“Hey!”
A gruff voice came from the taxi: "Hey, bro, are you going to leave or not?"
My younger brother Chen Yang just woke up from a dream. He rubbed his stiff face vigorously before coming back to his senses. He said in a dry voice: "Sorry, I won't leave."
"Then why are you waving your hands all the time?"
The driver howled at the top of his lungs, rolled up the window and drove away.
The sound of the wheels rolling over the road gradually faded and disappeared completely.
The intersection became quiet.
Chen Yang was facing a sleeping alley with his back to it. In front of him was a tall young man who was lowering his head and poking the stone slab with his cane. He took a deep breath, exhaled softly, and said slowly, "Are we really... back?"
He raised his upper body towards Jian and said, "It feels unreal. Do you want me to hit you?"
Chen Yang twitched his lips: "…No need."
“Do you still want to eat fertilizer?”
He rakes his messy chestnut hair: "Look at the wound on the back of your hand."
After being reminded by him, Chen Yang quickly untied the plaid fabric tied into a bow and found that the back of his hand was intact.
Not to mention the bites, even the medicine was gone.
The palm of his hand was also smooth, without any bloody cuts from the nails.
Chen Yang touched his coat pocket and found that the wire and nail were gone. He then touched his trouser pocket and found it was empty, as clean as if it had never been filled with fertilizer.
The juice, the smell of the sea, the dirt, the grass, the blood... all of these seemed to have never touched the clothes.
Nothing from the mission world will be brought back.
There will be no more curses or blessings.
Chen Yang's calves felt a little weak, so he squatted on the ground and placed his hands against his forehead.
There were seven people in the team, and only three survived.
He, the boy, and Zhao Yuan.
Although they finally won by grasping the rules, he had a strange feeling of suffocation, like a person who fell into the water and thought he had surfaced, but in fact he was falling deeper.
An invisible hand was pushing him down.
Chen Yang wanted to slow down, but his heart beat even faster. He hid his face in his arms and said in a buzzing voice, "You are from that world, and a descendant of the Yi clan?"
Chao Jian paused and said, "I don't know anything about the Yi tribe. I lived in Sanlianqiao from birth to childhood. I became an adult abroad and only returned to China last month."
"What's going on? Why can your blood start the ceremony? Awu won't lie. Only the true descendants of the Yi clan can..."
Chen Yang's focus was not on the boy's personal information, but on the last link of the mission world. He was immersed in his own world when he heard a "click" sound.
It was so unusually cold that it made his scalp tingle.
The young man knocked the ground heavily with his crutch. When Chen Yang raised his head from his arms, he glared at him for a moment, snorted coldly, and left him with a gloomy back.
Chen Yang's mind was filled with information related to the mission, and it was very chaotic. He shouted without thinking: "Where do you live?"
There is no answer.
There was only the sound of the crutch hitting the ground.
Seeing that the young man didn't even turn his head, Chen Yang's stomach started to hurt again, so he simply told him his home address: "I'm free tomorrow, if you're free too, you can come find me, I'll treat you to a meal!"
The boy disappeared at the entrance of an alley and his exact residence was unknown.
After all, it’s at Sanlian Bridge.
Chen Yang rubbed his stomach and squatted for a long time before he stood up. He walked a few steps and stopped: "He seemed to say that he was born and raised in Sanlianqiao?"
Is there anyone here with the surname Chao
Chen Yang had no impression. Sanlian Bridge was not big, and the neighbors were very close to each other, so even the smallest things could be passed back and forth.
Like when he came back from the rehabilitation center, the news spread from one person to another, and soon everyone knew about it.
When the people in this area saw him again after more than three years, they felt sympathetic and wanted to hold his hand to ask him if he was well and how he was going to live in the future.
They had no idea where to start. Every family has its own problems, and the food in their own pot was not cooked well.
It's human nature.
Chen Yang suspected that the boy had changed his surname, but the stomachache stopped him from thinking further. He went home with the feeling of having survived a disaster.
Too tired.
It seemed like only a second or two had passed from the time I went in to the time I came out, but my soul felt exhausted.
Have a good sleep first.
If you have anything to say, wait until you have had enough sleep.
Chen Yang slept until the next afternoon. He was a person who only needed a short sleep, but he slept for such a long time for the first time in his life. He felt exhausted, hungry and dizzy.
When he cooked a bowl of tomato and egg noodles, he had no appetite and stirred the bowl with his chopsticks for a long time, until the noodles and tomatoes were mixed into a mushy mess.
There is a white card next to the bowl.
Chen Yang thought comically that now that he had two ID numbers, he had to abide by two sets of disciplines and two laws.
Need to talk to someone...
Chen Yang poked the noodles. Zhao Yuan's contact information was on Zhang Yan's notebook. Out of habitual observation, he glanced at it.
Now he tried to recall it intentionally, and the number emerged in his mind, becoming clearer and clearer.
