He has been reincarnated through countless worlds, adorned with billions of mythological terms!

On the fifteenth day, someone knocked on the door.

It wasn't the kind of banging on the door randomly—it was knocking.

Three taps, stop, then three more taps, very rhythmic.

Sister Liu jumped out of bed, her eyes wide open.

Wen Ruotang also opened her eyes and leaned forward slightly.

Yunyi walked past the window and placed his hand on the doorknob.

"Who?"

There was a two-second silence outside the door.

Then a man's voice rang out, hoarse, tired, but steady:

"it's me."

Wen Ruotang's body trembled violently.

Yunyi opened the door.

Yun Tianheng stood outside the door.

He lost at least 20 pounds.

The suit jacket was gone, and there were large dark stains on the shirt—blood, dried and turned dark brown.

One sleeve was torn off, revealing a long wound on the exposed forearm. The wound had scabbed over, but the edges were red and swollen, as if it were infected.

His chin was covered in stubble, and his eye sockets were deep-set, but his eyes were still heavy, like a mountain.

His gaze passed over Yun Yi and landed on Wen Ruotang's face.

Wen Ruotang looked at him, her lips moved, but no sound came out.

Yun Tianheng walked in and stood by the bed.

He looked at Wen Ruotang for a long time, then reached out and tucked a strand of hair from her forehead behind her ear.

The movement was very gentle.

So light that Yun Yi almost thought he was seeing things.

"You've arrived."

Wen Ruotang said.

"Um."

"How's it going outside?"

"Not good."

Yun Tianheng sat down on the edge of the bed, buried his face in his hands, rubbed them together, and then looked up.

His gaze swept around the room—Sister Liu was huddled in a corner, and Yun Nian was sitting on the bed holding a rabbit, looking at him blankly.

"dad?"

Yun Nian's voice was soft.

"Um."

You are injured.

"fine."

"Does it hurt?"

Yun Tianheng was stunned for a moment.

That moment of stunned silence was so brief that if Yun Yi's eagle eyes hadn't caught the subtle change in his pupils, he wouldn't have noticed it at all.

"It doesn't hurt."

He said.

Yun Nian climbed off the bed, walked up to him, and reached out her small hand to touch the wound on his arm.

Yun Tianheng did not dodge.

Yun Nian touched it briefly, then withdrew her hand, frowning as she said:

"You're lying, it definitely hurts."

Yun Tianheng looked at her, and the corner of his mouth twitched—that "slight nod" gesture, but it was deeper than before, like something that had been suppressed for a long time finally loosening up a little.

"A little."

He said.

Yun Nian turned around and ran back, rummaging through her small schoolbag and pulling out a band-aid—pink with a little rabbit printed on it, which she had brought from home and had kept hidden for who knows how long.

She ran back, tore off a band-aid, and carefully stuck it on his arm.

The band-aid was too small; it couldn't cover even a tenth of the wound.

A pink bunny was pasted on the hideous scar, like a flag planted on ruins.

Yun Tianheng looked down at the band-aid and remained silent for a long time.

"Thanks."

He said.

It was after that thank you that he made up his mind.

Yun Tianheng stayed in the shelter for two days.

He hasn't said much in the last two days.

During the day, I would sit by the window, looking at the gray sky outside, smoking one cigarette after another.

He sat by Wen Ruotang's bedside that night, holding her hand, without saying a word.

Wen Ruotang didn't say anything, only occasionally glancing at him, her gaze as calm as a stagnant pool.

Yun Yi noticed something—Yun Tianheng was looking at his watch.

It wasn't an unconscious habit, but rather a habit of glancing down every now and then, as if waiting for something.

The next night, Yunyi didn't sleep.

He lay on his bed, eyes closed, ears perked up.

At three o'clock in the morning, Yun Tianheng's phone vibrated.

It was very short, like a message.

Yun Tianheng stood up from the chair very quietly.

He walked to Wen Ruotang's bedside and stood there for a long time.

Then I bent down and touched her forehead—not a kiss, but a touch, like a feather falling on the water.

He turned and walked out. He paused at the door.

"Xiao Yi".

Yun Yi didn't move and continued to pretend to be asleep.

Yun Tianheng didn't call him again, but stood at the door with his back to the room and said a few words.

The sound was so soft that if Yun Yi's hearing hadn't been far superior to that of ordinary people, he wouldn't have been able to hear it at all.

"Your mother and Niannian... are in your hands now."

The door opened.

he's gone.

Yun Yi opened his eyes and looked at the closed door.

He didn't chase after them.

It's not that I don't want to, it's that I know I can't catch up.

It's not because of speed, but because that person has been walking for a long time—not from this room, but from a very long time ago, step by step, until today.

Three days after Yun Tianheng left, the shelter's backup generator stopped working.

The lights went out, the ventilation stopped, and the taps dried up completely.

People started moving in the corridor—not those things, but living people.

The people from the other rooms came out and spoke in hushed tones in the hallway, their voices filled with fear and anxiety.

Sister Liu held Yun Nian in her arms. Yun Nian was very quiet, like a small animal that sensed the approaching storm, nestled in Sister Liu's arms without saying a word.

Wen Ruotang sat up in bed; this was the first time in half a month that she had voluntarily sat up.

"Xiao Yi".

"Um."

"come over."

Yun Yi walked over and stood in front of her.

Wen Ruotang looked at him for a long time.

Then she reached out and straightened his collar—it was actually quite neat, but she still straightened it.

"Your father...did a lot of wrong things."

Her voice was so soft that only the two of them could hear it.

"But when he did those things, he thought he was right."

Yun Yi remained silent.

He said something to me before he left.

Wen Ruotang lowered her hand and placed it on her knee.

He said, "Viruses evolve, and so do humans."

"Otherwise, there will be no future."

Yun Yi looked into Wen Ruotang's eyes.

Those eyes were beautiful then, and they are still beautiful now, but beneath that beauty lies something—not sadness, but something deeper, something heavier.

It's like someone standing on the edge of a cliff, knowing they're going to fall, but still smiling.

"Mother--"

"Take Nian Nian with you."

Yun Yi was stunned for a moment.

"Go north, and don't look back."

Wen Ruotang's voice suddenly became very clear, as clear as a knife cutting through all the ambiguity and silence of the past few years.

"Your father left something in the south."

He said you know how to use it.

Yun Yi remained silent for a few seconds.

"Do you know what Dad is doing?"

Wen Ruotang did not answer.

She just smiled—the same smile she gave him when she hugged him in the hospital years ago and said, "You're still quite strong," a gentle, tired smile with something she couldn't quite put her finger on.

"I have no idea."

she says.

"But I know one thing—you're different."

"You've been different since you were little."

She raised her hand and touched Yunyi's face.

My fingertips are cold.

"Let's go."

Yun Yi did not move.

He was sensing that the violent, frenzied, and devouring terrifying virus within his mother's body had strangely achieved a balance.

And her vitality is expanding at an incredible speed.

A moment of silence.

"it is good."

Yunyi said.

He turned around, walked to Yun Nian, and squatted down.

Yun Nian held the ugly rabbit, looked up at him, her eyes bright, and she didn't cry.

"Brother, where are we going?"

"Go find Dad."

"Where is Daddy?"

"South."

"Is it far?"

"It's a bit far."

Yun Nian thought for a moment, then stuffed the ugly rabbit into his hand.

"Then brother, help me carry the rabbit, and I'll carry your bag."

She turned her little schoolbag inside out, revealing a few candies, a band-aid, a rubber band, and a drawing—a crooked osmanthus tree with two people standing under it, one big and one small.

The larger one is labeled "Brother," and the smaller one is labeled "Me."