The dilapidated room, the dim light, the girl huddled silently in the corner, looking in horror and confusion at the man pacing in front of her.

I don't know how long this has been going on. The man did not do anything to hurt the girl, nor did he talk to the girl, but walked back and forth in the small, dark room like clockwork. From time to time, he pulled his hair depressedly, revealing an expression of regret. Sometimes he sighed and shook his head, as if he was desperately trying to drive away some ridiculous idea from his mind.

"Uncle......" The girl struggled for a long time, and finally mustered up the courage to call the man. The sweet voice seemed particularly pleasant in this room, which was as quiet as water, but to the man it was like a thunderbolt, instantly waking him up from his extremely uneasy emotions. He looked at the girl blankly, stunned for five seconds before slowly asking, "What's the matter?" ”

The girl moved her stiff body slightly, and although her hands and feet were tied with ropes, she tried to change her position as little as she could, and said in a begging tone, "Uncle, I'm hungry, can you get me something to eat?" ”

Hearing this, the man suddenly realized that the girl had been tied up in this place by him and starved for a whole night. Looking at the girl's pitiful eyes, the man couldn't help but soften his heart, sighed helplessly and asked, "What do you want to eat?" I'll go out and buy it for you. ”

"Really?" The girl looked at the man in surprise, and for a moment thought she had misheard.

"Hmm." The man nodded, and a faint smile appeared on his face. "Say, what do you want to eat?"

The girl blinked, thought for a moment, and said to the man, "I want pizza, chips, and ice cream......

"Okay." The man agreed without even thinking about it. He carefully examined the rope that had been tied to the girl's hands and feet, and tore a few pieces of tape to seal the girl's mouth. After confirming that the girl had no chance to escape or call for help, the man got up and left the room and rode his electric scooter in the direction of the city.

In fact, after tossing all night, he himself was already hungry and exhausted. Every minute and every second he spent with the girl was a fatal ordeal for him. The more obedient and well-behaved the girl became, the deeper the guilt in his heart became.

When I get the money, should I kill her? Or is it time to let her go? She had seen my face, and I had no reason to let her live any longer, but......

Thinking of the troubles that followed, the man's mood became anxious again.

The cool evening breeze blew on his face, but his mind couldn't calm down. He only hoped that the time would pass quickly, that it would all end sooner......

After school, the boy didn't come home on time as usual. Because he lifted the skirt of his female classmate during the daytime physical education class and made the female classmate cry, the homeroom teacher asked him to invite his parents to school tomorrow.

As soon as he remembered his mother's incessant preaching like Tang Seng chanting scriptures, the boy felt a splitting headache. With the mentality that he can hide for a minute is a minute, he lied that he went to his classmate's house to do his homework, and then went into a small bookstore called "Xuehai Wuyan" near the school to kill time.

In the years since he was in elementary school, this dismal little bookstore has almost become a refuge for boys. When he encounters troublesome things, the boy likes to hide here and read books one after another, as if as soon as he enters this quiet and peaceful world, all his troubles will disappear in an instant.

Although the boy has always only watched and not bought, the owner of the store is still very enthusiastic about the boy. On the one hand, it is because in these days, it is rare for children to love reading so much and often come to "take care" of his business, and another important reason is that he knows that this child is different from other children, not only in terms of temperament and personality, but in some ways it is really very special.

When he arrived at the bookstore, the boy said hello to the boss briefly, and went straight to the innermost row of natural and scientific bookshelves. He hurriedly glanced at the large bookshelves in front of him, which were almost a meter taller than him, and found that the order of the books had hardly changed from a month ago, except that the second and sixth books on the left of the third row had been reversed. It seems that most of the books placed here are not cared for, and the only ones that are often turned over are the rows of bestsellers and teaching aids at the door.

The boy pulled out "A Brief History of Time", which he had only read half of the last time, from the fourth row of bookshelves, sat quietly in the open space in front of the bookshelf, flipped the book to page 118, and continued reading.

Occasionally, customers come in and take a turn in the bookstore, and most of them leave empty-handed, and the boss has become accustomed to the business conditions of the store, and he doesn't care much about whether the customers buy things or not. If it weren't for the fact that this shop of more than 60 square meters along the street was his own house, the turnover of the store would not even be enough to pay rent and utility bills.

