Ruins of Time

Chapter 2 Wedges
【Day 237 · Meet】

Like any day, the 237th was an ordinary, indistinguishable day.At 07:30 in the morning, the morning sun climbed lazily and slowly in the east, casting pale sunlight on the peaceful Fenghu Lake in autumn through the smoggy sky in Beijing.The buildings in the distance and the nearby ancient pagodas are reflected on the lake, rippling slightly in the morning rippling water light.

As usual, Hanfang was running by the lake in a white T-shirt and denim shorts.Han Fang's physical strength was mediocre, and it was already the fourth lap. He was breathing heavily, his heart was beating like a drum, and he couldn't lift his legs more and more, but Han Fang let himself immerse himself in this feeling, feeling that his body became hot amidst the heaviness.

In the past, the Korean side never had the habit of doing morning exercises.As a typical YSU boy who doesn't work hard, he often sleeps until ninety o'clock every morning, as long as there is no class.When he was a sophomore, he also made up his mind to get up at 06:30 every morning to read English, but he gave up after less than half a month.Of course, there are many objective reasons, such as lying down and talking too late in the dormitory every night, Ma Xiaojun playing games at night affects his rest, Liu Ye snoring too loudly in his sleep... But in his heart, Han Fang knows that he is a person who lacks perseverance, This is also because life seems to have always been muddling along, floating with the waves in the vast sea of ​​people.In middle school, the pressure of the college entrance examination urged him to move forward, but after entering university, he became at a loss.He has always wanted to find a life goal for himself, and imagined that he would strive for it endlessly, and he knew that those students who insisted on morning reading had such a goal.So he followed their example, but soon he found that he was wrong: one cannot find one's own way in life by imitating others.

But these days, he has fallen in love with morning exercises instead.When everything becomes meaningless, he no longer has to think about the meaning of things.The important thing is to capture the feeling of the moment, the feeling that sets the body in motion.Only in this way can he feel that he is still himself, a living person.Of course, Han Fang sometimes thinks that maybe this feeling is just an illusion, maybe he has long been an illusory ghost.But the strength of his thighs, the rhythm of his arms, the sweaty heat and the comfort of the morning breeze are all so real, at least every heavy breath reminds him that he is still alive.

After running three full laps, Han Fang stopped, returned to the bench by the lake, took out a bottle of mineral water from the bag on the side, drank a few sips, wiped his sweat, and looked at the lake The reflections of the trees on the upstairs terrace were dazed.A yellow leaf fell on the surface of the lake, causing tiny ripples on the water surface, and the scenery in the reflection twisted and trembled slightly, as if opening another strange time and space entrance...

At this time, he heard footsteps in the distance, turned his head and saw the direction of the rising sun, a tall woman wearing a flaming red camisole and black hip pants was striding towards him.Han Fang was slightly surprised: Few people come to do morning exercises in the early morning. Recently, he has come to the lake every morning, and the few people he sees are familiar with each other, but he has never seen this woman.

The woman's head was buried in the eastern sunlight, and she couldn't see her face clearly. Han Fang only saw her plump and mature figure throbbing in her chest through the low V-shaped opening, and couldn't help but take a second look.The woman ran up to him along the path, stopped, leaned over and asked him, "Student, is there any water?"

The woman is in her early thirties. Although her face is still young, there are already faint crow's feet around her eyes.She wasn't very beautiful, but she had charming features in her eyebrows and eyes, her thick hair was scattered on both sides of her shoulders, and her plump breasts were heaving violently.Her face looked familiar, but Han Fang couldn't remember where she had seen her before.

The woman looked at Han Fang in a daze, with a sarcastic smile on her lips.Han Fang felt that he had lost his composure, blushed slightly, took out the water bottle and said, "Oh, it's only a half..." But the woman took it indifferently, sat down beside him, and started drinking with her head up.

Han Fang looked at the woman's side face, suddenly remembered her name, and couldn't help calling out, "Teacher Tao, is that you?"

Han Fang remembered that Teacher Tao’s name was Tao Ying and she was a lecturer in the English Department. She had taught Han Fang college English for a semester before, and she was a strict female teacher who was almost rigid.He often wears black-rimmed glasses and heavy suits, and he is unsmiling, which is very different from the unrestrained and unrestrained image in front of him. No wonder he didn't recognize it at first.

