About half an hour later, the scenery outside the window changed from the city to the wilderness. The rhythmic clang and clang of the train, accompanied by the vast expanses of wild land that quickly swept towards the rear, made people feel sleepy very quickly due to the boring sight.
Zhou Yu, who was sitting in front of the window, was thinking about several questions in his mind while resisting sleepiness.
Before traveling tonight, he had never thought of leaving Migenzhu City. Even during summer vacation and winter vacation, Zhou Yu never once mentioned in her diary that she missed her hometown and planned to go back to her hometown for vacation. He once thought it was because Zhou Yu had no nostalgia for his hometown, but now that he thought about it carefully, he found that he didn't even know the specific location of Migenzhu City.
Indeed, this is a "domestic" city, but is it in the west, the center, or the east? South or north? Where does it belong in terms of administrative divisions? He didn't know the answers to these basic cognitions that he should have, and he had never thought of checking them before. It was like a black cloth had been covered in the corner of his mind about this matter. It wasn't until I got on the train and saw the scene outside the city with my own eyes that these thoughts gradually emerged from the chaos.
"Do you need some water?" Li Li, who was sitting opposite her, asked.
Zhou Yu shook his head and said, "I'm not thirsty."
"I just hope you don't fall asleep at this moment."
"Aren't you and Zhou Yu friends? There's nothing wrong with meeting her, right?"
Zhou Yu asked almost deliberately to make things difficult. In response, Li Li just crossed his arms and said, "I'm not bothered by this, sir. As for your little personality problem, you only need a bottle of spray to solve it. I carry it with me."
"Wait a minute, have you brought something like this through security?"
In response, Li Li reached into the inner pocket of his coat and took out a glass spray container that looked like a perfume bottle.
"As I said before, the security check in this city is just a decoration. However, I do not recommend you to take any extreme actions at the airport, subway station or other public places. If you are in a deserted place, even if you blast the entire street, You will never be punished by law. The place may be restored to its original state the next day, or transformed into another complex of buildings. But if it is witnessed by the public, you will have no way to escape.”
"How did you know?"
"Two years ago, I witnessed an open lord rebellion. This is rare, but not unprecedented. Perhaps it was to expand the territory, or perhaps to prove one's abilities - although both of them had no practical benefits - and were finally defeated. Crackdown from the local street police station.”
"You mean, a lord like Osler?"
"Maybe not that specifically, but qualitatively, yes."
"He was subdued by the police?"
"I'm afraid he's still serving time in prison for assaulting a police officer, sir." Li Li said, "You see, the rules of this city are like this. You can make trouble, but there are only two mistakes you can't make: offending guards and evading taxes. Don’t hand it over.”
Zhou Yu really wanted to ask how Li Li gained the experience behind him, but before he could speak, the old man at the other end of the carriage walked over unsteadily.
The old man was wearing an old white vest and pacing in the carriage, looking like he was taking a walk in the park. When he walked near the two of them, he greeted them very naturally.
Out of politeness, Zhou Yu also held on to the bedrail and stood up to answer. The old man waved his hand and said, "Sit down, sit down. Don't be polite to me, little girl."
Zhou Yu sat back and cast a questioning look at Li Li. He didn't know the nature of the old man who boarded the train, and he wasn't sure whether he should continue talking to him.
Li Li, who was sitting opposite, seemed very alert. She smiled and invited the old man to sit down and talk. The two first talked about the weather, food, and then the purpose of their respective trips. The old man claimed that he had just recovered from illness and wanted to visit his children in other places.
"There are not many days left," he said slowly. "If we don't go, we won't be able to walk anymore."
"Anyway, you look young."
Hearing Li Li's answer, Zhou Yu couldn't help but glance at her. He was surprised to find that when Li Li talked to the old man, her demeanor, body language, and even her tone of voice changed. At this moment she smiled like a graduate who had just finished the college entrance examination.
The old man was very talkative and didn't seem to be planning to leave immediately. Instead, he talked to Li Li about his life when he was young. Because Zhou Yu was not very good at communicating with the elderly, he had no choice but to listen quietly.
Although he got on this strange train, there was nothing strange in the old man's words. Like most lonely people in their old age in the world, he repeatedly recalled his life working in a steel factory in nagging and boring words. There are indeed some interesting moments, but most of the time they are just trivial things and gossip.
At first, Zhou Yu tried his best to listen politely, but after a few minutes, he became uncontrollably distracted. In order not to make the old man suspicious, he kept pressing his gloved right hand on the mattress behind him. Maintaining this position made his wrists very uncomfortable, so he moved his joints quietly while observing the scenery outside the side window with his peripheral vision.
At some point, a continuous mountain view appeared outside the window. It's not an extremely high peak, it's just a pretty hill. The moon passed over the top of the mountain and spread its clear light to the world. As a result, there was a rough silver edge on the ridgeline.
Looking at this scene, Zhou Yu had a strong sense of déjà vu. He clearly felt that he should be more familiar with the city and knew very little about the country's customs. Only when he saw this moonlit mountain scene, there was a name on his lips.
Mountain. moon. Silvery white thread. Two flying butterflies.
The fantasy that emerged in his mind could not match any part of his memory. It was probably a dream image that remained in his memory unintentionally.
While lost in thought, lights dimly appeared in the distant mountain col.
It is not a firefly or a village. The neat arrangement up and down like fish scales and comb teeth is undoubtedly a modern city.
"We're almost there."
Li Li, who was chatting with the old man from time to time and seemed to be enjoying the conversation, suddenly said, "Uncle, do you want to get off the car here too?"
The old man smiled and shook his head: "No, no. What I want to go to is——"
Zhou Yu was startled.
"Sorry, I didn't hear clearly just now." Li Li said, "Where are you going, uncle?"
"I went to..."
The old man's mouth opened and closed silently like a pantomime performance. Just looking at his expression, it seemed as if he was really announcing the name of a certain place loudly.
"It's such a far place! You can't see it all day and night. The eldest daughter lives in..., the second daughter also lives in..., and the son goes to... to work."
Like headphones with poor contact, he made sounds intermittently. The cheerful expression on his face made the two people listening remain silent.
Finally, Li Li said: "I have also traveled there. It is a good place."
The old man chuckled. His wrinkles stretched, the corners of his mouth stretched to both sides, and then he froze in place motionless. It's not that he tensed his body deliberately, but truly, as if the character on the screen had pressed the pause button, the old man always stayed in the moment of laughter.
Realizing that the situation was abnormal, Zhou Yu instinctively stretched out his hand and reached under the old man's nose. There is no breathing there.
The old man smiled solidly, not showing any pain of suffocation. In order to verify everything, Zhou Yu checked his pulse and heartbeat again.
"...Li Li, what's going on?"
He looked at his traveling companion who had been sitting quietly since just now. There was a calmness on her face that she had foreseen this scene.
"He's not dead yet, if you want to ask," she said, "but that doesn't make a big difference. Now, sir, listen carefully, we're already crossing the river."
