As this excitement spread, strange flashbacks of memories rose up in my mind.
On the vast plain, warriors drew their swords and charged at the enemy. The battlefield was full of iron horses, swords and halberds, and blood was flying everywhere. A silver-haired girl like a Valkyrie, holding a graceful long sword, stepped on an inappropriate dance skirt, and stared directly at the monster in front of her that looked like a god.
An Ming took a deep breath and returned to reality from the illusion. The sound of the rails hitting each other continued in his ears, and the air was filled with the smell of damp earth in the subway. The cloaked girl in front of him raised her head and quietly waited for his answer.
What were those images? And why did they seem so familiar to him? Not only that, he suddenly felt something in his brain being activated, and the feeling of blockage that had been blocking his throat completely disappeared. His vision was bright, as if it was a morning after a long rain in the gloomy late autumn, with no wind or fog at a glance.
The whole world took on a completely new color, a...real color.
It took An Ming several minutes to recover from the refreshing feeling.
"Who are you and what have you done to me?"
An Ming asked the cloaked man with a hint of caution.
He was very confused about the changes in himself. He had heard in the past that there was a technique called hypnosis in the world. However, to hypnotize another person to produce hallucinations required extremely complicated steps and even required drugs and tools, and even then there was still no guarantee of 100% success.
And this cloaked girl did it with just one sentence.
But the other party ignored An Ming's question and answered the question with a question in a surprised tone.
"You... can speak Bloodborn?" she asked.
"Blood language, what is that..."
An Ming Zhang Er was confused. But before he could finish his question, he suddenly realized that he was not speaking the common language of the West, but a completely unfamiliar language. Although it was unfamiliar, he could speak it out as soon as he thought of it, as if it was his mother tongue. Moreover, the pronunciation of this language was very similar to the language the cloaked girl had spoken not long ago. An Ming instinctively understood that they were speaking the same language.
"Bloodline is the most widely used language in the Eastern Continent."
The cloaked girl's answer hit the mark of An Ming's guess.
"Are you... Oriental?" An Ming asked.
The cloaked girl nodded.
"Why are the Orientals here?" An Ming asked again.
When the cloaked girl heard this question, her body began to tremble, and then she raised her head suddenly. An Ming felt that she seemed to be staring at him.
"I was captured here by you Westerners," said the cloaked girl.
After hearing the answer, An Ming suddenly remembered the speculation in the old subway station. The attacker was originally receiving some goods at the nameless station. The goods that the Federation and the Marigold Throne valued so much could not be anything else except the living Oriental specimens.
An Ming couldn't help but feel that they really didn't forget their original intention. After so many years, they were still targeting Oriental people.
Soon, An Ming shook off the unnecessary thoughts in his mind. The trouble for him now was not what the Westerners wanted to do, but the cloaked girl in front of him was a hot potato for him.
He knew how crazy those guys could be to find this girl. Should he help her?
But when he thought about this, his father's words before he left echoed in his mind again. If he wanted to "live as an ordinary person", he should not get involved in this matter anymore.
Gradually, the vibration of the train suddenly decreased, and the body of the train began to slow down slowly. An Ming turned his head to look at the tunnel, and there were dots of light ahead on the road.
It seems we have arrived.
An Ming glanced at the girl in the cloak. She seemed to have noticed that the car had arrived at the station, so she stopped talking.
An Ming casually woke up Erica who was leaning on him. Erica was still drowsy and sleepy. She yawned and stood up while holding An Ming's shoulders.
The train did not completely enter the platform, it stopped about ten meters away from the platform. An Ming jumped off the train and walked forward with Erica, one in front and one behind, on the sleepers. The cloaked girl pulled the brim of her hat even lower and followed behind them, turning into a small shadow, following closely.
The lights were on in the duty room on the platform, but the blinds were drawn and the mechanical clock on the windowsill pointed to midnight.
An Ming took Erica and sneaked around to avoid the patrolling guards. The management of the suburban station was lax, and at night the platform was basically half-closed, with few passengers getting off here. So the guards at the suburban station were used to this peace and quiet.
