Fallen leaves return to the earth, and the heart returns to dust.

The same route, the same green mountains and green waters, pastoral forests, but all this seems so strange in my eyes. Time passed, like waking up from a dream, but I was no longer the same person I was when I was younger.

After a long journey, the journey of a whole day and a night seemed extraordinarily long, and it was almost evening when I finally arrived at the once familiar town. It's not far from the anti-narcotics armed police camp where I once served, and I can even faintly see the fluttering flag in the distance.

But after a few years of the iron-clad battalion of soldiers, I no longer belong there, and it no longer belongs to me.

The town is located on the southwestern border, surrounded by humid rainforests, and it is the rainy season, so the surroundings are even more humid.

The surrounding fog is thick, because it is surrounded by mountains and forests, the water vapor is easy to condense in the early morning and evening, and the water mist at this time is even more dignified.

A few years ago, the town was not prosperous, because it was not a place where trade was frequent, and in previous years, it was mostly affected by the drug trade, the economy was not good, and the flow of people was not much. It's just that a few years have passed, and the outside world has long since changed, and this place still retains its antique flavor as if it were a paradise.

I was a little surprised, this situation has not changed much, but it feels a lot stranger to me. Loneliness and loneliness are completely different from the idleness and leisure of the past, the kind of ease in the town seems to have become a little lonely, where have the people in the town gone?

Walking in the town, the buildings and roads in my memory have not changed much, but the shops that used to be good for business are closed at this time, and from the rust of the doors and locks, you can tell at a glance that the shops that were once familiar have been closed for months.

The day's travel made me suddenly hungry, and the delicious taste of the southwest frontier flashed back on my tongue.

Steamed chicken with pineapple rice and banana leaves.

"Boss, I want these two, thank you for the trouble hurry up." I urged, swallowing.

Passing by this familiar restaurant, which hadn't closed its doors yet, I decisively stopped.

"Okay, wait a minute, sit down first." The boss, who used to be a little frivolous, looked a little dull and sad at this time.

It was a long time to wait for the food to be served, and I looked up boredly at the innocuous advertisements on the white walls of the restaurant, and there was nothing new at first glance. At the end of the sweep, two missing person notices posted near the entrance of the store caught my attention.

The two men did not look like teenagers or old men, they looked stout, with 25 and 28 years of age, and dressed like two Dai brothers.

Can 25- and 28-year-old men get lost easily? The missing person notice clearly states that he has a well-proportioned body and sound intelligence, and his height is 175 cm and 178 cm respectively. Trafficking? But I have only heard of the abduction and trafficking of women and children, and I have not heard of the abduction and trafficking of the big men, they are all rough men of the local Dai nationality, and it is not easy to get lost.

I was in a daze, when the boss approached my table with my pineapple rice and steamed chicken with banana leaves, looked at the missing person notice, and sighed, "Recently, there have been many people in the town and the surrounding villages. ”

I picked up my chopsticks and asked, "Lately?" ”

"It's not recent, either." The boss shook his head and just turned around.

"I used to be a soldier here, and your food still tastes like that, it's delicious." I took a piece of chicken and stuffed it into my mouth, and my mouth was full of banana leaves. Once upon a time, when we had nothing to do on the weekend, we would go to this restaurant with a few comrades-in-arms to have a dinner, order a few bottles of wine and a few delicious foods, and we were very happy.

The boss turned around again, looked at me for a moment, and suddenly grinned, "There is an impression, there is an impression, but it was a few years ago, right?" ”

I nodded, thinking of the past and I couldn't help but think about it for a while, and I didn't know what to say for a while.

"You're on a trip?" The owner glanced at my travel bag.

"I happened to be passing by and wanted to come back and have a look."

The boss took a cigarette from the cigarette case and handed it to me, "But it's not as good as before, it's not as good as before." ”

"Huh?" I buried my head in the fire and lit the cigarette in my mouth.

"It's not the drug dealers who hurt it, it's gone, it's lost, and I don't know if it's gone or lost." The boss pecked at his cigarette and exhaled the smoke heavily.

I was surprised, "How is that possible?" The anti-narcotics detachment of the armed police is nearby, and there are many people in the town police station, why are drug dealers making a comeback? ”

"Who knows, it has suddenly become rampant a few years ago, and tourists don't need to say that they are all avoiding, even the residents of the town have left, and now the rest are reluctant to leave." The boss took a puff on his cigarette and continued to shake his head helplessly.

I will not say anything more.

The streets of the town are indeed far less crowded than they used to be...

Walking out of the restaurant, it was already dark, and the familiar town seemed even more unfamiliar, the originally lively town streets used to be crowded at night, and at this time it was a little lonely.

A gust of evening wind blew, and the fog did not dissipate, but it made people feel a chill down their backs.

I didn't expect that after a few years of sleep, it was not only me who had changed, but even the old place I used to feel again.

After turning a few corners, I finally found the hotel where I was staying, and I was just about to enter the door, when I looked up, I happened to see a missing person notice posted on the wall next to the entrance of the hotel.

Unlike the person who posted it in the restaurant, this person looked older, about 40 years old, and the paper of the notice was yellowed and the handwriting was blurred, so it should have been posted a little longer.

Missing person notice? Do I also want to post two posters of Zhang Missing, Liu Yi and Kang Jianhu? I curled the corners of my mouth to myself, went back to my room and closed the door to get ready for bed, and from the window I could see that the town was quiet, the mist covered the eaves, and the treetops near me seemed to be weighed down by clouds, making people breathless.

The town is sparsely lit, and the town has completely changed its feel from back then.

At night, it may be that I am in my hometown, and when I am asleep, I dream of the years when I was stationed here with my comrades, all kinds of fragments are messy and trivial, but they are all unforgettable memories at that time.

"Captain, don't worry, there is no task that we can't complete together." A dead warrior shouted at me.