It's night, but the streets are brightly lit at night.

Under the eaves, on the ropes on the street, the lights were lit, illuminating the whole street and the faces of pedestrians reddening.

The last event on a rainy night, the lantern festival always looks beautiful, the bells in the temple are still ringing, and the lights embellish the cool night of the next light rain. In the dark town, only one street was lit up at night, and the lights reflected the stars in the sky that could not be covered by the clouds, and the light swayed in the rain that could barely soak the clothes.

Zelath drank most of his tea, shook the rest of the tea in his cup, and swallowed it in his mouth, accompanied by the incompletely dissolved tea powder. The fragrance and bitterness of the tea powder are soaked in the mouth, and there is a special feeling.

"How long are you going to sit there?" Zelas picked up the teapot and refilled the teacup to a full cup, and asked calmly into a no-man's corner.

After about half a second, vague rune fluctuations surged around Zelas, forming an enchantment that enveloped the space around the table.

Then, out of that no-man's corner came a middle-aged man who looked very ordinary, the man was wearing a coarse cloth shirt, and his brown and black messy hair made him look like a homeless man with a stumbling life.

But if you look closely at his skin, you will find that his skin will be so obviously grainy, and even occasionally a little cradle. It was a skin made of sand, no, it should be said that this ordinary-looking man was just a person made of sand.

Zelas found this, but was not surprised, but took out a new teacup and poured another cup of tea in front of him: "Drink?" ”

The middle-aged man looked at Zelath with a slight frown, half a sound, and then let go again. The expression on his angular face was still cold, but he nodded: "It's okay." ”

As he spoke, the man sat down in front of Zelas and picked up the teacup on the table, "Speaking of which, we haven't sat down together for a long time to drink tea. ”

"Well, hundreds of years." Zelas took a sip of tea.

The longer this tea is brewed, the stronger the tea aroma will be, and the same bitterness will be stronger. At the point of drinking Zelas, the tea is actually bitter and difficult to swallow, and it needs to be changed again.

But the two of them didn't feel anything, and sat opposite each other, drinking expressionlessly.

Zelas looked at the street, and the middle-aged man followed Zelas's gaze and looked at the street as well. The crowds on the streets are noisy, but when the lights shine, their smiles are a sense of tranquility, a sense of calm and tranquility in life. Truth be told, it's rare to feel that way in the desert.

"What do you think?" The middle-aged man asked.

Zeroth lowered his eyes, "Not bad. ”

"Yes, it's not bad, but it's a pity that this is no longer our Shurima."

······

The table fell silent, and the noise beyond the barrier seemed distant.

"You know what?" The middle-aged man raised his head and looked into the shadows under Zelas's hood: "Zelas, you were my proud friend. ”

Zelas said in a dull voice, "I'm just a slave. ”

hooked the corners of his mouth, and the middle-aged man said self-deprecatingly: "I'm just a waste prince." ”

"Tick." A drop of rain fell into the teacup, swaying the tea and rippling.

"You're here today just to catch up?"

"Nope." The middle-aged man lowered his head and rummaged in his arms: "By the way, I will give you something back." ”

As he spoke, the man took out a book from his bosom, a worn-out book, tattered. The pages were charred and barely legible, and in some places there were burnt holes. The handwriting on the book is still very immature, and it should have been written by a child.

Zelas looked at the book, but was stunned.

The middle-aged man seemed to be reminiscing about something, and his eyes were blurred: "When we first met, you lent it to me in that library." Speaking of which, I should have paid you back a long time ago. ”

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(In the library that year, the lonely slave met the cowardly prince, although the prince was cowardly, but his eyes made the slave see a kind of hope.) A kind of hope that he has always longed for and pursued. In that look, there is no discrimination, only equal goodwill.

A long time ago, in the afternoon, two children leaned against the bookshelf. The two are generally old, but there is a big difference, one always has a kind smile on his face, and the other always has a cold face. One is gorgeously dressed, the other is ragged.

The two sat together and talked a lot.

"Actually, it's useless to say this, I'm just a waste prince, I can't do it." Richly dressed children leaned against the bookshelves, smiling at the sunlight pouring in from the windows on the rooftops. Narrowing his eyes, he muttered, "No one will approve of me." ”

"I approve of you." A cold voice sounded in his ears, and the prince turned his head in slight surprise.

The boy next to him glanced at him coldly: "From now on, you are the king I recognize." ”

The prince looked at the boy stunned, for a long time, and showed a smile again, he thought that the other party was just joking, and shook the note in his hand: "Thank you for lending me the book, what is your name?" ”

"I don't have a name."

"So, then I'll call you, well, how about Zelas?"

"Now, Zelas, I'll read this book for a few more days, and I'll give it back to you in a few days."

"Whatever." ）

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“······” Zelas seemed to want to say something, but couldn't. For a long time, I took the book, a book that was returned hundreds of years late.

"Let's have tea." The middle-aged man smiled and waved his hand and raised his teacup.

The two didn't say anything more, the tea was slightly cold, and the two were like old friends who had been reunited for a long time, slowly drinking tea one by one.

Soon, there was not much tea, and then there was not a drop.

"I'm done drinking..." The middle-aged man put down the teacup in a deep manner, sat down for a while, and stood up: "Then I'll go first." ”

The rune fluctuations around the table disappeared, the enchantment spread, and the middle-aged man prepared to leave.

Zelas looked up at him and asked in a low voice, "When will you come?" ”

He didn't ask about the sand in front of him, but about the man who controlled it, Azir himself.

"Soon." The man left the words, turned around, and disappeared into the crowd.

Zelas sat at the table, silently watching the powder settle in his teacup. He knew that when Azir himself came, it would be impossible for the two of them to drink tea and talk like they did now.

The middle-aged man who squeezed through the crowd walked to the corner of the street, glanced deeply at Zelas in the distance, and looked away with a heavy look.

If it was only him who had betrayed Zeroth, he would not have come, but the disaster that Zeroth had created, killing his children, his wife, his soldiers, his people, and ruining the whole of Shurima. There must be an explanation for this.

With the faint light of the runes on his body flickering, the middle-aged man's body shattered, scattered into a handful of sand and slid to the ground. There was only a tiny piece of gravel that could not be seen clearly, riding the desert wind, slowly moving away.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————

I was approached the other day by an editor who wanted me to buy the book for them. I asked, I can give me a certain amount of money if I can no longer put it on the shelves. In other words, you can still watch it for free, and I may also get some remuneration. So I agree with him, I hope you don't mind. It's time to be independent when college is about to begin, and I want to make up some tuition fees by myself, and I'm embarrassed to ask my parents for something. There is also the possibility that in a few days you will not be able to see this book at the starting point, you can only go to the tower to read it, but it is still free, you can rest assured. I would like to apologize for the trouble caused to everyone. Actually, I also hope to make some achievements, so that my parents don't always think that I am useless or anything, ha. So be it, thank you.