At four o'clock in the morning, Cheng Mo was woken up by the sound of an air raid siren, he opened his eyes, the sky outside the window was only slightly white, the dark blue sky seemed to have been washed by water, and the color became lighter, and last night, which dense stars flowed into the sea with the Milky Way, hidden in the melodious and long sound.

To be honest, Cheng Mo once disdains Saint Laurent, but when he is in such an environment, he feels that such an atmosphere can indeed give people a sense of stability. He lifted the quilt and sat up from the bed, the window was not closed all night, the cold wind was blowing, and the slightly cool air was unusually fresh, like inhaling oxygen.

After practicing the "Book of Law", Cheng Mo's demand for sleep is not so high, three or four hours is enough, plus he went to bed early yesterday, Cheng Mo simply got up directly and began to practice snake yoga. Despite the slow progress and low expectations, Cheng Mo is still tireless.

When the sky turned white, the courtyard downstairs was noisy, in addition to the sound of talking, there was also the friction sound of "sand, sand, sand", Cheng Mo looked down, only to see Khaled's mother sitting on a low stool in front of a pile of messy wool, she held two brushes full of steel thorns in her hands, repeatedly scraping the wool hanging on the brush in the middle, until the wool turned into velvet, then the fine cashmere on the brush was torn off, rolled into a ball and put into the bamboo basket at her feet.

Then she grabbed another handful of unprocessed wool and began to rub it over and over again. Khalid's two sisters weaved the cashmere into thread from ancient wooden spinning pendants and spindles.

Such an ancient way is difficult to witness in the modern era of industrialization, so Cheng Mo is very observant.

The morning light was faint, and countless fine hairs fluttered in the air, like colorful fine snow. In the distance, towering minarets pierce the sky, and melodious Sanskrit chanting wafts through the air. The old buildings, the ruined city-states, and the women of the land in the traditional gauze skirts of the Saudis make up a picture that makes you want to stay for a long time.

Cheng Mo thought to himself that such a picture would definitely become an excellent handmade carpet advertisement, which would make rich people flock to it. But such beauty is cruel. Because there is an incurable pneumoconiosis behind the handmade wool blankets, he wants to remind them to wear masks, but he feels that they may not even be able to buy masks in Latakia, let alone 3M masks.

Cheng Mo was thinking about whether he should go downstairs to find Khalid now, when he saw Khalid walking out of the house with a sleepy-eyed Afaf. Khalid greeted his mother and sisters, walked to the wall, picked up two large bamboo baskets that had rested on the ground, hung them on either side of the back seat of the bicycle, and prepared to go out with Afaf.

"Wait, Khalid. Cheng Mo shouted.

Khalid looked up and shouted at Cheng Mo, who was standing by the window, with some surprise: "Morning, Mr. Ryketzka, what do you have to order?"

"I've got something to tell you, you wait. ”

Cheng Mo turned around and walked downstairs quickly, and when he arrived in the courtyard, the two women who were still weaving in the courtyard just now were gone, leaving only Khalid's mother still polishing the wool. Cheng Mo didn't find it strange, women who believe in Saint Laurent can't talk to outsiders casually, and the rules will be a little more relaxed after marriage, but before marriage, except for their father and brothers, they can't even show their faces to others, so they must be veiled when they go out, only their eyes are exposed, which is a symbol of chastity for them.

In martial arts, there will also be heroes who unveil the veil of beauty, and the plot of the beauty having to marry a hero is not completely made up. Reading such a plot when I was still young was somewhat romantic, but it was actually a complete objectification of women.

In some of the more enlightened areas nowadays, people are not so extreme, not only do women not wear veils on the streets, but they are also able to learn to drive, enter stadiums to watch games and open bank accounts for themselves (Saudi women must have their husband's permission to have their own bank accounts.....

