Chapter 244: Digger

Xie Qingcheng was taken to a room on the roof of the building.

That's where He Yu was once imprisoned.

When He Yu was first brought back to the island by the organization, he was so rebellious and volatile, and had several episodes of violent outbursts and uncooperative behavior after the operation, that Mandela had to lock him up in this cell-like room, until he slowly regained his composure under their coercion, and until he expressed his willingness to be loyal to the organization.

Now Xie Qingcheng is also imprisoned here, spending the last dozen or so hours of his life.

Shortly after his showdown, the sounds of fighting at the height of the battle stopped. Mandela and the Dreambreakers had a temporary ceasefire.

Xie Qingcheng sits in his cell in the tower, eyes closed, letting time pass by.

Duan Wen sent people to check him many times, and when they drew blood, they all looked very nervous, knowing that Xie Qingcheng had already been searched a hundred and eighty times, and could not possibly be carrying any weapons.

Xie Qingcheng knows that Duan Wen is wary of them, except that, believe it or not, Mandela will have to take a chance on him.

Because the highly adaptable body of the First Emperor is really something Duan Cuizhen can only dream of.

Now Xie Qingcheng leans against the cold wall of his room, looking out the window at the mountains and the water. From here, one can have a panoramic view of the east coast of Mandela Island, it is dusk, the golden crows are sinking, the sea surface is a turbulent and brittle gold, like ten thousand horses and thousands of armored soldiers fighting in the waves, soon, as the sun sets, and the evening sunlight splashes across the horizon, those golden colors are flooded with large patches of bleak red, which is really as heroic as the blood on the battlefield.

The view from this room is great, but the best view can become a nightmare if you look at it day after day and can't go anywhere.

Xie Qingcheng sat quietly by the window, a seat he knew He Yu must have sat in before as well. There were some scattered graffiti on the wall, carved with small stones, which he had discovered not long after he had come in.

The graffiti looks like it was left behind when He Yu was trapped here.

Xie Qingcheng saw the long-dormant people in this place, the reputation of the water on the book.

Saw a Muppet Bear holding up a hot air balloon.

Saw lotus light candles, endless summer hydrangeas, grimacing little fire dragons ......

Xie Qingcheng lifted his hand and rubbed his fingers over the traces that had already faded a bit, and it seemed as if the song of the carousel and the swaying light of the Ferris wheel were ringing in his ears again.

He saw He Yu huddled alone in this room, his eyes empty, taking tiny little stones and painting the walls with these things he thought he had lost forever.

He saw He Yu come down from the Ferris wheel, walk up to him, and say, Brother, will you hug me?

Xie Qingcheng slowly closed his eyes, those images do not let go of him, still in front of his eyes constantly floating ...... The next person may never understand the content of the wall above, but Xie Qingcheng can all understand.

He pressed his palm against the flames of the little fire dragon's tail as if He Yu's hand had only just left it.

At that time, He Yu hated him so much but he didn't betray him. Today, he only wants to use this body to be a bridge for He Yu so that he can return to normal society.

His plan - dangerous, low success rate.

But if it's done, it will be the least damaging and the most devastating way to destroy Mandela.

Xie Qingcheng is waiting.

Another tube of blood was drawn, and Mandela's people were busy preparing for his First Emperor identification, but it was still too difficult to immediately determine Xie Qingcheng's constitution with just a blood sample; the First Emperor's constitution was different, after all, and his highly adaptable nature made his body's cells very good at camouflaging themselves under the microscope.

Xie Qingcheng could see the agitation of the experimenters.

Everything is being done more intensively.

The sun had sunk completely, and there was no moon tonight, so he was completely out of tools for calculating time.

Such confinement can actually drive a person crazy, because one does not know what will happen in the next moment, or how much time has passed, and how long one will have to wait to maintain such a state. Normal people can easily become mentally weak and break down under such circumstances.

But Xie Qingcheng is different.

He's a lot more tolerant than the average person.

