【Summer Five】Iron City Wall

"We are from Liezhibo." Xia You said, "Wuenqi—your friend from far away in his hometown—has something to give you."

The young man on the hospital bed raised his head, revealing one eye under his messy brown hair.He has a handsome face, he must be a handsome young man after tidying up, but his eyes are clouded with dull gray, and his reaction is as slow as an old man.

Mo Zhigen glanced at them.This glance can't even be called "sizing up", it's more like the optic nerve reflex when there are more foreign objects in the field of vision.He seemed to be waiting for Xia You to put down the letter and leave, but the latter stood by for a long time without moving a bit.

"What?" Mo Zhigen finally spoke, his voice was hoarse and rough, as ugly as sawing wood. "Hurry up and leave, why are you standing here?"

The curtains that separated the beds were closed with a "crash", Wutiao occupied the position facing the door, and cast his sight through the sunglasses, which was not friendly.

The young man frowned and said angrily, "Are you deaf? Can't you tell me to get out of here!?"

What responded to him was a loud noise——Xia You almost threw herself on the bedpost, her hands clinging to the guardrail tightly, and the stainless steel equipment carrying hundreds of kilograms of weight screamed sharply.

He just covered Mozhigen like this, condescendingly condescended him, and said every word: "I am not your medical staff, and I have no obligation to be responsible for your mental state; but Wu Enqi is my client, he asked me to bring Reply to your message, if we can't see you handling this letter with our own eyes, we won't get paid. You know the consequences of blocking people's money, right?"

The last sentence was squeezed out almost between the teeth, frustrating and sharp like a knife.

Mo Zhigen was afraid that he had never seen such a fierce "courier brother", so he was stunned.Xia You took the opportunity to throw the envelope on him, and said forcefully, "Read."

Sure enough, threats are a common way for humans to communicate.Even though his movements were stiff, Mo Zhigen at least propped up his upper body unsteadily, opened the letter and began to read.

The letter was very long, and Wu Enqi almost explained all the trivial matters in the town, not even a single grasshopper was missed.The content is not only touching, but the true feelings are enough, but the recipient's face has not changed, and he still has the sallow and haggard look of a dead person.

The ward was not quiet, and the beds next door were howling and panting, but Mo Zhigen forcibly put on a posture of being isolated from the world.He stroked the last few lines of words with his scarred fingers, his eyes seemed to be touched and struggled violently, but he couldn't break through the dead and dry shell after all.

"Go home?" The young man slowly tightened the quilt with his dripping hands, his empty lower half was pale and glaring. "Can I still go home?"

This is not an interrogative sentence.

Two years before enlisting in the army, Mo Zhigen received training in the reserve service.The recruits were full of enthusiasm, and never complained no matter how hard or tired they were, they practiced under the sun every day, hoping to be transferred to the formal army to fight the enemy.They are not afraid of anything, they compete with each other and support each other, and together they pull through what they think is a difficult time.

Until the order is issued, put the XX-level reserves into the northern front.

When Mo Zhigen rolled into the trench with his mutilated gun butt and heard the retreat order from behind, most of the familiar faces of his bedmate had disappeared.Seeing the dead body is the greatest delusion-in the midst of artillery fire and driven ordnance, it is lucky to be able to recover a piece of blood-stained cloth.

The overwhelming power of fantasy dispels all luck, and a death crueler than reality wakes them up.The fantasies of great success and great achievements in the past were wiped out by the ear-piercing howls of the enemy's eardrums. These alien creatures went deep into the nightmare, and even the ruined walls looked like broken bone wings and fangs.

Mo Zhigen was terrified.He came back alive, but lost his courage.

In the next four years, they were also thrown into the front lines of large and small battles, moving among heavy and rough forts and bunkers.In fact, only a very small number of soldiers are allowed to use the attached driven armor to fight back against the enemy - those troops are directly under the military headquarters of the first area, and they are the best and outstanding fighters of all mankind.Ordinary sergeants can only rely on heavy artillery shells, and sometimes even pick up old rifles and go directly to the battle to lure the enemy.

