Building 31 is an old building with a red brick exterior wall, cement balconies, green painted wooden windows, I can't tell its age, the lighting in the corridor is very bad, only a few dim incandescent lamps illuminate, and the walls are plastered with small advertisements for "dredging sewers" or "invoicing on behalf of others".

The blue lacquer door number of "Unit 15 Room 201" is nailed to the green wooden door, which has obviously been uninhabited for a long time, and the thick layer of dust on the doorknob and all kinds of small advertisements are layered on top of each other, and the keyholes are all laked. The smell of stir-frying and the sound of educating children wafted from next door, warm and happy.

Chu Zihang stood in front of the door, clutching a key tightly in his hand.

"Do you miss it?" Lu Mingze stood next to him and said.

"Where is this?" Chu Zihang gently stroked the rusted door number, "Xia Mi's home? ”

"Hmm." Lu Mingze nodded slightly, "She put everything that belongs to you here." ”

"Why don't you go in and have a look? Look at how she lives without you. ”

Chu Zihang stretched out his hand to remove the advertisement on the door, inserted the key, and slowly turned it.

He reached out and pressed lightly against the door. He is a good hand at tai chi, even if he doesn't rely on dragon blood, he can break the metal deadbolt with an inch of strength, but this time he feels that the door is very heavy, as if it wants to open a world.

The door opened, and the sun set.

He stood in the sunlight and froze.

Facing the door, there was a huge floor-to-ceiling window, and the huge sunset was falling outside the window.

The dim sunlight casts shadows on the floor, like a black cage. The metal window frames were so rusted that several pieces of glass shattered, and the evening breeze poured in and roamed around every corner of the house.

It's hard to imagine a bright house with floor-to-ceiling windows in such an old building, which was originally a distribution room or something, but the equipment was removed after the electrical remodeling, leaving such a room facing west.

There was a room of more than 20 square meters, there was no bathroom, it was empty, a bed in the middle of the room, the blue sheet was covered with dust, an old-fashioned chest of drawers stood in the corner, and in the corner on the other side was a gas stove and an old-fashioned double-door refrigerator.

That's all there is to it.

"Can you imagine it?" Lu Mingze chuckled.

Chu Zihang didn't speak, but walked along the wall, his fingers swept over the dusty stove, opened the refrigerator, and there was only a carton of expired yogurt left inside.

The curtains are beautiful, white lace curtains and dark blue velvet curtains, so of course people who live in such a house will care about the curtains, right?

But I don't even have a TV, so when I'm alone, I often sit in bed and watch the sun set, right? You have to keep the windows tight in the middle of the night, right? Otherwise...... You're scared, right?

Are dragons afraid of the dark? Chu Zihang thought.

"I'm afraid of the dark." Lu Mingze sat on the bed, his feet couldn't even touch the ground, just swaying gently in the air, "There are still some things, don't you open them and take a look?" ”

Chu Zihang set his eyes on another piece of furniture, and after hesitating for a long time, he still opened the chest of drawers.

Surprisingly, it was a chest full of drawers, neatly packed.

Stacked sky blue uniforms with the Shilan Middle School logo on the chest, stacks of white shirts with different embroidered lace on the cuffs.

The head flowers in the horse boy cardboard box, from wood to metal to tortoiseshell, and the bow of glittering satin, which looks like the yellow bow she used when she cosplayed Suzumiya Haruhi.

Stockings, socks, cotton stockings, and stockings were all rolled up in a ball and placed on one side of a drawer one by one, like a litter of fluffy pink rats, and on the other side was actually colorful underwear, also neatly folded.

Chu Zihang never thought that there were so many tricks in girls' underwear. He cautiously reached out and tried to touch it, but his hands were covered in dust.

"Let's go." He said Lu Mingze jumped out of bed.

Chu Zihang lifted the cover sheet on the bed, and inside was a simple white sheet and a white duvet, and the pillow was also white, but there was a picture of a relaxed bear, and the yellow bear sat in the corner of the pillow with a serious expression.

He sat on the edge of the bed, facing the sunset, Lu Mingze sat side by side with him.

The sun was about to set, and darkness was spreading through the window, and two long shadows, one large and one small, were cast on the wall, and there was a faint noise outside, and the children were playing basketball on the playground after school.

Has she been living like this all those years?