What's more, when he closes his eyes, he will feel that the He Yu of three years ago is still by his side, and the ultimate purpose of his trip is to bring He Yu out, so he has a torch in his heart that won't be easily extinguished, and that torch's light and heat keeps him from losing his mind in this extremely depressing atmosphere.

I don't know how long it took, but the door to the cell opened once more.

Xie Qingcheng lifted his eyes and looked toward the door, only one glance, then turned away.

He wasn't at all surprised that the man was Anthony.

Anthony was sure to come looking for him, and I guess that's when it happened.

The man to whom he had a slight blood relation walked in alone, his face clouded over and looking rather gloomy.

Dressed in a lab coat, he swept Xie Qingcheng's shackled hands and ankles around before approaching his side.

Professor An, still wearing the plastic gloves from the lab and smelling faintly of sterilized water, forcibly broke Xie Qingcheng's face over and forced his cousin to look at him.

"What's with the head turning away, disappointed to see it's me?"

Xie Qingcheng rolled her eyes, reflecting Anthony's shadow in the only eye that could see, "So what do you want me to say. Good evening? Welcome?"

Not expecting Xie Qingcheng to be so calm at this moment, Anthony was stunned for a moment, then narrowed his eyes and said viciously, "Still playing smart at the end of your life, you really do have a hard bone."

"That's natural, how can I be your brother if my bones are soft."

"You're not my brother!" Anthony shouted up at him angrily as if she'd been touched on something painful, "You're just a thief who took something from me! A thief ......! You're to blame for getting to this point! It's your retribution!"

"......"

"You're about to die, Xie Qingcheng," he tightly pinched Xie Qingcheng's cheeks, staring at the man he couldn't strangle in his own dreams countless times, "For so many years I've wanted to kill you, and Duan Wen hasn't allowed it, and now he's finally loosened up has spoken--so you are the first emperor ......! I said why you've been dawdling around and not dying, but now - it's all about to come to an end! I can finally see your corpse ...... I can finally watch you disappear into this world!"

"I'll congratulate you in advance Xie Lishen." Xie Qingcheng was still very calm in the palm of his fingers, "Years of wishing can finally be realized."

Seeing him react like this, Anthony's face became even more ugly, "What are you pretending to be calm about."

"It's fine if you want to think I'm pretending." Xie Qingcheng paused for a moment and said, "But I know your nature well, and I'm really not surprised by what you've done; I just feel like I'm wasting the last little bit of my life because it's you who's here this time."

Anthony suddenly let go of his hand and threw him backward hard against the window: "Nonsense, you know what I am like? I'm Mandela's senior researcher, and I'm the one who's going to do the transplant, I'm here for the job! What do you expect Cousin Xie, who do you think you're wasting your crap time on? He Yu? Don't make me laugh, you can't be so naive as to think that He Yu will come and visit you!"

"......"

"With that device worn on him, his brain will be under the complete control of Mandela, he is now our fighting machine, he has little business coming to see you, and he won't have any idea of coming to see you! I told you ...... I did all of this!!!" Anthony's demeanor twisted to the extreme, "I did it! I'm the one who cleansed him into the ultimate blood compulsion! I was supposed to take the first credit! Why did you tell Duan Wen that you were the First Emperor at this time Xie Qingcheng Do you realize that you've ruined my big deal again!"

"I've just finished brainwashing the Blood Compass, and you blew yourself up as a Primordial Emperor! Why do you always have to steal my thunder and my favors!!!?"

"Well now ...... you have to die! By the time He Yu regains his senses, your body will already be owned by Taifa, and you won't even see each other one last time! All of this is your retribution! Retribution! You'll never see him again! You won't have any fun either!"

Xie Qingcheng coughed softly, glancing at the old graffiti marks He Yu had left on the walls as he took a slow, almost calm breath and said to Anthony, "We've met for the last time."

Anthony's face cringed slightly, but after pondering that Xie Qingcheng didn't have any chance to see He Yu, he said morosely, "Are you crazy, hypochondriac? You'll never see him sober again, how many times do I have to tell you before you realize that the moment he recovers is the moment you die-!"

