Ben stared at the young man who had just returned home not long ago.
He watched the other person looking out the window, and then indifferently looking away. He inexplicably thought of a kind of bird that sometimes hovered in the sky above the Eastwood Prison for the Insane. This bird traveled between the Dead Sea and the land, flying a hundred meters above the ground.
This kind of creature should be very free, not bound by fate or morality.
Ben suddenly felt a little pathetic.
"What are you thinking about?"
A pleasant young man's voice suddenly sounded in the silence.
When Ben came to his senses, he was met with the dark-haired young man's deep, emotionless gaze. In a split second, a thin layer of cold sweat appeared on his back.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Warden, please forgive me."
He knelt on the ground, not having the slightest hope, knowing that the warden must have seen what he had just been thinking, even though he was wearing a mask that only revealed his eyes.
The warden seemed to be able to penetrate people's souls, and he had seen the method of revealing all hidden secrets.
The air felt increasingly stagnant.
Then, at a certain point, he heard the warden say:
"It's time to deliver lunch to 2512."
All the feelings of suffocation, stagnation and terrible pressure just now suddenly disappeared like an illusion, as if they had never appeared.
The warden didn't seem to blame him, let alone punish him.
But the cold sweat still remained on Ben's body, telling him that the fear that almost penetrated his soul just now was real.
The warden is not someone who can be sympathized with by humans. No one is qualified to do so. Once such thoughts grow rampant, even if the warden does not intend to blame him, this person will sooner or later go crazy or die.
And what was he doing just now?
Ben didn't dare to have any other thoughts. He backed out of the warden's office and went to get the food to be delivered to 2512 personally.
2512's current job is in the library, which is located in the Tower of Babel. This is not a place that anyone can come to. Even ordinary staff cannot get close to it, and prisoners can only watch from a distance. In this case, the prison guard in charge of delivering meals naturally cannot deliver the food to her.
What's more...2512's diet is somewhat different from that of normal people.
There have been cases of pica in prisons in the past, but the general way prisons deal with it is that if you want to eat, you can eat, and no one will care if you don’t want to eat, unless you have the best work performance this month.
But 2512 is not a real prisoner, so he cannot completely ignore the feelings of the person involved.
Since 2512 had saved his life to some extent today, when Ben brought her food, he considerately asked someone to add an extra gray mouse.
Seeing him coming, the black-haired girl tilted her head. In the dimly lit library, her eyes seemed to reflect light, looking a little weird: "Not a cupcake."
Hearing her flat confirmation, Ben laughed a little: "No."
It seems that the pink strawberry cake did have a certain impact on 2512.
"The warden later learned that you didn't like that kind of food, and he personally ordered me to change your ingredients."
Ben said, "Please use it."
The black-haired girl took the plate without hesitation and tilted her head to look at it. Even though her face was still expressionless, Ben could tell that she seemed a little happy. Her words and actions were completely different from her politeness: "Thank you, Warden."
Ban nodded and walked out.
The door to the library was closed again.
After finishing the lunch that Césaire specially prepared for her, Ursula continued her work, and finally saw the book again after finishing everything meticulously.
Unlike the last time I saw it, this time the cover of the book turned dark blue, just like the sky after the sunlight completely disappeared.
Its color seems to be getting lighter step by step.
The book noticed her gaze: "..."
When it saw the black-haired girl walking towards it, it jumped up and ran. Its own strength was enough to lift it up and move quickly around the library.
With great effort, Ursula finally pressed it down again. While turning the pages of the book, she thought silently that in two days, when the tentacles could be used in the library, she would never chase it again.
——By then, the entire library will be her nest.
More words unfolded before her.
…
[The appearance of this child was predicted by the family's distinguished prophet a thousand years ago, when his talent was still extremely prosperous and powerful.]
[The one who was predicted with him was the child of the Freeman family, the last descendant of the Freeman family, and was called "the key to saving the world." ]
But he is different.
He is not the key.
[——He is the cornerstone and the carrier of everything. ]
…
There was a hint of confusion on the black-haired girl's face.
……cornerstone?
What is the cornerstone? It sounds like something bad.
She blinked and found that the text after this paragraph, which seemed to best explain this statement, was all incomplete and blurred, and there was no way to recognize it.
With the experience from last time, she decisively gave up struggling and continued to flip backwards.
