The heat of a midsummer afternoon is unbearable.

Knowing that it was roasted, he screamed wildly in the trees beside the road, playing an irritating symphony. On closer inspection, the mottled branches seem to rise and fall with the scorching air, and the scorching wind that blows from time to time only stirs up a new dance.

A withered yellow and dehydrated branch and leaf could not withstand the scorching sun, fell off the tree, and was just stepped on by a passerby, making a "squeak" sound, as if it was a helpless cry in the hot summer, and like the last resistance to the stampede. However, the person who stepped on it did not react, and continued to shuffle along the base of the wall.

It was a scruffy man in his thirties, wearing a gray shirt with several holes in the knees of his trousers, and he was walking in this uninhabited and hot alley with his plastic shoes, his eyes looking straight ahead, as if he were looking far and near, and there seemed to be no street in his eyes, or branches and trunks, or this hot summer day. His lips were chapped and slightly half-open; Although he was holding an empty wine bottle in his hand, he didn't seem to be thirsty, he just walked forward, and the beads of sweat on his forehead were dripping down one after another, like he had no footsteps.

A foundation on the edge of the municipal park is being demolished, construction warning signs are plastered all over the walls, the sun is scorching the earth like a flame, the ruins are burned to the ground, and the trees on both sides are screaming noisily, and the wall skin is peeling off from the broken walls.

It was on such a violent afternoon that the gray figure stepped into this barren territory and staggered into the iron gate printed with "Do not enter danger......

That day, Ling Lan lost her job.

Although the pay of the job itself is not high, it is only three or four hours of overtime a day, but it is just sitting until dark, but when the boss sits behind the desk made of mahogany and looks at him apologetically, he still understands that the time will come after all—he was fired.

"Alas...... Business is not doing well now...... In the past few years, the company has been in a state of loss, barely able to pay the wages of employees, and now it is actually forced to start layoffs! I'm really sorry for you...... I've been in the company for so many years. The boss sighed and made it clear.

Ling Lan snorted a few times at that time, and looked up to say something: her performance has been completed at the end of every month; After so many years of conscientious work in the company, he did not leave early or ask for leave - but the words were still swallowed by him.

He is not a good talker, he has always been obscure in the company and bows his head to do what he should do, and he does whatever his boss tells him to do, even if he does too much, he does not complain. Listen to the boss's criticism, the boss is happy when he is happy, and the boss buries his head when he is angry, which has always been his own code of conduct in the company. Because he seems wooden, the whole company doesn't pay much attention to him, but this is exactly what he wants.

In fact, the boss has always disliked himself, he knows it, because he grew up in an orphanage, and the last thing he knows is interpersonal communication. Sometimes he hates this stubborn, brainless, meticulous but not communicative person. He remembers reading a book in a bookstore that said, "The so-called high emotional intelligence means that you can speak." He felt that what he said was very right, living in this society, people who can't speak have no future.

That's the kind of person he is.

Although he also knew that such a person was boring, declining, and failing, he couldn't change it even if he wanted to, and when he came out of the orphanage, he was destined to walk slowly alone.

In this way, he can only watch the employees around him mingle with the leader in the frolic, and the leader always has two boxes of gifts in his hand during the holidays.

That's why he stood here and felt his mouth sour, and he couldn't think of any remedy.

The next day, Ling Lan left the company with her personal belongings.

Even with a few thousand yuan in cash, maybe I can't bear it - the boss directly settled last month's salary, and when he left, he generously took out a few hundred yuan from his bag and handed it to him, as if he was a little pitiful to him, and said: "I won't say anything superfluous, these thousands of dollars are what you deserve in the company, I hope you can find a job that suits you in the future." Finally, the boss patted him on the shoulder and asked the security guard to help him carry the piles of boxes.

When he got home, he felt the pain in his chest gushing out like a levee, but he didn't cry out—not just for work, but also for the little note left on the table—and she left because of his incompetence and loneliness.

……

Ling Lan was tired of walking, walking from the north of the city to the west of the city, and despite walking five blocks, he still felt that the silence around him was terrifying, as if he was the only one in the world.

