After midnight

After An Yan left, Yin coaxed Su Ziling to sleep. Jiu was young and had a distinct personality, so he was easily taken advantage of.

Pushing Su Ziling into the house, Yin walked out quickly. This narrow valley has experienced more than 30 years of development, and the houses are next to each other, dividing the roads of the entire village into pieces. Yin walked into the village and slowly groped his way to the high ground in the east.

The high courtyard wall easily blocked people's sight. Yin turned a corner and looked up, just in time to see An Yan's vague figure. He walked on a straight path towards the scattered family at the highest point.

Yin took a few quick steps and caught up with him.

An Yan stood at the door and hesitated when he saw that the door was not closed tightly. He knocked on the door, and when no one answered, he gently pushed it open and walked in.

The village chief's house was just as simple as Ajiu's, but more elegant. The potted plants on the four-corner chairs and the calligraphy and paintings on the wall gave it a unique charm. An Yan was looking around carefully when suddenly an old man came out from the side room next to him.

The old man was stunned when he saw An Yan, and then he began to tremble all over. He walked to the nearest stool and sat down, then clasped his hands. An Yan could see that he was trying to calm himself down.

In fact, An Yan noticed the old man as soon as he appeared. He calmly observed the old man's strange behavior. "Excuse me, are you the village chief? I am An Yan."

"Are you the 78th 'Son of God'?" As soon as the old man opened his mouth, An Yan felt a pang of bitterness in his heart. He had found the right person because of this number.

"I am." An Yan answered firmly.

"Then come with me." The old man's calm tone seemed to indicate that he had calmed down, but his stumble when he stood up betrayed him.

An Yan quickly reached out his hand to help, but the old man waved his hand to indicate that it was not necessary and walked away slowly.

"Don't you doubt me?" An Yan followed the old man.

"There's nothing to doubt. The only one who can come here is the 'Son of God'." The old man said as he pushed open the inconspicuous back door next to him.

The back door leads to a corridor with flowers and trees planted on both sides. Walking through the corridor, you will reach the back room at the end. The back room is a study room with some worn but square books on the bookshelf. There are not many books but not too few either, and you can tell at a glance that they are very old.

Seeing An Yan was very interested, the old man began to explain: "These books were what my father, the 76th 'Guardian', insisted on taking with him even when he threw away his miscellaneous items. They have been the only hope for our village to prevent backwardness and ignorance for more than 30 years. However, not many people have read them in recent years..."

An Yan listened quietly beside him.

The old man sighed and touched the books for a moment, reminiscing, and then he said, "This way."

The old man took An Yan to another corner of the study, where there was a standing cabinet. An Yan stretched out his hand and pulled it, but it didn't open.

"If you are really the 'Son of God', you can definitely open it. Our past is all inside."

An Yan pondered for a moment and walked over. He closed the drawer with his hand, and the power slowly released from his hand. A flash of light passed by, and the drawer opened.

The old man smiled comfortingly at An Yan's figure, then walked out of the study. He walked through the corridor and returned to the simple living room to sit down. What else can better prove the identity of the "Son of God" than ability?

Yin saw him immediately. When he was about to say something, the old man spoke. "I guess you are the 'Guardian'. An Yan is a very good 'Son of God'."

"Yes, I am." Yin pondered for a moment and nodded.

"Can I sit next to you, old man?"

"Please take a seat." The old man made an inviting gesture, "You can just call me village chief."

Yin nodded, sat down and said to the village chief: "Village chief, please forgive me for being so presumptuous, but I want to know what happened more than 30 years ago."

"Don't you understand it clearly yet?" The old man was a little confused.

"I only understand part of it, and I hope to know more from you." Yin answered without hesitation.

After listening to it, the old man didn't ask any more questions. He turned his head and stared at the empty air, and told the story.

"Actually, I don't know for sure. Thirty years ago, when my father died, he told me to keep the secret of this place until the Son of God arrived. I don't know what the secret is. To be honest, to this day, I still don't know what happened that caused our family to flee here and be isolated from the world."

"But it's all right now," the old man said in a relaxed tone, "The arrival of the 78th 'Son of God' means that our mission should come to an end."

"You mean, the 78th 'Son of God'?" Yin tried his best to hide his uncalmness.

"Yes, he is so young, he should be the 78th." The old man said affirmatively.

However, Yin thought in surprise that An Yan has always been recognized by the outside world as the 77th "Son of God"!

How could there be a missing one? But the old man was so sure, Yin decided to find out in a different way. "Village chief, when the 76th 'Guardian' led you to escape, were there any signs? Or anything strange?"

"What other signs could there be?" The old man sighed. "When the 76th Son of God died unexpectedly, my father treated us as if we were facing a great enemy. That night, everyone's face was solemn, and everyone was afraid of danger. My family acted very quickly. I have never seen them act like that. I still remember that scene. But now I think my father was well prepared."

"You mean, the 76th 'Guardian' took you away only after the 76th 'Son of God' died? And they were well prepared?"

The old man nodded.

Yin's face was not good. This was a big problem. The government had been announcing that the 76th "Guardian" had defected, and that the 76th "Son of God" had not made any mistakes but was responsible, so he had been detained and imprisoned in an unknown place. It was not until An Yan awakened and became the new "Son of God" that the government announced that the 76th "Son of God" had passed away several years ago. At the time, I thought the government's move was not wrong, but now I think...

