Vincent remembers his excitement when he got out of the bar that day. That was the first time in the three years since he tracked down the Chinese Language Club that he had achieved tangible results. Many times to do something, often only need some breakthroughs, after finding these breakthroughs, the remaining clues will be quickly connected, and then many problems will be solved.

But Vincent never forgot the principle of prudence. He understands that these people are not ordinary human beings, they possess abilities beyond common sense and imagination, and can make all educated people doubt whether the knowledge in books is really true. Over the past three years, Vincent has slowly come into contact with that world, learned about xenos, and learned that there are many unimaginable supernatural powers in the world. He set up a paranormal laboratory in the hope of being able to explain these things scientifically, but he had no hope in his heart, just as he had stolen the metallic liquid that his family business was developing and injected into his body three years ago in desperation. Graduated from the University of Science and Technology of China, of course, he knew the consequences of doing so - absolute death, full of painful death.

He just didn't want to live anymore.

He didn't expect that even if he gave his life an absolute judgment, life would still be willing to give him a second chance. Late that night he suddenly woke up from his rented apartment alone, gasping for air, only to be surprised to find that he was still alive.

How could it be? Inject liquid metal into his veins, he would have died anyway, how could he come back to life?

He couldn't figure it out. He sat in his apartment bed for more than four hours, until the morning light was faint and dawn broke, and the golden-red light streamed through the window into the room. He could see the dust in the air flying, see the gas he exhaled turn into drops of mist, and even see the cherry blossoms fall in the air and then dissipate. The golden-red light slowly drifted down the air, on the bed, on the desk, on the ground, and into his skin, turning into warmth.

In a trance, he went back to the day when he watched the cherry blossoms with Yanyan at Wuhan University.

Yan Yan is his girlfriend, and his first contact was in the freshman group of the hospital. She asked in the group who could help carry the luggage, and at that time he had just moved into the dormitory, sorted out the bedding, and sat on a stool to see the group message. Her avatar is a poster for the movie "The Legend of the West" - the face of a man with glasses, only nose glasses and no outline. It was the most interesting of Woody Allen's movies in his opinion, and he didn't expect another girl to use as an avatar. He clicked on the girl's QQ homepage, and the signature read, "Salt and sweet, real woman". He suddenly wanted to get to know this salty and sweet real woman, so he replied in the group that he could help, and by the way, he added a girl friend and asked where it was.

The first time he saw the girl, he was moved. The girl's appearance is very in line with the public's definition of Lori, with big eyes, a fleshy mouth, and a pair of cute dimples when she laughs. Although he looks cute, he reveals a hint of heroism from between his eyebrows, and it is indeed "salt and sweet". Vincent pretended to be helping ordinary classmates, and he didn't dare to look at the girl's face at all, he was afraid that making eye contact with the girl would reveal his thoughts.

Later, he changed his signature to "warm and cool good man", and began to think about chasing girls. The roommate put a screenshot of his signature in the dormitory group, and everyone laughed, talking about who Ke Nuan and Ke Ku were, and where did Ke Sen and Kete go.

But Vincent was serious. The girl and he were not in the same school, and they rarely met him in class, so he asked around about the girl, which elective courses he chose, what clubs he participated in, and what activities he did...... Eventually, they met at a music party, the girl was a member of the club that organized the music party, and he rubbed a guitar to the microphone halfway through and said, Chen Tianyan, can I sing a song for you?

There was a commotion below the stage. The girl looked at him in surprise and nodded. He pressed the chords in front of the girl and sang "A Thousand Years Later" by Lin Junjie, who was more popular at the time, and the reason why he chose this song was because of the first lyrics. It's a big shame to have no accompaniment, because the intro of the song is beautiful, and his guitar is not yet hot and he can't play the feeling he wants. After singing, he imitated the routine of the male protagonist chasing the girl in the TV series, threw the guitar behind him, knelt on one knee, looked at the girl with affection, and said Would you like to be my girlfriend?

The girl rejected him.

This story spread all over the campus and became the most well-known love story in the whole school that year. The story is short and beautiful, and it has a regrettable ending - a handsome boy with a guitar on his back breaks into the music party to sing for the girl he likes, and then the girl cruelly rejects him. As a result, he has become the uncrowned king of campus singers at HKUST, and a forum god commented: "He has given new meaning to the song itself with his extremely experimental behavior." ”

Vincent still doesn't know what the so-called "new meaning" is, and after being rejected, he re-reads the lyrics, only to realize that the song itself is about a robot that has been sleeping for thousands of years and wakes up to find that his beloved mistress has long since died. And his use of this song to chase girls doesn't seem to be very appropriate in terms of moral - if this is the so-called "new meaning".