Cheng Mo looked down at the spinning pendant and wool thread that were placed on the blanket, and said in his heart: I heard Khalid say yesterday that Latakia was originally a relatively enlightened port city, but now it seems that this is far from the kind of enlightenment described by Khalid. Probably because of the war, conservative ideas returned, and it seems that the war destroyed not only the buildings of the city, but also the more civilized way of life.

He looked at Khalid's mother again, dressed in a black robe, wearing a black turban, sitting on a cushion with a blank expression, waving a steel brush with both hands, like the black-and-white silent film "Modern Times" starring Chaplin in the 19th century.

Modern times.

Times are changing, the world is changing, but only pain remains the same.

Cheng Mo felt very pessimistic inexplicably, although he had long recognized all this and knew that the world was like this, but he had witnessed the world once again split into countless pieces, and everyone became a small boat, unable to survive in the torrent, but unable to do anything, sinking or floating could only be resigned to fate. He closed his eyes and walked through the courtyard with flying flotsam, and Khalid, who was standing at the gate of the courtyard, leaned on his bicycle and asked, "Mr. Rykcka, what do you have to order?" said Khalid then bowed his head and smiled at his sister and said in Syric, "Afaf, say hello to Mr. Rykcka, in English." ”

Aff's round apple muscles flushed, her little hand grasped her brother's trouser tube, dodged it slightly, looked at Cheng Mo cautiously, and said timidly: "Mr. Requetzka, good morning." ”

"Good morning, Afaf. In the face of such a cute little girl, he couldn't put on a poker face, so he tried his best to put on a kind look and whispered in response, he wanted to raise his hand and rub Affe's fluffy and thick hair to show kindness, but in the end he held back, just looked up and asked, "What are you doing out so early?"

"Alphaf and I went to pick cactus fruits, not only to eat them ourselves, but also to make juice and sell them for some money. After a pause, Khalid said, as if remembering something, "My mother will prepare breakfast for you, and if you are hungry, I will tell her now....."

Cheng Mo shook his head and said, "Breakfast is not in a hurry, I just want to trouble you to wait for the pharmacy, I need 'escitalopram oxalate tablets'......"

"Wait, that's a bit long..... Can you just tell me how to spell it?"

"Or go get a pen and paper, and I'll write it to you." ”

Khalid shook his head and said proudly, "No, Mr. Rekçka, I have a good memory, and I will definitely remember it if you say it once." ”

"E-s-c-i-t-a-l-o-p-r-a-m......" Cheng Mo told Khalid letter by letter of "escitalopram oxalate tablets", and asked him to repeat it again, confirming that it was correct before saying, "This is a drug for depression......"

Khalid nodded in his memory, "When I'm done picking the cactus, I'll go to the pharmacy to see if it's sold." ”

"By the way, I also bought some masks and came back. ”

"No problem. Khalid lifted the rusty bicycle faucet and opened the wooden door, "If nothing else, I'll go." ”

Cheng Mo nodded.

Khalid pulled the bike out of the yard, and the petite Afif grabbed the back seat of the bike and jumped over the low threshold. Cheng Mo watched as Khalid helped his sister to the back seat and sat sideways, putting his two slender legs in the bamboo basket, and then he pushed the bicycle and ran two steps and jumped on the tall bicycle with great effort, the dilapidated bicycle "clang, clang" a few times, Afaf raised his little hand and grabbed his brother's clothes tightly, followed by the crisp sound of tires running over stones.

In the gray skylight, there were no lights on the long street, only shadowy black figures moving around the street, and occasionally dim candles could be seen swaying in the cold wind, and the weak backs of Khalid and Afif soon disappeared at the end of the alley.

The sun still seems to be far away.

———————————————————————————

About nine o'clock Khalid and Afaf came back from picking half a basket of half-ripe cactus fruits. So his two sisters put away the woollen work they were knitting and began to process the spiky cactus fruit. Afif also moved a small bench and sat in the courtyard, wearing gloves and holding scissors to cut off the thorns on the cactus fruit one by one.

