Survival in the Class: I'm the Only Boy on the Bus

[BGM: Amani - Beyond]

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

After hearing Jiang Chen's words, Azar walked to the edge of the city wall and pointed to the center of White Dove City.

White Dove City is an irregular circle with a high center and low perimeter, allowing rainwater to be drained out of the city through drainage ditches.

The outermost part of White Dove City is surrounded by city walls, while in the center there is a circular piece of land, which is divided into several regular plots, on which various crops are grown.

The dark green fields with slight gold accents are cornfields, the golden fields are wheatfields, and the shortest fields are potato fields.

There are also other scattered plots of land where different crops are grown.

But all these lands are surrounded by a central and highest circular meadow.

No crops were planted there; the grass was neatly trimmed, and there were gray-white stone tablets on the grass.

White doves chirped and chattered on the stone tablet, chasing and playing around it, as if keeping them company beneath the earth.

Sunlight fell on the stone tablet, giving it a white-gold glow.

At the very front of all the stone tablets, there are seven smaller stone tablets that are shorter than the others.

These seven small stone tablets are the most severely eroded by wind and rain, yet they are also the most frequented by white doves.

This is the mass cemetery of White Dove City, where countless people who sacrificed their lives for White Dove City are buried.

At this moment, the bodies of young people were being carried here by the elderly to be buried, while children followed behind the large group, crying.

...

Led by Hazar, Jiang Chen and the girls walked from the edge of White Dove City to the center of White Dove City.

They walked through streets draped with white ribbons, carefully traversed fields planted with crops, and finally arrived at the rows of tombstones.

During this time, Hazard had already explained to Jiang Chen and the others who was buried in this mass grave.

There were heroes who collapsed from exhaustion in the early days of rebuilding their homes.

There were civilians who died in the renewed bombing by the United States.

There were those seven children who risked their lives to protect Hazard.

Even more so, there were the Chinese peacekeeping soldiers who sacrificed their lives to clear away the zombies around White Dove City for the safety of its civilians.

And this mass grave today is also for the heroes who sacrificed their lives to prevent the zombie horde from engulfing White Dove City...

At this time, the elderly people carried the bodies to the newer stone tablets, and then, in their blurred vision, they shoveled away the soil covered with grass and gently buried the bodies.

Armani's grandmother was among them.

She and another elderly man painstakingly moved Armani's brother to the stone tablet, and then the two of them silently began shoveling soil.

Armani doesn't cry and shout things like "Daddy, wake up!" like other children do.

Holding a carving knife in her left hand and a hammer in her right, she silently carved her older brother's name on the stone tablet.

Every now and then, a tear or two would fall from her eye.

But she simply raised her left arm, quickly wiped away her tears, and continued carving her brother's name.

Armani seemed a little tired after carving half of it, and she turned her head to look at the reserved burial plot on the left.

This was meant for her sister-in-law, and she wondered if she should also have her sister-in-law's name engraved on it.

But she laughed at herself as soon as she had that thought...

Armani continued carving his brother's name while laughing.

She looked at her brother's name, which was only half on the stone tablet, and started to sob as she laughed, her hand holding the carving knife trembling.

But she bit her lip hard, suppressing the urge to cry.

She gently kicked her brother's tombstone, choking back tears as she cursed:

"You jerk! You promised to come back and play with me in a year, but now you're just like Mom and Dad, leaving on your own again..."

"I'm fine, but your sister-in-law is very upset, you know?"

"Now...my sister-in-law has also gone to that place you mentioned..."

"I've lost another place to cry... you jerk!"

Grandma Armani watched as her granddaughter talked to the tombstone again, and she sighed softly, looking up at the right side of the tombstone.

There are two tombstones there that are quite badly eroded by wind and rain, but the names on them are still very prominent.

The names of Armani's parents are engraved on these two tombstones. They are both from Central China, while her sister-in-law is Chinese.

Whenever Armani is unhappy, he goes to these two tombstones, cries, and carves his parents' names more clearly.

And now... she has another tombstone to carve...

Hazard watched as the elderly people, their backs hunched, struggled to carry the bodies.

She watched as the children began to imitate Armani, gripping the carving knife and the somewhat heavy little hammer with their small hands.

The children are all preparing to have their fathers and brothers' names carved.

