Getting ready
After reading Huang Yazi's message, a long time has passed without me noticing.
I habitually wanted to unfold it and read it again, but someone tapped my shoulder and a hand reached out to take the letter away.
When I looked up, I saw Xu You's face, expressionless and he said calmly, "How many times have you read it? Don't panic." Then I realized that I had been reading the letter over and over again more than once, but I was so immersed in my own thoughts that I didn't notice it.
I looked outside and saw that it was already dawn. It was almost the next day.
The people in the room had all left and dispersed without anyone noticing, leaving only Xu You and Zhang Tianyi, who were still leaning against the wall with their arms folded, one on the left and one on the right, like two evil door gods.
I woke up completely from my thoughts and asked Huang Yazi where his dormitory was. I still wanted to confirm some things, so I pushed the door and walked out.
Xu You led the way in front with a sullen look on his face.
I laughed, knowing that he had misunderstood. This time I was not sad, but I was really inspired by Huang Yazi's message. I was afraid that the inspiration would slip away, so I mechanically repeated the actions to clarify the context.
He deliberately turned to Zhang Tianyi and asked, "How much do you see?"
Surprisingly, Zhang Tianyi didn't answer at first, as if he was distracted.
I asked again, and he looked at me with a troubled look on his face:
"Huang Yazi reminded me of one thing: wanderers can be killed."
I was surprised for a moment. "According to what you said, the wanderers should be immortal." Before I could finish my words, I exclaimed, "Yes, the man who came to our house, the accomplice of Wang Yongfu, jumped off the building and died."
Xu You, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped and looked back at us.
The three of them were silent for a moment, and almost at the same time they thought of a certain scene.
There was nothing to argue about at this time, so I motioned for Xu You to speak first. He had a strange look on his face, took two steps to the handrail in the corridor, and made a gesture of jumping down.
He jumped into our corridor, and his legs didn't even need to be fully straightened when he landed, so of course he was safe and sound.
A clerk happened to pass by and was checking the items with a list to see if Huang Yazi had taken anything. He was startled by Xu You. Seeing that he was not really trying to kill himself, he wiped the sweat off his forehead and asked in confusion:
"Captain, what are you guys up to?"
I smiled and asked him, "Are you not nervous now?"
The guy also laughed and touched the back of his head, "I'm afraid if the captain jumps outside, but it's much safer to jump inside. There's nothing to worry about."
I asked him again what he would do if he were asked to imitate Xu You and repeat the movements twice.
The guy did it several times without even stuttering, then curiously asked us what we were doing.
The three of us who were playing guessing games looked at each other and confirmed our guess.
The guy looked puzzled. I shook my head and told him to get back to work. While he kept looking back, I said quietly:
"I'm afraid we had a big misunderstanding about the fake doctor in our family back then. He probably wasn't crazy and looking for death. Just like Xu You just now, he really felt that he was safe, so he jumped down without hesitation."
Friends who often play games must be very familiar with this scene. No matter how rugged the terrain is in the map, people will habitually walk in a straight line when controlling the character. They will jump into the water when they see it and jump off the cliff when they see it. Anyway, they have calculated the height well and even if they fall and only have blood skin left, it won’t affect anything when they get up.
For homeless people, ignoring possible pain and danger is almost logical.
The tragic scene back then might not have been that complicated. Just as the fake doctor said, he was just so excited that he wanted to call his companions over as soon as possible, so he did what he was used to and chose the shortest shortcut.
But in the end, something unexpected happened that he had not expected, and he died after jumping off a cliff.
Xu You also had a toothache, so he touched the handrail in the corridor and said:
"So, he was so sure that he would be fine that he jumped without any precautions and killed himself. Wasn't it very confusing for him when he fell to his death?"
"Damn it, the old immortal's immortal golden body doesn't work either."
He was stunned again, and asked curiously:
"Then his companions, since they hadn't received his message yet, they might not have come to look for you and Pingping at all."
I was also startled: "Then why did they come? They scared our family enough. If it weren't for these bastards, Zhang Tianyi wouldn't have been forced to work as a losing security guard by mistake."
Zhang Tianyi looked at me helplessly as I was making a roundabout way to accuse him of something else.
I was still feeling depressed that he and everyone else were plotting against me, so I ignored him and thought to myself for a moment. I felt bad and thought, no way, this is so ridiculous and so unlucky.
If the fake doctor's death had not given them time to discover Pingping's resistance to medicine, nor had they discovered Pingping's unusualness, then it seemed that there was only a very simple reason for them to come.
But this reason is a bit too dark and humorous.
——They saw that the fake doctor hadn't returned for a long time, so they came to see where he had gone.
I can almost imagine that a group of crazy people who seem to have no natural enemies come to find someone without any psychological preparation, and their mentality must be condescending.
