Tang Yi looked at the old face and called out hesitantly, "Blame the old man?"
The old man looked at him and asked hesitantly, "Tang Ya?"
Tang Yi couldn't believe that the old man with a sturdy temperament in his memory had turned into the now hunched and withered look, and... he recognized his face all of a sudden, even though he recognized the wrong person. His eyes were hot, and he pointed to his face with a smile, "Wrong, it's the bear of the twins."
The old man's eyes widened slightly, "Tang... Tang... Tang Yi?" The question was not very sure, and there was a trembling light in his eyes.
Tang Yi nodded and grinned.
The old man staggered to him and stretched out his dry, tree-like hand as if he wanted to touch him, but it just hung in the air and didn't fall. The old man's eyes trembled and his lips trembled, "Yes... it's been sixteen years..."
Tang Yi nodded, his throat seemed to be stuck. This old man's surname was Jin, and no one knew his full name. He was called "weird old man" by the children because of his vicious appearance and often frightening children. Old man Jin used to take care of the warehouse and keep the books left by humans before the virus broke out. When he was a child, Tang Yi often liked to sneak into those "restricted areas" that had not been converted into orphanages to read books when he was not careful. He has a bad temper, but he has always turned a blind eye to Tang Yi's behavior, and sometimes even seems to inadvertently stuff him a book or two. Tang Yi found that the books that the old man put into him were often very interesting. They wrote some mysterious stories from a long time ago. They often took him into a mysterious and fantastic world, which made him forget to sleep and eat, and even dream of sleeping under the quilt. Take a peek with the light of the watch.
Tang Ya also had a good relationship with him. He found some ancient music scores and music CDs covered with dust and stuffed them to Tang Ya.
After so many years, it flew by like this, and Tang Yi was surprised at the dilapidation of the orphanage. Old man Jin said that fewer and fewer children were sent here after they left. The orphanage has been closed for five years, and the old curator has also retired. He himself was homeless, so he took the monthly payment from the base. Pensions continue to live here, tidying up those old books.
The wooden corridor that once drenched with sunlight is now only a gray and pale, and many wooden boards have been moldy and peeled off, revealing the bare adobe walls. Mercury followed behind Tang Yi, walking through the long corridor full of memories, stepping on the dust on the ground. Tang Yi will show him where they sleep in the big house, where is the place to wash, where is the place to eat, where is the place to study, and where is the place to work. Mercury's gaze swept across the few remaining wire beds that were not covered, imagining the young Tang Ya and Tang Yi shivering under a quilt on a thundering night.
Old Man Jin entertained them in the former dean's office and now his own living room, making him and Mercury a cup of tea each. The tea has an oily smell, and nowadays most people who do manual work can only drink this kind of tea. Tang Yi found that the sofas were still the same leather sofas that the dean used to entertain guests, but the leather was badly damaged and cracked in many places, revealing the yellowed cotton wool underneath.
"You unscrupulous little boy, after so many years, why did you suddenly think of it and come back to take a look?" Old man Jin pulled a chair across from them and sat down, lit his pipe that he had used for decades, and was still beside him. There was a basket of green beans that he didn't finish peeling.
Tang Yi then remembered that he didn't seem to have introduced Mercury yet. He pointed to the Kraken beside him, who was still wearing a hood and was concentrating on drinking tea, "He... is called Mercury, and he is my friend."
Mercury nodded to the old man Jin. The old man Jin looked at his special colored eyes and the silver hair scattered on his forehead, and said while biting his pipe, "You look like a siren?"
Tang Yi smirked twice, "You can see that, your eyesight is so good!"
But the old man didn't smile, his expression was rather solemn. He blew a puff of smoke and sighed, "It looks like you've joined the team too. Where's your brother?"
Tang Yi paused for a while, thinking about what to say. Mercury replied directly, "Tang Ya died in battle."
For a time, the room was quiet, only the slowly rising smoke hovered in the white sunlight of the meal.
"Oh." The old man replied simply in the end, his expression did not change, "It's a pity."
Mercury gently placed the teacup on the glass coffee table and asked seriously, "Excuse me, after Tang Ya and Tang Yi left the orphanage, did Tang Ya come back?"
Tang Yi was stunned, and the old man raised his eyes to look at him silently, "Why do you ask that?"
"Because when you saw Tang Yi, you immediately recognized him as Tang Ya." Mercury glanced at Tang Yi, "Sixteen years, for a human being, there should be a lot of changes, but you immediately You can recognize it. If it wasn't for your ability to discern and remember beyond ordinary people, then you probably met Tang Ya in the past year or two, right?"
Tang Yi didn't expect so much. Now that I think about it, it's really strange, isn't it
Old Man Jin coughed twice, as if he was coughing up phlegm. After he calmed down, he nodded, "Indeed, he came here a year ago."
A year ago, wasn't it shortly before his accident
Tang Yi sat up unconsciously, "Have you seen Tang Ya? What is he doing here?"
"It's just that I haven't been back for a long time, and I want to come back and have a look." Old Man Jin's eyes fell on the branches of the apple tree outside the window, "I didn't care about him, I just let him go around by himself."