Khalid went upstairs, knocked on the door, handed a bag of masks to Cheng Mo and said, "Mr. Rekcka, there is no medicine you need in the pharmacy right now, only masks..... But Dr. Mohammed said that if he really needed the medicines, he could look for them on the black market, but the price would be much higher. After a pause, Khalid explained, "Drugs are very expensive now, and the medicine you want is a controlled drug, and the demand is not large, so the price is higher, at least 30,000 lira.....

"Escitalopram oxalate tablets" is not a very special drug, and the price in China is not expensive, 60 yuan a box. According to Cheng Mo's estimate of the exchange rate of 100 lira to one piece of Huaxia currency, a box of ordinary "escitalopram oxalate tablets" has increased at least five times in Syria, which is still the result of not converting the purchasing power of parity, according to the price of Syria, such an expensive price is by no means affordable for ordinary people.

Of course, this amount of money is a small amount of money for Cheng Mo, but for the Syrians, it is undoubtedly a sky-high drug.

"It doesn't matter if the price is high. Cheng Mo took the mask and looked at it, this bag of poorly packaged masks is not even a medical mask, it can only be regarded as an ordinary mask, but it is better than nothing, he handed the pack of masks back to Khalid, "This is for your mother and sister to use." ”

"For them?" Khalid was surprised.

"I see them sifting wool in the morning, and this process causes people to inhale a lot of fibers, don't underestimate these fibers, long-term inhalation, can cause pneumoconiosis. Don't underestimate pneumoconiosis, this disease is also a terminal disease to some extent, there is no cure at present, and if you get it, you will definitely die, it is just a matter of time. And it will be very painful after getting it, I have met patients with pneumoconiosis in the hospital, in the middle and late stages, they can only kneel on the bed, because if they lie flat, their lungs can not breathe, it is slightly better during the day, and when it comes to sleeping at night, they can only kneel on the bed when they are tired, so they lean on the pillow and sleep slowly for a while, and then continue to kneel, and after a short sleep, they must get up and kneel. Kneeling is the most comfortable way they can find....." Cheng Mo's expression was serious, "If you don't want your mother and sister to be tortured like this, let them wear masks when making carpets, if you really don't have a mask, you can make it yourself with gauze, it's okay, it's better than not doing any protection....."

Hearing Cheng Mo's narration, Khalid was stunned, and after a long while, he asked in a trembling voice, "Is it so serious?"

"Sister Wendy and I are both doctors. Cheng Mo said unhurriedly: "There's no need to be so nervous, this disease needs to accumulate for a long time before it enters an irreversible state, I see that your mother and your sister should not have made carpets before, and now it is completely too late to do protection." ”

Khalid breathed a sigh of relief, took the mask from Cheng Mo's hand, forgot to say "thank you", and rushed downstairs, shouting without looking back: "I'll tell them right away, let them put on ......"

Cheng Mo told Khaled's back, "Remember to buy the medicine." ”

Khalid didn't answer, and by this time he had run to the living room, and the whole room was filled with the sound of his hurried footsteps. Cheng Mo closed the door again and walked into the room. Sitting on the edge of the bottom bunk bed and looking out the window, Athena turned her head to look at Cheng Mo and asked, "What kind of medicine did you buy?"

"Escitalopram oxalate tablets ....."

"Escitalopram oxalate tablets?" Athena pondered, "I think duloxetine hydrochloride is more suitable, escitalopram oxalate tablets have a great effect on stimulating the secretion of serotonin, but duloxetine hydrochloride can also increase the secretion of neurotransmitters, in addition to serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine will also strengthen the secretion under the action of the drug....."

"Escitalopram oxalate tablets are safer, right?" Cheng Mo shrugged his shoulders, "I don't want to get addicted to drugs at that time....."

