After midnight

"Step aside!"

Lu Yuan quickly stepped aside, and An Yan opened his left and right hands at the same time, and bright blue light continued to flow out of his hands. When he shot out these two beams of light, the light tightly enveloped the sky and the earth.

The broken pieces of soil, whether they fell from the sky or crushed in the ravines, completely disappeared in Lu Yuan's eyes.

"Lu Li!" Lu Yuan jumped off the edge of the pit and slid down.

Lu Li held his head and lay beside Song Yu, whose body had been pierced and a large amount of dirty blood had flowed out. Lu Yuan carefully turned Lu Li's body over, thank goodness, he was still breathing.

"Take him to Xindu quickly. Doctor Wang can save him."

Without saying a word, Lu Yuan picked up Lu Li and quickly crawled out of the place where Lu Li almost died.

After Lu Yuan's figure disappeared from above, An Yan turned around and carefully observed Song Yu. It was obvious that Song Yu was dead after Lu Li's fatal blow. But under the dirty dust and blood, the expression on his face did not look like he died in great pain. He closed his eyes, the corners of his mouth relaxed, and even had a faint smile.

An Yan squatted down and sat in the loess pit. At his feet was Song Yu's still warm body. The blood flowing out of that body was scarlet and sticky, making An Yan nauseous. An Yan didn't know whether the blood stuck to Song Yu's broken body could redeem his broken life. Maybe it could, maybe it couldn't.

An Yan sat there quietly, feeling a little ridiculous.

When he saw Song Yu again, he didn't feel a trace of anger. He shouldn't have let him go even if he died. But he really felt a sudden calm in his heart.

Perhaps fate had played a big joke on Song Yu, just like him, and made him unable to extricate himself and walk to this point today. But now, everything is no longer important.

An Yan stood up and walked out, with a faint light appearing in his palm, and from then on, Song Yu was put to sleep in the ground. Song Yu was freed, and he was getting closer and closer to his end.

Warm winds blew over the lake, and the calm lake surface was rippling. This lake in a small southern village seemed to be like this forever. Just like what Liu Jiu saw when he first came here, green mountains, white clouds and eternal silence. Perhaps the people who live on this land are just like passers-by, and can never change it.

"They're all dead, you know."

Liujiu sat where he had sat before, talking to himself facing the lake. Of course, no one answered him.

Liujiu had been here for more than a day. He had visited every corner of the village and buried the crazy woman locked in the high-walled courtyard. Liujiu stared at the lake in a trance. A large area of ​​fiery red afterimages was printed on the lake. The sun was about to set.

The gentle breeze blew softly, and waves of light came towards Liujiu. Liujiu suddenly remembered the only time he saw the sea in his life. The sea and the lake are very similar, right? Saner, we are destined to return to the lake.

San Er raised his hand and finally threw the transparent glass bottle in his palm into the depths of the lake. With a ding-dong sound, the glass bottle disappeared, and the ripples it had created also quickly disappeared.

They are just like the ripples on the water, passing through this world and leaving no trace.

"Sixty-nine."

Liu Jiu turned around and saw An Yan standing behind him. He was standing far away, with his hands in his pockets, with a look of pity on his face.

Liujiu stood up and raised his head high. The meaning was obvious, you can kill me or chop me up, whatever you want. An Yan was stunned for a moment, then slowly walked towards him.

Realizing An Yan was approaching him, Liu Jiu closed his eyes. He hoped that after his death, his body could also fall into the lake behind him.

"I don't plan to kill you." An Yan's gentle and low voice sounded, and Liu Jiu opened his eyes again.

The orange-red light of the setting sun shone on An Yan's face. An Yan stretched out his hand and placed a small stone in his right hand. The stone was very special and could take one to the new world at zero o'clock, when the two worlds met.

"What do you mean?" Liujiu knocked it over and the stone rolled into the grass.

"That's what you meant. I think I've made myself clear." An Yan put his hand back into his pocket. "What about you? If you want to die, you can commit suicide. Why are you waiting for me to kill you?"