But what was the reason that the government wiped out the existence of a "Son of God"? Is his existence related to this secret? Does An Yan know that he is actually the 78th? He should know, otherwise he would not be so persistent in pursuing this secret. But how did he know it? Is it related to the 77th? Or is it just because they are all "Sons of God"? Then what is this secret?

Yin frowned, his thoughts in a mess, as if he was trapped in a cage.

Seeing Yin stopped talking, the old man continued to talk. He had too many emotions to vent. "I am old, and I thought I couldn't wait for you. This secret must be passed down to my sons and grandsons, and passed down from generation to generation. We are guarding this secret in this isolated valley, and we have no idea about the situation in the outside world. Perhaps history has long been forgotten, and we are the only ones who are still watching..."

The old man choked up and said, "To be honest, I am old and often have some selfish thoughts. I cannot sacrifice the future of the hundreds of people in our family. We cannot live here forever for an illusory promise. Have we made some big mistake that cannot be tolerated by the world?"

The old man's question left Yin unable to answer for a long time.

"But we can't break our promise. Before the Son of God arrives, no one in this village can go out. So I can only hope and hope every day. I really don't want my child to suffer the same torture as me every day."

"But now that you're here, I'm still worried. Your presence here proves that the outside world is turbulent, right? If the secret comes to light, who knows what kind of bloody things will happen? Ever since I took over the secret from my father, I've been tormented by contradictions. How come I, who has lived for more than 40 years, don't understand life?"

Yin was filled with emotion, and looking at the old man's white hair, he felt sorry for him. How could he tell the old man the untrue things that were distorted by the outside world but believed by the public because they were deceived?

Yin couldn't help but feel that the world was really desolate.

The old man secretly wiped away the tears on his face, wiped the moisture from the corners of his eyes, and smiled reluctantly: "I'm sorry to make you laugh."

Yin shook his head and spoke hesitantly, "Village Chief, you mentioned earlier that... we can go out?"

The old man suddenly realized, "Look, I was so busy talking about my own nonsense that I forgot such an important thing. We can go back to where we came from. Once the 'Son of God' arrives, the barrier of the exit will be broken, and then we will have hope of getting out. The exit is..."

"Water, right? There's another lake here."

"Yes, that's it."

The old man's words confirmed Yin's guess. The most important reason for their appearance here was that An Yan's blood mixed with water power dripped down and broke the barrier, and the light brought them here. Sure enough, only the "Son of God" could come in here, and sure enough, a huge secret was hidden here.

Yin couldn't help but continue to ponder. This secret spanned three generations of "Sons of God" and must have far-reaching implications. It might even change history. This might not just be a war between the revolutionary army and the government.

Yin suddenly didn't dare to think about it anymore.

Just when the atmosphere was at a standstill, An Yan came out. He stood in front of the village chief, who said to him earnestly, "Be careful about everything."

An Yan nodded: "Thank you, we won't bother you any more."

Yin Chao nodded to the village chief and left with An Yan.

On the way back, An Yan walked in front without looking back. He kept a distance from Yin. Yin found it a little funny. Was An Yan protesting against him in this way? He would not feel guilty if he ignored him on purpose.

Yin followed silently behind all the way. No matter from his expression, posture or any other aspects, he could not tell that there was anything unusual about An Yan, nor could he tell what An Yan was hiding.

Suddenly, An Yan stopped and looked at him, and Yin was surprised to realize that they were almost at Jiu's house.

Seeing An Yan continue to walk forward, Yin finally couldn't help but chase after him and asked, "Are you the 78th 'Son of God'?"

An Yan stretched out his right foot, which was suspended in the air for a second before he stepped forward. He did not answer.

That's it, Yin stopped and watched An Yan continue walking forward.

If An Yan knew, when did he know it? It couldn't be when he was born.

He didn't know when An Yan awakened, but it was a fact that An Yan disappeared at the age of three, and it was also a fact that he reappeared in front of the public at the age of thirteen. Next, he met Lin Nuan and Lin Xuanfeng, but he was sent to the new world before he was fifteen, and he rarely came back during that time.

After he turned fifteen, until now, that is, this time, he was brought back and imprisoned in the death prison for committing a crime and fled here. Now, the An Yan he knew was only seventeen years old, not yet eighteen years old.

Therefore, judging from the time period, he was able to access the secret before the age of three or after the age of thirteen. The latter is more likely, but it cannot be guaranteed. After all, he was missing for most of his life.

Could it be that An Yan's disappearance was also related to the secret? Yin made a bold guess in his heart.

When An Yan returned to Ajiu's house, he saw Su Ziling jumping in front of him as if he had a spring loaded, asking for credit, "An Yan, I found the exit, it's in the lake formed by the river downstream!"

An Yan looked at Su Ziling's happy expression, but before he could say anything, he was interrupted by Yin. "I guessed it a long time ago, but it's still impressive that you can think of it."

"Hehe." Su Ziling smiled and started chatting with Yin.

At this time, An Yan avoided them and took Ajiu out of the house.