When Tang Yi and the other six were found by the search and rescue team, it was the next morning. Time seemed to freeze in the darkness. When the light of the search and rescue submarine suddenly shone into the eyes, it felt like a world away.
The exploration mission was urgently stopped, and the surviving research institutes and team members have returned to the base first. The Kraken team sent 30 teams to patrol and search for traces of the rebels. Qu Lan, the other members of the fifteenth team, and the Kraken from another team were not seriously injured. Among the researchers, Han Qi was one of the few who survived. Tang Yi and others were sent directly back to the team base, and after undergoing a series of physical examinations, they were called one by one for questioning. This time, it was no longer Qi Yu himself who interrogated them, but also the commissioners of the intelligence agencies. In the deep-sea submarine, Tang Yi and Hetian Jiangzhen had already colluded with Luo Wei and the three sea monsters, and even the details were discussed clearly. When asked, Tang Yi was nervous, but he seemed to be looking at the other party's expression. Didn't hear any problem.
However, the Kraken team made a serious mistake in this operation, and Qu Lan was also punished and suspended for one month. All the surviving members of the 15th Division were also asked to temporarily "freeze", that is, they could only carry out daily training, could not accept tasks, and could not be informed of the actions of any other team, as if they were put in a refrigerator for storage. status.
Quicksilver was asked to return to the Siren Hall for a health and mental state check, which was a one-week visit. During the period, Luo Wei asked Zixi to find an excuse to go back to the hall to inquire about the situation, only to hear that Mercury was quarantined and observed, and some Kraken experts sometimes conducted some tests on him. Tang Yi's heart was hanging in his throat this week, and he couldn't taste the food.
Fortunately, a week later, the mercury came back intact.
At that time, Tang Yi was doing pull-ups, and his mind was in a mess, thinking about what to do if the security department knew that the memories belonging to Chen Yuan in Mercury's brain began to wake up. When he was sweating profusely and straining to lower his body, when he opened his eyes, he saw the silver-haired siren standing in front of him, his hands loosened, and he immediately fell to the ground. Mercury looked at Tang Yi's disgraced face, and raised the corner of his mouth with a bit of pleasure.
Tang Yi propped his body on his elbows and looked at the sea-monster that he had not seen for a week. Tea white light shone from behind him, and his silver hair seemed to be transparent with a bright aperture.
"...Can't you show up like a normal person?"
Mercury tilted his head slightly, with an innocent expression, "I appear normal, but you are too alert."
Tang Yi got up from the ground and patted the sand on his buttocks, then looked at the mercury again, "Looks like, are you alright?"
"I'm fine. It's just some routine inspections and inquiries." Mercury's expression seemed to be a little tired, and his eyes spread to the other side of the sea, suddenly showing that kind of contemptuous sneer again, "They seem to be a little bit fear me."
Tang Yi blinked, "Who?"
"The wise man from the sword and his men."
Tang Yi gasped, "Lijian sent someone to ask you?!"
"Well. He's a second wise man." Mercury made such a big matter irrelevant, but it really scared Tang Yi into a cold sweat.
Mercury noticed the panic on Tang Yi's face, softened the look between his eyebrows slightly, and then changed back to the previous Mercury look. He put a hand deep inside and squeezed Tang Yi's shoulder, "Don't worry, I'm measured. They didn't notice anything."
Tang Yi raised his eyes and looked at the pair of ice blue pupils, full of anxiety and didn't know how to speak. Mercury suddenly patted his back, "Let's go back."
In the evening, after a long month's task, Tang Yi finally lay down with Mercury on the large bed embedded in the sleeping capsule. The two of them looked straight up at the slowly rotating starry sky at the top of the warehouse. There was still a distance as wide as a person in the middle, but the atmosphere that was once natural and familiar was now replaced by an embarrassing silence.
There was also what happened in the frescoed palace on the submarine, making their relationship like a taut string. It's about to break at any moment, but no one wants to talk about it.
Tang Yi turned over, turned his back to Mercury, and curled up, intending to close his eyes and force himself to sleep.
But then Mercury spoke, "I remembered some clips, clips about Tang Ya."
Tang Yi didn't answer, but his ears were pricked up, and his breathing paused unconsciously.
"I remember him with tears in his eyes, as if he was very guilty, saying sorry to me."
Tang Yi turned around abruptly, Mercury's eyes flashed like sapphire in the dim starlight, and it was difficult to distinguish emotions.
"I'm sorry?" Tang Yi asked, "what did he do to you? Did he save your life?"
Mercury said quietly, "I don't know, but I also recalled the feeling at that moment. I felt a lot of pain at the time, and my heart was very painful, as if something very important had collapsed, as if it was suspended in mid-air, but it was very cruel. slammed to the ground."
"...You must be mixing other people's memories with your own. Didn't you say you got some Chen Yuan's memories?"
