am-books Chapter 71: 71 Butterfly
Chapter 71: 71 Butterfly
Chapter 71: Chapter 71 Butterfly
“`
“So handsome! Much better looking than in photos!”
“Teacher Ji Lin, can you sign an autograph for us?”
“Congratulations, Teacher Ji Lin! I really like ‘Broken Bridge’!”
“Could we take a picture together, please?”
Ji Lin had just gotten out of the car when the group of young people crowded around him.
...
But he didn’t glance their way, heading instead towards the memorial hall.
Behind him, a few funeral parlor staff quickly intervened to stop the book fans and maintain order:
“Quiet, please be a bit quieter... Don’t gather here.”
“This is a memorial service, show some solemnity.”
“Please respect the deceased, don’t make noise here.”
...
After Ji Lin entered the funeral home’s corridor, the noise outside quieted down significantly.
He just stared straight at Lin Xian... hands in his pockets, stooping slightly, head raised, walking toward Lin Xian with an expressionless face.
Lin Xian was also staring at him...
As the book fans remarked, he was indeed a beautiful young man.
Although Lin Xian also disliked such effeminate adjectives... at this moment, he truly couldn’t find a second word fitting enough to describe the delicate-looking boy approaching leisurely.
He wasn’t tall, probably about 175 centimeters, and very thin. Because he was somewhat hunchbacked, Lin Xian couldn’t estimate his height accurately.
The youth’s skin was pale as snow, but not with the healthy rosy glow; it was the kind of pallor that suggested he’d spent a long time indoors without sunlight, giving off a sickly, listless feel. His hair was very long, nearly covering his eyes, very black and shiny, slightly curly, and also slightly disheveled.
He walked very slowly, with no expression on his face.
But his eyes stayed fixated on Lin Xian, half-open as if he hadn’t woken up, the whole person appearing weary and lethargic, without a hint of vigor or vitality.
Like a dying sea otter, slowly sinking to the seafloor.
Not just sinking by himself.
That dull and lackluster gaze, like a net he couldn’t escape, also aimed to drag Lin Xian, whom he watched, down into the pitch-black abyss...
“Lin Xian?”
Zhao Yingjun’s soft call brought him back to reality.
Turning his head.
Zhao Yingjun, a few steps away, looked back at him:
“Stop daydreaming, we should go.”
Lin Xian nodded and followed the pace of a few vice presidents, leaving through the other corridor.
Before turning the corner, he looked back at Ji Lin.
He still looked the same...
Slowly strolling with his hands in his pockets, slightly hunched over, step by step towards the memorial hall.
Still the same lethargic and dispirited eyes, staring straight ahead, not deviating by the slightest degree.
“...”
Lin Xian understood.
The guy wasn’t staring at him after all.
With that kind of look, he was either half-asleep or nearsighted, and it was Lin Xian who was being presumptuous.
...
Evening.
“Heave-ho!”
Gao Yang exerted all his strength to throw the empty beer can far into the Huangpu River.
“I didn’t catch a cold, did I?”
He quickly showered in hot water and drank two packets of Ban Lan Gen.
Turn off the light, go to bed.
...
...
...
?
Lin Xian was confused.
Where was the hot summer breeze he had experienced for over twenty years?
Where were the cicadas that had been chirping for over twenty years?
Where were the noisy children in the square that had been there for over twenty years?
Why was it so quiet today!
He opened his eyes—
Brick walls, short houses, narrow alleys, lanterns, roof tiles, green moss...
All around were the haphazardly constructed small, self-built buildings!
Crowded, backward, quiet, desolate...
The scenery around him resembled a poor and underdeveloped village!
“What’s going on?”
Lin Xian looked left and right, staring at the dimly flickering tungsten filament lightbulbs in the windows and couldn’t help but step back a few paces.
Everything had changed...
All had changed!
No square, no playing children, no bustling shop-lined streets, no familiar electronic billboards and bright street lights.
“Where am I?”
Lin Xian suddenly turned around to look behind him...
Still, there were rugged stone-paved roads flanked by unevenly distributed self-built small buildings.
Where was this?
“What kind of dream have I fallen into?”
For the first time in all his years of dreaming, he had come across something so bizarre! He quickened his pace and ran forward—
No matter how he turned or looped around, the surroundings were always two or three-story tall brick and tile houses, even some with mud walls.
The roads were terrifyingly narrow, as though they were never meant for vehicles. He looked left and right, his view obstructed by the chaotically arranged low houses and could see nothing!
“Could it be...”
A chill ran through his heart.
Had he traveled to another timeline?
Another world?
What year and day was it?
Lin Xian turned around and noticed a small shop at the corner of the alley, illuminated by a big yellow lightbulb, styled just like the ones from the TV dramas of the ’80s and ’90s.
He hurried towards the small shop.
Inside, an old man in a white tank top was happily cracking melon seeds, fanning himself, watching a bulky television set.
“Dear viewers, good evening! The news will keep you updated!”
Inside the poor-resolution television...
A formally dressed female anchor smiled at Lin Xian:
“The time is now—”
“August 28, 2624! 10 PM sharp!”