——Forget it.
——Xu Lin, could you say that again?
I opened my eyes. The surroundings were very bright, and he was resting lightly on my shoulder.
I turned my head to look at him, remembering what he had said that night: “We have separated many times.”
Separation implies that we were once together.
He and I were once together.
I didn’t see more scenes, just hazily heard some voices in my mind, heard him softly calling my name, heard him laugh, heard him speak.
I imagine that at that time, his eyes must have been bright, his lips pressed together, showing a beautiful curve that made one want to bite it.
…Bite.
I shifted my gaze back to the front and suddenly noticed that the car ahead of us had slowly come to a stop.
We had been traveling for three days. Although we had stopped before, it was never in such an open area in the middle of the road.
Immediately, this car stopped as well, followed by another car behind it.
The sound of the cars stopping woke him up. He rubbed his eyes, leaned on the car’s railing, and looked at Meng Chao getting out of the car in front, asking, “What’s wrong?”
“We’re running low on fuel. I remember there’s a town beyond that bridge. This area is mountainous, so the population shouldn’t be large. There might still be resources.”
He got out of the car and added, “There might not be many people, but the number of those evolved creatures could be uncertain… Our weapons might not be enough.”
I descended along the rear handrail. Handling this with one hand was a bit troublesome, and I swayed a bit before steadying myself, just in time to see Meng Chao nod toward me and say, “Not enough, but the lack of fuel is a bigger problem… We might need his help.”
Upon hearing this, he turned around, his brows slightly furrowed, obviously reluctant.
While he hadn’t turned back yet, I nodded to Meng Chao and walked over, asking, “Help… with what?”
Meng Chao seemed to hesitate, glancing at him and then at me, saying, “We need to borrow a bit of… the confusion scent on your wound. It would be best if you could come with us, after all, those things won’t bite you.”
I extended my left hand to shake his and told Meng Chao, “Okay.”
He glanced at me, his tone a bit firm, “I think there are still people in the team who might not be able to accept this. I’ll choose the people for this operation.”
The latter nodded in agreement, “For a quiet operation, about five people should be enough.”
He shook his head, “No, besides him, I only need one more person.”
I remained silent, watching him speak with Meng Chao. He seemed a bit… different.
I mean, it felt different from when he spoke to me.
This seemed quite obvious, because after finishing talking with that person, he turned and tugged at my arm, pressing his lips together, and said, “Let’s go.”
He dragged me to an old car by the roadside, while the others were mostly searching for usable resources. The person he was looking for seemed to be named Zhou Kang, and he was preparing weapons.
“Hmm?” He lifted my shirt. I couldn’t see his face but knew that he placed his other hand on my skin.
“Persi, your wound…” He leaned in incredulously. I could even feel his breath on my abdomen. I looked down in confusion but still couldn’t see his face.
He put my shirt down, his eyes shining as he lifted my right hand, and then his other hand started to carefully and quickly unwrap the bandage.
I remembered that the last time I saw my wrist, it looked like a poorly assembled puzzle.
However, as he unwrapped it, I saw that the gaps in the slightly pale puzzle weren’t as large.
I instinctively wanted to move my wrist, but it still didn’t work.
But he was still very happy, and didn’t bother to re-wrap the bandage first. He leaned closer to my chest, his hair brushing against my neck.
I was puzzled.
He straightened up, holding my shoulder, and said happily, almost incoherently, “Even though I can’t hear your heartbeat… your wound hasn’t oozed new blood… your wrist, your knife wound, and gunshot wounds… they… seem to be healing.”
Then his right hand touched the left corner of my mouth. I remembered seeing a bit of rot on it through the glass before.
I stared at him as he smiled, “See, I told you everything would be fine.”
Everything would be fine.
Will my wounds heal?
The terrifying red cracks seemed to shrink, proving that my body was healing.
But I still didn’t feel pain, didn’t feel itchy, didn’t feel… alive.
I looked at him, his lips pursed like a little cat.
I saw his smile gradually fade, his eyes seeming to hold stars, inching closer.
But I had no heartbeat.
I instinctively turned my head to the right. His lips touched my cheek. He seemed to shiver, but I only straightened up, forcing him to stand properly.
The person named Zhou Kang, with a gun on his back, turned around. He glanced over, and Zhou Kang nodded, signaling that we could start.
I was about to step forward when he stopped me, stood in front of me, and replaced the bandage he had just removed with a new clean one.
My skin had little blood color, probably also lacked warmth, and was a pale grayish-white. The clean bandage wrapped around it multiple times, looking particularly conspicuous.
He spoke as he wrapped it, as if talking to me but also not quite.
“Persi.”
“To me, no matter what you become, you are still the Persi I know.”
Even if it is a cold, walking corpse, you will not be afraid?
I didn’t ask him, just vaguely felt a bit of warmth.
He looked up, squinting threateningly, “Next time, don’t hide from me.”
Then he pulled my left hand, slung his own backpack over his shoulder, and followed that person across the bridge.
There was a river here, looking clean. Surrounding it were green grass and tall trees. The road was paved with cement, and as you got closer, you could see the scattered houses.
The surroundings were very quiet.
I held his hand in return.