"Now it's the only one that can match the color of my body, but unfortunately it's going to disappear." Ling Lan looked at the foundation on the left side of the wall that had almost turned into a piece of tiles, and some of the remnants of the wall could faintly see the shadow of the orphanage, almost unrecognizable. This was originally an orphanage where Ling Lan lived, but after more than ten years of ups and downs, it has now become a dangerous building. What was once a compound for orphans is now a ruined building. I heard that this foundation will be built into a commercial building after it is demolished, and it is clear that only it can match itself, like the small and humble written on his face, but in the near future, even this ruin will be gone, and it will become a luxurious commercial building. Downstairs, there will be security guards patrolling every day, underground garages for all kinds of cars to enter and exit it, there are gold-framed glass doors that open and close, and there are people from the property company standing guard at the door.

He can think of this, seeing the prosperous scene of this city, it is not difficult to imagine this picture, the times are advancing, this is no longer the place that once could accommodate him, just like this dilapidated foundation that is incompatible with the surroundings, the old thing more than ten years ago. Ling Lan touched a handful of plaster on the rotten wall, and smiled worriedly, this is really the same color as her clothes.

He held the empty wine bottle in his hand, leaned against a broken wall, and slowly slid down and squatted down, the scorching sun above his head made him feel the wine bottle in his hand slightly hot, so he threw the bottle out casually.

With a "snap", the wine bottle made an arc and smashed into the gray wall in the distance. His heart was empty, and his fingers groaned from the force.

He stared at the ruins, sometimes angry and sometimes sad, but not strong, just an empty and unprovoked feeling, neither the reason nor the object, he wanted to vent, about his fate, about his own life experience, but how to think about it is not the point, because these are not artificial, to vent can only blame himself for being bad. After thinking about it like this, his heart cooled down, and the thought of death began to circulate in his mind, wine could anesthetize him, but after dizziness it made people feel more painful, and since wine could not relieve pain, then death could always be.

"But always, so unwilling......" he said, as if he were about to fall asleep, his eyelids slowly rumbling down until a cloud of ash obscured the sun.

Passers-by happened to see him, but they didn't think about it, maybe it was a worker. But they didn't know which construction site would continue under such a scorching sun. They still have their own time to rest after work, time to reunite with their children, time to eat with friends, how can they be in the mood to care about strangers?

Ling Lan, who had her eyes closed, felt that the stone was a little awkward, so she moved her body to sit more comfortably.

Until he vaguely heard someone's footsteps approaching, he thought it was a worker from a construction site, so he didn't care, and continued to stay under the wall in the poisonous sun.

The footsteps approached and stopped, but Ling Lan didn't open her eyes.

"Do you want revenge?" Someone said.

Ling Lan: "Huh? With a sigh, the head tilted over his shoulder lifted, still not responding.

The person who came was speechless, and he didn't speak after half of the salary, as if he was brewing a speech. Then Ling Lan felt her body being pushed.

Ling Lan opened her heavy eyelids and looked up, and saw a figure in a trance, although the person was standing with his back to the sun, but the sun's rays seemed to penetrate his body, shining from the shadows and piercing his eyes, Ling Lan's eyes immediately closed again. He believed he had a dream and opened his eyes to see a vision. But the shadow spoke, still the same thing.

"Do you want revenge?"

"To the world."

"I can grant your wishes."

In a trance, Ling Lan stood up, he turned to face the person who took the trouble to ask him, and felt that his vague face was a little familiar, and after a closer look, it was his top boss! The middle-aged man who quit himself but pretended to pay for it when he left. Ling Lan was furious, but he didn't expect him to follow him, and just reached out to beat him, but he wondered why his body couldn't move, as if he was stuck with glue.

"What do you want to do? Why follow me? Ling Lan blushed and asked angrily.

"I don't do anything, I just ask you and you don't answer." The boss's chubby lower hand was shaking, and his eyes were shining with teasing. Ling Lan was about to open her mouth, but her boss took the first step and said, "Don't you want revenge, Ling Lan?" ”

"Revenge?" Ling Lan snorted angrily and said, "What revenge? Is it to fix you guy? I'd love that. ”

The chubby boss seemed to become helpless when he heard this, and sighed.

