NOVEL NEXT Chapter 7: Chapter 7: Breaking through the City Defense
Aiden stands under the Bruges-style city wall. The pungent smell of steam around, mixed with the odors of machine oil and rust, is like an invisible hand that tightly pinches his nose, making him frown involuntarily. The vibration sound of the blue flame boiler comes regularly. Aiden knows clearly that this frequency is exactly the same as when the Berlin Metro U5 line is running, and just like recorded in the operation log of the U5 line, there has never been the slightest deviation. This regular vibration makes the ground under his feet tremble slightly and also makes his heart feel flustered.
He looks down at the universal wrench he is holding tightly in his hand. His palms are full of sweat, so wet that he can hardly hold the wrench. This wrench is about to transform into the form of the Bow of Spring for the first time. The Fengyu Branch automatically winds around it, and the appearance looks mysterious, making people feel that this thing is definitely not simple. The old wound on Aiden's tiger's mouth starts to bleed because of holding the bow tightly. The bright red blood spreads little by little and gradually stains the cherry blossom patterns, but he doesn't notice it at all, and his thoughts have already drifted away.
"Why does the vibration of this bowstring sound like the prelude to Für Elise? It's really strange." Aiden mutters to himself. He doesn't understand why he would think of this piece of music at this tense moment. In his mind, the scene of being at his grandmother's house when he was a child involuntarily emerges. It was a cold winter night. His grandmother sat by the heating stove, wearing reading glasses, and knitted a Nordic-style sweater stitch by stitch. That rhythmic knitting method is just like the Bow of Spring that is about to transform in his hand at this moment, full of unknown rhythms and also full of his nostalgia for the warm old days.
"Verdammt noch mal! This thing is really troublesome. I really don't know if it will work." Aiden curses in a low voice, trying to calm himself down. He takes a deep breath, musters up his courage, and prepares to start the transformation of the wrench. But who would have thought that the Bow of Spring malfunctioned during its first transformation and got stuck, just like a child throwing a tantrum, not listening to him at all.
"This damned thing fails at the crucial moment! I should have checked it again in advance." Aiden frowns, his face full of anxiety. According to previous experience, he taps the wrench three times manually. At this time, the Bow of Spring makes a noisy sound, which is like the mechanical symphony of various parts of a Swiss Army knife rubbing and colliding with each other when it is unfolded, complex and a bit harsh, making people feel creepy when they hear it. Just when he is worried, the spare component of the antler knife suddenly pops out from the stuck part of the Bow of Spring. This sudden change makes Aiden stunned for a while before he reacts.
While adjusting the Bow of Spring, Aiden pays attention to the surroundings. The ice crystals formed by the sublimation of steam, under the sunlight, refract colorful lights, presenting the patterns of the Amsterdam Canal Ice Sculpture Festival, which is extremely beautiful. But Aiden has no mood to appreciate this beautiful scenery. He knows that behind this beauty, there must be great danger hidden. The light refracted by these ice crystals is like the Antwerp diamond facets (cultural symbol of craftsmanship), so bright that it dazzles his eyes, and he has to squint.
The city defense soldiers are bustling around, all sweating profusely, and their clothes are soaked with sweat. "Is this blue flame boiler trying to roast us? It's so hot that I can't stand it anymore. If this goes on, I'll definitely get heatstroke!" A soldier complains loudly while wiping his sweat. When Aiden hears this, his heart tightens. He knows that the temperature of this blue flame is no joke and must be extremely high.
Suddenly, Aiden sneezes violently near the blue flame boiler room. Just when he is wondering, he finds that an ice sculpture of a parliamentary emblem is formed by the sublimation of steam. Aiden stares at this ice sculpture and always feels that there seems to be a topological structure of the star map trap hidden in it, but he doesn't have time to study it carefully now. "The purity of this is enough to brew three barrels of Burgundy! If this blue flame could be used in winemaking, maybe it could produce a peerless good wine." Aiden looks at the ice sculpture and can't help muttering. Using wine culture to analogize the purity of this blue flame can be regarded as a kind of self-deprecation.
Aiden continues to tinker with the Bow of Spring. Just when he is about to try to shoot again, his gaze catches a glimpse of Maggie's verdigris beside him. The color of the verdigris suddenly changes, and it also emits a smell like the colored paints at the Venice Carnival, pungent with a hint of gorgeousness. Aiden's heart skips a beat. He associates it with the process of the paint peeling off the cruise ships on the Seine River. He always feels that there must be some unknown profound meaning behind the color change of this verdigris, but he can't figure it out for a while.
