On the way to Xiaoheiwu, Gu Liang received a complete plot and case restoration.
After arriving at the small black room, he opened the door and entered, and there was another lake completely different from the one next to the inn—a lake that was buried deepest in his memory.
The artificial lake in the park is very large, and the green mountains and green trees in the distance reflect the emerald green color of the water, which is as beautiful as emerald.
The sun is just right, and the water surface is shining with sparkling brilliance.
Such a lake and mountain scenery should make people feel refreshed, but Gu Liang felt chills all over his body, and the chill came from the depths of his spine.
Gu Liang turned around, wanting to open the door and go out.
But when he turned around, he found that there was no door to the small black house behind him—there was only the park gate.
At this time, a person was coming from the door.
It was the middle-aged woman in his memory.
She was carrying a heavy schoolbag on her back. It looks very heavy, because it is full of stones.
The schoolbag was very small, and it looked a little out of place on her rather broad shoulders and slightly hunched back.
What is particularly inconsistent is the piggy pattern on the pink schoolbag. That cute appearance is far from the woman's old face, and the serious, heavy and ashamed expression.
Gu Liang knew that this was her daughter's backpack.
— the backpack of her dead daughter.
When she walked to the lake, Gu Liang immediately stepped forward to hold her hand. "No, don't do that."
The woman stared at Gu Liang with ashen eyes, revealing a great chill. "You are obviously my defense lawyer, why did you betray me?"
Gu Liang tried to explain: "You misunderstood. Calm down first, don't jump, listen to me, I have already obtained compensation for you, the meaning of pre-court settlement is not what you think—"
The woman pushed Gu Liang away indifferently: "For me, no matter how much compensation is paid, my daughter will not be able to come back. Her reputation, my innocence... These things are more important than money."
This sentence made Gu Liang's face completely pale.
— No, no, she didn’t remember saying that.
This sentence was later realized by Gu Liang himself.
So everything in front of you must be an illusion.
I... am I in a nightmare
Gu Liang pinched his arm hard, trying to wake himself up.
At this time, the middle-aged woman jumped down with a "boom".
Seeing her body sinking bit by bit, Gu Liang realized that the sinking body was real, and the passing life seemed real as well.
Anyway, he saved her.
Gu Liang jumped down immediately.
Solving the case intensely, without rest all day and night, caused his physical fitness to decline a bit, and the lake water was icy cold, so it was a bit strenuous for him to swim for a while.
Furthermore, I don't know why, the woman was carrying a stone on her back, and her body didn't seem to be swimming at all, but she was getting farther and farther away from him, no matter how hard Gu Liang chased him, he couldn't catch up.
Gu Liang exhausted all his strength, almost exhausted, finally rushed to her side, and then held her hand.
At this time, the water had covered her head.
Gu Liang grabbed her hand, clasped it on his shoulder, and then held her head, trying to keep her head out of the water so that her lungs would not continue to be filled with water.
But for some reason, her body seemed to weigh a thousand catties.
Gu Liang couldn't lift her head up, so he took a deep breath and dived into the water.
Under the surface of the lake, Gu Liang hugged her waist tightly, trying to lift her up.
But she was carrying heavy stones, and her heavy clothes were completely soaked in water. Her whole body was too heavy.
In the end, Gu Liang's arm lost strength bit by bit, until the moment she involuntarily let go, she had completely sank towards the bottom of the lake that was invisible.
In this way, Gu Liang can no longer catch up with her.
Holding his breath for a long time caused a huge pain in Gu Liang's lungs.
The pain and loss of strength in the shoulders and arms, the fatigue from not sleeping for a long time, plus the hopelessness brought about by his wide-open eyes watching the person slowly sinking into the bottom of the lake...
All kinds of chaotic, sad, and oppressive emotions that kept his heart throbbing, finally he came up with a thought—he didn't want to go up, he just sank down like this, and just died with her.
This is the tragedy caused by his mistake.
Such consequences should also be borne by him.
Almost inevitably, Gu Liang's nose relaxed and his lips parted.
Gu Liang's nasal cavity and mouth were instantly covered by the lake water, and at the same time his consciousness began to slacken.
When he first met the woman, the chill from his spine fermented until now, and finally froze his whole body.
