Bronze has no siblings. He was never married. This was partly because he was unwilling to impose his ascetic lifestyle on the people he loved, and partly because his lifestyle prevented him from finding someone he could safely and boldly love. His only friends were his fellow agents, and now that he had resigned from the intelligence services, he had created a conflict-prone situation. His friends would have been hesitant to talk about what topics would not cause controversy when they were with him.

Bronzer sipped whiskey and thought, maybe I made a mistake, maybe I shouldn't have quit. He thought as he shifted the channel. Being an agent gives me a direction, a kind of leaning.

Bronze reminds himself that doing this is costing his life, and that wherever you go on a mission, that place is completely destroyed for you. Bronze had worked in many beautiful places, but his experiences in those places had cast a shadow over them, and he didn't want to reminisce about them at all.

In fact, now that he was thinking about this, an ironic fact suddenly came to mind. Just as most people consider these places to be stunning, in literature, the work that bronze used to do is often depicted as heroic feats; In his own opinion, this is nothing more than a tedious, futile and dangerous job.

The hunt down of traitors and terrorists may be a noble cause, but hunters are tainted with the filth of their prey. Bronze thought, I must have been contaminated, and, as I had discovered, some of the bureaucrats for whom I had worked my life could not escape the filth.

Bronze asked himself, what to do? He was already drowsy from whiskey. He forced his astringent eyelids open and looked out the window. It was as if something flashed by, causing him to frown. He didn't understand what he had just seen, and was curious to figure it out, but he looked at it again and found nothing. Sleepless, he could only open the newspaper.

As soon as he opened the newspaper this time, he was intrigued. He didn't know why he was hooked, he just knew that something was meant for him.

What he saw was a report of a team of construction workers restoring an old house. The house was strange, reminding him of the terracotta dwellings he had seen abroad. But as he continued to look, he learned that the simple, but surprisingly elegant houses were in the west. The foreman at the construction site explained that the house was built of adobe; Adobe, he adds, is large bricks made of straw and earth. These bricks make for exceptionally solid, soundproofed walls, which are covered in an earthy brown brushed stucco. The foreman went on to say that such adobe houses were flat-roofed, with slightly sloping roofs, and rainwater could be drained through a kind of chute. These adobe houses have no prominent edges and corners, all the corners are rounded, and the entrances are mostly cantilevered by columns called gatehouses, with windows recessed in thick walls.

The dwelling is unique in that its sandy structure and earthy brown exterior blend wonderfully with the orange, red and yellow of the surrounding highland desert. The journalist made a few general comments on its craftsmanship and traditions, accompanied by a few photographs, and the hilly terrain of the mountains where larch and dwarf pines grow, full of these adobe houses, each with its own unique characteristics, together form a surprisingly ever-changing landscape. But as the host explained, adobe houses are a great spectacle in the west.

Bronze leaned forward so that he could see the name of the place. He learns that the city was once one of China's oldest pioneer sites, dating back to the 16th century conquest, and that its name still retains its character, meaning sacred faith. Nowadays, it is nicknamed Loulan City.

Bronze's suspicions were right, and two men were waiting for him in the foyer. It was just after 8 a.m. He turned from the hotel checkout counter and saw them, knowing in his heart that there was no point in avoiding them. They smiled at him as he walked through the crowded foyer toward them. At the very least, bronze thought, it would be appropriate to choose these two men for this task. Apparently, the commander behind them hoped that Bronze would let his guard down, as he knew them and had worked with them in the Special Operations Team.

"Old Gu, it's been a long time, have you always been okay?" One of them asked. He and his companions are about the same height and weight as Decker - 1.8 meters tall and 170 pounds. They are also similar to the bronze age - 40 years old. Because they have received the same physical training, their body shape is basically the same - narrow hips, strong and broad shoulders, so that their upper body is particularly strong, which is necessary for special operations.

But they have only so many similarities with bronze. The two men looked resolute and had alert eyes, which did not match the smiles on their faces and the casual clothes they were wearing.

"I'm fine, old Yang," Bronze said to a man, "what about you?" ”

"Nothing to complain about."

"How are you, Xiao Li?" Bronze asked another person.

"There's nothing to complain about."

Neither took the initiative to shake hands with the other.

"I hope you two didn't stay here all night watching."

"It only started at 7 o'clock, so it's easy." Lao Yang said, "Do you want to go to the checkout?" He gestured to the bronze suitcase.

"yes, I changed my plans at the last minute."

"Where are you going?"

"Northwest"

"Why don't you let us give you a ride?"

Bronze tensed up. "I don't want to trouble you. I took a rickshaw away. ”

"There will never be trouble." Xiao Li said, "I only saw you after so many years, if we didn't help you with this, we would still be friends." ”

"Need help with your suitcase?"

"I can take it myself."

"So why don't we go outside and wait for the car?"

The traffic outside was already very congested, and car horns were blaring one after another.

"You see," said Yang, "you may not be able to call a rickshaw." "He saw a uniformed doorman walking towards them." Everything is normal. He said to the doorman, motioning for him to go away. He glanced at the overcast sky. "It looks like it's going to rain."

"It's been predicted." Xiao Li said.

"The labor pain in my left arm was all I needed. The car is coming. Lao Yang said.

A gray Ford pulled up in front of the hotel. The driver's face was unfamiliar with bronze, and the windows of the back seat were painted in a protective color, making it difficult to see inside.

"What did I say to you?" Lao Yang said, "It only takes a minute." He opened the back door and reached out to the bronze to enter.

