Preface Traveler Next

With the passage of time, the number of guests has gradually decreased. When the midnight bell rang in the distant village, there were only a few people in the hall. Even the dancers stopped showing their powerful waists and walked towards *.

In a corner of the hotel, a man stared at Charlotte with gloomy eyes - from the moment Charlotte entered the hotel, his eyes followed Charlotte secretly. When Charlotte noticed that his peeping turned her head in confusion, the man looked away without a trace. He looked at Charlotte with scrutiny and finally stayed on the long sword beside him. The coat of arms on the scabbard tightened the man's pupils. He lowered his brim and stood up, lowered his head, left his seat in a hurry, mixed into the crowd that had left, and got into the cold and windy night.

After finishing his work, the hotel owner came to Charlotte and sat down by the fireplace. He asked the waitress to fill the wine again.

"There is no better wine here." Warren picked up the glass and said, "The guests are all merchants who travel around. They don't need mellow cherry wine. Therefore, I can only use it to serve you.

"I am very grateful to have your help." Charlotte said that he felt that his mood had improved. A glass of liquor that can relieve fatigue and dispel the chill is enough. I have no right to ask for more."

"Every hotel owner will do this. Unless he is an iron rooster or a fat sow with a dirty apron and a chicken's nest head..." Warren couldn't help laughing, but he quickly reacted and said with a dry smile, "This is not worthy of gratitude."

"Anyway, for your kind character..."

Charlotte and Warren touched the cup.

"This is the first time someone has said such a toast." The hotel owner put down the cup and said with a wry smile.

Charlotte also took the opportunity to put down her heavy glass, "Is it very different from the previous one?"

"Of course it's very big. We will raise our glasses to celebrate for the harvest, for the family, for the sake of the ham horse, but never..." Warren smiled awkwardly, "For kindness."

"What's wrong?"

Warren kept silent. Charlotte was not in a hurry.

After a while, the hotel owner said dryly and carefully, "Now, this is a derogatory word... To be precise, it is a curse."

When did kindness become a curse?

Warren quickly gave his explanation.

"Mr. Charlotte, you must live in a big city like North County and seldom go out, right? Of course you don't know anything about it." Warren said, "The world is no longer peaceful."

Charlotte sat up straight.

"No longer peaceful?" He repeated it and then asked, "Why do you say that?"

Warren picked up his glass and took a big sip. He sighed and continued, "This winter is particularly cold. Don't you feel it? Many people are saying that the end is coming. The business road is full of shadows of monsters with gray skin and fangs in their mouths. The priests who came out of nowhere are saying that only the gods can redeem the world, but aren't the gods dead? I no longer believe in those gods, but those monsters... really exist.

The hotel is lit alone. The increasingly bad weather made the roaring cold wind sweep away with large snowflakes, slapping on the outer wall of the hotel like waves, making a ghostly sound. Warren drank all the glass of wine, sighed with the oil lamp, and staggered away from the silence of the hall, only the crackling of firewood sounded from time to time. Without the peeping of others, Charlotte's tense spirit also relaxed and soon fell asleep.

He was awakened by the sound of kicking the door.

The locked door was kicked open, and a group of people in black broke into the hotel. Almost at the same time, Charlotte grabbed the sword beside her, turned over and jumped from the lounge chair, silently hiding in the shadow by the fireplace like a dexterous black cat. His movements were faster than his consciousness, which surprised him himself.

The leading guy holds a bright knife in his hand. He glanced around and ordered gloomily, "Go and bring everyone out!"

Charlotte hid in the dark and stared at the movements of the thieves. Their movements were slightly strange and stling in the hall with a large number of tables and chairs. The angry thieves violently kicked everything in front of them and rushed up the stairs. Soon, there were screams from women and curses from men, as well as crying begging for mercy.

"Hurry up! Don't linger!" The thieves urged impatiently.

Then, dozens of passengers, waitresses, and Warren, the hotel owner, were driven to the lobby of the hotel like lambs under the threat of swords. They trembled with fear and leaned together tightly.