"My own body I know in my own heart, I have never been sick since I was born, after the full level of strengthening, I have done a test for myself, although there is a big gap between the data in all aspects and the carrier, but it is far beyond ordinary humans, not to mention the resistance in all aspects, the tolerance to drugs has also become very strong, so there is a high probability that escitalopram oxalate tablets will not have any effect.....," Athena said, "I am already considering the combination of drugs, and even directly injecting drugs......"

Cheng Mo frowned, he walked to the table and thought for a long time before he said seriously: "Injecting drugs is really crazy, I don't think you need to do such crazy experiments, the damage of drugs to the nervous system and brain is difficult to repair, even if it is a last resort, we are not without other choices......"

"Other options?" Athena said lightly, looking at Cheng Mo, "You mean ML? I'd rather inject drugs." ”

Cheng Mo scratched his hair and said helplessly: "Let's try to see if escitalopram oxalate tablets are useful first!"

Athena did not respond, wordless acquiescence.

——————————————————————

The lunch was much more hearty than yesterday's dinner, but it was also very rich, with more pilaf and barbecue. There are no vegetables, so you can only use cactus fruit instead, and the chilled cactus fruit is more delicious than Cheng Mo imagined. Cheng Mo didn't eat too much pilaf and barbecue, but he ate a lot of chilled cactus fruit. Athena had eaten a lot of barbecue, but there was still a lot left, enough for four or five people.

When the leftovers were brought back, Cheng Mo heard Afaf's happy cheers, followed by a slap and a scolding from his mother, followed by Afaf's whispered sobs.

Khalid opened his mouth to argue with his mother for a few words, but he didn't know what to say, and soon Khalid ran to the second floor to ask Cheng Mo if he wanted to save the leftovers for the evening, and Cheng Mo said "no" as a matter of course.

Khalid clenched his fists and asked with a red face, "What...... Can we eat those leftovers?"

"Of course. ”

Khalid couldn't hide the excitement in his heart, and said happily: "Our family hasn't eaten barbecue for a long time, and the last time we ate barbecue...... I remember it was 2013, when my dad hadn't passed away..... Afaf was only a year old at the time......"

Speaking of his father's death, Khalid did not have any sadness, Cheng Mo thought that his grandfather was still lame, basically lost his labor, and the burden of his whole life was all on this child who was only eighteen or nine years old, sighed in his heart, and whispered: "It's good to have another meal that night." ”

"Thank you, Mr. Rektzka. ”

Khalid's voice was a little choked, and his expression was normal when he talked about his father's death, but Cheng Mo just said that he would have another barbecue in the evening, and this strong boy's eyes were a little moist.

"No, don't thank me, I didn't do anything. Cheng Mo said.

Khalid squirmed and didn't know what to say, so Cheng Mo said, "Go down quickly!"

Khalid turned around and went downstairs, and when Cheng Mo was about to close the door, he leaned on the wooden stairs and turned back and said, "I will get the medicine back as soon as possible, as for the chartered car, my grandfather will ask after dinner." ”

Cheng Mo responded: "Okay." ”

Khalid smiled again, "You're a good man, I wanted to earn you an extra day's accommodation and food yesterday, it's too greedy...... I hope the Creator will forgive me. ”

was issued a "good person card" again, but Cheng Mo's heart was a little strange, he closed the door, listened carefully, and the kitchen downstairs was quiet, leaving only the sound of low sobbing and chewing to eat.

After a while, the sound of sobbing disappeared, replaced by cheerful and contented laughter.

Cheng Mo thought to himself: Human happiness is sometimes so cheap.

————————————————————————

In the afternoon, Khalid took back a plate of "Escitalopram Oxalate Tablets", the price was not 30,000, but 50,000, and the 50,000 Sullia Lila bought not a box of medicine, but a plate of medicine, twenty-four pills, which was much more expensive than Cheng Mo began to calculate, and the price of Syria was outrageous, which had exceeded Cheng Mo's expectations.