His limbs felt so frozen that he didn't want to move a step.
But at the moment when he was about to close his eyes, he suddenly remembered many things.
That was before he left for work in the morning, his little aunt called him and came over to wrap a scarf around him. "It's autumn, it's cold, so wear more."
Then, it seems that not too long ago, he received a letter from his cousin. "Brother, I'm leaving the army soon. When I come back, you play basketball with me, you promised..."
A little further back in memory, it was Xun Feng.
He is a very good doctor. During Gu Liang's treatment, it was relaxing to chat with him in the consulting room every week.
He is also trustworthy.
At this moment, what Gu Liang thought of was a song that Xun Feng recommended to him.
It was "I once thought about it too" sung by Japanese singer Mika Nakajima.
What encouraged him in the lyrics was the sentence: "If you think about death, it must be because you live too seriously."
In the end, what Gu Liang remembered was that there was a person who gave him an extremely strong hug, gave him a gentle and deep kiss, and gave him... a thing called love that he had never had in his life.
- That person is Yang Ye.
"I thought about it once and for all, because your appearance made me look forward to and favor this world a little bit more."
Eyes that were about to close opened suddenly.
The lungs were so painful that they were about to burst, and the head was so dizzy that it seemed that he could never wake up after closing his eyes, but Gu Liang tried his best, kicked his legs suddenly, followed the movement of his arms, and finally sent his head out of the water.
He has to live, he has to live.
He managed to save himself, he couldn't just die like this.
He is not unaccompanied, nor does he have no friends, even now, he even has a lover.
He has to live.
Both arms and legs seemed to have lost feeling, and his brain stopped thinking, but Gu Liang kept his eyes open and stared at the shore.
He knew he had only one goal—to swim to shore.
He must go ashore.
One hand crawled out of the water, and when he finally touched the weeds on the bank, Gu Liang let out a long breath and held it in his palm. With this strength, Gu Liang swam with all his might and finally got himself ashore.
He lay down on his side, gasping for breath, before he dared to close his eyes and rest for a while.
Swimming desperately to the shore is Gu Liang's self-rescue with all his strength based on his survival instinct and the desire for life born during this period.
At this moment, exhausted, he gradually regained some strength by lying on his side.
After the danger is gone and the strength is restored, sequelae inevitably occur.
—His body started to tremble instead.
Whether he opened his eyes or closed them, Gu Liang saw the woman slipping from his hands and falling into the lake.
The temperature of my hand holding her, the way she looked at me before diving into the water, the action of pushing her hand away and falling to the bottom of the lake...
Gu Liang remembered every step and every scene clearly.
— Was she staring at herself when she fell into the lake
Did she forgive me
does she hate me
The environment is too quiet, and the cognition that no one will ever come to rescue him makes the panic spread uncontrollably from the bottom of his heart. Gu Liang trembles all over, feeling that everything is very unbearable.
Gu Liang started to scratch his arm, but he had no nails, so the effect was minimal.
So he grabbed the small stones on the shore and scratched them on the skin without hesitation.
Seeing the blood oozing from the skin and feeling the slight pain from the skin, Gu Liang was able to wake up a little bit, instead of being immersed in that kind of fear.
The real pain brought by the skin can relieve the pain in the bottom of the heart caused by the illusion.
At that moment, Gu Liang felt a little addicted to this painful stimulation.
Just like he once repeatedly cut his wrist with a knife.
So before he himself didn't realize it, both of his arms were covered with tiny wounds and bright red blood.
The moment before he completely lost consciousness, he heard footsteps.
But before he had time to see who was coming, there was already darkness in front of him.
When Mingyue arrived, Gu Liang looked very embarrassed.
He was still wearing the short jacket and shorts of Senior Hua, but his whole body was soaked.
This wetness was not caused by the lake water, because what Gu Liang saw was originally an illusion created by the system.
Gu Liang's clothes were soaked in his own cold sweat.
But the injury on his arm was real, but it was not scratched by himself with stones as he thought, but by his short nails.
Both his arms were covered in blood, which was even more shocking compared to his paper-white skin.
His face was also covered in cold sweat, the hair on his forehead was completely soaked, and it was attached to his head, and then his tightly closed eyes, and even in his dream, his eyelashes and lips were still trembling slightly because of fear. .
