Chapter 20 Chapter Twenty

It was already past ten o'clock in the evening, and Juliet, who was lying on the table looking at the file, finally raised her head.Her eyes were sore and astringent, she could barely open them, and she couldn't stare at the screen or look at the information in the file anymore.So she turned off her computer, put her files in order, turned off the lights, and walked out of the office, locking the door. She reached into her pocket for the key, and as she felt a rumbling in her stomach, and smelled a hare stew, she suddenly remembered that she forgot supper again.She has not eaten for three nights in a row.She was not familiar with the work of a security officer, she didn't know where to start, and no one could guide her, so she had to concentrate on finding information, forgetting to have dinner.It was like this three nights in a row.Strictly speaking, though, the restaurant was just outside her office, full of noisy voices and aromas, so forgetting to eat was a bit unreasonable under the circumstances.

After the door was locked, she took out the key and walked into the dimly lit dining room.There were messy tables and chairs everywhere in the restaurant, she could hardly see where the tables and chairs were, she could only fumble between them.At this time, she noticed a teenage couple was about to walk out of the restaurant.The restaurant was dark, and the only light came from the image on the wall. The two young people must have just found a chance to rub their heads in the dark while the curfew time was not up.Juliet called to them to be careful going down the stairs.She would yell like this, mainly because she felt that as a security officer, she had to remind the young people.The young couple giggled a few times before disappearing into the stairwell.It was not difficult for her to imagine that when they went downstairs, they would hug and kiss again before they got home.Adults know what tricks young people will play, but they just turn a blind eye.This is a kind of tolerance passed down from generation to generation.For Juliet, however, her situation is quite different.At that time, she was already an adult, but she also fell in love with someone she shouldn't love, and the two secretly got together against the rules.Therefore, she felt that she was really not qualified to say anything about those children.

When she was about to walk to the kitchen, she suddenly noticed that she was not alone in the big dining room.There was a figure in a dark corner by the wall.The man sat motionless, staring at the shadowy dunes and gray clouds in the image. Obviously still the same guy.Last night, when Juliet was busy in the office alone, she noticed someone sitting there, watching the afterglow of the sunset fade into the darkness.So she took a detour to the kitchen so that she would pass behind the man.In the past few days, she has read countless files, all of which are full of bad deeds. After reading too much, she suddenly becomes a little nervous.In the past, she admired people who behaved weirdly, but now, she found that she became suspicious, and she would be more vigilant when she met such people.

She walked to the nearest table, walked between the wall and the table, and pushed the chair under the table.There was a creaking sound when the chair legs rubbed against the tiled floor.She kept paying attention to that man, but he still didn't move, and he didn't turn his head when he heard the voice. He just kept staring at the clouds on the sand dunes, with his chin resting on one hand, and there seemed to be something on his lap. The chair he was sitting in was almost against the wall, and behind the chair was a table with a little distance in between.Juliette just walked through the gap behind him, and couldn't help but want to clear her throat, or ask him what he was doing.However, she still didn't speak.She walked over silently, and then took out a large bunch of keys.After she became the security officer, she was responsible for keeping the bunch of keys.

She approached the kitchen door slowly, looking back at him twice on the way.Still he didn't move. She went into the kitchen and flipped a light switch.The light flickered a few times, then turned on, and she suddenly felt very glaring.She went into the large cooler and took a jug of juice from the shelf, then went outside and took a clean glass from the drying rack.Then she walked back to the large freezer and found the pot of rabbit stew.The lid was on, and the stew in it was cold, but she took out the pot anyway, scooped two spoonfuls of the stew into a bowl, then reached into the drawer and took out a spoon.When she put the pot back in the refrigerator, she had a sudden idea to warm up the stew, but she quickly dismissed the idea.

So, with the juice in one hand and the bowl in the other, she walked back into the dining room, nudged a switch with her elbow to turn off the light, and kicked the kitchen door to close it.Then she went to a long table, sat at the end, and began to eat her dinner, though she still glanced at the strange man occasionally.He kept staring at the dark night sky on the wall, as if he could see something. It didn't take long for her to eat up the bowl of stew and drink up the juice.While she was eating, the man's eyes were still fixed on the wall, and he never turned his head to look at her.She pushes the bowl away, growing more and more curious about him.At this time, that person suddenly made a movement, and I don't know if it was purely a coincidence, or if he really sensed her thoughts.He reached out to touch the image on the wall.Juliet noticed that he seemed to be holding something in his hand, it seemed to be a stick of wood or something, but it was too dark for her to see clearly.After a while, he suddenly bent forward, and Juliet heard the sound of charcoal rubbing against the paper.It can be heard that it is very high-grade paper.She stood up and decided to go to that person.She walked slowly towards the seat where he was sitting.

"Are you searching the freezer?" he asked. Juliet was startled by his voice. "Too busy, forgot to eat dinner." She hesitated a little.At that moment, she suddenly felt that she had become the person being interrogated instead. "It's so convenient to have a key." He still didn't look back, and his eyes were still fixed on the image on the wall. At this moment, Juliet secretly reminded herself to remember to lock the kitchen door before leaving. "What are you doing?" she asked. The man reached back, grabbed a chair next to him, and dragged him to the wall: "Do you want to see it?"

Juliet walked over cautiously, grabbed the back of the chair, and dragged the chair a little bit away from him.It was too dark in the dining room to see his face clearly, but judging from his voice, he seemed to be very young.Juliet cursed herself secretly, the light was brighter last night, why didn't she take that opportunity to remember his appearance.She told herself that if she wanted to be a good security officer, she must be more vigilant and pay attention to the things around her at all times. "What the hell do you want me to see?" she asked.Then she glanced at his thigh and saw it was a blank sheet of paper.There was a light from the stairwell, and the paper was shrouded in a yellow halo, shining slightly. It lay flat on his lap, and it could be seen that there seemed to be a board under the paper.

