Green in the Eyes (4)
When Inger saw the green light, the comic book storyboard flashed through his mind.
That is a very insignificant page.
One night, Alex woke up and stared at the bright moonlight, with the same dark green in his eyes.
He found it very strange when he watched it at that time.
But later on, it was not explained whether it was a foreshadowing or not, it was just regarded as a scene to set the atmosphere.
If it were a normal person, he probably wouldn’t even remember this page.
Inger's mind was tangled with thoughts.
Many possibilities raced through my mind.
He took a moment to collect himself.
Only one thing was certain, the person in front of him now was not the original Alex.
Although it is just an intuition, it is an almost firm belief.
"Alex" lay on his side, looked at Inger for a while, and then turned to the window.
After a moment, he sat up.
Inger closed the book and asked, "What are you doing up so late? Go to sleep."
"Alex" lowered his eyes and answered obediently: "Okay."
After lying down again, he asked again: "What about you?"
Inger looked at him, slowed down his voice, and said softly: "I'm afraid you'll wake up and sleepwalk again, so I'll watch you fall asleep before I lie down."
"Alex" curled his lips into a gentle and faint arc and nodded.
Inger was horrified.
He returned his gaze to the book, trying to calm the pounding heartbeat and the unsteady breathing.
"Alex" fell into a deep sleep again.
But Inger knew that "he" was just pretending to sleep.
After a while, Inger turned off the light, went to bed feeling unwell, and tried to relax and control his breathing.
Maybe it's because of the effect of self-hypnosis.
After going to bed, Inger fell asleep quickly.
And when he woke up in the morning, Alex was still sleeping soundly beside him.
Inger did not rush to get up, but leaned back on the bed with his chin in his hand, thinking.
We have some clues about who "Alex" is last night, but there are still many questions.
He looked like he was in a daze, but in fact his mind had already begun to search for all relevant information.
Some demons are born with special abilities.
One of the demons once showed his ability to possess other people.
He possessed Cheryl and made her kill her brother Uriel. During this time, she was conscious. So after the demon was freed from the possession, she immediately committed suicide.
The human race gave this demon king with the ability to possess people a name, the Puppet Demon King.
Since no one has ever seen his true form, he has always only possessed other humans or demons.
It was later discovered that he could even control the Demon King. He could use all the abilities of the humans or demons he possessed, as long as he knew.
He seemed to enjoy having everything under control.
There is evidence that he may be the one who instigated the demons to invade the human continent.
But in the comics, he never saw this demon possessing Alex.
He recalled another detail: when Alex was confronting the possessed "Cheryl", he seemed to have a stabbing headache for a moment, and saw "Cheryl's" surprised face. That was the scene.
Or rather, he tried and failed.
The protagonist is special, and it is understandable that his spirit is so strong that it cannot be usurped by others.
So what's happening now?
The demon king should still be in the Eastern Continent, and the wall of separation has not yet been broken.
Even if Alex is of a lower level and weaker strength now, how did he attach himself to him silently?
Could it be possible that this demon could possess a human being from half a planet away?
Plus the green light in his eyes.
The color of Cheryl's eyes just darkened a little, from light blue to azure blue. So he couldn't feel anything. He thought it was just a visual effect of possession. Other comics usually draw it in red. He didn't pay much attention to it when he read it.
But it is very obvious in Alex's case.
It's a little superficial, but what color do you mix gold with to make green?
"Blue," he murmured.
At this time, Alex woke up.
Inger looked down at him and saw those clear and transparent golden eyes.
"You sleepwalked yesterday. Do you remember?"
Alex rubbed his eyes and yawned. "Ah? Ying, are you awake? I sleepwalked? I don't remember having this habit. Ah, I couldn't notice it myself, and no one told me... What did I do?"
Inger realized that it was him, he threw off the quilt and got dressed.
"Nothing, just a little dance at most." He said calmly.
"Ah?!" Alex's voice cracked.
Inger didn't smile, and he decided not to tell Alex about it for the time being.
One thing has been determined through the question just now.
The reason for the possession was that Alex was in a sleeping state.
He was unaware and had no intention of resisting.
"Cheryl" was possessed while she was awake, so she knew she was possessed.
It can be guessed that if a person is possessed in an unconscious state, he or she will not be able to perceive the actions of the possessed person.
He didn't even know he was possessed.
The next question is whether "he" intentionally possesses a specific person and whether "he" can grasp the memory of the possessed person.
Last night, he didn't mention either of their names once.
Therefore, if "he" possesses again, we can try to find out whether "he" knows the memories of the possessed person, provided that last night was the first time "he" possessed Alex.
