The provincial capital where the train arrives is located in the southwest of the country, known for its laid-back lifestyle and abundance of beautiful women. Cyrus and his group came out of the exit and headed straight for the ticket hall. On the train, they had agreed not to stop in the provincial capital and to board the nearest train to the minority autonomous state.
The train was at four o 'clock in the afternoon and there were more than five hours left, so we walked around the station and entered the waiting room at 3:30 p.m.
Rowan and Luna sat together as usual, not saying much, just looking around. Kai had just eaten some grapes and still looked listless, leaning on Fiona's shoulder with his eyes closed to rest. Jett spoke to Cyrus for a while, and seeing that Cyrus was absent-minded, he stopped and bought a newspaper to read.
The newspaper was full of boring news, and Jett couldn't get into it for a long time. Suddenly, he felt a bit dazed.
As usual, there was a foul smell in the waiting hall. Expressionless passengers were scattered around, and some were hurrying along with big and small bags. A ragged old woman, hunched over slowly, stretched out her jet-black, thin hands to meet people and threw a few coins into her palms. The old woman's grizzled hair was tousled on her head, her face was stained with deep grooves, one of her legs limped slightly, and she always moved with one foot first and then slowly with the other.
There are such beggars in every city's waiting room, Jett stared at her, and suddenly the old woman in front of him became blurry. Jett was startled and instinctively tightened his seat, his eyes fixed on the old woman who had become double.
The old woman failed to reach Jett, and a station keeper in a blue uniform gave her a push from behind, as if saying something. Jett could no longer hear a sound, and a faint but continuous screeching suddenly came to her ears. All the scenes began to shake in his eyes. A few coins fell from the old woman's hand, and one of them spun and rolled to Jett's feet. With just one glance at the coin, the whole world began to shake.
Dizziness struck again in the waiting room of the strange city.
Countless feet walk through the streets.
Many buildings rose up in an instant and then collapsed in an instant.
The feet moved faster and faster, with countless feet overlapping each other.
All the scenes were like old-fashioned black-and-white films, with some mottled marks from the passage of time.
The clouds in the sky came and went like a kaleidoscope, changing into different shapes. Footsteps, buildings, clouds, come and go, and then merge into one.
So the line of sight became even more chaotic. Suddenly, a strong light appears, and after the light, everything returns to silence.
The July sky was so quiet that the stars twinkled in silence. The gaze moved slowly across the sky, and the stars seemed to be still, as if they were changing every moment. Vision is no longer reliable here.
Endless starry sky, let the gaze roam.
A shooting star suddenly streaks out of sight, and then the stars in the sky begin to shine like fireworks, and after the brilliance, they fall like fireworks in solitude.
Countless stars fell down, raising a cloud of dust. And when the dust dissipated, a steep rock was revealed, with one part of it as smooth as a knife cut, revealing a pattern as big as a Ferris wheel. The pattern was like a cross, but much thicker than a cross.
Everything vanished in an instant, but the pattern stood tall.
Jett opened his eyes and saw a pair of black, thin hands taking the place of the pattern. The old woman with tousled hair had stood before him at some point, staring fixedly at him like an old monk in meditation, with what seemed to be a smile hidden in her eyes.
Jett also stared fixedly at the old woman, as if he wanted to find something in her.
He didn't move, and neither did the old woman. There were many people on the side staring at them strangely.
"Jett, are you stupid?" Fiona jumped over and threw a one-dollar coin into the old woman's palm. The old woman, expressionless, looked back at Fiona and left haughtily.
Jett's gaze remained fixed on a spot beneath his feet, and the pattern he had seen just now when he was dizzy was clearly reflected before his eyes. He thought that the complex images seemed only to set off the pattern, so the pattern must have some meaning, or some sign.
- What exactly does that pattern represent?
-- Does it have some connection with the Cold Moon village that Jett is going to?
Jett suddenly had a flash of inspiration, stood up, and, ignoring Fiona swaying in front of him, ran straight out of the waiting room. Fiona shouted from behind him, "Jett is crazy, Jett is crazy."
Seeing this, Cyrus anxiously checked his watch. There were less than twenty minutes left. He distributed the tickets to everyone and asked them to board on their own when the time came. He left only two tickets and followed Jett.
