rose nursery rhyme

There are only so few things in the forest, and there is no way to go deeper, and I don't know where it leads.

Xi Di and Brice looked around briefly, then stopped staying.

When walking back along the stone road, they met Alex on the street of the town again.

There is no one in the city now, and the doctor Alex has nothing to do, and he doesn't need to treat patients anymore.He was quite a big man, sitting cross-legged under the wall basking in the sun with long hands and long feet, fiddling with something in his hand.

His attitude was very serious, until the two of them walked in front of him, covering the bright sunlight, the idle doctor, Mr. Epidemic, stopped what he was doing, and raised his head belatedly.

The bird's beak was a little in the way, and he could only see it when he raised his head. It turned out that he was holding a small wreath in his hand.

It's just that the weaving technique is not very good, it has just barely formed, and it hangs loosely on Alex's wrist, looking as if it is about to fall apart.

Next to it was a large clump of ornamental plants, which originally bloomed with many lovely small white flowers, but he picked them up a lot, and most of them were wasted. They were sluggish on the ground without arms and legs, as if a layer of white snow had fallen. .

Alex didn't care, and said hello: "You two finished shopping?"

I don't know what to care about this small broken city, it's worth the two of them staying here for such a long time.

He wanted to leave, but unfortunately he couldn't, so at this time he was very envious of the freedom of these two travelers.

However, he was wearing a mask of a plague doctor, and his pointed bird's beak completely contained this emotion in the mask for him.

Alex touched his face.

The only things that can be touched are leather goods that have been heated by the sun.

Xidi came to look for him, took the initiative to answer, and nodded obediently: "We went to the forest."

Alex: "Forest?"

He hesitated and asked, "Then, have you seen..."

Alex hesitated and didn't finish his sentence, Xidi took a step ahead and asked him, "Do you know who Joshua is?"

Joshua.

This is the name engraved on the small tombstone.

Xi Di himself had some guesses, and happened to meet Alex right now, and asked him by the way.

Hearing this name, Alex's body tensed, then he relaxed, with a little emotion of 'it really is', and said softly: "I know."

Since they were wandering around the city, it was normal for them to see the cemetery, and Alex had expected this to happen.

If you see it, you will see it, no big deal.

Sheedy: "We saw his tombstone."

Alex explained softly: "That's...my brother."

"He died in the plague ten years ago."

Neither Xidi nor Bryce showed surprise.

After all, at present, it seems that Alex is the only one in this city who still has the leisure to run outside, and the wreath on the tombstone is similar to the one he is holding in his hand.

It turned out that the elder brother was commemorating the younger brother who died young.

After all, it was already ten years ago. Even if they were talking about the death of their relatives, Alex still had a peaceful mind.

For various reasons, he hadn't mentioned Joshua to anyone for too long.

Alex sighed silently, thinking: Maybe this is a sign?

Or a foretaste of the future that will come sooner or later.

In short, since you can't hide it, you might as well just tell them directly.

Anyway, these two people are just passing by and won't affect anything.

"I was 19 years old when the plague came," he said.

I don't know if it's because he's too lonely these days, Alex, Sidi and Bryce obviously only met once, but he confided to them: "I was not at home that year, and I was studying medicine outside."

Sheedy listened with interest.

Brace: "You have been exposed to such advanced medical skills at such a young age? It's amazing."

His voice was sincere, but Alex also knew that it was just polite words to ease the atmosphere, so he didn't take it to heart, but continued: "No way, my family was poor at the time, and if I wanted to support my relatives, I had to... Improve yourself a little bit."

Either learn a craft, or study medicine—you have to leave home for a few years to learn a lot.

At that time, Alex's family was too poor. In order to improve this kind of life, even if it took a few years to travel, it was tolerable.

Alex is the eldest brother. He left home at the age of 16 and traveled outside for three years. He had just completed his studies when he heard that a strange plague was raging in his hometown, and he could not get effective treatment. Gradually people started dying.

Of course he rushed back to his hometown immediately...

"Unfortunately," he said, "it's a bit late."

Although with the help of Alex, the plague was quickly brought under control, but he was still one step too late. He saved so many people, but he still failed to save his little brother.

"I have nothing else to do now." Alex said, "Occasionally I will go to see him in the forest."

Siddie: "No."

While listening to the story, he has been carefully scrutinizing Alex's various reactions.

He always felt that the bird-head man's voice was tense today, and his attitude was very unnatural. It had been like this since he first met him, and it didn't seem like it was because of Joshua.

It's a pity that the expressions are all covered under the beak mask, and he can't see anything more for the time being.

Xi Di simply squatted down opposite the epidemic doctor.

