[Crossing] Beacon Fire Dragon Line

Qi Han opened the door.

"Is something wrong?"

"Can't sleep, there's a sound from the wall." Sheng Rui pointed in the direction of his room.

"There's a gable over there, and there's no one there."

"That's why it's scary. Can I sleep with you?"

Qi Han hesitated a little and agreed.One of the nice things about getting along with him is that he never gets to the bottom of other people's motives.You explain it like this, and he accepts it like this, even if the reason doesn't sound very reasonable.

This is Qi Han's thoughtfulness, but it may also be because he has no curiosity about others.

The two of them squeezed side by side on the small single bed, talking a few words to each other.When tucking in the quilt, Sheng Rui's fingertips inadvertently touched the corner of a page under the pillow.

...Is it a letter?

He suddenly remembered the letter from Germany.That perfume smell.That woman's name.that nickname.

"Who is Greta?"

Qi Han didn't follow his train of thought, obviously he didn't expect why this topic popped up suddenly.He didn't answer.

Sheng Rui couldn't see his expression, and didn't know if he was thinking or didn't intend to answer at all.

Such a reaction subtly stimulated Sheng Rui.

In the past, Sheng Qinglan used to say that Sheng Rui was a Siamese cat, elegant, cheerful, outgoing, and possessive.

Driven by a strange emotion, he made a move that surprised himself a little: hugged Qi Han, and pressed his head to his shoulder, as if to let a dog remember its owner's smell .

Qi Han tried to break free.But this bed is very hateful, it creaks and creaks when it is moved.

"Hush, shush." ​​Sheng Rui whispered like coaxing a child, "Be good, be honest. Do you want to be discovered?"

"..."

The footsteps of night guards could be heard in the corridor, and the beam of the flashlight penetrated under the crack of the door, wandering left and right.

The two held their breath, waiting for the guard to walk away.

The rational part of Sheng Rui's brain was deeply surprised by what was happening right now.He clearly knew that there was a nest of SS troops stationed here, and he also clearly knew the bloodshed of the "Night of the Long Knives": that early morning in Munich at the end of June [-], the SS firing squad rushed into the Hansel Bar Hotel like a whirlwind , bloodbathed the stormtroopers, and the "crime" was exactly the same as the reason why King Philip IV of France exterminated the Knights Templar.

Not only are they alone and widowed in the same room at midnight, but they are also close to each other in such a close-to-hugging posture. If someone finds out, both of them will probably be arrested and beaten.

However, the more he took the risk of playing with fire, the more inexplicable excitement arose in the irrational part of his brain.Perhaps it is true as the saying goes, men need two things, danger and games.

The footsteps of the night watchmen faded away.The two still didn't speak, neither moved, listening to each other's breathing.The stream of time murmurs in the darkness.

I don't know if Qi Han fell asleep afterwards, but Sheng Rui didn't feel sleepy at all.Just staring at the void in the dark all night until morning came.

There was activity in the corridor, and the doors opened and closed far and near.From somewhere downstairs, there was a vague noise similar to that of a large dining hall preparing to start a business, with pots and pans clanging, footsteps coming and going busily, and it seemed that someone had said "Eier (egg)" several times.After all, this is a logistics camp, and the atmosphere of life is relatively strong.This more or less gave Sheng Rui a little relief - after all, they are also human beings.

Sensing the movement of the person next to him, Sheng Rui quickly closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.

Qi Han got up quietly in the dark, lit a dimly lit lamp, and suddenly cursed "Scheie" in a low voice.Not to scold Sheng Rui, but to his uniform.Because he had been lying naked all night, his coat was so wrinkled that he couldn't look straight at it.

The German army has extremely strict uniform regulations, and many officers often dare not even sit down because they are afraid of wrinkling their uniforms.If you go out happily with such ruffles, the consequences will be very sad.

He put his coat on the chair, opened the cabinet in the corner, and took out a neatly folded black uniform.

When he first joined the SS, due to shortage of supplies, he was assigned a set of SS M32 uniforms worn by others.Later, a new one came out, and this set was not taken back.Although it is stipulated that the old uniform should no longer be worn, he only has two sets of M40s, and that one was sent to be laundered yesterday, but he has not yet retrieved it.

