(Foreword)

Romance under the snow,

The entanglement between the whispers of lovers,

Knowing that the devil is coming,

Quietly swept like a dream.

(Text)

December 24, 2021 17:51

The Christmas shopping street is even more lively, some are picking out holiday gifts for children, some are having dinner with friends, and merchants are decorating their windows to add a festive atmosphere to Christmas.

In this way, the night quietly falls, and in place of the day, there are colorful lights everywhere. The snow fell silently, covering the sky and the earth, and falling on people's faces. But they were not disturbed by the snow in the slightest, but continued to talk about their own topics with smiles on their faces, and walked leisurely along the street road.

I looked at the crowd around me, and their faces all revealed the word happiness, but how long can this happiness be maintained? And will this future be able to sail into the light? I don't know, but I'd rather believe that none of this will change.

"Char, what's wrong with you? It's Christmas, you should be happy, why do you look sad. Arthur smiled and stroked my cheek with his hand, gently wiping the snowflakes off his face.

I looked at Arthur and took a closer look at what she was wearing for the day—it was rare that she had ditched her usual press outfit and instead catered to the Christmas spirit, changing into a bright red lanky dress with white plush trim.

Her outfit can be said to complement Christmas and looks extremely good, but somehow in this festive atmosphere, it always reminds me of Santa Claus's sister.

Thinking of this, I nodded, a smile on the corner of my mouth.

"Char, what's so funny? Am I not dressed appropriately today? Arthur asked, leaning his head out of me.

"No, no, I just think you look really good in this way, and it would be even better if you added some decorations." As I was talking, I suddenly caught a glimpse of a pair of Christmas deer ears on the small grocery beach on the side of the road, and took them and put them on Arthur's head, "Look, that's appropriate." ”

"Ah~, I see, you're laughing at me in front of you, right? Do you think I'm like a fawn? "Arthur pretended to be angry, took the ears of the Christmas deer off his head, and was about to put them on my head, but I deftly avoided them.

"No, no, no, no, I don't think you look like a fawn at all, I just think ......" I deliberately only said halfway.

"What do you think?" Arthur asked curiously.

I put my head to her ear and whispered into her ear, "I think you look like Santa's sister." With that, he immediately ran away from her.

"Santa's sister? Good Char, you really laugh at me in your heart! Arthur chased and played behind me with a fawn ornament, but at that moment, the phone suddenly rang.

Arthur stopped, glanced at the display on his phone, and did not answer, but stuffed it back into his bag, and said to me: "Look, it's not you yet, the dwarf must have been impatient, let's hurry up." ”

"Okay. Let's go. I stopped running, and she put the Christmas deer's ear on my head in an instant, then put the money on the stall and dragged me in the direction of the restaurant.

December 24, 2021 at 18:15 p.m

"You guys are here, Xiaoyu and I have been waiting here for a long time." The dwarf said impatiently.

"Alright, alright, aren't we here? Is there something delicious? "I deliberately changed the subject.

"Wait, don't be in a hurry to eat, Char, what's going on with your ears?" The gnome almost didn't squirt out the drink the moment he saw me.

I was about to answer something, but Arthur got ahead of me, "The reason why we were late was because Char said that he liked this fawn ear, so I specially found several stores with him to buy it." ”

"Oh? Is that so? The dwarf asked suspiciously, tilting his head to look at me standing behind Arthur.

Arthur turned his head and smiled at me, I knew what it really meant.

I reluctantly showed a very happy expression and replied, "Yes, I like the ears of this Christmas deer, and I wear it with a Christmas atmosphere!" “

The dwarf almost didn't laugh to the ground, and then forced a calm "oh" and turned his head away.

This kid must be laughing at me deep down now, right? He must be laughing at me, right? That's why you don't dare to look at me!

"Alright, Char, let's take a seat quickly. They should all be waiting for us. “

"Yes, brother, we are all ...... I've been waiting for half an hour. Xiaoyu looked at me with a hint of pity in her eyes.

I hurriedly sat down with Arthur, and the gnome ordered the waiter to serve the food.

No, in a few moments, our table was filled with delicious food, and the music in our ears suddenly sounded.

Looking through the glass window into the lit darkness – beneath a giant decorated Christmas tree with all the lights of the day, stands Santa Claus. Behind Santa Claus is a carriage that seems to be filled with gifts of all sizes.

When many children saw him, they crowded around him and asked him for gifts. And he also smiled and distributed the gifts to each child.

"Xiaoyu, do you want it? If you want, Sister Arthur will go down and get you one too. Arthur smiled and touched Xiaoyu's head as he spoke, Xiaoyu's face was slightly red, and he nodded slightly.

During this cheerful dinner, the dwarf talked about many of his "achievements" in his work, and Arthur began to recount the evil deeds she had seen when she was a reporter, Xiaoyu just listened, and I echoed it, not mentioning anything about Professor Wu and Yitzhak, not wanting to ruin this rare leisure time.

A firework pierced the silence of the night, blooming in the sky with a fleeting beauty, and then vanishing into nothingness. We looked at the fireworks with a smile on our lips. After one last clinking of glasses, we left the restaurant.

December 24, 2021 at 20:10 p.m

When we went downstairs, we found that Santa Claus was still there standing under the giant Christmas tree. It's just that I don't know if it's my delusion, but I always feel that he is a little thinner than what I saw upstairs before.

Maybe it's the visual gap caused by looking down from above? I smiled and shook my head.

Arthur looked at Santa Claus, gently touched Xiaoyu's head, and then walked over to him.