Jett went to an Internet cafe across from the station square.
Sitting in front of the computer, Jett opened his free mailbox on google.com, and among a pile of spam ads there was an email from Forgetfulness Grass.
When he opened the email, there was not a single word in it, but an image was shown as an attachment.
The picture had only a few simple black lines, but it was exactly the same as the pattern Jett had seen in his dizziness.
Jett stared blankly at the picture, his mind shrouded in a huge cloud of doubt. He was certain that he had spotted some kind of opportunity, but he couldn't explain it. Perhaps only when he reaches the Cold Moon Village and sees the forget-your-worries grass will all doubts be answered. But why doesn't the forget-me-not leave any words? And she hasn't been on WHATSAPP for over a week.
The last time Jett checked the mail was two days ago, the day she boarded the train.
Jett frowned, wondering if it was a coincidence, too?
Cyrus appeared at the entrance of the Internet cafe and, seeing Jett, rushed over: "Hurry back. It's time. The train won't wait for anyone."
Jett suddenly came to his senses and closed the mail window.
He and Cyrus rushed back to the waiting room. There was no one at the ticket gate of the train bound for the minority autonomous state they were going to. The staff were about to lock the ticket gate when they arrived in time and rushed off.
The train had stopped on the platform and the whistle had been sounded.
The ten-hour journey seems to have passed in the blink of an eye because of the comparison of the previous thirty-six hours. Late at night, Cyrus and his group of six appeared on the streets of the minority autonomous state. According to Jett et al. 's conjecture, since it is a minority autonomous state, the streets should be filled with people dressed in foreign costumes, and the buildings should be bamboo houses or wooden houses, but in fact the city is no different from other cities, wide streets, flashing neon lights, not-so-tall buildings, stalls in the late night streets, bare-chested men and women dressed in a garish style, This disappointed Jett Fiona and the others.
To find a hotel to stay in, they decided to take a bus to Cold Moon Village early the next morning, and this time even Fiona had no objection. After a night of silence, Jett was the first to wake up the next morning, with the sound of splashing water in his ears. When he went to the window and drew the curtains, he saw a heavy downpour in the gloomy sky, and the city was already shrouded in a curtain of rain.
They sat in front of the large street-facing Windows of the hotel restaurant, waiting for Cyrus to come back. Cyrus, being the initiator of the self-guided tour, took on the responsibility of handling the daily affairs of the tour without hesitation. Outside the glass window was a wide road, with few pedestrians hurrying along in the rain, and speeding cars splashing water all over the ground. Seeing that being held back by the rain in this small town has become a reality, everyone felt a bit depressed.
Rowan and Luna, as usual, did not speak much, and Jett and Kai Fiona also exchanged a few words, not to make the scene too quiet. On the sidewalk in front of the hotel, two women in Yi ethnic costumes, holding flower umbrellas, drew everyone's attention. The Yi woman wore a black short-sleeved top with red trims on the chest, cuffs and hem, and a spiral pattern embroidered with yellow lines, and a red pleated skirt with yellow and black circles in the horizontal direction. Fiona, with her face pressed against the glass window, gazed at the Yi woman's back, sighing. The costumes of the Yi people are brightly colored, using only red and yellow scarring colors, which look vivid.
Just then, Luna, who was sitting on one side, suddenly let out a low cry of alarm. Her eyes were fixed fixedly on the glass window, as if she had seen something that frightened her extremely. Everyone hurriedly followed her gaze, through the clean glass, through the rain curtain, and faintly saw a man standing with an umbrella on the sidewalk across the street. From a distance, I couldn't make out her face, but at first sight, I immediately felt that she was unusually thin, and with black clothes on her face, she looked even thinner.
Before the people could speak, Rowan, who was beside Luna, had already grown tall and rushed out.
As Rowan ran out, his fists were already clenched, and some scorching force was surging rapidly within him. Though he had never seen the figure standing in the rain before, he guessed from Luna's frightened look that the man must be strange, perhaps he was the one who had been haunting them all these days.
Running out of the hotel door, he looked up and could still see the black figure across the street.
He rushed straight into the rain curtain.
