A long time ago, the old man was the keeper of a tower of imprisonment.

The pagoda is located in the most barren land in the underworld, even more barren than the legendary entrance to the underworld. In addition to this stone pagoda, it is a wasteland, and even the crows flying across the sky will die and fall because of this uninspiring land.

No one knows where he came from, and no one knows where the tower came from. But the old man knew that a monster, a mysterious monster, was sealed off in the tower.

It is said that the monster is so dangerous that it needs to be imprisoned with the harshest seals and immortality.

When he first became the keeper of the tower, the old man once saw the monster. It was a very quiet-looking existence with indescribable beauty, even if he was in a dark stone tower, even if he was trapped by an ugly stone lock. can't hide the picture that makes people hold their breath.

There is no sign of danger at all.

The tower keeper was asked not to go near the monster, so he took in a boy who had been abandoned in the wasteland and became a handyman of the stone tower, responsible for taking care of the monster.

A boy with black hair and beautiful black eyes doesn't know his origin or even remembers his name.

In fact, the monster locked up here does not need water or food, but the new handyman is stubborn and disobedient, taking care of the monster with rations every day, day after day.

During this time, the old man also learned more about the mysterious monster. It is said that there are two different lineages in the monster's body, one from the mother and the other from the father.

The power from the mother is gentle and seems to be a rare race that has declined, wandering at the entrance to the underworld all the year round.

And the power from the father. It seems to be the main reason why he is trapped in this stone pagoda.

Unfortunately, no "person" knows who the monster's father is and what the dangerous power is.

For a long time, monsters have been trapped at the top of the tower, while old people and boys live at the bottom of the tower, day after day, year after year.

One day, however, the grown-up boy suddenly came up and asked the old man

"Grandpa, can I go out and play with Lord Qingxing?"

The old man shook his head helplessly and said to the boy with apologetic eyes, "No, Lord Qingxing is ordered to be imprisoned here by very powerful people, and he may not be able to leave for the rest of his life."

The boy already knew a lot of things. he stood there silent for a long time and suddenly said, "if one day, I can become more powerful than that very powerful man, will I be able to take the adult Qingxing out of here?"

"." The old man remembers that he froze at that time, but in the end he just took the boy's words as a joke and said, "of course, but we are just tower keepers, and at best we can only become the best handyman in the underworld."

"then I won't be a handyman. One day, I will take Lord Qingxing out of here and go where he wants to go most! "

The clear and crisp voice still sounds like a joke, but the boy's figure really disappeared from the stone tower.

The stone tower is still the original stone tower.

The tower keeper is still the original tower keeper.

I do not know how many years later, the wasteland outside the stone pagoda has become more and more desolate, even flying sand.

A young man in a black cloak appeared in front of the old man.

"Little. Xiao Si? " The old man looked at the deja vu face and tried to shout the name he had not seen for a long time.

"Grandpa, long time no see." The teenager's expression looks very tired, but his eyes are still bright. "is the adult Qingxing all right?"

The old man remembers that the teenager said that after he left the stone tower, he stumbled all the way to the edge of the underworld, known as the entrance to the underworld, and became a guide to a ghost city.

He went to see the scenery that the Qingxing adult had always wanted to see.

And feel happy about it.

It is hard to imagine how such a young child crossed the wasteland and went to the edge of the underworld under the threat of so many ghosts and beasts in the underworld. The old man only knows that the "scenery" along the way is absolutely more frightening and more frightening than what the teenagers themselves have described.

"Why don't you go and see him?" The old man pointed to the top of the tower.

But the teenager shook his head and said, "because of my promise with Lord Qingxing, I insist on walking all the way." All in all, I can't go to see Lord Qingxing in such a fruitless manner! "

The teenager said that his work in Ghost Town was excellent, so someone wanted to promote him. But the teenager gave up a more comfortable working environment and volunteered to join the Underworld army to go to a battlefield.

"you will die." The old man knows a lot about the war in the underworld, except for the leaders of both sides, and all he has to do is to die.

"but as long as you survive, you will be able to go one step further from the adult Qingxing." There was a smile on the tired face of the teenager.

The teenager survived.

I do not know how many years later, the old man saw the young man again. The teenager has become a young man now, but he looks like a young man. Very bad.

Broken armour, drooping right hand, covered with blood, the original black hair somehow turned silver and white, and even those beautiful black eyes were wrapped in coarse cloth to stop the blood from flowing.

"Xiao Si!" The old man may never forget a picture like that.

The blood trail all the way into the stone tower, it is hard to imagine how this man got here.

"Grandpa, long time no see." Saying exactly the same words as before, the young man sat down at the door of the stone pagoda. "how is Lord Qingxing?"

