After midnight

Song Yu pulled the black knitted scarf to his chin. At the end of February, most of the Jiu Kingdom was still desolate and cold. But as long as he crossed Luocheng, the weather would gradually warm up. This would be better for his injury.

After being hit by An Yan, Song Yu fainted. When he woke up, dusk covered the western mountains. He covered the blood on his chest, ignored the dirt on his body, and limped towards the woods. He wanted to hide in the mountains immediately, but he couldn't help but go to see Song Nan.

Song Nan lay there, his body cold and bloody, just like the broken mountain ridge in front of him, the sinful dream that once belonged to his father.

Song Yu couldn't help but walk into the wreckage of his dream again. He stood in front of the dry stone for a long time, and then put down his clenched fist. He, a stray dog, had no right to hate. Song Yu looked around. The place was filled with corruption and sin, and even the moon could not save it.

As the sky gradually darkened, he dragged his battered body and fled in a panic, because he knew that if the night went on any longer, someone would come.

Song Yu had already set a goal before he left. In this cemetery he left behind, there was a person who disappeared just like him. He knew where he would go with the missing part of San Er.

The small and quiet village in his memory was called Nanzhuang, but he would not let Liujiu reach there, because his greatest pleasure was to prevent others from getting what they wanted.

Half a month later, at the foot of Mount Luoshen, Song Yu met Liu Jiu. It was a coincidence, but also a long-planned one.

"Where are you going?" Song Yu asked.

Bumping into Song Yu, Liu Jiu was obviously a little surprised. He looked Song Yu up and down and said, "You're not dead?"

"Yes, it's a blessing to have a good life."

"Believe it or not, I can kill you right now." Song Yu's casual words angered Liujiu.

But Song Yu didn't take it seriously. "You won't kill me. I know where you want to go. Don't you want to go with me?"

"Together? What do you mean?"

"It doesn't mean anything. What I mean is that if you kill me now, others will immediately know where you want to go, and I will never let you reach Nanzhuang in your life."

"You!" Liujiu remembered. He would never forget what Song Yu had done in Nanzhuang. He could kill Song Yu, but he had promised Saner that he must bring his ashes back.

"Okay, you can follow me. But if you don't behave, I will kill you."

It was really easy to deceive. Song Yu pretended to follow him closely. As long as he could keep up with Liu Jiu, he would not have to worry about doing anything else, such as how to use him.

Lu Li stood in the valley between the Luoshen Mountains, and his eyes were filled with an intoxicating green. Spring was gradually reviving in Luocheng, but Jiudu still had a proud chill coming from the vast land.

"Lu Li." Lu Li stood quietly for a moment, and Lu Yuan approached him from behind.

"found it?"

"No, do you think Song Yu has left?"

"But we just received the news not long ago."

"Yes, but it's been several hours." Seeing Lu Li nodded without saying anything, Lu Yuan hurriedly explained, "This is not the first time we heard the news, but when we arrived, there was no sign of anyone."

Lu Li interrupted him, knowing what he was going to say. "The intelligence cannot be wrong."

"I know, but I just can't catch up every time."

"It's normal to always be unable to catch up with others. But with so much information pointing to this place, it's certain that Song Yu must have headed south. Since we can't catch up with him here, let's go south again."

"Further south, there are a large number of scattered villages, which will be even harder to find."

"Any news about Liujiu recently?" Lu Li asked someone else.

"He's hiding much more securely. There's no news about him at the moment." Lu Yuan answered truthfully.

After hearing this, Lu Li looked into the distance again. The scenery in the distance remained unchanged, and silence stretched between the two of them. Lu Li thought for a moment, but couldn't think of anything, so he decided to go back and make plans. Lu Yuan followed him down the mountain. After going down the mountain, they returned to their respective rooms, but within three minutes, Lu Li broke into Lu Yuan's room.

"Lu Yuan, this is An Yan's letter. He told us how to find Song Yu first."

"How do we find Song Yu?"

"Investigate all the mysterious deaths in villages south of Los Angeles since October."

"Last October?"

"Yes, that should be the day they first appeared."

"Investigate, I'll go investigate. There are many villages in the south, but most of them are underdeveloped. There are few strange cases, and even fewer unsolved cases. I'll go investigate right now." Lu Yuan said as he hurried out. But when he reached the door, he suddenly stopped, "An Yan? Is the Son of God coming?"

"I don't know that yet."

"Lu Li, you really can't separate Song Yu and Liu Jiu."

Lu Li nodded heavily. He had just made it very clear that if he wanted to find Song Yu, he had to first look for traces that group of people had left in the south.

"Okay, I'll go then."

After watching Lu Yuan leave, Lu Li closed the door and returned to his room. An Yan said that they must have a purpose in choosing the south, and if the person who led this idea was not Song Yu, then it must be Liu Jiu. If Song Yu knew that Liu Jiu was still alive, he would definitely not let him go. Therefore, even if there is no news about Liu Jiu now, and there is no evidence that they are together, we still have to be prepared that if we find Song Yu, we will find Liu Jiu, and vice versa.

As for why Liujiu had to come to the South, you will find out if you look around.

Liujiu put a small glass bottle in his pocket and covered it with his hand. It contained Saner's ashes. He couldn't take all of Saner away, so he only took a small part of his body.