The three of them found their way out of the subway station easily. As soon as they got out of the station, they heard the sound of water drops falling to the ground gradually getting louder. The sky, which was already as dark as ink, now felt very low. A drizzle of rain fell from the sky, making everything hazy, as if adding a veil to the world, and nothing seemed real.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇
Erica walked beside An Ming, occasionally glancing sideways at the mysterious cloaked man behind her.
She didn't know if it was an illusion, but she felt that after waking up, the distance between the cloaked man and An Ming was a little closer, and he followed An Ming obediently like a little pet.
It was drizzling when I left the station, but as I walked a few steps outside, the rain gradually got heavier. The cold autumn rain was a little chilly, and the chill seemed to penetrate into my heart.
Although Erica is often said to be naive, she now knows that her situation has become dangerous.
Although they had escaped from the deadly old subway station, what should they do now? Her purpose of visiting Heibil had been half achieved. Not only did she gain a powerful ally in Senior An Ming, but she also learned the deep secrets of the Federation.
So what next?
Erica didn't know that the scale of the matter had exceeded her expectations, and the future path became unclear. Originally, she just wanted to find the murderer who killed her mother and avenge him. However, the murderer's power was too great, and there was almost nothing she could do.
In addition, she once again remembered the reason why she came to Hebil.
Senior An Ming is considered her fiancé... right?
At first, she was very afraid of this man and was very cautious when approaching him, but then she didn't know when she began to let down her guard. Surprisingly, she didn't feel uncomfortable when getting along with Senior An Ming, especially after she regarded him as her only ally in the world. The sense of alienation completely disappeared, and every time she saw An Ming, she felt her heart beat faster.
As a young girl in the prime of her youth, Erica certainly knows what this feeling is in her heart, and she is not the wooden male protagonist in the novel.
But what about Senior An Ming? What would he think?
As Erica was daydreaming, she suddenly noticed that the street was starting to light up. They had walked to the main street of Hebilmorou Street without knowing when. She had only walked this road once today, but for some reason she missed it so much.
Not far away, an old house stood in the rain, the only bright light in the distance. The old, dilapidated house seemed to be blown down by the wind at any time, and the rotten shutters swayed back and forth in the autumn wind, making a harsh creaking sound. Even the sign with the words "208 Administration" lost its color in the wind and rain.
But only at this moment, Erica felt that the light was somewhat warm.
The director must still be waiting there, waiting for the black-haired boy to come back. Maybe there is a place for him there too.
Erica glimpsed the people in the window from afar. The hairless director bought a big cake and directed other colleagues to run around the bureau. Kaka stood by and pulled his sleeves, eager to taste the freshly cut fruit. The director danced and warned her not to eat secretly, and put on a small pointed hat and played with the candle in his hand, like a boy with a childlike innocence. Then a ribbon was slowly pulled up across the room, and colorful stickers were also pasted on the windows.
The banner read: Executive Officer Erica, welcome to the Blackbill Administration.
Erica felt a slight tremor in her heart. Before today, she had never thought that she could find her home in this border city, and these people who had never met before actually expressed such a warm welcome to her.
"Go ahead." An Ming obviously also saw the banner, pushed her and spoke.
"Senior, aren't you going?" Erica suddenly realized the meaning of An Ming's words.
"I still have some things to do, so I won't go back today." An Ming's voice was cold.
Just today? Erica sensed something was wrong with An Ming's words. Why must it be today?
An Ming walked up to her, stretched out his hand and gently patted her little head. She didn't like others treating her like a child, but Senior An Ming's hand made her feel very warm.
"Go ahead, the director is still waiting for you."
He pushed Erica's back and walked forward a few steps, then waved and turned away.
Erica once read a story that said that people have many separations in their lives, sometimes with family, sometimes with friends, whether it is going to school or work, there will always be new encounters and separations. Among them, some people you can always look forward to meeting him again, and some people will never come back after leaving.
An Ming's gradually receding figure gave Erica such a premonition.