Hazard sniffed, then turned to look at Jiang Chen, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"Brother Jiang Chen, there are too many bodies... and Grandpa and Grandma aren't feeling well, I'll go help them first..."

After finishing his sentence, Hazard walked towards the body on the cart, gently wiping the corner of his eye as he went.

Even with only her left arm, she intends to do her part.

She knew all these people who had left; many of them had worked with her to dig out the rubble from the ruins and build White Dove City brick by brick.

After White Dove City was built, the volunteers sent by the Chinese nation chose to stay here to protect it, and at the same time, they started their own families in White Dove City.

Jiang Chen opened his Nokia phone; the time was 13:25, and there were still about two hours before he had to leave White Dove City.

Jiang Chen turned to look at the silent girls who were secretly wiping away tears:

"We still have enough time, let's go help."

"After all... most of the remains were Chinese..."

That's how Chinese people are; once they've been caught in the rain, they know the pain and want to hold an umbrella for others.

The girls nodded in agreement after hearing Jiang Chen's words.

Jiang Chen and the girls were responsible for moving the body.

Even with their hands covered in blood, even with the body smelling bad, even with their arms aching from exhaustion, no one uttered a single complaint.

These hardships are nothing compared to the peace that heroes risked their lives to protect.

The grandparents were responsible for carving the names.

The children gathered olive branches and wildflowers from all around them, tying the olive branches into a circle and the wildflowers into bunches.

Bai Nuonuo and Wang Wushuang hadn't fully recovered their strength when they went to help carve names.

Some Chinese characters are quite complex, and the elderly and children don't know them well, so the two of them help with the carving.

Bai Nuonuo and Wang Wushuang were very careful when carving their names, afraid that they might make a mistake.

With Jiang Chen and the girls joining in, the bodies of these fallen heroes were laid to rest in less than an hour and a half.

Jiang Chen and the girls stood silently in front of the gray and white tombstones, looking at them.

These rows of gray-white stone tablets stand quietly on the emerald green grass.

Although some tombstones have a grayish-white base color, grayish-black watermarks have appeared on the top due to the erosion of wind and rain.

Some of the newer tombstones are still quite white.

The seven small tombstones at the very front are only half the height and half the width of the other tombstones.

The names on the tombstone correspond one-to-one with the names on Hazard's arm.

The seven people buried behind the tombstone are the seven children that Jiang Chen and his companions saw in the City of Ceasefire.

The elderly woman stood behind Jiang Chen and the others, holding the hands of the children.

Some people pursed their lips tightly, while others lowered their heads to wipe away tears.

No one broke the moment of tranquility.

Suddenly, a gust of wind swept across the cemetery, making a soft "whooshing" sound.

White doves fluttered in the wind, circling above the tombstones as if bidding farewell to those who had just been buried.

Jiang Chen turned his head to look at Hazard, who was quietly wiping away tears beside him.

Jiang Chen smiled gently:

Do you remember how to sing "Amani"?

Hazard nodded, a tear or two slipping from his eye and landing on the green leaves at his feet.

Jiang Chen extended his hand to Hazard:

"I'll play the instrument, you sing."

Hazard pursed his lips, nodded, took the guitar from behind him, and handed it to Jiang Chen with one hand.

Jiang Chen looked at the familiar old guitar in his hand, his fingertips gently brushing across the body of the instrument. It had been well maintained by Hazard.

He tried plucking it a few times to see if the tone was right.

After adjusting the strings, he gave a soft, bitter laugh.

Unexpectedly, the mission, which asked me to find Hazard and the children and sing "Amani" for them again, turned out to require me to sing and play the instrument in front of rows of tombstones...

Jiang Chen began playing the intro to "Amani".

As soon as the intro began, the children behind me started singing "Amani" in choked voices:

"Amani~ Nakupenda~"

"Nakupenda~ We~ We~"

All the children in White Dove City can sing this song.

At first, I thought the tune was very nice, so I followed Hazard's sister to learn it.

Once the children understood the meaning of the lyrics, they liked it even more.

As children sang, circles of emerald green olive branches and flowers were gently placed in front of each tombstone by the girls.

When it came to the Cantonese part, everyone in front of the tombstone started singing along.

Many elderly people whispered to the tombstones:

"I'm home..."

"Welcome home..."

White doves flew and circled above the tombstone.

The chorus of "Amani" played in front of the tombstone.

The song, carried by the wind, spread throughout the entire city of White Dove.