Azathoth and Hugo had an agreement that was never made public.
During those years on the desolate planet, whenever the god opened his eyes and surfaced in the ocean, he would always see his old friends waiting for him, just like when he opened his eyes in the morning and took out his mobile phone, he would always see greetings from the same person - although Hugo never admitted that he was waiting for Azathoth to wake up from his slumber.
"I just happened to be passing by." The propeller on the bionic man's head was blown all over the place by the wind over Antarctica, but the speakers installed in his head were not affected at all.
All in all, Azathoth knew it quite well, so he asked with some suspicion, "How many encrypted folders have you divided your memory recordings into?"
Hugo had no idea what he had forgotten, and in his panic, he blurted out, "It's similar to the classification of the notebooks in the otaku's computer."
“…”
The dummies directly above the stage in the tent were performing a comically mediocre act.
The android at that time was probably not very good at concealing its peculiarities. It can be seen that it has tried its best to imitate the magicians in TV and movies, but the result of lack of practice is that its movements are stiff and exaggerated, and the performance effect presented is more like a thriller than a comedy.
If Igor hadn't just heard the conversation between Azathoth and Hugo, he would have probably drawn his gun at the stage.
The dummy was holding a top hat in his hand, making rustling background special effects sounds, and then suddenly took out a fluffy fake rabbit from inside.
"Look!" It enthusiastically shook the innocent-looking doll, its shaggy artificial fur flying everywhere, complementing the blue, luminous wig on its head. "What did I pull out? A rabbit!"
“…”
Taking back what I said before, Hugo actually still has some of that talent for comedy that has been passed down for thousands of years.
Taking advantage of the bright lights on the stage, Nixon and Mike, who were sitting in the second row, exchanged glances.
What the hell is this? An old black-and-white movie from hundreds of years ago?
——The things on the stage are scary, and the people sitting in the front row are also scary.
They exchanged a meaningful glance.
——The little boy who just spoke to us seemed a little abnormal.
——Who in this family is normal?
- A strange man with a hood in the thick fog, an emotionally unstable little boy, an abnormally calm Omega girl, and an old man who is fully armed with a set of self-defense weapons and looks more handsome than me.
Nixon: ...
He stared at Igor's back for a long time.
Mike mouthed: "What are you looking at? I know he's handsome, but you don't have to stare at him for so long, right?"
Nixon kicked him expressionlessly: Shut up, idiot, they obviously know much more than us.
The dummy on the stage seemed to have realized at this time that its performance was not satisfactory.
It sat down cross-legged in frustration, looking at the audience with its cloudy eyes, and the upturned red corners of its mouth drooped, and it suddenly looked much more real.
Before, the audience watched the performance as if they were watching a video that was detached from reality. But in that moment, the distance between the actors and the audience was suddenly shortened.
"Okay... I know you don't want to watch this kind of boring content."
The dummy muttered, raised its plastic hand, and pulled out a palm-sized shiny thing from its pocket, throwing it into the audience in a frustrated manner.
Nixon shuddered in shock as the object landed precisely on the chair beside him. He hesitantly reached out to pick it up, illuminating it with the light and observing it. He saw it must be a silver coin music box that someone had accidentally discarded. When he pressed it, it slowly opened, and the little figure on it began to play "Canon" as it wobbled.
"It...it really exists?"
Mike also saw this scene and stammered, "Didn't you say this was just a projection?"
Azathoth, who seemed to have been silent in their eyes, said: "This is a phenomenon that cannot be explained by the science you know, so don't think too much about it."
Where is the line between mysticism and reality? As a god who can influence reality through dreams, Azathoth never speaks out easily.
Just like this scene at this moment, time and space are intertwined. Are they still staying on the outskirts of Kemingting Town, or have they actually returned to the desolate planet?
Or is it that everyone is trapped in hallucinations and dreams in this white fog?
Hugo seemed to be awakened by these words. He subconsciously grabbed Azathoth's sleeve, looked up at him, and said hesitantly: "So it really happened? Why don't I remember it?"
The god looked down at its confused face, his eyes beneath the hood holding a hint of compassion.
Hugo survived on the deserted planet by cutting through the unbearable time and discarding unnecessary memories.
Often, humans claim to have forgotten the past, but they're just making excuses. But for a bionic person, when they seriously decide not to think about a past event anymore and toss the memory into the recycling bin, that's when they've truly severed ties, irreversible.