Tang Yi glanced at Mercury. Why does Mercury have to come to the orphanage, is he looking for something
After a cup of tea, Mercury asked Tang Yi to take him to the place where he and Tang Ya often go. Tang Yi took him into the lobby where all the children slept together, and came to the thirteenth bunk. Opposite them was a tall, arched window, the heavy curtains that had blocked it.
Their beds are gone, and the graffiti that the children have secretly painted on the walls are still there. It is impossible to see what the paintings are when they are stacked layer by layer. Tang Yi still remembered that he also drew a tank on it.
Mercury squatted down, looked carefully in front of the graffiti, and even reached out to knock on the wall, or inadvertently stepped on the floor.
Tang Yi stared at him suspiciously, "What are you looking for?"
Quicksilver glanced at him, didn't answer, just asked, "You said he likes playing the piano? Where is your music classroom?"
Tang Yi saw that Mercury's tone was a little tight, and the whole person was like a tight string. Inexplicably, he didn't dare to question too much, so he obediently took him to the former piano classroom. The piano is still there, but it seems that it has not been used for hundreds of years. It is covered with dust, like an ancient relic forgotten by time. Tang Yi watched the mercury lift the lid of the piano, and flicked the keys with his fingers nostalgically. The tenderness and nostalgia in his eyes made Tang Yi feel a pain in his heart.
Tang Yi rubbed his nose, turned around and went out silently.
He casually lit a cigarette and pushed open the heavy basement door. The smell of dust hit his face, causing him to sneeze twice. He passed the rows of bookshelves that were silent in the dark, the rows of ancient yellowed books covered with time dust silently looking back at him in the light of the watch.
This is a secret treasure he discovered as a child. Not every book on the shelf could be read, but some simple storybooks, especially those with beautiful illustrations, often fascinated him.
It was from these books that he knew the story of the Kraken. He also knew that hundreds of years ago the sky was often a clear blue, and the sea was the same color as the sky. At that time, the earth was still covered with green vegetation, a lush green area, and in spring, there will be thousands of trees and flowers in full bloom. There will be sika deer in the woods, black bears and gray wolves, and colorful birds flying in the chaotic nets of branches and leaves and sunlight. At that time, the fog was water droplets floating in the air, and clouds falling from the sky. You can walk through it without wearing a gas mask.
At that time, however, there was also something called a state, something called religion, and something called a nation. Different countries, religions, and ethnic groups will fight each other for many reasons, unlike now, all human beings are united. This is what the base has taught him since he was a child. The base tells people not to miss the past, and tells people that although the virus is terrifying and the environment is harsh, at least human beings are finally united and live an equal and happy life.
But is the base really as united as they say
Not to mention the rebels themselves, this time Lee attacked the subsea base, the anti-pressure suits worn by the soldiers, the weapons in their hands, and the Ogubugu, which was so advanced that the Blue Whale was dwarfed by other ships, were all not rebels. The level of weapons before the army. These weapons cannot be conjured out of thin air, someone must be funding them.
With such strength, who else besides the base
Maybe not the third base, but what about the first and second bases
Although the five bases are of the same spirit and will never betray each other, there is still a subtle distinction between them. The relationship between their third base and the fourth base has always been relatively close. To be precise, the fourth base is attached to the third base. However, the first base in North America, as the most prosperous and earliest base, has always had a delicate relationship with the third base, and the second base has always had frequent contacts with the first base.
If the mercury is really a copy of Chen Yuan, then such a weapon is held in the hands of the third base, will the first base be indifferent
The more Tang Yi thought about it, the more creepy he felt. If the first base is really funding the rebels, isn't the whole base system a joke? If the only human beings still have to betray and kill each other, does a race like humans really have a future
My heart was as heavy as a lead ball, and it kept falling. Tang Yi walked into his favorite corner when he was a child—between the wall and the last row of bookshelves, a small skylight shone down a stream of light, like a ladder of heaven descending in the dark. When he was a child, he liked to hide here and read books with this ray of light, or when he was in a bad mood, he liked to come here to be quiet for a while. He sat down with his back against the wall like a child, and turned his head to browse the familiar titles.
But then he noticed something strange about a book.
The other books were covered with thick dust and gray, but the book with the dark blue cover looked very clean, as if someone had touched it recently.
The name on the spine is "Shan Hai Jing Picture Book", one of his favorite books when he was a child. It's not because the content is good-looking, after all, he can't understand it at all at his age. He just likes the pretty and novel illustrations in it.
Tang Yi reached out and pulled out the book, and a few yellowed sheets of paper fell out of the pages.
He stretched out his hand to pick up the pieces of paper, and the pale golden light above his head shone on the flowing staff and the familiar handwriting.
Familiar enough to make his breathing stagnate.
It was a piece of music called "Bozhou".
Tang Yi couldn't read the staff, but he recognized the lyrics. Because Quicksilver sang it more than once. It was even the song he heard when he first met Mercury. He still remembered the lonely tune with a bit of sadness, but at this moment it turned into a silent note wandering in front of him. He didn't notice that his hands were shaking, and quickly turned over the remaining pages of the score, and found that on the back of the last piece of paper, there were four words: Happy Birthday.