In the poisonous gas of the III-α Phantasmal Species, Mo Zhigen watched as his companion struggled to death before he could put on his gas mask. The dark green poisonous mist spread across the battlefield, and panicked roars came from behind.He was lying with his bruised and burst corpse, and the water in the quagmire rose up, entangled him and sank down.

After four years, Mo Zhigen became more and more silent.He gradually didn't know what to do, and there was no way to retreat, and the way ahead was only hopeless.Every step he took to jump out of the trench weighed a thousand catties, and he wished he could give up his life, rather than being stuck hanging at the entrance of the abyss.

Perhaps God heard the prayer, and he lost his legs in an unusual attack and "retired with honor".

Over the years, Wu Enqi wrote countless letters to him, but the person who was sympathized never replied.Mo Zhigen raised his pen repeatedly, but the words froze when he reached his mouth, as if he didn't want to reveal his cowardice, powerlessness and inferiority to his childhood friends.He always remembers the oath he made when he left his homeland, and now it is self-defeating, and he is very ashamed to face it.

During the period of lying in the field hospital, Mo Zhigen thought that he should die like this.

"It's up to you whether you go back or not." As he said, Wutiao opened the suitcase, wrapped the oilcloth and put it on the hospital bed, regardless of whether it would touch the wound or not.

The young man put down the letter dumbly, and then untied the cloth, revealing a slender and simple bow and arrow.

The bow body is made of alloy, with a cold light flowing on the curved surface, and lifelike and exquisite totems are carved at the head and tail.The bowstring is almost transparent, hooked in it thinly, just like a half-wisp of water hanging in front of a waterfall or water dripping through a stone.

Rubbing the gray wolf pattern on the head of the bow with his fingertips, Mo Zhigen looked at it, and suddenly opened the corner of his mouth, letting out a dry smile.He finally started to fluctuate, but Xia You felt uncomfortable and wanted to look away.

That smile was very stern, worse than crying, but there were no tears in his eyes.The young man didn't seem to be able to laugh or cry, he just shrugged his shoulders and made intermittent tearing sounds.

"I've gone too far." His eyes were red, and the eye sockets were so dry that not a drop of water could fall out. "It's too far, too far, so far that I can never find my way home."

Holding the bow tightly with both hands, the retained needle was thrown aside due to the range of motion, and a few drops of dark red blood ooze out.It seemed that only this spot of blood on his body was bright and hot, better than the sun that had been extinguished early in his heart.

Xia You was silent for a moment, then said softly, "Then do you want to be so selfish forever?"

"Always only listen to what you want to hear, and seek mercy through self-denial? Blaming others will not solve any problems, but will only expose your despicable nature-you know, in the past seven years, Wu Enqi and the others have never expected more, just wanted A few words of yours, even an answer to whether you survive or not are fine. How did you do it? You turned a blind eye, were selfish, trampled on other people's wishes, and wished to deny everything in the past."

He spoke very softly, even the ups and downs of his tone were not in a hurry.

"—You said you couldn't go back? Indeed, because you personally killed your own hometown, of course you can't go home."

Mo Zhigen was tongue-tied, and rarely showed his willingness to refute: "What do you know! A brat who has never seen hell on earth is just talking big here!"

"Oh? This time, you are depriving others of the right to speak if you can't say it?" Wutiao said quietly, his voice was joking, but he heard chills all over his body: "A few battles in the district are not considered battles, dare to touch porcelain' world The word 'hell'?"

As he approached, a threatening cold burst out from behind the sunglasses, and the dark blue glacier was almost on fire: "Go and see the sacrifice ceremony of the Torch Festival, and see how they put newborns into the furnace, and watched with a smile that the babies were scorched black and carbonized, Disappear in ashes in the prayer; otherwise, you can also participate in a funeral ceremony, look at the thousands of steel needles rooted in the snow field, remember the names inscribed on the crosses shoulder to shoulder with the sky, and let the blood of the nuns pour over your hands until Her body was frozen by the wind and snow, and her flesh and blood shattered to pieces."

"Hell?" Wutiao whispered like a whisper, attached to Mo Zhigen's cheek, with a smile still on his lips, but colder than Jichuan Minghai. "Little kid, death is much better than the real hell, stop talking nonsense."

