With the exception of drunkards and homeless people, people generally go to bed early after dark.

At night, there are usually only a few street lamps scattered in the greenhouse, which are reflected alone on the side of the street.

However, at this time, the lights had not been turned off in one of the rooms in the hotel.

In the guest room, Yanagihara was sitting at the head of the bed, a square cloth in her hand, wiping her old revolver. She wiped it carefully, wiping every corner of the gun with a square towel, as if she were using her fingers to slowly rub the carved lines that had almost been smoothed out by time.

The bedside lamp illuminated her sideways and shrouded the other half of her body in darkness.

When the body of the pistol had been wiped clean, Yanagihara opened the pistol's nest. With her slight flick, the nest twisted into a sound similar to the friction of gears. When the nest of bullets slowly stopped, Yanagihara pointed the muzzle of his gun at the wall again, closing one eye, as if adjusting the crosshair.

"Click." The pocket watch on the side made a soft sound, and the minute hand moved a notch, indicating that another minute had passed.

Yanagihara placed the pistol on the head of the bed and rubbed his neck.

On the wall that she had just aimed at with her pistol, a flying insect flew away and escaped out of the half-open window.

It's not too early, and she's ready to turn off the lights and rest.

But just when Yanagihara stretched out his hand to turn off the lamp, there was a sound of vibration on the table on the side.

Yanagihara turned her head to look and saw that it was Waldson who had given her the communicator.

Generally speaking, there is only one reason why this communicator was turned off, and that is that Waldson has found Al's sister.

Anyway, it can't be that Wadson can't sleep in the middle of the night and suddenly wants to talk to her.

Realizing the news that the other party might bring, Yanagihara stepped out of bed and came to the table to pick up the communicator.

"Hello." Looking down at the small black box, Yanagihara said aloud.

"Hello." Wadson's voice came over the communicator: "Is it Ms. Hara?" ”

"Well, it's me." At the table, Yanagihara replied, picked up the kettle on the table, and poured himself a glass of water.

"Okay, I believe that Ms. Yuan also knows why I contacted you, then I will say it directly." Wadson clearly had no intention of making small talk and said bluntly.

"Based on the information you gave me earlier, we've found the address of that lady Alice, just."

His voice paused, as if it had slowed a little.

"I remember you told me earlier that this Lady Alice is the sister of the kid named Al?"

"That's right." Yanagihara picked up the water cup and put it to his lips: "Is there any problem?" ”

There was a brief silence on the other end of the communicator, and then Wadson's voice came again.

"Well, unfortunately, when we found this Lady Alice, we were in the cemetery of the greenhouse. She is buried in Cemetery No. 125 in Park 6. I'm sorry, but she's gone. ”

The air in the room smelled of decay, probably because it was not ventilated in time when I went out in the morning.

Yanagihara sat at the table and drank the water from the cup, his brow furrowed slightly, as if this result did not surprise her, but only made her feel a little distressed.

"Ms. Hara, you may need to inform Al of this news, and please tell her again in due course."

Wadson's tone was not lighthearted, and it was clear that he wasn't very good at expressing these things.

"It's not too early, Ms. Yuan, good night."

With that, his voice disappeared into the communicator.

Liu Yuan still sat at the table until she drank half of the water in her hand, then she put the remaining half of the glass of water on the table, got up and turned off the light in the room.

Perhaps, this is just a reasonable thing, isn't it?

······

Wadson put the communicator aside and looked down at the note in his hand, which read the address of the cemetery.

He didn't know how the girl would feel when she knew that her sister was dead, but what he knew was that it was a common sorrow in this era. Everyone has lost so much that even the loss of a loved one seems to have become an ordinary thing.

It was a sad time, but he alone, or an army, could not change that fact.

It seems that humanity has been powerless, from the day of the catastrophe.

······

Yanagihara broke the news to Al on the third day of their arrival at the greenhouse.

It was a bit cold that day, and I could feel the loss of temperature when I breathed.

The grave keeper pushed open the iron gate of the cemetery, allowing Yanagihara and Al into the cemetery.

All around are gray hues, and cold stone monuments stand on the cold earth.

Yanagihara accompanied Al to stand in front of Cemetery No. 125, and on the tombstone was a picture of a young woman smiling,

You know, it's easy to tell that she's Al's sister, because the woman in the photo also has a simple and pure smile.