He doesn't like M32.This black and single shoulder strap reminds him of the uniform and X logo of the "Deep Space Knights".Sometimes he feels that he is like a ghost who does not know that he is dead, but is still faithfully performing the unfinished tasks of his life.

Perhaps, that is indeed already a thing of the past.

Sheng Rui listened to Qi Han walking around the room.Not long after, the door was gently closed, and the lock spring caught with a "click".The corridor outside has become silent again at some point, as if those people who were still active on this floor just now disappeared somewhere in an instant.

Sheng Rui hurriedly got up and made the bed, lest someone suddenly come in for a sanitation inspection or something.

The quilt and mattress were all made up. After hesitating for a moment, he lifted the pillow and glanced at the paper underneath.

It's not that I want to peek at the content, but I just want to confirm whether it is a letter or not.The thing that was still pressed under the pillow when sleeping must be something that Qi Han cares about very, very much.

To his surprise, it was not German letterhead, but two manuscript papers.One is transcribed in Latin, and the other is densely packed with 0s and 1s, which looks a lot like ASCII code.

……what is this?

He put the pillow back, took a look at the uniform on the chair, spread it on the table, boiled a box of boiling water with a military lunch box, and used the bottom of the box as an iron, trying to iron out the wrinkles bit by bit. pleats.

Qi Han came back soon and brought him breakfast.Bread, fried eggs, mashed potatoes, and a cup of hot milk.

Just like yesterday, he still sat by and watched him eat, but today he looked a little strange because of his black uniform.

If he had been silent like this, he might have remembered the embarrassment of last night.

Sheng Rui tried to start a topic: "When I was making the bed, I saw the manuscript paper under the pillow. Are those numbers ASCII?"

Qi Han nodded.After a second, he said as if he suddenly remembered that he should explain a few more sentences: "My memory can only input 0 and 1, so I have to convert letters into binary codes." He pointed to his chest through his clothes pendant.One of the functions of that cross-like thing is a reader.

"You can let me help you."

"It's okay, it's finished." He walked to the bed, took out the thin paper pages from under the pillow, and twisted them with his hands as if cherishing them: "Speaking of it, it's thanks to you. This is in Rome. found."

Sheng Rui suddenly remembered that one day Qi Han had taken away a manuscript overnight, saying that it needed to be repaired.

"Is this the Latin for "Le"?"

"Yes."

Sheng Rui turned over carefully.He could not understand Latin, but only a few roots from Italian.

How amazing.He heard that "Le" was still in Chinese class in middle school, and the teacher explained to everyone what the Six Classics were.At that time, he never thought that his life would one day intersect with it in this way.

He glanced at the sheets of paper filled with binary characters again, "Speaking of which, your reading and writing equipment is too primitive. It can jump in time and space, and you can only input data with 0 and 1?" Shouldn't it be a [-]D scan Something like high technology?

"That's why I can't go back. Something happened to my equipment."

Two years ago, on the night of May 31 in Cologne, he had finally escaped the bombing for a while, and had the opportunity to inspect the equipment, which had been tampered with.

It's like when you open the host computer and find that there is no circuit board inside, only an abacus.

Of course, calculations can also be done with an abacus.However, the amount of computation needed to open the space-time link is extremely huge, and it is impossible for him to complete it in his lifetime, and of course it is impossible to go back.

Someone used this "abacus" to send him a message: don't come back.

He could think of who that person was, and he could also think of why that person did what he did.But there's no need to tell Sheng Rui these things, it won't help the matter, and I'm afraid it will add to his troubles.

Sheng Rui had no way of knowing these thoughts in his mind.What he saw was that after Qi Han said a word, he fell silent again, and the atmosphere became dull again like before dinner yesterday.

This dullness made him very uncomfortable.

Last night, there was a moment when Sheng Rui felt that he was about to pry Qi Han away and touch his warm soul.His soul was a frightening little thing, like a soft animal.It hides fearfully in this body that has been trained to be extremely powerful, not daring to be exposed to the sight of the world, facing the person who wants to knock on the door with both longing and fear.

But once that opportunity passed, Qi Han turned into a tightly closed shell again.

After he had finished his breakfast, Qi Han said, "I have received a new car, and we will leave for Florence in the afternoon."

"Oh."

"Besides, I will leave after I send you off."

"What?" Sheng Rui thought he heard it wrong, "Where are you going?"

"Back to Germany."

"Aren't you going to Florence too?"