When it was almost time to close, the boss saw that the boy was still sitting in front of the bookshelf and reading intently, so he interrupted him a little unbearably and said, "Young man, it's not too early, it's almost time to go home." ”

The boy had just finished reading the last page, closed the book contentedly, looked up, and found that the boss was reaching out to hand him a bottle of cold drink, saying "thank you" and taking it unceremoniously.

"Uncle, you're closing?" The boy unscrewed the cap of the bottle and took a few sips, the cool and refreshing sensation from his throat to his stomach, slowly spreading to his whole body, making people feel refreshed.

"yes, it's half past eight." The boss helped the boy put Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" back on the bookshelf, and asked curiously, "Can you read this book?" The knowledge points in it are a bit difficult for you to understand, right? ”

"Just to pass the time." The boy laughed twice and said, "It doesn't matter if you don't understand it, just cultivate interest." Later, you will have more knowledge, and you will be able to understand those esoteric concepts gradually. ”

"I don't think it will take long, all the books in my small bookstore will be read by you!" The boss said jokingly while sorting through the novels that had been randomly stuffed into the suspense and thriller bookshelf, "You have been treating my bookstore as a free private library for the past few years in school, as if you have never bought a book, right?" ”

"Why haven't I bought it?" The boy stood up, dusted his buttocks, and helped the boss put the remaining books in order. "In the first semester of the third grade, I bought a copy of "Nalan Ci" in your store, which cost 16 yuan and 5 cents, and you also gave me a copy of "The Book of Songs" at that time."

"Really? How come I don't remember? The boss looked confused, and said in his heart, "This kid shouldn't be fooling me, right? He looked at his watch and asked the boy, "I said, why aren't you in a hurry to go home today?" Is it another trouble at school? ”

"Nope." The boy waved his hand, deliberately pretending not to care. "Actually, it's nothing, it's just that it's in physical education class today......" Before the words fell, the door of the bookstore was suddenly opened, and a little girl of the same age as the boy jumped in.

She first placed a cartoon schoolbag with the Little Mermaid on it on the counter at the door, then pulled out a bottle of Pepsi from the cooler. After twisting it a few times, the bottle cap didn't move, and the girl walked towards the bookshelf inside, and said to the boss delicately: "Dad, help me unscrew it, I'm going to die of thirst." ”

The boss was about to reach out to pick it up, but the boy hiding behind him snatched the Coke bottle from the girl's hand, unscrewed it, handed it over, and said, "Oh, here you go." ”

The girl was stunned for a few seconds, then her eyes widened in surprise and anger and asked, "He Weiqi, why are you bastard here?" ”

"Xiaoxue, how do you talk to your classmates?" The boss took the bottle for his daughter, looked at the boy inexplicably and asked, "What's going on?" ”

"Uh......" The boy scratched his hair in embarrassment.

"Dad, you don't know, this guy ...... today" Thinking of what happened at school during the day, the girl was so aggrieved that she almost cried.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the boy quickly grabbed his schoolbag from the ground and said to the boss: "Uncle, don't delay your closing, it's time for me to go home." With that, he ran out of the bookstore.

In fact, the boy had long known that the girl was the daughter of the bookstore owner, but he didn't expect to meet in the bookstore tonight. If he hadn't lost a bet with his tablemates, he wouldn't have lifted the girl's skirt in front of so many students. It's good now, coming out to relax has become awkward, and I don't know if I can go to that bookstore in the future. If the uncle holds a grudge because of this incident, where should he go to read books in the future?

It was only a fifteen-minute walk home from the bookstore, and the boy was not ready to go home to receive his mother's complaints, and after leaving the bookstore he wandered aimlessly through the streets.

At night, the city is mostly quiet with its noisy streets. There were few pedestrians on the path, but the boy was not afraid. The dim street lamp stretched his small figure slender, and it seemed that even the imperceptible loneliness and fear at the bottom of the heart were also revealed in the original form against the backdrop of the street lamp.

Passing by the door of a convenience store, the boy suddenly felt hungry. He touched the change in his pocket and stepped inside. At that time, the boy had no idea that his life would be turned upside down in just a few minutes.

When the frenzied man walked into the convenience store after him and smashed the camera at the entrance with a single bullet, the peaceful world was reduced to hell in the blink of an eye as the dense gunfire rang out like thunder. From then on, the color of killing and the breath of death were as deep as the imprint in his memory, and he will never forget it......