[Crossing] Beacon Fire Dragon Line

Two stars, the rank of sergeant in the SS.

This rank is not high, but the SS is a secret service agency, and ordinary officers and soldiers of the Wehrmacht are afraid of them.So the trip out of the city went smoothly, and no one questioned me.

After leaving the city, they took the path in the mountains.

Most of the surrounding roads were destroyed or blocked.After the Battle of Cassino, the Germans thought that the Allied forces would hit Rome in a few minutes, and they hurriedly demolished the roads and erected obstacles to avoid being followed when they retreated-although this kind of thing happened later.

The route of their trip was to ride north to Terni, where they changed cars, then went north to Spoleto, then went northwest all the way across Umbria into Tuscany, and finally Arrive in Florence.

If we compare China's geographical location, it is a bit like going from Hangzhou to Hefei, first riding a horse to Huzhou, then to Wuxi, and then diagonally crossing Jiangsu and entering Anhui.

It was a bit of a long way to go this way, but Sheng Rui dared to raise an objection.

Among the Apennine Mountains, the vegetation is green and pleasant, and the air carries the rich fragrance of soil and the melodious singing of forest birds.It is quite pleasant to hike leisurely here in peacetime.

However, Sheng Rui did not have such a leisurely mood.He carefully kept a horse's distance from the person in front of him.

If the German SS can barely be said to have been trained to become demons, then these foreign SS volunteers have voluntarily sold their souls and turned into demons.The world condemns them all the more, because they have no reason to justify themselves.

At the end of the war, their ending was mostly tragic.

Sheng Rui sighed secretly.

Why, this person must have this identity.

From the moment he saw Luger P08 on the opponent's belt, he changed his code name from "Xiaomo" to "08".The SS is like a machine, as long as it has a number, it is enough.

Having said that, what is this guy doing for spending so much time as a volunteer at the Pantheon?It's hard to think of it as enthusiasm.

When he noticed the light blue stripes on the opponent's epaulets representing logistical transportation, Sheng Rui thought of a possible explanation: there are some special organizations in the SS Army that are responsible for transporting looted cultural relics in the occupied areas.For example, there was a Sonderkommando Künsberg (Sonderkommando Künsberg) that did exactly that.

This behavior is always godly 08, and [-]% of them also obey such an organization.That's why the timing was calculated just right, and they appeared in the Pantheon just when the last batch of books arrived. I'm afraid they have been observing secretly for a long time.

Sheng Rui hated this assumption, but the SS uniform made him unable to convince himself to trust the other party.He once watched a movie "The Village Under the Iron Heel" about the Machabuto massacre. In it, the SS officer shot the villagers with a machine gun one minute, and picked up a wounded woman from the pile of corpses in the next minute. He came out to give careful treatment, and then shot and killed a crying child with a pistol in the next minute.

Who can guarantee that this seemingly kind-hearted sergeant in front of him will not suddenly turn into a ferocious demon at a certain moment?

Sheng Rui thought to himself, when we got to Terni, we'd better find a way to get rid of this guy.

In addition to not wanting to be involved with the SS, there is some kind of deeper reason——

Don't want to give myself a chance to discover the evil side of 08.

At least, the man had shown him tender kindness during his brief time with the Pantheon.

He would rather believe that it was from the heart.

The whole journey was extremely dull, and both of them were silent.

The terrain in the mountains is rugged and complicated. They walked very slowly, and they arrived at the junction of Lazio and Umbria in the evening, which is more than 20 kilometers away from Terni.The road was difficult to walk at night, so they stayed here overnight.

08 tied up the horse and took off the bulging backpack.A bundle of camouflage canvas rolls was strapped to the pack, fastened tightly with gear straps.He untied it and spread it into several triangular pieces of tent cloth, chose a flat place to lay ground nails, and pulled up the windproof rope.

Sheng Rui didn't expect to need to sleep in the open, and he didn't even bring a bed sheet. 08 was so busy that he had nothing to do, so he just sat aside.

In the western sky, the distant silhouette of Mount Sabine is surrounded by a round and full ball of light.Golden yellow, rose red, indigo and dark purple are splashed sequentially from bottom to top, like a burning stained glass.

It was the first time he saw such a wanton sunset.In his memory, the sunset has always been cut into small and dim puzzles by tall buildings and vast buildings, fading weakly in the long river of advertising screens and car taillights.

Excited, he couldn't help turning his head and shouting, "Look, look."

At this moment, he doesn't care who he is at all, he just wants someone to bear such a grand beauty together.

08 got down on one knee and fastened the camouflage canvas pieces together with buttons.Hearing Sheng Rui's greeting, he looked up at the sky.The setting sun added a soft edge to his silhouette, and even the SS uniform was a bit less sinister.

