The soles of the black boots stepped on the metal floor, and the sound of dull footsteps echoed in the silent space, which was extremely clear.
The black-haired major general took a step forward. His legs were already long and his strides were long, so he walked very fast. The boy who was holding his wrist behind him almost trotted to catch up with his steps, and was occasionally caught by him. He staggered a few steps forward.
But the reason Mute staggered a few steps forward was not that he couldn't keep up with Major General Troll's pace, he could still keep up with the trot, the reason why he was dragged forward was because he tried to stop several times, even Pull the major general back, but compared with Major General Troll, his strength is really vulnerable, so every time he wants to drag or pull back, he will be easily defeated by Major General Troll. The ground dragged forward so much that he had to continue to follow the major general.
After repeating this several times, Mute felt that this was not possible, so he stopped trying to hold Major General Troll, but simply ran forward a few steps quickly, and stopped in front of the major general at once.
As soon as others stopped in front of Major General Troll, the major general stopped instinctively, and the dull footsteps echoing in the quiet corridor stopped abruptly, leaving only the rapid breathing of the young man.
Mutt was panting, the tug-of-war with the major general for a long time just now made him a little panting, while he was breathing quickly, he looked up at the major general.
"You can't leave him alone."
He looked directly into the major general's eyes and said bluntly.
"I want to go back."
Major General Troll lowered his head and stared at Mutt, his dark blue pupils seemed to be flickering, like stars in the night sky, with a cold and dangerous aura.
He looked at Mutt and didn't answer, but he clasped Mutt's wrist very hard with his fingers - it was a strength that would not hurt Mutt, but it was also a strength that Mutt could not break free.
He didn't look like he was going to let go.
"Walk."
He stared at Mute, and only uttered this one word.
"I have to go back." The young man who looked at the major general unwaveringly repeated his words stubbornly, "I can't leave him, I want to take him with me."
"..."
The major general looked at him without answering, and the fingers clasping his wrist still did not loosen at all.
Looking at that expressionless handsome face, Mutt felt a bit of a headache, but he could vaguely guess the reason for the major general's reluctance at the moment.
Now is not the time to be jealous, okay
With a headache, he rubbed his head with his right hand, thought for a while, and couldn't think of a way to persuade the major general, so he could only sigh long.
"These days..." he said softly, "he is protecting me, without him, I would have died long ago."
The Major General pursed his lips slightly.
At that time, he used himself as a bait, but he didn't expect that Mutt was also brought here. By the time he knew this, four or five days had passed. Just the thought of this frail child spending so many days on this hellish planet made him feel a little apprehensive.
He knew the character of this child, and for those who helped him, this child would definitely repay him, just like the child did not hesitate to sacrifice his life to protect him, because he had saved him back then.
"I won't go with him, I just don't want him to stay in this kind of place, I hope he can leave, the universe is so big, he can freely pursue where he wants to go." Mutter said, "Major General, I I don’t want to see him imprisoned in this narrow place forever, if I leave now, I will regret it forever.”
Having said that, he suddenly remembered something, and quickly added another sentence.
He said: "I will remember him forever!"
This sentence made the major general's eyes twitch slightly.
He thought for a while before slowly letting go.
"fifteen minutes."
He stared at Mutt.
"it is good!"
...
……………
In the dilapidated laboratory, the light has become dim, and the projection of the past disappeared at some point, and the ruins of reality reappeared under the dim light.
Broken glass was scattered all over the floor under the shattered culture vessel, and the black-haired man sat quietly on the ground. The fine strands of hair scattered in the corners of his eyes and cast deep shadows in his pupils. The bloodstains all over his body were shocking.
He sat on the ground with a calm expression, completely devoid of the madness he had shown in front of those two people just now. The open flesh on his right hand was still bleeding, he didn't seem to care, he let his blood flow, staining the broken glass on the ground red, without any intention of stopping the bleeding.
After a long time, his face, which seemed to be standing still in time, moved, and the corners of his lips lifted slightly, revealing a very shallow smile. The faint light in the air fell on his eyes, and that smile inexplicably gave off an extremely gentle feeling.
