Postscript and Farewell (Revised)
At this point, we all felt a little desolate and sad. We no longer cared about the banyan trees and the big lake dancing wildly in the sky. We supported each other and staggered out of the community gate.
Just a thin line away, once we had passed that invisible barrier, all the strange images that seemed to be forcibly projected into our consciousness began to fade, and the symptoms of blindness returned.
We were in a state similar to snow blindness and couldn't see anything. At first, we were still very tough. Although we were covered in blood, we still walked with our heads held high, which was a kind of tragic and unyielding hero at the end of his life.
After walking blindly for a while, they began to gasp for breath.
The one in the best condition at this moment was the old man who fainted easily. He didn't need to be carried on his back this time. He groped his way over weakly and walked slowly with me at the end of the team.
He consumed the least amount of physical energy and even had the energy to complain to me, asking me to swear that the Zhang family would never come to him to work for free again. He said that it was just a walk and there was no danger, and he would never believe the nonsense of Xu You's grandson again.
I was so tired that my eyes were full of stars. If I said one more word I would die. I could only nod my head repeatedly and ask him to be quiet. I thought to myself, we are all in this together and we will live and die together, so why are we starting to disband and divide our luggage? This makes us look like villains and extras.
After walking for a while, everyone's physical strength had been exhausted and their speed was getting slower and slower. Logically, we were already some distance away from the community and should have reached the section of road that was full of breakfast stalls when we drove here in the morning.
It was quiet all around, without a trace of human presence. Occasionally someone coughed in the silence, but otherwise no sound could be heard.
At this point, we almost didn't feel any pain or fear, and we were still moving our legs mechanically, knowing that we couldn't stop no matter what. But a huge feeling of fatigue still came over us, and soon, I don't know who was the first to lose strength and fall to the ground, seemingly falling into a coma without making a sound.
With this beginning, it seemed like it was contagious, and people in front and behind me fell to the ground one after another, with only two or three seconds in between.
I gritted my teeth and took two more steps with my eyes darkening. These two steps were so painful and difficult, just like pushing a huge rock up the mountain in the myth.
Then he tripped and fell to the ground, lying on his back on the road dazed.
I have to admit that after I fell down, the cold, hard, broken road surface seemed very comfortable and made me feel drowsy. My whole body felt soft and I felt light and fluttery. I wished I could just fall asleep forever and never wake up again.
My mind struggled for the last time, reminding me that if I completely relaxed, I would never get up again. Even the rat in the wall didn't kill me, so it would be too much if I died on the safe road. If ordinary people going to work saw it tomorrow morning, it might become explosive social news, which would bring shame to my grandmother's house.
I tried to comfort myself, and I arched my body with all my strength, trying to regain strength, but my body was as if it was filled with lead and could not move at all. After trying a few more times, I finally found where my hands and feet were, and I rolled and crawled on the ground for a short distance, and then I realized speechlessly that because I was dizzy, I seemed to have lost the direction and rolled back a distance.
The only old man who was still standing had never seen such a scene before. He was already stunned when he heard the muffled sound of the first person falling down. It took him a while to realize that he should come to help me. But he was also blind at the moment, and he gestured on the ground for a long time before he pulled me up.
I waved my hands in panic, feeling a wave of ashes. The apple cider vinegar I drank today was slowly causing trouble, and the acid reflux was pushing up. I turned my head and vomited, with a layer of sweat on my body.
After vomiting, I felt better. My brain finally came back to normal. I asked with a strange look on my face:
“Who still has their phone?”
Half a minute later, those in the team who had not completely fainted suddenly opened their eyes, and suddenly realized what had happened. They finally remembered that we were not a makeshift team fighting alone, and we could definitely call for help.
The scene was chaotic, embarrassing and funny.
What cannot be ignored here is that we were all corroded by the attack of the rats in the walls. Large pieces of skin and clothes evaporated almost at the same time, and our condition was horrible.
So to be honest, we are now a group of people who are doing a very perverted naked running in a group, and our blood is all over the place. We are literally shameless.
The good news is that even so we still managed to salvage two surviving mobile phones.
Here I have to say something off topic. The Zhang family was really cautious when they went out. More than half of them carried spare communication equipment with them, and they used thick waterproof tape to wrap around their bodies and protect their joints. The tape also played a certain protective and buffering role when facing the rats in the wall.
I tried it, and the tattered phone was very strong, and the tape saved its last breath. The screen was cracked with real snowflakes, but I still made a call.
Five minutes later, a long line of ambulances descended from the sky, as if they were calling for help from the Zhang family. Surrounded by the familiar smell of disinfectant, someone fell asleep instantly and snored loudly.
I couldn't help but yawn, and fell into a sweet sleep in an instant.
This sleep was intermittent and it took me more than a week to recover. I was on an IV drip the whole time. Sometimes when I was woken up, I would drink the bagged glucose with my eyes closed.
As for the specific process of the rescue operations, I have forgotten them because they were so painful. All I can recall is the doctors from different departments coming and going, but they all said in a deep voice, telling me not to give up and keep breathing.