"Already been there. Rome is my last stop in Italy, and my term abroad is over."

Sheng Rui was stunned in astonishment.

He thought it would be the beginning when he arrived in Florence, but he didn't expect that the parting came so quickly, so fast that he was caught off guard.

He was suddenly annoyed.Every time, every time.The bastard made all the arrangements without saying a word, but never told him until the end.

He suddenly remembered that he didn't even know why he would go through such an important thing.With this bastard's pissing nature, is he going to wait until the last minute before parting before explaining in one or two sentences hastily?

How could he allow him to do this.

Sheng Rui pushed away the things in front of him, freeing up a tabletop.

"Hey, while there is still time, play a game of 'truth' with me."

☆、Future Chapter: Book of Lost Objects

〖The oldest stories wake up from their slumber, they seek a place to grow. …the time will come soon, when he will enter that place and finally face all that is inside. ——"Book of Lost Things"〗The news of the failure of the leap was learned by Chi Caifan the next morning.

There have been many mission failures in the past, but it was because the jumpers didn't find what they were looking for, not because people were lost.As a result, this matter has become a hot topic, and many people are discussing it.

She couldn't care about anything anymore, and ran to Xue Yuan to ask for news with a pale face.

Xue Yuan was in a large office full of people, his clothes were disheveled and his eyes were red because of investigating the cause of the accident all night.Seeing her, he hesitated for a moment, pulled her to a corner with people behind him, and briefly explained the situation.

"Caifan, this accident was man-made." He said meaningfully, "Someone tampered with the equipment."

Seeing Xue Yuan's complicated eyes, Chi Caifan understood.

Not everyone can do it in such an important project.It is impossible for someone to be so bold without the surreptitious authorization of some high-level figures.

As for the so-called "certain high-level figures", she could think of only one person.

Without saying a word, she turned and ran to Chi Xin's office.

Chi Xin seemed to have been waiting for her to question her, and readily admitted.Not only the equipment, but even Qi Han's arrival at that time and place was not an accident.Chi Xin changed the algorithm of the program and chose the place with the highest entropy as the initial position.Even if Qi Han didn't go to Cologne in the Night of Thousand Opportunities, he would appear in other similar places—there are too many chaotic places in the war.

"Why?!" Chi Caifan screamed in despair.Father should be the last person who wants to see this kind of thing happen again.

Chi Xin paced back and forth slowly in front of the desk: "Cai Fan, there is one thing you must understand, I didn't do this against him. Do you think I forgot about Xiaoyue? Faced with this situation, I am more than you It hurts even more! But I must stop that damned Endymion plan, and I can't throw three hundred of the best talents into space for nothing and suffer unnecessary sacrifices."

At first, Chi Caifan didn't realize what this had to do with the Endymion plan.

But after seeing the signed book, she understood everything.

The [-] technical elites that Endymion plans to take away are all Chi Xin's favorite subordinates.So Chi Xin wanted to prevent this from happening no matter what, he chose Qi Han as a pawn.

Originally, Qi Han should have learned about Endymion's plan after returning from the leap, but Chi Xin deliberately told him in advance.In this way, Qi Han's disappearance was suspected of deliberately defecting.

After this incident is revealed, the risk of the Endymion plan will definitely arouse public doubts again—these [-] people will go to space in the future, far away from the constraints of human beings, will they be loyal to the tasks given to them by human beings? ?

Under the pressure of public opinion, the Endymion plan had to be temporarily shelved, and the committee was reorganized to assess the risks.

No wonder the name of this plan is "Li Le Jie Dong".Chi Xin knew from the very beginning that the executor would never return.

"I will take the blame and resign. Cai Fan, forgive Dad." Chi Xin sighed heavily, took off his glasses, as if he had aged a lot in an instant: "You should have heard of the moral dilemma of that 'train switchman'. There is one person on the left of a railway track and ten people on the right. If you were a switchman and could only tell the train to go left or right, and there was no third choice, what would you do?

"For me, the answer to this question is simple: let the train go left, kill that one person, save those ten people. But after that, I also have to pay for killing that one person .”

Chi Caifan desperately shook her head, "But that person should also have the right to choose his own destiny!"

"Choose? Who will protect his right to choose? You?" Chi Xin suddenly raised her voice, "If you could do it, you would have done it instead of coming to me to cry. Do you remember, you That story I used to tell you when you were a kid?

