It's been raining in the town for three days.

But this new rain has not ended.

Ye Mingke was awakened in the middle of the night by the sudden sound of a bell in the rainy night, he half-propped up his body on the bed, and listened attentively, as if the bell came from the tower of Tao Yao's house.

"Bell" "Bell"

The distant and loud bells echoed again and again in the dark night of the rustling rain, as if they were saying goodbye to something, which made people's hearts flutter.

Ye Mingke listened to the bell quietly, and suddenly felt empty in his heart, as if something important had suddenly left him.

The bell rang for only a moment, and then it fell silent, and the only sound of the rain was rustling in the night.

Ye Mingke closed his eyes again and wanted to sleep, but the inexplicable uneasiness in his heart made it difficult for him to sleep, he got up in his clothes, opened the window, and listened to the sound of rain outside the window more truly.

It was not far from dawn, and he stood in front of the window like this, and his thoughts were chaotic until dawn.

After dawn, Ye Mingke began to train and cook as usual, and after breakfast was finished, he was a little surprised to see that this new rain suddenly became smaller.

Although there are still heavy dark clouds in the sky and a light rain, there is no problem going out.

He spent the past three days at home making up for the training he had missed, and basically never went out. Coupled with the inexplicable uneasiness brought to him by the bell last night, he suddenly wanted to see Qiao Qiao and Tao Yao.

Uncle hadn't gotten up yet, Ye Mingke decided to go to them after eating first.

He hastily drank a bowl of gruel, put down his rice bowl, and then opened the courtyard door and prepared to go out.

"Minko. ”

Uncle Jian's door suddenly creaked open, and Uncle Jian suddenly wanted to stop him at the door.

But Ye Mingke had already run out of the door. Hearing his uncle's voice, he didn't look back, only waved his hand back and said loudly.

"Uncle, I'll be out for a while and I'll come back, breakfast in the kitchen. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, he had already run around the corner of the street and disappeared from Uncle Jian's sight.

Jian Nantian looked at the direction where Ye Mingke's back disappeared, his eyes were solemn and sad.

"The day is still coming. ”

"Mingke, you've always wanted to know, but if you knew everything, what kind of person would you become?"

Ye Mingke ran on the streets of the town, he was originally running fast as usual, but as soon as he ran not far away, he suddenly slowed down in confusion.

He stood at a fork in the street, staring blankly around.

Did you take the wrong path? But I have walked this road countless times since I was a child, how could I go wrong?

But......

Isn't the village chief's house just around the corner?

Isn't Orion's old Chang's house just in front of it, why has it become a wasteland?

Ye Mingke raised his head again in a daze, and found that the towers that should have been seen in various corners of the village were also invisible.

But before dawn, didn't he still hear the bell of the tower?

Is this a small town?

Ye Mingke lowered his head, and under his feet was still the familiar bluestone street.

It was as if he had fallen into a strange dream, and he dragged his heavy steps forward step by step, staring blankly at the blank spaces that suddenly appeared in the town.

The village chief's house, Orion's house, the tower, the old Li family, the old Qin family...... It was as if a hand suddenly wiped away one place in the east and one in the west, wiping away a third of the huge picture of the town, leaving one glaring blank space after another.

But the town is not a painting, it is the hometown where he has lived for sixteen years, it is all the time of his whole life, it is all the love of him.

"Mingke, if one day that butterfly of mine wakes up and takes me away, don't be sad. ”

The words that Jojo had spoken with a smile and tears on his back that day suddenly echoed in his ears over and over again.

"Jojo. ”

Only then did the great fear break through his dazedness, and he approached his heart like a sharp knife, and he suddenly ran like crazy.

The abrupt blankness of the town swept around him again and again, and he ran wildly along that familiar street, towards his best memories of the past, and his greatest fears now.

An unprecedented chill enveloped him, and he felt the cold ice flowing through his blood. He slowed down, his mouth wide open, trying to breathe, but he felt something block his throat, his eyes were red, but he couldn't burst into tears.

Blank.

He had never known the word was so horrible.

The dyeing house with the highest wall in the town was gone, and the girl who loved to dream the most was gone, leaving only a very incongruous void, the most terrible void.

"It must be a dream, it must be a dream. ”

He shook his head again and again at the blank space in front of him, and muttered again and again with his mouth wide open, but the sharp pain and warm blood that came from his right hand sunk deep into the palm of his hand told him another answer.

"It must be a dream, it must be a dream, what about the rest of the town?"

The tears in his eyes finally flowed, and he turned and ran wildly again.