Sixty-nine took a step back and remained silent.

Seeing this, An Yan took a step forward and asked, "You want to be like San Er, why?"

Liujiu looked at him in surprise. After all, An Yan was the one who stabbed the knife into his heart. How could he not know that Saner committed suicide?

"I don't know about him, but you are because," Anyan glanced at Liujiu calmly, "there is no longer any desire for you to live in this world."

After An Yan finished speaking, he quickly returned to his original position. He turned around and left. After he walked about five meters away, there was a thud behind him, and the heavy object sank to the bottom of the lake. An Yan did not look back. He closed his eyes, and it was hard to tell what expression was on his face.

The sun completely set into the valley, leaving only a brilliant afterglow.

An Yan set out to go back, his shadow getting longer and longer until it disappeared into the darkness.

He had been on the road all night, stopping and starting, and it took a long time before he was back in the daylight. He continued walking until the warm sunlight touched his shoulders and the rows of green leaves that had just sprouted from the branches beside the road swayed in the wind.

"An Yan." Two words, combined into a spell, broke An Yan's trance. An Yan looked forward.

Su Ziling was standing under a tree about 20 meters away from him, watching him gently and quietly. An Yan blinked blankly, thinking he had seen it wrong, but Su Ziling immediately ran towards him.

"It's all over, right?" An Yan nodded.

The sharp pain rose again, and he asked Su Ziling, "Why are you here?"

"I didn't want to come at first, but when I was out a few days ago, Xiao Su asked me if I was coming to pick you up. You know she's good at acting like a spoiled brat, so I had no choice but to come."

"That's it."

"That's it."

"Anyway, everything is over. An Yan, let's go home." Su Ziling looked at An Yan, his eyes were crystal clear, reflecting some beautiful hope.

An Yan didn't dare to look back. But at this moment, the bird above An Yan's head began to chirp, and the breeze blew up the dust floating in the sun. At this moment, An Yan wanted to blurt out everything, but he stood there stupidly in Su Ziling's eyes.

"An Yan?"

"Let's go."

An Yanping relaxed his wrinkled heart and stood side by side with Su Ziling. When they returned home, the winter in Xindu should be completely over.

In early March, An Yan and Su Ziling took the Xuanchuang train via Shacheng to Xindu. Along the way, the forsythia flowers rooted in the sandy ground were in full bloom, and the bright yellow stamens were dazzling.

"An Yan, spring is here." If Su Ziling had not been unable to move through the hanging window, he would have raised his arms and shouted.

"Yeah." An Yan also smiled a little.

"Spring is here, and my birthday is coming soon." Su Ziling turned to An Yan with a smile, and made it clear that he wanted to ask for something. An Yan refused to follow his wishes, "Really? Then you will be one year older."

"What old or not? I'm only eighteen, in my prime years. When we get back, I'll show you how the world is so beautiful."

"I hope you don't lead Xiao Su astray. Su Ziling, look, we've arrived at Xindu." Across the almost flat horizon, the huge and well-organized hanging windows of Xindu appeared before our eyes.

"Time flies. I was shocked for a long time when I first took the Xuanchuang Line to Xindu. Now there are several Xuanchuang Lines in operation. By the way, Anyan, I heard that a new town is going to be built nearby. Is it true?"

"I don't know. But the new capital is developing very fast, and it will be even faster in the future."

"That's a good thing, Anyan. But why do you sound so emotional, as if you can't see it anymore? Don't worry, we can run back and forth between the two sides in the future and come to see it from time to time, okay?"

An Yan smiled softly and said, "Su Ziling, come with me to the hospital later. I want to go see Lu Li."

"Okay, I'll go with you."

Su Ziling felt strange. Everything was fine along the way. Why was An Yan suddenly so strange now? Was it because he was homesick? Su Ziling thought about Lu Li's situation, and then put himself in Lin Nuan's shoes. He sighed and then remained silent.

Two minutes later, the train stopped smoothly at the Xuanchuang Station, and they had arrived at Xindu. An Yan and Su Ziling were about to return to where they were going, from where they had come from.