Yang Wenbin had a dream in the cold, damp detention cell.

In the dream, he returned to his teenage years. It was a sunny afternoon, and he was robbed of his wallet at school by some bad kids.

"Give me my wallet back!" Yang Wenbin jumped up with all his might, trying to retrieve the wallet from the boy who was at least a head taller than him. Unfortunately, even with his able-bodied limbs at that time, he was still a short man of his age.

"Haha, aren't you very capable? Aren't you able to solve super difficult math problems in front of the class? The tall boy showed a wicked smile and deliberately raised his wallet high, "What's the matter, you skinny four-eyed field chicken, if you have the ability, you can snatch your wallet back!" ”

Yang Wenbin struggled to jump under the siege of several children, but he couldn't get his wallet anyway, and instead made himself look like a funny clown.

"Hahaha! Useless dwarf! The tall man laughed wildly, and immediately ordered his little brother, "Hit him!" Beat him up with this four-eyed pheasant! ”

The fist crackled like raindrops and fell on Yang Wenbin's thin body, and his glasses fell to the ground and shattered. But no matter how these bad boys bullied him, he was always stubborn and didn't shed a single tear.

Sure enough, it didn't take long for the tall boy to feel bored.

"Forget it, stop fighting, it's boring. It's like beating it on cotton, and it doesn't even come out with a fart. Let's go, let's go! ”

The bad boys took his wallet and walked away, and Yang Wenbin returned home alone with a bruised nose and swollen face and a pair of tattered glasses.

When his parents opened the door, they were startled, and after finally figuring out what happened, they hurriedly welcomed him into the house, complaining distressedly.

"Oops! Look at you! Why don't you tell the teacher if this happens! ”

Yang Wenbin lowered his head, fiddling with his glasses with his fingers, as if he was still trying to fix it, "They are the children of rich families, and the teachers all open one eye and close the other." ”

The mother crouched down in front of him, put her hands on his cheeks, and asked, "So, are you crying?" ”

Yang Wenbin looked at his mother and shook his head.

"Good. Because a truly strong person will never expose his vulnerability to the enemy. The mother reached out to hug Yang Wenbin and stroked the boy's head, "If you can do this, you can become a truly powerful person." ”

A few years later, Yang Wenbin, a bright but still young man, walked home on a humid evening in the air.

At the age of 17, he has learned how to protect himself by hiding his edge. He learned to play dumb in front of his classmates, learned to deliberately empty a few questions on the test paper to lower his score, and learned how to be humble to those who have bad intentions. He was as clever as a fish in a stream, agile and agile to avoid danger.

As a result, he gradually had many friends, and the people around him became friendly to him. He hides his true self in exchange for the peaceful life he wants, and everything goes well, everything is beautiful. He smiled at the fork in the road and parted with his friends, walking alone to the familiar apartment, thinking about whether to eat rice or noodles for dinner.

However, everything was completely changed from that moment on.

The entire building was burning, and Yang Wenbin even suspected that he had never seen such a dazzling fire in his life. The light was going to pierce his eyes and annihilate his soul.

He counted on hearing voices, cries like "help." But no matter how much he pricked up his ears, there was only a deafening explosion in the skyrocketing fire. He didn't know how many residents there were in that building, only that none of them had survived the massive explosion. Of course, this must have included his parents. The steamer in the kitchen must have turned to ashes, whether it was rice or noodles.

If it's rice, will it turn into popcorn in the explosion? Yang Wenbin thought vaguely before his consciousness disappeared.

When he regained consciousness, he was in a hospital room.

He had a plastic breathing mask over his face, which was a little too big for his skinny cheeks. He had a needle stuck in the back of his hand and a bottle of unknown liquid dangling. His electrocardiogram was realistic on the machine next to him, and when he jumped it, it made a long "drip-" sound.

That's a exaggeration. Yang Wenbin subconsciously wanted to make a mocking expression, but failed due to the obstructive breathing mask. So Yang Wenbin tore off the breathing mask and the needle on the back of his hand, intending to jump out of bed.

However, as soon as his left foot touched the ground, there was a pain in his heart, and he let out a cry of pain, and the whole person fell to the ground.

For a moment, Yang Wenbin gave up. He thought he should crawl to the edge of the bed and ring the bell. In a few moments, the nurse or doctor will come and put him back on the bed. But then he looked through the hospital window into the burning apartment.