Mingyue threw down a thin blanket to cover him, then squatted down, and raised his bloody arm.
Mingyue frowned slightly, then picked up the needle and injected a sedative into his vein.
When Gu Liang woke up, there was a "cracking" sound next to him.
Gu Liang, who was lying on the bed, turned his head and found that it was the sound from the fireplace not far away.
The firelight from the fireplace dispelled all the chill, and Gu Liang felt very warm and comfortable.
Gu Liang sat up, looked around, and found that he was in a rather strange place - the ceiling, floor, and walls were all white, it was a very pure white color, giving people a feeling of lifelessness.
After a while, someone walked in with something.
It is Mingyue.
There was a low wooden table by the fireplace and two rugs on the floor.
Mingyue put the things in her hands on the low wooden table, and then looked at Gu Liang: "Come and eat something when you wake up."
Gu Liang was indeed very thirsty and needed something to replenish his energy.
So he got up and walked over, and sat opposite Mingyue.
After taking a sip of hot porridge and some snacks, he was indeed much better.
After recovering a little, Gu Liang asked him: "Where is this? What is your identity?"
Mingyue just said: "There is something unexpected about your body. Out of humanitarian spirit, the system allows your classmate, that is, me, to temporarily take you out of the small dark room."
After a pause, Mingyue continued: "Actually, I'm very surprised—you, who haven't recovered from PTSD, can go so far in this kind of game."
Gu Liang frowned, and then just said: "Thank you for the porridge."
Mingyue raised her eyebrows: "You thank me? Don't blame me for lying to you?"
Gu Liang: "This is the rule of the game, why should I blame you?"
Mingyue smiled, and said again: "You have two choices now. First, take a break, continue to go back to the small black room to accept the punishment, and then return to the inn, wait for the rest time to end, and continue the game."
"You still have a second choice, that is, you don't have to go back to the little black house, but come to do things for me."
Gu Liang asked: "What do you mean by doing things for you?"
Mingyue: "I'm mainly helping the system with program design, bug maintenance, writing scripts in my spare time, and occasionally appearing as an NPC. If you come, there will be many places where you can help. I can't say more for now, unless you Really come here."
Gu Liang shook his head decisively: "No need. I want to go back."
Mingyue sank for a moment and asked, "Why? Is it because of Yang Ye?"
Gu Liang: "Just treat it as if I'm for him."
Mingyue: "Then you have to go back to the small black room to continue to accept the punishment. Look at your arm. Can you bear it?"
Gu Liang: "This is my own business, don't worry about it if you don't."
Mingyue smiled: "I'm just curious and surprised."
Gu Liang didn't speak, Mingyue said slowly: "Brother Liang, in fact, I have always believed that we are the same kind of people. We can use our minds on very interesting or very valuable things. In my opinion , now you are actually indulged in worldly love, which makes me feel very sorry."
Gu Liang didn't want to discuss with Mingyue his outlook on life, the world, and love, he just said: "Then you just think I'm not exempt."
Mingyue narrowed her eyes slightly and said, "Brother Liang, you should have heard of the suspension bridge effect. In this thrilling and exciting game, you helped each other and experienced many dangers. In fact, you just crossed the suspension bridge together once. It stimulates the secretion of hormones and things like dopamine. And once the game is over, that feeling goes away very quickly."
"Or, you just regard him as the one who saved you, so look at him..."
"He's not the one to save me."
Gu Liang interrupted Mingyue calmly, "I saved myself. I went to the doctor, actively cooperated with the treatment, and took medicine... Although I am often in a state of self-loathing, I still try my best to make myself better. After this, I Just met him."
"As a human being, you can't expect someone to save you, you must learn to save yourself."
"Otherwise, if I had really succeeded in committing suicide, I wouldn't have met Yang Ye. I'm glad I saved myself."
The author has something to say:
"I once thought about it too, because the shoelaces were loose."
"I'm not good at retying, and the same is true of ties with people."
"I once thought about it too, because there is nothing in my heart."
"To cry when you feel empty must be because you want to be filled."
This song has given me a lot of encouragement, and I recommend it to everyone~