[…When he was born, the elders of the clan used a secret method passed down from generation to generation to test his inspiration. This method can accurately determine the intensity of inspiration to a rough value.]
[As a family that inherits the bloodline of the Agent, the inspiration of the Crests is generally much higher than that of ordinary talent holders, but the strength of his inspiration is still shocking... It is even more necessary to send him out of here... There are many secret methods for detecting the strength of inspiration at the Picket Tower, and such a high inspiration is difficult to conceal. ]
[However, although it is difficult, there is a solution. ]
[What really needs to be paid attention to is that such high inspiration may lead to premature development when he is young.]
[…We cannot let his fate be changed by external forces.]
[As agents, we have more conveniences and can provide the best environment for this child.]
[He will have enough material and prestige there, but his only drawback is that he will become physically weak and disease-ridden due to ■■■■■. ]
[This is a necessary process, and the child will gradually understand it.]
Ursula turned to the next page, which was already blank.
"……?"
That’s all?
Ursula was a little stunned.
But she also knew that this information alone represented a lot.
After all, Ursula just has different values from humans, but that doesn't mean she is stupid.
[The last descendant of the Freeman family is the key to saving the world. ]
The word "key" has two different meanings in human language. Another meaning is "key".
Therefore, in conjunction with the "foundation" below, what I want to express here is the "key", but it can also be said that -
[The last descendant of the Freeman family is the key to saving the world. ]
Is this familiar?
Very familiar.
Ursula tilted her head slightly, thinking of the day she didn't want to recall, when the daughter of the director of the Federal Executive Agency, who was still alive and wearing a red dress, stood in front of the black-haired boy and said resolutely:
[“That priest-like Xia Zuo Kaili, he is the key!! He must not die here!!”]
So, the black-haired boy replied to her:
"I will die for him."
When Ursula heard these words, she just wanted to tear her mouth, pull out her tongue, and throw it into the sea - she was originally a monster from the deep sea, wasn't she? The human part of her had long been worn away by day-to-day imprisonment and experiments, and the remaining part was awakened by César.
But now is not the time to be upset.
The black-haired girl puffed out her cheeks and continued to reminisce unhappily.
At that time, that Jace said that Xia Zuo Kaili's situation and his coming to the Executive Office were all predicted by the prophet on their side.
Generally speaking, the predictions that a prophet can obtain are all perceived from a higher level and dimension. The difference in the ability of the prophets is often reflected in the time and accuracy of the predictions.
Ursula believes that the prophet of the Crest family a thousand years ago would have killed the current prophet of the Federation in seconds, and it is obvious that this prophecy is complementary to the prophecy made for César, and "key" is more in line with the overall context rather than "key".
The most inspired person in the world is not the high priest Xia Zuo Freeman, but the agent, cornerstone, and last descendant of the Crest family, Xi Zeer.
So in Xia Zuo's explanation, the talent crystal that should have killed him was triggered by Xizel, and Xizel also fulfilled his promise - he died for his friend.
This is the beginning of everything... separation.
The black-haired girl stared at the book in her hands in a daze.
Who recorded this? Was it Caesar's more distant elders, or his close parents?
...Was Caesar's meeting with them really just a coincidence, or was it something that had been planned and destined to happen?
The black-haired girl pursed her lips. She didn't think that the feelings shown by Xizel were fake or performed. Not to mention her, Xia Zuo alone could easily sense whether a person had good intentions towards him. This was his excellent intuition.
That leaves only one option -
Even though there was no deliberate arrangement, no intentional approach, and no step-by-step calculation, under the arrangement of fate, the black-haired boy still met them one day and looked at them with a calm look that was somewhat complicated, involved but also staying out of it.
She suddenly thought of Xia Zuo's strange concern for Xi Ze——
[“Because it seems that Caesar has no desire to live at all... and his body is so weak, I can't help but worry about him.”]
For some reason, she suddenly felt like retching. It was as if the food she had just eaten was not absorbed by her body, making her feel like retching. She didn't know if it was because of the food or because of the unspeakable anxiety and fear, but she actually felt a little dizzy.
She vaguely sensed something, and it was this feeling that made her stand still, almost trembling all over, and dared not move forward.
The world and time seemed to form a circle in the dark, repairing themselves without her knowing. Everything was moving forward along the predetermined trajectory and would not stop for anything.
There is no escape, no break.