our secret base

Chapter 12 The Dream of the Lighthouse
Yan Jingxing watched as the captain's classmate disappeared into the crowd.

"...Chunzao, she's gone."

He said to the girl who was still holding onto his clothes firmly behind her back.

"You don't have to keep hiding, do you?"

"..."

Ji Chunzao moved his feet and stood shoulder to shoulder with him.

She stared at the surging crowd in front of the mall, finally relaxed her tense face and lips, and sighed softly.

Yan Jingxing couldn't help touching his chin.

From his perspective as a bystander, the relationship between the two girls seemed a bit strange, not like ordinary roommates.

"Spring algae?"

"Ok?"

"Are you going home alone later?"

"Ah."

"Then wait. There is still a while, let's talk about it."

"what?"

The long-haired girl looked at him in confusion.

"Don't play dumb, of course it's about you and Xie Yuzhi. What happened to you two before?"

To be honest, he felt that there was no reason to hide this kind of thing.

"Well...it happened, and I don't know how to face her."

Ji Chunzao has always been frank, or she doesn't know how to hide herself except for the embarrassment of the occasional "girly feelings"; it is precisely because of this personality that others reject her.

"The two of us have been roommates since the first day of junior high school. She seems unreasonable and has no friends like me."

"It's the same as you, that's quite rare." Yan Jingxing nodded, "The crouching dragon and phoenix have gathered in the same dormitory."

Ji Chunzao decided to pretend not to hear, and continued:
"And then, there is a person in the dormitory who always likes to say bad things behind people's backs. In fact, she said bad things about Xie Yuzhi to us, but she didn't dare to say it in person. But it's different for me, she is not afraid of offending I."

"During that time, every day when I went back to the dormitory, I could hear her being angry with me. It's really annoying." The little girl sighed, "But I can't beat her, she didn't do anything after all, and I was being unreasonable if I did it first. "

... So you still plan to hit her?

"One day, she deliberately took my clothes away, and said that I always wear the same underwear every day and refuse to change, and only wear school uniforms on weekends..."

"You, you don't change your clothes?"

Yan Jingxing's eyes widened.

"No, that person is framing me!" Ji Chunzao hurriedly explained, "I change and wash frequently every day! People who buy a lot of clothes but don't wash them are not as clean as me."

"...Let's just treat it like this."

"It's not 'as it is', it's what it is!"

"But even your hair is messy, do you really take care of it?"

"My hair is naturally curly!"

The girl scratched the hair that fell on her shoulders, with a little annoyance in her tone.But she quickly reacted and turned the topic back.

"I won't quarrel with you anymore. Anyway, the person who stood up to teach her for me at that time was Xie Yuzhi."

"So that's the case. Then she is really good to you."

"Yes, but on the same day, I had a big fight with her." Ji Chunzao said, "I was going to say thank you to her, but she pulled me back and said seriously that she wanted me 'Give up the alien thing', let me 'face reality with a positive and healthy attitude' or something like that..."

"And you got into an argument with her? Sounds like your problem."

"I was just standing up for myself and she started getting mad."

"Chunzao, I don't mean to make you give up."

Yan Jingxing sighed.

"But she is different from me. Since she can't see aliens, she is unlikely to believe your words. She has always taken care of you. If you want to learn how to maintain this relationship, you have to choose a more tactful way..."

"Of course I know about this kind of thing," she began to mutter again, "but Yuzhi's expression was so serious at the time, which made me become serious too, so the two of them had opposite opinions."

"Of course, I regretted it soon, and wanted to talk to her again... But she doesn't want to talk to me anymore, and she usually feels like walking around me when she sees me."

"Oh, I don't want to talk to you, I'm disappointed in you." Yan Jingxing nodded, "That's her problem."

"Ugh……"

Ji Chunzao began to sigh.

The two of them had already come to the river flowing through the center of the town. There was a stone bridge on the river. Below the bridge hole was the turbulent river and the river bottom covered with pebbles.

Down the hillside, shrubs and grass blades grow and spread in a disorderly manner; from time to time, tricycles and motorcycles pass by the bridge, and the stone slabs that have been rolled over make a "cracking" sound. Rusty metal railing.