Chen Yang immediately put down his chopsticks, picked up the phone, and dialed the numbers one by one.
No one answered the call, probably because he was sleeping. He remembered Zhang Yuan said he would lie on the bed when he got home.
Chen Yang hung up the phone with one hand and absentmindedly flipped the white card with the other hand. After a minute or two, he found Zhang Qi's number in his memory bank.
No one answered the call either.
Chen Yang fiddled with his phone in confusion. He had just bought it yesterday, but it broke today? He tried to dial 10086, and it went through.
"… "
Chen Yang put his phone down and leaned back in his chair. The next moment he picked it up, opened the webpage, typed in the three words "Xiaoyin Island", and clicked search.
Does not exist.
Chen Yang searched the Yi clan again, but it didn't exist either.
After being poured cold water one after another, Chen Yang was really depressed this time. There was no one to talk to in the house. He was the only living thing. He didn't move, and the whole house was deserted and still.
Chen Yang's mind was empty for a while, then he turned to look at the sunshine outside the window. It was very bright, without any trace of yesterday's rain. He put out his hand to block it and decided to go out to buy some.
I don’t know when the next mission will start.
He didn't know what he could bring in, so he had to be adequately prepared.
This kind of situation is not up to you to decide the beginning, and the ending is also not up to you to decide. It can easily drive you crazy, so you need to adjust yourself.
Chen Yang forced himself to cheer up. He was not desperate, but he was afraid that there would be something wrong with the next mission.
As the saying goes, people are scarier than ghosts. It is also said that people are three parts afraid of ghosts, and ghosts are seven parts afraid of people.
He also understands the truth.
But this does not affect his fearlessness of people or ghosts.
Chen Yang had a premonition that what he feared would come true. When he walked to the door, he glanced at the mirror on the shoe cabinet. It had been here since he was a child. He didn't feel anything before, but now he felt goosebumps all over his body.
The self in the mirror seemed strange and weird.
Chen Yang opened the shoe cabinet and found a piece of velvet cloth. He quickly shook it open and covered the mirror with it, and dust filled his nose.
After entering the mission world, I no longer think about the four words "believe in science".
Chen Yang leaned against the shoe cabinet, taking off his shoes and changing into them by stepping on his heels, while searching for forums about the supernatural and ghost-related stuff on the Internet.
There are storytellers in the forum, people who talk about real-life experiences, Taoist priests, strange people, etc. Maybe they can find ways to deal with them.
It's also okay to understand their common routes.
In the past, Chen Yang would never read it, and if he accidentally clicked on it, he would close it as quickly as possible. Now he can only look at it with fear.
Different times, different circumstances.
However, the forum post...
Let me tell you about the ghosts I have seen at the crossroads over the years.
I almost got in a hearse after get off work that night
Never live alone - I have a ghost on my back
…
Chen Yang felt a chill on his fingertips as they touched the screen of his mobile phone. Forget it, he decided not to look at it.
"QQ"
There was a sudden knock on the door, and Chen Yang was startled: "Who?"
The person outside the door was stunned by his warning: "Zao Zao, it's me, I'm your Uncle Wu."
When Chen Yang heard this name, he was also confused.
When his mother was still alive, she said he was a premature baby who was not well-behaved in her belly and came out early, so she gave him this nickname.
It's been a long time since anyone called him that.
Uncle Wu had just returned from another place. He didn’t even enter his own house and went straight to Chen’s house.
"Zao Zao, you have to be well behaved now that you are out here," Uncle Wu did not sit down, but stood in the living room, puffing on his cigarette, "You are only 26 after the Chinese New Year, you are still young, still young."
Chen Yang saw that the middle-aged man was hesitant to speak: "Uncle, if you have something to say, just say it."
Uncle Wu waved his hands: "It's nothing, it's really nothing."
He took a few puffs of his cigarette and then said, "It's my girl. She has a boyfriend."
"It wasn't discussed before you went to jail. It was discussed in the autumn of the second year after your accident. The two children were college classmates and had always had a good relationship. The two families discussed getting married on June 1st of next year."
Chen Yang was stunned for a moment, then he understood the middle-aged man's purpose of visiting him and didn't know what to say.
Uncle Wu tried to speak gently: "You grew up together. My girl followed you wherever you went. You really loved her since she was a child. But no matter how good you two were, it's over now, don't you think?"
Chen Yang smiled and said, "Uncle, I understand."
The father came in a hurry because he was worried that his son would use their past relationship to harass his daughter, act recklessly and ruin her happiness.
Ultimately, I'm still worried that he has complications, and even if he recovers from a vegetative state, his body functions are unreliable.
I understand.
In fact, Chen Yang really didn’t have that idea.
Originally, I hadn't thought about meeting Wu Yu again after being discharged from the hospital. We hadn't seen each other for such a long time. One was an unemployed vagrant out of touch with society, and the other was a working professional, so we didn't have much in common.
Now that I have an additional identity number and am faced with a mission where I could die at any time, I have lost all thought of falling in love and finding someone to live with.
