did not kill the captives?

If it weren't for the fact that she couldn't kill the dragon and the unicorn whose power was restricted, the mermaid would have scattered the ashes of these two guys long ago.

The reason why they stayed here was that they could not resist Sully, and secondly, the mermaids now thought that the dragons and unicorns might be able to provide unexpected assistance.

Let's ignore that for now.

Even if they didn't fight on the battlefield, it's possible that these logistics personnel hadn't heard of the murderous reputation of the Merman Archon.

The result of both options is death. Gabriel had said before that Colin was the monster who understood the rules best... The solution made by a guy who understood the rules best was to die on his own initiative, while the one who didn't understand so well could delay the arrival of death...

Is this normal?

It can't be said that the purpose of Clemens making rules is to kill these transformed monsters.

The time to think about this issue did not last long.

Instead of thinking about these issues right in front of the city, Leia chose to suppress her thoughts for the time being, planning to completely defeat Ergonkin first and then start thinking deeply later.

Ergonkin's manager, just as Colin had argued with him before, really chose to surrender without any resistance.

As Leia let her aquatic monsters take over the city, she wondered how things could be so simple.

Even if it was a logistics area, Ergonkin should not have fallen so quickly.

As mentioned earlier, they had been marching for a whole day before reaching their destination in three hours.

There would be no monster that thought that Leia's purpose of leading a large number of aquatic monsters in this direction was Rota County.

Even so, if Leia received reports from his subordinates about unusual movements of the Feathered or Beastmen, even if he would not go to the scene in person, he would definitely send monsters to investigate the details.

But……

This is still too simple.