After midnight

Wu Si continued to walk north. Since he left Xindu on the Xinbei Line two days ago, he has successfully passed Beiguan, Beizhong and Beicheng. After passing these three cities, he will walk in the wilderness for a while. But even so, he still plans to go north, because he wants to go to Beihai.

Beihai was the farthest city he knew.

Wu Si had planned his route before leaving Xindu. To the west of Xindu was Jiudu, but he couldn't go there. Not far to the east of Xindu was a series of high mountains, but he couldn't go there either. So, he could only decide whether to go north or south. Shiyi arrived in Beichuan, Saner and Liujiu went as far as the south, but none of them had ever seen the ocean. The ocean was broad, free, and without any obstacles. So, he decided to go to Beihai.

He continued to go north, walking in the endless wilderness.

Around December 20th, Song Nan left the Song Mansion after completing his preparations.

Shortly after Qiqi's death, Song Nan tricked Song Yu into coming back. Although Song Yu finally agreed to take him away, it was not easy to disappear for a while and still keep the affairs of the Song family in order. Therefore, Song Nan did not leave until December 20th.

The day he left, the weather was still clear and the sun was out. He arrived at a small noodle restaurant on Changchun Street at twelve o'clock noon because Song Yu asked him to meet there.

"Are you here?" When Song Nan arrived, Song Yu had already sat down.

"I know you will arrive on time, so I have already ordered food for you."

"Okay, thank you brother." This noodle shop called Wang's Restaurant has a very small storefront. There are only three seats in the store, and the rest of the space is filled with clutter. The white paint on the walls of the store has even begun to peel off.

"When I was a kid, my mom liked to bring me here to eat noodles. Now that I'm an adult, this is my first time here."

Song Nan was very curious, but Song Yu only told the beginning of the story and didn't go on.

But the noodles came soon, two bowls of the same size of beef noodles. Song Nan pulled the nearest bowl over, took out his chopsticks and started eating. He lowered his head and took two bites before he realized that Song Yu hadn't touched his chopsticks.

"Brother, why don't you eat?"

After hearing this, Song Yu also took out a pair of chopsticks from the chopstick holder. He took a bite and found that the noodles were no longer the same as before. He remembered everything very clearly.

After taking two bites, Song Yu asked Song Nan, "Is it delicious?"

"good to eat."

Song Yu nodded: "Then eat more. You won't be able to eat this kind of noodles for a long time. Nothing tastes better than what's outside."

"Okay." Song Nan finished eating with his head down.

At about 12:30, the two walked out of the noodle shop. The sun was shining brightly outside, and Song Nan asked, "Brother, why did you bring me here?"

Song Yu didn't answer but just said, "Since you want to follow me, you should understand that you shouldn't ask too many questions or look too much at anything."

"I understand. Bro, I will never betray you."

Song Nan's solemn words rang in his ears, but Song Yu could only hear the whistling wind. He went all the way west, and in less than two hours, he reached the West Mountain. In the barren mountains in winter, the wind was dry. After circling in the valley for a while, Song Nan looked back and could no longer identify the direction.

"We're almost there." said Song Yu.

"Yeah." Song Nan continued to move forward.

After walking for about 20 minutes, Song Yu stopped in front of a small hill. Song Nan stood behind him and saw Song Yu groping around for a while, and then a secret door opened. He followed Song Yu and hid inside.

It was a long dark corridor with no light in sight. After carefully feeling his way along the stone wall for a while, Song Nan guessed by instinct that he was heading downwards. He didn't know how long he had walked, or whether it was five or ten minutes, when a light appeared ahead. The moment he came into contact with the light, houses with special numbers appeared one after another.

"This is the underground floor, which is where you'll be moving around for the time being. Lingyi and the others are also on this floor. If I'm not looking for you, don't run around." Song Yu brought Song Nan into room 104, explained these things, and left.

Song Nan took a look at the empty room and instinctively felt uncomfortable. He stood there without moving, and when Song Yu's footsteps disappeared, he turned around and walked out again. He looked around and found a direction to walk deeper. Perhaps it was an illusion, the lights in the distance looked even paler than where he was standing.

He was the only one in the long corridor now. He walked slowly, more cautiously than before.

When passing by Room 105, he noticed that the door of this room was not locked. He hesitated for a while and stretched out his finger to push it open. The door was empty, with nothing but a bed and a table. Song Nan felt suffocated for no reason. This place would not be better than staying in prison.

"Don't look, there's nothing on the first floor."

Song Nan shuddered, turned around and found that it was Lingyi standing in front of him.