For a moment, Sheng Rui suddenly wanted to believe: in front of such a gentle light of the universe, there is nothing incomprehensible or unforgivable in the world.No matter how different the identities of two people are, they are just one living being and another living being.

——If, if the relationship between people was so simple, how wonderful it would be.

After the last light in the sky also disappeared, the night really began.

The night in the mountains is so pure that it is unimaginable for those who are used to the lights of the city.It was squeezed in all directions like thick ink, and the vast space around it seemed to collapse into an airtight box.

However, once the naked eye got used to the darkness, a very wonderful thing happened: on the originally empty pitch-black sky, stars began to appear one by one, like people throwing rice.Before you know it, the sky is already full of brilliance.A star-gazing friend once told Sheng Rui about this experience, saying that the process of creating something from nothing is simply wonderful.You can't experience it until you see it with your own eyes.

With the emergence of the starry sky, the moisture and chill in the mountains also gradually rise, creeping into the skin through the thin clothing.It was only then that Sheng Rui recalled the misery of reality depressingly.He was wondering if he would be sore tomorrow if he just lay down on the spot, 08 came over and kicked him: "Get up, go to the tent."

"I...I'll just sleep here." For some reason, a few images of "Brokeback Mountain" flashed in my mind: mountain, night, tent, uh.

But 08 persevered.This guy seemed surprisingly stubborn. Judging by his posture, if Sheng Rui couldn't resist, he could probably just kick him like this for a whole night.

alright, you win.

Sheng Rui got up and got into the tent.

The space inside was pyramid-shaped, and the ground about two meters square was covered with moisture-proof cloth and thick military blankets, which was surprisingly soft to lie on.

Perhaps because he knew he was afraid of the dark, he placed a small flashlight in a corner, covered it with a blanket, and emitted a small fuzzy, dim, warm light.The brightness is very faint and cannot be seen from the outside of the tent.

Cover the blanket and close the curtains, and this becomes a portable space that blocks out the darkness, cold and moisture of the whole world.

Sheng Rui glanced in the direction of 08 with a little emotion.A guy who looks so cool is unexpectedly quite homely.

The place is spacious, but Sheng Rui consciously curled up in the corner.He decided to turn his back to 08 all night and never look back no matter what.

He heard 08 walking outside the tent.The grass rustled and the horses whined.

After a while, it became quiet outside.

--Eh?

Where did that guy go?

After waiting for a while, Sheng Rui couldn't help but lift the curtain, and looked out with his head.

Through the starlight, 08 tied a hammock between two trees a few meters away, so he could see where the tent and the horses were at the same time.The hammock is simply made of a few equipment straps, and it will fall if you turn over a little, but the people on it don't seem to be bothered by it at all.The sleeping posture reminded Sheng Rui of a sculpture: "Sleeping Endymion" by Antonio Canova.

He had drawn a copy of it when he was learning to sketch.It has elegant lines and a moving luster, but perhaps because he knew it was the last work of the sculptor, he always felt that there was a breath of death in it.The young man sleeping peacefully is not so much Endymion, but more like a lover who is determined to die for love, willing to love and die to come.

But the body in front of him is alive, and every line is breathing freshly.With outstretched arms and a slightly sideways posture, on such a night, there is a different kind of languid style.

Can't look away.

Time is mixed with the fragrance of grass, blown away gently by the breeze.The laurel trees stand still, the goose-ear oaks stand tall, and the bright galaxy across the sky moves westward silently.

Although he knew that the timing and position were wrong, there was an undeniable fact that jumped out of his mind once again on his own initiative——

This person is really beautiful.

That kind of beauty is not only the perception, but also a quiet atmosphere.

Just like...

like a flower.

Flowers that emit a pure fragrance even when they cannot be seen.

Suddenly there was a slight movement from where the horse was tied.Sheng Rui came back to his senses, curled up and peeked in that direction.There are no wild animals in this barren mountain, right?

Before he could react, the man on the hammock sat up silently, like an alert German Shepherd.It seems that there are two pointed ears staggered on the top of his head, one behind the other, searching in all directions like a radar.

After a while, the guy lay down again.

Sheng Rui didn't worry about anything anymore, he went back into the tent, covered his head and fell asleep.

When I woke up again, it was morning.

When I stepped out of the tent, I saw dew everywhere.If he had just slept on the ground last night, it would be the same as if he had just been fished out of the river.

After a simple breakfast, the two rode on their horses and continued on their way.

After walking for an hour, the lingering morning fog gradually dissipated and the field of vision became wider.A flat land looms in the valley in the distance, and the city in it has an ethereal outline.Surrounded by two converging rivers, it is like two lightly stained smoke traces on an oil painting.

Terney, it's almost here.