He guessed that maybe Khalid should have made some profit from it, and Khalid seemed to read something from his slightly surprised expression, and immediately explained with a cramped expression: "This kind of medicine is really hard to find in Latakia, there is no black market, and Uncle Mohammed bought it from the Ennoth people, so the price is relatively expensive." Actually, I could have bought some more if I needed them, but Uncle Mohammed said that it would be easier to buy them in Damascus and the price would not be so expensive, so I took it upon myself not to buy too many ........"

Cheng Mo nodded noncommittally, he didn't mind Khalid making money from it.

"Mr. Rektska, don't worry, when you get to Damascus, I will definitely help you buy this medicine, and it will definitely be much cheaper. Khalid swore by it.

"You're going to Damascus too?" Cheng Mo asked with some confusion as he shifted his gaze from the pill to Khalid.

"My grandfather went to inquire, there are no chartered cars in the city at all, let alone chartered cars, and there are not even a few cars. If you can't wait to take the shuttle, you can only find a way to find a way with the neighbor Uncle Ashkar, who used to be a car company and also manages the pickup truck that transports the corpses, my grandfather talked to him in the morning, and he said he didn't want to go, but was willing to lend me the car for a day, just ......"

Seeing that Khalid's tone was a little distracted, Cheng Mo instantly guessed that it was probably at noon that Khalid sent him a "good person card", and he was a little embarrassed to mention the "expensive price", so he said bluntly: "You can say as much as you want, don't exaggerate too much.......

Khalid blushed, "It's not that Uncle Ashkar asks for money, he has a good relationship with our family and is a warm-hearted person, but the key to the pickup truck is not in his hands, not to mention that we still need gasoline, and we have to find someone below him." ”

"It doesn't matter, you just say how much it costs. ”

"700,000 ......li," Khalid replied with some frustration, apparently thinking that the price was too much, and after a pause, he added, "The shuttle to Damascus will only cost 3,000 li, or you will ..... wait."

700,000 lira is equivalent to a maximum of 7,000 yuan in Huaxia currency, not to mention 7,000, if it weren't for safety reasons, 70,000 yuan would not blink, not to mention 7,000 yuan chartered car, which is not an absurd to unacceptable price. In Cheng Mo's opinion, the price of medicine is really scary, it's not that he can't afford it, but you can imagine the cost of seeing a doctor in Xulia, such an expensive drug price, and the people of Xulia, who can't even eat enough, can't afford it.

Cheng Mo is not the kind of compassionate mother of Xie Minyun, he sighed in his heart, pretended to think for a while, and then said in a deep voice: "It's a bit expensive, but I'm really in a hurry, and I can only accept it." ”

"Seven hundred thousand!" Khalid asked, stunned, "are you sure?"

"Sure. Cheng Mo nodded, "When will the car come over?" ”

"It's going to be late, and I'll have to ask Uncle Muhammad to get a repair certificate and fill up the oil again....."

—————————————————————————————

Cheng Mo closed the door and returned to the room, Athena was still sitting on the edge of the bed in a daze with nothing to do, he waved the silver plastic plate in his hand and said, "The medicine is here, can you try it now?"

Athena turned her head to look at Cheng Mo, then at the plate of pills in Cheng Mo's hand, and said expressionlessly: "It doesn't matter." ”

"Then give it a try. Cheng Mo knew that Athena was not a particularly planned person, and took the initiative to help her make a decision. He walked over to the table and poured Athena a glass of water. The teapot is a porcelain Shawudi high-waisted teapot, the shape is very elegant, but unfortunately there are many cracks on the surface of the teapot, there are gaps at the spout, and the teacup is a bit funny.

Cheng Mo took the cup, walked to the bedside, and handed the medicine to Athena first.

Athena didn't look at it, hesitated for a moment, broke three pieces and put them in the palm of her hand, opened her mouth lightly, took the enamel jar from Cheng Mo's hand, and swallowed the white pill with warm water.