Al looked at the picture on the tombstone without saying a word, without crying or showing much sadness.

It's just that Yanagihara watched with his own eyes, and the girl's clean eyes gradually became like most people, and there was no light at all.

There was no sound in the empty cemetery, only a little wind that blew in and blew the pebbles in front of the tombstones.

Yanagihara tugged at her coat, and once upon a time, people from her hometown would place a bouquet of flowers in front of the tombstone when they visited their deceased relatives. It's just that in this era, it seems that even a bouquet of flowers has become a luxury.

"Maybe." She said to Al, "I should leave." ”

She'd already taken Al to her sister, so in theory, the commission was complete.

Yanagihara took Al's letter from his coat and handed it to Al.

"Give it to your sister with your own hands."

What is written in the letter?

Probably all the words that this girl wants to say to her sister who she hasn't seen for a long time may be just a few simple words.

Of course, perhaps for the girl, the letter may represent something more.

But she no longer had the opportunity to convey them all to her sister one by one.

Yanagihara turned and walked towards the outside of the cemetery, she didn't really like this place because it was full of dead people, which would make her think she was one of them.

And yet just as she was about to go away.

Al, who was standing in front of the cemetery, suddenly stopped her.

"Yanagihara, can I come with you?" In front of the tombstone, the girl asked with her blank eyes.

"Is this a commission?" Yanagihara stopped.

"It doesn't count." The girl's voice was weak: "I don't have anything left to pay you." ”

"That's the request." Yanagihara slowly turned around: "Can you tell me a reason to promise you?" ”

The girl didn't speak again, because she couldn't give any reason.

Yanagihara looked at her and was silent for a while, and suddenly said out loud.

"So if I told you that I was going to die, would you still want to follow me?"

Yanagihara's words were enough to shock any ordinary person, but Al just lowered his head and looked at the gray-black ground beneath his feet.

"Yes." She said this, leaving no room for herself.

Yanagihara understands that the current Al is the same person as her.

"Then you can follow me." She said yes, and stood silently aside.

"Whew." Maybe I couldn't hold back anymore.

Al bit her lip and sat down on her knees, warm tears dripping from her eyes and dripping between the cold dirt.

There is no longer silence in the cemetery.

Yanagihara looked up at the sky outside the conservatory.

She suddenly remembered that someone had told her that crying would make a person in pain feel better.

But whether it can really feel better, Yanagihara doesn't know.

After all, she didn't feel pain, and it was like another thing that the man had said to her.

Her mind has long since been barren.

······

A light mist wafted through the night air, which made everything around look a lot hazy and the lights even darker.

On a bench next to the cemetery path, Yanagihara sat in a chair and silently stared at a stone on the side of the road.

On the other side of the chair, Al was lying there, covered with Yanagihara's coat, and the sound of his breathing was very even, presumably asleep.

She was shallow asleep, and her eyes were still a little red.

It may be that I have finally completed the communication with the lonely stone, or it may be that I have finally waited until the girl has slept peacefully.

Yanagihara turned his head sideways, looked at the girl lying on the side, and got up to help her body up.

She carried the girl on her back, and the other man's body was very light, so light that it seemed to have no weight.

Following the path of the cemetery, Yanagihara carried Al and walked outside.

There is no superfluous sound on the road at night, man is really a very contradictory creature, people like to be quiet, but when it is too quiet, people will rush to fear.

This is probably the case now, and the whole world is silent.

Walking out of the cemetery across the path and closing the iron gate with his hand, Yanagihara seemed to sense something, and raised his eyes to look at the street lamp next to the cemetery.

There stood a man with his back against a street lamp, one hand in his pocket, and a half-smoked cigarette in the other.

The two men looked at each other for a moment until the man under the street lamp removed the cigarette from his mouth.

Wadson's face was not good-looking, and he hadn't slept for about twenty-four hours because of his work.

He looked at Yanagihara, and Al with Yanagihara's coat on his back, and pulled the corners of his mouth with a wry smile.

"I know it's not the right time to talk about it, but I don't really have a lot of time."

He said this, standing under the street lamp, his eyes hidden in the shadow of the brim of his hat, and his face depressed.

"I'm sorry Ms. Hara, but I need to briefly explain to you what I have commissioned."