[Hunter] Flowers and Hymns

That day, she died.

Fall from the roof of the twelve-story building.The sound of a broken neck, click.The blood sang a gentle song, slowly flowing away from her body with warmth, gurgling.

So they buried her.The white marble coffin was cold and covered with her favorite blue roses, with dew on the velvet petals.Surrounded by blue flowers, the lid of the coffin was closed, and the falling soil filled up the mother's wailing.

She didn't know how long she had been dead, the world of the dead was only dead black.The eyeballs have long since rotted into mud, the burial dress has turned into dust, the statue of the god on the cross has been rusted and dimmed, the small space is full of rotten flowers, and maggots are gnawing at her bones.

She listened quietly to death in the dark.

……

…………

………………

Veronica woke up suddenly from her dream.The fingers subconsciously climbed up the cheeks, and what the fingertips touched was the warm skin, not the cold bones.After confirming this, the chill went down from the depths of her spine, and she slowly breathed a sigh of relief.

Sometimes, she really has the illusion that she is still a "dead".

Veronica stared at the night sky outside the window, at the end of her vision, countless pale stars flickered.The steam train roared across the wilderness, and the scenery on both sides of the railroad track retreated rapidly, only the endless night, the cold starlight overlooking the crimson land.

This is a scenery Veronica has never seen before.The scenery in front of her eyes overlapped with the words in her mind. She took out a thick notebook from the wooden box and opened it.

"...

The northern part of the Jorubian continent is on the equator, so deserts and Gobi are everywhere. On the border between the Eero Republic and the Northern United Arab Emirates, there is a continuous red desert. The desert was named Dorkia by the locals, meaning It's a red river.The red color of the sand is a slightly darker red, slightly black, like dried blood.

Even the plants in the desert have that crimson color, but that red is fresh, like flowing blood.A geologist was among the fellow travelers, and he said it was because the land was so rich in iron.

……

I stayed in this desert for three months, just in time for the change of dry season and rainy season.You can hardly imagine that scene, nor the rain that much.In the torrential rain, this crimson desert is like a flowing blood river, so red with vitality, countless flowers are vying to bloom, like a hurricane, and like a sea tide.Before you know it, the tsunami of flowers has flooded the desert, sweeping everything you can see.The sea of ​​colorful to the extreme can almost burn your eyes.

Those flowers can only bloom in this short rainy season. There is no time to be reserved or hesitant. They can only bloom with all their strength, using the most beautiful colors and the most fragrant fragrances to attract insects to pollinate them.Have you ever smelled the scent of flowers in the rain?I'm not afraid that you will laugh at me, I'm almost swallowed by the ocean of fragrance.How inconceivable that life is meant to continue and reproduce.Making the desert full of flowers in an instant is a miracle that only nature can create.

After the rain stopped, the flowers withered one after another under the scorching sun.It's just one day.This sea of ​​flowers has withered all over the place.However, the seeds have stayed.When we come back next year, we will surely see beautiful flowers, right?

I hope that at this time next year, you will be by my side and accompany me to watch this storm of flowers.

......"

There was a dry red flower in the notebook, Veronica picked it up, and gently stuck it to her lips.Her kiss is so light, even the petals that are so fragile that there is no trace of moisture can't be broken.Such a tender, yet cherished kiss.

During this kiss, a sea of ​​flowers came to her, drowning her.She watched the memory of that flower from the perspective of that flower, and the overwhelming colors swept over everything, so strong that it could almost burn people's eyes.The wind that belonged to yesterday shook her, and the rain fell on her body, which was slightly cold.

——Is what I see now the scenery you have seen?

Veronica thought with a smile.

The girl's hands folded the flowers down, and when Veronica looked up at the girl's face, a clear and clear youthful voice interrupted this memory.

"Look! Qi Ya! I just said there is still room here!"

Backtracking ends.Hallucinations gone.

Veronica returned to reality from the memories of flowers, and slowly opened her eyes.

The young man with the hedgehog head showed her an innocent smile. Beside him, the silver-haired young man put one hand in his trouser pocket and squinted at her coolly. Both of them looked about fourteen or fifteen years old. .

"Hello! Can we sit here, please?"

Veronica paused when she put the flowers back into the notebook, looked at them with some hesitation, and pointed at herself.

"Are you... asking me?"

"En!" The young man with the hedgehog head nodded vigorously.

"Please sit down." Veronica gestured with her hand, "Are you going to Atlant City too?"

The capital of opera, Atlan.The second largest city in the Republic of Eero has the world's largest opera house and the most prestigious Laurel Clock Tower, which is a holy place that all singers in the world dream of.

That was also one of Veronica's destinations.

"Yes, we are going to Atlan!"

"That's really a coincidence." Veronica put the notebook back into the suitcase and locked it. "Oh, by the way, my name is Veronica."

"My name is Xiaojie, and he is Qi Ya."

"Xiaojie, Qiya..."

After reading these two names in her mouth, as if she just remembered, she smiled and stretched out her hands to the two teenagers.

"Nice to meet you, are you travelers too?"

"We are hunters!" Xiaojie replied cheerfully.

"Hunters... You must have been to many places and know many people, right?"

"Yes. Sister, are you a hunter too?"

Veronica smiled and shook her head, her eyes drifted out of the window, and the red sand desert quickly receded in her vision.The red cactus stands alone on the desert, like coagulated blood.