"Boss." The leader walked to Warren. His appearance was hidden under the dark scarf, and only a pair of malicious black eyes were exposed.

"Who the hell are you?" Warren asked loudly.

The man didn't say anything. He pulled off the scarf and exposed his face to the fire of the fireplace. Charlotte can see clearly. He is a guest who used to drink in the hotel. It seems that he is the one who is peeping at himself. A strong uneasiness surged from Charlotte's heart. He instinctively sensed that the other party was coming for him. He clenched the hilt of his sword and began to grope along the wall. He tried to avoid the area illuminated by the fireplace and slowly approached in search of opportunities.

Warren recognized him, "Do you want money? I can give it all to you!"

"Money?" The man smiled coldly and said, "I don't need it."

"Then what do you want?"

"Find someone." The intruder stared at the hotel owner and asked coldly, "Where is that poor outsider?"

"Did you rob him?"

"Tell me where he is?" The intruder lost his patience. The knife was mounted on Warren's neck.

The cold chill on the blade invaded Warren's blood, as if to freeze his body. However, Warren was not intimidated by the intruders. He has left!" He shouted out.

Charlotte's sneaking action suddenly stopped. He didn't expect that Warren, who had just met for a short time, would do so. Charlotte clenched her teeth. He knew that Warren's behavior would definitely anger the other party. He has to speed up.

"Leave? It's enough ghost weather outside to freeze people. The intruder moved the blade slowly, leaving a wound on Warren's neck. He turned his head, looked at the waitress next to him, and laughed gloomily, "Moreover, even the beautiful lady doesn't believe your lies."

Warren sweated coldly, "I'm telling the truth!"

"You have no value at all. Because there are many beautiful ladies here who are willing to tell me the truth. As the intruder spoke, he clenched the handle of the knife and slowly stabbed the knife into Warren's neck. Warren made a short sound in his throat. His hands tightly grasped the intruder's arm and tried to resist, but was pressed by the intruder... Just as Charlotte jumped out of the shadow of the wall angrily and rushed to the intruder, he saw death.

Then, everything stood still.

A gray fog floated in like a silk floc. It is like a spider spitting silk thread swinging along the airflow, and then weaving into a huge cobweb, covering everyone. The spider silk binds everyone, making them seem to have been enchanted by time to stop, maintaining the posture of the previous moment. They opened their eyes wide in horror or showed distorted pleasure. Charlotte even saw the blood that had not yet fallen in the air, and the frightened face of Warren, a hotel owner close at hand.

The emotion of grief and indignation filled Charlotte's heart. He tried to move his body and end the crime of the intruder with the sword in his hand. However, the dark haze field quickly isolated everything. It seems that Charlotte is the only one left around. He roared unwillingly, but it was useless. Suddenly, an extremely cold power enveloped Charlotte, making Charlotte feel fear and inexplicable familiarity from the bottom of her heart. The interweaving of two repulsive emotions made Charlotte couldn't wait to raise her head and look at the source of the change.

A ghost knight in black armor appeared in front of Charlotte without warning. It rode a tall battle horse with the same armor, hanging on its side with a huge dark sickle in its right hand. Like the mount under it, the ghost knight also has a pair of eyes burning with cold gray flames and looks straight at Charlotte without emotion through the cracks in the helmet. The majesty in her eyes made Charlotte tremble uncontrollably. It is like a powerful god. It made Charlotte almost spend all her strength to kneel on the ground fearlessly and beg for the other party's forgiveness in the most humble manner.

"Charlotte."

A voice full of endless majesty seemed to penetrate countless obstacles and sounded directly in Charlotte's heart.

Charlotte stared at the ghost knight in front of him. He could hardly suppress his fear of him, and his voice even became hysterical like a madman.

"Who the hell are you?" He roared fiercely.

"I came in response to your prayer." The ghost knight's emotionless voice said bluntly, "Cash the previous transaction."

