The lights are bright, but not dazzling.

Roland looked up for a long time, and was surprised to find that what was glowing in the lampshade was not an open flame, but a ball of spiritual energy that was burning silently.

"It turns out that this street lamp is a spiritual ......," Roland whispered in understanding.

There was a rustling sound from the window on the first floor behind him, and someone in the room opened a corner of the curtain and stood quietly by the window, watching his back.

Roland heard the movement behind him, turned to look at the window, and saw a small figure through the half-hidden curtains. There was no light in the room, the other party was hiding in the shadows, and it was difficult for Roland to see her appearance in the backlight, so she could only guess from the silhouette of her figure that it was a thin girl.

"Hello." Roland greeted him in lingua franca and raised his hands to the small figure to show that he had no ill will.

The little man was silent, and shrank behind the curtains, only half of his face staring at him warily.

Roland was relieved to see her vigilant look. After coming to Akron for most of the day, he summed up a rule: if the other party ignores him, most of them still have a trace of sanity, such as the stranger he met on the bridge before, at least he will yell at him "Get out" before attacking, the words are not good, but they have the meaning of warning; On the other hand, if the creature encountered has no reason to speak of, it will not show fear or vigilance at all, and the first time it finds it, it will pounce and attack wildly.

The little guy at the window did not take the initiative to attack, and seemed to know how to guard against strangers, which shows that the other party is still rational and can communicate.

Roland stopped and thought for a moment, thinking that the reason why the other party did not respond to his greetings may be because he couldn't understand the language he used, so he cast a spell to bless himself with a "clever speech technique", and waved and smiled at the other party again: "Hello, I am a passing traveler looking for a lost companion. ”

The figure beside the bed hesitated for a few seconds and whispered back. It's a strange-sounding language that Roland has never heard of on Earth or in Vares, but thanks to his "clever words", he can communicate with any creature who can use language, no matter what language the other person speaks, so he can hear that the other person is saying "hello", and the immature voice indicates that the other person is not very old.

"Good evening, it's not convenient for you to tell me what language you speak." Roland slowed down and approached the window.

"Akron." The little girl replied softly, "Descendants of God have been born to understand this language." ”

God's family? Roland was still thinking about what he meant when a gust of wind blew the curtains, and the little girl's face was exposed in front of her eyes, and she shuddered.

The girl standing by the window looked about the same age as Holden, thin to the point of being a handful of bones, apparently malnourished by long-term hunger, waist-length hair and delicate skin, a small face the size of a palm, a pair of bright eyes bulging outward like goldfish, glowing with a faint green light, and a shallow thread in the pupils.

Roland took a deep breath, suppressed the urge to draw his sword and cut it, took another step forward, and carefully observed the strange-looking little girl, and found that her ears were covered with light green scales, and her small hands clutching the curtains were white and delicate, and the webbed membrane was faintly visible between her fingers.

Is this little guy still human?

Roland was secretly suspicious.

The little girl blinked, as if she could see his thoughts, and said weakly: "Hello, stranger who has come to Akron, I am not a bad person, and I have no ability to hurt you, please do not be afraid. ”

Roland listened to her speak in a clear manner, obviously with a good upbringing, although a little scary in appearance, her demeanor was more gentle and kind than all the creatures he had encountered in Akron, and in the generally strange image of the local inhabitants, this little girl was not ugly, but rather delicate and lovely.

"My name is Roland, I'm from Varess, what's your name?" Roland tried to talk to her.

"My name is Jessica, I've been in the city since I was born, and I've never left home." The little girl replied faintly, looking a little lonely. When she looked up at Roland again, there was a little more longing in her eyes, "Kind big brother, I'm so hungry, I haven't eaten for three days, can you give me a little food?" I'm willing to do anything for you. ”

The little girl's pitiful appearance touched the softest place in Roland's heart, and she reached out and took out bread and water from the storage bag and handed them over.

The little girl stretched out her slender arm from the crack in the window, held the paper bag containing the food in both hands, held it in her arms with difficulty, looked down and sniffed like a puppy, could not resist the temptation of white bread, tore off a piece and chewed it.

"Delicious!" She looked up at Roland and smiled gratefully, the corners of her eyes and eyebrows were satisfied.

Roland returned her a smile and said softly: "Eat slowly, don't choke, I still have a lot here, enough for you to eat." ”

"That's enough, that's enough, thank you." Jessica pressed her hands on her temples and bowed deeply to him.

It is not difficult to understand when bowing, what does it mean to hold your temples with both hands? Roland guessed that it was a local etiquette, presumably a sincere gesture of gratitude.

Jessica ate a third of a loaf of bread and drank half a bottle of water, obviously not full, but she stopped eating with restraint beyond her age, repacked the food into the paper bag, and asked Roland a little shyly: "Big brother, I want to keep these leftover foods for my parents to eat, is it okay?" ”

Roland sighed and took out two more packets of food from the storage bag and stuffed them into the window.

"Don't be so economical, fill your own stomach first."

"Ahh Thank you, thank you so much! Jessica thanked him in surprise, bowed to him with her hands on her head in that strange way, and solemnly added a blessing at the end: "May you stay away from madness and always be sober." ”

Roland smiled dumbly, thinking to himself what kind of blessing this was, it sounded strange. But on second thought, except for Jessica, the people I met in this city were all crazy people who only knew how to kill, so it seems that Jessica's blessing is also quite realistic.

"Jessica, is there anyone else in your family?"

"I'm the only one now." The little girl replied without any scheming, "Dad went out to look for food last week, and he hasn't come back yet, my mother and I are so hungry that we can't hold on, and the symptoms of madness are getting worse and worse." She pointed to her eyes and leaned closer to the window so that Roland could see the red threads in her pupils.

"If the blood streaks in the eyes increase to three circles, you will become a madman and will never be able to regain consciousness."

Roland recalled the monsters he encountered on the way, and the blood-colored threads in his pupils were indeed no less than three turns, and the denser the threads, the more perverted, and the most crazy of them was the "Ringing Nun" who looked expressionless and wooden at first glance, perhaps this can be regarded as a return to simplicity.