"No, I'm just looking for my sister."

She touched her face subconsciously, her amber eyes fixed on the faces of the two teenagers in front of her.

"Excuse me, have you ever met my sister? She looks very similar to me. It's just that there is a small tear mole at the corner of her eye, which is about this high." She tapped the corner of her eye, and compared it to her ear "If you have seen her, you will recognize her."

"Sorry, I haven't seen it." Xiaojie pushed the silver-haired boy, "Qi Ya, have you seen it?"

The silver-haired boy looked at Veronica quietly for a while, then looked away as if nothing had happened.

"never seen it."

Veronica sighed slightly when she heard the words.

"That's it... thank you."

"Veronica, what's your sister's name? Maybe someone we know knows her?" Xiaojie was not discouraged, and continued to ask.

"...Cosette." Veronica gently stroked her face, "Her name is Cosette."

Little, beautiful Cosette.Her most important sister.Whenever she smiled at herself with that fair face, Veronica's heart softened, so soft that she forgot all the pain.Whenever her amber eyes were filled with tears, Veronica's heart ached and she couldn't help but feel pain.

It's the same even when you die.

As long as she thought of how Cosette would cry bitterly after she died, Veronica couldn't help feeling sad.

So... we must find Cosette.

She came to this world for this purpose.

"Cosette? I'll help you ask!"

"Hey, Xiaojie, there are so many girls with this name in the world, where do you go to find them?" Qi Ya looked at Xiaojie disapprovingly, "And we just met her, why did we agree to help her?" She is looking for a sister!"

"But Veronica needs help, right?" Xiaojie's eyes were bright and clear, "So let's help her!"

The veins on Qi Ya's forehead twitched, and he turned his head unbearably.

"up to you."

Xiaojie scratched his head and laughed.Veronica looked at the two quietly and bowed deeply to them.

"thank you very much."

"It's nothing." Xiaojie thought for a while, then took out his mobile phone and said to Veronica, "I'll take a photo for you, go ask my friends."

The progress of the times is rapid, and it is particularly evident in the upgrading of electronic products. For example, the 6th generation Beetle in Xiaojie's hand has multiple functions such as taking pictures, taking pictures, playing videos, and so on.Before Veronica could stop her, he had already taken a photo for her and sent it out.

The hand that was about to reach out still stopped on the knee, and Veronica sighed almost imperceptibly.As soon as he raised his head, he met the unpredictable eyes of the silver-haired boy.

...Forget it, anyway, they will know sooner or later.

Veronica didn't talk about this topic any more, but talked with Xiaojie and the others about what they had seen and heard during the journey.She is really a good talker, even a scarlet flower that she met during the journey can be talked about by her in a special way.Even Qi Ya, who turned his head away and didn't listen at first, gradually leaned towards her involuntarily.

"Last time I visited an aristocratic painter's exhibition in Paris, and saw a portrait of my sister. He named it Girl with Flaxen Hair. I originally wanted to ask him about my sister's whereabouts, but He hasn't seen her for a long time. However, it's good to meet someone who has met my sister."

Veronica smiled slightly. Her eyes had beautiful lines, long tails, and clear amber pupils. When she smiled, she always lowered her eyes first, looking gentle and introverted.The long flaxen-colored hair was loosely braided and placed on the left side, and a silk scarf formed a beautiful bow at the end of the hair. She grabbed the end of the hair in her hand and twirled it around her fingertips.

"Who has she met? Where has she been? I want to know. To be able to meet the people she has met, to be able to walk where she has been, is a blessing to me. A wonderful thing."

Later, they chatted about the palace ruins in Paris City. When they talked about this, Xiaojie's interest was obviously higher. Veronica listened to him with a smile on her chin, but she didn't notice that a person suddenly bumped into him behind her. It knocked her to the ground all of a sudden, her forehead hit the corner of the table heavily.

The other party was obviously stunned after bumping into Veronica, and patted the place where he hit the person for some unknown reason, stood up, looked around, and was about to leave.Veronica clutched her forehead and paused for a while before straightening up slightly sluggishly.

"Apologize to her." Xiaojie grabbed the other's wrist, and pointed at Veronica with the other hand, "You bumped into her."

The other party subconsciously turned his head to take a look, and then stared at Xiaojie with crazy eyes.

"You said I hit someone? Is there anyone there?"

"What? Isn't she there?"

When Xiaojie was about to continue arguing with the other party, a rush of mobile phone ringing interrupted him.He picked up, and the caller was Yun Gu.

"Hey, Xiaojie? You just sent an MMS to ask me to help find someone... But did you send the wrong photo? In that picture, there is no one at all."

Xiaojie stared blankly at the dazed girl in the phone photo, and then turned to look at Veronica who was holding her forehead in front of her without saying a word, and suddenly she couldn't react.

Veronica slowly put down her hand and smiled at Xiaojie.

"Let go of him, it's not his fault, he really can't see me."

It was a slightly tired smile.

"To be honest, I'm a little surprised that the two of you can see me."

Qi Ya narrowed his eyes slightly.

"What the hell are you...?"

Veronica rested her forehead with one hand and let out a long sigh.

"Can you sit down and listen to me tell a story if you want?"

☆、September 2003, 9, Dorkia