Xia You raised her eyebrows suspiciously, not knowing what Wutiao said to Mo Zhigen.Looking at the young man's complexion, it must be some bad words.He knew the necessity of giving a sweet jujube a slap in the face, so he took a few steps forward and said softly, "Don't blame yourself too much, it's not that we don't understand your entanglement, it's just that the matter has come to this point, and the grassland is your last shelter Land, hope that everything will not go to extremes."

He tugged on Wutiao's collar to signal not to be too bully.Wutiao straightened up and took his hand, with a soft smile in his eyes, where there was no intimidating sharpness a moment ago.

Mo Zhigen on the hospital bed had vigilant eyes, looking at Wutiao like a scourge.When he spoke again, his momentum had weakened a lot, as if the other party had lingering fears about those words.

"Okay, I'll go back. This appearance will only add to the joke, and I'm afraid I will disappoint you."

Xia You didn't bother to reason. Seeing him let go, she immediately pulled Wutiao to go through the formalities.The nurse's station was eager for someone to make room for the bed, so they registered in twos and twos, and asked the assistant to push a wheelchair out.

Mo Zhigen left the ward in a wheelchair. Under the loose and loose hospital gown, his skinny bones were faintly visible, and his trousers were empty, and they would float out thinly when the wind blew.

Handing both the letter and the bow to Wutiao, Xia You pushed the wheelchair and left the hospital, and met the long-awaited corporal at the gate of the school grounds.The uncle was sweating all over his body, his two elephant legs were shaking like chaff, and he looked like he had just been scolded.

"Hurry up and get in the car!" He yelled furiously, spitting stars flying around.Xia You wisely opened up the distance, put down the seat first, and then moved the wheelchair in.

They returned the same way, passed through the sentry post and drove onto the main road, heading straight for the fourth district.

No one spoke during the whole process, only the corporal was cursing in the co-pilot, and what was said inside and outside the words were the boss of a boss's boss, such as "what's the air of the heirs running away?" "So what about controlling the center of the army" emerges endlessly.

Xia You was distracted to look at Mo Zhigen, and occasionally heard a sentence, which was also funny.This person is just a small fish, he just heard some gossip from the mouth of his superiors, and he really thinks that he can't master the secret.

Green stubbles gradually emerge from the iron-gray land along the way, and the vegetation covers the cold and hard ground, creating a spring of spring water in people's hearts.The truck ran for an hour and finally arrived at the office.The car didn't come to a complete stop, and the corporal urged the group to leave quickly, patted their buttocks and walked away.

Keeping his feet on the ground, Xia You rubbed his temples, and when he raised his eyes, he bumped into Wu Enqi who was standing next to the broken cross country.

This person didn't seem to have moved his position. It was almost dark and he was still waiting in place, his face was anxiously looking into the distance, and his eyes were red.

"Hey!" The first Wutiao waved their hands, and Wu Enqi immediately "lived" and strode forward to give them each a bear hug, and asked anxiously, "At least I have some news, right? No need to go into details..."

Then he saw the wheelchair behind Xia You, and the haggard young man on the wheelchair with his head hanging down.

Mo Zhigen clasped his hands on the wheels, his knuckles turned white, as if he was trying his best to suppress the urge to turn around and leave.Under the scorching eyes of his old friend, his withered and numb appearance finally began to peel off, and the bloody smell soaked in gunpowder smoke and gunfire almost penetrated his heart, leaving a twisted and ferocious pain on his face.

"Ali..." Wu Enqi let go of his hand in a daze, straightened up, his lips pursed.He looked at the person in the wheelchair, moved his fingers, and his eyes slowly turned red.

The evening wind was desolate and desolate, blowing everyone into silence.The crescent moon bends up to the sky, and the stars climb up, shedding fine and uneven luster.

Mo Zhigen suddenly lost the courage to look up.He didn't dare to face Fa Xiao's pitiful gaze, it would make him wish to die immediately.

But Wu Enzi did not speak again.He just walked forward step by step, and his footprints left deep marks on the muddy road, as if slowly crossing the distant and strange seven years.

He squatted down, his broad shoulders trembling slightly.

"You're back..." he kept saying, opening his arms to embrace his long-lost brother, "Longevity bless—"

"You're finally home."