Chapter 108
Yu Tu: “…”
Very good. Let’s not talk about the title first. Just look at the cover and you will know that there will be a lot of shots of Buyehou in this episode.
Yu Tu thought that "Between Time" would start from when he met Wei Ziming, but he didn't expect it to start with the chaos in Chongming City.
The comics started with a few large storyboards from a bird's-eye view.
The formation that covers the entire Chongming City; the barrier that was born with the formation; the ugly and disgusting toad corpse that appeared in the strange vortex in the center of the lake; the colorful mushrooms that emit black spores hidden in the bushes...
There are nine branches in Chongming City, and there are eight such monsters. The only exception is Huailin Town.
[Aaaaaah, please don't draw weird things so clearly! I have no objection to you marking every town, but you really don't have to draw the monsters in every town as well.]
[yue——yue——Why are some things so eye-catching! My sanity is dropping like crazy!!!]
[I want to scream for help! How can there be a zombie made of pieces of corpses?]
[Old thief Tian Yan, why don’t you pursue realism at this time?!]
The comic readers reacted strongly, but Yu Tu was not so bad. He had seen these monsters before when consciousness spread infinitely, and they were much more terrifying than those in the comics. To be more precise, Tian Yan even beautified these monsters manually.
If the real-life monsters were posted exactly as they were... Yu Tu was really curious whether the comic would be 404-ed.
After the readers' sanity values dropped collectively, someone finally noticed something different about these monsters.
[There are no monsters in Huailin Town!]
[Indeed! But if you look back, you will find that the monsters in Huailin Town are most likely the ghosts of infants in the old buildings. Not to mention that the old buildings have been demolished, the ghosts of infants have all been liberated! [狗头.JPG]]
[I miss Heituan Tuan a little bit. I wonder if they are doing well in their reincarnation?]
[The old building must have been built hundreds of years ago, right? My god, the incubation period of this formation is really long...]
[So Yingying was exposed to the shocking conspiracy from the beginning, and even destroyed a part of the conspiracy?!]
[Yingying first wants to thank Tutu for his incredible luck!]
[Tutu: Who cued me? Are you polite?]
[Hahahahaha how presumptuous!]
After the monsters appeared one by one, the team fighting against the monsters soon appeared in the comics.
For example, after the armored vehicle drove to the lake, the Special Team 2 immediately activated the formation and drove the crowd to a safe location. They stepped on mechanical flying beasts made of various materials and rushed to the sparkling lake in a chic manner. Then colorful props flew around and the battle was in full swing.
For example, when the Special Five waved their hands, the people infected by the spores fell down in large numbers, just like harvesting wheat. They skillfully used spells to drive away the spores, and the aura seemed to surround them as if it were a physical object, and they could control them at will.
For example, Special Teams 11 and 26 staged a fast and furious battle in the desolate and abandoned cemetery in Qiuxu Town, with piles of bones, black combat uniforms, murderous excitement, danger and terror...
[Aaaaah, it starts with such a blockbuster movie! I am feasting my eyes!]
[So cool and exciting! It makes my blood boil!]
[The old thief Tian Yan is really brave! Chongming City just had an incident, and he immediately used it as material. How cruel!]
[Tian Yan's unethical and fun-loving behavior of chasing hot topics at the cost of his life makes me feel that these things seem to happen in our daily lives!
【Cosmic Cat Sublimation.JPG】]
[Don’t tell me, really don’t tell me, my hometown is in Qiuxu Town, and even I didn’t know there was such a desolate abandoned cemetery in our area! This shows that Tianyan really worked hard to make trouble! ]
These humorous comments accounted for the majority, but Yu Tu noticed some other comments mixed in with these teasing comments.
[My uncle’s family settled in Cangxi City. When they video chatted with us two days ago, they were all lying in the hospital. Their eyes were red like rabbits, just like the symptoms of spore infection in comics!]
[I was at the lake in Luping City that day... I can only say that the special group really exists, and I can't say more.]
[Chongming City really encountered something as bizarre as in the comics, don’t disbelieve it!]
Underneath these comments that swear that the comics are real, there are all other readers making fun of them—
[Hiss… It seems that the evil old thief Tian Yan has indeed achieved his goal. You two are acting so convincingly, and even made full use of the IP address.]
[Yeah, yeah, the comic is real! It’s really real! I’m so scared!]
[What! Really! Wuhu! Does that mean my wife also exists?]
[Dog head holding a rose.JPG]
[What your wife? That's my wife!]
Almost all comments that affirm that the comic is real will be drowned out by the flood of ridicule and jokes. Although Chongming City has a population of several million, only a very small part of it likes comics, and only a small part of that small part follows this comic.
Such a small number of people hardly accounted for a large proportion of the normal readership, so they were quickly drowned out, weak and helpless.