As he crossed the street, his view was blocked by a van, and by the time he crossed the motor lane, the figure on the opposite side had vanished. He stopped in the rain and looked around. There was no sign of people on the opposite sidewalk at the moment, and the view was particularly wide in the rain curtain. The man in black vanished in an instant, as fast as a ghost.
Rowan felt as if he had missed a punch, and the surging power within him had nowhere to vent. The force was surging and burning his body. He suddenly looked up to the sky and let out a roar, his face distorted in that roar. He had never slept at night and his eyes were red, which made him look even more hideous.
He turned wistfully and slowly crossed the street step by step again. He walked slowly, with each step seeming heavy. When a car came, he did not make way, but just glanced sideways and glared at the position of the driver's seat with a provocative look. Those drivers also automatically slowed down to let him pass.
As he entered the hotel lobby, he took long breaths and tried to calm his mind.
In front of the restaurant window, people were surrounding Luna asking her who the man was, and Luna was so frightened that she couldn't utter a word. When she saw Rowan approaching, Luna quickly stood up to meet him and whispered, "Let's go back to our room." Rowan nodded and, without looking at the crowd, carried Luna on his own.
Fiona made a face at their backs and snorted through her nostrils to show her dissatisfaction. "The best is yet to come," Kai said with his head drooping, pretending to be deep.
Fiona snorted at him again: "Stop talking about others and think about yourself."
Kai was hit hard by her words, and when he thought of his own situation, a pitiful look appeared on his face. Fiona saw this and felt sorry for it. She went over to sit beside him and patted him on the shoulder to comfort him.
It wasn't long before Cyrus returned in the rain, wearing a raincoat, but his trouser legs were soaked through.
Cyrus brought back the news that there would be a bus to Cold Moon Village an hour later.
"And I also asked, there are very few trips to Cold Moon Village, only two a week." Cyrus added.
Jett and Kai Fiona looked at each other. They understood what Cyrus meant. He was seeking their advice.
There was only an hour to choose whether to go or not.
-- Go!
Rowan and Luna's opinions, once spoken, have an unchangeable meaning. They looked at each other, and none of them could come up with an opposing opinion.
Each went back to his room to pack up.
Luna sat motionless on the bed, and Rowan, after a period of busyness, put his travel bag at the door and came over to sit beside her. Luna raised her eyes to look at him and suddenly said, "Will you leave me behind?"
"I won't." There was a tinge of pain in Rowan's eyes. "I will never."
Luna had a smile on her face, but it was very sad.
"If you leave me, then you kill me."
"I'd rather kill myself." Rowan said heavily.
Luna leaned contently in his arms and murmured, "You know, there are so many people in this world, I only feel safe with you, and so many demons in this world don't dare to hurt me. So you are all to me. If one day you get tired and want to leave me, please kill me before you go."
Rowan hugged her tightly: "Why do you keep saying such things? I will never leave you again. We are going to a paradise where no one knows us and we will live a peaceful and happy life from then on. I also hope that you in your wedding dress will be my bride. I never thought I could have such a beautiful bride as you in my life. How could I leave you?"
Luna laughed happily, but tears streaked across her cheeks: "I'm going to tell you every day, so that you won't forget me, you will always keep me in your heart."
Rowan said no more, but held her even tighter, as if he wanted to merge her body with his own.
There was knocking outside and Cyrus and Jett were already urging them on their way.
Six of them split into two taxis to the station. The city is not large, but the station is quite spectacular. They all went into the ticket hall, which was deserted with only a few passengers. Cyrus went to the ticket window to buy tickets and came back to distribute them to everyone. Kai took it and let out a strange "eh," and Fiona moved closer to look at the ticket in his hand. There was a look of confusion and nervousness on Fiona's face.
"Look, our tickets are for numbers one to six. That means there are only six of us on this train." "
Jett and Rowan, Luna looked closely at the tickets, and it was indeed so. But the trio didn't care, and there was even a hint of ease in Rowan and Luna's gaze.
There were still ten minutes before leaving the bus, and they all went to the waiting room to wait for it.