Xie Qingcheng stared at Anthony's grimacing expression in front of him.

"I don't expect you to understand what I'm talking about. Xie Lishen, I just feel sorry for you."

"You feel sorry for me?" Anthony, as if offended, "You're a dying man - you feel sorry for me?"

"My death was my own choice." Xie Qingcheng looked indifferent and said, "I have spent my entire life pursuing what I wanted for myself. I have ideals, family, friends, ego, people I want to protect, and things I aspire to do. I lived with dignity, even in this death, and I got what I wanted for myself, Duan Wen is a man with more bottom line than you, and I know that he will send He Yu back to the Dream Breakers after my death. And you can't stop him at all. You're just someone who works for him."

"............" Anthony was simply furious, his handsome face twisted, "I'm a doctor! After I left your family, I went abroad on my own merit! I studied the same major as you and did the same job as you! I was so poor in America and yet so good that Mandela offered me an olive branch! Can you do it? Huh? I can sell everything I have to the most powerful people in the most humble of times to succeed! Can you go as far as I did? You can't!"

"I was never worse than you!" He glared with bloodshot eyes.

How hard were those years?

How hard is it to start over and get to the top of the social ladder?

He relied on his fifty-eight-year-old godfather to go abroad when he was eighteen! Because Xie Qingcheng reported him to the police, his file was tainted with theft! He had to spend those years smiling and cooing at that fat pig with a belly bigger than an August pregnancy!

At that time, he hated Xie Qingcheng so much that he gave up his skin and soul, but he also wanted to make his way to the top, and in the future, he became a person with tougher means than Xie Qingcheng.

"I'm a doctoral student in the United States ...... My alma mater is much more powerful than yours! But you have the audacity to say that ...... my one is a hit ...... hit ......"

Xie Qingcheng didn't want to hear any more, he interrupted Anthony's madness by saying, "Xie Lishen, you're crazy like this, have you thought about it."

"...... want to think about something!?"

"What else could be your motivation to live after I'm dead."

Anthony's shoulders suddenly stiffened.

Xie Qingcheng raised one pair of eyes to look at him, because of the light in the room, to Anthony, his blind eyes were as cold and clear as when he was not blind.

"I feel so sorry for you after hearing that you've been living in the midst of loss. When your father lost his inheritance, he transferred that loss to you like a cancer. You're always thinking about everything you've lost and counting for it, but never looking ahead of the road to see that there's something worth pursuing."

"......"

"Xie Lishen, all you've thought about since you were a child is how to screw me over by any means necessary, how to take what's mine - have you ever cared about yourself? Have you ever cared about your own dignity of living, the meaning of living, what you really like?" Xie Qingcheng coughed slightly by the window.

At this moment Anthony had a strange feeling as if the two of them were back inside the hut on Stormy Lane, with his slightly older brother lecturing him with a serious face.

And he couldn't take a step away from that hut even if he was not convinced.

Xie Qingcheng asks, "You don't like a lot of what I have at all. You didn't like studying medicine, yet you became Dr. Anthony, you didn't like the color white, yet you had to wear a lab uniform - and you didn't like He Yu."

Anthony: "......"

"You don't like him, you're just using him for the purpose of making me feel bad. I admit that you did succeed, but now I know that what you said was all a lie, and that the only reason you knew those things that only he and I knew was because you used hypnosis and peeked into his memories."

Xie Qingcheng's sickly face held a hint of a sigh, "What the hell are you doing this for, Xie Lishen. can't you take your eyes off me and look into your own future? Does your life have to be structured on hatred of another human being? Can't you respect some of your own life as an individual - and after this battle, think about what you really want exactly."

Anthony's face was colorful, blue and purple, he was annoyed by Xie Qingcheng's words, but deep inside he was extremely embarrassed.

He cut his teeth, "What are you pretending something? Don't act like you're still in my shoes!"

"As a matter of fact." Xie Qingcheng coldly said, "These words of mine are from your point of view for your consideration."

