Blade and Swift

Winter 1987, Kyiv.

The huge snowstorm covered up the noise in the room, but it couldn't cover up the smell of vodka. The dim yellow light flickered and swayed like a lonely candle wick in the dark blue night.

A heavily armed youth unloaded his gun and answered a phone call in a drunken room.

"I've made up my mind. I want to join Hawkeye. The leader has already invited me, hasn't he?" A small voice came from the phone.

The young man frowned, and the freckles on the tip of his nose were made a little more obvious by his complexion because of drinking alcohol.

He obviously didn't agree with the person opposite, talking to him in a low voice.

"I can become stronger." He heard the person on the other side of the microphone say so.

The young man sighed, turned around and looked at the crowd of mercenaries who were drinking and carrying guns behind him, and said to the other end of the phone: "You should think about it, joining Hawkeye means that you will never be able to return to ordinary people. lived."

The person on the other end of the phone agreed again in a low voice.

"Then I'll buy you a ticket." The young man could only say.

Two weeks later, the wind and snow were still the same, and he wore casual clothes neatly, with a dagger in his short boots and a gun in his pocket.

These are chaotic times and there is no safe place.

In the train station, the young man stood upright, like a tall and straight pine tree.

He stood like this for nearly an hour, his body seemed to feel no weight, nor could he feel the cold, but the posture of waiting like that was by no means false.He is used to a proactive life and rarely waits.

An hour later, he saw a boy squeezed out of the crowd from the train platform with his bag on his back.He saw himself almost at a glance, and rushed over with a look of joy on his face.At that time he had no idea what was going to happen in the next few years.

"Fang Shuo!" The young man waved at the young man.

The tough lines on the young man's face finally showed the curvature of a smile, and he took the initiative to carry the box for Yan Xichen: "The journey went smoothly?"

The childishness in the eyes of the young Yan Xichen has not faded away, and some heroism can be seen vaguely.He was looking up at this completely strange city curiously with his head up, but also a little uneasy and cautious.

Here, Fang Shuo was the only person he knew, and he couldn't wait to talk to Fang Shuo a lot, and couldn't wait to know more about his life in the north.

"Very bitter, you won't be able to bear it."

"I am willing to suffer." The young Yan Xichen slowed down his pace.

As they walked out of the station, tiny snowflakes fell with the white clouds.Some fell on his cheeks and melted immediately, like the city's kiss to him who just arrived.

Yan Xichen began to tell, Fang Shuo listened silently.

"...So they divorced, Yan Jing followed her mother, and I followed my father. It was my mother who got sick first, and it was too late to find out. My sister is in school and cannot afford such heavy medical expenses.

"Dad wants to pick up my sister, but mom won't let her, that's the only thing she has left.

"My father has no money, and my father even gave up the chance to remarry.

"She spends a lot of money every day and needs care, and Yan Jing also needs someone to take care of her.

"Then they quarreled fiercely, and my father said that my sister was infected with tuberculosis because of my mother's selfishness.

"Mom just cried and couldn't be persuaded. Yan Jing also cried, even if I took her to eat my favorite ice cream, she was still crying.

"I asked Dad, is this going to be okay?

"Dad said he didn't know, he told me not to think about it, I don't have a home anymore.

"He said he did too."

The snow on the ground creaked when stepped on, and the world became very quiet. The noise of the train station, the sound of wheels and horns, and the sound of guns and guns from far away were all buried by the color of the snow, leaving only The sound of Xichen stepping on snow during the banquet.

He pressed half of his face into the scarf, revealing his red nose and wet eyes. At this moment, no one looked more like a homeless teenager than him.

They came to the side of the black armored vehicle, Fang Shuo moved his luggage to the back seat, turned around and gave Yan Xichen a hug.

"Who said that? I am your home."

Yan Xichen's wet eyes turned red amidst the growing snowflakes.

"The two of us grew up together, and you treated me better than my mother." The young Fang Shuo hugged Yan Xichen's back, and patted his heavy down jacket, "You also once saved me from that dilapidated, dark and cold place." rescued from the little house in your house, before you knew it."