"A wild dog, who had a good life, was lonely, but he didn't feel lonely. A girl took pity on it, gave it food, petted it. Then the girl moved away, and the wild dog couldn't find her. It Knowing what love is and what loneliness is, it began to suffer, howling every day, and was finally beaten to death by the villagers.

"Obviously not capable of giving all the time, but also self-righteous and promiscuous, thinking that he is noble. Do you know how I define such a person? — Hypocrisy! Outright hypocrisy!

"Think about it, if you bring him back, let him know what love is, and then send him to a thousand years later, do you think he can bear that kind of loneliness? Do you think he can still live Go down? Then, what is the difference between you and the hypocritical girl in the story? Are you going to be such a shameful hypocrite? Huh?"

"I...I'm not..." Chi Caifan spoke incoherently.Ever since she was a child, she had never won a debate with her father.

Chi Xin let out a long sigh, and resumed his gentle tone: "Don't worry too much. I sent a message to that child, telling him that he doesn't have to come back."

With Qi Han's intelligence, once he sees that "abacus", he will understand everything.

"He can freely start a new life in that time and space. Maybe it's better for him, instead of being like your brother."

"But……"

"You don't have to go to work today, go home early to rest and adjust yourself. Go." Chi Xin waved her hand.

Chi Caifan was stunned for a moment, wiped away her tears, and regained her composure. "Dad, you're right. I won't cry anymore."

As soon as she left, Chi Xin immediately picked up the phone and dialed a number: "Ivan, come to my place right away, I have something to tell you."

A few minutes later, Xue Yuan appeared in his office.

"Minister, are you looking for me?" Xue Yuan carefully observed his words.

"Oh, sit down." Chi Xin kindly pointed to the chair opposite the desk, "Did you hand in the accident report?"

"Not yet." Xue Yuan couldn't help but feel his scalp tighten.To submit the accident report, it must be signed and authorized by Chi Xin.Chi Xin was asking the question knowingly.

Chi Xin said earnestly: "Ivan, if you make such a big mistake, you are very clear about what responsibility you will bear as a commander."

"..." Xue Yuan sat upright, motionless.

"Originally, you were the one who was supposed to perform the leap mission. To be honest, I'm very glad that's the way it is now. It's not that I don't like that kid, he's very capable, no matter how difficult the mission is, he can complete it .But he's so used to getting things done that he loses his sense of fulfillment and desire for success. So he can only be a good staffer, and you're very likely to be a great leader."

Chi Xin slowed down her speech and said meaningfully: "Ivan, I'm old, and I won't sit in this position for long. However, I still have the ability to push you to the position you want Come on. This office, I must put in the hands of someone who can put me at ease. And my daughter too. Hans is a very reliable and good boy, but he is not coming back. Someone who can be counted on in the future, You're the only one, I think. Go and comfort the girl. She needs someone to accompany her right now."

"Yes."

It wasn't until he was far away from the office that Xue Yuan took out a tissue and wiped off the cold sweat on his palms.Chi Xin's words were impeccable, and even if they were recorded, all he could hear was concern for his subordinates.And what he wanted Xue Yuan to understand had already been conveyed - it would be good for everyone to conceal the real reason.

Finding a place where no one was around, Xue Yuan lit a cigarette.

It is well known that he and Qi Han are rivals with a tense relationship.

But few people know that they also had a period of almost friends in their teenage years, although it was very brief.

He still remembers their last heart-to-heart conversation.It was many years ago, and one night, forgetting why, both of them missed the opening time of the restaurant.Xue Yuan never took discipline seriously. After the lights were turned off, he took Qi Han to sneak out from the back wall of the school dormitory for supper.

Looking back later, it was the most delicate period of the relationship between the two people-the friendship had been cracked due to various competitions, but both parties were trying to repair it.Such is the case with safety glass that has cracked from the center but is still tightly bonded.

At that time, the climate was not as hopeless as it is now, and winter was still more like winter, and Orion was as crystal clear as a diamond.

At that time, Qi Han was thirteen or fourteen years old just like him, and he had not yet fully grown up. He had a delicate face like a girl, with a small pointed chin hidden in a scarf, and his dark green eyes were extraordinarily large.

At that time, the leap and the Endymion project were just buzzwords on the Internet for them, and they never thought that one day they would become destiny.

