After nightfall, Yanagihara and Al had finished their work, and the old man did not pursue the fallen apple, but took it as a reward for Elle.

The wind and snow outside should be a little lighter, because the wind seems to have gradually subsided, but the weather on the ice field is still so cold, or even colder.

In the lobby of the lounge on the second floor, Yanagihara stood by the window drinking a glass of warm water, and she leaned slightly to look at the end of the ice field in the dark night.

There was still about half a year to go before entering the eastern snowfields, and it would take at least a year for her and Al to reach the territory of her homeland, including the time spent resupplying and staying along the way.

A year is not too long, but it is not too short, and this journey undoubtedly has a special meaning for Liu Yuan, but the journey seems to have changed a little at this time.

She had expected that she would return to her hometown by the sea in silence alone, and then leap in, falling into a deep slumber long enough in the cold and darkness long enough to make her forget all the things that had happened before.

But as if fate had really arranged it, along the way, she met Al, De Rosso, Liz, and all sorts of other people. This made her, who should have been preparing to die in advance, feel a little unspeakable throbbing again.

However, this throbbing did not make her give up the idea of death, but made her more determined.

For she saw some glorious passing, and in these passings, she was once again sure of one thing.

That is, there is no difference between living and dying, the difference is how you look at the relationship between the two, and the difference is which of them makes you feel more belonging.

Yanagihara had been adrift for too long, and she was exhausted.

Now she just wants to find a place to stay and never leave.

And this place can only be her hometown. It can only be the sea that she once grew up, looked at, longed for, and poured out.

It will embrace her deeply and quietly, it will cover her weariness with the sound of the waves, it will kiss her with the sea, and finally accept her.

Yanagihara believes that this will be her best ending.

When the moonlight spreads over the sea, when she sinks to the bottom of the sea.

Thinking so, a smile appeared on Yanagihara's face, and her face was reflected in the window, appearing calm and peaceful.

Al sat on the other side of the hall, holding the apple in his hand in a daze. She didn't have anything to do, and she was going to save this apple for bedtime to eat with Yanagihara.

The old man sat across from her, flipping through a few papers.

When he finished the work at hand, perhaps sensing the girl's boredom, the kind old man thought for a while, raised his head and held his glasses, and spoke.

"Little girl, you have nothing to do, do you want to hear me tell a story?"

"Is that okay?" Al glanced at the old man with a slight hesitation, as if he was a little worried about affecting the old man's work.

"Of course, it's nothing, anyway, I've already done my work for today." The old man said with a smile and put the document in his hand aside.

"Well, I'll bother you." Al whispered something as he took the apple, but judging by the way she looked, he was probably looking forward to hearing an interesting story.

"Hehe, it's not troublesome, it's just that this old man of mine wants to find someone to chat with a few words." As he spoke, the old man picked up the coffee he had in hand and took a shallow sip.

"In my life, most of the time has been wasted, but this old age has given me a slightly broader horizon than others, and a few personal experiences and impressive stories."

"And when it comes to this institute, in fact, I can't talk much about it, and the only thing I can talk about is probably the incident from twenty-three years ago."

At this, the old man sighed softly, put the coffee in his hand on the table, and then continued.

"At that time, it was the seventh year of the establishment of the institute, and because there were no research results for a long time, and the high-level management of the greenhouse was pressing, the morale of our team was always low. It's not a big deal, because we've been used to it for years. Until, there was a problem with one person. ”

"His name is Herman, and he was one of the first researchers to come here, and he doesn't usually talk much, and he seems to prefer to work alone rather than communicate with other people. And everything that followed seems to have started with one of his personal observations······"

For some time to come, the old man told Al a story about a researcher who went mad and died because he observed something he shouldn't have observed.

Seeing the old man's pretentious and matter-of-fact appearance, Yanagihara, who was standing on the side, was basically sure that he was playing tricks on Al.

Obviously, this old gentleman, who seemed kind and gentle, was not as serious and rigorous as he seemed on the surface, and even had a little bad taste.

And Al, as a girl who may not have heard a few stories, where has he ever heard such exciting content.

So just halfway through the story, she was already frightened and stunned, and hugged the rabbit doll that was originally placed next to her.

It was supposed to be the first time she had heard a horror story, so much so that she was so scared that she almost lost her voice and movement.

"Later, I heard that someone saw Herman, who was supposed to be dead, in the corridor on the second floor, about twelve o'clock in the evening, and he saw the other party knocking on the door one by one, and asked inside: Do you see, the woman with six eyes······"

"Speaking of which, when I was smoking outside the door last night, I did catch a glimpse of a tall, thin figure standing outside in the snow."

Yanagihara leaned against the window and interjected at the right time.

"But I guess I'm wrong."

(So you're embarrassed to say that other people are bad taste!?) ）

"Whew." Elle, cowered in his chair, let out a muffled grunt of inexplicable meaning.

The wind outside was blowing lightly and heavily, making the atmosphere seem a little weirder.

Well, if nothing else, this night should be difficult for Al.