Of course, it’s best not to be possessed again.
But Inger had a strong premonition that "he" would come again tonight.
Suppose that "he" is really the puppet demon king that appeared in the comics.
Doesn't this mean that the Great Devil has come to the Novice Village in person to weed out the heroes who haven't grown up yet?
Inger shuddered.
Alex gave him a piece of bread. "What are you thinking about? Why are you so absent-minded?"
Inger answered casually, "All possible ways of using a spell."
[I'm thinking about how to get you and your family out of the clutches of the big devil. ]
Suddenly, he looked at Alex with those bright golden eyes.
"What's wrong?"
Yes, does “he” know that possession will cause the eye color to change?
Although it is just a guess, the demon king's eye color is most likely blue.
If the fusion is based on the eye color of the possessor + the possessed.
I thought back to the past few known possessions.
Cyan, purple, black, blue, dark brown. Even if they merged with blue, it was not a noticeable change, so even if he knew the original eye color of the possessed person, he probably didn't know that the color would change.
Eye colors such as gold and red are also rare in mainland China.
So, last night, "he" was still pretending.
If he had known that his eye color would change so obviously, there would have been no need for him to pretend, because it would have been exposed at a glance.
Inger looked at Alex meaningfully: "...Nothing, let's go to the street after eating, I have something to do."
Alex dressed up as usual and mingled with the workers and farmers in the bar, chatting about this and that and trying to find out about the situation in the city.
Inger took Finne to look for artists who could tell the legends.
Mainly inquire about the legend of the phoenix.
He inquired for information from the servants in the Duke's Palace in the capital and learned that his father Pendlija did not like traveling and had rarely left the Dukedom of Neka and the capital in his life.
Then it is very likely that Karena met and married him in the Duchy of Neka.
Karena is the only surviving descendant of the Phoenix Family, and Duke Pendeliga knows this, but no one knows where the key Phoenix Family is, not even Karena herself.
There was nothing written on the list of wand materials that Karena gave him, so he could only search slowly based on the clues in the photos.
However, he found the process interesting, as if he was collecting folk songs and heard many strange legends, gossips and myths.
They reunited on the street at noon and went shopping for food.
"What is this?"
Alex asked curiously when he saw the dragon egg-like things that often appeared on the stalls.
"Hey, young man, you must be from out of town. This is a specialty of our Dragon Scale Town! Do you know why it is called Dragon Scale? It is because of this dragon scale fruit! Do you want to buy one and try it?"
Inger was also curious, so he paid and bought two.
The surface of this dragon scale fruit really looks like the dragon eggs that often appear in Western fantasy stories. The shell is black and hard, covered with a layer of thick scales, and is a bit prickly.
No, according to the context of this world, dragons are real.
"Are you going to open it now?" The vendor took out a long knife.
Alex picked up his own, broke it in half with his bare hands, and handed it to Inger.
The vendor was stunned for a moment.
"Young Master, you eat this and give me that in your hand." Alex said with a smile.
【It's quite into the show.】
Inger laughed and took it.
The dragon scale fruit is as big as a volleyball. But the fruit is not that heavy.
After breaking it open, the inner circle of flesh is pink and looks a bit like fig flesh, while the egg yolk-colored layer attached to the outer shell looks like durian flesh.
It smells nice, nothing special.
The vendor gave two spoons to the two of us.
The pink flesh is sweet and seedless, like a peach or a pomegranate. The yellow flesh is sweet and salty, similar to cheese. The texture is delicate and soft, like a cake.
"This is so delicious!" Alex finished one in a flash.
Then he finished eating and looked at Inger eating with his shining eyes.
Inger smiled helplessly, and under the vendor's strange look, he bought two more for him to eat.
The two of them ate and talked about their gains today, and then walked around the street for a while.
The scene in Longlin Town is indeed prosperous. Walking down the street, you won’t see a single beggar.
The ground is not that dirty, and the town's drainage and sewage treatment is very good.
Many people are doing business on the streets, and some factories have already opened.