"Look, I think those two are about to separate." He pointed to a large cluster of black dots on the wall.Those black dots are black and dense, and they are crowded together. At first glance, they are all black at all.Juliet fancied she saw some kind of outline and shadow, but she suspected it might be just an illusion, like seeing a ghost.However, she still looked in the direction of his finger, a little suspicious in her heart, wondering if he was crazy or drunk.After that, neither of them spoke again, and the silence made her a little uncomfortable. "There." He said in a low voice.He was excited and a little short of breath.

Juliet saw a glint, a point of light, and it was like seeing someone light a match in the dark of a power plant.It flickered and then disappeared. She stood up and leaned closer to the wall, wondering what it was. The man began to draw on paper with charcoal sticks. "What the hell is that?" Juliet asked. The man laughed. "The stars," he said, "if you wait here a little longer, you may see them again. The clouds are lighter tonight, and the wind is strong. You see, the cloud is flying away." Juliet turned to look at her chair, and found that he was holding the charcoal in his hand, stretching his arms, closing his eyes, and staring at the place that had just shone.

"It's dark there, how can you see it?" She asked him, and then sat back on the chair. "If you often observe carefully at night, after a long time, you will see it slowly." He bent down and approached the paper, and began to draw again, "I have been doing this for a long time." "What the hell are you doing? Looking at those clouds all night?" He laughed loudly: "It can be said that most of what I see are clouds. It's quite sad. However, what I want to see is what is behind the clouds. Look, you should see it again later .” She stared carefully at the location she had just looked at, and suddenly, that bright spot appeared again. At first glance, it looked like someone was signaling on a sand dune. "How many did you see?" he asked. "One." She replied.She was fascinated, and unconsciously held her breath.She knew what a star was, had learned that word when she was a child, but she had never seen it with her own eyes. "There's another one next to it, which is less bright. Here, I'll show you." At this moment, a soft "click" sound was heard, and a red light appeared on the man's thigh. Only then did Juliet notice that there was a flashlight hanging around his neck. The lamp head was wrapped in red film. The lamp head was on fire, but the light became softer and less harsh than the kitchen lamp. At this time, she finally saw clearly the piece of paper on his lap, which was covered with small black dots.Those small black dots are scattered in a mess without any rules, but there are still many criss-crossing straight lines on the paper, forming countless squares, and small notes can be seen everywhere. "The trouble is, those stars move," he told her, "and if you see it in this position tonight—" He pointed to a black dot on the paper.Next to that black dot is another small black dot. "Then, at the same time tomorrow, it will move here slightly." He turned to look at Juliet. At this moment, Juliet realized that he was still very young, less than thirty years old, very handsome, and That temperament looks like someone sitting at a desk.He smiled at her, and then said, "It took me most of my life to figure this out." Juliet really wanted to tell him that at his age, he really couldn't talk about most of his life, but she suddenly remembered that when she was an apprentice, she was once underestimated because she was too young, so she still held back her words after all. "What's the point of doing this?" she asked.At this time, the smile on his face suddenly disappeared. "What's the point?" He turned his head to look at the wall and turned off the flashlight.Juliet knew at once that she had said the wrong thing, and had offended him.Then, she suddenly thought, did his behavior break the law, did he break the taboo?Standing here and looking at the sand dunes outside is not against the law, so is it also not against the law to observe the outside world and organize data for records?She reminded herself that she must go to Manais tomorrow to find out.After a while, the man turned and looked at her again. "My name is Lucas," he said.Her eyes had gradually adapted to the darkness, and she vaguely saw him reaching out to her. "My name is Juliet." She squeezed his hand hard. "The new security officer." Apparently he knew who she was, but that wasn't surprising since everyone at the top seemed to know her. "Which floor do you work on?" she asked.There is no doubt that his job will never be to look at the clouds and stars here.You can't earn points by looking at the stars. "I live on the upper floors in the middle section," Lucas said. "I work in the information area. Usually, I only come up when I have a good view." He turned on the flashlight again and turned it to shine on her, as if looking at her. The stars are not so important anymore, there are better things to look at than the stars now. "On the first floor where I live, a friend works in this restaurant. He is on a dinner shift. Every day when he comes home from get off work, he will tell me the state of the clouds during the day. If he gestures to me, Thumbs up, I'll come up and try my luck that night." "Are you drawing the distribution of the stars?" Juliet pointed to the large sheet of paper. "That's the plan. The problem is, I'm afraid it will take several lifetimes." He clipped the charcoal sticks to his ears, then took out a cloth from the pocket of his overalls, and wiped the charcoal powder off his fingers. "Then what are you going to do?" Juliet asked. "Well, I hope that I will have the opportunity to meet a suitable apprentice in the future and infect him with my eccentricity. In this way, they can take over from me to complete this task." "So, that's really several lifetimes." He laughed.Juliet could tell he was really smiling this time. "Barely," he said. "Okay, I should go," she said.She suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of guilt, and she didn't quite understand why she wanted to talk to him.She stood up and held out her hand to him, and he immediately took her hand, and stretched out the other hand, and held her hand with both of them, and he didn't let go for a while.She didn't expect him to act like this. "Nice to meet you, Security Officer." He smiled at her.Juliet also murmured a few words in response, but she was already in a daze and didn't know what she said.