The Rise of the Youth in the War of Resistance

Walking slowly along the road covered with withered yellow weeds, I heard the clear and loud sound of birds singing nearby, as if they were shouting the true meaning of freedom.

Zhao Shao was in such a good mood that he couldn't help but hum a little tune:

"The plum blossoms smile towards the daffodils

Different aroma, same freshness

We smelled it

You know it's a happy new year.

Gongs and drums this way, firecrackers that way

We heard the sound of each other echoing and shaking the sky.

Just know that it is a happy new year..."

As Zhao Shao hummed, his cheerful voice suddenly stopped as if it was covered by an invisible big hand.

Just because the memories opened by the system surged in again like a violent torrent, his face turned pale in an instant, and his eyes were full of panic.

In a panic, he hurriedly stopped his rapid steps, and like a lost child, he eagerly found a shady place near a big tree, and sat down on the ground with a "thump", his back leaning tightly against the tree, his body shaking uncontrollably, quietly waiting for his brain to desperately digest this nightmare-like memory.

This time he did not experience the terrible feeling of dizziness and splitting headache like last time, but the visual scenes appeared in front of his eyes with incredible clarity, as if to pull his entire soul into them.

He seemed to be sucked into a different dimension in an instant, and from a first-person perspective, he involuntarily followed the protagonist and began that thrilling experience.

All I saw was a suffocatingly small rental house. The light was as dim as the endless night, and the air was filled with a strong, nauseating smell of mold.

I was wearing loose clothes, my hair was tied up in a messy ponytail, and my steps were as heavy as dragging a thousand-pound boulder as I slowly moved to a rickety desk.

The desk was cluttered with all kinds of miscellaneous items, and a black pen lay there alone as if abandoned by the world.

I stretched out my calloused hands with trembling hands and picked up the black pen. My eyes were filled with a complex mixture of despair and determination, as if I wanted to pour all my love, hatred, and vengeance into the tip of the pen.

Then, I wrote gently on a yellowed blank paper with my trembling hands:

"August 2021, 8, sunny"

My handwriting was crooked yet powerful enough to penetrate the paper. Every word seemed to be dripping with blood. After writing the date, I stopped writing as if all my strength had been drained away. I stared blankly at the words, my thoughts drifting away like a wild horse that had broken free from its reins, towards the unreachable distance.

Today I finally saw my parents. I was so happy to see that they were still living in harmony as before, but this joy was short-lived.

But tomorrow I am going to do something big that will change everything, and we may never see each other again.

Thinking of this, a wave of complex emotions like a violent storm surged in my heart, including my deep reluctance to leave my parents, which was like a thousand arrows piercing my heart;

There is also a glimmer of hope for the future, but that hope is like a candle in the wind;

I also have a deep fear of the unknown, and that fear is like endless darkness that is about to swallow me up.

I took a deep breath, a breath that seemed to carry endless pain, and continued writing:

"Today I returned to the home that was once so familiar but now so strange. Nothing has changed.

There is still a simple thatched house, located in the deep mountains and forests.

Although the family's financial situation was not good, my father and mother still lived their lives as usual.

He's father went out hunting, while He's mother was busy with endless housework in and outside the yard.

'I' hid aside and watched.

The atmosphere at home is warm and harmonious, which makes me feel extremely happy, but this happiness is so short-lived, like a dream bubble.

As I write this, the corners of my mouth unconsciously rise, but that smile is uglier than crying, as I recall every moment I spent with my parents.

Those beautiful times kept playing in my mind like an old black-and-white movie. Every frame made me deeply feel the warmth and strength of the family. However, this warmth was like the warm sun in winter. It seemed warm but could not dispel the coldness in my heart.

However, reality is always so cruel and ruthless, like a sharp knife, ruthlessly cutting my heart.

Tomorrow, I will embark on a difficult journey full of the unknown and the breath of death to complete an important mission that concerns life and death.

This mission may completely change my fate and push me into an abyss of no return; but it also means that I may never be able to return to this home that was once warm but now breaks my heart.

