In fact, the moment they heard Wendell say the words "This is my son", Hao Ren and the others had already made up hundreds of thousands of words of antecedents and consequences, background stories, protagonists, supporting roles, and summarized after reading - they were all nurtured by novels, movies and TV series, and they couldn't guess the inside story. But they still didn't say a word, they just hoped that the old man could simply talk about the events of the year himself.

"Tell me," Vivien sighed, "what the hell is going on. ”

Wendell hesitated, but perhaps it was because these things had been pressed on him for too long and he needed to find someone to talk to, or maybe it was the fact that his life's work had finally achieved something that shook his heart, and after a moment of hesitation, he silently turned around and walked to the edge of the platform.

Hao Ren and Vivien followed.

"He's right," Wendell whispered, "I forsaken my wife and children, and for the first half of my life I had nothing to do to comfort my wife's soul in heaven." ”

This is an uncomplicated story: an ambitious man who yearns for an adventure, a complete family that could have been happy and happy, and a doomed tragic ending. As a young man, Wendell had participated in a trip to find the light, and he had a family at that time, he had a wife named Sasha and a son named Hope, who was only seven years old at the time - at that time, the Twilight City had been standing in the long night for 2,300 years, and countless light seekers had made futile efforts, so the appeal of the "light hunting" in the hearts of the people had weakened to a limit, and it can be said that except for the light seekers themselves and a few people who were close to religious groups, Others have long since disbelieved that there is any life outside the dark wilderness.

At that time, the Steam Council had even begun to discuss a complete end to this ancient operation.

The Light Seekers represent ancient perseverance. The Steam Council represents a pragmatic spirit that keeps up with trends, and Wendell clearly belongs to the former. And Hope, who was only seven years old at the time, had already begun to admire the well-uniformed sheriffs of the Steam Council, so to speak. Their contradictions have been there since the beginning, and what happened after that has only completely magnified the rift.

Wendell had taken part in the search for the light more than thirty years ago, trudging through the nights in which his teammates were nearly wiped out, and many days later, he returned home scarred, his wife had died of illness and his son had not called him father since.

As soon as Hope came of age, it was no surprise that he joined the Steam Council.

Today, thirty years later. Wendell once again returns from the darkness as a lightseeker, confronted by Hope, who has become the senior sheriff of the Steam Council, and it is clear that human impulses and paranoia will hold the father and son tightly, and Hope will not calmly and rationally analyze whether his father's light-seeking career is feasible in the slightest - he denies it entirely, and has no intention of believing Wendell's words in the first place.

The son of a Lightseeker who is now the most radical of the Steamer Council, the other council members will at least consider the old tradition and maintain a semblance of respect for the Lightseekers. But the lightseeker in Hope's mind has long been completely disfigured.

That's why emotions kill people -- but what can you say, that their own mothers are dead......

In fact, Wendell didn't go into much detail about these past events, after all, it was an unbearable past, just to explain the current situation. He briefly talked about the process of breaking up with his own son, and most of the details were completed by Hao Ren and them relying on brain supplements. And throughout the process, Hope, the former seven-year-old rebellious child. Today's middle-aged senior sheriff has always maintained a posture of glaring at his own father with his neck in his hands, but he has not reacted more aggressively.

"I see. Then that's understandable," Hao Ren nodded after Wendell's story was finished. He looked at the old man thoughtfully, "No wonder you're so reluctant to meet the people of the Steam Council, it's only one person you want to dodge." ”

"If I could, I'd like to send you to the Old Saint before he even shows up," Wendell pressed a hand to his eyes, "I've given everything to this cause - my wife and children, my whole life, it's all thrown into it, and I hope the whole thing can go smoothly and foolproofly, at least so that the Old Saints can see you emissaries from Asgard with their own eyes, and I have no regrets about whatever the Steam Council has to do after that." ”

Vivien silently looked at Wendell, the old man who had resolutely embarked on a journey to find the light, who had shown a fearless courage and unhesitating determination in the face of fate, but when his life's work finally saw the light of day, he suffered from gains and losses.

Hao Ren came to Hope and nodded to the middle-aged sheriff: "It seems that you don't believe your father's words at all?" ”

Hope was expressionless.

"You don't believe that we came from outside the twilight barrier, you think we are extras hired by your father, just to perform a 'The journey of finding the light has a successful career, and this work has a bright future' in front of your eyes?"

Hope remained expressionless.

"Do you have a hole in your head?" Hao Ren looked into the other party's eyes very seriously, "Do you think this way of unfolding is even more reasonable?" Who do you think would be so well-fed to perform this? How far do you think your dad would have to be Alzheimer's to forcibly promote his career in this way? If the journey to find the light really yielded nothing, it still makes sense for your father to find a bunch of extras? With so many inexplicable things here, why don't you believe the most obvious and logical fact? ”

Hope continued to be expressionless.

Vivien also came over and poked the other party's head with her finger: "So you have a hole in your brain - you racked your brains to make up a scam full of loopholes to explain what you see, and you react like this when you see something you don't understand, it's not as good as a child, this hole in your brain has reached the level of a perforation, and you can directly see the surface of your feet when you look down from the top of your head, right?" I said you...... Eh, I told Hao Ren so much, why is this person silent? ”

Elizabeth immediately jumped out: "Eh, you want him to answer the question, don't say it earlier, I just saw that he was unhappy and froze him......"

Hao Ren: "......"

After the little demon was released from the shadow binding, Hope suddenly recovered, and he immediately took two steps back and made an extremely vigilant posture: "Spellcaster! It's a felony for you to assault the sheriff! ”

At the same time, the other sheriffs also regained their freedom, and they took the opportunity to immediately activate some kind of device on their bodies, and the collar of their uniforms lit up with runes with anti-magic effects, and then formed an encirclement around Hao Ren and his party.

"There's no way, if you don't do this, you won't listen to us," Hao Ren spread his hands helplessly, "We really came from outside the barrier, I don't believe you go to check your population information and other things, there must be no few of us in it - you have been developing for more than 2,000 years, there should always be such a thing, right?" ”

Hope looked at the group of dangerous people in front of him with a wary expression, and at the same time his right hand was already on a small iron box on his waist, "It doesn't make sense for you to tell me - if you are really from outside the twilight barrier, then follow me to meet the members of the Steam Council, and they will investigate your origins." I believe that a parliament that upholds the concept of justice and reason is fairer and more just than the 'seeker of light' who is full of fantasies. ”

"What you say makes a lot of sense, but it's a pity that we're busy," Hao Ren shrugged, "We're only here to meet your 'Ancient Sage', and now it's not that we cooperate with you, but we hope that you can cooperate with us." ”

"This can't be," Hope flatly refused, the moment the other party mentioned the Ancient Sage, he even forgot the fact that he had no power to fight back against these people in front of him, "I don't care who you are - no one can rush to the Ancient Sage, based on your idea alone, I have enough reason to believe that you are dangerous elements!" ”

"I knew that this thing would definitely not go so smoothly," Nangong Sanba hugged his arms, "A group of suspicious people who don't even have ID cards suddenly ran over and said that they wanted to talk to the president, and how big a hole in the guards would have to be to let them go." ”

"Looks like the negotiation is broken," Hao Ren turned his head to look at Wendell, "You know the way to where the ancient saint lives, right?" ”

Wendell nodded subconsciously, and then suddenly realized that something uncontrollable was about to happen: "Wait a minute, you guys have to ......"

"Don't worry, we have measure," Hao Ren gave a thumbs up, revealing a bright and trustworthy smile, and then patted Lily's head next to him, "Be merciful, let's get out of the way!" ”

"Whew!!" (To be continued.) )