Chapter 25 Chapter VII

April 9.Monday.In the morning, 11:19. "Long time no see." Ye Xiao replied.He stared at the man on the hospital bed obsessively, forgetting that he was here to interrogate him. "I'm glad...you haven't..." He was still a little weak, and coughed again when he said this, "Forget me..." "Zhou Xuan, even if I forget myself, I will never forget you." "A few years ago, I thought I would never see you again..." "I never thought I could come back." Ye Xiao avoided his gaze and looked out of the window. The sun shone through the spring sycamore leaves and iron railings, casting black and white vertical stripes on the floor, "How are you resting?"

"not bad." Zhou Xuan's forehead was covered with a bandage, a few scars remained on his face, his eye circles were obviously bruised, and he had an infusion needle inserted in his hand.His thick beard has not been shaved, his eyes are as cold as Ye Xiao's, and his whole body is full of vicissitudes of life.Ten years of wind and frost has completely changed a person - deep in Ye Xiao's memory, he is still a literary youth wearing glasses. "How have you been all these years?" "I'm fine." Zhou Xuan pretended to smile easily, "How are you?"

"Why are you in the Future Dream Building?" "On April 1st, I booked a room in the Future Dream Hotel, and the earthquake happened just after I checked in." He suddenly realized what he said wrong, "By the way, there was no earthquake at all?" "Well, there was no earthquake, it was land subsidence." Zhou Xuan smiled wryly: "What a good answer, the whole world is still in the world, only we are in hell." "Where do you usually live?" "It's in this city." "Why live in a five-star hotel?" "I'm going to write a novel."

"Writing a novel in a five-star hotel room? It seems that you are very successful now." "No, I'm only staying for one night. I just want to find inspiration. I want to overlook the city at night from the upper floors of the hotel, overlooking the place where we lived when we were young-although the future dream building has been demolished and built. However, You can still see our alma mater." "Siyi Middle School?" Ye Xiao could also overlook the middle school playground from his window, "Tell me about the situation when the disaster happened."

"I was on the 19th floor of the top floor of the hotel. I saw a terrible light flashing in the distance. I felt the whole building shake violently, so I ran out of the room immediately. At that time, it was as terrifying as a magnitude 10 earthquake. The building obviously sank, and all the lights All went out. Luckily for me, I met a man familiar with the structure of the building, and I fled with him to the underground garage, where there are several diesel generators. We started the machine and partially restored power. Before that, there were many people on the ground floor I wanted to dig a hole to escape, but the lobby of the shopping mall collapsed, causing a stampede, and many people died! Another news came from upstairs, and I found a way to escape on the top floor. But there was another landslide. Fortunately, I escaped in advance to save my life. The tenth to nineteenth floors are completely ruined, and I don’t know how many people died on it.”

"But the part below the Ninth Floor Studios is still intact. You have survived for seven days and seven nights in these floors of the Future Dream Mall?" "yes." "You said that there is a person who is familiar with the structure of the building. Who is he?" "The owner of the Future Dream Building." "Luo Haoran?" Ye Xiao has firmly remembered the name, which is why he came to this ward for interrogation. "Yes. We all think that the end of the world has come to the whole world. No one in the outside world can survive. Those of us who are buried underground are the last survivors of mankind."

"when?" Zhou Xuan closed his eyes and thought for a while and said, "April 2, after one o'clock in the morning, three hours after the disaster happened." "How many survivors were there?" "About twenty people." "What's the matter with so many corpses in the garage on the fourth floor underground?" "In order to protect the living environment, we gather all the dead at the bottom of the building, which can be regarded as their burial. But they must not be cremated. It may cause a fire or emit toxic smoke. It is fatal in a closed underground."

"Understandable." Ye Xiao recorded it all, "What happened afterwards? How did you survive?" "I..." Zhou Xuan's breathing accelerated, he shook his head in pain, and an indistinct voice came out of his throat, "I don't know." "How could you not know?" "Too many...too many...things...seven days and seven nights...every second feels like a day...every hour feels like a year...every day feels like a lifetime...a lifetime..." "Calm down. Think slowly, don't rush." "I... I... want... desperately... think... I can't remember!"

"You said that three hours after the disaster, there were still about twenty survivors." Ye Xiao quietly clenched his fists, without any anxiety on his face, and asked calmly, "However, only six people were rescued in the end. Where did the other dozen people go? Or how did they die?" "I don't know." This time Zhou Xuan didn't even think about it, and replied reflexively. Ye Xiao gave up, it was impossible to ask Zhou Xuan for any valuable clues, and he no longer expected him to talk to him like he did many years ago.Ye Xiao took half a step back from the hospital bed, the vertical stripes of light and shadow burned on his face, hiding his loss.

Suddenly, Zhou Xuan coughed and made a dull voice: "Ye Xiao, I'm not feeling well, can I call the doctor in?" Pausing for two seconds, Ye Xiao didn't say anything, and didn't look at him again.