The shrike ran away.
When the limping Wang Dazui pushed open the half-open door of the intensive care unit and told Xie Zhi the news, Xie Zhi was sitting on the ground in a daze.
His forehead was level with the old palm hanging down from the hospital bed, and his eyes were staring directly at the heart rate monitor that had become a straight line, just looking at it without saying a word.
"The pollution in the hospital has disappeared. I took a quick look and all the people who turned into wooden sculptures are slowly recovering..."
Wang DaZhuo walked up to Xie Zhi and looked at Xie Zhi, who was in a state of despair, and then at the old man who was no longer breathing on the hospital bed.
The oxygen tube was still inserted into the old man's throat, but the old man's chest had stopped rising and falling.
"I couldn't save him."
Xie Zhi suddenly said in a daze.
"I cut off four of the five chains, but the last chain rolled back when I was about to cut it off, and all the memories of his deceased wife rolled back into the old man's heart..."
Xie Zhi slowly turned his head to look at Wang Dazhuo.
That look made Wang Dazhuo's heart tremble.
Wang Dazhui saw Xie Zhi's eyes were red and bloodshot...
He didn't seem to blink for a long time, just looking at the deceased old man with his eyes open.
"I feel...I'm a waste..."
Xie Zhi's voice was intermittent, and by the end, only a hoarse breath was left.
"I almost saved him..."
The trembling voice spit out from Xie Zhi's throat and turned into a stream of air that could not express his meaning.
"I almost..."
Wang Dazui sighed, raised his head, remained silent for a long time, and then took a deep breath.
Wang Dazhuo raised his foot and kicked Xie Zhi on the body.
This kick sent Xie Zhi flying three meters away.
"Cry it out like a wimp."
Wang Dazhui slowly walked towards Xie Zhi, helped Xie Zhi sit up after being kicked into the corner, and took out the only tattered soil force frame left in his pocket. Wang Dazhuo put the earth force frame into Xie Zhi's hand, and wrapped Xie Zhi's hands with both hands, letting the frustrated Xie Zhi hold the chocolate bar tightly.
"Cry it out, cry it out and it will be fine."
Xie Zhi trembled, lifted the chocolate bar and put it into his mouth.
Without swallowing, Xie Zhi just bit it one bite after another.
When the peanut chocolate covered Xie Zhi's entire mouth, Xie Zhi finally opened his mouth and cried silently.
Wang Da Pao patted Xie Zhi on the shoulder and stood up again, but only turned his back to Xie Zhi.
"You've done enough."
"We will never be able to save everyone."
…
The shrike ran away.
When the dark wood grain on the first wooden carving monster gradually became lighter, the shrike in a tuxedo bowed to Wang Daduo, then jumped back and jumped out of the window on the fifth floor.
When Wang Dazhuo chased him to the window, he saw the butcher's meat hook hanging on the wire outside the window. The shrike, like a gliding bird, quickly slid down from the wire to the building opposite.
Wang Dazhuo said that the shrike left a message when he left.
"He said he asked me to tell Zhou You that he would come back to find you."
At this time, Xie Zhi was holding his head in a daze. Some of the self-blame for not being able to save Old Liu Tou was vented by Wang Dazhuo's violent kick and his previous wails. At this time, he was able to digest it normally. With these emotions, I listened to what Wang Dazhuo said.
When Wang DaZhuo said that the shrike would come back to find him, Xie Zhi turned his head sideways.
"Who did he say he was looking for?"
"Travel around."
Xie Zhi sighed, shaking his head and shaking away the tears from his eyes.
He finally laughed.
"Who is Zhou You? Do you know him?"
"I do not recognize."
Wang Daduo also laughed, but he just smiled and shook his head, as if he had something on his mind.
"What a coincidence, I don't know him either."
Xie Zhi chuckled, then sighed and looked at the old man who died on the hospital bed again.
He had a very strange feeling at this moment.
Although it was the first time to experience the death of others, the raging sadness was indeed like a flood bursting out of a dam. It burst out briefly in the previous period, but as time passed and Xie Zhi cried for just a few minutes, Xie Zhi It feels like most of the sadness in my heart has disappeared.
Apparently less than ten minutes had passed, and when I looked at the deceased old man again, I felt almost no emotion in my heart.
It's like... ten minutes of sadness is enough for me.
It's as if there is an invisible hand in my mind, holding a stopwatch to check the time. After ten minutes, I turn the valve of sadness back on.
When Xie Zhi thought about this, he did not move his eyes away from the old man on the hospital bed, but the feeling of disappearing sadness continued. In just a few seconds, the raging sadness turned into...
An understatement of empathy.
"He is so pitiful. When I get older, will I look like this too?"
Such a sentence suddenly appeared in Xie Zhi's mind.
Xie Zhi was surprised. A few minutes ago, he was still in a state of uncontrollable self-blame.
A few minutes ago, all I could think about was, "Why couldn't I save him?" But a few minutes later, there was no such self-blame in my mind!
Xie Zhi turned his head to look at Wang Dadui in shock, only to find that Wang Dadui was staring at him intently. It was not until he saw the shocked expression on Xie Zhi's face that Wang Dadui finally showed an expression of relief.
"You're finally back to normal."
Wang Da Pao patted Xie Zhi on the shoulder.