But when they came over, the first thing they saw was the bloody remains of their companions. The myth of immortality was cruelly shattered at this moment. It was simply the beginning of a nightmare for them.
If you put yourself in their shoes, that unimaginable fear might be hard to forget for the rest of your life.
But after all, it did not happen under their noses. There must have been some people who still had doubts and hoped for luck, so they chose to enter the residential building which was like a devil's den to them, wanting to find out what had happened.
Our house is on a higher floor, so they must have checked it floor by floor. In order not to cause panic, they did not attack anyone.
Until they arrived at our door.
An image appeared in my mind: a homeless person climbing up the stairs in the corridor. After checking many houses, he still didn't find anything unusual. He should have gradually relaxed, thinking that it was just a misunderstanding and his companions might be alive and well somewhere else.
When he stopped walking for a moment, he raised his head and saw Zhang Tianyi, who was wearing a dark blue iron mask and was the Nian family priest, staring at him silently. The strange aura of the rat seemed as strong and clear as if it was from another world;
And through the door, the fresh smell of blood wafted from the house.
Under this indescribable and incomprehensible fear, the wanderers are destined to flee in panic.
If it were me, if I didn't know that everything was just a coincidence, I would also regard the incident as a trap set by Yishu maliciously.
In this way, the safety of our family and the disappearance of the wanderers in the past decade or so may not only be the result of the guards, but also the result of the wanderers falling into a dead silent lurk after being paranoid.
I suddenly had a very ridiculous feeling. This group of lunatics had left terrifying shadows in the pasts of so many people, but they were still a group of frightened cowards in front of the moving rat, and they were so terrified in front of the ghost stories that they ran away at the first sight of them.
If they had mustered up the courage to investigate further, they would have discovered that things were not at all as they imagined.
After laughing, I felt sad that a good person could turn into such a horrible appearance step by step.
While we were discussing, we passed by a few busy guys. This time we didn't say anything and walked all the way to the staff dormitory building. Xu You said that the newbies were all on the top floor, and they were often in a semi-enclosed state during training, and they had to walk up more stairs.
Zhangjia Hospital itself is open to the public and is not for profit. I climbed the stairs and passed many room doors. I saw that the furnishings inside were actually quite cozy. It was not so much a temporary dormitory for employees recovering from their injuries as it was a small home. I couldn't help but take a few more glances.
I ran into someone cleaning a dormitory, and there was a bunch of fresh mugwort on the small table near the door. The person rubbed his hands in embarrassment when he saw me, and seemed to retreat into the room in a somewhat awkward manner.
I saw that this fellow was very tall and strong, very honest and familiar, and I couldn't help but say:
"Hey...are you the one?"
He half bent down and immediately replied cheerfully: "Yes, it's me, the consultant. I'm Jingjing."
It’s been a long time since he was the person I asked to smuggle Xu You in the pit camp.
Now I remembered it, but it's been so long that I felt a little emotional when I saw him again.
There is also a small episode here. I found out that his name was not actually Jing. I was just seeing things wrong. There were two words very close to each other on his badge: "Firefight".
Huo Bing is a big and honest guy, but I didn't expect his name to be so fierce.
Seeing my surprise, he didn't know where to put his hands. He scratched his head and said that his tall and thin brother gave him the name because he was afraid that his stupid brother would be bullied by strangers when he went out, so he asked me not to be surprised.
I saw that he seemed to be more mature than before, and I thought of his brother, who seemed to be the white-faced fellow who had experienced adventures with me in the snowy mountain town, and I felt a sense of closeness.
I simply let Xu You, who still had a lot of troubles to deal with, to change the fire and lead the way for me.
The three of them went upstairs again. I didn't have high expectations, but I just asked about Huang Yazi.
It was a pleasant surprise. Huang was usually cautious and didn't like dealing with people, but he had a good attitude towards Huo Bing, a big friend who looked a little silly.
When Huo Bing mentioned Huang Yazi, the first thing he asked was: "Is he gone?"
I was somewhat surprised and asked him how he knew.
Huo Bing shook his head, with a sad look on his face, and said in a muffled voice: "Advisor, we're here." He opened the door for me.
There was no lock on the door that had been urgently opened, leaving only a hole full of wooden splinters. After pushing it open, the room was so simple that everything could be seen at a glance.
I understood it at a glance. Compared to the carefully decorated rooms of other guys along the way, Huang's room had only the most basic furniture. A quilt was folded very neatly at the foot of the bed, as if it had never been opened and used.
Looking at the table and the balcony again, apart from two pieces of washed clothes hung out to dry and thrown there, there was no sign of life at all.
This is a man who is ready to leave at any time.
It was hard for me to imagine her resistance to a stable life. Even ascetics rarely treated themselves so harshly. Looking around, I found that the closet and bedside table were empty. She didn't seem to have bought anything of her own in this room.