Yu Tu stared at the page for a long time.
When will we be able to see Tian Yan’s comics officially?
Yu Tu was staring at the comics here and feeling worried. The network department of the Yigui Department was so busy that they were almost going to heaven on the spot, but they discovered an anomaly a few days ago—
There are people on the Internet who keep talking about a comic, saying that the things in the comic really exist in reality, but when they search based on the netizens' assurances, they only get a blank. After finally finding the website where the comic is located, they discover that the screen is completely white. The location that should belong to the comic is also an abrupt blank. They can see other people's discussions, but they cannot see the key words in between.
The people in the network department didn't take it seriously at first, but as they casually tested it, they found that all the people in the inner world could only see a blank space.
Everyone immediately became alert—could this be a new strange incident?
The strange events spread through the Internet have always been the ones with the greatest impact and the most troublesome consequences.
After the issue attracted great attention, the network department found someone to conduct a test - people in the outer world could see the comic, but when they talked about it, people in the inner world forgot it immediately after listening. After telling the people in the outer world about the content related to the inner world, they would also forget the content of the comic they had read.
It seems that anyone who knows about the existence of the inner world cannot access this comic. Even if they find some way to read it, a layer of fog will immediately cover their consciousness, regardless of their ability.
The samples tested were relatively small, and after reporting to the quarantine department, everyone was still continuing the testing, and the news was kept strictly confidential.
Yu Tu didn’t know that the comic had already attracted a small amount of attention. After worrying for a while, he continued reading.
After these grand battle scenes scattered across various towns, the comics shift to Gu Hongying's perspective.
Gu Hongying had just finished a tailor-made training and was leaning against the ice, his breath coming out in clouds of white mist. His right palm was facing up, with irregular small metal fragments hanging from his five fingers.
"Finally I sensed the metallic aura..."
Gu Hongying's eyes were filled with tiredness. He moved his fingers slightly, and small metal fragments the size of soybeans flew straight towards the ice chains in the sky. The small metal fragments hit the chains, but the chain patterns did not move at all, and the ice skin was not even broken at all. The small fragments fell from the air and made a crisp sound when they hit the ground. After rolling for a while, they turned into metallic spiritual energy and returned to heaven and earth.
The only benefit of being able to sense spiritual energy is that he can finally get rid of the miserable life of having to be covered with warm babies when he is not training.
Those irregular small metal fragments consumed all of Gu Hongying's spiritual energy stored for the day. He was now dizzy and his legs were weak. He didn't even have the strength to crawl into his sleeping bag.
He looked up at the sky full of ice chains, and felt sad: "How long will it take me to finish chopping these?"
The boy who was fixed by the chains on the platform closed his eyes, as if he had fallen into a deep sleep. After Gu Hongying finished wailing and was about to grit his teeth and continue working hard, the bracelet on his wrist began to vibrate wildly, and the freshman group, which had only received sporadic messages, suddenly became extremely lively.
Gu Hongying, who was dizzy from the training, clicked on it with a confused look on his face. People in the group were talking about "Chongming City", "formation", "barrier", "tea trees blocking out the sun", and someone asked them to walk out of the house and look at the sky, saying that it could not be taken in a photo and could only be seen with the naked eye.
Gu Hongying: “……?”
What?
As an 18-year-old college student with a strong curiosity, Gu Hongying, who had originally exhausted all his strength, climbed up. After sensing the spiritual energy of the same attribute as himself, the spell taught by the principal came in handy. He finally no longer had to cross the beautiful and dangerous ice path by himself, but could instead dodge in and out by chanting spells and making gestures.
Gu Hongying worked hard to collect some metal-attributed spiritual energy and tried to teleport in the ice cave for the first time... to an ice platform more than five meters high.
Gu Hongying: “???”
It was true that he was reciting the spell to get out.
"Oh……"
Because of this mistake, Gu Hongying came into close contact with the locked-up boy for the first time after more than ten days of training. He felt as if he was standing next to an ice sculpture that was madly emitting cold air.
The boy didn't move, but Gu Hongying could feel his eyes on him, and then... he was laughed at.
Gu Hongying: TAT
"Cooperate with the gesture... the middle finger of your left hand... press on your index finger..." the boy who had smiled at him spoke in a staccato, light and weak voice, "... raise your arms a little higher... keep your back straight... don't be shy..."