"Fang Shuo." Yan Xichen turned his head away, "Stop talking, I'm sorry."

Fang Shuo opened the car door for him: "Maybe I could have survived without you for more than ten years, and then came to a far away place like now, working as a mercenary in Kiev. But you changed my ten years A few years, at least as I look back now, it was a happy time."

Fang Shuo paused: "You too."

Yan Xichen didn't get in the car, he stood in front of Fang Shuo and stared at Fang Shuo.

He trembled his lips for a long time: "Brother."

Only then did Fang Shuo smile: "This is not a suitable place for you, go back after you think it over."

"I said that I will become stronger. I'm not lying to you. I need money and I need to get out of my current life."

"You're impulsive. You need money, and I can send you some."

Yan Xichen couldn't argue with Fang Shuo about this matter, so he got into the car without saying a word.

In the next two months, Yan Xichen had a miserable life, but he never left. He tore up the ticket that Fang Shuo had prepared for him, and stole Fang Shuo's gun and Fang Shuo's knife.

He remembered that Fang Shuo left the country when he was just an adult and joined Hawkeye.And he didn't know anything about Hawkeye, he only knew that it was an internationally famous mercenary organization.

After a few years of separation, the changes in the young man's body can be seen with the naked eye. He is more silent and sharper, like a simple and unpretentious iron tool that has finally sharpened its edge.

He thought that Fang Shuo didn't know, he wasn't impulsive, he had thought about it for half a year.

Later, it wasn't that he didn't have the idea of ​​leaving, but he gritted his teeth and persisted.

Hawkeye's original base is located in the woods in what is now eastern Russia. During the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, they not only trained mercenaries, but also trained spies.Combat power is at the front, while intelligence power comes from the rear.

Yan Xichen is almost unwilling to recall his first year in Hawkeye, almost using his life and body to make a deal with the devil and death.

Fang Shuo still felt that he was not suitable, but he treated him very well.

He dug bullets for him in the jungle, fed him his own blood in the scorching desert, sang happy songs to him on the silent glacier, and never gave up on him even when his state of mind was at its worst.

Just like how many years later Du Yachen would be amazed at Yan Xichen's unrestrained and frank enthusiasm and love. As a mercenary—but he didn't know that he believed in love like this because he was always well protected by Fang Shuo.

Fang Shuo really regarded Yan Xichen as a relative, the only relative.

Half a year later, Yan Xichen finally became one of Hawkeye's qualified mercenaries.

When he returned to his hometown for the first time, he saw his younger sister on the hospital bed and his mother who was taking care of him.

Although my father is old and haggard, he still often goes back to visit the two of them.

The relationship between people is very strange. Even if your relationship is declared to be broken and the family is torn apart, there is always a thread to maintain the fragile and vulnerable connection.That was the bond, something that also existed between Yan Xichen and Fang Shuo.

Yan Xichen officially passed the inspection period and joined the second Eagle Eye regiment, and was formally assigned to Fang Shuo's mercenary regiment.

The eagle-eyed high-level head has a pair of ice-gray eyes, and when he stares at someone, it makes people feel cold all over his body.

"From today onwards your name is Swift. The old you is dead, and now you are just the eagle-eyed Swift." He said so.

"You belong to the Alpha group of the second regiment." His military boots walked in front of Fang Shuo, and he turned to look at Yan Xichen, "He is your captain, Cain."

Yan Xichen looked at Fang Shuo who was standing in front of him, tall and powerful, completely different from his usual private appearance.

That is the other side of Fang Shuo.

Fang Shuo told him that no matter what his identity was, he would never betray him.

He is not only his close friend and relative Fang Shuo, but also his teammate and captain Cain.

In the other world 20 years later, he stood on the opposite side, Cain, the enemy of the whole world.

Turning time back to the inner world, history, bullets, wars, and the irretrievable past have all been weathered by time, leaving only the colorful and distorted space in front of you.

Another group of people rushed up from the second floor, Yan Xichen stood up, and the person in front of him was gone.