Yang Wenbin didn't know what time it was, but the sky outside was undoubtedly dark. There were no pedestrians on the street, only a fire truck and many firefighters standing downstairs, extinguishing the fire with high-pressure water cannons. The fire was small, but it still glowed in the inky blue night sky, dancing with teeth and claws.

And under the flames, there was nothingness.

Yang Wenbin struggled with all his strength to get up, took the bottle of medicine off the stent, used the drip stent as a crutch, and limped out of the hospital, and when he insisted on walking to the apartment building, the fire had been completely extinguished.

"Mr. Fireman, Mr. Fireman!" Yang Wenbin shouted hoarsely and hurriedly walked to his side, "Has anyone survived?" Has anyone survived in this building? ”

The firefighter seemed startled by him before saying, "No, we haven't found any survivors at this time...... I mean, it's an explosion, and who can survive such a big explosion. ”

Yang Wenbin was stunned in place, raised his head and looked at this apartment, the scorched black walls suddenly rose from the ground, so strange and terrifying.

"Kid, why are you wearing a hospital gown? Where are you from...... Kids, kids! Where are you going! ”

Yang Wenbin left and never came back.

Before meeting Zhu Bo, Yang Wenbin's wandering life suffered a lot. He grabs food with beggars, rummages into other people's backyards at night to find leftovers in garbage cans, or sneaks into the supermarket to steal a loaf of bread.

He has not been contacted by anyone since his disappearance. Hospitals and police stations put the matter behind them by writing down a "missing" in their account books; He often crouched in front of his charred apartment and saw his former middle school classmates walk in front of him with others. It's just that no one can recognize his dirty appearance.

At that time, Yang Wenbin was so young and experienced such grief. For the 17-year-old, the world changed. Yang Wenbin didn't want to commit suicide, he didn't want his parents to die in vain to protect his life, but he was so young that he couldn't face everything in the future.

"What is the meaning of human life?"

Yang Wenbin curled up under the arched bridge, wrapped in a piece of newspaper, muttering to himself. In just two weeks, he saw the bleakness of the city, and saw that many people lived like pigs and dogs, just like himself.

Soon after, Zhu Bo extended a kind hand to the stubborn young man, but the young man asked the old man such a question.

"Maybe it's human instinct, why think so much?" The old man replied with a smile.

"But they live only to eat and sleep, so what's the difference between them and animals?" Yang Wenbin asked, pointing to a group of beggars on the side of the street.

"Well...... Human beings are inherently animals. The old man touched his chin and replied, "No matter what excuse you use, people can't get rid of the beastly nature in their bones." That's why there are always people killing each other, there are always people playing conspiracy. Some people can't eat a mouthful of dry food when they work hard, and some people clap their hands and have delicacies from the mountains and seas. People are animals, and society is so unfair. However, there are still some differences between humans and animals, and it is this slight difference that makes some people with high morals. ”

The old man picked up the dirty teenager, "That's love." ”

This ordinary old man who sells tea has saved Yang Wenbin's life, and his slumped waist is the tallest thing Yang Wenbin has ever seen.

"Juber! Juber! I just went to the hen coop to get an egg, and the hen actually pecked me! Yang Wenbin covered the back of his hand and felt a little aggrieved, "It was very docile before, but I don't know what went crazy this time." It can't be bird flu, right? ”

"Huh? Is there such a thing? Zhu Bo smiled and put on his gloves, "I'll take a look." ”

The hen in the hen coop was really irritable, and before the two approached, they began to flap their wings in a threatening manner, making a "clucking" sound. Yang Wenbin frowned in confusion, but Zhu Bo showed a smile when he saw it.

"Xiaobin, don't worry. You look closely. ”

Although Yang Wenbin looked inexplicable, he still obediently listened to Zhu Bo's words and looked carefully on the lawn.

It didn't take long for the chicken coop to really move. Yang Wenbin looked at it, and there was actually an egg cracked under the hen's abdomen.

"Do you mean ......?"

The hen immediately lifted herself up, clucked and held the egg in front of her. Soon after, the crack in the egg grew larger and larger, and eventually a chick's head poked out of it.

"It's attacking you just to protect its unborn child." "This is because of love, and cowardly hens can turn into brave warriors to attack humans." ”

Yang Wenbin listened but fell silent.

"But I don't have a home anymore, and you're still telling me what you're doing." Yang Wenbin said stiffly, then stood up and turned around to leave.