Uncle Wu got the answer he wanted, and was filled with emotion: "Zao Zao, you are a good child, you study well and are sensible. You will definitely have a bright future. The accident was caused by Chen Chen. Uncle knows it all. It was your aunt..."
Without saying anything else, he sighed and said, "Hey, if you have any difficulties in the future, just tell me and I will help you in any way I can."
Then he changed the subject: "By the way, Xiaoyu doesn't know you're back yet. She'll come looking for you if she finds out. That child isn't as sensible as you. You... you should remind her when she's confused."
"Uncle, don't worry, I will."
Chen Yang repeatedly promised to wish his childhood sweetheart happiness and that he would not let her do whatever she wanted if she came to him, before he sent Uncle Wu away.
Life is inseparable from the ways of the world.
Chen Yang felt a little tired because of this little episode involving old events and the vicissitudes of life. He didn't want to go out much. He even had a subtle thought that it would be nice to live in the mission world, but it flashed through his mind.
You still have to go out the door.
Chen Yang suppressed his melancholy mood, went out empty-handed, and returned with a lot of shopping bags.
Zhang Qi called.
Chen Yang was putting things into his newly bought big backpack. When he saw it was his call, he immediately stopped what he was doing and answered it.
"Brother Qi?"
"Brother, it really is you!" Zhang Qi laughed happily, "I left my phone in the room, and when I came back I saw a missed call from an unfamiliar number. I thought it might be you, but it turned out to be true."
"How is it? Do you feel that you are not out of touch with society after you get out? Do you feel that you can keep up with everything?"
Chen Yang coughed: "Let's not talk about this for now, I want to ask you something."
Zhang Qi was still smiling and was very easy to talk to: "Ask."
"Can I go see Li Yue?" Chen Yang said, "I want to go to the rehabilitation center. There are some things I want to talk to him in person."
Zhang Qi asked: "Which one is that?"
Chen Yang's breath was choked.
"The character for wood is on the top, and the character for child is on the bottom, which means jump. So, Li Yue."
In broad daylight, in his own home, Chen Yang broke out in a cold sweat: "He is my attending physician."
"What are you talking about? Did you miss your nap or are you kidding me?"
Zhang Qi was eating something and said in a daze, "Your attending physician has always been Sun Wenjun. Where did Li Yue come from?"
Chen Yang's ears buzzed: "I remembered it wrongly. It's not my attending doctor, it's from another ward..."
Zhang Qi said: "There is no doctor named Li in the entire A district."
Chen Yang sat there in a daze.
Zhang Qi on the other end of the line saw that there had been no sound for a long time. He worriedly shouted into the phone, "What's going on? Brother? Hello? Hello! Are you still there, brother?"
"fine."
Chen Yang pursed his trembling lips and tried not to let his voice tremble: "Brother Qi, are you in the rehabilitation center? I want to go over and talk to you."
Zhang Qi didn't ask what they talked about. He guessed that this brother had just been discharged from the hospital, his ideological construction was not done well, and there was no one at home who could help him, so he came to him.
"I'm on a work shift outside right now. Please send me your address and I'll come to your place when I'm done."
"Okay, you go ahead."
After sending the address, Chen Yang sat in the chair without packing his backpack. His eyes were out of focus and his whole body seemed to be soaked in ice water. His body temperature continued to drop.
In the evening, Zhang Qi came with two baskets of fruit.
Chen Yang changed his sweaty clothes and showed him the picture of Li Yue that he had drawn from memory: "Brother Qi, do you know this person?"
Zhang Qi shook his head: "I haven't seen it."
Chen Yang stopped talking.
Zhang Qi leaned in to take a look. The nose was a nose, and the eyes were eyes. He was surprised that his brother had such skill. He asked curiously, "Who is this? Which patient in Area A?"
Chen Yang’s face was so pale that he didn’t look like a living person.
Brother Qi is a security guard in Area A. How could he not recognize Li Yue's face
Zhang Qi asked with concern: "Brother, why do you look so bad?"
"I didn't sleep well." Chen Yang moved his facial muscles with effort, "Brother Qi, please sit down. I'll go get you a glass of water."
"Don't bother, don't worry about me."
Seeing him like this, Zhang Qi was really afraid that he would faint after taking a few steps.
As soon as Zhang Qi stuffed an orange into Chen Yang's mouth, he ran into the room.
"Brother, what are you doing? Slow down!" Zhang Qi was nervous, and his old father's heart came out again.
Chen Yang came out of the room with "The Relationship between Consciousness and the World in Quantum Theory" in his hand.
"Brother Qi, do you still remember who gave me this book when I was discharged from the hospital?"
When Li Yue gave him the book, Zhang Qi was standing in the corridor. He stretched his neck to read it and nodded to greet him.
However, Zhang Qi said, "Isn't this your own book?"
The author has something to say: See you tomorrow. See you tomorrow.