Journey to the Rose

At sunrise, the fiery red disc on the bank of the Holy City River slowly lifted into the sky.

After retreating from the hotel room, Lu Zhenghe and Ruan Xi led a group of people to the streets of the city.

Ruan Xi also lost a lot of equipment, and her heart ached, but she didn't forget to temporarily make a mask.Lu Zhenghe said that people from other cities also participated in the attack, and now anyone may be the target of attacking them, so we must be cautious in everything.Ruan Xi couldn't find a suitable item to cover her face, so she just folded the hotel towel and stuck it in her collar. If she was interrogated, she would say that she had a cough.

Perhaps the most authoritative people in the city followed their advice. At this time, there were not as many people in the city as yesterday. Most of the people gathered in the market in the west of the city. Everyone was carrying their pockets. They were still carrying their children, as if they were rushing to buy the supplies they needed along the way; others walked in a hurry, carrying the food they needed on the road on their shoulders, and they didn't care when they knocked over the small vendors' stalls while running, with a little bit of expression on their faces. panic.

It was probably some time ago since the last ground fission, and everyone thought that the predicted destruction was over, and the remaining residents had no intention of escaping at all.

Li Shen lowered the brim of his hat, tried to remove the goggles, and whispered to Lu Zhenghe: "Our weapons are not enough, what should we do?"

Lu Zhenghe was walking, observing the surrounding situation while walking, "How far are we from the north-south dividing line?" When he passed that line, he could dispatch a small army unit to secretly support him at any time.

Shaking off the map and looking at it, the serious tone became worried: "Young master, we... we are still seven cities away."

Lu Zhenghe said: "Let's find a chance to be delivered. How many people are left in the team that followed us?"

Li Shen was stunned, and then said softly: "I haven't heard any news for the past few days. The leader of the team was still stranded in Bingcheng yesterday, saying that he could arrive here today, and he will continue to follow us later."

"Well," Lu Zhenghe lowered his eyes, "Why didn't you join us yesterday?"

"No contact."

"it is good."

Right now the land is in chaos, catastrophe may strike at any time, and Li Shen knows it well in his heart that he sees each other more often than anyone else.

He was silent for a few seconds, seeing the guilt in Lu Zhenghe's expression, he quickly said: "None of us is willing to provoke disputes at this time, it's not your fault. Man, there are many things that must be done in this life , no matter how big the risk is, we have to do it, and the mission of our existence is to be responsible for your safety."

"I don't know why." Lu Zhenghe slowed down, "I thought at the time that I must pick up this person."

"It's also our choice to escort you," Li Shen said, "If you can survive, it's also a good experience. So don't blame yourself."

"The premise is to be able to survive."

Lu Zhenghe turned his head slightly, his three-dimensional facial contours were shadowed by the rising sun.Stretching his waist, he could feel that the white lace garter bag worn under the military. pretending. training uniform slightly pushed out a small hill on the right waist and abdomen.

His eyes followed Ruan Xi.

The latter was wearing a black gown he had just bought, and was picking and choosing with Gu Zirong at a stall selling flashlights.Song Shumian's thigh was torn open, and he is still recovering, and he can't walk very well. Everywhere he goes, he is on Gu Zirong's back. Now he is lying on Gu Zirong's back, and together with Ruan Xi, he chooses the flashlight he wants to buy.

He grinned and gasped, but he still couldn't help saying something to Ruan Xi: "Brother Ruan Xi, why do you insist on buying this diamond-encrusted one? It's so flashy!"

Ruan Xi said lightly: "This flash."

Song Shumian: "But, but I think the crocodile skin is better..."

Ruan Xi: "That one is not environmentally friendly, this one is flashy."

Song Shumian: "The one you chose must be expensive with so many diamonds, and it doesn't help much..."

Ruan Xi: "It flashes."

Song Shumian: "..."

"Ruan Xi looks like a girl," the two alphas watched silently for a while, Li Shen first started to laugh, thinking that Ruan Xi was more interesting, "He actually likes shiny things?"

Lu Zhenghe retorted: "You are wrong. Men can like it too."

"All right, all right, I shouldn't have a stereotype," Li Shen shrugged, "Anyway, what you say now is directed towards your family Ruan Xi."

"My family, who am I not facing?" Lu Zhenghe said, "Also, to be precise, it's not my family's, it's mine."

Li Shen: "...you are really giving me dog food in 360 degrees."

Lu Zhenghe: "After all, they are superficial brothers."