Ji Chunzao leaned against the railing behind her, with a look of sadness that didn't match her age on her immature face.

"It's not the time to struggle with 'who's the problem', it's the two of us not being able to understand each other."

"If you don't understand, you don't understand."

Yan Jingxing imitated her and leaned on the railing of the bridge, and soon realized that the support behind him was not stable, and the railing was wobbly, as if he might fall down at any time, so he got up quickly and pulled Ji Chunzao up by the way .

"It's her business that she doesn't want to listen to me, I must convince her!"

The girl clenched her fists tightly, her eyes sparkled, as if she had found a new goal.

"You mean the captain?" He frowned slightly, "She doesn't want to be your friend, so you can force her to do it."

"This reaction... Yan Jingxing, don't you want me to make new friends?" Ji Chunzao laughed "hehehe", "Don't be jealous, you are the first, and she is the second."

"... Where did you have such a big face?"

Yan Jingxing retorted angrily:

"I have no objection, I just think you can't do it."

"How come, don't forget, the 'method' I was going to use to convince you has not yet been used. If you are lucky, maybe she will suddenly be able to see alien creatures just like you ?”

The "method" that Ji Chunzao said is to first point out the victim who was attacked by the spirit leech, and then let people see what happened to them, so as to win people's trust.

"But the spirit leech has disappeared, right? No, it was killed by the 'astronaut' I saw..."

"Just wait for them to come again next time."

Ji Chunzao replied indifferently.

"Do they come often?"

"No, actually counting this time, it's only three times. But, it will come in these two years, right?"

"...It's too long!"

"Before graduation, let me let go of this worry."

The little girl stretched herself, as if she was about to leave here.

"Jing Xing, I haven't been able to overcome the 'summoning' thing yet, so you should wait a little longer, right?"

"Well, it doesn't matter to me."

"That's good. If it's okay, I'll go first?"

This guy is so open minded...

Yan Jingxing hesitated for a moment, but still asked:
"The matter between you and your aunt..."

"Don't worry, I understand her character. I lost face today, and I know that I know other friends and classmates, so she won't do anything to me. How should I put it, aunt is a better person."

It's "horizontal in the nest", Yan Jingxing thought to himself.

Seeing Chunzao, she knew it well, so he stopped talking and waved her goodbye.

"Goodbye."

"Well, see you at school."

*
That night, Yan Jingxing had a long and strange dream.

Because he came back late, he was questioned by his uncle for a long time, and today's experience was so rich that it was jaw-droppingly rich, so it was inevitable that his thoughts would be confused and cranky before going to bed; it would not be uncommon for him to have a few dreams after falling asleep.

Every day since he met Ji Chunzao, he has felt an unprecedented novelty.

Having said that, the dream that night was definitely the strangest one in my life——

……

From the first moment Yan Jingxing opened his eyes in his dream, he was shocked by the big scene in front of him:

A huge white figure stood quietly in front of him.

"He" turned his back to himself, and his body in a space suit stretched infinitely high as if it was about to break through the dome.

How tall is this...?

It was taller than any building he had ever seen, 100 meters, or 200 meters... or even more than 500 meters?

Yan Jingxing stood at the feet of this indomitable giant, raised his head and looked up as hard as he could, but he still couldn't see his head clearly, he could only see a dark arc like night.

... Strange, why is it bigger than when we met in the cinema?
But it was a dream after all, so it was normal, he comforted himself in his heart.

Yes, Yan Jingxing realized that he was in a dream the moment he opened his eyes.

Because, there is no such scenery on the earth——

The vast plain stretches as far as the eye can see, the mountains undulate like the spine of a monster, and the dark mist lingers between the sky and the earth.

As far as the eye can see, there are dark clouds like a flock of crows in the distance; and in the clouds, bright red lightning is scurrying around, leaving traces of bloody branches.

The giant stood in the middle of the boundless world, with his arms outstretched, as if to shield the insignificant man below.

Yan Jingxing realized that now he finally had the opportunity to have a good one-on-one communication with the other party.

"You have something to tell me, don't you?"

This was the question he wanted to ask the most, regardless of whether the other party could hear it or not, Yan Jingxing raised his head and shouted.

"I want to find you—"

As he spoke, he stretched out his hand, wanting to touch the giant's heel.