"if you don't see him again, maybe he won't remember you again." The old man only felt a sore nose. "go and see it after such a long time!" But not until I take care of your wound first! "

The old man at least wants the monster to know that there is a man who has been working hard for his freedom, whether he is sweating or bleeding. It is surprising that there should be such a man who fought to such an extent for a promise made many years ago!

But the young man still shook his head, smiled weakly and said, "it is more painful than me, who can only look up at the sky with a stone lock."

"Grandpa, I'm going to a very dangerous place right now." The young man straightened his face. "when I come back, maybe I can take the adult Qingxing out of here!"

"where are you going?" The old man had a bad feeling.

"if I don't come back." The young man's eyes darkened. "then it's a good thing that the adults of Qingxing don't remember me."

"son, is it worth it?" The old man did not understand what the young man had done, nor did he know what he wanted to do. In the old man's heart, he will always be the child who was picked up lying on the wasteland, but he wants to take a road that is impossible to reach the finish line.

"it's worth it." The young man smiled and looked into the distance. "Grandpa, do you know?" Along the way, I saw a lot of beautiful scenery, a lot of wonderful things, a lot of interesting people, heard and met a lot of stories. "

"if I were always a handyman in Stone Pagoda, I might not have had so much experience in my life." There was an affection in the young man's eyes, which was an expression that the old man had never seen before.

"I'd love to. Take the adult Qingxing to have a look. "

This kid.

In the old man's eyes, the young man who had roughly bandaged the wound disappeared into the wasteland again.

For young people, the adult youth has become not only a dream and vision when he was young, but also a belief that supports life and promotes his constant transformation.

After that. It is lonely day after day, year after year, and this is still a stone pagoda where no one comes to visit.

An abandoned place.

I don't know how many years have passed, when the old man thought that the young people had suffered an accident somewhere, a team that could be called an army came to the wasteland!

There were black uniforms everywhere at that time, with black flags with unknown patterns.

The man in the black cloak strode up to the old man and took off his hood.

"think."

The old man was about to say something when he suddenly found that he could not make a sound at all. Inexplicably, the old man seemed to see the familiar and strange man shaking his head slightly.

"the tower keeper." The man's voice was cold and alienated, as if he had never seen an old man before. "I have come to release the prisoner in the tower, and from now on, I will be his betrothal."

Since the agreement a hundred years ago, struggled with blood and tears and encountered countless times of life and death.

He finally found the only way to set Qingxing free.

Thinking of the past, the old man could not help reddening his eyes.

If he could, he really wanted to tell the adult that he was not alone in the years when he had endured deathly loneliness and loneliness, because there was still one man who had been fighting for him.

And at the expense of his life, he finally sneaked the treasure called "freedom" into his hands.

× × ×

Legend has it that the entrance to the Underworld will appear in a variety of different ways, whether it is a street, a hospital, a dilapidated classroom, a haunted tour bus, or a cinema where a new film is showing.

After cooperating with the end of the task of supervision and inspection, Su Qingxing began to work again, leaving all other tasks to cinnabar, completely ignoring the grief of his friends.

When Su Qingxing opened his eyes, he saw that he was facing a huge screen of the movie, there was no image on the screen, and the cinema had not turned off the lights. It was obvious that the film had not yet begun.

But right above the screen of the movie, a banner was pulled rustically

Welcome to the premiere of the Bride of death.

"I've really seen this movie!" A voice of argument came from Su Qingxing.

Su Qing moved his slightly stiff neck and turned to see that there were only four people sitting in his row in the empty cinema. He should be the one who took part in the trial this time.

One of them, a handsome young man in a white shirt, was trying to make other interviewees believe what he said. He went on excitedly: "it's a very old horror movie, but it's really good!"

"death comes to the world to look for his bride, but the person he wants to find must not be afraid of death, and he can learn to overcome it even in the face of his deepest fears. But if the person tested by death shows fear and panic, there will be a cruel death the next second. "

"what's the use of saying that!" Sitting next to the teenager was a woman who looked arrogant, dressed in a professional suit, exquisite makeup and impatience. "where on earth is this?" If no one explains, I'll leave. Time is money, understand?. "

"Sorry, I don't like horror movies either." There was also a man in jeans who smiled easyly and was ready to get up and leave with the professional woman.

"you can watch it as a romantic movie!" I really don't know how much that handsome young man likes to watch this horror. "at last death found his bride, a bride who was not afraid of the black cloak and was willing to kiss the white bones, and the two lived happily together! No, no! "

When the teenager finished, his face was full of longing and shyness, as if he had become the protagonist in the movie, indulging in romantic love.

Seeing such a scene, Su Qingxing was rarely silent.

Is it. Is there something weird about it?

The author has something to say: the third story begins, beating gongs and drums, guess whether the first one is a big one or a small one!