"There are only three locked rooms on the first floor, namely 101, 102, and 109. Room 109 is where the Son of God once stayed, and it has been locked since he left. As for the other two rooms, you should know even if I don't tell you that they belong to Song Yu now."

Lingyi did not deliberately lower his voice, but his voice sounded so dull in Song Nan's ears.

"Room 103 is for meetings and meals. As for the other rooms, they are all occupied, so I advise you to go back to your room." After saying this, Lingyi walked back to his room with ease.

From the time Zero One appeared to the time he disappeared, Song Nan didn't say a word, but that didn't mean he was an obedient person. Without thinking, he walked straight to the end, and walked all the way to the last room, which was Room 109.

Room 109 was locked, the lock was rusty, and even the door seemed to be rusty. Song Nan raised his hand and then stopped. It was not that he could not open it, but now was not a good time.

Next to Room 109, a huge dark rock blocked his view. This room was the last one on this long, straight road. But he still looked inside again and again before walking back, passing these rooms on the same side and returning to Room 104.

"Let's go and have dinner." After Song Nan came back, he stayed in his room until half past five, until Song Yu came in and said this to him.

"Okay." Song Nan stood up and walked out with Song Yu. As soon as they walked out of the room, they ran into someone coming from behind.

"Master." The three people shouted at Song Yu.

"Okay, let's go eat." Song Nan and Song Yu stood there and let them pass first.

"Come with me." Song Yu suddenly changed his mind and took Song Nan past Room 103 and continued walking forward. After passing Rooms 102 and 101, the road seemed to continue forward. Song Nan followed him forward and quickly looked to both sides.

All he saw was a solid wall. The entrance that had allowed them to enter seemed to have disappeared. Song Nan watched Song Yu walk forward with a cold sweat. Song Yu did not explain anything, as if nothing had happened. Song Nan's eyes became sharp, he clenched his fists and followed him. Sooner or later, he would know.

Ten meters later, there was a corner. Song Nan turned around and saw another row of rooms.

"There are only three rooms here, all of which are empty and large. I don't know what they are used for, and they have never been used." Song Yu explained to Song Nan while opening a room. Song Nan looked inside and saw that there was indeed nothing in the room, it was empty.

"Okay, let's go back. These are all that's left on the first floor. This is all I can show you for now."

"Well, thank you, brother." Song Nan nodded. He knew in his heart that Song Yu was warning him about his previous behavior.

"Wait for me." When they went back, Song Yu said this and suddenly slipped into a small path extending from the side. Song Nan had seen this path when he came here. After three or five minutes, Song Yu came out and asked him, "Do you want to go to the toilet? This is the only one on the first floor."

"No, I don't need it."

"Well, let's go back then."

Song Yu continued to walk ahead and control the pace. When he reached Room 101, he stopped and said in an ambiguous tone, "You didn't find the exit because there is a mechanism in the secret passage, but this secret passage only existed after the Son of God left."

After Song Yu finished speaking, he took two quick steps, walked to Room 103, and pushed the door open and went in.

Song Nan lowered his head silently. He didn't like his every move being seen by others, but he also knew that Song Yu was the absolute master here. So he followed Song Yu in obediently. In the room, Zero One, Three Two and Six Nine were lined up and were almost done eating.

Song Nan sat down next to Song Yu facing San Er. He opened the lunch box and saw the cabbage and carrot soup was watery. He really didn't have much appetite. Just as he was about to pick up his chopsticks, Ling Yi stood up.

"Master, I'm done eating." Lingyi said and left, then Saner and Liujiu also stood up and left together.

"Song Nan, you are a child who has suffered a lot. But now, you have to learn to endure loneliness and solitude."

"I can bear it." Song Nan said firmly.

"But you don't have to feel too stressed. I need you to go outside from time to time to be my eyes. This is a solid cage. For the sake of concealment and safety, there is no way to receive mail."

"I understand." Song Nan nodded.

"Okay, eat now, I'm going back to the house."

After Song Yu left, Song Nan looked at the bland food and took a bite of it with his chopsticks. But after just one bite, he dropped his chopsticks and left. He had no appetite for the cold food. At the end of December, he calculated the time and left.

He left at around two or three in the middle of the night. The valley bottom of the West Mountain was dark and lonely, making people feel cold all over.

He exhaled a large cloud of white air and walked towards Jiudu in the rustling hay. He didn't know at that time that he was about to see the first snow in Jiudu.

He returned to the Song residence and slept for a while before opening the door of his office. On the desk, piles of letters were piled up like a small mountain. He walked over, lowered his head, picked up the letter that had fallen on the ground, and opened it.

He knew that most of these letters were meaningless now, but he would still open them one by one.

Song Nan unfolded the letter, which told him that Wu Si had left Xindu two days ago.