The sea is endless.

The waves continued to hit the coast, rolling up white foam, carrying the rhythm of the tides, and breaking in the sun.

Fu Tianhe lay in the little yellow duck's swimming ring, drifting on the shallow beach with the waves.

His mother, wearing a swimsuit, was watching him not far away, and occasionally splashing water at him on purpose. Fu Tianhe laughed and dodged, enjoying himself.

His mother usually works very hard to support the family, and he waited a long time for this opportunity to play at the beach.

Other parents were swimming with their children to deeper waters. Seeing this, Fu Tianhe shouted, "Mom, I want to go too!"

Naturally, the mother agreed to his not-too-excessive request. She pushed the swimming ring and took her son to a deeper place.

"Look, what's that over there?"

I don't know who suddenly shouted this.

Fu Tianhe immediately looked curiously. He couldn't find it at the first time, but soon he discovered that there was something shiny mixed in the sea water, which showed a beautiful purple glow under the sunlight, like a mysterious mineral in an underwater cave, being swept into the world.

"How beautiful!" he exclaimed. "What is that?"

"Maybe someone scattered it." The mother replied. Everyone in the sea was amazed at the wonderful sight before their eyes, and more and more people moved closer to that place.

As the waves advanced, the purple powder became more and more, floating in the sea water like quicksand, surrounding the bodies of the tourists and becoming a gorgeous background in the photos.

Fu Tianhe grabbed it with his hands. His two small palms scooped up the sea water. The purple water danced like elves and attached to his skin. It would look beautiful if he put it in a drifting bottle, right?

The fun in the sea continued until dark. After the sun set, the temperature of the sea water began to drop and the tourists returned to the shore one after another.

They drank beer and ate barbecue, while the children squatted on the ground and made all kinds of strange shapes with sand.

On the third day after going to the beach, Fu Tianhe and his mother began to feel itchy all over, but at that time they thought it was just a common allergy. After taking some medicine, the situation returned to normal.

No one took it seriously.

However, not long after, the itching appeared again, only more intense, and gathered in Fu Tianhe's right eye.

He was so itchy that he couldn't sleep all night. He always couldn't help but want to reach out and scratch it. His mother could only stare at him without closing her eyes to prevent him from digging his eyes out.

Eventually the itching turned into pain, Fu Tianhe began to have a fever, and even his mother struggled with the rising temperature. The itching and pain that were difficult to describe in words emerged from inside the body and could not be relieved at all, so they could only endure it.

Maybe adults can still use reason to restrain themselves, but for young children, they simply cannot bear it.

The mother forced herself to take Fu Tianhe to the hospital, but found that the hospital was already crowded. Both large public hospitals and illegal black clinics were packed with people seeking medical treatment.

Almost everyone has the same symptoms: an itching that starts from the inside of the body and severe pain in the eyes, mouth, nose or ears.

Fu Tianhe was unable to see a doctor that day because there were too many people.

The next day, Fu Tianhe was awakened by his mother early in the morning and prepared to go to queue up early, but at the corner of the street in front of his house, he saw a corpse covered with purple crystals.

Clusters of purple crystals gushed out from his mouth, nose, eyes and ears, covering his upper body. His neck and the backs of his hands, which were exposed outside his clothes, were covered in bruises, as if something was about to pierce his fragile skin and burst out from the inside.

They panicked and were about to go and ask, but they found that the street next door was completely blocked, and fully armed people in white protective suits were walking outside the cordon.

Fu Tianhe heard the content of the broadcast while feeling unbearable pain in his eyes.

An unknown disease is spreading rapidly. Infected people will initially experience itchy skin, persistent fever, and internal body pain. Severe cases may lead to death. If you experience similar symptoms, please report them to the community immediately.

The disease is spread through contact. If you find purple crystals, powder or something similar, please report it immediately and do not touch it in any way.

Since it was initially determined that the epidemic came from the beacon Moonlight that collapsed several years ago and was brought to Sanshui by the ocean current, the epidemic prevention station has now blocked the entire coast...

Fu Tianhe had already begun to learn to read by this time. He listened to the broadcast and looked up and asked her, "Mom, we..."

"Tsk." But his mother covered his mouth. She looked at the corpse at the corner of the street, immediately took Fu Tianhe back to the rental house, quickly packed their luggage, and left.

Fu Tianhe still didn't understand many things, so he could only follow his mother step by step. They left the place where they had stayed for two months.

Fu Tianhe didn't know whether the street was blocked after they left.

His mother took him around and finally found an abandoned shed.

Maybe it was left here by a homeless person. It is located in the gap between two areas and very few people come here.

My mother spent a whole day renovating the dirty and dilapidated shed. Her hands seemed to have magical powers. Everything could become clean and tidy under the magic.

At night, Fu Tianhe could still sleep peacefully in the warm and soft quilt.

"Don't we need to report to the newspaper?" he asked again, remembering what happened in the morning.

"Wait and see." His mother answered him.

"But the radio said that it might be transmitted to other people." Fu Tianhe had just learned this word a few days ago. He didn't quite understand its specific meaning, but he knew it was a bad situation.

"The radio said that only purple crystals are contagious. Remember the man I saw on the street this morning? He was contagious, but we are not in that situation yet. Besides, no one else will come here. It is relatively safe."

The mother said, and gently covered his eyes with her hands, "Don't think about it, go to sleep first."

Fu Tianhe nodded obediently. He closed his eyes and calmed down. Soon he frowned because of the itching under his eyeballs: "Mom, I don't feel well."