Erica suddenly felt that the connection between her and An Ming had become very weak, so weak that it would almost disappear in the next moment. This only ally was about to leave and go to a very far place.
Erica felt that this was not possible. She wanted to call An Ming or ask him to take her with him.
"forward..."
Erica was about to speak, but a voice came from behind her.
"Isn't this Ms. Erica? Have you completed the mission and are back?" The bald chief came out and looked at Erica with a big smile, but then turned desperate, "Eh? Where's my car? Where's my precious antique car?"
The director who had been welcoming Erica joyfully suddenly had a sad face, like a child who had lost his toy. The other operators who had come over after hearing the noise saw this and pulled the director away with a wry smile, giving him a small toy to comfort him, while the others surrounded Erica and asked her questions.
It was so noisy, as if it were a festival.
At this moment, Erica remembered that she wanted to call Senior An Ming, and turned around quickly to look. However, she could not see a single person in the rain.
The layers upon layers of bottomless black rain seemed to hide even deeper shadows.
The rain seemed to be getting heavier.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇
The bald director closed the door and locked himself in the director's office. The room was heated, so the cold autumn wind would not come in. There was a lot of noise outside the room, and the other employees in the bureau started to make a fuss as they watched the beautiful new member. At this moment, they also forgot about the relationship between superiors and subordinates, and forgot about the capital city and the border city. They just wanted to have a happy chat with this girl.
The director couldn't help but feel that young people are full of energy.
The director is still unmarried at such an old age. He sold his old house and moved into the director's office of the Administration. He has lived here for ten years, accompanying the rise and fall of this old house and the street.
As he got older, he gradually felt that he was no longer able to cope with the demands of his life and thought it was time to retire.
But some people just can't seem to let him retire with peace of mind.
An Ming didn't come back today.
The chief didn't know what this meant, but when he saw Erica's somewhat melancholy expression, he immediately knew that the brat must have been involved in another accident.
Actually, the director had a daydream today. In the dream, he retired a few years later, and then Erica became the director, An Ming became the deputy director, and there were many more subordinates in the bureau. They chased after the two people all day long, shouting for them to come back to the bureau. But the director personally took the deputy director to do business every day, and occasionally even brought back one or two homeless children. This border management bureau might have turned into an orphanage.
As an old man, he would occasionally return to this old house on his less busy days as a former federal employee, where he would occasionally be surrounded by children and drink non-cloying vanilla tea amid the noise.
He sincerely hopes that one day he can live such a retirement life.
But An Ming would definitely give him a list of reasons why this daydream could not become reality, just like he was writing a paper. This brat was sometimes too stubborn, like a bull, but when he got upset, he acted like a child.
Just as the director was immersed in his imagination, the special line communication machine in the director's office rang, breaking the darkness and silence.
The director was stunned. This communication machine is a special communication machine installed in every branch of the Administration. The line is directly connected to the Administration headquarters, and the top management of the Administration directly issues orders. But it is said that this communication machine has not been ringing for decades.
The director swallowed and picked up the phone.
"Identification number, XSOS-3396."
A cold female voice came from the other end of the communicator, as if some non-human being was speaking.
Identification number? The director paused, and immediately remembered the director's manual that had been thrown into the corner of the cabinet and never used since he took office.
He took out the dusty implementation manual that looked like a dictionary and searched page by page according to the table of contents.
XSOS number, X Special Operations Sequence (Xampire
Special Operation Sequence is used to handle special tasks assigned by the Protocol Bureau under special circumstances. Its priority is even higher than everything else.
Codenamed 3396, an unlimited mobilization led by a special department. Bureau 208 had no right to ask who issued the order and why, but once the order was in their hands, they had to complete it.
This is a mission sequence that has never been seen before, and today this mission sequence was activated in this city.
The director couldn't help but feel a little panicked. Somewhere in his heart, he had a premonition that An Ming was involved in some bad luck again.
The director pressed the "Confirm" button and hung up the call.
In just a dozen seconds, his forehead was covered with cold sweat.
He gently put down the phone and looked out the window. It was still peaceful, but somehow he had a feeling that a storm was about to come.