……

My hands were shaking violently, tears were pouring out like a flood that blurred my eyes, the words in front of me became blurry, as if the whole world was collapsing.

Then, I paused for a long time, as if struggling between life and death, and put down the pen. But then I pulled it back as if I had grabbed the last straw, and repeated this more than a dozen times, putting the pen down again and picking it up again.

I finally put down my pen as if accepting my fate, and slowly and feebly pushed the chair away, which made a desperate creaking sound.

He tremblingly took out a pack of crumpled cigarettes and a worn banana-shaped lighter from his pocket, then took out a cigarette with difficulty from the pack of only three cigarettes left, opened the lighter with skillful but extremely heavy movements, lit the cigarette, took a deep puff, and slowly exhaled a cloud of smoke.

This series of actions seemed to be his final struggle against fate. After finishing, he faced the windowsill and said weakly with endless despair and self-mockery in his voice:

"Hello, familiar self, you have lost your memory, have you forgotten the past?"

Hearing this, Zhao Shao's eyes widened, his face full of disbelief, and he shouted at the top of his lungs:

"How do you know I have lost my memory? And what do you know?"

However, his desperate voice did not reach the other party's ears. I just smiled sadly and self-deprecatingly:

"Hey, you're not here, how could you possibly know?"

Zhao Shao shouted frantically with all his strength:

"What?! What do you know?"

But the memory was ruthlessly interrupted at this moment, and Zhao Shao's shouts continued to echo in this silent world, scaring the birds that were originally singing happily on the branches. They flapped their wings in fear and fled from the branches in all directions.

Zhao Shao slowly opened his eyes, his face showing an expression as if he was trapped in a nightmare from which he could never wake up, his brows furrowed so tightly that it looked as if they could pinch a fly to death.

He fell into deep, despairing thought:

"What is this memory trying to tell me?"

According to common sense, people will only express such heart-wrenching emotions about their past selves after they have personally experienced something heart-wrenching.

However, why did the "me" in my memory say "Hello" to myself in the window? Was it referring to the current me?

This question was like a huge, bottomless black hole, which made Zhao Shao extremely confused, as if it was going to swallow his soul.

As he continued to think more deeply, Zhao Shao found that he had more and more questions, which grew bigger and bigger like a snowball, almost crushing him.

Every detail seems to hide a deeper, creepy meaning, waiting for him to uncover the mysterious and terrifying veil.

However, it was precisely because of these thoughts that Zhao Shao accidentally learned an important piece of news - the "me" in his memory seemed to know everything he was experiencing now!

This made him feel surprised and confused as if he had fallen into an ice cellar. His heart seemed to be tightly grasped by an invisible, cold hand, and it could hardly beat.

This discovery made him re-examine his past and future, and also caused him to have more doubts and fears about his own destiny, as if he was in an endless dark maze.

At this moment, there was a deathly silence all around. Without the chirping of birds, the environment suddenly became so quiet that it was creepy.

Zhao Shao stood there quietly, feeling the suffocating tranquility, but an unprecedented and uncontrollable uneasiness surged in his heart.

He realized that he had unknowingly fallen into an inescapable huge mystery, and the answer to this mystery might be hidden in the bottomless abyss of his memory.

After a brief thought, Zhao Shao smiled wryly and said to himself:

"Why think so much?

Anyway, what you need to know will eventually be known..."

The voice was full of helplessness and despair, as if it had given up struggling.

He knew very well that no matter what kind of storms were waiting for him ahead, he had to bite the bullet and face this cruel reality, and desperately search for the truth hidden in his memory.

Although the road ahead is full of unknowns and deadly dangers, he believes that as long as he grits his teeth and perseveres in exploring, one day he will find the answer he has been searching for.

So, he took a deep breath, as if injecting himself with a shot of cardiac stimulant, and resolutely decided not to dwell on the painful memories of the past. With firm but somewhat trembling steps, he hurried towards home...

.........