Crows dominate the ordinary residents of the surface world, rushing towards them one after another, trying to drown them and kill them.

Du Yachen dealt with everyone in the stands on both sides, and saw Yan Xichen raise his gun from a distance, and then the sound of the assault rifle continued, and the magazine was emptied in three or four seconds.

Yan Xichen quickly changed the magazine, and fired again indiscriminately.

A thicker smell of blood wafted in than before, and people screamed and wailed, accompanied by the chaos and undulating screams downstairs.

His state was completely out of control, his eyes were as cold as death, and that beautiful and harmless face was full of chills and blood at the moment.

He didn't say a word, and he didn't move much.It was so dark in the theater that Du Yachen couldn't even see his expression clearly.

But he just knew that Yan Xichen was quietly collapsing.

He almost rushed over to try to stop Yan Xichen, but failed.

For a moment, Du Yachen saw clearly the distorted expression on Yan Xichen's face.His pupils were pitch black, unable to reflect the purgatory-like world below.

Du Yachen had no choice but to stop him, but Yan Xichen suddenly turned his gun and pointed at Du Yachen.

Du Yachen was even faster and grabbed the muzzle of the gun.He had no time to think about other things, he held Yan Xichen's head tightly, pulled the person closer to him, and pinched Yan Xichen's cheeks.

"Look at me!" Du Yachen ordered, staring at Yan Xichen, "What's wrong with you?"

His movements happened in an instant, and Yan Xichen was unconscious, and suddenly felt that he was wandering in the dark brown amber, and in this dizzying color, he was overwhelmed by the only clear light.

Du Yachen didn't have much time to deal with him. He still needed to pay attention to the knives and bullets that were stabbing him.

In the theater, most of the residents representing world forces had already left, and the remaining ones who kept rushing in were arranged by the crows, killers with real combat effectiveness.

He just wanted to drag the battle until he was exhausted, and then use the most elite troops and a quick battle to end the duel.He stood behind and manipulated, never showing up from the beginning to the end.Du Yachen knew what he was thinking, but he didn't care, as long as he was fast enough, he could dig out the secrets hidden in this theater before the crow ended the battle.

But he didn't expect that Yan Xichen would also be a variable.

Of course, he didn't expect the bigger variable to be Cain.

The crowd suddenly burst into exclamation. A lot of blood had been shed under the stage downstairs. Many people struggled and fell on the red seats.

In the center of the stage, where the black vortex was quietly spinning, a bunch of lights were lit up at this moment, clearly illuminating the scene of purgatory below the stage.

The twisted and swaying world boundary returned to stability, and a man stood in the center of the spotlight.

Du Yachen and Yan Xichen were stunned at the same time.

Even though they were so far away that they could only see the silhouette of the man in the spotlight, they recognized him at the same time—

"Fang Shuo."

"Cain."

Yan Xichen looked at him with a look that Du Yachen couldn't understand.

Du Yachen raised his hand to deal with a person who was about to attack them. Both of them were sweaty and splashed with blood.

Yan Xichen's face was pale, his teeth were biting his lips, and even his lips looked a little pale.Du Yachen looked surprised, he rarely showed such an expression now.

Standing in the middle of the stage was not the young Fang Shuo he was familiar with, but an adult, the Fang Shuo in Yan Xichen's memory.

"Gentlemen and ladies." Fang Shuo bowed gentlemanly on the stage. He was not in a hurry, and his expression looked as if he was really about to perform a grand performance.

Even now everything in the audience is already a grand bloody show.

He made a stop finger: "Please stop for a moment."

Some stopped, and some took the opportunity to drive their knives into their opponents.No one dared to really stop. After a momentary pause, the scene quickly fell into chaos again.

Fang Shuo just stood in the center of the stage, smiling and waiting for a few seconds.

"I said, stop!"

In an instant, the trajectory of all the fired bullets deviated, and the cold weapon seemed to be forcibly reversed by a force.

The shooter was killed by the rebounding bullet, sending the blade into the bearer's own body.