英格爾還好奇進去參觀了幾下，大多是代替手工業的機械，流水線生産已經初具規模。
“聽說最近好像種田的也越來越少了，都進城打工了。”
英格爾點頭：“農具也機械化了，估計需要的人力少了。”
“但我聽工人們說，他們工資太低了，而且有些老板會讓他們工作很長時間。”
“那衆議院有人提出給工人勞動權益制定法律嗎？”
艾利克斯愣怔了片刻，“沒有。”
他很快意識到問題所在。
參議院大多都是貴族，而衆議院大多都是財富堆積出來的新興資産階級的老板。
那麽，有誰能為工人農民平民百姓發聲呢？
【現在還不是那麽嚴重，估計過一段時間，矛盾就會爆發。】
英格爾沒有多說，這種事情就算他不點明，艾利克斯很快就能察覺。
艾利克斯看着工廠的方向若有所思。
英格爾蹲下來，拈了塊鵝卵石，突然問老板道：“能不能幫我磨一套石子出來？大小形狀和我手裏這塊差不多，棱角磨圓，白色黑色分開，白色180顆，黑色181顆。”
“好嘞公子，等會兒來取吧。”
艾利克斯問：“你在買什麽？石頭？這個有什麽用？”
英格爾起身拍了拍褲腿，“買個玩具而已。我們再溜達一圈，等會回來取。”
回去的時候，英格爾又買了兩個竹筐裝石頭，還有一張磨砂紙。
“雖然粗糙了點，但勝在便于攜帶。”英格爾用直尺和鋼筆在紙上畫線。
他本來想用油性筆，可惜這時候油性筆還未推廣開，買不着。
末了，英格爾把紙往桌上一鋪，放了黑子在艾利克斯前面，白子在自己跟前。
艾利克斯好奇的摩挲着光滑的卵石磨制的棋子，問道：“這是什麽？”
英格爾打開棋簍蓋子，微微一笑：“我來教你玩一個游戲吧。”
“知道棋嗎？”
艾利克斯愣了一下，“棋？你是說戰棋？”
他說的戰棋是這片大陸上歷史比較悠久的戰術模型棋，是貴族的戰略模拟游戲，但多用作行兵布陣的模型。類似于顧疏所在世界的國際象棋。
“有點類似，但不太一樣。”
“黑色和白色是棋子，你執黑，我執白。黑色比白色多一顆，你先手。”
“我還是第一次見這麽多棋子，一般的戰棋只有三十幾個。”艾利克斯不熟悉的捏着棋子，然後問：“這個是棋盤？也很不一樣，擺在哪裏？”
戰棋也是事先排兵。
“不，這不是戰棋，是用來下的。不是用來移動的。”
英格爾食指中指拈起一枚白子，落在格子交叉點上。
“這叫落子。”
他又道：“你把你的黑子擺在白子的四方。”
艾利克斯一直仔細觀察，依樣畫葫蘆地照做了。
英格爾在他擺完之後說：“白子看起來像是被包圍了。”
艾利克斯新奇地點頭。
“那麽他就變成了俘虜。”英格爾把白子拿起來，放在了黑子棋簍旁邊。
“這叫吃子。那顆白子是你的了。”
艾利克斯神奇地張開了嘴。
英格爾不禁笑道：“不必大驚小怪，只是規則而已。規則其實很簡單，但是玩法很多。”
接下來他又教了艾利克斯其他規則細節，和各種吃子的方法。
外頭鐘聲把兩人驚醒時，月亮已經在夜色中分外顯眼了。
“先睡吧，之後還有機會繼續玩。”
英格爾坐在床邊，繼續看着在街上店鋪裏随手買下的雜志書刊。
艾利克斯躺在床上問：“明天繼續趕路？今天你早點睡。”
英格爾點點頭：“我看着你睡了再上去。”
艾利克斯眼神有些茫然。
自從母親去世之後，就再也沒有人看着他入睡了。而且昨天，他睡得很好，一夜無夢。
他突然道：“你真的不會唱搖籃曲嗎？我把我家鄉的搖籃曲教給你好不好？”
英格爾知道，他說的家鄉，是指加孜子爵領地。
他淡淡地掃了他犯傻的臉一眼，“你自己唱給你自己聽吧，快睡。”
艾利克斯這個時候總看起來像個孩子。
艾利克斯看着天花板，張嘴輕聲哼唱了起來，聲音低沉磁啞，像是異民族風格的調子，獨特而悠揚。唱着唱着聲音弱下來，他睡着了。
英格爾看着書，繼續等待着。
等了許久，等到他自己也有八分困意時，艾利克斯睜開了眼睛。
英格爾心髒飛速跳了幾下，還是不能适應。
碧綠的眸光在黑暗中鍍了一層黑紗。
英格爾收回熄燈的手，輕松地問：“你又醒了？”
“艾利克斯”坐起來，盯着英格爾手中那本雜志：“我也想看。”
英格爾把雜志遞過去。
“艾利克斯”翻了幾頁還給他，“沒意思。你一直看我還以為有什麽有趣的。”
英格爾嘴角不禁勾起一個弧度，“的确。”
“他”剛剛把雜志拿反了，卻渾然不知。