But Yan Jingxing stopped his movements soon.

A ripple bloomed in the air and spread out in circles.His fingers were blocked by an invisible wall, separating the two worlds.

"...Can't we go there?"

Yan Jingxing stared at the wall and found that it was like a mirror, reflecting scenes that were not here before.

The reflection on the mirror was still blurry at first, but when he stared hard, driven by curiosity, the shadows on the mirror became more and more abundant and coherent into strange images——

A staircase that spirals upwards and ends like an endless staircase is swallowed by darkness; and in this world where there are only upwards and downwards, a woman with thick long hair is holding a candlestick in her hand, slightly dispelling the surrounding darkness, Go up the stairs step by step.

This woman is—

"Spring algae..."

Yan Jingxing muttered to himself in surprise.

It was indeed a familiar figure, but the woman in the mirror was obviously more mature than the current Ji Chunzao, she became taller, and her hair grew so long that it almost reached the ground.

At the same time, she was walking around in a white robe. Although she couldn't see her face clearly, she could only glimpse the smile on the corner of her mouth, but she felt unpredictable and mysterious. The little girl is very different...

What exactly is going on?

The huge shadow behind the woman flows as if it has substance, and in the dim light, it changes into countless various monster-like appearances, but none of them intends to hurt the woman walking in front, but follows obediently Behind her, like a group of loyal guards or pets.

"Is it really Chunzao...?"

While he was confused, the picture on the mirror had changed.

A woman with long black hair was sitting lazily on a tall chair with her chin propped up and her legs crossed.

Her eyes were lowered, as if she was taking a nap.

The place where the woman was was a huge hall, empty; only the chair was placed at the top, like a throne standing on the void.

This person was relatively unfamiliar, but he recognized it quickly, after all, he was also someone he had just met today...

"Uh, student captain?"

Also like what she looks like when she grows up.

so weird.

Yan Jingxing touched his chin.

If he dreamed of Chunzao, he still felt that it made sense, but he and Xie Yuzhi really didn't know each other well?The two had just spoken a few words...

At this time, he heard the cries of landslides and tsunami from the screen, full of fanatical, non-human screams and roars—although there was nothing in the hall, there seemed to be a group of countless unknown creatures gathered outside the hall. Legions, the whole hall trembled in this wave.

Finally, as if being woken up from a good dream, the woman on the throne frowned her slender eyebrows in dissatisfaction, and opened her pupils like cold stars.

Then--

She opened her eyes slightly.

"what?"

Yan Jingxing subconsciously took a step back.

The woman's eyes were scorching, and she crossed the chasm-like chasm in time and space in an instant, and fell on herself...

"Is she looking at me?"

He felt flustered for no reason, and subconsciously wanted to look away, only to find that "Ji Chunzao" in the first picture suddenly stopped in his tracks, and also turned his head to look in his direction.

"...!"

The weird feeling only lasted for a short moment, the picture in Yan Jingxing's eyes was rapidly moving away, his field of vision was like being dragged back by someone's collar, the frame became wider and the proportions of things became more and more Small--

The final frame of the screen.

Yan Jingxing saw a black tower standing high above the wilderness.

Whether it is a long staircase or a huge hall, all are in this tower;

There was a bright beam of light on the tower, which revolved at regular intervals; the light pierced the dark sky like a dim yellow eye.

"Is it there..."

Yan Jingxing's gaze finally moved away from the screen, and then he was surprised to find that the giant in front of him disappeared at some point, and when he looked again, he found that "he" had shrunk to the size of a normal person.

The silent astronaut slowly raised his arm, and the direction "he" pointed was the black tower on the screen.

"You want me to go to this place? What's there? What are those pictures I saw just now..."

Before he finished speaking, the world in front of him began to change and twist. He realized that he would wake up soon, so he couldn't help shouting:

"and many more--!"

……

Yan Jingxing suddenly opened his eyes.

His breathing has not yet calmed down, and his clothes are already soaked in sweat.

He got up and glanced at the sky outside the window.The sky was indigo, and the distant clouds flowed darkly, and dawn had not yet broken in the east.

It's still early for school, but he can't sleep no matter what.He sat in front of the windy window and began to plan for his future...

(End of this chapter)