Doomsday Paradise

Chapter 1573 Absence is presence
"...Sorry, I failed."

After these words fell, the bathroom fell into silence for a moment, only the almost imperceptible humming current in the lamp tube, which was so slight that people thought it was their own illusion.

Sakura Shui'an bowed her head on the edge of the bathtub and didn't make a sound for several seconds.Compared with more than ten days ago, he has become thinner again; the skin on his neck under the black hair is as thin as a sheet of paper, and the neck bones are slightly protruding, disappearing into the slightly stretched neckline of the black T-shirt inside.

Qiao Yuansi didn't raise her hand to touch him, but with a glance, it seemed that her fingertips had already touched his hard joints, so she couldn't help curling her fingers a few times.

"...every step in my plan came true, albeit at a greater cost than I had imagined."

Ying Shui'an's speech is still clear, only his thoughts are scattered and vague, whether it is due to infection or injury - he doesn't seem to intend to make the words understandable to the person opposite, he just wants to say it , so wherever his thoughts drifted, he would say what he said.

"I borrowed my time, and I don't know when I will return it." He still buried his head like that, and such a tall person was a bit like a child at this time, waiting for someone to open his arms to him. "I... I don't mind my life. It's a good thing that a drama that should have ended long ago, and whose content is uninspiring, has come to an end."

What is he talking about?Qiao Yuansi suddenly became irritable for no reason.

"However, I never thought that what I paid the price to go up was a dead end."

He snorted lowly, and said self-deprecatingly: "Do you know what the essence of the doomsday world is? It is an endless ridicule. You live, you die, you try your best, you exhaust your brains, you temporarily If you succeed, you lose everything... Anyway, you know that in a far away place, the laughter is waiting, and it will sound at the first opportunity."

His voice trembled slightly, a tone Qiao Yuansi had never heard before.She looked at Ying Shui An's hand hanging in the bathtub, it was almost as white as Ci, and there was no trace of blood, although the light blue blood vessels were slightly protruding, which seemed so exhausting and useless.

"I also found the person and got the things, only to find out that I can't use the things I bought with my life." He babbled slowly, as if he had drunk wine. "No, to be precise... I can use it, but there is a slight discrepancy, which determines that it is meaningless for me to use it. It can't achieve what I want, and I can't save this world, so I can't save you."

So, after he was seriously injured, he still supported himself all the way back—come back—why did he come back?

Are you coming back to see her?
Qiao Yuansi couldn't understand this answer, but it was the only answer she wanted.She didn't know when the hunger subsided by more than half, and she actually gathered enough strength to ask, "Why... are you so persistent in trying to save me?"

She and the world don't need to be saved, so Ying Shui'an said that he failed, but she didn't take it very seriously; but she had been entangled with this problem for more than ten days, and she blurted out without thinking asked.

When Ying Shui An heard the words and moved slightly, and slowly raised his head, it seemed that even the air in the bathroom was stirred up layer by layer of blood red.He leaned on his arm, tilted his head to look at her for a while, and said with a sigh: "...Five months have passed, and I just figured out one thing."

"What?" Qiao Yuansi couldn't help asking.

"Absence is presence. And there is no more intense, more insistent way of being than absence."

Ying Shui An suddenly smiled, the light in his eyes and the corners of his mouth softened, as if he had forgotten that he had said that the Qiao Yuansi in front of him at this moment was not the same person as the Qiao Yuansi in the past, and whispered: "You were also Same feeling, right?"

Qiao Yuansi was about to open his mouth to say "I don't understand" - but suddenly stopped.This kind of obviously inexplicable words, but she found that she could understand them and know what he meant.

"There is such a room, which always maintains the same constant, regardless of the cycle of morning and evening, and the change of seasons." Ying Shui'an closed her eyes and murmured: "...only one person needs to come in, and then go out, no matter how short , then it is no longer a room. It becomes an empty room."

Yes.

That's it.

When the daylight enters the curtain, moves around the floor with time, and finally disappears into darkness, then it is a window without daylight, not a window with the darkness of night.

Warm, smooth, and solid skins touched for a moment, and then suddenly separated. After that, it was just empty skin, trembling slightly when it was alone against the cold bathtub wall.

After absence, there is no recovery; time after absence becomes waiting.

These... seem to be the thoughts that settled in Qiao Yuansi's memory at some time, and now she recalled them again, and there were some chaotic details that made her feel like she was recalling a messy dream.

In addition to the faint and inexplicable emotions, she couldn't help being secretly surprised: she didn't expect that the two of them would be so far apart for such a long time, but they both had similar feelings.

But what did that have to do with the question she was asking?Qiao Yuansi still couldn't understand.

She was originally waiting for Ying Shui'an to answer "Because I fell in love with you", or "I think you should live, so I will decide for you" - these are all things she can understand now Things, and even based on such an answer, to decide the next move for yourself.

But now, Qiao Yuansi didn't know what to say.

"Then...then you said that if you found someone, who did you find?" She couldn't understand those illusory things, so she could only ask questions based on something she could grasp, "You said you got something, but what did you get?" What is it?"

Ying Shui'an's eyes slowly flicked across her face, as if replacing fingers - when he was watching, Qiao Yuansi suddenly felt a strange feeling, but she couldn't describe it.

"I ended up in a small town called Gide." As a result, Ying Shui'an's narration started from another place without beginning and end. "By chance, I saw some old local newspapers and old magazines. .Fortunately, the information and information in this world are all printed on physical objects and preserved...that's why I saw it."

This time, Qiao Yuansi was not irritable, nor was he thinking about how to get out of the bathtub to find food, but just listened silently.

"A year ago, a rumor began to spread among the local people, saying that some people in the local area have turned into monsters with deformed faces, and they still live in the small town in the appearance of normal people. The rumors became more and more intense... …It gradually dissipated half a year ago, as if it never happened.”

In the bloody atmosphere that filled the room, Ying Shui An tilted his head slightly, looked at her as if he was not injured, and said, "I've searched for it, but I haven't found any records earlier than this. Do you understand its meaning?"

Qiao Yuansi looked at him blankly.

"...I accidentally found the place where patient zero is."

　In fact, everyone should understand after reading it. I was just being lazy and divided a long chapter into two parts. Let’s continue with the rest tomorrow.By the way, it’s already the 6th today, why are you still banning comments? I can only see everyone’s messages in the background of the mobile terminal, and the other places are empty... Want to see your feedback)
　
(End of this chapter)