Liujiu still remembers how he cut off Saner's little finger with a knife, and how he turned it into ashes and put it in a transparent glass bottle that is now only three centimeters high.

Liujiu tossed and turned, unable to understand why Saner wanted to die. Is death a good thing? Liujiu didn't want to die. He plunged into the grove and realized what was about to happen in the white mist that was shaking the ground, so he ran back. He couldn't leave Saner alone to deal with An Yan.

Fortunately, he ran back, otherwise he would never know the truth.

The truth is, San Er catered to Anyan's pure ability and he committed suicide.

San Er committed suicide. Liu Jiu tightly grasped the glass bottle, unable to sleep in the dark. The next morning, Liu Jiu continued on his way. Song Yu followed him closely, not too far away.

When Lu Li and Lu Yuan arrived in Xinyang County, they took off their windbreakers and put on coats. At this time, the temperature had risen significantly, the sun was even hotter, and the spring breeze blew gently on their faces.

The two traveled light and walked faster. After lunch, they continued to head south. This time, their destination was very clear. They only needed to head south for three days to reach the destination.

The newly grown green leaves swayed in the wind, casting long shadows on this straight and lonely path. Lu Li was walking quickly, but was suddenly pulled to a stop by Lu Yuan.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"News came in saying that Song Yu appeared in Nandianer Village."

"Is the news accurate?"

"precise."

Lu Li frowned and walked to the side to lean against the tree trunk. Nandianer Village is not Nanzhuang Village. An Yan asked them to go to Nanzhuang Village instead of Nandianer Village. An Yan also asked them not to act rashly after arriving at Nanzhuang Village, and wait for him to arrive and then catch them all in one fell swoop.

"How long has Song Yu been there? Has he found Liu Jiu?"

"We haven't found Liujiu. Song Yu has been there for two days. And what's different this time is that our people found Song Yu and successfully monitored his movements, so we are sure he is still there."

“Are Nandianer Village and Nanzhuang Village far apart?”

Lu Yuan took out the map and checked, "Not far, they are next to each other. We will soon come to a fork in the road if we continue along this road. There are two villages, one to the left and one to the right."

"Let's go to Nandianer Village first." Song Yu said after thinking for a while.

"Isn't it a bit risky?" Lu Yuan replied quickly. In order not to alert the enemy and to reach Nanzhuang as soon as possible, he and Lu Li formed a small team and set off first, rejecting An Yan's suggestion that they wait for him in Luocheng. Lu Yuan was now very worried that Lu Li would make a rash decision.

"Don't you have it? Sixty-nine can be handed over to An Yan, but I want to get rid of Song Yu as soon as possible."

"Can……"

"How about this, we wait here for one night. If Song Yu is still in Nandianer Village tomorrow morning and still hasn't found any trace of Liujiu, then we'll go take a look."

"Okay." Lu Yuan agreed.

It was late at night, and every household in Nandianer Village had closed their doors. Every street and alley was empty. In the silent wind, the bright moon hung in the sky, casting its silver light on the world. What a quiet night it was. Song Yu opened the window, took a deep breath of fresh air, and sat back at the round table. He quietly listened to the breath of the earth until an uninvited guest quietly came to the door.

At midnight, he climbed in through the window and landed on the ground as lightly as a flying swallow.

"It's you. I thought it would be someone else."

"Don't talk nonsense. You are obviously waiting for me. Let me ask you, why did you insist on bringing me to Nandian Village? Why didn't you go earlier..."

"To say you're stupid is really stupid. You didn't even know someone was following you. I'm telling you, why did you insist on staying here just to lure the enemy into the trap?" Song Yu poured a glass of water and turned to look at him. "Or do you want others to discover your real destination?"

This person was not telling the truth, and Liujiu wanted to believe it. But he was inevitably shaken.

"Who is it? I'm going to kill him."

"He's not an easy person to deal with. You have to be patient. We've come this far. Nanzhuang can't be far away."

"That's better. I will kill anyone who wants to stop me. No matter who he is, even if it's 'Son of God' An Yan." After saying that, Liu Jiu climbed out the window and left.

"What a fool." Song Yu smiled. He drank the sweet tea sip by sip, put down the cup, and went out in the night.

"Liujiu has been found. Liujiu climbed in through the window in the middle of the night, talked with Song Yu for three minutes and then left. Not long after Liujiu left, Song Yu also went out the front door of the residence, and seemed to be going to a completely opposite place. I don't know what they are plotting." After receiving the letter, Lu Yuan excitedly ran towards Lu Li, who was sitting on the small hill in front at the moment, and Lu Yuan climbed up in three or two steps.

"Really? Is the source of the information reliable? Is there anyone following?"

"Really, the source is reliable, and someone is following it."

"Okay, Lu Yuan, let's go."

"Okay, let's do it without further ado." After discovering Liujiu's trace, Lu Yuan was ready to go, his blood boiling.

Lu Li withdrew his greedy gaze from the moon and strode forward along the forked road. He wanted to quickly resolve the matter and return to his family. As Lu Yuan followed Lu Li away, he glanced behind him from a distance. At this time, a thin full moon was reflected in the sky.