Tao Ying turned her head and glanced at Han Fang, obviously she had no impression of him, she just nodded and said, "You look familiar, have you taken my class?"

"Yes, I'm from the School of Economics, and I've taken your CET-[-] English before." Han Fang said, "Why did you come here so early in the morning? Come for a run?"

"No." Tao Ying leaned back in her chair, looked at the sky leisurely and said, "When I woke up early this morning, I suddenly remembered that I have lived in Yanda for so many years, and I have never swam in Fenghu Lake. Swimming, don't know what it's like. Why don't you try it? On a whim, I came to swim. Have you ever swam in this lake?"

"I didn't think about it." Han Fang said stupidly, "It seems that the school rules say that swimming in the lake is not allowed."

After Tao Ying heard this, she laughed and said, "What school rules do you care about now? Little guy, you are so funny." She stood up, "Okay, I'm going to swim, do you want to try it too?"

Han Fang hesitated, "Me? That...it's not very convenient..."

Tao Ying smiled, stood up, and took off her top vest. Han Fang saw her snow-white body, a pair of plump breasts supported by a jet-black perforated bra.He took off his tights again, and only wore a pair of black lace underwear on his lower body.The mature female curves are thus exposed in the morning air.

Tao Ying stroked her arms, frowned slightly and said, "It's really cold." She threw her clothes on the bench, kicked off her shoes, waved to Han Fang, and walked barefoot to the lake.

Han Fang saw her gracefully stepping into the lake, walking forward in the shallow water of the lake until the lake was up to her chest, and then she swam in a strange posture, not like any kind of swimming style.Instead, it looked like a child flopping about in the water, with his head bobbing up and down on the water's surface.At first, it was a bit shabby, but it quickly became chaotic.

"Teacher Tao, what's wrong with you?" Han Fang felt something was wrong and shouted at her.

"Ahem...I can't...swim..." Tao Ying struggled.

"What? You can't swim, what are you doing in the water?"

"I'm happy...you can swim..." Tao Ying's voice came intermittently through the water, "...you can control it...quick...come and save me..."

Han Fang smiled wryly, and wanted to walk away, but finally couldn't bear it, sighed, took off his clothes, and waded into the lake with only a pair of shorts left.The lake water in the early morning was extremely cold, which made him shiver through the bones.At this time, Tao Ying's head was no longer visible, Han Fang secretly screamed, took a deep breath, drew a line of water splashes in freestyle, and rushed up.

Arriving at the position just now, Han Fang groped underwater, grabbed Tao Ying's long hair, and wanted to pull her up, but Tao Ying clung to him like a life-saving straw, and dragged him instead. to the depths of the water.Han Fang wanted to get rid of her but couldn't do what he wanted. He swallowed several saliva in a panic and began to feel his eyes darkened. broke free.

As soon as Han Fang was free, he quickly got out of the water and took a few deep breaths, then dived into the water again, and found Tao Ying who had sunk in the mud at the bottom of the water. Now he could hug Tao Ying without too much effort, kick on the water, and float up. out of the water.

They were already far away from the shore, and Han Fang saw the stone boat on the island in the middle of the lake, so he hugged Tao Ying and swam over in a backstroke.After finishing all this, I was out of breath.He didn't have time to rest, so he went to check on Tao Ying, and found that her eyes were closed, her breathing was faint, and her stomach was round.Following the method described in the book, he turned Tao Ying's body over, pried her mouth open, and asked her to spit out the accumulated water in her mouth, nose and respiratory tract as much as possible, and then laid her flat for heart compressions and artificial respiration.But I don't know if it was too late, or his movements were wrong, Tao Ying never woke up, and when she checked Tao Ying's breath again, it seemed that it was gone.

A person who was alive and kicking just now died in front of him.

Han Fang was not sad, but shrouded in a sense of powerlessness, sat down on the stone boat, and was too lazy to stand up again for a while.The morning sun shone on Tao Ying's body covered with water droplets, outlining a golden outline, like a sad oil painting in the lake light.Han Fang stared blankly, feeling numb.

After a long time, Han Fang stood up, intending to kick Tao Ying's body into the water, so that her naked body would not be exposed to the broad daylight.But the woman in front of her groaned and slowly opened her eyes.

"So you're not dead?" Han Fang retracted his foot and said with some surprise.

