old dream

Chapter 1 Red Letter
Occasionally, when Colin took a nap from the heavy pile of papers, he would stare at the device on the table in a daze.

Overall it resembles an arm, but is light and beautiful, reminiscent of bird bones or insect wings.

There are a few thin needles on the bright red crystal sheet, which can capture the tiny tremors of the crystal twenty times per second.The mechanical transmission connected to it is as precise as a clock, amplifying and transmitting the tremor state to a small charcoal pencil, and drawing corresponding marks on the paper.

This is the most efficient communication in the world, known in some circles as "red letter".The principle is similar to the telegram in the previous life.However, these crystals have five tremor forms, and their efficiency is much higher than that of telegraphs.

A new letter has arrived.

Subtle metal knocking sounded, and countless gears and springs were operating simultaneously.The paper was moved, and the charcoal pencil drew intermittent broken lines with different amplitudes amidst the rustling sound.

Colin watched the crystal casually.Its tremors are difficult to observe with the naked eye.Sometimes viewers think they hear a tiny hum, but that's just an auditory hallucination.

It is estimated that at this time, in front of another scarlet instrument somewhere in the world, an unknown sender is entering the client's letter into it through five mechanical buttons, pulling the vibration of another crystal.

No matter how far apart the two crystal sheets are, they resonate and faithfully transmit the message.

Even without any medium in between.

……

It was Colin's job to translate the broken lines drawn by the instrument into corresponding words.

This is a complicated and laborious job, but it is a condition for Holy One Theological Seminary to allow him to participate in the audition.

The scarlet letter machine was running non-stop, and the pile of letter paper was a headache.

Except for letterheads and a few public documents, most of the contents of the red letters are letters in random order.The entrusting party had already encrypted the content into codes with different rules, which made Ke Lin's work even more boring.

In several corners of the room, "lanterns" were arranged in an unusual density. Colin didn't know their official names, but he also knew that they were instruments used to detect the transformation and annihilation of spiritual elements.

The transmitters who can join here have been screened through referrals and spiritual rejections, ensuring that they are innocent from the beginning and have no potential to become wizards.

But, in a world full of unknowns and uncertainties, is there really such a thing as infallibility?

The right hand is still numbly recording, translating these broken lines has already become an instinct.Colin's pupils gradually lost focus.

The monogram no longer has meaning in the eye, it becomes a mere arrangement of lines, like some kind of painting...

……

"Colin, you've worked hard."

Someone touched his shoulder from behind, and Colin woke up from the state of trance.He was confused for a while before he recognized the man's face behind him.

"Heine?"

One of the supervisors present was also the person who introduced him.

"That's it for today, time and quantity are enough."

Colin stood up from his seat and moved aside. Heine routinely checked his table and clothes, while another inspector stared at him not far away.

Colin stretched his shoulders and arms slightly, and looked around the post office by the way.

On the six seats, other journalists were busy transcribing the cipher text of the letter.

"Passed, everything is normal." Heine said after careful inspection.

Make sure that there is no carbon paper or paper on the desktop and Colin, so there is basically nothing to worry about.After all, the reporters were transcribing under surveillance, and the messages were long ciphertexts with different rules.

Colin looked at his watch. It was nineteen thirty-two.

"Sorry, it's just a rule." Heine apologized slightly.

"understand."

But Heine seemed to have something to say, he pondered.

"Teacher, have you been getting better recently?"

"It's okay, at least I'm in a better mood."

Heine forced a smile and patted Colin on the shoulder.

Heine was a former student of his uncle, and he respected his uncle very much, so he took a lot of care of his adopted self.

It was precisely because of his negotiations with the seminary that he got the opportunity to audit and a job to subsidize his family.

Although what he is doing now seems to be somewhat contrary to his trust.

"One more thing, but it's not a big deal."

Heine said it lightly, which made Colin feel a little nervous.

"I've heard some rumors... are you still with those gang members?"

Colin was stunned, but he didn't expect that this was what he was talking about.