In fact, there is no father and mother, no demented brother, no cabinet full of clothes for her to choose from, no one to cook for her, no one to talk to her, and she can only sit here alone in the quiet of the night, listening to human voices, and thinking about this learning about human beings.

The dragon named "Jörmungad" faked the life of "Natsumi", how much of her is Natsumi? Or that Xia Mi doesn't exist at all, just an illusory shadow.

"You don't know anything about dragons, dragons, like humans, were just children who came to this world in the beginning." I remembered her voice again.

In fact, this sentence is really full of anger and loneliness, but she said it so coldly, full of ridicule, and never showed weakness.

She's a girl who never shows weakness......

Even if he lives in this world so lonely, he never deviates from his direction, even in front of an empty room, he will say loudly, "I'm back!" ”

It should be like this, right?

……

……

Natsumi carried a large bag and ran through the flying leaves.

The hallway was filled with the aroma of grilled fish dinner, and the sound left behind by the heels of her shoes was like a light music.

"I'm back!" She pushed the door open and said loudly.

What answered her was the clatter of blowing leaves, and the sun came on the surface, pulling out slender shadows behind her,

It was the late summer and autumn of 2010, and some of those who were chosen did not know their fate, and some did, but they were not willing to obey.

At that time, the sky was still clear and the sun was warm, as if all the shadows were not enough to erase this peace and happiness.

Everything should still have a chance, everything should still be in time, and all the bad results can be changed, before the wheel of fate finally stops.

Natsumi walked into the room and closed the door softly.

Then he threw off his shoes, threw the big bag on the ground, jumped on the small bed with a tiger jump, and wrapped his head in the quilt, a set of actions in one go.

It seems to be no different from usual, and it seems to cover up the brokenness of the heart in an ordinary way.

After a while, she sat up, slowly pulled down the quilt covering her face, and sat quietly upright, looking out the window at the bright yellow autumn.

"Is it autumn?" She muttered to herself, "I don't like autumn ......"

The cottage still maintained the same appearance as it had been back then, with simple furnishings, lonely and old, but it was neatly tidied up, and Natsumi lay down on the small bed again, and spread half of the quilt on top of herself.

She pulled out her phone and looked at the blue screen in the spreading darkness.

In the chat history with someone, thousands of messages are brilliant, as if they have been in the spring.

Good night, what are you doing, did you sleep well last night, what books have you been reading lately, have you eaten on time, are you eating in a restaurant, won't you take a quick snack again, where are we going tomorrow......

It's been a long summer......

Are you afraid?

Looking at it, Xia Mi blinked, feeling that her nasal cavity was full of sour things.

"It's really unproductive." She scolded, "It's in the past! Just think no more! ”

Back to the desktop, the desktop wallpaper is a photo of her and Chu Zihang in the amusement park that day, the other people in the photo have been cut off, leaving only the two of them, the girl hugged the boy tightly, her face was attached to his broad back, the boy's waist was straight, and his face was still a little nervous.

Press off the screen, the lock screen is her secretly taking a picture of Chu Zihang's side face reading a book in the library, remembering that it happened to be sunny that day, and the SLR she bought with thrift was at hand again, thinking that the senior brother should not find out, so she secretly took a picture of him, and she didn't tell anyone about it.

Is it really that easy? If you want to get rid of someone, it's hard to be honest, because if you love someone and love deeply, you will find that life is full of the shadow of that person, and no matter where you go, you will remember the bits and pieces with that person.

The mobile phone screen is lit up and pressed off......

Everything is him......

Her hands fell, and her phone silently landed on the mattress.

Reminiscent of the messages left on Katsuragi's phone in evangelion, modern technology is a cruel thing that can preserve everything, including those you want to forget and want to give up.

Even now, would he still think of me by chance?

Natsumi looked sideways at the shadows of the panes reflected on the floor, the setting sun slowly falling behind her, the darkness spreading in from the window, her long shadow casting on the wall.

In fact, the ending is already known at the beginning of the story, and it doesn't matter what I always think about even if there is no ending, it's all a lie, no matter how nice it sounds in the process, no matter how romantic, no matter how beautiful, it can't match the moment when the bubble is disillusioned.

In fact, all this has happened quietly at that time, right? I just don't know yet, so I think there's still a little hope.

After going around and around for so long, I finally returned to square one.

In the end, there was only ...... left Alone.

……

……

Early in the morning, BJ International Airport.