Tao Ying stood up, coughed violently, and spit out several mouthfuls of water while lying on the stone slab.Han Fang patted her on the back for help.Tao Ying vomited for a long time, spat out a lot of lake water, and suddenly burst out laughing inexplicably.

"What are you laughing at?" Han Fang asked angrily.

"It turns out that swimming... the feeling of swimming is like this. I finally understand it."

"You mean the feeling of drowning?" Han Fang sneered angrily.

"Well, drowning," Tao Ying said lazily, "is more interesting than swimming... By the way, why did you save me?"

"I can't watch you drown, can I?"

"In these days, it doesn't make any difference whether you drown or not."

Han Fang didn't know how to answer, so he thought for a while and said, "Well... at least if you drown, now—I mean at this moment—we can't sit here and talk. There will always be something wrong. Same."

"At the end of the day, it doesn't make a difference."

"Maybe it's naive to say..." Han Fang hesitated, "I hope everyone can still be like the old days... and live like people before...Of course I know this is unrealistic, so many things have happened. things...but seeing you struggling in the water, I still can't walk away as if nothing happened."

Tao Ying giggled, and suddenly reached out and hooked his neck, "Your idea is really cute. Let me tell you, it's impossible, we can never go back, we will never go back. Just let it be.”

"Let it be" Han Fang murmured softly.

"But..." Tao Ying hugged him and kissed him deeply, "Thank you anyway, this is your...reward."

Feeling Tao Ying's lips and tongue with the slight smell of lake water, eager desire burned in Han Fang's body.He had to admit that this desire had been aroused since the first time he saw this woman.Yes, we can't go back, he thought feebly, the past 200-plus days and nights can't be treated as if they didn't exist.This world has become a mess, everyone and everything.

Let us indulge, let us indulge, in the depths of the sea of ​​time, in this timeless abyss.

He smiled wryly, and hugged Tao Ying with his backhand, feeling the smoothness of her skin, like a sliding snake, full of the breath of death, but also extremely charming.

Tao Ying guided him skillfully and kissed his wet body, making him excited quickly.They were immersed in the oldest play between the sexes, and they gradually became warmer.Tao Ying chanted some poems intermittently, the ups and downs rhythm accompanied by light and seductive movements, it seems to be in English:
When I consider every thing that grows,
Holds in perfection but a little moment,
That this huge stage presenteth nought but shows,
Where on the stars in secret influence comment;
When I perceive that men as plants increase,
Cheered and checked even by the self-same sky,
Vaunt in their youthful sap, at height decrease,
And wear their brave state out of memory
Accompanied by the rhythm of the poem, Tao Ying pushed Han Fang down on the stone, and became more and more closely intertwined with his body.She continued to chant next to Han Fang's ear, her voice rushed into Han Fang's ear with lustful air:
Then the conceit of this instant stay,
Sets you most rich in youth before my sight,
Where wasteful Time debateth with decay,
To change your day of youth to sullied night,
And all in war with Time for love of you,
As he takes from you, I engraft you new.
"Tao... what are you reading...?" Han Fang raised his head and asked out of breath.He originally wanted to be called "Teacher Tao", but this name is obviously inappropriate at the moment.

Tao Ying smiled, "Want to hear me translate for you?" In the wild movement, Han Fang saw her wet hair swaying in the air, and the expression on her face was like a dream, she recited :
"When I see everything that grows,
Perfect only in an instant;
Nothing on the world stage,
Only the stars draw in secret.

I see humans grow like plants,
Endowed with rise and fall by the same sky
When it is young, it is lush, but in the middle of the day it is flat,
All good things are erased from memory! "

She read faster and faster, and her voice became louder and louder with the madness of her movements. She was not moaning and singing, but shouting, her voice full of life and despair echoed on the cold lake.

"Then the trick of staying for a moment,
Let your youthful face appear in front of me.

And cruel time and decay confer,
To turn the days of your youth into dark nights.

In order to love you, I will fight against time—"

Before the last word "anti" was finished, there was a loud "bang", like a thunderbolt exploding in my ears.

Tao Ying's chanting stopped abruptly, and her movements also stopped.The warm liquid and some soft things splashed on Han Fang's face and chest.Han Fang opened his eyes in surprise, and saw that Tao Ying's body was convulsing violently. One eye protruded from the eye socket and stared at him strangely. The other eye and half of his head had disappeared. The smell of blood came to my nostrils.