他說話的時候胸口微有起伏，于是耳邊紅色流蘇的絲線又張牙舞爪向他的脊背紮去，少年的神色瞬間萎靡。
直面這樣的殘忍，顧鴻影忍不住上前一步，卻被他的目光定在原地。
“不要靠近我……”他說，“在斬斷鎖鏈之前。”
說完他閉上眼睛，不再搭理顧鴻影。
顧鴻影掌握了正确的施法姿勢後，終于在第二次成功瞬移到了山壁之外，他抹了一把頭上的汗，擡頭看天空———
他的眼中，映出遮天蔽日的茶樹虛影。
淡綠色的枝條向四面八方舒展着，樹上的每一片葉子都像是半透明的翡翠，就好像……是一棵活着的樹。
一直沉寂到現在的評論在這時開始冒泡———
[卧槽！好壯觀！]
[看起來像茶樹，怎麽感覺比神樹還有氣質？]
[賭一包辣條，是我老婆在放大招！]
漫畫的視角越升越高，漸漸撞向天空中的茶樹虛影，而後視角驟然下降，漫畫裏，出現了不夜侯的身影。
占據了整整一頁的畫面精美又震撼———
天空中會發光的白色細絲構建的“噴泉”，密密麻麻鋪滿了大半背景，只隐約透露出些許破碎的天空，細絲的中央，是一枚恐怖的眼珠，有着細長的、宛如蛇一樣的猩紅瞳仁，瞳仁的前方是不夜侯的背影，他的身側，龐大的樹枝肆意伸展，枝葉間纏繞着洶湧的、實質化的靈氣，五色的靈氣仿若光帶，穿過枝葉，繞過樹幹，又連接到地面上複雜到令人眼暈的陣紋中。
白的刺眼，藍的清透，紅的猙獰，金的神聖，綠的生機，白、藍、紅、金、綠五個顏色濃墨重彩，肆意渲染，和諧又割裂，有種讓人移不開眼的魔力。
[敲！我雞皮疙瘩起來了……]
[這質感這構圖這配色！拿去做電影海報的宣傳都行了！]
[我知道是大場面，但這比我想象的大場面還要大場面……]
這幅畫面之後，淡綠色的茶樹虛影猛然又擴大了一圈，有葉子從樹上飄落，分鏡追着其中一片葉子，背景都成了速度過快後模糊的線條。
這片葉子化作一只綠色的鶴，振翅飛入了公園的樹林中，只在那朵藏得極好、肆意釋放孢子的蘑菇上輕輕一啄，蘑菇便迅速枯萎腐敗，好像經年累月曬幹後被時光風化的遺骸。
讓人束手無策的困局便這樣輕飄飄被随手解開———但這并不是結束。
龐大的茶樹虛影下，站立的人睜開了眼睛，樹枝舒展，靈力暴動，圍攻的詭異屍體也好，“噴泉”中的眼睛也罷，前者無聲無息倒了一地，後者霎時鮮血淋漓。
他往前邁了一步。
天空中“噴泉”凝滞，地面上陣法開裂，漫天發光的細絲都變得單薄。漫畫終于在這時将鏡頭移到了那出手便有山傾海覆之勢的人臉上———
一張屬于不夜侯的、清倦蒼白的側臉。
評論在這時達到了這一話的最高值，尖叫歡呼得仿佛失去了語言系統。
[啊啊啊啊啊除了帥我竟然想不出別的詞！]
[知道老婆很強，但這真的、貌似、有點啊啊啊啊———
【語無倫次.JPG】]
[我一直對老婆的戰力沒有什麽太直觀的感受，光顧着看臉了……卧槽！真的好強！！]
在讀者們混亂的語言系統裏，有人來到了這令人震撼的場地，與此同時，旁白以簡略的文字，交代了這場災難的起末。
虞荼當時困得頭暈腦脹，連來人是男是女都沒看清，這時以漫畫的視角，才發現和他說話的，竟然是異處局的局長江绛。
漫畫沒有細致刻畫她的容貌，只着重刻畫了她的眼睛，堅定誠懇，一往無前，只是望着便令人心安。
她說：“多謝不夜侯前輩援手。”
漫畫裏，不夜侯轉似乎并沒有聽見，直到她說———
“似太山的上古封印陣，出自鳳凰之手，但那位隕落之後，就無人能夠再重新修補這個陣法了。”
這句話之後，漫畫的整體色調顏色驟變，天衍完美地展示了怎麽瞬換畫風，漫畫的背景，好像都蒙上了一層道不清說不明的暗色。
不夜侯的眼睛有種霧蒙蒙的灰，他好像在看江绛，又好像只是盯着虛空在發呆：
“……鳳凰？”
他的臉蒼白的沒有一絲血色，天空中氣勢宏偉的茶樹虛影好像因為他的心神搖曳瞬間變淡，随後化作四散的流光。
那鮮血淋漓的恐怖眼珠好像因為他的心神失守微微顫動，濃稠的惡意散發出來，卻被自身後而來的形如鸾鳥的火焰灼傷。
漫畫裏，江绛的神色哀痛：“鳳凰前輩在巢山上度涅磐之劫，可惜前輩……此劫未過。”
随着她的話語，漫畫插入了幾個回憶的分鏡———
漫天紅葉的梧桐林，一瞬間化作熊熊燃燒的火海，鳳凰引吭悲鳴，終成絕唱。
