abyss rose

The fighter plane flew into the sky, and the isolated island sank into thick fog.

Chai Yuening can no longer see everything behind her clearly, but she knows that when human beings are dying, there are always people who are running towards the distant unknown with hope.

Chu Ci took the roll of map from her hand, and silently scanned every area circled by a red pen on the map.

"Which direction should we go?" Liu An asked.

His tone was a bit heavy, apparently at the time when the Floating Void City base was alive and dead, being suddenly assigned to perform such a task meant to him a bit of evasion. He didn't like it, but he had to.

Facing this problem, Chai Yuening was a little undecided for a while.

There are six marked points on the map. If the fuel consumption on the return journey is not considered, and the low-altitude flight range search is not considered, the fighter can fly to up to four points.

But even if Liu An was willing to accompany them through this desperate journey with no return, they still had too many things to consider.

This fighter plane may not be able to reach the distant place where there may be the last glimmer of hope for mankind.

Time is limited, they have to make a choice, the rest may only be decided by fate.

Chai Yuening asked softly beside Chu Ci: "Can you think of anything?"

Chu Ci frowned and didn't answer. He looked at the map not very calmly, as if he was trying to remember something.

The words of the two made Liu An vigilant: "Are you sure you remember the direction of the base in the foggy area?"

Chai Yuening came back to her senses, and replied in a deep voice: "Remember..."

Liu An: "Please tell me the direction, I need to confirm the flight direction immediately."

Chai Yuening took a deep breath, frowned and looked at the six marked points on the map, randomly selected one of them as if drawing lots, and reported the location to Liu An.

"Are you sure?" Liu An's tone didn't seem very trusting.

Chai Yuening just said "um" and didn't say anything more.

Soon, the plane turned slightly and headed towards the direction she directed.

Chai Yuening couldn't help but think, if there is something that is far away from the Floating Void City, she can explain it. Some things are lies from the beginning, and she hopes that this lie can be exposed without any room for turning back.

Fighter planes soar in the vast sky like birds, as if they are far away from all the hustle and bustle of this world.

From noon to dusk, it was the setting sun again, and the white clouds were dyed with layers of rays of light, but hope still didn't know where it was.

There is no location too far from the base, the plane keeps flying, and people look down, unable to see clearly whether there are old world urban relics hidden under the dense fog and among the mountains.

No one knows where the destination is, and no one knows if they've gotten past where they're supposed to go, about where they should have entered low-altitude flight mode.

Chai Yuening kept thinking about how she would talk to Liu An.

The place they are going to is not the base in the fog area. What they have to do is different from the task given to Liu An by the Floating Void City. The guessing in their hearts and the miracle they want to pursue can really convince a person to put the base's military orders first. Are you a soldier?

Whether she could or not, she had no other choice.

After a short thought struggle, Chai Yuening hesitated to speak and made some noises.

Liu An's gaze drifted back, his brows twitched involuntarily, and he asked in a deep voice, "Do you need to fly close to the ground?"

Chai Yuening quickly responded: "Need!"

Liu An asked again: "Is it coming soon?"

Chai Yuening opened her mouth, took a breath, and said with a little guilt: "Go down and have a look to find out."

The altitude of the plane began to drop, and the fuselage sank into the thick fog. When the fog lights came on, Chai Yuening looked down.

The rolling hills seem to be at the foot, and the fighter planes shuttled nimbly among the dangerous mountains. The night gradually sank, and Chai Yuening finally saw a city in the basin that stood beside mountains and rivers.

But at that moment, Chai Yuening suddenly panicked.

This world is really too big, and everything in front of me is too strange.

She doesn't know where she wants to go, even if she flies close to the ground, she can't tell whether the direction she chooses is right or wrong.

Is the city ruins under my feet the city circled on the map?

The so-called city fringe, and which direction is it in, east, west, north, south?

What does the legendary ecological mother flower look like?Is it so special that people can recognize it at a glance, or is it not too different from other black wisterias, only bigger?

She didn't know, and she found that she didn't know anything.

Liu An asked her—has it arrived yet?How long?Is the direction right?

Chai Yuening tightly held the compass in her hand. She once thought she had a strong sense of direction, but at this moment she couldn't answer a word.

"Chai Yuening, have you lost your way?"

"I……"

Yes, she is lost.

But what she lost was not the southeast and northwest, but the ultimate goal.

—she had never seen it.

"This is not the way to the base in the fog area." Liu An asked with a frown, "If you can return to the floating city from there, you can't lose your way there."

Chai Yuening: "..."

Liu An: "Where do you want to lead me?"

His tone was extremely firm, and there was even a bit of cheated anger in his words, which made people suspect that he might have noticed it a long time ago, but he didn't really speak out until now.

He gritted his teeth and tried to keep himself calm: "Why don't you go to the base in the fog zone? Dr. Yi trusts you so much...I need a reason."

Chu Ci, who was silent all the way, suddenly raised his eyes, and responded lightly: "Compared with the base in the fog area, I have more important places to go."

Liu An: "What could be more important than completing the research materials Dr. Yi needs?"

Chu Ci: "There is no defect in the data."

Liu An: "What did you say?"

Chu Ci: "We never planned to go back to the base in the fog zone from the very beginning, and Dr. Yi also knew about it."

Chu Ci's answer undoubtedly surprised Liu An.

He distractedly turned his head and looked back, as if he was trying to find out from Chu Ci's eyes the evidence that these words were just lies, but Chu Ci's eyes were so calm, with an indescribable sincerity in the calm, which seemed to be beyond emotion. There is no flaw.

Chai Yuening could feel that he was shaken in the confusion and surprise.

The night was getting darker and darker, and it was no longer suitable to continue flying in this rugged place.

She sighed softly, and said, "Some things are hard to explain clearly in a few words."

The fighter plane landed in the ruins of the old world city, and Liu An took an old notebook from Chai Yuening.

Chai Yuening stood up, jumped off the plane, and looked at the foggy surroundings through the fog lights.

In this dusty, uninhabited, and extremely dilapidated urban ruins, black vines overwhelmed the ordinary green plants, entangled and clung to tall buildings.

One of them, not far away, perched on the tallest building, blooming against the night, bigger than every giant black vine she had ever seen.

It glows with its own light in the night, and can be seen through the mist.

The footsteps of strange beasts came from all around, but she had long been used to hearing them.

The only thing that disturbed her was the sound of pages being flipped behind her, and the human, dull breathing.

She was looking forward to gaining Liu An's trust, but she couldn't help feeling that even if she could get support, it would be nothing more than finding a needle in a haystack.

The night fog was too thick for her to see hope.