Chapter 25 Chapter 24

"What are your plans now?" They left the cottage of the old woman Eliza.Dylan had nowhere else to go but followed Jonas back to the street.She realized now that she was seeing a reappearance of a street in Stuttgart, the city where Jonas had spent his childhood before his brief military career began. They sat on the hood of his car, the radio still blaring old songs from a time Dylan couldn't make out. She let out a breath and tried to organize her mind, "I plan to go back." She replied. Jonas watched her with a serious expression. "Are you sure it's okay to do this?" he asked cautiously.

"Not sure." Dylan smiled wryly, "But I'm going to do it anyway." "You're going to die," Jonas reminded her. The expression on Dylan's face was like a smile. "I understand," she said flatly, "I understand. I should stay here somewhere, waiting for my parents and friends, looking for my relatives. I should accept reality. I know I should." "But you don't do that," Jonas spoke for her.Dylan looked down in pain, looking down at his tightly intertwined hands.What else can she say?Jonas couldn't understand it.She couldn't blame him, she didn't even figure out why this could be wrong.

"My mom always said I was stubborn," she said with a grin. "Tristan said the same thing." "Really?" Jonas also laughed. She nodded, "I think I really irritated him a little at first, and I kept telling him he was going the wrong way." Looking back on the first dozen or so days when I saw him now, it's funny. She didn't know how many times he had to stop and enlighten her. "Did he tell you about Santa Claus?" Jonas asked, amused to himself. "Yeah!" Dylan laughed too.very strange!In her imagination, this story should take place in modern times.Did this story take place in the 1950s?even earlier?

“You know, he thinks very highly of you,” she told Jonas. “When he told me your story, he said you had integrity and admiration.” "Did he really say that?" Jonas smiled happily when Dylan nodded. "I think he deserves admiration, too," he mused. "He has taken on this difficult job, running around the wastelands again and again. It's not fair that fate has dealt him this way." "I know." Dylan murmured. None of this is fair.It wasn't fair to Jonas and her, and it wasn't fair to Tristan either.He deserves to get rid of his... well, "job" is not the right word.Work is paid, and you can quit and leave immediately.No, Tristan was just doing his duty, and it was long past time for him to be patient.

"When are you going to act?" Jonas' question brought Dylan back from his thoughts.She made a face, not sure herself.Her initial thought was to wait until early in the morning before taking action.That would give her a full day to look for Tristan and still have time to get to the safehouse. However, another problem occurred to her.Tristan had told her once that she didn't need any sleep—how ​​long had she gone by now?She still doesn't feel sleepy.Will there still be night here?The sun was still high in the sky, just as it had been before they went to meet Eliza.If time stood still here, she would just have to think about when she would be ready.

Or never take that step.Either that or now. She thought of all kinds of situations she might face—a door that could never be opened, a wasteland, a horde of devils, a desperate search for a needle in a haystack.All these frightening things made her shudder.What can she do to prepare for all this?Obviously nothing can be done. Dylan was momentarily terrified.Can she really take such a risk?Her determination was shaken, and she was very likely to be written off from the soul register, completely deleted.Dylan's sanity struggled with fear.At the other end of the door, waiting for her will be bloody sky and whirling demons.What is she doing this for?

Tristan.His blue eyes, the deep warmth of his holding her hand, his soft lips that set his heart on fire. "Time waits," Eliza had said, and any door would do.Any door could take her where she wanted to go if she was sure, but Dylan already knew which door to go out through.After a while, she was already standing in front of the door.She breathed in the intoxicating breath of pots of orange and yellow flowers, and squinted her eyes to look at the dazzling sunlight on the metal plate hanging in the middle of the gate.In any case, this was the door that had brought Dylan in, and it seemed appropriate to leave now.

She studied the tiny doorknob, whose mystery Jonas had explained to her, and she just had to concentrate on her destination.That way, when she opens the door, she'll be there.She pictured the wilderness in her head—high rolling mountains, cold winds, and cloudy skies.Her hand started to reach forward, then stopped suddenly.No, this is not a real wasteland.Without Tristan by her side, she knew what was in store for her.She cringes a little as she recalls a completely different scene, covered in shades of red.That's where she's really going. Concentrating, she gritted her teeth and reached out again.

"Dylan." Jonas put a hand around her waist and stopped her. Dylan let out a sigh of relief, and actually burst into joy because of the interruption for that moment.She turned to look at Jonas. "How did you die?" "What?" Dylan didn't expect him to ask this question, and stared at him dumbfounded. "How did you die?" he repeated. "What's wrong?" she asked suspiciously. "Well, I mean... if you can succeed, I really hope you can..." A smile flashed across his face, "...you can go back to your body, you can be with It was exactly the same. It's just that what happened to you before is still there. So, I want to ask? How did you die?"

"Train accident." Dylan whispered the words from his still lips. Jonas nodded vigorously, and asked again, "Where are you hurt?" "I don't know." It was dark and silent.She had no idea that she was dead. If there were lights in the carriage then, what would she have seen?Will you see your body slumped on the seat opposite?Or was it crushed, or did it lose its head?If her injuries were that serious at the time, would her body still be usable after her resurrection?Dylan shook her head slightly, trying to get rid of the horrible thoughts before they took hold of her willpower.She reminded herself that she had made up her mind and never looked back.