Athena naturally handed the water cup back to Cheng Mo, and when she took the water cup back, Cheng Mo felt like an old father urging his daughter to take medicine, "You cooperate with the 'Snake Yoga' to practice and see if you can intercept the energy ......"

Athena nodded.

"Do you need me to avoid it?" As soon as he asked Cheng Mo, he regretted a little, Athena didn't allow him to watch her cultivation when he was on the boat, and now he should go out directly, instead of asking more, so Cheng Mo added as soon as his words fell, "I'd better go out for a while." ”

Athena didn't make a sound, and her eyes didn't focus on Cheng Mo, but stared at the clear sky outside the window as if in a daze.

Putting the enamel cup back on the table, Cheng Mo turned around and walked out of the room, and at the moment he closed the door, he remembered the glimpse on the ship again, he couldn't help but glance at Athena sitting on the bed more, but he didn't expect Athena, who had not looked at him just now, to watch him leave.

So the eyes of the two people met in the shadow of the bed frame, and this sudden collision made Cheng Mowei's heart tremble, and those messy memory fragments were like petals that met the breeze, and the dew deposited on the petals scattered, and the memory became blank. His brain lost consciousness, but the muscles of his body continued to run, and the door closed softly.

Cheng Mo stood at the door for a long time, and then walked lightly down the narrow stone staircase, and when he entered the living room, he saw that the Khalid family had begun to weave wool carpets again, and the fluff shimmered in the sun, like the light dust scattered by the sun.

In the dust, Khalid's mother and sister wore masks. The adult masks Affif couldn't wear, but she was also covered with several layers of gauzy visors, and now she was sitting on a small bench, waving her thin, scratched little hands and turning the lever to roll the cashmere into threads.

Cheng Mo felt relieved at first, but then he was relieved, he retreated to the stairs, walked up the corner, and sat on the cold and hard steps, not wanting to interfere with his life that he shouldn't interfere with.

——————————————————————

I don't know how long it took, there was the roar of the engine outside, Cheng Mo guessed that Khalid was driving back, he got up and patted his numb buttocks, and then slowly walked upstairs and stood at the door and knocked on the door, waiting for Athena to say "come in", before pushing the door in.

Seeing that Athena had stopped practicing "Snake Yoga", she sat on the edge of the bed and stared out the window as if she were wandering out of the world.

Cheng Mo asked, "What's the matter?"

"It didn't work. Athena shook her head, "I took a few more tablets later, but I still can't find the feeling that day, maybe as I guessed, the effect of 'escitalopram oxalate tablets' is still not strong enough, I have to try other medicines." ”

"It doesn't work at all?" Cheng Mo asked unwillingly.

"No, no sweating, no breathlessness, not even a faster heartbeat. ”

Cheng Mo wanted to ask Athena how she felt that day on the ship, in the engine room, under the main crankshaft, but he didn't ask. He said helplessly: "That can only wait until Damascus, fortunately Syria is not big, and Damascus is not far away." ”

Athena let out an emotionless "um".

Khalid's voice sounded downstairs, and Cheng Mo looked back at the window and said, "We'll leave later." ”

——————————————————————————

After dinner, Cheng Mo and Athena got into a scarred Mitsubishi pickup truck, the body of which had been dented in several places, and the bumper was barely fixed to the front of the car by transparent glue. Even though it had only been washed in the afternoon, it still looked broken and dirty, and the facilities in the carriage were a little dirty, and there was a strange faint stench, a faint smell of decay.

Cheng Mo sat on his uncle's Wuling bread without air conditioning, and he got into the car, but he was very uncomfortable. Frowning, he sniffled several times. On the contrary, Athena sat in the back seat, with a cold expression and a non-caring appearance.

At this time, Khalid had not yet gotten into the car, coaxing Afaf who had to go with him outside the car, and the red sunset stretched the shadows of the two people very long, and Khalid whispered and frightened: "It's not that my brother doesn't take you, riding in a car is not the same as riding a bicycle, and it is dangerous to take a car! In case of a car accident, it hurts, your tears have to cry dry, we can't let Uncle Rekska and Aunt Wendy laugh at you....."

