Author: Xingsheng

At night, the bell tower glowed again.

The ethereal bells shook the air, shaking off the snow covering the bell tower. The soft light outlined its old outline, making it look like a lonely lighthouse, guiding the way for the lost.

The hands on the dial began to rotate rapidly.

At the same time, a huge sense of tiredness and exhaustion invaded everyone's bodies and minds, making people drowsy.

Next to the fireplace, Gu Chi, who was hiding on the blanket, shook his head vigorously, forcing himself to stay awake and walked to the window.

The cotton-padded jacket wrapped around him slipped to the ground as he stood up.

Lingmao was awakened by the movement, "Hey, your clothes!"

It’s such a cold day, you’ll get frozen if you don’t wear a cotton-padded jacket!

Gu Chi didn't seem to hear him, and his cotton-padded jacket was stepped on by him. Regardless of the cold, he quickly came to the window and looked at the bell tower.

I can see this clearly in retrospect.

There are two dials, one blue and one yellow. Only the hands of the blue dial above are rotating at an accelerated speed.

One lap, two laps, three laps...

Gu Chi stared at the blue dial, silently counting the number of circles in his mind.

He grabbed the window sill with both hands, with veins bulging on the back of his hands. His expression even looked ferocious due to excessive exertion, and his eyes soon became bloodshot.

Gu Chi wanted to stay elegant, but he had no choice. He had to do this to temporarily withstand the strong sleepiness coming from all parts of his body... for the time being.

Gu Chi had been working very hard to fight against this mysterious force coming from the bell tower, but even so, he still couldn't hold on for long.

When the pointer completed its fifth revolution, Gu Chi could no longer hold on and fell down as if he had lost all strength.

But he didn't seem to fall to the floor?

This warm and soft feeling...as if someone was giving him a cushion?

Before closing his eyes, Gu Chi took one last look.

At some point, Lingmao had already fallen at his feet, still clutching the cotton-padded jacket stained with shoe prints in her hand.

River Bird and Mustard Soup had also gone to sleep long ago.

The two of them remained seated, very close to each other.

The head of the mustard soup rested on the shoulder of the river bird, and the head of the river bird fell on the head of the mustard soup.

The night returns to silence.

Only the firelight of the fireplace danced softly.

…

…

the next day.

As soon as Lingmao opened his eyes, he saw a beautiful scenery.

It snowed all night last night, and the weather seems to be much better today. The bright sunshine shines into the living room, making the air a little warm.

Gu Chi was sitting at the coffee table, writing something seriously. The light hit the side of his face, and he began to glow.

The rustling sound of the pen tip scratching the paper seemed to contain some kind of rhythm, neither fast nor slow, just in time with her heartbeat.

Lingmao admitted that at this moment, she was impressed by Gu Chi's handsomeness.

"Are you awake?" Gu Chi asked without raising his head.

"Well." Lingmao stretched out and sat up, only to find that she was covered with a cotton-padded jacket. She tilted her head in confusion: "Isn't this your clothes? Why are they on me? Can you help me?"

Did I build it?"

"The wind blows."

"Yeah?"

Gu Chi didn't answer again.

Lingmao was in a better mood. She stood up, patted the dust on her body, put her cotton-padded jacket on the sofa, and walked to Gu Chi again, "What are you writing?"

"Neil's words."

There were two pieces of paper in front of Gu Chi, one was the letter left by Neil, and the other was the conversation he had with Neil the night before.

By writing down the conversation and comparing it with the letter, it will be easier to find the key information.

"You actually remember what he said?" - Lingmao wanted to ask this, but when she got closer, her attention was attracted by another thing. She found that Gu Chi was originally clean

There are many sexy beards on his chin...

Lingmao opened his eyes wide: "You, you have a beard?!"

"Yeah." Gu Chi said "Yeah" lightly, not taking it to heart at all.

Charm 9's beard should be as long as it can be.

Lingmao seemed to suddenly realize something and ran into the bathroom.

She looked at the woman in the mirror.

...Damn it, I have really grown up!

After a while, Jiangniao and Mustard Tang, who were relying on each other, also woke up. Seeing each other's old and slightly greasy faces, they fell into silence.

So ugly...

Jiangniao doesn't want to see the mustard soup anymore.

Mustard Soup didn’t want to look at him anymore.

Jiang Niao silently took out his phone and opened his calendar.

"November 16, 5792."

"92 minus 82... ten years passed last night?"

"Then today..."

"It should be twenty years from today to tomorrow." Gu Chi continued, "It will be forty years from tomorrow to the day after tomorrow."

Jiang Niao's hand shook: "Then we will be gone the day after tomorrow?"

Adding the leap time to their own age, in two days, their age will be close to 100. Even if they are lucky enough to survive, what can an old man in his 90s or 100s do?

By then, let alone the self-destructing robot, he might not even be able to rub out a leg of the robot, and the only thing he could do was wait for death.

Gu Chi noticed Jiang Niao's expression: "Feeling pressure?"

Jiang Niao nodded slightly nervously. Although dying from old age does not sound painful, who doesn't want to live if you don't want to die?

Gu Chi: "Then seize the time and make more machinery. It may be used later."

After finishing washing, Lingmao came out of the toilet and felt that these words sounded very familiar.

Mustard Soup blamed himself: "It would be nice if my skill level was higher."

For yesterday's dinner, he specially made four more bowls of refreshing soup according to the request of Lu Chi.

But obviously, the effect was not very good, and they still fell asleep.

After falling asleep inexplicably for two consecutive nights, Mustard Soup also saw that Bell Tower had the ability to force people to sleep. If the quality of his awakening soup was higher, it might be able to withstand this power.

"It's not your fault, and it's not about the Xingshen soup." Gu Chi shook his head. He had thought about this problem when he got up early this morning. No matter how advanced the Xingshen soup is, it is still Xingshen soup, and the essence of the medicinal diet will not change.

In other words, its medicinal properties are too mild and will be washed away by ferocious "diseases".

There is a good solution, not to increase the level of Xingshen soup, but to increase the dosage of functional ingredients or drugs.

Or simply -

"What is the name of the ingredient in the soup that can keep people excited?" Gu Chi asked.

"Awakening grass." Mustard soup replied.

Gu Chi: "Then let's eat one plant each of us tonight?"

Everyone: "???"

What the hell?

Mustard Soup said quickly: "No, no, the Awakening Grass is poisonous and cannot be eaten raw. It must be treated with water above 105 degrees."

Okay... Gu Chi passed this simple plan and asked again: "How much Awakening Grass should be added to a bowl of Awakening Soup?"

"One leaf is enough." Mustard soup said, which is the standard dose.

"It's not enough. If it's severe, use strong medicine." Gu Chi said, "Add one more... no, one and a half."

Mustard soup: “…”

Jiangniao: "..."
To be continued...