"I don't remember who I prayed to!" Charlotte clenched the hilt and loudly denied, "I don't remember any deal with you!" Who are you? Get out of here!"

The gray flame in the eyes of the ghost knight seems to have never fluctuated. It stared at Charlotte and was silent for a moment. I control everything about you." It said, "You are dead. You can keep your body, keep your consciousness, and walk in the sun because of my will.

"I'm dead?" Charlotte staggered back. The muscles of the face are twisted together by a sudden blow. He opened his mouth with difficulty, but found that he could not find a reason to refute it.

"Your body belongs to death, and your soul belongs to me." The ghost knight's words erased Charlotte's last fantasy, "Touch your heart - Andal no longer protects you."

His heart no longer beats, and his breathing has no effect. His body is dead, as the ghost knight said.

"Is I still alive like this?" Charlotte seemed to ask herself.

The ghost knight did not give Charlotte the answer he wanted. Without saying a word, it sat straight on the horse and stared at Charlotte indifferently. For a moment, Charlotte seemed to see death in the other party's eyes. The deep cold quickly occupied his consciousness, dispelled his negative emotions, and even tried to freeze his soul.

"Complete the transaction," the ghost knight's voice sounded again, "or accept the real death."

"What transaction?"

"You don't have to know." Then, the ghost knight gave him another ultimatum.

Choose one - Charlotte feels that she has no choice.

The ghost knight raised his left hand, as if the voice with the power of demagogue began to cleanse Charlotte's mind, which made him raise his head and look into the eyes of the ghost knight who made him afraid.

"--The contract has been concluded."

With the sudden explosion of the ghost knight's power like a mountain land, Charlotte only felt that the gray flame in the other party's eyes burned crazily, and the strange coldness emitted by the flame enveloped him and bound him and could not break free. He found in horror that a gray flame as thin as hair fell from the eyes of the ghost knight and gradually approached him. He scolded and struggled, but he couldn't change the ending. The flame split into two light spots like Mars and blended into his eyes.

He closed his eyes reflexively, but unexpectedly did not feel any pain. When he opened his eyes carefully, he found that his consciousness had returned to the body suspended by magic. The figure of the ghost knight has also disappeared in front of his eyes. The gray fog quickly dissipated with its departure, and the fixed world reappeared in front of his eyes - including the frightened face of Warren, the hotel owner.

Anger swept in like a flood, and uncontrollable anger and madness blurred reason. At the next moment when time started, he jumped forward with the inertia accumulated before and cut out with a sword in the panicked look of the leader of the intruder. The collision between the sword and the knife made an unpleasant metal clash. The intruder slipped and kept retreating, fortunately avoiding Charlotte's sweeping sword. Then, he recognized Charlotte as an uninvited guest.

"I'm looking for you!" The intruder who retreated to the wall and stopped said fiercely, "Don't worry about the others and catch him!"

At the same time, among the panicked passengers, a short-haired soldier grabbed the moment when the thieves' attention was diverted, grabbed the machete in a thief's hand and cut it to the ground. Then, he rushed into the thieves and blew a bloody wind like a wolf into the sheep.

The woman screamed again and went around the beam. The guests crawled and crawled to the corner, holding their heads trembling.

Two thieves rushed up. Charlotte made a light roundabout, which made them lose their balance. The sword fluttered under the dark fire. A thief fell at his feet, and a thief stumbled forward and knocked over tables and chairs. Blood bleeds from under them, like an abstract landscape painting.

He stared at the leader of the intruder who had lost his guard, with the same gray flame in his eyes as the ghost knight. The frightened leader was grasped by the inexplicable force and pulled straight to Charlotte. His movements were like a irrational avenger, but waiting in front of him was the sword raised by Charlotte, and the tip of the sword was aimed at his heart.

The guy fell at Charlotte's feet, and blood covered Charlotte's pale face, but this did not extinguish the anger in his eyes at all. He stood still for a while and turned his head to the unarmed men and women in the hall...