The high-pitched desire disappeared without a trace, Han Fang only felt that his blood became cold, as if he was in the strangest nightmare, and he wanted to scream but couldn't.

Tao Ying's mouth moved twice, and her body fell slowly, tilted to one side, rolling down like a clumsy sandbag, but still twitching. Although her soul had left her, her body hadn't lost its original vitality for a while. vitality.

Han Fang saw that behind Tao Ying's fallen body, among the weeping willows on the island in the middle of the lake, there was a pale and beautiful girl's face and a smoking muzzle, and he recognized that it was a Five-four pistols.

The girl's face was expressionless, and her cold pupils looked at him quietly, as if she was looking at him, but at the same time she seemed to be looking at a distance thousands of light-years away, whether it was indifference or sadness.The fear of death made Han Fang unable to breathe.

"Do you remember?" the girl asked abruptly, lowering her arms.

"Remember... what..." Han Fang's mind went blank.

"That number."

"number?"

"You won't forget the number I told you that day, will you?"

"You told me—" Han Fang suddenly trembled, "Could it be you? You were the—"

"It's me." The girl said simply, "I'm here to find you, tell me that number, it's very important."

Han Fang opened his mouth, feeling that his tongue couldn't control him, "That number? By the way, it's 257...257...2578..."

"What about down there?"

Han Fang tried his best to recall, but his mind was in a mess, "25788...257883...doesn't seem right, 257885? I...I don't remember."

The girl frowned, "Why don't you remember? I repeated it several times!"

Han Fang smiled wryly, "Yes, but so many things happened that day, so many things! I really can't remember."

"Didn't you write it down?"

"I... I was petrified... I didn't even think about it... And I thought you were out of your mind..."

The girl's eyes were burning with anger, "So you thought I was talking nonsense?"

"I have no idea what that is!"

"Think about it again," the girl said with suppressed anger, "maybe you can think of something else?"

Han Fang tried his best to think for a while, and finally shook his head.

The girl closed her eyes in despair, "That number is everything. Do you understand? If you don't remember, then everything will be ruined! Everything in this world! Thank you for having fun here!"

"I'm not--"

"You ruined everything!"

The girl shouted loudly, and suddenly raised the pistol, aiming it at his head, Han Fang smelled the pungent smell of gun oil.

"do not--"

At this time, the girl opened fire.

Han Fang did not hear any sound, because his brain had already been pierced by bullets before the sound could reach his eardrums and enter his brain.Han Fang only felt that the world around him suddenly changed into strange and unimaginable colors and shapes like a kaleidoscope, and then broke into the void like a clumsy jigsaw puzzle.His consciousness remained stubbornly in the darkness for a moment, and then even the darkness disappeared, leaving only one last thought:
"Depend on!"

[Day 238 Remembrance]

The soul seems to be scattered into the boundless space, without light, without body, without time.

But it was only for a moment, and soon it converged back to the eternally repeated point, a place, and a body in the closed space-time.

Han Fang opened his eyes with difficulty, as if waking up from a nightmare, gasping for breath, his heart beating wildly.At 6:47 in the morning, it was still dark in front of his eyes, but he heard a burst of hysterical laughter immediately, and he knew it was Ma Xiaojun, his lower berth who was afraid of chaos.

"Hahaha, Xiao Fang, you died enough yesterday, you died with that English teacher!"

Han Fang calmed down and just replied with a "hum".

"Really." Ma Xiaojun said happily, "Yesterday at noon, I heard that a couple of dogs and men had been shot in the head by someone at Shifang. Together, the brains flowed all over the floor, it was so fucking enjoyable..."

"Where, it's far worse than the heroic appearance of your old man who was cut into pieces last time!" Han Fang said angrily.

"I'm talking about Xiao Fang," said another voice, it was Xie Dong who was sleeping on the opposite bunk, "Who did what happened yesterday?"

Han Fang closed his eyes, and the girl's appearance came to his mind again, with a round neck black dress, black silk stockings, long hair, pale and beautiful cheeks with no blood on them, big eyes staring at him coldly.Holding a pistol in her hand, the black chiffon sleeves can't hide the weird bruises on her hand... Is it really the girl that day?What on earth is she going to do?
"I don't know," Han Fang sighed, "A girl I don't know may not be from Yanda."

"What?" Ma Xiaojun yelled, "Girls from other schools dare to come to our Yanda University to kill people? How brave! You still have to watch the dog beating... No, I mean Xiaofang, if you don't get back this tone, It's not a man!"