"Why……"
Xie Zhi murmured, wanting to ask something, but he didn't know how to ask.
"Why don't I blame myself all of a sudden?"
Xie Zhi finally asked.
"It's...a repair rule."
Wang DaZhuo pointed to Xie Zhi's forehead.
"Every Negative Purifier will receive the blessing from Mediator No. 4 when receiving a professional certificate. The time left for each of us to grieve is only ten minutes at most."
Xie Zhi blinked.
He looked at the heart rate monitor on the side of the hospital bed that had been leveled and the oxygen inhaler that was still on, and then at Wang Dazhuo who was still pointing his index finger at his forehead.
"Did you just say, blessing?"
"Um."
"Is your world really a scientific world?"
Xie Zhi tried his best to keep his expression as calm as possible, but there was a huge wave in his heart.
What is a mediator? Still No. 4?
What is blessing?
What is "only ten minutes left for everyone to grieve"?
It means that in this world, human emotions can be quantified and managed. You can only get angry or cry for ten minutes at most. If it exceeds ten minutes, a certain system will prompt you that your balance is insufficient? ? ?
What's this? Internet cafe network management?
Xie Zhi closed his eyes and pinched his temples. Xie Zhi's pupils trembled slightly under his eyelids. Wang Dazai's short sentence made him think about it a thousand times at this moment.
Soon Xie Zhi discovered a detail that he had overlooked.
That's why Wang Dazhui said that this blessing was completed on the day when the negative Qing masters received their professional qualification certificates.
"Tell me more about this blessing. Is it a rule unique to us, Master Qingqing?"
Xie Zhi opened his eyes again and looked at Wang Dazhuo.
"Where should I start with you? First of all, yes, the mediator's power is limited and can only cover the negative Qing division group. If we want to cover ordinary people, the Guangdong Second Group has more than 30 million permanent residents. .”
"Let's start with the mediator. What is a mediator?"
"Mediators are also a type of negative purifier. In a sense, they should be regarded as the lifelong honorary certification of negative purifiers."
"Lifetime Honorary Certification?"
"You are ranked 372 in the league, and I am ranked 415. This ranking of negative cleansers may change every day. For example, if you solve a pollution field today, your career rating will go up, and tomorrow someone else will solve it. A pollution site has knocked you down from your current ranking again."
"But if there is one person, he will always remain at the top of the negative list. For three years, no one can surpass his ranking..."
"Then he will be upgraded from a negative purifier to a mediator?"
"His personal information will be deleted from the list of negative purifiers, and he will receive his own mediator number."
Xie Zhi nodded, "So, the mediator is a more advanced negative master?"
"No, the mediator is the purge master of the purge masters."
Wang DaZhuo slowly shook his head and rejected Xie Zhi's conclusion.
"If the process of cleaning up all kinds of emotional pollution sites by the negative cleaners is compared to bomb defusing, then what the mediators do is to prevent the negative cleaners from turning themselves into bombs with greater power in the process of defusing the bombs. .”
"A bomb with a greater yield?"
Xie Zhi was thoughtful.
Wang DaZhuo pointed at Xie Zhi and then at himself.
"You and I, the harm caused by any one of us losing control in a contaminated site will far exceed the contaminated site itself."
…
The signal is restored.
When Wang Dazhuang received the call, Xie Zhi took out his phone and looked at it. At half past nine, half an hour had passed since the time when the woodcarving pollution site occurred.
The call from the operator of the Negative Clearing Department came from Wang Dazhuo's cell phone.
Xie Zhi looked at Wang Dazhuo and found that the shoulders of the other party who answered the phone had relaxed significantly, and the muscles in his arms gradually relaxed from a tense state.
Ten seconds later, Xie Zhi's cell phone also rang.
Xie Zhi picked up the phone, and the sweet female voice he heard in Tianguang Building came from the other end of the phone.
"Mr. Crazy Scissors, you finally got the call!"
"Hmm...Hello, are you Bai Shui?"
"I am your exclusive operator, Bai Shui with job number 106. The aftermath team has arrived at the scene. Please report your current location."
"We are on... um, on the fifth floor of the hospital, in the Intensive Care Unit No. 2."
As soon as he finished speaking, Xie Zhi felt a huge explosion coming from his left ear.
The wall near the window was instantly blown open by the blast, and four or five fully armed soldiers rolled into the ward through the blasted hole. He stood up instantly and formed a human wall in front of Xie Zhi and Wang Dazhuo.
"Protect the Negative Master!"
Xie Zhi noticed that they were wearing black helmets on their heads, and their bodies were wrapped in black body armor. To be more vivid, the shape of the body armor was more like some kind of futuristic armor.
The soldiers had their backs to Xie Zhi and Wang Dazhuo, holding strange sci-fi rifles in their arms.
"Thank you and the Black Keyboard for your efforts. Please evacuate from the 'Red Curtain' now and leave the rest to the aftermath team."
Baishui's voice came from the phone.
Evacuation from the "Red Curtain"?
what is that?
Xie Zhi scratched his cheek while looking around for what might be called a red curtain.
Wang Da Pai patted Xie Zhi on the shoulder and asked him to look at the hole in the wall that exploded not long ago.
In the hole, a bright red curtain hangs low, like a bright red door.
