Chapter 46: Take the bird away. This is what an old man like him is thinking...
In the early hours of the morning, icy rain began to fall along the coast.
Beside the stormy harbor, the tall and slender Gothic spire was struck by a bolt of lightning. The top of the tower hidden in the dark night suddenly appeared in the sharp white light. If you happen to pass by here and have good eyesight, you can see through the cold ice and see the large floor-to-ceiling window on the top floor that is clear and cold, and the figure standing in front of the window.
The hard hailstones hit the reinforced glass, and the dark red night scene reflected a pair of deep sea green eyes.
"Master, we have located him based on the forbidden ring." The AI said in a straightforward manner.
"Where?"
"127.763 degrees east longitude, 43.098 degrees north latitude."
"Sculpture Square." He whispered the words and put his palm against the glass.
Through the five-centimeter-thick transparent curtain wall, the 194-meter-high sculpture can be vaguely seen from the top of the tower.
Of course, Yu Chen couldn’t see it at the moment.
Just following his memory, a corner of the old dark landscape unfolded in his mind like a map. He could clearly imagine the bird with wet feathers hiding under the sculpture.
He didn't run too far, but was too stubborn to come back.
As for the reason, he had already learned it earlier.
This was a misunderstanding, but underneath it all lay his undeniable selfish motives.
Because of that sudden dream, he felt a kind of sympathy for the bird that fell on the terrace in the snowstorm, which he would not have felt under normal circumstances.
Yu Chen did not intend to defend himself.
He asked himself whether his idea of raising birds was closely related to that dream, and the answer was yes.
But fate made Bai Ling, who they met by chance, become irreplaceable to him, and he was extremely grateful.
Regarding the importance of both, Yu Chen has also used a sharp question to analyze himself many times:
If the netizen who played chess had not died, and if the old soldier and the bird appeared in front of him at the same time, what choice would he make?
Treat veterans well.
Take the bird away.
It's that simple.
Perhaps this answer is too cruel for the veteran in the dream. But his intuition told him that holding on to the people around him was his destiny.
"Master, do you need to send someone to find the mechanical bird?" asked the AI.
"No need." Yu Chen typed a line of words blindly and pressed the send button. "Wait for his reply, I will go to him in person."
The AI was surprised and asked, "You want to go out? You mean, you want to leave the palace?"
"You should know that you need to keep your body stable while taking the mental tonic. For you, that means soaking in water every six hours to keep your body moist. Are you sure you can come back within six hours?"
Yu Chen said lightly: "It's raining outside, I can get wet in the rain."
The AI paused for a moment, then said, "I have reservations about your willfulness. Besides, I believe the mechanical bird will also protest against this."
Yu Chen turned his eyes subtly and asked slowly, "You care a lot?"
The AI humbly said: "After all, I am a system that you built according to your own preferences."
It deliberately increased the volume on the word "like", and the camera emitted a red light, as if it could see through everything.
Yu Chen pretended not to hear anything and just sat down lazily, leaning against the back of the chair with his jaw supported by his wrist, and playing with the terminal in his hand with his eyes downcast.
He was waiting for news from Bai Ling.
Yu Chen told Xiaoniao that he would explain everything to him and also used some means to force the other party to reply.
He said: You lost to me in the last game, you still owe me one.
It seems that the sky is high and birds can fly freely, and there is no restriction on the other party's freedom, but in fact, they will use all means to press forward step by step. An old fellow like him has such a bad heart.
Speaking of the bad things he did...
Yu Chen thought of the old bird in his dream at an inappropriate time.
·
It took a long time for Yu Chen to roughly recall the details of that dream.
To some extent, its impact on Yu Chen can be said to be unforgettable.
The dream didn't have any logic, it was like a clip edited from a movie. The editor's skills were very average, he only kept the key scenes, and the switching between the cut scenes was not smooth.
Apart from scattered flashbacks, the most complete section starts from the moment the old soldier took his hand.
On this day, Yu Chen came to meet his online friend. He waited from dawn to dusk before that person showed up.
He had the dampness of a long illness and not seeing the sun, and he walked over hesitantly, making a dong, dong, dong sound, like rotten wood knocking on ice.
It took Yu Chen a while to realize that it was a cheap prosthetic limb, made mainly of wood, so it was extremely heavy to walk with.
This type of people are usually birds that have been disabled in war and have a vivid nickname, called "wooden stake birds".
At first, Yu Chen thought the wooden bird was here to beg.
Many of these poor birds have fallen to the point of making a living from this.
He forgot whether he had any change with him, so he took out his wallet and felt around carefully.
The wooden bird stopped not far away, breathing unsteadily, then limped over and tried to sell something to Yu Chen.
Yu Chen remembered that he bought it.
At an incredibly cheap price.
The Stake Bird then suggested, "I have some more at home, would you like to take a look?"
Yu Chen refused and explained to him gently that he was waiting for someone.
The woodpile bird uttered strange syllables in its throat: "Waiting for an omega?"
Yu Chen asked him why he felt so.
The wooden stake bird said: "People like you must be waiting for a beautiful woman, just like a gentleman coming out of a flower shop, he always holds a rose in his hand."