Huobing saw that I had been searching for a while without any results and didn’t know the situation, so he kindly offered to help me look.
I sighed, thinking that this little girl was so determined. Since she didn't want to leave any clues, I couldn't find any even if I searched the whole world. It seemed that I could only follow the clues she gave and look for the vagrants' residence.
After leaving the room, Zhang Tianyi, who had been silent all the way, said:
"Let's take the fire with us this time."
I was stunned, but Huo Bing was very happy to hear his name. He hurriedly came up to me and patted his chest hard, saying that he was strong and willing to work, and told me to rest assured to use his power.
I didn't respond, but pointed at Huo Bie's shoulder and said, "He's the only one resting and cleaning in the dormitory. Can't you see? He must have just been injured in a mission, and he hasn't fully recovered yet. You can see that his right shoulder is always shaking when he talks."
Huo Bing was stunned when he heard this, but he was very anxious and shouted to me: "Advisor, I'm just slightly injured! I'll be well soon!"
I ignored him and turned to leave. I thought to myself, why did I take him to a place where I knew he would die? If possible, I didn't want to get involved alone.
Zhang Tianyi was very resolute this time. He took a step forward and stood in front of me, looking into my eyes and said:
"Have you ever thought that although Huang Yazi said it cruelly, he might secretly follow us this time?"
I stopped suddenly and my heart started beating.
"Do you think Huang Yazi's abnormal behavior means she has been preparing to do something stupid and is trying to trick us into clearing the way for her?"
He nodded, exhaled slowly, and slowed his voice.
At this moment, I felt as if he was not only talking to me, but also to himself.
He said:
"Since she has no ties, Huo Bing is at least a friend you've met once. If she really wants to do something stupid, it's always better to have a friend around. Even if it's still useless and you can't persuade her, but in the future, whether you or Huo Bing, when you look back, at least you won't regret not doing anything."
"Isn't it?"
What Zhang Tianyi said is right.
By extension, it was too late for Zhang Tianyi and I. Perhaps we had missed countless moments when Pingping made her own decisions. Now that we saw a little girl who seemed to know Pingping and was fighting alone like her, we couldn't just watch in vain.
"I'm sorry. I was too arbitrary and made a mistake." I calmed down, apologized, and said, "We have a dangerous journey ahead, but Huang Yazi might go. Can you come with me?"
Huo Bing nodded repeatedly and immediately ran out.
Before I could ask, he turned around and said anxiously, "I'm packing my clothes! Consultant, don't run off by yourself!"
After running two steps, Huobing stopped again and asked worriedly, "Should we bring more water?"
I didn't react, "What water?"
Huo Bing uttered an "oh" and said blankly:
"Didn't Xiao Huang say that there was a mission recently that required us to go to a place without water? He also said that I was very strong, and the instructor would definitely ask me to help carry water. I have been practicing healing skills for a long time, and my arms are still sore now."
My mind raced, and I suddenly realized:
"So, what else did Huang Yazi say?"
Huo didn't understand what was going on and muttered in confusion, wondering why Xiao Huang changed his name to such a strange one. He was completely at a loss as to what to do.
But he was also someone I had nicknamed before, so he was very open-minded about this. He was confused for a moment before forgetting it and replied optimistically:
"Xiao Huang also asked me to memorize the map in advance, saying that it is much more accurate than others. I remember it even in my dreams. It's great to remember it! Consultant, you must take me with you!"
I was speechless, seeing that he had no idea and had already excitedly gone downstairs to his room.
Suddenly, the image of Huang Yazi being teased by me flashed before my eyes. I smiled bitterly and thought, this is retribution. It turns out that she wrote such a sincere letter and map to me, but she still had something else to hide. If I really follow that, I will be screwed to death.
"So...if I didn't care whether she lived or died, and came to see how she was doing and what friends she had...this real living map was running away right under our noses?"
I have always been a grudge-taker, but today I met someone who holds a grudge even more than me. She was warning me not to look down on her and treat her like a poor creature.
I was so amused that I felt somewhat relieved. I thought to myself that revenge is a good thing. It seemed that the little girl would not suffer any harm outside.
Before I finished speaking, I looked to the side and saw that Zhang Tianyi, who had been a stumbling block with a stern face just now, was distracted again and seemed to be unable to hear my voice.
I asked him what happened three times before Zhang Tianyi slowly raised his head with a serious look on his face. He said that we might not have time to waste and must leave as soon as possible. If there is anything, it is best to find time to talk about it on the way.
Seeing that he didn't seem to be joking, my heart tightened. I immediately quickened my pace and started calling for help without stopping.
I heard Zhang Tian say:
"A place without water... I think I know where it is."
"However, the situation may not be the same as what Huang Yazi knows. There should be a lot of water at the deepest part of that place. In other words, there is a large dead lake."
"If that's the case, the situation of the homeless people in that station might be very bad. You should be prepared."
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