On the way back, Heitao was far behind Bailiu. Bailiu walked forward quickly with his head down. Whenever Heitao tried to get close to him, he would say indifferently:

"Leave me alone and don't come over here."

So Hei Tao stopped at a distance where he could only see Bai Liu's back.

The two people were in the bustling and lively crowd, sometimes far away and sometimes close, as if they were connected by an invisible bond, and the laughing and noisy crowd walked between them.

This distance continued until Bai Liu returned to school. He stood at the bottom of the teaching building with the lights off. He suddenly stopped and said in a calm voice: "I need to go to the classroom to get something. You go back to the dormitory first."

Hei Tao was silent for a long time before he uttered an "oh". He lowered his head and slowly turned around, walking back along the path that he and Bai Liu used to take every night, stopping every three steps and looking back every five steps.

From beginning to end, Bai Liu never looked back at him.

Although the lights in the teaching building were turned off, the lights in the classrooms were not turned off because it was vacation time. Qiaomu Private High School would open the classrooms as study rooms until midnight, so students could study in them.

Bai Liu went up the stairs and walked alone in the dark corridor towards the classroom at the end.

After entering the classroom, Bai Liu did not turn on the lights. He walked to his seat, leaned on the table, sat down slowly, and then did not move.

There was only the last big question left on the test paper on the desk, and on the draft book underneath were some doodles that Bai Liu had made when he was tired of doing the test paper. On them were Hei Tao and him, Fang Dian and Lu Yizhan. His drawer was filled with all kinds of notebooks and snacks, and in the lower right corner of the box he could still feel the business card that the man had left for him, asking him to seek help.

His homework, notebooks, pens, and textbooks were kept neat and tidy from the time he left until the time he returned, and no one dared to approach his chair easily anymore.

——This is Bai Liu’s best condition in the past 18 years.

It was as if everyone was working hard to create a good atmosphere, wanting Bai Liu to grow up, study, take the college entrance examination, and meet the future she wanted in such a good atmosphere.

Bai Liu slowly lowered his eyelids. He looked at the messy ball of puppy yarn on the draft and clenched his hands on the table.

The notes from Luyi Station in his drawer box suddenly fell out, and the prayer talisman for the top scorer in the college entrance examination slipped to the ground.

[Bai Liu, Sister Dian and I want to tell you something.]

Lu Yizhan lowered his head in embarrassment. He looked at Bai Liu hesitantly, with a glimmer of hope in his eyes: [Isn't it that there is nothing important recently, and the college entrance examination is coming up again? Everything in my relationship is about to be settled, so I want to discuss with you what to do after the college entrance examination. ]

[No matter how you do in the exam, whether you want to repeat your studies or not, Sister Dian and I support you. You don’t have to worry about money. Sister Dian and I were both college students at the time. We had the time and the means to support you.]

[I just want to ask you, after you graduate and start working, are you willing to live with me and my sister? ]

Bai Liu stared at Lu Yizhan with a strange look, as if to say, "What nonsense are you talking about?" [Aren't you and Dian Jie getting married? Why do you want to live with me? Aren't you afraid of people gossiping about you?]

Lu Yizhan paused: [Because I don’t want you to live outside alone without anyone to rely on.]

[Dianjie and I don't care what others say. We are considering this matter very seriously. After graduation, Dianjie and I plan to save some money to renovate the house. After the house is renovated, we will let you live here. I hope you will live comfortably. Don't you like horror games? Dianjie has set up a room specifically for you to play games. ]

Lu Yizhan smiled gently: [From now on, when you get off work, you can play games with her, and when I come back in the evening, I will cook for you.]

【What do you think? 】

[Sister Dian and I will always be with you, playing games, eating, and going to the hospital when you are sick. You will always have someone to take care of you.]

[This way, when you finish your senior year of high school, you won’t be alone anymore.]

Next to the lighted refrigerator, Heitao had an expression on his face that Bai Liu couldn't understand. He looked much calmer and steady. He stared at Bai Liu without moving his eyes and said:

【Your time alone is about to end.】

Lu Yizhan said: [Sister Dian and I will always be with you. ]

Spade said: [I am leaving.]

Lu Yizhan said: [This way, when you finish your senior year of high school, you won’t have to be alone anymore.]

Spade said: [Before I leave, can you tell me that you like me? ]

Memories were jumbled together in Bai Liu's mind, and the different images were like that old freezer vending machine, flashing and cooling at the same time.

Bai Liu leaned over and lay on the desk, his eyes looking at the empty chair next to him where Hei Tao often sat and looked at him while doing his homework. It seemed as if there were all kinds of emotions and at the same time no emotions at all, like a deep ocean without any waves.

He thought calmly.

Lu Station and Squares and Spades, they represent two completely different life choices.

If he chooses Lu Yi Station and Fang Dian, Spade will disappear because he is no longer alone, but at the same time, he will have a normal, stable and warm life. He has no doubt that Fang Dian and Lu Yi Station will take care of him and play with him for the rest of his life.

Fang Dian and Lu Yizhang would neither eat nor use the best things they had ever gotten, but would give them all to Bai Liu. Bai Liu was certain that if she lived with them as Lu Yizhang had said, she would indeed be able to have a normal and happy life in the universal sense.

There is someone to take care of you when you are sick, someone to play games with you, someone to cook for you, and someone to understand and sympathize with all your happiness and unhappiness.

If you picked spades...

If you don't choose spades, it disappears.

Bai Liu's calm thinking had progressed to this point, and there was a brief pause.

Spade, this monster is like a huge accident in Bai Liu's life that is neither pleasant nor ordinary. It single-handedly pulls Bai Liu away from the path of "ordinary people" and drags him into an endless and unpredictable future.

——Like a misplaced anchor.

If he chose spades, Bai Liu had a vague feeling that he might live a completely different life from now, full of terror, instability, and desire.

And [Alone].

He has to remain in a state of spiritual isolation so that Spades can exist. Later on, perhaps Squares and Lu Station cannot exist around him.

Bai Liu may need to be alone until he dies.

This is undoubtedly a very bad deal.

If he chooses spades, he will have to sacrifice the stable life that everyone around him has built for him over the past 18 years to touch this monster.

How stupid would one be to make such a choice?

Bai Liu packed up his things and got up to go back to the dormitory. When he passed the toilet at the corner of the stairs, he keenly noticed that someone was following him. His expression turned cold: "Didn't I ask you to stay in the dormitory? Don't follow me..."

Hou Tong, with red eyes, slowly walked out from the shadows. She was a little confused: "Why are you staying in the dormitory?"

Bai Liu stopped talking in time and calmly changed the subject: "You are following me. What's the matter?"

Hou Tong bit her lower lip, took a deep breath, mustered up her courage and said loudly: "I like you, Bai Liu!"

"I'm willing to spend a million dollars a year to be in love with you until I'm 80! I'll play horror games with you every day, give you the best things, and let you live in a big house with me!"

"I will never let you go back to the classroom alone to get things like this again. I will accompany you. When you finish the college entrance examination, I will take you to meet my parents. I have told them about you many times, and they like you very much!"

"I want to spend 62 million to be with you forever, until we are 80 years old." Hou Tong looked at Bai Liu with red eyes: "Are you willing?"

Bai Liu was silent for a long time. He looked into Hou Tong's eyes which were full of expectation and anxiety, and his breathing gradually became lighter.

Given the choice between 62 million, Lu Station, and diamonds and spades, how stupid would one have to be to choose spades?

Bai Liu didn't know.

"Sorry." Bai Liu said calmly, "I have someone I want to be with forever."

——Maybe he is the kind of madman who would rather die alone than let go.