“他”聽得懂丘涅語，也能說，卻看不懂。
“艾利克斯”在床上輾轉了一會兒，起身。
英格爾很想攔住他，但是怕他起疑于是沒動作。
“艾利克斯”去了盥洗室。
那裏有鏡子。
英格爾悄悄握緊了手杖。
看來“他”是不知道自己附身的這個人長什麽樣子。
盥洗室，鏡子前。
那雙發着碧光的眼睛詭異地瞪大了，同時嘴角的笑深深地裂開。
如果英格爾看見了，寒氣必定會從頭灌到腳。
“艾利克斯”回來的時候，黑色長發的貴族少年正昏昏欲睡地側靠在桌子上。
“艾利克斯” 悄悄走進，手指挑起一縷那肩頭綢緞般順滑的黑發。
英格爾看着他，艱難地睜着眼睛。
實則略微屏住了呼吸。
“艾利克斯”任由發絲滑落指尖，露出一個璀璨的笑容：“你也該習慣叫我的名字了吧？別總是你你你的。聽着怪別扭的。”
英格爾心中騰起了一絲火氣。
【這個家夥!用艾利克斯那張臉……】
如果不是他看過漫畫，有過猜測，估計還真要被這演技給騙過去了。
他稍微冷靜了一下，纖長的手指按着眉骨，回道：“你不也一直這樣？彼此彼此。”
【他還不知道附身之人的名字。】
“艾利克斯”眨了眨眼，故作沉思，“那在外面，你就別叫我艾利克斯了，你叫我艾利吧，這樣身份也不會被發現。”
【什麽？!】
英格爾心中翻起驚濤駭浪。
【他知道艾利克斯的名字和臉？還有身份？他以前見過他？不……那他也應該知道眼睛顏色的事情了，但為什麽！？】
英格爾感覺那一瞬間指尖都冷了，他下意識握緊了手杖。
“艾利克斯”視線下移，故作無知地問：“怎麽了？”
英格爾松開了手，不耐煩地捏着眉心道：“你才是。又睡迷糊了？我們出來前不早已經約好了？你又重複一遍做什麽？只是我叫你全名叫慣了，總感覺怪怪的，所以沒有經常叫而已。”
他們根本沒約定過假名。因為英格爾不常喊他的名字，而艾利克斯一般叫他應。
“艾利克斯”似乎很開心地道：“所以說要經常喊才習慣嘛。”
英格爾冷靜地觀察着他。
【這家夥，知道艾利克斯的名字，不知道我的。】
但現在撕破臉，不明智。
于是他道：“讓別人做到之前，自己先做到吧。修爾這個名字還是你自作主張起的。”
“艾利”眯起眼睛，藏着笑意：“修爾。”
【很好，确認了。】
英格爾輕輕踢了一下他的小腿骨。
“有毛病，我困了，快去睡。”
艾利躺上床，又叫了一聲：“修爾。”
英格爾感覺他每叫一聲脖子後面就汗毛豎起。
“別吵了，睡覺。”
艾利比真艾利克斯還要像小孩，撒嬌一般道：“你呢？怎麽不喊？”
英格爾靜靜地看着他：“艾利，希望你今天不要夢游，否則我保證明天把你敲醒。”
艾利哈哈地笑了兩聲，嘴角噙着笑意閉上了眼。
英格爾閉了閉眼，感覺自己成為了恐怖片的配角演員，每一步都像走在斷崖間的細鋼絲上。
【但看起來他像是沒有殺我的意思。】
不然他現在早死了。
英格爾用手杖輕輕點了點床下的魔法陣。
上面寫着的〔陷入沉睡〕亮了起來。
他見這個艾利也真正睡着了，才敢熄燈睡去。
他可不敢拿自己的命開玩笑。
睡之前，他腦子裏忍不住胡思亂想。
【他怎麽認識艾利克斯的？】
看起來是看見那張臉之後才察覺的，那說明上次是他第一次附身在艾利克斯上。可他卻認識艾利克斯。同時知道臉，名字，身份。
但，他不知道英格爾這個人。
第二次也附身艾利克斯，這絕不是偶然，“他”可以再次鎖定曾經附身過的人。
第二次也是夜晚，說明對方知道失去意識狀态和清醒狀态的區別。
如果真的是傀儡魔王。
曾經的傀儡魔王，在戰場上用傀儡跟艾利克斯打過照面，那時候他無法入侵艾利克斯的精神。
Alex is the chief general of the human race fighting against demons. He knows Alex's face, name, and identity.
But at that time, Inger was not with him.
The answer is here.
This puppet demon king, like Alex, has memories from before his return.
【Hold.】