Today's first flight from North America to China arrived, accompanied by a Gulfstream private jet, and the airport was crowded with a whole tour group, and customs urgently opened a new entry gate, but there were still long queues.

These well-dressed Americans had no choice but to wait in line there, and they all seemed to be very cultured, except for a few guys who were scurrying inside.

"Hi Mingfei! It's so nice to meet you! Someone in the tour group enthusiastically rushed up to shake hands with Lu Mingfei, who had dark circles under his eyes, he was worried about Chu Zihang all night last night.

"Brother Townsen!" Lu Mingfei shouted enthusiastically.

"I'm thrash! Senior brother, you have traveled extensively! Fingal said.

"You're here to slay dragons, too?" Townsend shook hands with Fingal as well.

"What do you mean by ...... 'also'?" Fingal suddenly realized that this was far more than a group of hundreds of half-breeds flying to China.

"That's right," Townsend smiled and lowered his voice, "we're on a special charter plane, we've pre-checked the identities of all passengers, all of us are half-bloods, and we're all going to China to slay dragons." ”

"It's too big, isn't it?" Lu Mingfei and Fingal were amazed at the same time.

"We're all good friends, don't hide it, aren't you? News has been spreading a lot lately, and I think hybrids all over the world know that the dragon king might have awakened in BJ, if they hadn't happened to go to a place like Central Africa or the South American rainforest. ”

"But please, big brother! Who do you think you are? How can you go to China to slay dragons? Do you think Slaying the Dragon is going to the World Expo? Is it OK to buy a ticket and queue up? Fingal was dumbfounded, "Just with your cute outfit?" ”

Instead of formal leather shoes like at the auction, Townsend wore a long-sleeved shirt with a bunch of pockets of army-green vest, loose jeans, a pair of tourist shoes, a New York Yankees baseball cap, and best of all, a long-sleeved shirt with a few splashes of Chinese words on the chest.

"Oh," Townsend's smile magnanimously and shrugged, "I'm not so self-aware, and in my words, let alone the Dragon King, any hybrid of dangerous bloodlines is overwhelming to me. ”

"I'm thinking about such an influential event, and it's a bit of a pity that I can't witness it with my own eyes...... And what you said is also reasonable, the Expo is not over yet, and my friends and I are thinking of going to China for a vacation and visiting the World Expo. Isn't it a win-win thing? You see, there are still people dragging their families with them. ”

"Hey...... If you try your luck, if you can't do it, you will take it as a vacation and travel attitude, what kind of sweet uncle heart must you have! ”

"A mixed-race born in 1977, who is also 33 years old this year, what's so unusual about having an uncle's heart?"

At the same time, a woman wearing three-inch heels and carrying a large LV travel bag jumped out of the back door of the Gulfstream plane, along with a pair of black rubber-rimmed glasses. A woman with long dyed maroon hair hanging down to cover half of her face, and a little Russian loli with expressionless face and white blonde hair.

Mai raised her head in the morning light, untied her long hair coiled on top of her head, and her waterfall-like black hair fell like a waterfall.

She stretched her body to her heart's content, unloading the tiredness of the corner all the time, and all the men watching the scene subconsciously touched their noses, wondering if they had nosebleeds.

Even if it is just the dark shadow of the lake in the morning light, every stretch curve around her body is reminiscent of the blooming of a flower.

"Oh, it's Mai-sama!" Fingal's eyes lit up, "Did she hide on our plane all along?" ”

"That's right." Lu Mingfei nodded, "I don't know which black-hearted boss made the three beauties suffer such grievances." ”

Fingal immediately looked at Lu Mingfei with disdain, "Senior brother, is it interesting to scold yourself?" ”

"It's kind of interesting." Lu Ming is not serious, "By the way, Fengou, you will accompany me to do something later." ”

"What." Fingal switched to a vigilant look again, and his face changed three times in just one minute, and his speed was the same as that of Sichuan Opera, "You won't pull me to do coolies again, will you?" I'll tell you no way, the cooling of that knife is very long, and I can't hold it back if you ask me to hold it back. ”

"It's not coolies." Lu Mingfei pointed at the middle finger, "Be a driver for me and my senior brother." ”

"Driver?"

"Well, you see that Senior Brother has always been like that, I think it's necessary to take him somewhere to see something." Lu Mingfei pointed to Chu Zihang, who was not far away.