[Crossing] Beacon Fire Dragon Line

Although he knew it was just a joke, Sheng Rui was really moved by it.

Only then did he realize that the idea of ​​"going to Germany" had always been so powerful in his mind that he was surprised by it.

Maybe, this is really a good opportunity...

He desperately resisted the tempting thought.Qi Han didn't want him to go to Germany, otherwise he would have taken him away five months ago.Now he managed to get a fairly stable life in Rome, no matter from which point of view, it is the best policy to continue to live like this.

So he just smiled and didn't answer.

The meal was over and we chatted for a while. Captain Monumanz looked at his watch: "Ah, it's already this time. I have worked hard for you this morning. I have arranged a room for you upstairs. Go and have a rest. I will send you back in the afternoon. Rome. If you want something, just say it."

Sheng Rui hesitated for a moment and said, "I'm sorry, there is indeed a small matter. If it doesn't bother you, can you arrange me in the room on the second floor at the end of the corridor? I think the view there must be very good."

Sheng Rui walked into the room where he used to be with Qi Han.

The furnishings in the house remained the same, but the light became brighter.The sun poured in like warm water, casting a semi-elliptical bright spot on the dark floor, and fine dust fluttered in the clear light.Standing in front of the window framed with white stone patterns, you can see the fan-shaped square in front of Santa Maria Cathedral in the east and the Nora Valley surrounded by green jade screens behind the city.

Sheng Rui lay down on the bed, turned sideways and faced the wall.

Pillows, quilts, a faint smell of tobacco, and creaking bed boards.Everything is the same as then.

Except, that person is missing.

Put your palm on the half of the sheet that Qi Han used to lie on.After five months, it seems that there is still a slightly warm body temperature, like a ray of clear fragrance that seems to be gone.

After lying quietly for a while, he suddenly noticed something: at the edge of the bed near the corner of the bed, a piece of wood was missing due to years of wear and tear, forming a vertical groove.Inside, there seemed to be something that looked like a folded piece of paper.

Sheng Rui took out the pen in his pocket.Because he is working as an accountant, he always carries a pen with him, ready to keep accounts at any time.

He pried the thing out with the tip of his pen.It is indeed a folded piece of paper. When I unfold it, there is a paragraph in English written on it: (Excerpted from "Italian Scenery", Dickens)

Among the austere streets, in the majestic Qiong Loujie Pavilion, the flame lit by the sky is still burning... and the nameless Florentine woman is immortalized by the painter, keeping her youth and beauty forever .

Spoleto, February [-]

This passage was written in blue ink, neatly and neatly, one stroke at a time. In the sentence "kindled by rays from heaven", the word rays is crossed out with a pencil and Ray is written in the same handwriting.There are also some dots and lines lightly traced by a pencil on the back of the paper, as if they were drawn on by accident.

February [-] was before Qi Han went to Rome.

"Before arriving in Rome, I had a premonition." Qi Han once said so.

It turned out that this was the premonition he was talking about.

Sheng Rui stood in the middle of the room, imagining the scene of Qi Han at that time——

He had just arrived from Florence that day and was probably a little disappointed that he hadn't gotten anything.Soon he was going to leave for Rome, which would be his last stop in Italy.

He may have wandered around the room for a few times, and then turned around and sat at the small table next to the bed, flipping through a book, which happened to be "Landscapes of Italy" by the British writer Charles Dickens.Maybe he got the book from the library, or maybe he got it from somewhere else.

When he read the description of Florence at the end, he suddenly had a strange premonition that he would encounter something in Rome.This feeling prompted him to take a piece of paper, copy the text on it, and mark the date.

He may have hesitated for a moment after that, wondering what to do with the useless piece of paper.He didn't need to take it with him, nor did he want to just throw it away.Then, probably by accident, he found this little recess just enough to hold the stacked pieces of paper.So he left it there.Even if someone finds out, it doesn't matter, it's just an excerpt from a book, anyone can read it.

Then, he went to Rome.

Those pencil writings should have been written the night he brought Sheng Rui back here.Probably before going to sleep, he found this note stuffed in the bed, reread the above passage, and changed rays to Ray.