The market in Holy City is crowded with people, and it is not good to stand in front of the booth for too long. The "ghost crossbow" that Li Shen hangs on his back has been crowded and skewed several times by the crowd. He glanced at his destructive weapon in panic, and then bounced it away a meter away in an instant, bowing and apologizing: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

Now it is equivalent to "wartime", everyone has the possibility of dying at any time, so Li Shen also understands their big reaction, usually put on a harmless innocent smile, wave their hands and say it's okay.

After buying the flashlight, Ruan Xi went to another stall selling toiletries. After a few minutes of picking out the things to buy, she put all the "trophies" into the new backpack she just bought.

"Almost?" Lu Zhenghe put the pear juice into the straw and handed it to him, "Have some drinks to quench your thirst."

Ruan Xi said "um", took a sip of the sweet drink, felt relieved, rubbed her stomach, "I'm so hungry."

As expected, Lu Zhenghe said: "What do you want to eat? I'll go buy it."

Ruan Xi licked her lips when she heard that there was something delicious, her eyes stared: "Are there any special snacks in Holy City?"

Lu Zhenghe said: "Egg juice, boiled white radish, fried lotus root balls, rice wine made from yam, tofu cake. Oh, Li Shen said that they also have a popular thing called small octopus soup recently."

Ah, can this be eaten?

What a freak, the people of Holy City only eat white food.

Ruan Xi frowned slightly. After thinking for a while, she decided to respect other people's eating habits, so she focused on the last sentence, "Little octopus? Is there a sea here?"

"No. That's why I say it's a recent trend."

"People in Holy City didn't even think about why it became popular?"

"Maybe not."

"How can their hearts be so big..."

A feeling of stomach being blocked by despair arises spontaneously, and Ruan Xi suddenly feels no longer hungry.He held his belly with his hands and patted it, "I'm full."

Lu Zhenghe understands Ruan Xi's refusal of special food, after all, it's not coquettish, it's just that everyone has their own preferences.He looked around and wanted to ask Li Shen where he bought the noodles in the morning, the taste was quite normal, maybe Ruan Xi could eat it.

After a while, Wen Kai, who was sent to investigate the car factory, hurried back.

They have already inquired. There is no place to buy and sell new cars in the city. There are not even many roads in the city. Most of the transportation means are white horses and carriages. Residents basically walk by themselves.

Wen Kai thought that if there is no car sale, there should be a car repair shop. After all, this is an important traffic road, and many people from southern cities used to pass here.Therefore, they must get a car in a short time, otherwise the road ahead will be very difficult.

"What way?" Li Shen repeated Wen Kai's words.

"The way to the next city," Wen Kai said, "If you don't have a car, you have to walk."

"Why is it difficult to go?"

"There is a sea area there, and there are often prodigal sons who come ashore and eat people away."

The eternal sea?

Ruan Xi recalled that the South is not just the Sulihai Sea.In addition, at the junction of the two cities that is about to go next, there is a not-so-large sea area called "Sea of ​​Eternity".

This sea area is relatively mysterious and dark. The overall color of the sea water is black, and the coastline is very short. It is estimated that the area is only one-tenth of the Suli Sea, so it has not attracted people's attention.But it is the same as the Suli Sea, one side is close to the coast of the city, and the other side extends to the endless distance along the submarine plate.

Seeing that Wen Kai came back on foot, Lu Zhenghe frowned and said, "Didn't you get a car?"

"No," Wen Kai shook his head, "We may be backpackers."

"meaning is……"

Li Shen looked around at the hurried residents, and couldn't believe it, "They can only walk to the next city?"

Wen Kai nodded: "Yes. From here to Jewel City..."

"Wait," Li Shen reminded him, "Although it's impolite to interrupt others, I still want to say that after h, it's not j, it's i."

"That's true, but the incubus (the city of nightmares) has disappeared from the map."

"Disappeared? Why? The ground collapsed?"

Wen Kai shook his head, feeling that Li Shen was too nervous, and it was rare to comfort him: "No, how could they fall to them so quickly! It's because their territory is so small, they have nightmares every day, and they are adjacent to Holy City. They surrendered and signed a contract, agreeing to integrate into their city-state."

After listening carefully to what Wen Kai said, Ruan Xi asked: "Then what is the name of that piece of land now?"

"It belongs to Holy City! Maybe it's named innocent (innocent)?" Wen Kai said.

"..." Li Shen was too lazy to complain about the strange obsession with "holy" in this city, "Why didn't they take over the Nether (underground city) city and change its name to Naive (innocent)."

Wen Kai was amused by him and laughed, and said helplessly, "That's too far away, I can't get there."

Lu Zhenghe quietly listened to their chat.

