Age Of The Sirens

Tang Yi looked at the old face and called out hesitantly, "You blame the old man?"

The old man looked at him and asked hesitantly, "Tang Ya?"

Tang Yi couldn't believe that the old man with a strange temper but a strong body in his memory turned into the current crooked and shriveled appearance, and... he recognized his face all at once, even though he recognized the wrong person.His eyes were hot, and he smiled and pointed to his face, "Wrong, it's the more bearish one of the twins."

The old man's eyes widened slightly, "Tang...Tang...Tang Yi?" He asked uncertainly, with a trembling light in his eyes.

Tang Yi nodded and grinned.

The old man came to him staggeringly, stretching out a hand that was as dry as a dead tree and seemed to want to touch him, but it just hung in mid-air and did not fall.The old man's eyes trembled, and his lips trembled, "It's been... 16 years..."

Tang Yi nodded, his throat seemed to be stuck.The old man's surname is Jin, and no one knows his full name, but because of his fierce appearance, he often scares children, so he is called "strange old man" by the children.The old man Jin used to be in charge of looking after the warehouse and keeping the books left by humans before the virus broke out. When Tang Yi was a child, he often liked to sneak into those "forbidden areas" that had not been transformed into orphanages to read books when he was not paying attention. Although this old man He has a bad temper, but he always turned a blind eye to Tang Yi's behavior, and sometimes even gave him a book or two inadvertently.Tang Yi found that the books that the old man stuffed him were often very interesting. They wrote some ghostly stories from long ago, and often took him into a mysterious and fantasy world, making him see that he forgot to eat and sleep, and even dreamed in the quilt when he was sleeping. Take a peek with the light of your watch.

Tang Ya also had a very good relationship with him. He found out some ancient music scores and music CDs covered in dust and gave them to Tang Ya.

Tang Yi was surprised at the dilapidation of the orphanage after so many years flew by like this.The old man Jin said that fewer and fewer children were sent here after they left. The orphanage has been closed for five years, and the old curator has retired. Since he is homeless, he takes the monthly donations from the base. The pension continues to live here, sorting out those old books.

The once sunny wooden corridors are now gray and pale, and many of the boards are moldy and peeling off, exposing the bare adobe walls.Quicksilver followed Tang Yi, stepping on the dust all over the floor through the long corridor full of memories.Tang Yi would show him where they slept in the big house, where they washed, where they ate, where they had classes, and where they worked.Quicksilver glanced over the few remaining wire beds without bedding, imagining the young Tang Ya and Tang Yi shivering under a quilt on a thundering night.

Old man Jin entertained them in what used to be the dean's office, now his own living room, and made him and Quicksilver a cup of tea each.The tea has an oily smell, and nowadays most people who do physical labor can only drink this kind of tea.Tang Yi found that the sofas were the same leather sofas that the dean used to entertain guests, but the leather was severely damaged, and many places were cracked, exposing the yellow cotton wool underneath.

"You heartless brat, after so many years, why do you suddenly want to come back and take a look?" Old man Jin pulled a chair across from them and sat down, lighting his pipe that had been used for decades. There was a basket of green beans that he hadn't finished peeling.

It was only then that Tang Yi remembered that he hadn't introduced Quicksilver. He pointed to the Siren beside him who was still wearing a hood and was drinking tea intently, "His name is Quicksilver, and he is my friend."

Quicksilver nodded to old man Jin.The old man Jin looked at his special-colored eyes and the silver hair scattered on his forehead, and said while biting his pipe, "You look like a sea monster?"

Tang Yi smirked twice, "You can see that, your eyesight is so good!"

But the old man Jin didn't smile, but his expression was quite dignified.He blew out a puff of smoke and sighed, "It seems that you have also joined the team. Where's your brother?"

Tang Yi paused for a while, thinking about what to say.But Mercury replied directly, "Tang Ya died in battle."

For a while, the room was silent, only the slowly rising smoke hovering in the white sunlight.

"Oh." The old man finally replied simply, without any change in expression, "It's a pity."

Mercury gently placed the teacup on the glass coffee table, and asked seriously, "Excuse me, did Tang Ya come back after Tang Ya and Tang Yi left the orphanage?"

Tang Yi was taken aback, and the old man silently raised his eyes to look at him, "Why do you ask that?"

"Because when you saw Tang Yi, you immediately recognized him as Tang Ya." Mercury glanced at Tang Yi, "Sixteen years, for a human being, should have changed a lot, but you will be able to do it right away." Recognize it. If it wasn't for your ability to recognize and remember beyond ordinary people, then you must have met Tang Ya in the past one or two years, right?"

Tang Yi didn't expect so much. Thinking about it now, it's really strange, isn't it?

The old man Jin coughed twice, as if he was coughing up sputum.After he calmed down, he nodded, "Indeed, he came here a year ago."

A year ago, wasn't it not long before his accident?

Tang Yi sat up straight unconsciously, "Have you met Tang Ya? What is he doing here?"

"It's just that I haven't been back for a long time, and I want to come back and have a look." Old man Jin's eyes fell on the branch of the apple tree outside the window, "I didn't bother him, so I let him go around by himself."