Ticket checking and boarding are done in a very short time. It was a dilapidated minibus with filthy seats, and the artificial leather on the seat cushions was severely damaged, revealing the yellow sponge inside. The driver was a big, middle-aged man in his thirties, with a jet-black face and rough skin, which was clearly the result of years of exposure to wind and sun. When everyone got in the car, the driver was still sleeping in the seat at the back of the car. There was a missing piece of glass in the rear window, and the rain was being blown in by the wind and landed right on his chest, but he didn't notice.
Cyrus went up to wake him up. When he woke up, he wiped the saliva off his mouth first, then smiled humbly at everyone, said nothing, and sat directly in the front driver's seat.
When the time came and the car started, there were indeed only Cyrus and his group of six people in it.
Fiona walked around twice in the empty carriage, paced to the back of the driver's seat, patted the driver on the shoulder and said, "There are only a few of us in this carriage. Aren't you losing out?"
The driver turned back, chuckled twice, and said nothing.
"Are there very few people going to Cold Moon Village on a regular basis? If that's the case, you're going to drink the northwest wind." Fiona deliberately tried to get the driver to talk.
The driver turned his head back and forth, making a "cooing" sound, pointing one finger at his mouth and swinging it continuously.
"No, you're mute!"
No matter how stupid Fiona was, she saw it. She spread out her hands and made a helpless look. When she turned around, she saw everyone staring at her.
Jett laughed and said, "I see you're playing the lute to a cow this time."
Fiona went back to sit next to Kai with a cold face, feeling strange inside. Kai, who was beside her, reached out and grabbed her, and whispered in her ear, "Strange things are just beginning. You have to be mentally prepared."
Kai spoke casually, but Fiona felt a chill in her heart and had a bad premonition.
The car was parked in the yard of the station, and at this moment, it went around the many parked vehicles and headed towards the gate. The rain was pouring down and everything was indistinct in the rain curtain. It's a bad feeling to go to a strange and remote valley in the rain in a dilapidated minibus driven by a mute driver. At this point, even Kai regretted coming to this godforsaken place.
The courtyard gate was within sight. There were no other vehicles ahead. Just as the minibus was about to dash out of the gate, suddenly, a figure appeared in the rain curtain. The figure stood right in the middle of the gate, reaching out to the minibus to signal it to stop.
The mute driver was caught off guard and slammed on the brakes. The car came to a stop and the people in the car rushed forward, and at this moment they all saw the man standing in front of the car clearly. At that moment, Luna tightened her body and instinctively crossed her arms over her chest. Rowan turned his head and saw a look of terror on her face, then stared intently at the man who had stopped the car.
The man was wearing a black umbrella and all black clothes. The shoulders were narrow, the waist slender, and the total weight was less than a hundred pounds. The man had a three-to-seven split, wore black-framed glasses, and had drooping corners of his eyes, looking pitiful. His face, in the shade of the umbrella, looked unusually pale.
Rowan had already remembered that this was the man he had seen through the window in the hotel restaurant just now.
- Since he's gone, why did he show up again?
-- If he's the one who has been following Rowan and Luna these days, why is he moving from the shadows to the light now? But because he knew he was going to Cold Moon Village, he had nowhere to hide?
Rowan's blood crashed upwards, and in an instant some power rose within him.
The car stopped and the thin man in black turned to the door. The mute driver opened the door. Just as the thin man was about to get in, before he could take a step, he noticed a strong young man standing by the door. The young man, with red eyes and a somewhat hideous face, was staring at him with an unusually sharp gaze.
He paused for a moment, then folded his umbrella and stepped into the car door.
He then flew backward and fell into the rain curtain.
He was kicked out by Rowan.
Everyone in the car was stunned by the incident, and Fiona let out a scream in an instant. At the moment, Rowan stood by the door, his muscles tightened and motionless, his fists bulging with veins, and a murderous aura pervaded him.
The crowd was so intimidated by the murderous intent that they couldn't utter a word.
The thin man in black lay on the ground five or six steps away from the vehicle, his whole body soaked through by the rain. He clutched his stomach and squirmed slightly. It was obvious that Rowan's kick had hurt him so badly that he seemed to have no strength left to stand.
There was an unusual silence in the car, and everyone was breathing rapidly.
The mute driver, seeing the sudden change, was even more stunned, his mouth slightly open, somewhat at a loss.
