Zhou Yu did hear the sound of water.
Amidst the rhythmic clatter of the train, a small but coherent noise was mixed in at some point. It was the splashing sound of the stirred shallow water. The sound did not come from the side, but seemed to come from the soles of the feet.
Zhou Yu rushed to the window. Because he was so anxious and selfless, he even forgot about his foot injury and staggered two steps before holding on to the window sill of the train in time. After opening the window, the sound of rushing water became clearer.
He stuck his head out in the rushing wind and looked at the track below him. The night was very dark, making the road below blurry and difficult to distinguish. However, the silvery white waves sparkling under the moonlight had undoubtedly submerged the location where the train tracks should have been.
"I suggest you close the window." Li Li said from behind, "The process of entering Hanoi is very fast. If we don't prepare in advance, we will have to swim in the car."
At first, Zhou Yu didn't particularly understand what she meant. During the short period of time when he was confused, the carriage began to vibrate violently, like the bumps caused by the collision of the joints when the train suddenly changed its direction.
The ground began to tilt, and the train was hurtling down the ramp toward the bottom. The drop was so large that Zhou Yu felt like he was riding a roller coaster.
In contrast, the water level of the shallow mountain stream flowing over the track is rising at an alarming rate. First the wheels running at high speed, then the body and window sill. Before the water filled the window hole, Zhou Yu had to pull up the glass window sash and looked around the car, looking for something that could fill the gap in the window.
Li Li was still beside the bed, looking at him with interest.
"I really don't know what you're looking for, sir."
"Life buoy. People with disabled legs cannot swim well."
Because he was busy and confused, Zhou Yu answered almost without thinking. Li Li tilted his head and raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Mr. Zhou Yu, the way you are talking now reminds me of your girlfriend. I didn't realize that the body can have such an obvious impact on the personality. However, I think there is no need to go find a lifebuoy now. I guarantee that the car is absolutely dry. of."
"Are you kidding? Let alone the windows, the train doors alone cannot be completely waterproof..."
Zhou Yu turned his head in response. He saw that the water had completely covered the top of the car window. However, the old window, which had a gap of at least two millimeters wide, did not leak a drop of water. The entire carriage was like a weird submarine, continuing to dive safely under the unknown depth of the water.
While Zhou Yu was watching this scene in a daze, Li Li added: "In fact, if you fail to close the window in time, the water here will not be able to enter the car. That phenomenon is very ornamental, like The outside of the car is against a wall. Even so, I still recommend closing the windows firmly, because if you stick your hands out of the window, you will be sucked into the river in an instant and never come back. On my second boarding On this route, I tried to put some things out the window, and they all disappeared without a trace, whether they were living or dead objects, and all positioning or recovery devices failed when they came into contact with the river water."
"This really looks like what the River Styx should look like."
"If I say it, this is more like a river of time. When the train enters this river, the time of everything on the train will stop. I mean like this old gentleman, everything that can be seen or seen will stop. Unseen changes."
"But neither of us is suspended."
"We are special." Li Li said, "If not, tonight would be a journey of no return."
Zhou Yu looked at her and repeated: "Special?"
"That may sound pretentious, but I think it's true. We have privileges in this city, sir."
Li Li pondered for a while, and then continued: "Now may be a suitable time, I think you should also have the right to know this matter. Mr. Zhou Yu, I, and Ms. Zhou Yu before you appeared, the two of us and Hong The managers of the forest area are the same, they are all 'lords'. Before being occupied by the earth eaters, Ms. Zhou Yu's management area was the area west of Crescent Road. I think you are more or less aware of this."
As Li Li said, Zhou Yu didn't feel much surprised after hearing her words. This is simply a matter of course. Since Zhou Yu has such a close relationship with Li Li in the recording, it is certain that she understands Li Li's role as "lord". The most reasonable explanation for the two of them being able to contact and cooperate with each other is that they have the same identity and role.
"In other words, as long as you are a lord, you will not be affected by the phenomena here?"
"There's no way to know for sure. Although we won't stop because the train enters the river, if you stick your hand out the window, the consequences are still unpredictable. I don't recommend that you take any risky actions."
Following her advice, Zhou Yu did not open the window again, but just stood by the window and observed the scene outside. At this time, the train seemed to have penetrated into a mountain tunnel, and the outside was pure darkness. Only when Zhou Yu looked upward, he could see the shimmering water rippling gently.
There seemed to be no floating algae or impurities in the clear water, not even fish. At first, the water surface like an aurora canopy was only a little higher than the roof of the car. After a few minutes, it had completely reached an unattainable level.
The train continues its deep dive. The feeling of "being in the water" becomes very weak, more like walking through a night sky where the stars have dissolved.
At this time, the old man riding with them remained motionless and kept his original smiling face. If an uninformed person looked at it, he would definitely think of him as a lifelike wax statue.
When Zhou Yu looked back and saw this scene, he had strange thoughts. He actually felt that the old man's appearance at this moment had some kind of beauty. So what's going on? The appearance of the old man can never be described as "beautiful". He has all the characteristics of an aging person abandoned by time, including wrinkles caused by saggy skin, dark skin decorated with age spots and thick calluses.
However, when he stopped all changes and accurately wrote the emotions and state of human beings at a certain static moment, he suddenly seemed to become some kind of work of art. If it is based on a living person, the body in old age is really unappreciable, but once it is positioned as a statue, it seems that the beauty or ugliness of the subject does not matter. Just because of the perfect and lifelike "imitation", the stubborn objects of wood and stone have an intuitive feeling of beauty. In this way, the source of beauty is like the act of "imitation" itself.
When looking at the old man, Zhou Yu's thoughts were wandering endlessly. After an unknown amount of time, the tilted train changed its direction and began to feel like it was going uphill.
"We're almost there." Li Li said.
Like the water dissolved in the starry sky falling little by little. When the water level dropped below the window sill, Zhou Yu opened the window and stretched out his head to look at the scene outside.
A wide river runs across the back of the train. The river was rushing rapidly under the moonlight, not knowing where it was going. The track extends directly from Hanoi, which is enough to make all underwater tunnel engineers stunned.
He turned his head and looked at the front of the train.
The lights of the mountain col, which were still far away before, were now located directly in front of the two of them. The city behind the River of Time actually looks a bit familiar.
A female voice with a very robotic feel came from the radio. Until then, Zhou Yu suddenly remembered that he had never seen the staff on this train. Even when the train was leaving, what came from the radio was a synthetic voice that was obviously stiff. It was not like an announcement in the train, but like an automatic announcement in the subway.
The mechanical voice repeatedly announced to the car:
"The terminal, Cage City, is coming soon. All passengers, please prepare to get off."