"I've lived there, so I sort of have... old friends," said Colin.

The college side usually doesn't care about the life of the reporter.After all, no matter what the reporter's own intentions, it is unlikely that the letter will be leaked.

"After all, they are not righteous...don't worry too much, I am not saying these words in the capacity of a supervisor." Heine said.

"I know the current situation of the teacher. To maintain that kind of expenses, you can only do some dirty things. But in fact, there is no need to carry it alone... After all, he is kind to me, and I will not be stingy."

Colin smiled.

"Well, I won't be polite when necessary."

Heine nodded: "Thank you for your hard work. Say hello to him for me."

"I will," said Colin. "I wish you well, too."

……

Colin walked out of the newspaper room with his hat and coat, just as the evening light disappeared.

Holy One Theological Seminary is a bit like the prototype of the university in the previous life, but it is more closed.It is said that it is directly under the direct control of a high-level religious order.

Although Colin was allowed to sit in on an exception, only a few secular courses in the lower grades were open to him, which was better than nothing.

Even Heine's expectation of Colin is to master a skill that can make a living and find a decent job among ordinary people.

He was born in this world inexplicably, and 22 years have passed.With his meek personality in his previous life, it's not surprising that he spent his second life so plainly.Rather, it is a better choice.

Unfortunately, this is doomed to fail.

The memory of the seven to 12-year-olds in this life is full of incoherent and unclear pictures, and the order and relationship between events are twisted.

It is vaguely certain that this is not his own problem, but that someone has tampered with those memories.

Colin can still feel strongly that in those few years, he had had a deep intersection with Chaozhuan.But those perceptions were brutally erased by someone, and even the other memories of those years were broken into pieces.

When he came back to his senses in a daze, he had already been mixed among the refugees, exiled from the tragic battlefield of Senal to the border city of Stadt of the Alliance.

He didn't know how his memory was destroyed, the only thing he could be sure of was that it had something to do with the extraordinary.

But after that, there were no more clues related to those memories, and no chance to get close to the extraordinary.

——Until I met my uncle, was recommended by Heine, and entered the newspaper room.

So now Colin lives a double life: a reporter for the seminary's confidential room, and a gang member who is not visible.These two identities drag each other back, but they are both necessary for Colin.

Because the solution to the problem is only accessible from the seminary's confidential reporting room.

Only the underground world of South Stade can quickly provide funds for the realization method.

And all of this is to retrieve the destroyed memories of those five years.

Thinking aimlessly, Colin left the academy.After entering the alley and detouring for a long time, after confirming that he was not being followed, he entered another avenue.

He stopped a carriage and named a place.The coachman glanced at him and said nothing more.

The two old horses snapped their hooves and galloped southward.

Ke Lin opened the car window, and the female moon and the child moon were hanging in the low sky in the northeast together.The light from the gas lamps was diffused by the steam from the underground pipes, only illuminating the bluestone road, and the elegant buildings on both sides of the street were submerged into sharp silhouettes in the darkness.

The carriage leaves the well-ordered Old City, and everything becomes grotesquely twisted.The night sky seemed to be lower, and the crooked buildings leaned together exhausted, unable to see the details in the dark.

South of South Fourth Street in Stade, the residents are largely Sincilian immigrants.

The carriage stopped in front of an "Aspen Hotel". This kind of place is famous for being able to spend the night with [-] or [-] Aspens. It is often the first stop for the Sincilians to settle after entering the alliance.

After paying the car fare, enter the second floor through the back door, and you can hear countless noises in the corridor. The walls here are almost thinner than a matchstick, the room is smaller than the toilet, and the bedbugs crawling around are no longer scary.

Colin pushed open a door.In the dim kerosene lamp, it was almost impossible to see anything.

Except for the shiny silver revolver pointed at him.

　The protagonist is a traveler, but there is no "original owner".

　　His own consciousness from birth.

　　Many readers misunderstood and had to explain it outside the article.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)