Rowan stared at the motionless thin man on the ground for a long time, then turned his head and whispered to the mute driver, "Close the door. "Drive."
The mute driver woke up, made a "cooing" sound and was about to close the door. At that moment, he saw Rowan suddenly wave his hand, and he quickly stopped and poked his head out to look under the car. Surprisingly, the thin man had already stood up.
The thin man stood in the rain, wiping the water off his face, and his eyes met Rowan in the car without giving in.
Rage was boiling in Rowan's heart, and he had an urge to seize the thin man and tear him apart. But he held back his anger, for there was a very faint voice in his heart telling him to calm down.
The thin man's wet black clothes clung to his body, and his thin figure was already visible. His face was even paler in the rain - so pale that it was almost blinding. Under the gaze of the crowd, he walked step by step towards the door of the car.
Rowan's body was still, and his strength had gathered in one place.
The thin man reached the door of the car and, without hesitation, stepped back into it.
This time he fell further and harder.
He lay on the ground all over, and some of the blush dissipated layer by layer from him. This time he was motionless, as if he didn't even have the strength to twist.
All the people in the carriage wore pitiful expressions that they could not bear to see. Everyone could foresee the force of Rowan's attack and wondered how the man's thin body could withstand such an attack. And they thought about what would happen if such an attack had happened to them. For a moment, all were silent, but their eyes were fixed on the thin man who had fallen to the ground in the rain, hoping that he would stand up again and vaguely worrying that he would be attacked again after standing up.
When he got up for the second time, he could no longer stand steadily. He leaned forward, one hand resting on his lower abdomen, his pale face twitching, and the corners of his mouth stained with blood that had not been washed away by the rain.
But he did not hesitate to come again towards the door.
He walked slowly, as if he had to think twice with each step. But his legs were long, and each step he took was about a step and a half as long as others, so he quickly got back in front of the car.
This time he stopped in front of the car door, his eyes still fixed on Rowan without giving in, but there was such a deep sadness in them. The gaze was so soft that it had no strength at all, but it could withstand the sharp murderous intent in Rowan's eyes.
The rain fell straight down, and he stood still in the rain, his thin body having another kind of unshakable power.
Then he began to move again, but very slowly.
He lifted his leg and landed on the pedal in front of the door.
Rowan shrugged his right shoulder slightly as the kick was about to be kicked out again. All of a sudden, his body was seized and the kick could not be kicked out. Rowan struggled hard but failed to break free. At this moment, the thin man in black got into the car and walked past him gently.
Rowan growled and saw that it was Jett who was holding him. Jett, who had a refined appearance, was actually quite strong. Rowan roared, "What are you doing!"
"If you keep kicking him, you'll kill him." Jett said.
Jett was no longer able to hold Rowan, but Cyrus and Kai Fiona were both standing in front of him and trying to calm him down.
The thin man sat down in the back seat, looking out of the window as if what had happened had nothing to do with him.
Seeing this, Rowan became even angrier. He waved his arms and pushed Cyrus and Kai away easily.
"Rowan!" Luna in the seat suddenly called out his name.
Rowan's gaze fell on Luna's face, and when he saw her forlorn look, he immediately calmed down. Rowan walked slowly back to Luna and sat down slowly.
"Maybe he really has nothing to do with us. I don't know him at all. I've only seen him once in the company elevator." Luna whispered.
"It must be him. The person who was following us must be him." "If it weren't him, what are you afraid of now?" Rowan said expressionlessly.
Luna was stunned for a moment, and then found herself really still shivering non-stop.
Rowan suddenly shouted, "Don't be afraid. If anyone dares to hurt you, I promise he will die a terrible death."
His voice was filled with determination and strength. Some echoes echoed in the carriage, causing a sudden spasm in everyone's body. Their skin turned cold and they all felt a chill. The thin man sitting in the back seat, dressed in black, still looked out of the window as if he were not affected by the sound at all.
His cheeks still quivered slightly in pain, and his hand still covered his lower abdomen which had just been kicked, but his expression was unusually serene, and even when his gaze casually swept over Rowan and Luna in the front seat, a hint of a smile would appear. A sorrowful smile.
- Is his smile because he won the battle just now?
-- What about his sadness? But because of Rowan and Luna?