Decker's heart was pounding. He looked at Lao Yang, then at Xiao Li, standing still.

"Questions?" Lao Yang asked, "Don't you think you'd better get in the car quickly?" You're going to catch a steamer. ”

"I'm thinking about what to do with my suitcase?"

"We put it in our suitcase. Please press the button to open the suitcase, okay? Lao Yang said to the driver. Immediately, the snap lock on the rear of the car clicked. Lao Yang took the bronze suitcase, lifted the back cover of the car, put the suitcase in the suitcase, and closed the back cover. "Look, that's the solution, okay?"

Bronze hesitated for another moment, his pulse beating faster and faster. He nodded and sat into the back seat of the Ford. He felt a chill in his stomach.

Lao Yang sat next to him, and Xiao Li sat in the passenger seat in the front row. He turned to look at the bronze.

The driver pressed a button, and there was another click, and all the doors were locked. Ford's engine rumbled, and he drove into the traffic.

"A mutual friend of ours told me that you said on the phone last night that you had done enough." Lao Yang said.

"That's right." The bronze looks out at pedestrians through the protective windows. They hurried to work with briefcases or handbags, closed umbrellas, and other things. They seemed far away from him.

"Then why did you go on a steamer?" Xiao Li asked.

"It was a decision made on the spur of the moment."

"It's like your resignation."

"It wasn't an impulse."

"Our mutual friend said it seemed a lot like an impulse."

"He doesn't know me very well."

"He's starting to wonder if anyone knows about you."

Bronze shrugged. "What else is he curious about?"

"Why are you unplugging your phone?"

"I don't want people to bother me."

"Also, last night, one of our group knocked on the door, why didn't you answer?"

"No, I answered, but didn't open the door. I asked who it was, and the guy outside the door replied, 'It's the room,' and he told me he was going to go in and make my bed, and I told him I had made it myself. He also said he was coming to deliver clean towels and I told him I didn't need clean towels. Finally he said he was going to put mints on my bedside table, and I told him to stuff them into his own ass. ”

"It's not very polite."

"I need time to think quietly by myself."

Lao Yang took over the topic and asked, "What are you thinking?" ”

Ford stopped at the red light, bronzer glancing at the man next to him. "Life."

"It's a big topic. Have you figured out the results? ”

"I came to the conclusion that the essence of life is the change of things."

"Is that all you have in mind? Are you trying to change your life? Xiao Li asked.

Bronze glanced at him in the front passenger seat. Ford started driving again, passing through an intersection.

"Yes," said bronze, "life-changing." ”

"That's why you're making this trip?"

"You're right again."

"Where are you going?"

"First to Xining"

"I've never been there. How's that there? ”

"I can't say for sure, but it looks good."

"Looks good?"

"Last night, I read a newspaper where a group of construction workers were restoring an adobe house in that place."

Ford crossed another intersection.

"That made you decide where to go?" Lao Yang interjected and asked.

Bronze turned to face Lao Yang, who was sitting in the back seat. "Yes."

"It's as simple as that?"

"It's as simple as that. In fact, I'm thinking of settling there. ”

"I see. You know what, these sudden changes in yours are exactly what our mutual friends care about? Because you read in the newspaper that someone was restoring an old house, you decided to move to the northwest on the spur of the moment. What do you think he will think when we tell him this? ”

"It's an adobe house."

"Yes. What do you think this will make him think of your other hasty decisions? Will he think that you have made a deliberate decision? ”

The bronze muscles tensed. "My resignation was not made in a hurry. I've been thinking about it for a long time. ”

"You didn't mention it to anyone."

"I don't think it's anyone's business."

"It's a matter for a lot of people. What influenced you? What prompted you to make this decision? Is it the Shanghai incident? ”

Bronze did not answer.

Raindrops hit the windshield.

"Look, I told you it was going to rain." Lao Yang said.

The raindrops grew heavier and heavier, falling on the Ford's canopy with a hollow, sustained sound. Pedestrians held up umbrellas or ran to the doorway to take shelter from the rain. Looking out of the back-seat window, which is painted in a protective color, the street looks darker and darker under the rain.

"Tell us about the incident in Shanghai." Lao Yang said.

"I'm not going to tell anyone about the Shanghai incident." Bronze struggled to keep his breathing steady. "I dare say that's the crux of our conversation. You can go back and reassure our mutual friends that I am angry, but I will never tell anyone about my anger—I am just very tired. I'm not interested in causing a stir by exposing scandals, on the contrary, all I need is calm and stability. ”

"In the Northwest, a place you've never been to before?"

This time Bronze didn't answer again.

"You know what," said Li, "when you mention the Northwest, the first thought that pops into my head is that there are many top-secret facilities in that area — and then Lee Ward." ”

A heavy pressure was felt on the bronze chest. Lee was once a CIA agent who betrayed the most classified details of the intelligence agency to the Soviets. He failed a polygraph examination, which aroused the suspicion of the intelligence service, and he was fired. In the course of the investigation of him by the Military Investigation Bureau, he moved to the northwest, got rid of the surveillance officers and managed to escape to the Soviet Union. The city where he used to live was Xining.

"Are you implying that I'm like him?" Bronze sat more upright. "Are you suggesting that I would do something harmful to my country?" This time, Bronze didn't want to control his breathing at all. "You go and ask our mutual friend to go through my file again and see if you can find an example of how I suddenly forgot the meaning of my reputation."

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