Anthony threw back his head and laughed, then spat harshly at Xie Qingcheng and snapped, "Ridiculous! You? Thinking about me? Do you really think I'm a fool, or does His Highness the First Emperor really think of himself as a savior? Who are you to think for me, don't you hate me? Don't you hate me? Xie Qingcheng! Don't you ever live to be so hypocritical!"

Xie Qingcheng looked at him indifferently, "I never said I didn't detest you. But this may be the last time you and I talk alone. Xie Lishen. this may also be my last time, and I don't really want to waste it completely."

"......"

"You at least called me brother, whether it was out of sincerity or not. I also remember my parents used to tell me to give you more slack because you've really suffered a lot. Most importantly ......"

He paused, his eyes still seeming to peer into the deepest recesses of the human heart.

"Come to think of it, you've protected at least one person at one time."

Anthony's expression suddenly froze.

Xie Qingcheng : "This is something I wasn't sure what was going on until I learned that you were working for Mandela's organization, and then I ran through what it was all about - Xie Lishen, you saved Xie Xue."

"At her wedding, Wei Rong originally wanted to drug Wei Dongheng and me, but in the end, I was the only one who got hit, and Wei Dongheng dodged a bullet because he drank tea laced with sleeping pills." Xie Qingcheng said, "At first, I thought that someone was secretly protecting Wei Dongheng, after all, compared to Xie Xue, Wei Dongheng looked more like an object that certain forces would value. In fact, the opposite is true."

He doesn't look at Anthony.

"The person who gave the sleeping pills was you who belonged to Mandela's organization with Wei Rong."

"......"

Xie Qingcheng long fingers folded, he said: "You only most resent me, and did not implicate Xie Xue - because she was very young, and good character, and always treated you more kindly than me. As far as I can remember, she was the only person you didn't argue with, and you even called her to check on her after she was mistakenly admitted to Cheng Kang Psychiatric Hospital and almost killed by Jiang Lanpei. She's probably the only one in our family you didn't hate."

Anthony was tense, not saying whether or not.

But he knew in his heart that Xie Qingcheng was right.

Xie Xue was so young that she called Xie Qingcheng or Xie Lishen her brother.

He wasn't happy about it at first; they were both older brothers, so what was the difference between this and that? He was always bullying her in secret, soaking caterpillars in her milk, stuffing spiders in her shoes, and spitting in her face when no one was home. Xie Xue was often made to bawl, but when she was done, she would reach out to him for a hug.

Xie Lishen once tried to push her into a pond in the park during a family outing. The pond was covered with green weeds, which looked just like grass, and no one would even suspect that it was him who did it when she fell, everyone would definitely think that it was a tragedy because the kids accidentally mistook the weeds for green space.

The plan was so compelling to him that Xie Lishen couldn't help but approach slowly from behind her, reaching ......

He thought at that time, if Xie Xue accidentally fell into the water and died, how wonderful would the expressions of Xie Ping's family be? The more he thought about it, the more his heart surged, and his hand was about to push into Xie Xue's back, but--

"Brother!"

Xie Xue suddenly turned back at once, and the little girl, so small that she couldn't even stand, jumped straight into his arms and yelled in a confused language, "Brother!"

Xie Lishen was annoyed, thinking she was trying to get him to hold her again, and he was so impatient that he even tried to throw her right into the water.

But just as he lifted her up, she stretched out her tiny lotus root pink arms in a protective gesture, blocking in front of him, puckering her face and shouting nervously at him, "Brother be careful!" Xie Lishen froze for a moment, missing her shoulder and looking behind her, and then he saw-

On the other side of the small pond, there is a young boy playing with a simulation of a sniper rifle, the toy gun is very realistic, Xie Xue and very young, can not distinguish between the real and the fake, she only knows that it seems to be a very dangerous thing, she has seen on TV, so she did not think back to the counterattack in front of her family ......

Anthony hates the Xie Ping family.

The only exception was Xie Xue.