"Do you think it's really possible to get it back? Like "Book of Lost Things"?" Qi Han asked, his eyes sparkling with curiosity.

John Connolly's "Book of Lost Things" was their English class textbook at that time.Xue Yuan didn't quite understand that messy and murderous story. He only knew that it was about a young boy who entered the dark fairy tale world during World War II to find a book called "Book of Lost Things". Once he found it, he could retrieve everything he had lost. ——It is said so.Although the ending seems to be something else.

"I don't know." Xue Yuan ran a few steps and made a shooting posture, then turned around and faced Qi Han: "Hans, do you know what your biggest problem is? I lost things, but I never cared about what I was missing. The girl who was with you on doubledate called me back last time," he squeezed his voice to imitate the girl's tone, "Although she looks good, she is too It's boring, I can't talk about it at all."

"I didn't become like this because I like it. It's probably bad luck." Qi Han said.At that time, he would still defend himself unconvinced, instead of accepting everything with silence forever as he did later.But his level of persistence is exactly the same as later, even though he was interrupted a lot, he still doesn't forget the question he asked before: "—Tell me, can I really get it back?"

This time Xue Yuan thought about it seriously. "Maybe somewhere, time doesn't exist and all causality is reversible. Nothing is lost and everyone is happy. Unfortunately, I'm sure we're not there."

Both of them fell silent.

When he walked to an all-night study building, Xue Yuan suddenly asked: "Hey, Hans, do you know why I chose you as my friend?"

Qi Han shook his head.Xue Yuan was not in the same class as him, and they never knew each other.One day Xue Yuan suddenly ran up to him and knocked on the table: "Hey, let's go have lunch together." That's how they became friends out of nowhere.

"Have you lived in No. [-] dormitory before? The northeast corner of the first floor, the room closest to the flower bed." Xue Yuan raised his hand and pointed.

Building No. [-] is the famous "Eternal Light Building" in the school. It is allowed to keep the lights on, but the conditions are very poor. Only three kinds of people will live there: those who are preparing to take the exam, crazy people, and academic bullies.

At that time Xue Yuan had to step on the flower bed as a stepping foot every night when he climbed over the wall to go out and come back.So for a whole semester, every night late at night, he would see that the window facing the flower bed was lit, and a boy with a beautiful face was reading.

In the mountains, I read until late at night.Go south in winter.

One day he found that the lamp was missing, and he fell down because of absent-mindedness when climbing over the wall.After he came out of the hospital, he found out Qi Han's name and went to his class to meet him. ——Even after being estranged from Qi Han, he often recalled this past event.A friend is like the light at the window, which is used for remembrance and comfort in the long and lonely years in the future.Although that person has long been different from the original, the feeling in that memory is always the same.

"I can always find the most worthy people at a glance, just like finding gold in the sand at a glance. But I don't know how to hold the gold firmly in my hand. This is my biggest problem." Xue Yuan said.

When he said these words, he had a clear premonition that the friendship between him and Qi Han might never be restored.As for the reason, he is still unclear to this day.There had never been anything of noteworthy happening between them, not a single one.However, the friendship is getting weaker and weaker irretrievably, and there is no possibility of recovery.It seems that there is something obscure and sinister hidden in the peaceful daily life, which damages and obliterates people's love.

The relationship between them has always maintained a jerky embryonic form, and before they have time to wait for the day when they are soft to each other, they have lost the soil on which to grow.Like a specimen, compared with the mature and round present he has, it also reminds him of the green and real past that he has lost.

This irreversibility is the tragedy of life.

But occasionally he couldn't help thinking: What would have happened if he had tried harder to recover?

The vibration of the incoming call awakened Xue Yuan from his memories.Only then did he notice that the cigarette had turned into a long ash between his fingers, burning all the way to the filter.

He put out his cigarette butt on the window sill and picked up the phone.

"Hello?—I'm going to find you too. Well, I think we're going to talk about the same thing." He paused, "Now the only ones who can get him back are you and me, Pick up."

The author has something to say: Xue Yuan's role is temporarily over here, and he will not appear again until the end is coming to an end ^o^

Just to clarify, in this article 1v1, Xue Yuan and Qi Han are just friends and have no other relationship~~~ But he is related to Qi Han's final ending, everyone remembers this character.