(Foreword)

Moments of crisis are buried all around you, reaching out in the darkness.

(Text)

April 3, 2021 8:05 AM

Early in the morning, I was woken up by a rapid ringing of my mobile phone.

"Hey, Cheng Yin. The pineapple bread is finished. On the other end of the phone, there was the familiar voice of Yan Xiaoxue and the familiar word pineapple bread.

"Isn't it, you're done?"

Well, actually, I'm done with it.

"Shall we go buy some more?" Yan Xiaoxue asked excitedly.

"Actually... I don't really want to eat pineapple lately..."

"Cheng Yin, don't you want to eat pineapple bread? Alright then..."I haven't had time to finish what I said earlier. There was a sad whimper from Yan Xiaoxue's mobile phone.

"No, no... What I want to say is...... I don't really want to eat pineapple lately... Spinach..., yes, it's spinach. I still like pineapple bread. "To be honest, when I say this, my heart hurts, and so does my stomach.

"Okay, see you at the intersection of the commercial street at one o'clock this afternoon, you should know the road, right?"

"Of course, of course I do, I'll see you then."

I pressed my phone, damn it, how is it still pineapple bread! Oh my stomach!

April 3, 2021 at 13:00

I was standing at the entrance of the shopping street, and there were towering buildings on the left and right, and the all-glass building on the left read: U8 Department Store, and the department store had a poster of the mall's promotional activities on the front. The entrance of the U8 department store is full of traffic and looks very lively.

The sea-blue building on the right is displayed on the electronic LCD screen: U9 electrical appliances, and there is an electronic poster on the left and right sides of the LCD screen, and the promotional prices of various electrical appliances continue to appear in the poster. From time to time, cheerful music comes from the mall, which is deafening.

Yan Xiaoxue walked from a dessert shop not far away, holding a large marshmallow in her hand.

"You're too good at eating, aren't you?" My admiration escalated again.

"What is this, you see!" She carried another bag of pineapple bread in her hand.

"You've already bought it." I breathed a sigh of relief in my heart for some reason.

"Let's go to the department store." Yan Xiaoxue took my hand and walked towards U8 Department Store. Suddenly, my head ached again.

"Cheng Yin, what's wrong with you? You okay? Do you want to eat something first" Yan Xiaoxue was about to go get pineapple bread.

"It's okay, maybe I'm preparing for the exam of the University of Science and Technology Development recently, I'm a little tired, it's okay, let's go." Headaches are nothing. Pineapple bread is scary.

We walked around the department store several times. I happened to pass by a watch counter. There are all kinds of watches in the counter, and there is a wide variety of them. I watched it for about a minute before I got dizzy.

"Well, why don't you buy a watch?" Yan Xiaoxue proposed.

"No, I don't even need a watch. It's not that interesting. ”

"You can't say that, you're about to become a great scientist, and precise timing means a lot to you."

"But..."

"Don't. If you don't buy a watch, then go buy pineapple bread with me. ”

"Well, what you said makes sense, in fact, I also think it's good to have a watch."

If you want to say why I figured out why I bought a watch, it's actually very simple, and I know it without saying it.

But I really don't know how to watch, and I don't know which one is good to pick and choose, so I don't want to pick it anymore, and I thought it would be good to choose one. However, Yan Xiaoxue was completely different, she actually studied them seriously one after another, and finally her eyes stayed on a beautiful mechanical watch: "I'm sorry, how much does this watch cost?" ”

The salesman looked at the watch with Yan Xiaoxue's gaze, and said with a smile: "Your vision is really good, this mechanical watch is a new model that we just launched this year, the shape is very chic, the main time error value is between 0.0001 seconds per year, today there is a promotional event in the mall, the original price of this watch is 5000 yuan, and now it is only 3600 yuan after discount." ”

Yan Xiaoxue glanced back at me, smiled, and said to the salesman: "This watch is good, I want this, help me wrap it." ”

"Wait a minute." I immediately stopped Yan Xiaoxue and pulled her aside: "I want to buy a watch, how did it become that you paid?" No, absolutely not!! ”

"Cheng Yin." Yan Xiaoxue insisted on stretching out my hand and holding her hand and putting it down, "You finally passed the written examination of the University of Science and Technology, and the interview will be in a few days, we have been friends for so many years, this should be a gift from me to you in advance, so don't be polite to me." ”

"This ...... How can I make you pay? I just wanted to pay, but Yan Xiaoxue put the cash in front of the watch seller.

It seems that this guy was prepared and brought me here.

Yan Xiaoxue paid the money, dangled the bag with the watch in front of my eyes, and pushed it into my hand: "Come, take it." When you see this watch in the future, you will think of me. She was half-joking, but her expression seemed serious.

"How? It's still early, why don't you go for a drink? ”

"Okay." I nodded, and she grabbed my hand and led me to the elevator towards the dining area on the top floor.

"What do you want to drink?" I asked, looking at the various drinks.

"Chocolate, no, it's still a cappuccino, right?"

"Hello, please give me two cappuccinos, thank you."

The top floor of the department store is also glass, so sunlight can shine directly from the roof. We sat under a big parasol. Wooden tables and chairs, plus bonsai flowers around it. For a while, I forgot that I was in a department store.

I looked at Yan Xiaoxue, but Yan Xiaoxue just kept stirring the cappuccino with a small spoon.

"It's better to have hot chocolate, cappuccino is a bit bitter."

I smiled and looked at the coffee cup in my hand, my shadow was reflected in the coffee cup, but it was not real, it was just a false phantom: "I like this cappuccino." ”

"Cheng Yin, have you noticed that you have changed recently?" She stopped abruptly in the middle of her sentence, and looked at me with both eyes: "Why did you go to HKUST?" I still don't understand. In the past, you never liked physics, you didn't like cappuccinos, and you didn't like pineapple bread. ”

"I may have grown."

"Grown?" Yan Xiaoxue didn't seem to understand the meaning of this sentence.

"I ...... Actually..."

I just wanted to answer Yan Xiaoxue, but I heard a roaring explosion in my ears, and then my ears began to tremble.

"What's going on, what the hell is going on?" Yan Xiaoxue asked.

"I don't know, don't you...... Was it an explosion? "I looked out the window, and a puff of smoke was rising.

"Explosion?" Yan Xiaoxue looked into my eyes in disbelief, but there were bursts of screams outside.

Through the door outside the coffee shop, I could clearly see that the people in the mall were running in a panic, and one of the women shouted loudly: "Explosion! Exploded! Run! ”