Xie Lishen How can he forget her eyes at that time, bright and sparkling, so beautiful, so firm, so pure ...... that pair of peach blossom eyes, like a never fading jewel, became the only glittering point in his gray life.

"You saved her, and I don't want to owe anyone anything." Xie Qingcheng said, "So I hope you can rediscover the meaning of your life ...... This is the last time I will speak to you as your cousin."

Anthony finally picked up after a long silence.

"...... Hmph, yeah, I do care about Xie Xue. She's been able to be safe and smooth all these years, not just because you've been protecting her in the open, but because I've been keeping an eye on her safety in the shadows. I think that's the only point where the two of us share a common purpose."

"The only mistake I've made over the years was that time in Cheng Kang's hospital, I didn't realize that she would almost be killed by Jiang Lanpei as a hostage." Anthony said this, but laughed softly, the smile somewhat ghastly, "But so what? I'm always in the dark, you're always in the light - you're the one she's most grateful to, the one she relies on the most, and as long as you're still alive, she'll always and will always choose you, her brother, between you and I. So I'm saying, you've always been there for her. That's why I say it, you've been stealing from me all along."

"......"

Xie Qingcheng choked and coughed, his breath coming in short bursts from coughing too much, and he slowly made the rise and fall of his chest slow down.

Xie Lishen looked at his sick and decrepit appearance and sneered, "But it doesn't matter anymore, when you're dead, there are ways I can get her to obediently come over to my side."

Xie Qingcheng's color changed for the first time due to his words, and he looked up suddenly, his peach blossom eyes still stained with a slight redness and water vapor because he had just coughed violently.

"What do you want to do with her? I'm telling you Xie Lishen, don't you fucking hit on Riot Kill!"

Because of Li Yun's previous experience, Xie Qingcheng almost immediately recognized Anthony's desire in his look, "Do you think she'll still be the same Xie Xue after you make her a violent killer?"

Anthony narrowed his eyes, "Why not. Being able to keep a part of her mind and weed out the ones I don't want, and still keep her honest and listening to her brother-"

"She is a living person!" It was at this moment that Xie Qingcheng finally showed his anger, "Xie Lishen, she is a living person! What kind of thinking are you going to weed out of her and make her listen to your bullshit?"

Xie Qingcheng had been restraining his emotions since he met him, and it was only at this time that anger surged up and a pale face finally came alive.

Anthony scrutinized his face, suddenly a little baffled.

Xie Qingcheng gritted his teeth and said, "Wake up, Xie Lishen! You have done so many things and killed so many people, isn't it enough for you to feel guilty? Can't you see Li Yun of Duan Wen and Ava of Zhuo Ya? Those androids are fakes! It's a dream - you've got a living sister and you're thinking like this, are you crazy? You're falling deeper and deeper into this organization!"

Anthony's body quaked slightly.

He stared into Xie Qingcheng's eyes--

Reddish, watery peach eyes.

Xie Xue's face suddenly flashed before my eyes.

That was the last time the always cheerful Xie Xue shed tears in front of him. It was after Xie Qingcheng's parents' accident, when he actually went back to Xie's house twice while Xie Qingcheng was away.

The second time was to steal money and stuff, the first time ......

For the first time, I don't know why, but I just wanted to go back and see it.

He had stepped on the spot, no one was home that day, and he sat for a while in the empty house, looking at the places on the wall where he had once hung a picture of himself with the family. The picture had been taken down, and only a few marks remained in those spots that could not be removed.

He raised his hand and touched the marks with a twisted smile that he couldn't tell if it meant mockery or something else--and then he left, and went to the corner of the alley, when suddenly he heard a childish voice, calling him--

"Brother."

Taken aback, he turned his head unexpectedly and realized it was Xie Xue on a small auxiliary children's bicycle.

Just Xie Xue alone.

At that time Xie Xue still did not understand many things so well, she saw Xie Lishen who had not seen her for a long time, and thought that he was coming back, so she pedaled hard on the low bicycle, and rode hard to him, and tilted her head to call out to him, "Brother, have you come home?"