Later, he learned that the girl had already recognized him as the boy who helped her carry her luggage at the beginning of the school year, and the reason why she refused him was just a joke. What girl wouldn't love a handsome boy who didn't know each other and took the initiative to help carry things and sing for her with a guitar on his back? They fell in love the following March. It was his first semester in college, and the campus love he had been ignorant of came to him so quickly.

He called the girl Yanyan, taking the homonym of Yanyan, and the girl called him Sensen, just because Tete was not good.

The north entrance of the East District of the University of Science and Technology is the area with the highest concentration of cherry blossoms. At the end of March, hundreds of pink cherry blossoms are in full bloom. His first date with the girl was under the cherry blossom tree, and the girl was smirking at him with her school bag. He stuffed the fried tofu he had just bought into the girl's hand, and said that he would eat it while it was hot, and eat it fat. The girl said "Hmph, are you chubby, do you want to get rid of me?" He said how dare my salt princess, I will give you up if you eat fat. The girl picked up a piece of tofu and handed it to his mouth, saying that if you want to be fat, we will be fat together. He opened his mouth to bite off the tofu and found a bench with the girl to sit on. The girl looked up, pointed to a falling cherry blossom and said, believe it or not, that cherry blossom will never fall to the ground. He said, "How is that possible? If it falls to the ground, you're going to let me kiss it." The girl agreed, and they stared at the cherry blossoms, which actually floated in the air all the time, but he still kissed her on the cheek while the girl was not looking.

Later, he went to see "Five Centimeters per Second" alone. It is a Japanese anime that tells the story of a pair of boys and girls who once liked each other and end up missing. There is no parental obstruction, no third party, only a heavy life and a long time lie in front of them, but it is such a silent thing that makes people prohibitive.

He burst into tears in front of the screen, his mind full of salty voices and smiles. The girl who used to study with him at night, skipped class together, and ran around the world together, the girl who could eat three bowls of rice at a meal and said that she wanted to be fat together, the girl who wore a Santa hat and a white beard and said to him at Christmas, Sen Sen, I love you, will always stay in that world full of cherry blossoms. In the anime, the boy says, "Do you know, the speed at which the cherry blossoms fall is five centimeters per second", but what kind of speed does he have to use to meet the girl again?

The last time he met with Salt Salt, it was also in March. They had made an early appointment to go to Japan to see the cherry blossoms, but in March, because he was going to Wuhan to participate in a project, he agreed to go to Wuhan University first. The cherry blossoms of Wuhan University are as beautiful as those of the University of Science and Technology, probably because there are girls he likes, so the cherry blossoms, mountain roads, stone benches, everything in Wuhan University is beautiful in his opinion.

After that, Yanyan went back to Hefei, while he stayed in Wuhan to complete the project. At the end of the project, on the day of the celebration banquet, he received the news of Yanyan's death on WeChat, at that time he was getting up to toast and congratulate the teachers and classmates at the table, suddenly his smile froze on his face, and the next moment the wine glass fell to the ground, and tears poured out of his eyes. He didn't cry, he cried with a voice. He just stood there silent, motionless, without saying a word, letting the tears on his face run wild, as if the roaming river had lost its bed.

He took the high-speed train back to Hefei. At Hankou Station, he seemed to see Yanyan smiling coquettishly at her when he sent Yanyan to the train not long ago. Shioyan put his arm around him and said come on, go back to school early, and go to Hokkaido next time to see the cherry blossoms. I heard that the cherry blossoms in Hokkaido only bloom in May, so we can enjoy the cherry blossoms while taking a boat in Otaru. He joked, "Can you still keep the cherry blossoms from falling to the ground?" He put his finger on the bridge of the girl's nose and said that since you are on the boat, of course you will not fall on the river, you fool. Shiyan grinned as she put her arms around him, and turned around and grimaced at him before entering the station.

That was the last time they saw each other. He hadn't taken her to see the cherry blossoms in Hokkaido, had not graduated with her in a bachelor's gown, and had not had time to experience the rest of her life with her, she had already left.

He stood still. The train pulled into the platform, and the bustling crowd walked up and down past him. The world was noisy and messy, but he felt that the whole station was empty, and all the space was an echo of her.

He suddenly realized that the second chance that life had given him was not gratuitous, it was the mission that Yanyan had brought to him in the other world. From then on, the only purpose of his life was revenge. He wants to make all those who rob and kill salt taste heart-rending pain, and he wants to make all those who ruined his happiness never get happiness again for the rest of their lives. The organization that killed her because Salt was a xenomorph, all the people and things associated with it.

Forever.