abyss rose

"I won't go." Chai Yuening whispered, "I will wait forever."

She remembered what Ge and Guang had said to Chu Ci.

——Before human beings truly find their freedom, we are all in a cage.

Living in such a world, no one is truly free.

In the past, she just wanted to live a simple life, and she didn't have any yearning for the light and freedom that many people shouted.

But now, she began to yearn for those unrealistic things.

She thought, maybe only when human beings are truly free, the girl who voluntarily dedicated herself to human science can return to the sunshine like an ordinary person.

Chai Yuening folded the paper and put it away with utmost care.

She told Ye Qing that she wanted to stay in Floating Void City, she had very rich experience in ground combat, and she was willing to accept various ability tests, and if possible, she hoped to apply for the qualification to accompany Chu Ci every time he went out on missions in the future.

"There are not many missions for the military to send her, and the danger level is very high every time..."

"I don't care." As long as she can still see Chu Ci, she doesn't care about anything.

Ye Qing was silent for a long time, and finally sighed deeply.

On that day, Chai Yuening was taken by Ye Qing to complete the identity registration, and was allocated a small house in a remote corner of the main city.

She stayed in the Floating Void City as she wished, although the unfamiliar environment made it difficult for her to adapt.

She didn't try to join any mercenary team, and didn't venture to the ground again.

For the first time, she began to be afraid, afraid that if she went to the ground, she would never come back.

This was obviously something she would never have considered before, but now she is afraid, fearing that once infected, she will never see the person who made her weak again in this life.

She found a job to help look after the elderly during the day.

The old man was in his nineties. In this world where people die at any time, he was as old as an antique. He was either dumb or silent, or he spoke incomprehensible nonsense.

The old man has been insane for more than 20 years. He used to be a scientific researcher. Once he went to the ground with the military to take samples and was frightened. After returning, he never went back to normal.

Because it was not normal there, her family didn't like to talk to her, and the people who paid to take care of her were scared away one by one, and no one worked for long.

After all, Chai Yuening didn't care about these things. Anyway, no matter how scary an old man was, he couldn't compare to those strange creatures on the ground.

After that, she took care of the elderly during the day, and at night she read the daily newspapers she bought during the day, and listened to the rebroadcast of the research institute's content on the base radio during the day.

Everything is just as Ye Qing said, no one knows about the existence of Chu Ci.

There will never be a single word about Chu Ci in all the experimental content that can be made public in the base research institute.

But Chai Yuening knew that there must be such a thin figure hidden behind these news.

Through those unspeakable secrets, she described them in her heart again and again.

She gradually began to understand what it was like to miss someone.

Sometimes she wonders if someone has shared this feeling with her.

It's okay if you don't want to, but when you think about it, the sourness in your heart will be a little more.

Time hastily flashed is two months.

Chai Yuening gradually got used to the current ordinary life.

It took her one month to get used to being alone, and another two months to get used to missing and waiting in the ordinary.

In just over three months, most of the habits of her life were broken and reorganized.

It's an amazing thing to think about.

On an ordinary night, someone knocked on the door of Chai Yuening's room for the first time.

Familiar faces appeared in front of her. They dragged their luggage, and you talked about the things along the way.

The communicator at the base of the dungeon cannot be used here.

They didn't know that Chai Yuening changed places to live, and immediately went to Ye Qing's residence after arriving in Floating Void City.

But how could Ye Qing be at home all the time?

The door could not be knocked open, so they asked other residents in the building, and only then did they know that the owner of the room was Ye Bu and Chu.

Chu Ci didn't own the house, and Chai Yuening couldn't be contacted. Everyone who rushed here with all their belongings was stunned.

Liandong proposed to do identity registration first, but everyone hit a wall at the registration office.

The outer city can take in foreigners at will, but the main city is different.

They were directly sent here by the military of the dungeon. Just because the planes from the dungeon can land in the main city of the floating city, it doesn't mean that those who get off the plane are eligible to live in the main city.

Therefore, they cannot be allocated any housing in the main city, and once they leave the main city, they are not eligible to re-enter.

Faced with such an embarrassing situation, they went back to that area and asked around, wanting to know where Chai Yuening was going, but they found nothing.

Fortunately, Ye Qing didn't come back too late. After her car was surrounded by a group of people who looked a little familiar but not particularly familiar for a few seconds, she finally recovered from the panic and confusion. She worked overtime at night and took everyone with her. After completing the identity registration, they were assigned to the vicinity of Chai Yuening's residence.

"It's easy to do things if you have a relationship." Lao Xiang sighed loudly, "We can live in the main city here, all thanks to Chu Ci's credit."

As soon as he finished speaking, Lian Dong bumped the back of his hand with his elbow.

The atmosphere froze suddenly.

Chai Yuening saw Lu Qi quietly looking into the room twice, as if he was looking for something.