"I don't know," she said, "but it doesn't matter." Tristan was the priority, she thought. "Goodbye, Jonas." "Good luck." He smiled at her suspiciously.Dylan knew in his heart that he felt certain that he would not succeed.She turned around, ignoring his doubts. "Hey, one more thing." Dylan's sigh was genuinely frustrated this time. "What?" she asked, but she stopped looking at him, her hand still reaching for the doorknob. "Bring him one for me." He paused and said, "I hope you survive, Dylan, and maybe I'll see you again." He said good-bye to her and backed slowly down the path.Dylan turned around and watched the distance between them getting farther and farther, feeling a little panic in his heart. "You're not staying any longer?" she asked.In fact, she wanted to ask him to go with her.But she can't, and won't. He shook his head and continued to back away slowly. "I don't want to watch it anymore." He admitted honestly. He gave Dylan a quick wave, one last smile, and walked quickly down the street.Dylan watched him cross the street, weaving among the cars, until he entered a house.Now, she is alone. The street was deserted and eerily quiet.She turned with an almost brisk step, and faced the door for the third and last time.Her heart was pounding in her chest, and her upper lip was glistening with sweat from nervousness.She had already imagined a nightmare scene in her heart—the whole world was bathed in blood red.Her lips trembled as she gripped the cold metal with her fingers."Heath, moor," she kept muttering to herself, gripped the round doorknob, took a final breath, and turned it. Dylan thought nothing would happen.She felt that she was likely to encounter a strong resistance that could not move, and the door would be locked tightly, and she could not open it no matter what.She had thought she would stand there forever, searching for courage and conviction until she was sure, utterly sure, that she really wanted to do it.However, the door opened easily in her hands.Startled, she opened the door all the way, and peered out through the opening. wilderness. The scorching purple wasteland.The sky was burnt orange and violet, it was about three o'clock in the afternoon, and it was horrible.She thought of the last day she had been with Tristan, when the sun was still shining, when she believed he would go with her.The path she had walked now stretched in front of her, not the golden brown of gravel, but dark black.The road seemed to be rolling and rolling, as if something was boiling and bubbling on it.The whole road shimmers like syrup. Dylan held his breath, lifted his foot and landed gently, the road was still solid. After a moment of hesitation, she took another step.She finally let go of the door. Without turning around to look back, she knew the moment the door closed because she was no longer alone. It's those souls.As soon as she turned around and returned to the ferryman's world, she was surrounded by many souls.They were exactly the same as she remembered them—hazy, ethereal, floating lightly in the air like ghosts.They also have faces and bodies, but they seem to be both real and illusory, as if they are not there. The same goes for their voices.She had watched them from the safe house before, when Dylan was far away from them, hearing their voices only behind the walls of the cabin.And now their voices were so loud that Dylan felt that there was a lot of people around him, but they couldn't hear what they said at all.It feels like hearing a sound from underwater, or holding a glass against a wall.And around them, circling intently around them, are demons.Dylan gasped, but although the demons frightened her enough, they didn't move towards her.She involuntarily glanced behind her, looking at the closed door.Should she go back again? No. "Come on, Dylan," she said to herself, "get moving." Her legs were good this time, and she began to take stiff steps forward, faster and faster, almost to a trot.She looked as far as she could at the surrounding mountains, and she knew that the lake was on the edge of these mountains, and there was a safe house on the water bank. Along the way, she smelled a strong smell of sulfur, and there was still smoke around her feet, as if it would soon condense into pairs of sharp claws and attack her.She didn't know if it was just her hallucination, but she did feel that her feet were very hot, as if a heat penetrated the soles of the shoes and slowly seeped in.The air was uncomfortably hot, too, and Dylan felt as if he were in the middle of some desert, with no wind and it was unnervingly hot.There was a dusty smell in the air, and her lips were dry.She tried to breathe through her nose, her lungs still hungry for more air.She knew she was going to hyperventilate now, but she couldn't control it. Let's go to the first safe house first - this is what she has to do now, and she can't care about the rest.Get there first. Her hands were tightly clenched into fists, and her eyes were fixed on the front.She couldn't help but look at the passing spirits, but instinct told her it was dangerous.Out of the corner of her eye she could see the flickering black shadows of the demons, and they didn't seem to notice Dylan without the lure of the glowing orb.But if they found her, she would easily become their hunting target without the protection of the ferryman. "Don't look, don't look." She repeated in a low voice as she hurried on her way. Forward, forward, she kept walking forward, only staring at the mountains in front of her, watching them grow bigger and darker in her line of sight as the setting sun sank. The setting sun was like a piece of burning coal, and it began to move slowly over the steep and steep mountain tops. Dylan arrived near the safe house just at this time.She was out of breath at the slightest exertion, but she had to run faster, trying to keep up with the fading daylight, and trying to keep her eyes on the front.A horde of souls came and poured past her.But she was always very scared in her heart, she didn't even dare to look at them, and she could only hear sporadic words, all of which were incomprehensible.From time to time, heart-piercing howls could be heard. But as it got darker, Dylan noticed that the spirits around him quickened their pace.She could feel their eagerness, and out of the corner of her eye she could catch a glimpse of those blinding white lights shining in the gloom, guiding the spirits on their way.These souls are putting themselves on the line to get to that dividing line before night falls, but there is still a long way to go.Their ferryman knew that, and so did the devils. They made a sound Dylan had never heard before, like screaming and laughing mixed together.The voice sounded both resentment and joy, despair and excitement, and it gave Dylan the creeps.It was almost impossible not to turn around to see the source of the sound, and Dylan couldn't wait to see what creature could be both elated and miserable at the same time.Before, she had been worried about whether the original safe house in this bloody wasteland would still exist, but now when she finally saw the safe house, a huge stone fell from her heart.It was there, like an oasis in the desert.Dylan nearly burst into tears as he fought his way through the door. Then came a long night. She lit a fire and collapsed on the bed.She closed her eyes and fell asleep, not because she was too tired, but just to escape and pass the time.But instead of falling into unconscious dreams, she could hear the wild laughter of demons all night long, as they feasted on prey that was too slow to be safely carried across by the ferrymen.