"However, she seems to want to ask me something."

"what's up?"

"One thing she told me, but I forgot." Han Fang said sullenly.

"What's the matter?" Ma Xiaojun suddenly slapped his thigh, "That's right! I know, it's the flirtatious thing you provoked a while ago, right? Haha..."

"I said, what are you twittering about so early in the morning?" The fourth person joined the conversation, as if he had just woken up from a dream.It was Liu Ye, their dormitory head.

The three were silent for a moment, and then Ma Xiaojun said, "Whose turn is it today?"

"It's not me, I just did it yesterday." Xie Dong said.

"It's not me, Xiao Fang?"

"Forget it." Han Fang couldn't bear to say, after what happened yesterday, he felt a bit sad for Liu Ye, "Let him go today."

"Did you give up after being headshot? This guy will disturb everyone all day, don't regret it then." Ma Xiaojun said coldly.

"Don't worry about it, leave it to me." Han Fang said.

"Why do you all look like you have been beaten so early in the morning?" Liu Ye said, "What headshots, have you played too many games?"

"Yezi, run with me." Han Fang said.

"I'm not going, I want to sleep more. Besides, don't you have class at nine o'clock? Now..." He glanced at his watch, "It's not even seven o'clock, what's going on with you today?"

"It's fine if you don't go," Han Fang said. "When I was running yesterday, I met Jiang Xueting, the party secretary of our class. She asked me to go for a run together today, and by the way, talk about our class dinner next week."

"Jiang Xueting? Really?" Liu Ye cheered up, "Why didn't you say it yesterday? Let's go!"

They put on their clothes and walked through the aisle of the dormitory building. Liu Ye felt that something was wrong before they went out. It seemed that most of the people in the dormitory were awake. voice.This is usually not the case, most people are still sleeping at this point, and these slacker boys won't get up until ninety o'clock.

The door of a dormitory opened, and a boy ran to the toilet with a roll of paper.Liu Ye recognized it as Guan Jingwei from the School of Government Administration.He saw Han Fang stop again, hooked Han Fang's shoulders, winked and said, "I heard that you were shot with Tao Ying yesterday... Hahaha!"

Han Fang laughed a few times in embarrassment, "How can a person float in the rivers and lakes without being stabbed?"

Guan Jingwei asked excitedly: "By the way, how did you and Tao Ying hook up?"

"This... just came across by chance..."

"Tao Ying? Are you Teacher Tao who teaches English?" Liu Ye couldn't help interjecting, "What's the matter with you?"

"Let's talk about it later..."

Guan Jingwei glanced at Liu Ye strangely, and cast a questioning look at Han Fang, Han Fang nodded affirmatively, Guan Jingwei seemed to lose interest in talking suddenly, patted Han Fang on the shoulder and left.Liu Ye suddenly had a feeling that he was not a part of this place at all. Although this was the dormitory where he lived for more than two years, he knew almost everyone on this floor.

How can this be?

When they walked out of the dormitory, Liu Ye stood at the door, looking around hesitantly. It was early in the morning, it was just dawn, and the surroundings were still unclear, but he had already noticed something was wrong.There were not many people at this time in the past, but people running, people reading in the morning, students who wake up early to go to self-study, cleaners on the side of the road, hawkers delivering newspapers... It is those inconspicuous morning scenes that endow this century-old university with its unique charm. The pulse of life, but now this former vitality has disappeared invisibly, or it has become something he can't recognize.There were quite a few people outside, but few looked normal.Some people were lazily sleepwalking in their pajamas, some ran out in a hurry with their upper body bare, some people in the distance laughed and shouted like madmen, and some people were lying on the side of the road not knowing what they were doing...then A sense of incongruity is everywhere.

"What are those people doing?" Liu Ye asked in surprise.

"Alive." Han Fang said simply, "Let's go."

They walked towards the Lake District on the north side of the campus.Just after passing a building, they saw that on a balcony on the top of the opposite building, the door was opened, and a pile of computers, books and sundries fell from upstairs and scattered on the ground.Liu Ye was taken aback and wanted to ask something, but he glanced at Han Fang and closed his mouth embarrassingly.