"......"

He stood frozen, and for no reason at all, suddenly felt afraid.

He felt that she was not the only one asking herself, he seemed to see his dead aunt and uncle also standing behind the little girl, full of sadness and asking, Li Shen, have you come home?

He gasped for air for a moment and actually turned around, taking the road and running away.

Xie Xue froze, small children do not understand so many twisted things, she only knows Xie Lishen saw her like a ghost ran away, which makes her very sad, she has not seen him for so long ......

Her little bike was a three-wheeled kind of auxiliary school bike, not fast at all, but she pedaled her little short legs hard to chase after him, crying out as she did so, "Brother, go home! Come home ......"

Brother ......

Brother!

Xie Lishen suddenly woke up from her memories.

He looked back, his face pale, and stared into Xie Qingcheng's eyes.

It's these eyes ......

Those eyes that look so much like Xie Xue's.

Even at this moment, it could still make his mind drift, make him anxious, and make him hear the cry of sorrow that seemed to come from the depths of hell.

Go home ......

Xie Lishen, Come Home ......

That voice came from the man and the woman ...... the dead man and the woman, the hypocritical man and the woman ...... the ...... kind man ...... and the woman ......

He's so jealous ......

That man and that woman - why not his parents?!

That was actually his true heart! This has always been his true heart! He cursed Xie Ping and Zhou Muying, saying they stole his life, but the only person he really hated was Xie Qingcheng! Why? Why aren't these parents his? Why can't he have them? All he got was a gambling father and a bitch mom!

Why ......

Why?!!

"Xie Lishen, go home." The man said.

"Li Shen, from today on, this is your home." The woman offered him her hand.

He's afraid to touch it.

False ......

He had been so certain in his mind - false! False!

They weren't even his real parents, his real parents didn't want him, they were all so mean to him, this pair were just his aunts and uncles, how could they have been nice to him? How can they keep giving him a home! One day they will take it away ...... They will one day show their true colors and just take Xie Qingcheng away and leave him alone again ......

Yes, it's all fake ...... hypocritical ...... fake!

The image chafes and shatters, the figures of Xie Ping and Zhou Muying scattered about, reflected in the debris on the ground, all the abuse he suffered as a child.

His father's slaps, the endless curses hurled at him when he was drunk, the neighbors' finger-pointing, the bowl of rice so dry and hard it looked like glass slag-

These are the only ones that are real.

He has no home.

Xie Qingcheng parents can't be really nice to him.

But ......

But until they died, Xie Lishen found no evidence that they had treated him badly.

He's sad.

Repressed for twenty years ...... all the fault of life, if Xie Ping and Zhou Muying were his parents from the beginning, then there would not be such a thing. If only ...... if only there was no Xie Qingcheng ......

The countless fragments on the ground like defying the force of the earth's core like being enchanted and put together again, became a glorious and complete picture, Xie Lishen tilted his head up, looking at this great masterpiece within himself.

He saw him standing between Xie Ping and Zhou Muying in this glowing scroll, he replaced Xie Qingcheng and became their son, he took their hands, and beside him was Xie Xue, who smiled with a milk tooth showing.

Xie Lishen's heart trembled so deeply that she almost bowed down under the scroll ......

And then--

Suddenly, the AI prodding in the headset went off.

Anthony snapped back in shock - there was nothing on the scroll.

In front of him, there was only Xie Qingcheng alone, looking at him calmly with those peach blossom eyes he had so violently longed for and hated.

"......" Anthony and those eyes a stare, actually trembled and hated ......! This is the reality ...... This is the reality!

This this was his nightmare, his weakness, something he couldn't easily look at with.

He and him, as he and his eyes, so similar, yet so different! ...... Hate! Really hate!

In his heart there was a pent-up malice of more than thirty years burning, like a ghost fire, fiercely dancing in his chest, and suddenly he seemed to have become the child who was ready to push Xie Xue down by the water pond in the first place. It was full of viciousness, malice, and an impulse to do whatever it took.