Tang Yi glanced at Mercury.Why does Quicksilver have to come to the orphanage? Is he looking for something?

After a cup of tea, Mercury asked Tang Yi to take him to the place where he and Tang Ya often go.Tang Yi took him into the lobby where all the children slept together, and came to the No.13 berth.Opposite them was a tall arched window, the heavy curtains that had concealed it were gone.

Their beds are gone, and there are still graffiti secretly drawn by the children on the walls. It is impossible to see what the paintings are layered on top of each other.Tang Yi still remembered that he also drew a tank on it.

Quicksilver squatted down, looked carefully in front of the graffiti, and even reached out and knocked on the wall, or stepped on the floor inadvertently.

Tang Yi stared at him suspiciously, "What are you looking for?"

Quicksilver glanced at him, didn't answer, just asked, "You said he liked playing the piano very much? Where is your music classroom?"

Tang Yi saw that Mercury's tone was a little tense, and his whole body was like a taut string.For some reason, he didn't dare to question too much, so he obediently took him to the previous piano classroom.The piano is still there, but it seems that it has not been used for hundreds of years. It is covered with dust, like an ancient relic forgotten by time.Tang Yi watched the mercury rise from the cover of the piano, and his fingers brushed the keys with nostalgia. The tenderness and nostalgia in his eyes made Tang Yi's heart ache.

Tang Yi rubbed his nose, turned around and went out silently.

He casually lit a cigarette and pushed open the heavy door in the basement.A smell of dust hit his face, choking him to sneeze twice.He passed rows of bookshelves that were silent in the dark, and the rows of old yellowed books that had been dusted by time looked back at him quietly in the light of the watch.

This is a secret treasure he found as a child.Not every book on the shelf could be read, but some simple story books, especially those with beautiful illustrations, often fascinated him.

The stories he knew about the sirens were from these books.He also knew that hundreds of years ago the sky was often a clear blue, and the sea was the same color as the sky.At that time, the earth was still covered with green grass and trees, and it was lush and green. In spring, there would be thousands of trees blooming with flowers.There will be sika deer in the forest, black bears and gray wolves, and colorful birds flying in the tangled net of branches, leaves and sunlight.The fog at that time was water droplets floating in the air, and clouds falling from the sky, and one could walk through them without wearing a gas mask.

But then there was also something called a nation, something called a religion, and something called a nation.Different countries, religions, peoples will kill each other for many reasons, unlike now, all human beings are united.This is something the base taught him from an early age.The base tells people not to linger on the past, and tells people that although the virus is terrible and the environment is harsh, at least human beings are finally united and live an equal and happy life.

But is the base really as united as they say?

Leaving aside the rebels themselves, this time when Lee attacked the underwater base, the anti-pressure suits worn by those soldiers, the weapons in their hands, and the Ogubugu, which was advanced to the other Blue Whale, were all not rebels. The level of weapons before the army.These weapons can't have been conjured out of thin air, someone must be funding them.

With this kind of strength, who else besides the base?

Maybe not the third base, but what about the first and second bases?

Although the five major bases are united and never betray each other, there are still subtle differences between them.The relationship between their third base and fourth base has always been relatively close. To be precise, the fourth base is attached to the third base.However, the first base in North America, as the richest and earliest base, has always had a delicate relationship with the third base, and the second base has always had frequent exchanges with the first base.

If Mercury is really a copy of Chen Yuan, then if such a weapon is in the hands of the third base, will the first base be indifferent?

The more Tang Yi thought about it, the more creepy he felt.If the First Base is really funding the rebels, isn't the whole base system a joke?If the only remaining human beings still betray and kill each other, does a race like human really have a future?

My mood was as heavy as if I was tied to a shot put, and I kept falling down.Tang Yi walked into his favorite corner when he was a child - between the wall and the last row of bookshelves, a small skylight shone down a stream of light, like a ray of the ladder to heaven descending in the darkness.When he was a child, he liked to hide here and read books with this ray of light, or when he was in a bad mood, he also liked to come here for a while by himself.He sat down with his back against the wall as he did when he was a child, and turned his head to browse the familiar titles.

However, at this time he found a book that was a little strange.

The other books were covered with thick dust, gray, only the book with the dark blue cover looked very clean, as if someone had touched it recently.

The name on the spine is "Shan Hai Jing Picture Book", which was his favorite book when he was a child.It's not because the content is good-looking, after all, at his age, he can't understand it at all.He just liked the beautiful and novel illustrations inside.

Tang Yi stretched out his hand and pulled out the book, and a few yellowed papers fell out from the pages.

He reached out to pick up the few sheets of paper, and the pale golden light above his head shone on the flowing staves and those familiar handwriting.

It was so familiar that it made his breathing slightly stagnant.

It was a piece of music called "Bo Zhou".

Tang Yi couldn't understand the stave, but he could recognize the lyrics.Because Quicksilver sang more than once.It was even the song he heard when he first met Quicksilver.He still remembered the lonely tune with a bit of sadness, but at this moment it turned into silent notes and wandered in front of him.He didn't notice that his hands were trembling, and quickly flipped through the remaining pages of music scores, and found that on the back of the last piece of paper, there were a few words written: Happy Birthday.