The skinny little Afaf tugged at Khaled's sleeve and pouted, "I won't cry! I won't even cry when I'm pricked by a cactus, I'm strong!"

"Who cried immediately after being beaten by my mother at noon?"

"That's not because I'm afraid of pain, it's because I'm afraid my mother will be angry. ”

After saying that, Afif ran to the side of the car to grab the door, Khalid had no choice but to turn his head and shout: "Mother, you can take Afaf back!"

Afaf's eyes were immediately moist, and by the time her mother came up and took her hand, the bean-sized tears were already rolling down her round cheeks like beads with broken threads, and the afterglow of the setting sun shone through the clear teardrops, shining into a crystal rainbow.

"Afaf, go back with your mother, and don't get in the way of your brother's work. ”

Cheng Mo, who was sitting in the carriage, turned his head to look at Afffe, her little face was wrinkled with tears, and she still stubbornly grabbed the doorknob, crying: "It's so dangerous to drive a car, how can I let my brother go alone? Without me, my brother can't even pick cactus fruits....."

Perhaps noticing Cheng Mo's gaze, Khalid's mother mercilessly broke Afaf's little hand and said sharply, "Obedient!"

Afif cried even more, but Khalid teased: "Aren't you very strong?

With tears on his face, Afif became angry again, and said fiercely to Khalid: "You are not allowed to laugh, come over to me." ”

Khalid, who was ordered by his sister in public, was stunned for a moment, looked at Cheng Mo and Athena in the carriage, walked in front of Afaf with an embarrassed face, and said angrily: "What are you doing?"

Afaf sobbed and said, "You have to come back well!

I don't know if it was because of the embarrassment or the setting sun, but Khalid's handsome face turned red, as if it had been roasted. He restrained his smile and embarrassment, squatted down and pinched his sister's cheek, and said softly: "No, my brother will bring you delicious pastries from Damascus, as well as a beautiful head rope......."

Teary-eyed Afaf pushed away his brother's hand and said angrily, "I don't want it, I just want you to come back quickly." ”

Khalid smiled softly: "Soon, just three days." ”

"Three days!"

"Just three days. Khalid raised his right hand, "I promise to the Creator." ”

"Don't delay my brother's time. Khalid's mother took Afaf's little hand and walked towards the door, and she turned around three times and said, "Come back in three days!"

Khalid waved his hand and said, "Okay, Afaf, you listen to your mother at home....."

Afif raised her little hand and rubbed her tear-filled eyes and nodded.

Khalid hurriedly turned and got into the car, the corners of his eyes were also a little red, and the sunset at the end of the long street was also red. Khalid twisted the key, and the pickup, whose odometer had already exploded, let out a dull roar.

He was in gear and stepped on the accelerator very skillfully, which made Cheng Mo feel a lot more relieved.

The pickup truck slowly drove away from the long street, Khalid turned his head to look at Cheng Mo and said with a smile: "I'm sorry, my sister has grown up behind my ass since she was a child, she does whatever I do, and she has never seen me go far away......"

Although Cheng Mo, who was sitting in the co-pilot, couldn't understand much what Khalid and his sister said just now, he could roughly guess it. He doesn't quite understand such feelings, but he also understands why there are lovers like "Sister Control", his sister is indeed very cute, especially a sister like Afaf, he twitched the corners of his mouth and smiled: "This kind of relationship is quite enviable." ”

Khalid's response was bitter: "What is there to envy?"

Cheng Mo could feel Khalid's sadness, but he didn't ask why, he wasn't, and he didn't want to be a savior. Cheng Mo closed his mouth and stopped talking. The cold wind poured in through the window, blowing a little chill, he looked up at the rearview mirror, Athena sat in the back seat with her eyes closed, her face was calm, maybe everything in the world was not disturbed by her.