"Xie Qingcheng," he spoke, his voice pressed softly but more terrifying than ever.

His fingers were shaking slightly from that mad rush, and he gulped.

Anthony approached Xie Qingcheng, staring intently into those eyes.

Xie Qingcheng, still unsure of what he was about to do, watched him with his unblinking eyes.

In this moment he still looked quiet, the kind that made Xie Lishen jealous, the kind of heartfelt strength and composure that he thought could only come from someone who had had a perfect childhood.

Xie Lishen was more and more hurt and stung by this composure. His face was getting closer and closer to his cousin's, and he was at the window, leaning down to stare into Xie Qingcheng's peachy eyes that almost made him lose his mind.

Yes ...... must never have anything like this again.

There must never be another pair of eyes like that in this world.

Eyes ...... that are so much like his, but better looking than his, cannot be had!

Anthony thought, that beautiful face gradually showed a fierce look, he used one hand to ruthlessly pinch Xie Qingcheng's chin, fiercely immobilized that sick to the marrow of the man! The other hand was shaking more and more, but it was also lifting up little by little, and both fingers were getting closer and closer to Xie Qingcheng's eyes ......

Xie Qingcheng finally realized what he wanted to do.

Xie Qingcheng's body tensed and his face abruptly went white, a reaction that caused Xie Lishen to experience a twinge of pleasure: "Are you afraid ......? You are finally afraid ...... Cousin, do you also have times of fear?"

But when their eyes met again, after a few seconds, Xie Lishen smile disappeared. Because he didn't see fear in those eyes of Xie Qingcheng. Xie Qingcheng didn't seem to be losing his blood color over the impending harm to his torso.

Sure enough, the man's pale lips opened and closed through his disheveled frontal hair as he said to him, "Xie Lishen, don't you let your life shatter any more than it already has."

Isn't he afraid? Not even in the face of death?

"...... My life was shattered by you." Xie Lishen muttered with hatred, full of malice. His voice was shaking, beads of sweat were beading down, his eyes were shining with agitation, and he was shaking so much, compared to Xie Qingcheng, as if he was the one who was about to be tortured: "My life was shattered ...... by you!"

He couldn't stop repeating it in a low voice.

Beads of sweat kept rolling down Xie Lishen's eyes were, well, abnormal and perverted.

"Xie Qingcheng, let me tell you ...... me this ...... is not that I am jealous of you! It's that the blood sample is too small ...... We're on a tight schedule ...... You know, huh?" As if he was looking for a reason to excuse his impending behavior, the knots in his throat rolled up and down frantically as he swallowed, his eyes almost glazed over into doe-eyes, his breath spraying on Xie Qingcheng's slightly cooler skin, "We had to get more of your flesh and blood for the preoperative analysis... ...Understand? That's what has to be done. It's not that I'm afraid of you it's not that I'm jealous ...... it's not!!!"

He said, jerking Xie Qingcheng closer, his hand raised high--down--into those eyes--

"...... This is what I ...... have to do ......!"

Ruthlessly downwards -!

The fingertips had touched the eyelashes, shaking so hard they didn't retract.

These eyes are like bronze reflections on a figure that Xie Lishen hardly recognizes anymore.

Xie Qingcheng remains calm until this moment.

He would not be unsettled; by this point, he had even given up his life, and no torture was intolerable to him.

He knew Xie Lishen wouldn't stop.

Those fingers tremblingly pressed toward Xie Qingcheng's eyes, and in this last moment, Xie Qingcheng suddenly turned his eyes sideways--

If this is the only remaining glimpse of the earth, what does he want to see?

Those glazed, beautiful eyes had the answer for themselves.

He had looked to the walls of his cell, to the graffiti that speckled the walls ......

He looked at the English on the wall, at Endless Summer.

Looking at the little fire dragon, at the teenager that only he could see, carving this with a stone by the wall.