Gao Liu later said that, judging from the location where we were found, our group had become mentally disturbed after leaving the community gate and had been circling around in circles, without moving more than 50 meters away.
Fortunately, we were all so tired and dull at that time, with only a mess in our brains, that we didn't realize that we were still trapped in a desperate situation and had been doing useless work. Instead, it was a blessing in disguise, as we didn't despair and were not tempted to surrender and beg for mercy from the banyan tree not far away.
Knowing that we had been through a near-death experience, I felt like I was on a roller coaster with mixed emotions.
To be honest, if we knew the truth at that time, under the tremendous pressure, even I couldn’t guarantee that I would not be able to control myself and make a wish to the banyan tree.
By the time we were found by the ambulance, the neighborhood behind us had already stopped changing. The banyan tree and the lake were nowhere to be found, leaving only the smoldering and dangerous buildings full of cavities.
At first, the rescuers didn't know why they didn't see us lying on the ground. Dongzai suddenly appeared, as if he had been hiding in the air and didn't dare to move. The little fat cat kept circling and yelling at the rescuers, as if he was leading the way, and even started to bite the rescuers' heels anxiously. Finally, after pulling and tugging, a little nurse got startled and suddenly kicked me.
The local authorities immediately blocked off the area and confirmed with instruments that the entire underground community had been hollowed out. Densely packed dry waterways crisscrossed like honeycomb coal, and could sink and collapse seriously at any time.
They ventured in to retrieve some surveillance cameras, but most of them were unwatchable, having been destroyed by the rats in the wall during the surge. The rest were taken to Zhang's house, where a group of guys were working day and night to restore them.
I asked about the others’ condition, and Gao Liu hesitated for a moment: “Several brothers did not survive the complications of the infection.”
I lay on the hospital bed in a daze for a while, feeling really bad.
"What else?"
"That old man is gone."
I was stunned, thinking I had misheard, "Who are you talking about?" How could the old man be in trouble? We were still arguing and complaining before he was rescued, and he looked very conscious at that time.
Gao Liu gave me some time to accept it, and then said that the old man did look a little sluggish at first, and it seemed that there was nothing serious. But the doctor insisted on having him checked, and the old man couldn't resist. Unexpectedly, he suddenly collapsed before he even entered the house.
"It's silent myocardial ischemia."
"According to the examination results, he has always had coronary heart disease, and it was induced and he took medicine that day."
Gao Liu didn't try to comfort me too much. He said quietly, "Advisor, you should have heard similar news. Many people who seemed to have no injuries after a major car accident quickly collapsed within a few hours and suffered severe bleeding in their bodies."
"The doctor said that he had already lost blood and suffocated when he had his first palpitation. Logically, he should have had no vital signs at that time and could not have been alive. But for some reason, he seemed to firmly believe that he was fine. Therefore, he only showed some poor movement and lethargy after that. It can't be explained by current science at all."
I was speechless, and suddenly the scene flashed through my mind of him waking up in the RV and nervously asking me with a pen and paper if he was paralyzed.
I clearly noticed that his pupils were dilated, as if he had been trapped in a nightmare and couldn't wake up. Before that, Dongzi squatted on his chest in confusion, stretched out his claws and slapped him again and again.
——What did I say then?
I laughed and said it was okay, it was just temporary stress, and let him have a good rest.
Xu Ranxing never lies, and the old man knew it. He breathed a sigh of relief and believed it without hesitation.
At this moment, recalling his unreasonable trust, I don’t know how I feel.
He revealed to me the true nature of the rat in the wall and the banyan tree twice. Did he really never doubt that kind of terrifying revelation and didn't know that he was different?
"Advisor, the old man left a message for you."
Outside the ward, Huo Bing, covered in plaster and bandages, sat in a wheelchair. I looked at him and asked softly, "Huo Bing, tell me honestly, when I left you in the RV to take care of the old man, did you find out... did you find out that he had actually..."
Huobing's tears suddenly fell.
I couldn't blame him, but my eyes were filled with sadness and I thought to myself, this is nothing, they should have told me earlier.
The dead are gone, and no matter how many ifs there are, they are meaningless. Huobing told me that the old man said he must tell me that although his surname is not Zhang, he is not ashamed. He believes in me, and if he makes a wish, it is for me. Even if he borrows the power of the banyan tree and becomes a zombie for a long time, it is not considered to be bowing to the banyan tree.
"Also," Huobing handed me a photo. It was a photo of an empty ward. I didn't see the old man's body in it, only an overturned dinner and oil stains on the floor.
But on the wall behind the bed, there was a winding crack. Huobing continued to retell the story with pain: "My boy, the green mountains remain unchanged, and the green water flows forever."
"We don't know where he ended up," Gao Liu said. "No one saw the moment his body turned into a rat in the wall."
I said yes, and finally I couldn't hold back my tears.
The banyan tree has gone away, but its shadow that blocked out the sun still seems to loom over our heads.
"It's over," I whispered, feeling more exhausted than ever before. "It doesn't matter. It's over for good."
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