After a moment of silence, Chai Yuening raised her eyebrows and smiled: "She doesn't live here."

Everyone was silent and did not dare to speak.

Some things, even if you don't know the truth, you can still guess the outline.

"There is still a chance to meet." Chai Yuening said, "I'll just wait here for the notification from Dr. Yi."

Her tone was very flat, obviously she was used to waiting.

The days after everyone found it from the dungeon became a lot more lively.

While chatting in private, Liandong and Chai Yuening said that after learning the truth about the ventilation system in District [-], the Dungeon Base not only awarded a five-figure bonus, but also awarded the girl named Jing Mu in District [-] to stay with her whole family. The authority of the main city, and broadcast this deed in the base daily and the city radio.

The base believes that if the ventilation system in District [-] had not been artificially cut off at that time, by the time the main city reacted, the herd of beasts might have crawled into the main city along the ventilation ducts.

Once the main city fell, it would be impossible for the base to last until the rescue from the Floating Void City arrived.

Liandong said: "The little girl didn't ask for a reward, she said that her life was given by you, the captain, and she was very happy to be able to bring her family to live in the main city because of that incident, and she couldn't ask for more rewards. "

Chai Yuening felt a little guilty when a little girl who met by chance said such words.

Back then, she knew that the outer city would be abandoned, but she didn't choose to take that girl away with her, but that girl always kept her in her heart...

"You have saved too many people casually, so naturally you won't take each one of them seriously, but the captain... some people have only met one savior in their life, don't remember who she remembers?" Liandong said, She smiled, "Otherwise, why do you think Du Xia and I have been with you so hard for so many years?"

Chai Yuening smiled, didn't say anything more, just leaned on the sofa, closed her eyes and listened to the base radio.

"team leader."

"Ok?"

"Chu Ci... did she go to the research institute?"

"Ah."

"You want to wait forever?"

"Ah."

"Will it be a long wait?"

"I do not know."

Chai Yuening responded in a low voice, and when she opened her eyes again, they were as empty as if she had lost her soul.

"I miss her." She said softly.

The afterglow of the setting sun sprinkled in the simply furnished living room, carrying a hint of the warmth of early summer, but it couldn't warm anyone.

She missed her so much, every day and night.

She wondered if she knew about her return.

She didn't know how many days and nights she would have to wait before she could stand in front of her again

She didn't know what the person she missed was going through every day in a place she couldn't see.

There seemed to be a thorn hanging somewhere in her heart, as long as she fiddled with it lightly, it would hurt.

She regretted that she recognized her heart one step later, and missed the last farewell day.

But no matter how regretful she was, she didn't know what else she could do besides wait.

She always knew nothing about Chu Ci.

Among all those ignorances, what she hated the most was that she didn't know that the wind in the early morning of that night could really blow a person out of her world.

Liandong looked at Chai Yuening with impatience, a trace of guilt welling up in her heart.

She wanted to say something, but found that the words of comfort were so pale at this moment.

She thought that all she could do was silent company.

***

At the end of June, the summer solstice.

Research at the institute doesn't seem to be going well, and there has been no progress for some days.

The radio in the living room played very soothing classical music.

Chai Yuening scrubbed and washed the pajamas the old man had just changed.

Several heavy coughs in succession made her wash her hands quickly, and ran to the bedroom door to take a look.

The white-haired old man was lying on the bed, his wrinkled eyes were quietly looking out of the window as usual.

Chai Yuening walked into the room lightly, picked up the thermos cup next to the radio and shook it, the cup was already empty.

She went to the kitchen, filled a glass of warm water, and put it back on the bedside table.

During these days, Chai Yuening has long been used to the way of taking care of her without any communication, but at this moment when she put down her cup and was about to go out, the old man on the bed suddenly stopped her.

"listen."

"What?" Chai Yuening turned around in surprise.

The old man reached out and turned off the radio on the bedside table: "Listen..."

She seemed to hear something.

Chai Yue calmed down and listened carefully, but she couldn't hear anything except the noise of a few children downstairs.

"Grandma, what did you hear?" she asked softly, very patiently.

"Huh...huh..."

"wind?"

"Here we come..." The old man turned his head slowly, looking at Chai Yuening with empty eyes, his old voice was full of incomprehensible yearning, "I have waited... His call..."

After the words fell, the old man with a withered face had a strange arc at the corner of his mouth.

Chai Yuening couldn't help holding her breath, and the room was silent for a moment.

After a short silence, following the old man's silly laugh, a piercing alarm sounded in the blue sky with dazzling sunlight.

She smelled a faint fragrance.

She saw the nearly decayed flesh turn into black vines.

Towards under the bed, towards the outside of the window, towards every place that can be climbed, at a speed visible to the naked eye, it spreads and grows strangely.

--------------------

The author has something to say:

He, the third-person pronoun generally referring to gods. (whispered popular science)