Rayfromheaven, Ray from the sky, a beam of light from the universe.

Then, probably out of habit, he casually left a string of dots and lines on the back of the paper.

Take point as 0 and line as 1.

01010010, 01100001, 01111001.

Replace it with the corresponding letter of ASCII code, R, a, y.

Then, Sheng Rui knocked on his door.

Everything is like destiny.

We know something before it happens, we just don't know that we know it.

Sheng Rui couldn't help but think of Qi Han's last words in this room that day: "After that, it doesn't matter what happens."

At that time, what was he really trying to say?And what was the meaning of that strange look that flashed across his face?

Why did he mention the topic of life so abruptly when they were about to part outside Florence?

Sheng Rui sat up suddenly.An ominous feeling seized him.

The war is over in a year.During the Battle of Berlin, almost all the foreign SS troops were wiped out, and the few survivors were severely tried in military courts.

Of course, Qi Han also knew about these things.Since he has chosen the same path as them, there will be no end beyond them.

And he didn't intend to escape such an ending, seeing it as the punishment he deserved.

So he couldn't agree to Sheng Rui's request to "be together".Greta isn't the only reason.

In that daffodil field, he suddenly mentioned life because he was thinking about his own inevitable death a year later.

"...As long as it is taken away, you can go back, whether I am there or not."

"...we are all in a larger program, and maybe one day, we will meet somewhere."

That flashing expression was pain.

He is saying goodbye to Sheng Rui in his own way.It's like he secretly hid the little secret phrase Rayfromheaven here, and Sheng Rui could only understand it after he had already left.

asshole.

This guy is actually such a bastard who made all the arrangements on his own but didn't let him know the answer until the end.

How could he allow him to do this.

If you are not sure about some wishes, then let me make them come true.

If you cannot stay with me, then let me come to you.

Without the slightest hesitation, Sheng Rui found Captain Monumanci.

"Captain, can you let me be a cultural relic soldier?" He asked bluntly.

"Oh, oh." The captain was a little baffled by his sudden question, and habitually tugged on the triangular scarf: "It's okay, but why are you so sudden..."

"Please. I need this status very much."

After realizing that Sheng Rui was not joking, the captain's face became serious.

"Ray, as far as I am concerned, of course I really hope that someone as capable as you will join in. But from your standpoint, this is not a good choice. War is not a game, and you can't quit at any time, and there is no A way to ensure safety. In fact, two of my colleagues have died in Naples. Please think about it."

This so-called "cultural relic soldier" is actually not a regular soldier.If it is barely divided, it can only be classified as combat service support.If the U.S. Army is compared to a company, then the cultural relic soldiers are the employees of the outsourcing company. Although they wear the same uniform, they have no establishment and are temporary workers.

But that doesn't mean that someone in this role can hide in a safe backyard.On the contrary, because of the rescue of cultural relics, these "temporary workers" must run to the most dangerous frontier positions like the regular army and walk through the flames of war.

Sheng Rui is not ignorant of these things.

He raised his head, looked directly into the captain's eyes, and said firmly:

"Believe me, I didn't come here on a whim. It's hard to explain, but I have reasons for doing this. I must go to Germany, just as you must come here from New York."

"Unjenesaisquoi"

"Yes."

The captain nodded: "I understand. When you return to Rome, you can wait for my news."

Captain Monumanz was efficient.More than a week later, Sheng Rui received the application notice.He will undergo two months of training in a temporary boot camp before heading north to the Western Front.

He briefly dealt with various affairs, resigned from his job as an accounting assistant, and returned the rented residence.Except for a small amount of daily necessities, he took almost nothing.

Before leaving, he made another trip to the Pantheon to bid farewell to Father Padreio.He gave the priest a letter: "If one day, the person who worked here with me comes back here, please pass this on to him."

The letter was written in Chinese and briefly explained the situation.In case Qi Han came back to Rome to look for him one day, he would know where he went and why he went.

As the car drove him out of Rome, he felt a little sad.The city now holds multiple meanings for him, the place where each new life begins for him.

——If you come back here one day in the future, what kind of self will you be?

Thinking this way, he watched Pincho Mountain and the Tiber River go away in his field of vision.