But in the next second, the slight smile on the corner of his lips suddenly disappeared, and he raised his head suddenly, his dark blue pupils dilated for a moment, clearly reflecting the boy who was running towards him at this moment.
His eyes were full of astonishment, and there was an expression of surprise on his face.
Until the child ran back to him and squatted down to look at him, he seemed to be a little bit unable to recover, and just stared at Mutt blankly.
"… why?"
He asked, his eyes looked at the young man, the emotions in his eyes were too complicated.
"you said."
The boy who came back in a hurry squatted on the ground, gasping for breath, speaking intermittently.
"You, you said, wherever I go, you will go, you said so, so I will take you away."
"..."
Tran lost his mind for a moment.
He remembered what he had said to the boy when he left the planet as Trol.
[I'll go with you.]
At that time, he said to the child.
[Wherever you go, I will go there.]
He thought Mutt had forgotten long ago, or didn't care about the sentence he said seriously.
...
But the kid remembered, always remembered.
"I'll take you away."
Mutt looked at him, looking a little nervous, "You have to come with me, you can't count your words."
Tran's eyes swept over the boy's face carefully, he stretched out his hand, and embraced the boy in his arms. His action made Mute startled for a moment, but he didn't resist, but let him hug him.
The blood on Tran's right arm was still flowing, and soon stained the boy's clothes red. But he didn't realize it, because the soft body in his embrace was so warm.
"Don't you fear me... hate me?"
He lightly rubbed the boy's soft black hair as if he was attached, and said softly in a voice that seemed afraid of scaring Mutt.
"Not afraid." Mutt shook his head, and added, "I don't hate it, as I said, I helped the major general because I didn't want anything to happen to the major general, but I didn't want anything to happen to you either."
"Even if I said something like that?"
At that time, he said something like 'Give him to me, and I'll tell you the truth' to Troll. When he said that, he realized that he was disgusted by this child.
Because in his words, he regards the child in his arms as an item that can be given away, and no one likes to be treated as an item.
Mute hesitated for a while, and then slowly answered.
"I don't think...that's what you really want to say..." He said slowly, "I don't know what your purpose of saying this is, but I don't think that's what you really mean."
He said, "You hate that people treat you like an object, so, I think, you don't treat me in the way you hate."
"..."
"Tran?"
"nothing."
"Why did you say that to Major General Troll?"
"... Sometimes you are too serious and see too clearly, which is not good for you."
Tran didn't answer the question.
Yes, the kid sometimes sees too clearly, just like what he said just now.
That's not what he really meant.
At the beginning, he really had the crazy idea of letting Troll kill him. He wanted Mute to see this scene clearly, even if he let Mute know that he was a monster who survived by eating human flesh and drinking human blood It didn't matter - he lost everything, he went to hell, he was going to drag Troll to hell with him - he was going to keep Troll in a living hell!
Just as his crazy idea was about to come true, a hand covered his face.
That was the temperature of the skin of the only person he was familiar with.
He could feel the child's fingers covering his face trembling slightly, and the trembling traces were transmitted to his body.
The moment he felt Mute's hand trembling, he suddenly regretted it, regretting it terribly.
What did he do
He thought, it was like a sudden pour of cold water extinguished the crazy flame in his heart.
What did he do to this kid
You can't do this...you can't do what those monsters want you to do, you can't be the same monster as those people.
He heard the child say this, and then slowly removed the hand covering his eyes.
He saw the pale face of the young man looking down at him, and he saw the look on the young man's face at this moment—he thought he knew what the so-called distressed feeling felt at that moment.
He thought he knew what regret felt like.
[You can't really become the same monster as those people hoped.]
Just a little bit.
He almost really became a real monster.
The child's hand stopped Troll, and pulled him back from the abyss again.
And he...
He regrets it.
He didn't want to see that look on the kid's face.
He had to do something to get that look off the kid's face.
'Give him to me and I'll tell you the truth. '
he said to Troll.
That's a test.
Troll's answer will determine whether he entrusts the child to Troll's protection or keeps it in his own hands.
...
……………
When he watched the two disappear from his sight, he never thought that Mute would come back here again. He never thought that he could hold the child in his arms again with his own hands.
the last time.
