Nightmare wake up

Chapter 6 Story
Vera smiled: "This is also a member of the Punisher Squad, you know, Cat Kate."

Shen Mi still looked at the big fat yellow cat in disbelief, making sure that the expression on the other's face was indeed a human expression, as if saying to Shen Mi:
"I'm fine, lad..."

"It is indeed a member of the Punisher team, and one of the earliest of us... I think Uncle Cat is the most suitable for your contractor mentor, because he has enough experience." Vera explained patiently: "From our current In terms of work arrangements, Uncle Cat is also more suitable, he has not had many field assignments recently, so he just has time to accompany you..."

Luo Qing in the driver's seat pursed his lips and said, "Send someone to have to pay for food... I'm afraid the captain is trying to save cat food? Uncle Cat can save cat food by sending it to you..."

Vera shrugged her shoulders without expressing any rebuttal...

Shen Mi looked at the fat cat next to her again, and felt that... the professional image of the Contractor built up by the Punisher team overnight was disappearing in front of her eyes.

"I'm also a contractor, and the ability is only possessing..." The fat cat stretched out his paws and licked it, and said disdainfully: "Is it worth all the fuss?"

Shen Mi nodded numbly... You are right!

Indeed, this is a world of supernatural powers, and it is not surprising to see all kinds of strange abilities, but this person and a cat are sitting side by side in the back row of the car, their eyes are facing each other, making Shen Mi still feel an indescribable strangeness— — especially since the cat is still making all kinds of human expressions.

After Vera waved her goodbye, the electric car started slowly, and the feeling of pushing back from the speed came spontaneously.

"For new contractors, this is the door to a new world that has just opened..." Luo Qing said to himself while driving, not knowing whether he intended to teach Shen Mi by words and deeds.

……

The sky is already bright, and the bright sun jumps out of the horizon from a distance, spreading its light on everything.

The entire Hot Springs city seems to have woken up from a slumber, and people have come out one after another from the buildings in mixed Chinese and Western styles to welcome a new day.

There are Europa men in suits and leather shoes, hurriedly rushing to the tram station with their briefcases in between; there are yellow-skinned Chinese people standing in front of the fast food restaurant, holding a sandwich in one hand and a cup in the other, and devouring breakfast; there are also several carriages. The convoy formed, mostly brown-skinned Hesai people wearing cleaning staff uniforms, recycled the iron trash cans on the roadside in turn, dumped all the garbage on the car, and transported it out of the city...

All kinds of people live together without any disobedience, giving Shen Mi a strong sense of unreality once again, as if in an old movie.

Soon we arrived at the central square of Hot Springs, where unpredictable has been here countless times... The car shuttles along the roundabout road, and inside the roundabout is a huge square with a statue of a figure holding a giant ax and a shield in the middle - Changsheng.

The "Longevity" in my memory is an ancient man more than 2000 years ago. He was the leader of the Pandora organization at that time. He led the Ironmen out of Ayerkula Island and was the pioneer who returned to the Rodinia mainland... So, in the long history He is respected by the Ironmen and worshiped for generations as a symbol of "freedom".

At this time, Shen Mi once again set his eyes on the face of "Changsheng", but saw a completely different feeling - this admirable sculpture has a flatter face and fine straight hair, typical of Tang people. feature…

Shen Mi's thoughts moved, and she turned to look at Fat Meow who was licking her front paws. The other party seemed to be paying attention to Shen Mi's gaze...

Being watched by a meow completely dissipated the drowsiness that was originally very sleepy.

"You've always been attached to a cat?" The plan to squint in the car for a while was over, and Shen Mi decided to chat with her contractor mentor.

Yellow Fat Meow sat up, stretched out its two front paws to both sides, and made a gesture of spreading both hands. The long whiskers on the cat's face began to vibrate, and said:
"I don't want this either, there's no way..."

Meow meow, but the timbre blends with the middle-aged uncle's heaviness, making Shen Mi make some guesses about Cat Kate's age and gender...

It's just that the weird feeling of talking to the cat is stronger.

"Don't try to understand other people's secrets..." Fat Miao said mysteriously: "Understanding me is not within the scope of teaching you... You should think more about yourself."

Uh... This is a question of personal privacy, and I was taught by the cat! Shen Mi grasped the emotion of "mentor", lowered his head and pondered a few questions that have never been answered, and now is the opportunity to communicate.

After a pause, Shen Mi asked the cat in a humble tone: "If the contractor doesn't pay the price... what will happen in the end?"

"Good question..." Fei Miao seemed very satisfied with the quiet attitude, and actually straightened up and leaned back on the car seat, revealing a fluffy white belly, and her cat's claws wrapped around her as if thinking...