They came to the only commercial street on the campus. Although it was early in the morning in the past, several breakfast shops here had already opened, and the hot steamed buns and dumplings had been placed outside. The early risers were buying breakfast, but at this moment there was no Nothing happened.There were only a few people on the street, and it was full of ghosts.When they walked to the door of the department store, the door had already been smashed open by someone.Han Fang asked Liu Ye to wait there, walked in swaggeringly, and quickly walked out with two bottles of water and a pack of small cakes.

"You didn't pay?" Liu Ye couldn't help but ask.There were no lights on in the shop, and it was obviously empty.

"It's free, you can take what you like." Han Fang said, throwing him a bottle of water.

They continued to walk forward and rounded a corner. Liu Ye suddenly screamed "Ah", stepped back a few steps, pointed to the front, and stammered, "That... that... that is..."

In the middle of the road lay a corpse that seemed to have been run over by a car. Its intestines had been pierced and its stomach was rotten, blood was flowing all over the floor. It was lying on its side on the ground, with glasses on the side of its head. It could be seen that it was a college boy.Han Fang glanced at it and said calmly, "Leave it alone, let's go."

"What did you say? Don't we need to call the police?" Liu Ye asked Han Fang in disbelief.

"No need." Han Fang said, "Even if you call the police, no one will answer."

"But……"

"If you want to know, come with me."

Liu Ye finally obeyed, and they walked towards the lake area again. Just like yesterday, there was no one around the lake.Liu Ye finally understood a bit, and asked hesitantly, "You lied to me about Jiang Xueting, right?"

"If you want..." Han Fang said without turning his head, "I can take you to find her in the afternoon, and you may be able to make love to her, if you are still alive by then."

Liu Ye couldn't believe his ears, and before he could answer, there was a huge roar in the air. They looked up and saw a striking "J-[-]" fighter jet flying over their heads, flying unusually low, only a few It is [-] meters high, and the "August [-]" sign on it can be seen.The sound of the plane's engine was deafening, but it was obviously out of control, rolling in the air, passing through the sky, and plummeting to the west, with a messy wake across the sky.Within a few seconds, a dazzling flame rose from the west, and then rumbling explosions sounded like thunder in the distance.

Liu Ye stared blankly as thick black smoke rose several kilometers away.Han Fang only glanced at it twice, and continued walking without seeing anything.

"What's going on! Has the whole world gone crazy?" Liu Ye yelled unbearably and stopped.

Han Fang stopped with some annoyance. He felt that it might be a mistake to let Liu Ye live until now.He should have followed Ma Xiaojun's advice and stabbed him in the neck with a knife early in the morning.This is his daily destiny.

If living in this messed up world is a pain, it's at least double the pain of being around an amnesiac who's terrified and screaming at every moment.

"Sit." Han Fang pointed to a large smooth rock by the lake and said, "Now let me tell you what's going on."

They sat side by side on the rock, and Han Fang suddenly remembered that when he was just in college, once, some students in their dormitory came to the lake, and they sat on this rock like this, eating peanuts and drinking soda , talked about ideals and the future, and later met Jiang Xueting and the others, and went to Ximen to eat chicken wings together... It was only three or four years ago at most, but it seemed as ancient as several lifetimes and calamities.After all, it was all about the Christian era.

Han Fang was silent, not knowing where to start.Liu Ye looked at him suspiciously, "Xiao Fang—"

"Yezi, do you know what day it is today?" Han Fang interrupted him and asked abruptly.

Liu Ye was stunned for a moment, "Isn't it just after the National Day, October 10th...Friday."

"which year?"

Liu Ye stared at Han Fang for a while, then said hesitantly, "2012...why are you asking this?"

"You think today is October 2012, 10."

"Of course."

"No, you're wrong, today is Thursday, October 2012, 10."

"Isn't that yesterday... Did I remember the date wrong?"

"It's not a matter of remembering wrongly..." Han Fang paused, hesitating how to speak, "We are in the void period."

"False... what?"

"Xu-kong-ji."

Han Fang started his narration with these three words, the sound of explosions and burning of planes in the distance gradually subsided, and the usual tranquility was restored by Fenghu Lake.The morning breeze in autumn swept across the lake, bringing a piece of sparkling light.A fallen leaf fluttered in the wind for a moment, then fell into the cold lake water, spinning and sinking slowly.Some bird in the woods behind me was singing sadly.The rising sun cast pale rays through the misty sky.

Like any day, the 238th was a normal, undifferentiated day.

(End of this chapter)