He raised his head and drank a small half bottle of cold water, wiped the water stains from the corners of his lips with his fingertips, took the map that Wen Kai handed over, and marked a small road on the edge of Holy City with his fingertips: "This road can lead to the bridge."

"Yes," Wen Kai said, "we have to hurry up, ground fission is coming soon."

·

There are still two hours before noon.

The plan changed, and they didn't care about preparing sufficient food and supplies, so they had to pack lightly and set off on the spot.

Although Song Shumian is an omega, he is also tall and small, and he carries a certain amount of weight when he carries it. Gu Zirong carried it all morning, but he couldn't even straighten his back, so he replaced Li Shen to carry it.Compared with the young Gu Zirong, Li Shen, who has a somewhat basic body, seems to be more relaxed. The only nervous thing is that he always feels that this is an omega, and he walks unsteadily.

The trail drawn by Lu Zhenghe is the original road from Holy City to Incubus City. Because Lu Zhenghe said that they should try not to spend the night in Incubus City, so they walked faster along the way.

This road is crowded with residents who fled from various cities in the south, but according to their conversations, others have chosen another road. That road is a repaired cement road, which can be opened to traffic, although walking Tired, but relatively close.

The path by the cliff was already full of loess, and after it rained, the mud on the ground was even more difficult to walk.

Li Shen carried Song Shumian on his back, and hung the "ghost crossbow" on his chest. When he was a little tired, he didn't have the energy to speak, and he was afraid of slipping and falling, so he kept carefully watching the road under his feet.Wen Kai and Gu Zirong walked at the front and back of the line respectively, and it was inevitable that a few unknown residents would squeeze into the middle, whether old or young, men and women, who were desperately hurrying.

Looking at the moving figures in front of him, Ruan Xi's heart felt as if a wave of soothing water flowed gently in his heart, and he suddenly felt that they were not the only ones working hard to survive.

When he was in curse city, seeing many people and cars buried under the cliff by the loess was a nightmare that he could never forget.

He remembered that at that time, he asked Lu Zhenghe, is it possible for us to save people?

Lu Zhenghe said maybe.

They were insecure then, and they are still the same now, but they have been able to convince others to believe them by warning in advance.As long as there is one person who believes and one person takes the initiative to escape, that's what Ruan Xi wants to see.

The road under my feet is not easy to walk, one shallow and one deep, Ruan Xi remembered that the pair of black boots on her feet were already worn out, luckily she bought a new pair of solid ones at the market, otherwise she would walk this way Water will definitely seep in.

Ruan Xi and Lu Zhenghe walked side by side, holding one hand firmly by Lu Zhenghe.

He felt that this time was different from the last time he held hands.

I don't know how to describe that feeling, it's very peaceful, and there is absolutely no sense of panic before the storm.At this time, if Lu Zhenghe said that he was taking him on an adventure, he would also believe it.

"What are you thinking? Look at the road." Lu Zhenghe walked ahead nimbly, turning his head while walking.

His arm is very strong, and he has been helping Ruan Xi with strength. Ruan Xi felt it, and he also brought some strength when he clasped his palm back.

"Before thinking about us," Ruan Xi took the initiative to bring up something he didn't want to say, "One time school was late, and it was winter again, and it rained heavily. At that time, the green belt was being repaired at the school gate, and the mud in the grass They were all turned inside out, and the shoes would get dirty no matter how they walked.”

Hearing what he said, Lu Zhenghe unconsciously slowed down his steps, and then pulled his wrist to speed up, showing no resistance: "Then, what did I do?"

"You squat down and say you want to carry me on your back."

"You made me carry it?"

"Of course not, they are all men, why do you want to carry me because you are afraid of being dirty?" Ruan Xi said, and inevitably stepped into the mud, and the toe of the boot was completely soaked, "Then I left by myself .”

"The shoes must be dirty."

"Yes, I was told by the elders in my family when I went home."

If it was the past, if Ruan Xi brought up his family's education again, he would definitely be disdainful and depressed, after all, he always felt that there was an invisible rope binding his freedom.But now everything is gone, even the family passed down from generation to generation no longer exists, Ruan Xi can't help but feel lost when thinking of the place where she grew up.

Lu Zhenghe became more and more interested in his past, "The family said you?"

"Well," Ruan Xi nodded, raised his eyes to look at the road ahead, the fundus of his eyes became bright because of the streetlights, "Ruan Xi according to their regulations can't get his shoes dirty."

After finishing speaking, the soles of his feet stepped on the mud again, and the mud splashed and spread into a piece.

Dirty again.

He couldn't tell what it felt like.

When I can really resist and show everyone that I don’t need to be like this, when I look back, some people are no longer there.

The past that Jewel·48 least wants to see.