Chapter 37

When Su Ran woke up, she saw the colonel hurried out the door.

He didn't know what had happened. It seemed as if the colonel had come back and pulled the curtains behind him.

But if that was the case, all he had to do was wait patiently for the colonel to come home.

This is what his little rose needs to do now.

So Su Ran climbed out of the flowerpot, grunting, and cleaned every corner of the house. Finally, when he was bored, he lay on the bed and played with Gugu and Lulu.

After a while, he suddenly thought of something and called Anna using the microphone.

The person on the other end of the channel was a medical trainee, not Anna: "Hello, this is Medical Team B1215, may I ask who you are..."

Su Ran hugged Mai with leaves and said, "Hello, I'm Su Ran."

He thought for a few seconds, then added, "I guess I'm a... Rose Healer."

The person on the other end of the phone smiled: "It's you, Zai Zai. What's going on?"

"Where's Anna?" Su Ran asked. "I don't know when I'll be back. Have you guys coordinated the rescue?"

"The previous area has been cleared," the trainee said, "but we need to go to other places... I'm not sure about this either. How about I wait for Anna to come back and have her call you?"

Su Ran: "Where did she go?"

"An emergency meeting at the base," the trainee said. "Perhaps adjustments need to be made regarding aberrations."

Su Ran responded: "Is that so."

Perhaps it was too abstract, or the intern didn't mention anything specific, so Su Ran hung up the phone.

It seems that we will have to wait for a while before the colonel comes home.

So he took Gugu and the others to enjoy dog ​​ball juice at the table and chatted with them for the whole afternoon.

For the little mushroom Lulu, he first met him in Xincheng, so he was more familiar with him. As for Gugu, he was rescued by him in Haicheng, and they didn't have much contact before he met Stanchi.

"Can you talk?" Su Ran asked, "Are you a local octopus or a foreign octopus?"

Seeing Gugu keep repeating "Gugu", he nodded and gave a small crayon: "It's okay, foreign octopuses can also draw."

In this way, Su Ran and the cuckoos spent the afternoon.

He tuned the microphone on one side to a news channel, where an old man was talking about the new city's recycling plan, and some announcers were discussing the current situation and future of mankind.

We have no doubt that the situation in Haicheng is extremely dire. Regarding this, the base has urgently summoned the heads of the military and the supporting research institute today. I believe we will soon learn about the relevant changes and base policies.

Can you make a prediction?

"Perhaps it's due to structural changes. The people supporting the institute are already affiliated with the military. This suggests another force will inevitably come to contain the military's power. After all, the distribution of power has a significant impact on the current crisis..."

The old professor on the radio was talking incessantly, almost spitting everywhere, which reminded Su Ran of the time when he was taking Rose's kindergarten class.

Then Su Ran returned to bed.

Leaning against Lulu who was already fast asleep, he listened to the voice chat and slowly fell asleep.

At the moment he fell asleep, he heard the old professor talking about distorted objects and the criteria for judging them... but he didn't hear what they were specifically. Waves of sleepiness came over him and he fell asleep again.

This time, Su Ran slept for a long time.

In the dream, he grew back into the woods. With the nourishment of sunshine and rain, he thrived and became a beautiful little rose in bud.

Beside him were the elders and other little roses, all accompanying him, stretching their leaves and spinning in circles in a flowery dance.

Su Ran was very happy to hold hands with them and play together.

But in the end—

Su Ran seemed to realize something.

No, these are all wrong.

He should be at the Colonel's house.

So he stumbled forward, and the Rose Family around him - whether it was the elders who smiled at him or his little friends, all turned into illusory images.

They stood there, but were easily cut in half by Su Ran, turning into black shadows and disappearing from the spot in an instant.

But Su Ran couldn't find the colonel.

He searched cave after cave, from day to night, but he could not find the familiar tall figure.

In the end, he was not careful and the leaf slipped and fell from the edge of a high cliff. The shadow of the abyss suddenly invaded and wrapped him tightly.

When Su Ran woke up, it was late at night.

The nights of this era are no longer normal, but only blood-red nights and huge black shadows that may appear between towns at any time.

A faint red light shone through the curtains. Su Ran turned around and saw that Si Chengyan had returned and was sleeping beside him.

Su Ran felt at ease.

But the nightmare just now made him feel uncomfortable all over.

Just like when humans dream, if they dream of something bad, it will take a long time for them to recover.

So he decided to get up and go to the bathroom, and spray some water on himself, which might relieve the symptoms.

"Huh..." Su Ran took a small breath. When she crawled out from under the quilt, she couldn't control her speed and the rose and its bud fell to the ground with a thud.

Wow, it's a little different from a flower pot.