Yu Chen did bring a pot of flowers.
The wooden stake bird told him: "The person you are waiting for will not come. I just saw a beautiful omega hiding in the street corner. She stared at you for a long time and finally left."
Yu Chen thought for a moment and asked him, "Do you like flowers?"
The Stake Bird shook its head, and its torn jacket and the shaky parts of its prosthetic limbs creaked together, as if they would fall apart at any moment, and the screws would jump into the sewer.
"I don't like flowers, sir. I can't even recognize what flowers you have. I don't like them."
The wooden stake bird repeatedly emphasized.
Yu Chen left the flower pot on the bench at the station and said, "Maybe that person will come back to get it."
The Stake Bird was silent for a while, then asked, "What if he doesn't come?"
Yu Chen smiled and said, "Then give it to someone who likes it, anyone."
When I reached this point in the dream, the scene changed and became a narrow alley.
Muzhunniao forced himself to find a lame excuse to trick Yu Chen into his home. Yu Chen did not expose him. He walked in front, leading the way, and chuckled with his broken hoarse voice:
"I'm missing a leg, so I'll give you a 70% discount on the overnight rate."
Yu Chen wanted to remind him that according to the proportions of the human body, the discount should be 25%, not 30%.
But Muzhuniao insisted on asking him for the 20 yuan.
Although Yu Chen felt strange, he still gave the money out of pity and compassion.
He heard the Wood Bird panting and running away, but it came back after a while. It must have bought something.
The wood bird's mood inexplicably became very good.
He even took the initiative to hold Yu Chen's hand and took the blind Yu Chen to walk around in the alleys that were as winding as worms and ants for many times to prevent Yu Chen from remembering the route to his house.
Yu Chen couldn't refuse, couldn't stop, and could only follow the dream towards an unknown but already predetermined ending.
The hands of the Wood Stake Bird are dry and rough, like burnt bark and soil with roots turned over, uneven and very uncomfortable to hold.
Yu Chen pinched it slightly, and the flesh of his palm sank, and it slowly bounced back after a long time.
The woodpecker may be sick and has been sick for a long time.
His palms were swollen, his finger bones were bent and protruding, and the flesh on the palms was strangely crowded to one side, as if someone had cut a rag doll in half, taken out the cotton, and then casually stuffed it back in and sewed it up, making it so bulgy and strange.
Many battlefield veterans have hands like this.
If you swing the steering wheel of a mecha for too long, the circle mark will permanently seep into your flesh and blood.
They entered a damp room.
Yu Chen took two normal steps from the door and his calf hit the bedpost.
The wooden bird said "Sorry, sorry", took him to the bed and said softly: "The sheets are clean, I changed them before I went out."
Yu Chen touched the bed sheets. This planet is surrounded by the sea. When the summer wind blows, the artificial continent will become very humid. If the room is not facing the sun, the bed sheets will easily get wet.
Such an environment was like hell for a veteran who had suffered a serious leg injury.
Broken bones will cause stabbing pains in deeper dews.
One night is better than another.
The Woodpile Bird opened the small refrigerator and put some things in it.
Yu Chen guessed that it should be the food he had just bought.
Afterwards, Woodpile Bird returned to the bed, lowered his head, and unbuckled Yu Chen's belt.
Yu Chen could smell the scent of soap in his hair, clean and refreshing, but mixed with the smell of cheap perfume.
The hands of the wooden stake bird were shaking, and his belt buckle made a noise. Although his movements were not very good, his mentality was stable. He said first:
"It's not a loss to do business with a gentleman like you."
Later he made a few jokes and said in a self-deprecating tone:
"Maybe the person you are waiting for doesn't like you that much and is leaving you there without even going to see you."
As he said this, the wooden stake bird just knelt down and blocked his mouth.
Yu Chen said calmly: "I know he has difficulties."
The stake bird choked. He coughed and grunted, as if he was about to cough his lungs out of his throat at any second.
Yu Chen felt as if there were scattered small drops of water, with body temperature, dripping onto his body.
Even if you deliberately delay it, it will be over soon.
The wooden bird held on to the bed board, rubbing the soles of its shoes on the ground. It took it two or three steps before it stood up. He bent his back deeply again and fastened the belt for Yu Chen.
Before leaving, Yu Chen wanted to leave all the money behind.
The wooden bird said that he didn't need it, and forcibly pushed back the money. He stood at the door in silence for a long time, and suddenly spoke in a strange tone, with a hoarse and unpleasant voice:
"Can you, can you, ruffle my hair?"
He spoke haltingly, obviously not very skilled.
Birds are similar to puppies in that they both like to have their heads rubbed, but this request is usually only made by young birds that are deprived of attention.
At that time, Yu Chen was cold by nature and always looked down on others. He would presumptuously speculate on others and make judgments without empathy, like mechanically labeling them.
In his eyes, the wooden bird was just a cunning old soldier who was testing his attitude and playing hard to get with him.
Yu Chen was happy to cooperate.
So, next, he did something that he would regret for the rest of his life.
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