Chapter 31 Chapter 30

It was easier to go back to Gischar as a secondary school student, to fight my mother every day, and to brush shoulders with all the idiots in the neighborhood.Now she can't even imagine herself doing those things again.Maybe it's better to forget than to remember.Then she realized there was at least one thing she couldn't forget.She turned to see Tristan staring at her, and the look on his face made her wonder if he could really read the thoughts that were running through her head. "I'll remember you," she whispered.She didn't know if it was comforting him or comforting herself.

Tristan gave a wry smile. "I hope so," he said.Then he leaned down and kissed her.When he got up, she noticed something hidden between his thumb and forefinger.It was a flower, with a slender stem curved slightly under the weight of bright purple petals. "Here you are," he said, slipping the flower gently into Dylan's thick bun, "this flower complements the color of your eyes." His fingers ran slowly along Dylan's cheek, and Dylan's face was flushed with embarrassment.Tristan smiled and took her hand again, the gentle pressure between his fingers urging her to walk a little faster, just in case.For Dylan, the night passed too quickly and not fast enough at the same time.While she wanted to savor every moment with Tristan, she worried that every time they stopped like this, he would try to find some reason to persuade her to turn around.But he was in a good mood today, talking and laughing all the time, joking around.Although Dylan wasn't entirely sure if he was really that happy, but his emotions couldn't help being aroused by him.He even persuaded Dylan to dance with him - with no sound to accompany him except the howling and howling of demons in the cold darkness outside the cabin.So he started humming under his breath.Although slightly out of tune.

When the light outside began to change, Dylan was still amazed at how quickly time passed.But as soon as the morning sky broke, she went to urge Tristan to get on the road. But he appeared to be in a hurry, stomping out the last glowing embers in the hearth, and brushing off a thick layer of dust from his shoes.Then, though there was no longer any reason to delay, he refused to let Dylan open the door until the sun came up over the peaks of the mountains far to the east. The sunlight finally filled the cabin through the glass.Dylan said grimly, "Can we go now?" "Okay, let's go!" Tristan replied.He smiled wantonly at Dylan, and she shook his head with impatience, "I used to be unable to call you in the morning, so I nearly dragged you outside."

Dylan couldn't help but smile when she recalled how she pursed her lips and whined and cried. "I must have made you suffer in the beginning?" she confessed. He smiled, "It might be an overstatement to say that it was a bitter experience, maybe it's more appropriate to say it was a nightmare..." As he spoke, his voice became softer, and he blinked at her. "Nightmare!" Dylan, who had been standing by the door looking out, came over and pushed his arm half-jokingly, "I'm not a nightmare!" The mountains waiting for them to cross, "It feels easier to walk this way, like walking down the mountain road." She shrugged, then gave Tristan a fake look of anger and said, "Then let's go!"

Dylan's enthusiasm died halfway up the first hill.She felt her calf burning, and there were bursts of stabbing pain deep in her left rib, and every gasp was accompanied by pain.But now Tristan seemed to be willing to push on. Dylan complained and asked for a break several times, but he pretended to be deaf and dumb, and turned a deaf ear.Dylan sticks his tongue out over his broad shoulders and makes a face.She didn't really look forward to reaching the last safehouse, because in her memory it was a complete ruin—no roof, only one wall still standing.It was also the last real barrier between them and the tunnel.Dylan knew, she just knew, that Tristan would use this last chance to talk himself out of it.She was right.No sooner had they settled in the safehouse than the howling of the demons died down. It sounded like the wind rushing after them. It was Tristan who didn't stop walking so early.The fire crackled merrily, and he sat opposite her, gazing at her gravely.

Dylan sighed inwardly, but remained calm. "Dylan..." Tristan hesitated, biting the inside of his cheek, "Dylan, something is wrong." She pursed her lips, holding the fire down without yelling, "Look, we've all gotten this far. You promised to try. Tristan, we've come a long way, and we can't go back now, can't we?" No..." He raised a hand to interrupt the rapid flow of speech, and she stopped suddenly. "That's not what I meant," he said. Dylan wanted to continue what he had just said, but then he frowned, blinked and asked, "Then what do you mean?"

"Yes... I have a problem." "What do you mean?" She suddenly became nervous, and looked at him with wide eyes, "What's wrong with you?" "I don't know." His breathing was trembling. "Not feeling well? Are you sick?" "No..." He hesitated, looking hesitant. Dylan felt as if a layer of ice had formed in his heart, "Tristan, I don't understand what's going on." "Look at this." He said flatly. He lifts up his T-shirt, exposing his stomach.Dylan was a bit distracted by a thin streak of blond hair growing down from his navel.But she soon saw what he was referring to.

"When did you get hurt?" She asked softly. A red jagged gash cut across the right side of his body.The skin on both sides of the wound was red, swollen and inflamed, and there were shallower scars around it. "It was left when the demons besieged you." Dylan stared at him dumbfounded.It never occurred to her before that her actions would hurt Tristan.It pained her herself to see him grinning in pain as he shifted in his seat.How had he tried his best to conceal the injury for two whole days?Is she being too selfish?Otherwise, how could you not notice it?She was extremely disappointed in herself.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, "it's all my fault." He pulled his clothes down to hide the wound, "No," he shook his head, "that's not what I was talking about. Dylan, I meant the wound," he explained, "it should be gone by now. I have also been attacked by demons before, and I will heal within a few days. But now...it seems that I have become...become..." There was a painful expression on his face. Dylan stared at him in surprise. Did he mean "people"? "And that's not all," he went on, "I'm leaving . . . leaving you,"

He stuttered a little at the word, "To the next soul, to Mary, my body didn't change." "What?" Dylan was speechless with his mouth open. "I was the same as I am now, exactly the same." After a pause, he added, "This has never happened before." Dylan was silent for a long time, wondering, "What do you think this means?" she finally asked. "I don't know," he whispered.He firmly sealed up the hope that sprouted in his heart, and he was unwilling to admit this hope to anyone, even to himself. He smiled and said, "I'm not even supposed to be here."

"Why?" Dylan frowned in confusion. He shrugged, as if the answer was obvious, "When I lost Mary, I should have been pulled away right then and sent to meet the next soul." "But... I was still there at the time." "I know." He nodded and said, "At first I thought maybe you were there, so I didn't leave, I had to stay until you were sent back safely again. But this idea may be wrong, maybe I Now..." He hesitated, trying to find the right word, "Maybe I'm scrapped now or something like that happened." He smiled at her, "I mean, I couldn't have been like Going back like this now. It's not normal, Dylan." "Maybe you didn't scrap it," she said slowly. "Perhaps, as you said, when you have done enough work and ferried enough souls, you will be liberated." "Too many 'maybes'." He smiled at her softly. "I don't know. I don't know what that means." Dylan didn't seem to feel his unease or caution.She sat upright, with a big smile on her lips and bright eyes, "Well, well, besides..." She nodded to the right side of Tristan's body and saw him covering it with his right hand, "...everything It’s all moving in our favor, and maybe we should go with it.” "Perhaps," he said, doubt still in his eyes.He didn't want to tell Dylan everything, but there was a vague worry in his subconscious.As they traveled across the wasteland, farther and farther away, his wound seemed to be getting worse. Dylan feels himself struggling to regain his life, but Tristan can't help but wonder if a different fate awaits him.