"Where are you? Tell me it's a dream. ”

He ran through street after street, his eyes wide and tearful as he searched through the empty streets, until he finally saw the back of a familiar old man.

He ran to the man.

"Uncle Wang, why is the dyeing shop in the village gone, why are the towers in the village and the big house of the village chief's house gone, what happened in the town......

He eagerly poured out his fears to the familiar man.

Uncle Wang, who had been walking with his head down, slowly raised his cloudy eyes to look at him.

Ye Mingke suddenly restrained the words behind him with some fear. It wasn't the way Uncle Wang looked at him usually, that look was empty and mechanical, like a dead man without a soul.

Uncle Wang's empty eyes looked at him for a long time before he became a little smart.

"It's a leaf. "There has never been a village chief, no tower, no dyeing shop in the town," he said in a hoarse voice. ”

Ye Mingke seemed to have fallen into a deeper nightmare, and he shook his head and listened to Uncle Wang's incredible words.

"Impossible, impossible. Is there a girl named Bai Qiaoqiao in that town? Uncle Wang, I told you about that girl many times. ”

Ye Mingke stepped back step by step, but asked with the last glimmer of hope.

"Nope. You never told me. ”

Uncle Wang continued to speak slowly and mechanically.

"Impossible, you lie, you are not Uncle Wang. ”

Ye Mingke shook his head and stepped back step by step, a deeper chill enveloped him, as if the blood in his whole body was frozen.

He opened his mouth wide and breathed deeply again, then turned away again, looking for the next person he met.

But this nightmare will never wake up.

One-third of the few people in the town, like Qiao Qiao, Tao Yao, the village chief, Lao Chang and others, completely disappeared into the town as if they never existed.

Many more are in a deep sleep in their houses, and the few who are still wandering the streets are numb and mechanical, completely oblivious to the existence of those who have disappeared.

But they can't even justify themselves, and whenever they are asked about the evidence that the disappeared people can't get around their existence, they get stuck, freeze in place, and never move again, like stuck machines.

The world is crazy, only Ye Mingke is awake and desperate, running in a nightmare that is deeper and deeper layer by layer.

The conversation Jojo had with him that day unconsciously rang in his ears over and over again.

"A problem that can't be proven is not a problem. Whether it is Butterfly Dream Zhuang Zhou or Zhuang Zhou Dream Butterfly is something that cannot be proven, that is, something that has no meaning. ”

"That'...... What if there's proof?"

"What proof?"

"For example...... One day, Jojo's butterfly suddenly woke up from her dream. ”

What proof?

Do those who disappear like dreams count as proof? Do those who leave behind a huge void count as proof? Do the inhabitants who fall into the sudden loss of their souls count as proof?

Are your butterflies awake?

So you're all gone?

Even so, why did you leave me? Why didn't you leave with me? Why did you keep me here?

"Minke, what would you do if one day you found out that you were just living in a butterfly's dream?"

What can I do? What can I do?

Ye Mingke ran desperately until he was exhausted, but found that he had unconsciously walked to the vicinity of the mountain behind the bamboo house.

He was trapped in a nightmare of real horror, looking up at the mountain that had given him countless terrifying nightmares for six years according to the fear in his heart.

"It's okay Mingke, I just had a terrible dream. ”

"In my dreams, I am no longer Jojo, and the town is not a small town, but just a butterfly's dream. ”

Jojo, did you know that all along? So you were actually saying goodbye that day?

Tao Yao, did you ring the bell last night? Are you saying goodbye to me?

Why do you all know that you are left with me who doesn't know anything?

I don't know anything, I don't understand anything, why didn't anyone tell me?

He laughed and cried.

And from the extreme fear and sorrow, I suddenly tasted the helpless to the extreme anger!

He stared at the steep mountain in front of him with tears in his eyes, and suddenly strode resolutely towards the terrifying mountain in front of him, the mountain that had brought him countless terrifying nightmares.

It was his weakest and most fearful training, and he even despaired that there was no one in the world who was not afraid, so no one could climb that mountain.

But when he really despaired, he suddenly felt that fear was not the most feared thing in the world, despair was. It turns out that no matter how terrifying the nightmare is, it may not be more cruel than reality.

He self-destructively climbed upwards frantically, a mountain of pressure weighing down on every inch of his skin, pressing out red blood. Illusions flooded into his mind, trying to draw out his deepest fears.

But he cried, laughed, and walked forward in anger.

Heavy clouds in the sky streaked across the blinding flash, followed by a rumbling thunder that exploded between the heavens and the earth, and another majestic rain fell from the sky.