Even the people around Yan Xichen and Du Yachen fell down in an instant.

Someone tried to escape, but was twisted by an invisible force at the door, and his entire spine was pulled out.

Those who witnessed all this screamed, and everyone began to tremble.

"I'm sorry to see you here today... loss." Fang Shuo used a strange word, his eyes swept across the audience, there was no real regret in his eyes, but there was indeed pity in his eyes, "Today I am Cain , appeared in front of you for the first time. You have been fighting each other for so many years because of me, a dead person, but I have never appeared in front of you."

Fang Shuo, or Cain, spread his hands in the center of the stage: "I am here today, willing to accept your trial! I am also willing to be killed by you - if you can do it!"

It was as if a bomb had been thrown into the crowd, and it immediately boiled up. Some people immediately set up their knives and guns, but no one shot at Cain immediately.This is probably because the situation is so weird that the faces of so many people who have struggled for years to kill Cain in the audience, the reaction at this moment is only confusion.

Fang Shuo's eyes were accurate and direct, without wasting any extra sight.His gaze passed through the crowd and accurately caught Yan Xichen's eyes.

The nightmare of sickle and dusk trial unfolded before Yan Xichen's eyes again!

Judgment... oblivion... is that so?

Du Yachen suddenly woke up and raised his head.He was startled, as if someone had plucked a tight string, and the aftershocks lingered in his body for a long time.

At the moment he was startled, Yan Xichen moved.

He leaned on the railing of the second-floor stand with one hand and jumped down suddenly.He is fast, like an arrow leaving the string!

Du Yachen didn't have time to stop him, his agility was approaching a certain limit.At a height of nearly ten meters, he did not hesitate at all, and landed accurately in the dark.

He rolled up, with a knife in his mouth, and two pistols in his hands at the same time. The moment he stood up, he knocked down all the people downstairs who were about to fire bullets.

Even Du Yachen at his peak is not as fast, explosive and accurate as he is now.

It only took him a few seconds to sprint from the back row to the front row, maybe even less.Wherever he passed by in the blink of an eye, all those who tried to attack him or Fang Shuo fell down.At that time, his figure was so fast that no one could react to what happened in a short time because the atmosphere was so imminent.

Du Yachen turned over and jumped down. When he got up from the audience stage on the first floor, Yan Xichen was already standing on the stage, standing in front of Fang Shuo!

The killing dagger was stained with blood, and Yan Xichen wiped the blade on his leg very slowly.

With a resolute look on his face that Du Yachen had never seen before, he held the dagger horizontally in front of him.

Yan Xichen didn't say a word, but it was an absolutely protective gesture.

Fang Shuo behind him laughed silently.

Du Yachen looked at the people on the stage seriously, knowing that Yan Xichen had lost his mind at this moment.

In this absurd game, or performance, Cain is now the man with the strings, who has been behind the scenes, and now comes to the fore.It's for nothing else, just for Yan Xichen to stand in front of him.

At this moment, Cain is the order, and he doesn't need anyone's protection.

At no time has Du Yachen realized more clearly and calmly than at this moment that Yan Xichen is willing to be an enemy of the whole world for this person.

Yan Xichen was like a person who covered his ears and eyes, he didn't look or listen, as if there was only one thing he wanted to do, and that was to never let his old friend who was called "Cain" die behind him.

He knew that Cain would not be killed, but he lost his judgment.

Yan Xichen felt that the ringing in his ears continued to be sharp, and the sounds from the outside world gradually became very distant to him.

"Come back... come back here." Du Yachen stared at the people on the stage.His voice was very low, but Yan Xichen on the stage seemed to hear the murmur, and his eyes briefly met Du Yachen's.

Du Yachen could see that there was a moment of blankness and bewilderment in his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a more serious emotion, and he almost moved his eyes away from Du Yachen stiffly.

It seemed like he wanted to pretend he didn't care at all, but he had to force himself to look away.

Yan Xichen always kept Fang Shuo firmly behind him, and the dagger in front of him showed a sharp and cold edge.