This is the force of a university professor:

"Usually this doesn't happen, because the original sin is painful, and no one can hold on to it all the time, watching the pain and disease get stronger and stronger... But there are always special cases, when the payment cannot be completed, the original sin's The pain will be so great that the contractor will lose consciousness and eventually die of pain, or...there is a chance that he will lose his self-consciousness and become a ghost!"

Spirit puppet... The second time I heard the word "spirit puppet", Xiaobai's perfect face appeared in his quiet mind - his eyes were dull, but the beauty was suffocating.

From the appearance, Xiaobai is an extremely beautiful girl, but her eyes are always empty and distracted, as if she has lost her soul. In the emotional color world when she woke up, Xiaobai also did not have any biological emotional color...

"Yes, it's a ghost puppet, you have already seen Xiaobai..." The cat had already guessed what Shen Mi was thinking, and continued: "The ghost puppet is the product of the contractor who failed to pay the price and lost his self-awareness. They only have simple Mechanical thinking, it is even difficult for them to take care of themselves, they seem to have lost their wisdom and spirituality and become a part of this world... Meow... This part I am talking about means the same as air, water, and earth..."

"Losing the intelligent thinking of higher life and becoming a low-level creature without thinking?" Shen Mi summed up Fat Miao's words and sighed: "How could such a thing happen..."

This is a bit cruel... This shows that Xiaobai was also a contractor, but because he didn't pay the price, he finally lost his self-consciousness and became a ghost-she used to be a person, a human with superpowers, but now she is just a Vegetative... At the time of awakening, Xiaobai had a conversation and explained to herself that there was no malicious intent. This behavior was only derived from her mechanical thinking, just like the machine was working.

Shen Mi's last sentence caused Fat Cat's misunderstanding. It thought that Shen Mi was asking how the ghost puppet came into being. It became two fine lines...

Just when Shen Mi recovered from his thoughts, the fat cat suddenly smashed his right paw on his left paw, making a human "there is a way" smashing fist, and said to Shen Mi with a smile:

"I'll tell you a story..."

"In the beginning, the iron people had no contractors at first, and their supernatural abilities came from another creature on the continent, the elves..."

The fat cat is like telling a story to a child. He starts the narration with a sincere and instructive tone, which makes Shen Mi have an illusion-when he was a child, his mother held a picture book and gently said, "From a long, long time ago..."

Shen Mi pretended to be listening, and listened to the fat cat continue to talk about himself:

"Elves are perfect creatures, they live in harmony with nature, they are almost a part of nature, they have perfect faces and gentle nature, eh, that is to say, every elves are unparalleled beauty, they are simply The perfect creatures favored by the Iron God not only endow them with a perfect appearance, but at the same time...have all kinds of magical powers..."

Iron God is an illusory god in this world, the original creator of intelligent creatures, and his status is equivalent to Nuwa in Eastern mythology and Prometheus in Western mythology... Shen Mi grasped the key words and asked: "Magic power ?"

"Yes! It's magic!" Seeing Shen Mi's serious thinking, the fat cat was obviously slightly pale, the whiskers trembled even more, and the cat's claws swayed:
"The greedy ironmen coveted this magical power, and sent people to the kingdom of elves to learn this power, no, it's not learning, it's more appropriate to steal, or steal... So, the ironmen's clan succeeded, they gained manipulation The method of mystical power, the descendants began to appear psychic..."

"It's just that stealing means punishment. The high-ranking Iron God didn't let the mediocre iron people get mystical power for nothing, so he imposed divine punishment and made the iron people pay the price after using supernatural abilities!"

Speaking of this, Fat Meow's face showed a brutal expression, as if imitating the extreme and arrogant iron god, revealing four sharp canine teeth...

"So, the price and the original sin appeared, and the contractor appeared! Once the contractor just used his power and did not pay the price, the original sin would turn the ironborn into unconscious spirits - elf puppets, which we now call puppets ."

"It's almost like a curse, and it has been with the ironmen until now... Spirit puppets have no autonomous consciousness. Like spirits, they have the power to coexist in harmony with the heaven and the earth. Like the sky, the earth, the wind, and the water, they are part of the world..."

"It's even more ironic that when the contractor turns into a ghost, no matter how ugly it looks, it will change into a perfect elf-like face, extremely beautiful..."

The cat tells a mythically moving story with vivid language and rich action, quiet yet feeling mixed... It's a damning tale, if true, then...

"Power and risk are equal."

Fat Cat made a conclusion: "Otherwise, what do you think the Punisher team's job is? It is to help new contractors pay the price smoothly until they become proficient... I am your mentor for this."

……

(End of this chapter)