"Yes. That city has passed on a lot of memories and knowledge to me." Mercury lowered his eyes, "As long as it doesn't belong to me, I don't have a particularly strong and direct emotional response. But about Tang Ya's The memory belongs to me."
"… "
"When you and Tang Ya grew up together, what kind of person was he?"
Tang Yi was stunned, he realized that Mercury had never asked him about Tang Ya and his childhood.
Tang Yi felt his mouth dry and his voice dry. He cleared his throat and said in a low voice, "He has been sensible very early, he doesn't like to talk, he likes to read books and listen to music, but other children are willing to listen to him, he is born to be a leader." Tang Yi laughed dryly, "He likes to call me stupid and sneer at me, but he also takes care of me. He always thinks he's my brother so I have to listen to him. If I don't listen, we'll always fight. I've never been able to fight. He was when he was a child, and when he grew up. He has always been against me joining the army, and after I heard that I took the initiative to apply for the army, he really beat me up. "
He still remembered Tang Ya's terrified expression when she learned that she had applied and was successfully admitted to the military academy. It's not that he never quarreled with Tang Ya, but that time he really almost thought that Tang Ya would kill him. One of his eyes was swollen for a week after the beating, and his nose was bleeding intermittently.
Tang Yi really didn't understand why his brother had to let him be assigned to the ordinary school system. He likes to read, but he doesn't want to spend his life in a quiet office or production workshop. Although it is risky to be a soldier, he is not a weak scholar. Does his brother look down on him so much, thinking that he will be scared to pee when he goes to the battlefield
Mercury was silent for a while, then suddenly said, "You know, I'm actually a little jealous of you."
"what?!"
"Tang Ya must have attached great importance to you, so that no one, including me, would want to know of your existence. He kept you in his own memory so that no one would hurt you."
Tang Yi blinked, "What nonsense are you talking about?"
"After I was bound with him, sometimes I felt that he liked to take care of me and control my feelings. Sometimes he looked at me, but I felt he was looking at other people." There was a gradually condensing in Mercury's eyes. haze. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "I want to see where Tang Ya and you grew up."
Tang Yi snorted and asked again, "Orphanage?"
Mercury nodded.
"...I'm not sure if that orphanage is still there." Tang Yi sneered, "I haven't been back for so many years..."
"Tomorrow is the weekend." Quicksilver turned his head and stared at him seriously, "Take me there."
Being looked at by Mercury's pair of high-cold dog eyes, Tang Yi certainly couldn't say anything to refuse. Early the next morning, they changed into civilian clothes, and Quicksilver wore a hoodie that covered the Siren's characteristic ears and his long silver hair. They took the mid-sized mini-machine that took the soldiers to the nearest town early in the morning and transferred to the suspended public train in the 25th area, looking out the window at the long yellow sand and countless afterimages of the abandoned city passing by. More than an hour later, they got off the car in a small desolate town near Yandu.
This is District 15, which belongs to the outer suburbs of Yandu. The barren land undulates with the gentle topography, and the hills are scattered in twos and threes of sparse grey-green shrubs and a few feeble trees. The small city lived in a mountain col, the gray-white and black buildings seemed to be covered with a thick layer of sand, without any bright colors. Yet this is still a well-established city, a remnant of a town two hundred years ago. The orphanage of Tang Yi and Tang Ya stands in the east of the city, which was renovated on the basis of the previous library. That building has a sense of the times, with a bit of Baroque-style columns, thick walls, and curled pattern carvings on the doors and windows. It is very different from other buildings with simple lines and single shapes. However, its age is indeed too old. The pillars are full of cracks, some gray vines have covered half of the walls, many glass windows are broken, and the black holes are like the empty grooves after the teeth of the old man fell.
Standing in front of the orphanage, Tang Yi suddenly realized that the building was not as tall as he remembered, it was just a dilapidated ancient building.
When he was a child, he felt that the orphanage was so huge, the long corridors seemed to be endless, and the golden sunlight would sprinkle on the dark brown wood, transpiring warm light. Not at all like this pale, fragmented, pathetic building.
Maybe this is the result of growing up.
The courtyard wall was more dilapidated and lower than I remembered. One wall even collapsed, and some gray bricks were stacked underneath. The carved iron door was stained with rust, as if no one had pushed it for a long time.
Tang Yi reached out and pushed the door, and heard a harsh creaking sound.
The yard was overgrown with weeds, but the apple tree stood in the same place as before, its bare branches reaching to the sky. Tang Yi suddenly saw a little boy sitting under the tree carrying a pony, and another identical boy standing beside him, slowly turning his face and smiling at him.
Tang Yi blinked, and the two little boys disappeared.
"Is it really abandoned..." Tang Yi sighed in a low voice.
Unexpectedly, the closed black door at the front of the building suddenly opened a gap, and a pale face that seemed to be hundreds of years old emerged from the darkness, pushing the mirror on his face.
"Who are you looking for?"