Xie Lishen shouted something in his ear in annoyance, but he didn't listen anymore, nor did he care. He just looked at those simple lines, but suddenly felt that all those lines came to life, and the patterns drawn by the white stones were all of a sudden filled with the most brilliant and vibrant colors he had ever seen in his life.

He closed his eyes.

"I have to do ...... what I have to do!" The hiss had been like a devil's curse.

Madness in general ......

And then finally - "snort."

Creepy.

The sticky sound of flesh and blood separating, and the sharp pain that erupted from within the eye sockets, became the final resting point of this conversation.

Fascia rupture, foreign objects into his eyes, shattering the colors that still inhabited his retina, fingers force, tearing off the last link between his vision and the world, the pain has been piercing into the skull into the bone into the heart, buried deep in his flesh and blood and then suddenly tearing and pulling out!

Flesh that brings light, away from the bone.

Eyes that have seen all that is good and bad in the world, away from him.

Flesh and blood have left him.

I have looked at my parents, my teachers, my little sister, my friends, I have looked into He Yu's eyes, away from him ......

His eyes, which had caused him so much pain, had seen so many things he didn't want to see, but he was still grateful to it for the people it had allowed him to see.

He has seen love and goodness.

Never Forgotten Since ......

Blood, slowly running down his face ......

"...... paging ...... paging ......"

The room echoed with Xie Lishen's rapid breathing.

Xie Qingcheng bit his lower lip without saying anything, but Xie Lishen let out a horrible whimper like a trapped animal, he stared at the bloody thing in his palm ...... He looked at Xie Qingcheng's eyes that shed tears of blood... ...

In the middle of the day, he didn't know if it was out of hate or something else, and in a very odd, weak, distorted voice, he asked, "...... Xie Qingcheng ...... Xie Qingcheng Don't you hurt ...... ah! Don't you hurt ...... ！！！！"

"Don't you hurt! You talk! You wail and howl! You beg for mercy! You beg for mercy from me! You fucking kneel down to me!!!! Why are you ...... Why are you not even afraid to die! I hate you so much! Bitch!!! Say it hurts!!!"

Xie Qingcheng always clenched his bloodied lips and didn't say a word.

He didn't let Xie Lishen have his way.

Even if at this moment, his eyes had been gouged out alive by his own cousin, and the sharp pain pierced through his heart, so he could not see anything anymore.

But he still managed to endure.

His eyes had bid him farewell, but they were still gentle with him.

For the moment the blood fell, he saw the endless summer on the wall--

The endless summer painted by He Yu three years ago, in the last moment he could see the light, it bloomed with beautiful purple and red flowers that only he could see. ......

That blue is upright, like the parent police uniform bathed in sunlight. White was bright, like the whiteness of a teacher's coat. And the pink is delicate, like the pink brimming in the little sister's smile, and those colors belonging to He Yu, colorful ...... When he looked at him and said, "Xie Qingcheng, I like you," that pair of almond eyes just flowed with light, overflowing with color. The eyes of those almonds were so full of light and overflowing with color.

They all bid him a gentle farewell in the midst of that glorious endless summer.

Turns out, they were fixed in his eyes the whole time.

From the time when he was a young Shay, to the time when he is now gray at the temples. Because of their presence in his eyes, no darkness had accumulated until this moment when his eyes were separated from his flesh and blood.

Only the clear water of the peach blossom pool shone on their faces, smiling at him.

It was his last look at the world - he saw all the people he loved.

It was He Yu who gave him the analgesic.

"Qing Cheng, you are very brave ......" Slowly, the blue color disappeared.

"Brother, it doesn't hurt ......" The pink color sank into a ghostly pool.

"Shay, I knew you wouldn't give in." The color white went to his heart as well.

"Brother."

They were gone, but their faces were transferred into his heart. The last thing he heard was He Yu's soft, gentle call.

In that moment, blood wept down his no-longer-young face.

Xie Qingcheng seemed to see He Yu turn back to him from the window:

"Look, Endless Summer, the flowers are blooming ......"

That's for only you to see.

Blossoms.