Alex finished talking about the past between himself and his younger brother, and was feeling sentimental, when he saw the young man leaning in front of him, his olive green eyes were clear and clean, almost looking directly into the depths of his soul.

He ducked back subconsciously: "What's wrong?"

Xidi touched her chin and asked directly: "Are you human?"

Alex really didn't expect Xidi to ask this, and was surprised for a while: "Of course I am!"

Sidi: "Then how do you prove it?"

Alex: "..."

what?

Sidi: "I haven't seen what you look like yet."

When in front of them, Alex always wore the plague doctor mask.

If you don't see it with your own eyes, who knows whether it's a human or a ghost under the mask?

Alex never imagined that one day he would have to explain something like this to someone: "I'm really human, alive."

"I won't lie to you," he said, "I wear this mask for some other reason, but the race thing—hey, not human, what am I?"

He added, "I wish... I wasn't human."

But why he thought so, he didn't say.

Xi Di nodded, seeming to accept the statement.

He didn't give Alex any room to breathe, and immediately jumped the topic: "Then you guess."

There was a boyish quality in the boy's voice, and he was smiling without any aggressiveness.

"Guess," he said, "what did we see out the window last night?"

Alex froze.

The epidemic doctor responded to Xidi's question quite naturally just now, but now he turned his head slowly as if frozen, his blue eyes fixed on the boy's face through two pieces of glass.

Sidi tilted her head and briskly pulled a small flower bud from the plant next to him.

Bryce stepped forward a little.

Alex's voice was light and ethereal: "See... what?"

Although through the mask, anyone can tell that his face under the beak mask must be very bad.

Xi Di understood: "So you have seen it too."

Alex remained motionless, subconsciously rubbing a wild flower in his hand: "I..."

He couldn't speak a sentence, but felt his throat was constricted, as if smoke had been poured in, choking him to cough uncontrollably.

Sidi: "That's your brother?"

He just guessed casually, and immediately got the answer from Alex's dilated pupils.

It turned out that the blond boy with the candlestick was Alex's younger brother.

Alex hurriedly turned his eyes away: "...um."

What is there to hide?That was Joshua, no matter how much he avoided it, he couldn't deny it.

Sheedy: "Then he—"

"Okay." Bryce, who had been standing behind the two of them, finally moved. He put his hands on Xidi's shoulders, took the little pervert who was playing too much, and reproached affectionately, "You Don't bully him."

Xidi protested dissatisfiedly: "I didn't."

What kind of bullying is this?He held back, and didn't stab the bird-headed man with a sickle to see if his blood was red.

The child is already very well behaved today.

Brice smiled at the stunned Alex: "He didn't mean anything."

Sidi didn't mean to upset anyone, he just... didn't understand.

The time that teenagers have been in contact with the real world is too short, and they are still in the observation stage of the human species, and it is too late to learn more communication skills with people.

Most of the time, he is actually just curious.

Alex couldn't answer.

Xi Di was hugged by him, blinked, and suddenly said, "I can teach you to weave wreaths."

The boy's attention jumped violently, and the focus of his attention had shifted from Joshua to the tattered wreath in the bird-headed man's hand.

He is the best at this, seeing the loose wreath is really not pleasing to the eye, so he suggested again: "Either I can make one for you - do you have any cookies?"

Alex couldn't keep up with his train of thought at all, and even forgot what happened before: "...Little biscuit?"

Xidi nodded seriously: "Give me a biscuit, and I'll help you make a beautiful wreath."

Very suitable exchange.

Alex: "...but I don't have cookies."

There is no one else in the city, and he doesn't know how to bake, so where can he get biscuits?

Xidi was a little disappointed, but she didn't show it, she lowered her shoulders: "Oh, okay."

Forget it.

When Alex was interrupted by them, his original emotions scattered like smoke, and it was difficult to gather them together.Thinking of how I looked just now, I was still a little dumbfounded for a while.

It has become a habit to avoid it for too long. In fact, if you think about it carefully, anyway, he has already decided to solve this matter quickly, so what is there for him to be afraid of?

It's... shameful.

After he figured it out, he stood up, patted the dust on his pants, and raised his head: "The house on the three-way road...you two should stay away from it."

He still didn't want to look directly into the eyes of the two of them, stared at the base of the wall, and pointed to the beautiful small building behind him: "The inside has also been cleaned up. If you still want to stay in this city, start today. Just live here."

Bryce: "Where is it?"

Alex: "My home."

The author says:

The brothers Alex and Joshua are named after Silent Hill: Homecoming.I'm not very good at taking foreign names...

Because of the delay in the past two days, I have to write [-] words a day from today orz

Let me ask, if the next chapter is a long story, do you want to read soft sci-fi AI Gong x Thaw Shou, or do you want to watch martial arts alien leader x Central Plains Killer first?