After all, it doesn't even remember that it threw away its memories, so how can it remember what scene it lost?
The dummy on the stage pondered for a long time, then suddenly clapped its hands in joy. "It's a relief that you've come all the way back to ▇▇. As a token of your host's welcome, since you don't want to watch my magic show, I'll sing a song for you."
Its emotional ups and downs lack transitions and seem a bit crazy.
But the moment the music started, the light from the top of the stage shone on its ugly facial features, and its expression looked relaxed and happy.
"Your space capsule emits golden light,
I will look up and watch over you.
..."
The sound of electricity crackled, and the sound quality of the old speakers was fully exposed in the low sound of music, just like the whole person, left in the old century.
The bionic man sat cross-legged on the wooden floor, humming a song, feeling relaxed and contented as he hadn't felt in a long time.
"Civilization can crush the feelings that never fade, no matter how dry the mountains and rivers are,
In the old days, you and I lived together in the garbage.
Seven hundred years have passed in the blink of an eye, leaving that flower behind and allowing me to take its roots home..."
Hugo still held Azathoth's sleeve with one hand, his eyes staring blankly at his past self singing loudly on the cheap and shabby stage.
"Is that me?" it whispered to its companion. "Have I ever done anything like this?"
The god looked at it gently.
——For many years, there was only one person in the audience when Hugo performed.
And before Azathoth recognized it, the android was probably setting up his own tent, flipping up his top hat, pulling his rabbit ears and speaking cheesy lines, while controlling the robots in the audience to cheer for him.
But as time went on, Hugo became less interested in this entertainment.
In the intervals between songs, loud sobs suddenly erupted from the second row of seats.
The music was suddenly interrupted, the dummies on the stage stopped moving, the lights on the top of the tent turned on, illuminating the entire venue, and everyone turned around and looked at Mike in amazement who made the sound.
"W-Why are you looking at me?" The ordinary-looking young man covered his face and sobbed, appearing to be trying hard to prevent himself from suddenly bursting into tears. "Is it very strange? Don't you think this scene is particularly sad?"
Nixon took off his jacket and put it over Mike's head. Facing the confused gazes of the crowd, he said seriously, "I'm sorry for the negative impact on the performance."
"Woo--!" This action backfired. Mike hugged his clothes, bent over, and burst into tears. In the silent environment, only his sobs could be heard. "It's so miserable! Facing the rolling wheel of time, I can't do anything. I can only be left alone and wait in silence, carefully trying to please others, hoping that one day someone will come back, even if the occasional passerby is so stingy as to applaud..."
Nixon asked what everyone was thinking: "How did you come up with that?"
Mike raised his head from his clothes, his eyes red and swollen, and said, "Isn't this plot obvious?"
“…”
The dummy on the stage sat cross-legged and indifferent, with its head tilted as if its battery had run out, and there seemed to be a hint of confusion and expectation in its eyes.
The young man in the second row with excessive imagination could no longer bear it. He rushed out of the tent crying, holding Nixon's coat and jacket without looking back.
Nixon: "I'm sorry."
He said sincerely, "He means no harm. Mike used to be an editor of romance novels, and although he later switched to the current affairs section, his writing has always been rich in emotion."
Then the old smoker subconsciously reached into his pocket to pick up a cigarette to relieve his craving, but found that his cigarette box was in his coat pocket.
He sighed, stood up, and said to everyone, "I'll go out and see him."
"That's all right," Hugo, the person involved, said immediately. "There's nothing to see here. Why don't we follow along?"
Igor added seriously, "Sorry, we have children here. If you want to smoke, why not have a lollipop instead?"
Nixon's first reaction was, how do you know I want to smoke?
My second thought was, why does this statement sound so familiar? It seems like someone has always said this to me when they advised me to quit smoking.
Before he could figure it out, Erica tiptoed over, took out a strawberry lollipop and handed it to him, saying timidly, "Smoking is bad for your health. This candy is for you."
"..." Nixon was confused by the cute little girl, "Thank you."
The dummies on the stage still had their eyes open, watching them leave one after another.
Hugo couldn't help but look back again before stepping out of the tent.
Two identical individuals looked at each other across a long period of time, as if a transparent mirror was placed in front of them, or as if the door of a time machine suddenly opened and slowly closed.
After a while, it smiled and said to the dummy, "The magic was very good. Thank you."
Then the android opened the curtain of the tent and walked out briskly.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