"Can you bear with it for a while?"

Fu Tianhe closed his mouth and pursed his lips. Ever since he became conscious, he knew to restrain himself, just like when he saw a toy he wanted in the window, he would pretend to walk away casually.

Fu Tianhe was awakened by the pain.

He raised his hand and subconsciously tried to grab it, but he touched something sticky.

That was his first bleeding.

The only memory Fu Tianhe has left of those days is pain.

His eyeball was being poked and destroyed by something hard that kept growing out, and he struggled every day with pain that almost drove him crazy. He cried and screamed all the time, trying to dig out his right eye, but his mother held him tightly in her arms.

There were several times when Fu Tianhe fainted, but after waking up, he was still greeted by severe pain.

There is no end.

His voice became hoarse from crying and he couldn't even speak, and his nose started bleeding.

Crying also made his nose runny, and every time he blew his nose, a lot of blood came out.

Perhaps it was too painful, and his brain switched into self-protection mode, making the related memories blurry.

There are many details that Fu Tianhe can't remember at all, but later he recalled that his mother's condition must have been very bad at the time, but she still had to support her sick body and take care of her young children.

Until one day, his mother told him that she would be away for a few days and asked Fu Tianhe to take good care of himself and wait for her to come back at home.

She prepared some painkillers and sedatives, told Fu Tianhe the dosage, and warned him not to overdose. After confirming again and again, the mother held him in her arms, kissed him reluctantly, and left.

There was food and water she had prepared at home. Fu Tianhe took the medicine strictly according to her instructions and relied on painkillers and sedatives to survive a life worse than death.

On the third night, my mother finally came back. She was exhausted but her eyes were filled with joy.

At this time, Fu Tianhe's right eye could no longer see anything. Pus and blood kept oozing out of it, staining Fu Tianhe's face and clothes.

He sat on the bed, watching in a daze as his mother took out a small box from the secret pocket on her chest.

Inside the box was a golden eye.

My mother said that this was the work of an alchemist, who obtained the eye through some illegal means.

"Can I see things again?" Fu Tianhe asked.

"No, but if it works, it can keep you alive."

The mother gently stroked his hair and stared at Fu Tianhe's right eye. The inside of the eyeball had been completely eroded, leaving only a thin layer of membrane covering it, which was faint purple, like an ominous cataract.

Fu Tianhe watched his mother begin to prepare the tools needed for the operation. He was an infected person and could not go to the hospital at will, so she planned to do it herself.

Even though she had never worked in any medical field before.

After getting those golden eyes, will I no longer feel pain?

He couldn't help but look forward to it.

The operation is over.

The foreign object in his eye socket made Fu Tianhe feel extremely uncomfortable, but overall it was much better than the pain that made him want to die.

He often raised his hand and tapped his right eye with his fingertips, making a rhythmic sound, which had become a game for young boys.

He has not left the house since he got sick. His mother said they should isolate themselves well and not spread the disease to others.

His mother began to teach him many things.

The teaching had been going on since the outbreak, but it had become particularly strict during this period. She often frowned and criticized Fu Tianhe for not doing well enough, seemingly forgetting that he was only a seven-year-old child.

In three months, Fu Tianhe learned how to use fuel, cook, boil water, do laundry, clean the room, and most importantly, pretend to be happy in front of everyone and hide all his pain.

But my mother became thinner day by day.

Her once reliable shoulders had become so weak that they couldn't even wring out the freshly washed clothes. Fu Tianhe naturally took on all the housework. He was already over seven years old and a big boy.

Until that night, Fu Tianhe drank a glass of warm milk brought by his mother before going to bed. He lay in the quilt and listened to his mother telling a bedtime story.

There are green islands on the sea. When it rains, the raindrops hit the leaves, and the small animals will hurriedly hide in the tree holes and shake off the water droplets on their fur.

Fu Tianhe imagined it was raining, and fell asleep as he felt sleepy.

This was the last time he saw his mother.

When he woke up again, he heard noisy and chaotic sounds around him.

Countless people were standing outside the door. They were wearing white protective suits, tightly wrapped in them, and only a pair of eyes hidden behind goggles could be seen.

He frantically looked for his mother, but was told by one of them that she was traveling.

Strangers in hazmat suits crouched beside him, clumsily but trying their best to comfort him, while others searched every corner of his house and put all his belongings into sealed bags.

"This is something she left for you." The protective suit handed Fu Tianhe a book, "Take it well, don't cry, maybe one day you can see her again."

Fu Tianhe held the engineering book tightly and watched them clear out his house.

Disinfectant was sprayed everywhere, and he was even asked to take off the clothes he was wearing and put on new ones.

Someone came over to draw his blood and put it into the instrument for testing. When the final result came out, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Fu Tianhe didn't understand why, he only knew that he couldn't find his mother.

It was not until the evening that these people left, taking away all their belongings and leaving only the book to Fu Tianhe.

They gave Fu Tianhe an address and a pass, telling him that he could stay there temporarily.

But Fu Tianhe didn't want to go to any orphanage. He sat alone at the door of the low shed. A year ago, his mother brought him here and transformed the abandoned shack of homeless people into their warm little home.

Now he is the only one left.

Where did mom travel?

Fu Tianhe tried hard to recall all the words his mother had said to him, trying to find some relevant information.

Then, he saw the blazing red fire in the distance, so dazzling and so warm.

That was the last match the little girl lit on a winter night, which ignited the huge incinerator and also ignited the entire dream.