Aiden takes a deep breath, tries hard to calm himself down, and then aims at the key part of the city defense. But just when he is about to shoot, the Bow of Spring suddenly gets out of control. The cherry blossom arrow rain, with petal-shaped trajectories similar to Dutch tulip fields, shoots in all directions like a runaway horse. Aiden's eyes widen in horror, and he watches helplessly as these arrow rains shoot towards the crowd and embed in the mechanical joints, making some mechanical bodies paralyzed instantly. Although there is no bloody scene, this scene still makes him feel extremely shocked and frightened.
"No! How could this happen? I was clearly very careful!" He shouts, his voice full of despair and pain. The warning of the Geneva Convention instantly rings in his mind, and this sound is like a magic spell that makes his head ache. Aiden's heart is full of contradictions and self-blame. He never expected such a thing to happen.
At this moment, his iris starts to go out of control, and a constellation projection tattoo appears on his earlobe. Looking closely, it turns out to be the pattern of the Libra of the Zodiac trading. He feels that his consciousness is almost swallowed up by this sudden force, as if he has become a out-of-control machine and can't control his own behavior.
"I can't be like this. I can't hurt the innocent! I have to control myself!" Aiden roars in his heart. He looks at the wrench in his hand, grits his teeth, and smashes the wrench hard on his arm. The intense pain makes him sober up a bit instantly, and he tries to apply emergency neural override to interrupt the control of the iris personality in this way.
At the same time, a series of explosions come from the blue flame boiler room. It turns out that the boiler eroded by the black mist has a chain explosion due to energy overload. The shock wave generated by this explosion is like the air wave during an avalanche in the Alps, so powerful that people can't stand steadily at all. He is knocked down to the ground by this air wave, his whole body aching from the fall. He struggles to get up and looks in the direction of the explosion. He sees a golden energy vortex resembling Bavarian pretzel twist rising into the air, and the projection of ancient Dwarvish runes appears inside the vortex. Looking closely, it seems that there is also a ciphertext of the coordinates of Riga Station (57°N, 24°E; actual Riga: 56°58'N 24°08'E) in the runes.
"What on earth is going on here? What do these runes and coordinates mean?" Aiden is full of doubts in his heart. He feels that he has fallen into a huge mystery, and every step is full of unknowns and dangers, and these unknowns make him feel both curious and scared.
After the explosion, there is chaos all around. The soldiers run around in all directions, and the shouts and explosions are intertwined, forming a terrifying picture. Aiden looks at the injured civilians, and his heart is full of guilt. He knows that he must find a solution to the problem as soon as possible and can't let such a tragedy happen again.
Aiden tries hard to calm himself down. He picks up the wrench on the ground and prepares to continue breaking through. His eyes are firm. Although his heart is full of pain and confusion, he knows that backing down can't solve any problems.
He takes another look at the ice sculpture of the parliamentary emblem and secretly writes down this clue in his heart. He knows that the secret hidden in this ice sculpture may be the key to solving all the mysteries.
"Wait... The recipe of the surströmming (cultural note: A traditional Swedish fermented herring dish) I bought last time? Oh, why am I thinking about this again? Really." A strange thought suddenly flashes through Aiden's mind. He shakes his head, trying to drive away these irrelevant thoughts. Now, he must concentrate on breaking through the current city defense.
Aiden pants heavily and leans against the nearby wall. The feeling of exhaustion is just like having just finished the Amsterdam Marathon, and almost all his strength is exhausted. When he wipes the sweat off his face, his sleeve accidentally catches on the scratch of the antimatter suppressor, and a sharp pain shoots through, but he doesn't care about it now.
He takes a deep breath, clenches the wrench again, and walks towards the direction of the city defense. He knows that there are more challenges waiting for him ahead, but he is already prepared. No matter what difficulties he encounters, he will not give up. Because he understands that only by facing it bravely can he find the truth and make up for the mistakes he has made.
In the days that follow, whenever Aiden hears the bell ring, he will subconsciously check his tiger's mouth, as if the bell is a reminder, reminding him of that painful and challenging experience. And he also knows that behind the seemingly peaceful life, there are countless secrets and dangers hidden, waiting for him to uncover and resolve.
Suddenly, he thinks of the soldier's action of wiping sweat just now, and the memory of the glasses being smashed at the Munich Oktoberfest flashes through his mind. The lively scene at that time forms a sharp contrast with the current chaotic situation, making him feel a lot of emotions in his heart. He doesn't know what he will encounter in the future, but he knows that he must move forward bravely...