虞荼忽然坐直了身體。
這些回憶的分鏡裏，有一幕是鳳凰的人形，和那天在車上遞給他遺産文件的青年……一模一樣。
那個神秘的青年，就是隕落的鳳凰！
一個謎題解開了，但更多的謎題接踵而至，那盞驟然熄滅的青銅鳳凰燈、那些他童年時不見的“寶物”……
到底是誰，在背後操縱這一切？！
虞荼忽然感覺到茫然，他好像站在一片曠野裏，四周都是霧，他看不到前路，也看不到去處。
漫畫的讀者們并不了解這背後所隐含的意思，但他們已經敏銳地感覺到了不對———
[敲！馬上要下刀子的感覺撲面而來！]
[鳳凰和我老婆到底是什麽關系啊！急急急急急！你們不要做謎語人！]
[背景顏色都變了！別這樣孩害怕！]
[我老婆的來歷本來就很神秘，該不會是他的故人吧？！沒來得及告別的那種！]
[說了別說了！我已經腦補出千百種刀法了！我是人不是刀架！]
害怕吃刀子的讀者們哀嚎着，但仍舊堅強地選擇了繼續看。
但天衍沒有将他們一來一回的對話全部畫出，他只用暗色調畫了一個有些模糊的分鏡，看不清楚這個畫面裏所有人的表情，只有一段不知是對話還是心聲的詞———
【巢山在何處？】
【西北方向，當歸鎮中。】
[天衍你看到我手裏三十米的大刀了嗎？我勸你善良！！！]
[巢山？倦鳥歸巢？當歸？buff拉滿了好嗎！]
[天衍我希望你記住，我是來看熱血少年漫的，不是來吃刀子的！]
[我老婆到底是什麽情況你趕緊給我麻溜滴交代清楚了，我留你個全屍！]
所有人都以為漫畫之後會直接交代不夜侯與鳳凰的淵源，但沒想到，漫畫畫面一轉，交代起了異處局處理崇明市一派混亂的場景。
[？？？]
[我承認你現在畫得很熱血，大家彼此救助之間的溫馨也很感人，法術也很炫酷，我很喜歡，但你先把我老婆的後續交代一下行嗎！]
[我老婆呢？我那麽大一個老婆呢！]
群情激憤下，漫畫仍舊在有條不紊地推着進度———
将每一個地方的受害群衆集中到固定的場地，打開庇護陣法，以此暫時對抗複蘇大陣的傷害；将所有的“材料”全部摧毀，防止陣法後期威力升級；集中擅長陣法的人手到似太山頂面對面拆陣……
在突如其來的災難面前，他們應對得體，将損失降到了最低，不是什麽出手天地為之色變的大佬，沒有炫酷到占滿整頁的招式，但格外令人安心。
[災後重建好像也挺有意思的，就是還是有點遺憾……]
[還好這樣的災難只是發生在漫畫裏，要是在現實生活中真的很恐怖！]
[有這樣的官方感覺還是很靠譜很安心的。]
在大家已經漸漸接受了這一話會以災後重建作為第二高光結束時，漫畫卻在搜尋救援的人員到山上時忽然鏡頭一轉———
紅色的梧桐葉鋪天蓋地。
漫天紅葉之中，他們所熟悉的人，正在一步一步地向山頂攀登。明明可以用出那樣幾乎毀天滅地的招式，卻在此刻像一個普通人一樣，一步步走向山頂。
他臉色蒼白，走得很慢，神色有種茫然的疲倦，他一直走，走到空闊的山頂。
遮天蔽日的梧桐，鋪天蓋地的落葉，極目遠眺，無邊無際的紅。
漫畫裏，不夜侯不置一語，不發一言，漫畫甚至沒有描寫他的任何心理活動，但這樣極致的“安靜”，只會讓人更揪心。
他好像是累了，随意地尋了一棵樹，靠着樹幹坐下，微微阖上眼睛，他背後的這棵樹，漸漸與一個有些虛幻的畫面重疊———
沒能涅槃的鳳凰，沾着火焰的羽毛與鮮血灑落在這片山頂，催生出了如血的、一望無際的梧桐。
漫畫随着不夜侯的阖眼漸漸歸于一片黑暗，黑暗之中，忽然出現一個幽深的地洞，地洞裏，好像有人在說話。
"You old man, you've been planning for two hundred years... How does it feel to end up with nothing?"
"Failure at the last moment?"
After a long silence, there seemed to be some kind of scaly glow on the stone wall, accompanied by a faint rustling sound.
"Oh... that may not be the case."