He rubbed the small flower bud and turned it in two small circles, trying to press the fallen golden flower back.

Just then, his roots hit something.

There was a hard click.

So Su Ran leaned against the corner of the table and dragged some things out of the box beside him. After taking a closer look, he was stunned for a moment - he saw several electronic screens.

Starting from Haicheng and ending at Xincheng, it crossed many places, including wild ponds, rocks, abysses and large rainforests. Each one was marked by Si Chengyan, and a lot of codes that Su Ran did not understand were written next to it.

Especially the rainforest.

Su Ran tilted the flower bud in confusion.

Why did the colonel specifically mark out all the rainforest areas?

Could it be that he already wanted to take him to find the Rose Family?

Just then, he felt a pair of hands approach and pick him up. Su Ran seemed startled, and subconsciously embraced the other's fingertips with his leaf. At that moment, a white light emanated from his leaf veins, enveloping them.

With a plop.

Two figures fell on the bed.

Si Chengyan used one hand to support himself and absorb the impact of the two people falling.

His expression didn't change much, but it fell on him.

The young man who fell on him had his eyes wide open, his misty eyes filled with surprise. After a while, when he came to his senses, he realized something and his cheeks turned red.

Su Ran frowned in distress: "Hmm..."

This nutritional bead really does not give clothes.

That's too much.

Just as he was complaining in his heart, Si Chengyan put his arm around his shoulders and regained his balance: "Wait for me to find some clothes."

Su Ran nodded: "Yeah."

He obediently lifted the quilt, tucked himself in, and then looked at the colonel's back in the closet.

After receiving the white shirt, Su Ran asked, "What are those drawings in the box?"

Si Chengyan: "World map."

"Is that so?" Su Ran looked at him, "Then...where is the mark?"

"These are all necessary when the military is mapping." Si Chengyan covered the corner of the quilt for Su Ran, "Don't think too much."

This made Su Ran smile. He moved aside a bit, making room for Si Chengyan. When the space beside him sank, he turned sideways and hugged the colonel: "I want to hear a bedtime story."

"It's already late at night." Si Chengyan twitched the corner of his mouth slightly, "This is called a morning story."

"I don't care."

Su Ran spoke confidently, like a little rose, stretching out her hand and drawing circles on the colonel's chest, still acting coquettishly.

Si Chengyan just let him do whatever he wanted.

After a while, Su Ran said, "I thought...we were going to look for Elder Rose together."

"Why do you think so?"

"With so much rainforest, there must be a place where the rose family lives."

"Then..." Si Chengyan suddenly changed the subject, "Do you prefer to be with the Rose Family or with humans?"

Su Ran thought for a few seconds and mumbled vaguely for a long time.

Elder Rose was his elder, the one who had raised him from a tiny flower seed to a young seedling, so of course he missed her. He also planned to wait until Haicheng was completely stable, then he wanted to take the colonel to find his Rose family and go back together to visit.

But here, oh no, it doesn’t just refer to the human group.

But it was Si Chengyan.

He certainly won't let go.

This was a very strange emotion that left Su Ran at a loss for what to do. It wasn't simply a sense of dependence like the elders, but what exactly was it...

Su Ran didn't know.

He was just a small seedling, barely being pulled into a teenage rose. Such thinking was obviously beyond his comprehension.

While I was stunned, I heard the colonel sigh softly: "It's okay."

"Hmm?" Su Ran looked at him, "Aren't you going to ask me anymore?"

"Just asking." Si Chengyan lowered his head, gently stroked Su Ran's hair, and then said, "Go to sleep."

"Well, good night, Colonel." Su Ran curled up and leaned towards Si Chengyan again. "I want to hear your stories tomorrow."

"First, figure out how to control the rose and human forms." Si Chengyan said, "Otherwise, it will be too dangerous in the future."

Su Ran yawned as he listened: "It's okay... the colonel is here."

He whispered "Colonel" again and said slowly: "Maybe it needs a nutrient bead, or maybe not. Anyway...it will grow slowly anyway."

After the words fell, Su Ran suddenly asked: "Colonel, are you willing to leave me?"

Si Chengyan was stunned: "What?"

"When I grow up, I won't be the cute little seedling anymore." Su Ran waved her hand and gestured, "The small leaves will grow into big leaves, and they will grow taller..."

Before he finished speaking, Su Ran's voice became softer and softer. He was too sleepy, and this answer was already a one-sided answer for him, so he didn't need to wait for the colonel's answer.

In the end, only a nasal mumbling remained, mumbling something but it was inaudible.

Si Chengyan didn't say anything else.

He clenched Su Ran's hand, his eyes gradually darkening. Finally, he looked down at the young man and said softly, "How can I bear to let you stay here and continue to stay with humans?"