"Come on, Tran, leave here with me, you don't need to stay in this kind of place, I will take you to many places, many... Well, maybe you can return to Earth soon."
Mute kept talking, trying to persuade him to take him away.
"… Earth?"
Tran repeated it lightly, the name in his mouth, as if chewing.
It was an unfamiliar name, but for some reason it was inexplicably familiar.
"Yes, the earth, a blue planet, my home, is also your hometown."
"yes… "
"Although I don't know how to go back now, but one day... So, Tran, come with me, let's find it together."
"..."
"Tran?"
There was no answer for a long while, and the boy looked up in confusion.
He looked at the man looking down at him with slightly curved eyes, and there was an indescribable tenderness.
He watched the man lower his head, and kissed his forehead with a softness that seemed to be conveyed with his blood-stained lips.
The person looked at his eyes, as if they were full of starlight when they first saw him, staring at him, as if with light.
In the next second, he was pushed out forcefully.
He fell heavily to the ground. The ground where he was sitting had a different arc pattern from other grounds.
Mutt looked up and saw that Tran was already standing on the broken console next to him, and smiled at him, that smile was still like meeting him for the first time.
He watched Tran's fingers press a dusty button on the console.
Mutt stretched out his hand, but the moment he stretched it out, his eyes went dark, and his head became dizzy, making him lose consciousness.
Only one person was left in the dilapidated laboratory.
The black-haired man stood quietly in the dim light, looking at the empty teleportation device.
The only sound left in the air was his light, shallow breathing.
After a long time, he didn't move again. His fingers tapped rapidly on the virtual light curtain. The console in front of him suddenly split from the middle, and a silver-white box rose from the middle of the split console. stand up.
The box opened slowly and automatically, and a blood-red button the size of a palm was revealed from the box.
Tran looked at the blood-red button for a while, then suddenly raised his hand, and punched it hard—
beep!
The urgent siren suddenly rang throughout the laboratory, no, not just the laboratory, but the entire underground research institute, the shrill siren echoed repeatedly.
The intense red light flickered desperately, shaking endlessly on Tran's face. Tran stood there, surrounded by dazzling red light, with his eyes downcast, motionless like a lifeless sculpture.
He didn't turn around until someone approached behind him.
The dazzling red light was flashing, and the piercing siren was echoing. The two people who seemed to be branded out of a mirror stood facing each other, with the same dark blue pupils staring at each other.
Red light flickered endlessly on their same cheeks.
Tran raised his hand and threw the metal ring from his right hand to Troll.
"I've sent the kid to the surface."
Tran said lightly, "Let's go, if you don't want to die here in five minutes."
Major General Troll caught the metal ring, looked at Tran, and spoke.
"He wants you to live."
"... only one has the right to live, and only one victor can be lifted from this."
Tran raised his hand and tapped his heart with his fingertips.
"The thing that's implanted in all of us, if you get too far from this planet, it will explode," he said. "You're the only one to have it taken out."
Troll said nothing more.
He understands the pride of this person in front of him—continuing to be imprisoned on this planet, and can only be used as a substitute for 'Troll', lingering on for the rest of his life.
If it was him, he would make the same choice as this person.
He turned and quickly disappeared in front of Tran.
Tran stood there, closed his eyes, and his slender eyelashes cast deep shadows on his cheeks.
A red light flashed on his face, and the alarm sound became more rapid and harsh as the seconds in the virtual time clock in mid-air decreased.
…
He was a [person] named Tran.
It wasn't before, but it is now, and it always will be in the future.
There was a loud bang, and then another, one after another, sounding continuously in the deep underground. The entire research institute was trembling and shaking, one by one the culture vessels exploded, and the metal pieces from the roof rolled down and rolled on the ground.
Standing on the shaky ground, the black-haired man still had his eyes closed. The roar of the explosion came from far and near, and the next second was already in front of his eyes.
The firelight illuminated his face.
In the scorching flames that exploded, his expression was peaceful and calm like never before.
And... tenderness.
...
……………
[I'll take you away.]
OK, you take me away.
Wherever you go, I am always in your memory.