The pickup truck headed in the direction of the setting sun, and the coastline and the mountains in the distance gradually blurred in the sky, like a landscape painting that had been blurred. Not far from the city of Latakia, a gust of wind suddenly came, full of breath-taking smell, like the smell of dead rats, almost exactly the same smell as Cheng Mo smelled when he first got into the car, but the smell on the car was far less strong.

Cheng Mo frowned and rolled up the window, "It smells so bad." ”

Athena also opened her eyes and said, "The smell of dead bodies." ”

Khalid raised his hand and pointed to the foot of the hill on his left and said, "That's the cemetery, where all of Latakia who died in the war are buried, and so is my father." Because there were so many corpses, there were not enough coffins, and there was little labor, there was no way to dig a deep pit, so they just dug a shallow pit and buried it. ”

Cheng Mo's gaze skipped over a small patch of light between the hills and the road, the bare earthy hills obscured the sun, and in the long shadows of its long body, there were densely packed wooden signs, as far as the eye could see, like a huge forest that had disappeared due to artificial logging.

The forests that spread all over the mountains were gone, and now only the lonely stakes with the rings were drawn without a margin.

At this moment, even if the cold-blooded Cheng Mo felt shocked and sad, Khalid said indifferently: "It'll be fine soon, this section of the road is only four or five kilometers......

——————————————————————

After the long and difficult cemetery, we officially entered the road between Latakia and Damascus, and there were more cars, all of which were large trucks. This makes the pickup truck not fast on the two-lane highway at all, and can only barely maintain a speed of forty or fifty kilometers per hour, if it encounters a slow truck, it is even more aggrieved, and it will not be able to find the opportunity to overtake for a long time.

Cheng Mo then understood why Khalid said that there was no day that it was impossible to reach Damascus, and according to the current situation, it was not strange to run a 350-kilometer journey for two days.

Sure enough, soon the car stopped, and the already narrow road was crammed with cars from the eighties and nineties, mainly European and Japanese cars. In this comparison, the Mitsubishi pickup truck that Cheng Mo rode in is still new.

"The front level is off. Khalid held the steering wheel and followed the big truck in front of him slowly forward, and in the night, the front of the pickup truck was so close that it would be stuffed under the butt of the big truck without tail lights, and Khalid admonished, "Don't talk, just let me speak." ”

"Good. Cheng Mo said.

After a long wait, the Syria soldiers in military uniforms and guns were finally ushered in, one of them held a flashlight and shook it into the car, and when he saw Cheng Mo's white face, his eyes suddenly turned cold.

Cheng Mo stared at him calmly through the windshield. Khalid rolled down the window of his car, spoke loudly to the Syria soldier, and quietly slipped money into the soldier, but the soldier, despite the money, directed Khalid to drive the car off the road, which was flanked by a flat wilderness with nothing but the darkness and weeds that covered the land.

A short time later, a little black beard wearing a camouflage uniform and a beret walked over from the checkpoint, and the soldier said something to Khalid, who got out of the car with Cheng Mo and Athena's passports.

Athena looked at the heavily armed Syrian soldiers gathered around the car and asked, "What's going on?"

Cheng Mo thought that he and Athena still had a layer of "Interpol" identity, and they could still use it if they had to do so, so he said, "There will be nothing wrong." ”

Athena didn't ask any more questions, and continued to close her eyes.

Cheng Mo stared at Khalid, who was standing not far away and negotiating with a little blackbeard wearing a beret, and once again he took out the money from his pocket, this time not just a few just now, but a thick stack.

The little black beard in the beret counted them in a dignified manner, stuffed the money into his jacket, and waved his hand at the soldiers gathered around the pickup.

As the group of soldiers left, Cheng Mo saw their indifferent and hateful gaze, staring at their prey like wolves baring their teeth in the dark night.

Cheng Mo had a hunch in his heart that this road to Damascus might not be so smooth.