Santa Claus? I always felt that something was wrong, but I couldn't say why......

When I took another look at Santa Claus, I suddenly realized that the person dressed as Santa Claus in front of me was wearing shoes with no signs of snow on them, and it seemed that this Santa Claus was not the one who had been here to distribute gifts, but someone else, and had not been here for a long time. I suddenly became alert.

Arthur !! Come back! Come back! I yelled at Arthur.

Pedestrians on the side of the road also stopped to talk about my behavior.

"What's wrong? Any questions? Arthur turned his head to look at me quizzically.

But at this moment, Santa Claus's costume actually walked straight to Arthur, holding a delicate gift in his hand.

"Hello and Merry Christmas." Santa's dresser smiled and placed the present in Arthur's hand.

"Thank you." Arthur said blankly. But he already had the Christmas gift in his hand.

After the Santa Claus gave the present, he quickly left...

I was suddenly covered in cold sweat, and I ran towards Arthur in a panic, shouting loudly: "Arthur, don't take that gift, don't take that gift!" ”

Arthur took the Christmas present he had just received and looked back at me in confusion.

"What's wrong? What's going on? Arthur asked, completely confused.

I didn't have time to explain all this to Arthur, but ran up to her quickly, grabbed the gift in her hand, and quickly ran away from the crowd, throwing it into an empty space where there was no one.

I heard a loud bang, a bomb exploded in the air, and dust splashed in my face.

Arthur ran to me: "Char, are you okay?" How so? ”

The dwarf and Xiaoyu also hurriedly ran over, and the dwarf immediately called the police, while Xiaoyu was full of melancholy.

"It's all my fault, if I hadn't asked for that Christmas present......"

"Xiaoyu, it's not your fault, besides, we're all fine, aren't we?" Arthur smiled slightly, stroked Xiaoyu's cheek with his hand, and held her in his arms.

I looked at the smashed gift box and thought with resentment: this was no ordinary horrific incident, but against us. "Mystery man", it must be him! It seems that he is not only going to deal with the professors of HKUST now, but even we are going to wipe them out as well......

I looked up at the lacquered night, and though it was as bright as day, it was still obscured by darkness.

December 24, 2021 at 20:30

Although I didn't feel that anything was wrong, I was escorted by the dwarf and Xiaoyu to a nearby hospital for examination under the arrangement of the police process.

Arthur walked in before me, and I sat next to Xiaoyu, waiting for the next one to go in.

Xiaoyu lowered her head and was silent. Looking at her like this, she should still be feeling guilty about the explosion just now.

"Xiaoyu, as Arthur just said, it's not your fault that all this is, besides, we are still alive and there are no injuries." As I spoke, I raised my arms and showed them in front of Xiaoyu so that she could be more sure that I didn't have any scars.

But Xiaoyu just glanced at me, continued to lower her head, and became sentimental:

"Actually, Sister Arthur, every time she touches my head, it makes me feel very relieved and kind. It reminds me of when I was a kid, and every time you told me a story, you caressed my head like this. So, so ...... I was getting more and more spoiled, and when Sister Arthur asked me if I wanted the gift, I naturally asked her for it, and you were almost in danger. “

When I was young......

I really can't remember the memories of waking up on the ship before I was on the "ark". Maybe it's because of the countless cycles, or maybe it's because of what impact or stimulation I've been hit before, which has led to the loss of memory and made me lose this part of my memory.

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but ask Xiaoyu, "Xiaoyu, how much do you remember about what happened to us on the 'Ark'?" “

Xiaoyu looked at me, and then fell into memories: "I remember that when I was very young, my brother was always by my side and would tell me stories about the outside world. Although we never went outside once, in my brother's story, I seemed to see the outside world as it was.

I still remember one day, my brother got a book out of nowhere, that book is called "Gulliver's Travels", and my brother often holds it and tells me the story in it.

At that time, my brother often imitated the tone of the captain and told me the story of Gulliver's travels to the four countries. The one that sticks out most in my memory is the first story, Lilliput, the story of Lilliput. It tells the story of Gulliver, a surgeon who sailed with the "Antelope" to the South Pacific, and later unfortunately escaped death and came to Lilliputia. At first, he won the favor of the king and the people, and made great achievements, but later because he was unwilling to destroy the ancient empire of Brefs and managed to extinguish the flames for the queen, the villains were furious and tried to get rid of him. When Gulliver heard the news, he fled to the ancient empire of Bretfus, and later returned to England safely.

At that time, I often imagined that one day I would come to some Lilliputian country like Gulliver and encounter a strange adventure. It's just that...... It's just ......" Xiaoyu suddenly grabbed the dress on her knees with her hand when she said this, and said, "It's just that what I didn't expect was that I did encounter an adventure, and this adventure is indeed an endless danger......"

Xiaoyu's tears flowed involuntarily, and I hugged her into my arms, "No, no, this is not endless danger, everything in the past has passed." Now that we have a new tomorrow, I promise that the future will only be brighter. I held Xiaoyu's shoulders tightly. And she nodded.

Note: Gulliver's Travels is a long travelogue satire by the English writer Jonathan Swift, first published in 1726.

The work is narrated in the voice of Captain Rimmel Gulliver, who travelled around the four countries. Through Gulliver's adventures in Lilliput, Burobdingnag, the Flying Islands, and the Wisdom Country, the phenomenon of the British ruling class in the first half of the 18th century is reflected. It also expresses the author's ideas and concepts in a more perfect art form, and the author uses rich satirical techniques and fictional fantasies to write absurd and bizarre plots.

(End of chapter)