"Why, didn't you say you could fulfill my wishes? Feeling bad about listening to me? Why didn't you ask me how I felt when you quit me? ”

"It's not for this," the boss sighed, "it's your desire that is too shallow, it's me who made you lose the work you've worked so hard for so many years, and you don't want to kill me?" Your parents abandoned you when they gave birth to you, don't you think they are irresponsible? When you were a child, the adults and children in the orphanage were reluctant to approach you, and when you were a withdrawn weirdo, don't you feel wronged? ”

"You, who are you, and how do you know this?" Ling Lan's mouth opened wide in shock.

"Don't you want revenge? So much unfairness to all this! The boss ignored Ling Lan and said loudly to himself, his face looking hideous, "Don't you think this world is too unfair?" Why were you abandoned by your parents? Why are you alone? Why are you in your thirties and still have nothing? ”

"You, why are you ......" Ling Lan's voice also trembled a little, I don't know if she was frightened or infected by these words.

"So, why wouldn't you want revenge? Do you just accept your fate and live a life of such grievances? The boss calmed down and said in a seductive tone, "I can help you fulfill these wishes, live the life you like, and help you kill the people you hate, how about it, do you agree?" He held out a hand towards Ling Lan.

"Same, agree to what?"

"Revenge, kill me, and kill the world."

"I don't understand." Ling Lan shook her head.

The boss's eyes stared at Ling Lan for a long time, and finally, with a self-deprecating smile, he shook his head, "You still can't do it, you're too weak." He muttered, his eyes suddenly turning fierce again, "So, you have to let you die, would you rather choose the latter?" ”

"Dead?" Ling Lan took a long time to understand this word. "It's not bad to die." He looked at the blue-gray sky around him, his eyes gloomy, "I don't have any reason to live in the first place, my life and future have long been a pool of stagnant water, and living and dying are no different." ”

The boss looked at Ling Lan in front of him, he was unwilling to such a result, but he knew that there was no way to save it, and finally sighed heavily and said, "Okay, since you have chosen death, then you can't help but be thorough." ”

Ling Lan was about to ask what she meant, but her boss suddenly took a few steps back, and the blue-gray sky around her suddenly became extremely bright and dazzling, and the sunlight shone straight in front of her, and even her boss's face couldn't be seen clearly. Ling Lan finally wanted to ask him who he was, but there was no answer, the golden dazzling light shone from the front, Ling Lan could no longer see the figure of his boss clearly, as if he was going away.

A wall appeared behind her, and Ling Lan sat down against the wall, suddenly feeling very tired all over her body, and fell asleep with her head on her stomach.

In the distance, a distant singing voice sounded, wisps, floating in Ling Lan's ears—making him shudder.

The next day, when the first rays of the sun came out of the horizon, Ling Lan woke up, he was awakened by the morning fog.

Everything that happened yesterday seemed like a dream, the pitying eyes of the boss in the company, the indifferent faces of the people around me walking down the street, and the letters left by his wife when he returned home. He only felt as if the skin around him was torn, but it was not as painful as the pain in the depths of his soul.

"Maybe it's a hallucination!" He felt an invisible serpent dragging him into the abyss.

Ling Lan crossed her arms and cowered towards the front, which was less than a block away from her rental house.

Soon after, he trembled and walked downstairs to his own stairs and climbed the stairs with difficulty. When he opened the door, he was already in a cold sweat, feeling the bones burrowing into countless small snakes and biting, and then collapsed on the bed and fainted.

All around him resounded the sound of singing that had surrounded his ears not long ago, and the sound enveloped the room, and everything was colored in a dreamlike magnificence.

He didn't feel cold or hungry, his body glowed in the song, and his bones made a "click" sound. He had no way of knowing. The surrounding singing lingered again, as if thousands of angels and demons were chanting in unison:

"Perhaps because of the ignorance of dreams, the wanderers chase the phantom......"