She kept searching, her energy visibly draining bit by bit to those in the distance.
In the man-made lake, inside the Pyramid, how could there possibly be fish?
But how would Yan Xiaoling know?
She began to falter, to drown. Even when she was drowning, the sounds she made were not cries for help.
Rather, she called out in a lost voice:
"Where are the fish? Where are the fish?"
She kept calling like this, her voice growing more and more piercing and angry.
Yet, she just didn't think to swim back.
The group that bullied her were terrified. It was only after Yan Xiaoling choked on water several tis that they began to scream for help.
When I arrived, I could barely make out Yan Xiaoling, struggling for breath in the water.
I rushed into the lake like a madman, shouting her na.
Upon hearing my voice, Yan Xiaoling tried her utmost to stay above water a while longer.
Her voice was already very weak. At such a distance, no one could hear her anymore.
But I just could.
She was telling , "Tang Xian, I can't find that fish."
Her hands gradually lost their strength.
When I last saw her, she was crying in fear, that was the second ti Yan Xiaoling wept. Realizing she couldn't swim back, she kept thinking she had to find that fish.
But seeing how frantic I was, she tried to smile to comfort .
It wasn't just a smile, there were many complex emotions. It was as if she couldn't stand the thought of not finding that non-existent fish.
That face, which always bore just one emotion, for the first ti showed so many emotions.
What exactly was that expression? It's truly strange, we hide so many emotions within ourselves every day, I should have seen it before, but I felt as if I had never encountered such a face.
Never before..."
It was only when Li Xiaoyu heard this that she finally understood where Yan Xiaoling had gone.
She looked at Tang Xian, his tone consistently flat, just staring blankly into the distance of the lake.
To Li Xiaoyu, people like Tang Xian had long been accustod to living alone.
But looking at Tang Xian's profile, she felt for the first ti that this man was drenched in unprecedented loneliness.
She didn't ask about the ending, because if Yan Xiaoling were still alive, there would probably be such a follower by his side now.
She also didn't ask if those who deceived Yan Xiaoling received their punishnt, because it all ant nothing.
But the story didn't end there.
Tang Xian laughed silently and said,
"But I don't love Yan Xiaoling."
Li Xiaoyu froze.
"I was sick for a long ti afterward. In that process, I realized a lot of things. If Yan Xiaoling were still alive, I would treat her like family. But I don't love her."
"Later, everyone gradually forgot about her. Because of my subdued reaction to this event, when ntioning Yan Xiaoling, most people just thought she turned from an annoying tag-along into my friend."
"She was just from a vile family at the bottom of Fortress Thirty-Nine. The incident subsided quickly, and those kids were punished as they deserved. And I continued my life as before. I didn't act particularly sad or sorrowful, after all, there was no point."
"But later on, when I was with Ke, Shang Lu, Yu Xiaozhe, and those I t in the lower layers, like Liu Lang, Luo, or so old miners, that's when I understood who Yan Xiaoling really was."
Li Xiaoyu didn't understand.
Tang Xian looked up and said,
"Who was Yan Xiaoling really? Nobody cared about her, nobody rembered her. She always smiled at on her own, followed behind , like my shadow.
For a long ti, I thought that she probably was my shadow, after all, I was the only one who rembered her."
Tang Xian then shook his head and said,
"I later realized, she wasn't my shadow. It turns out there is a Santa Claus in this world. He brought my incomplete emotions through another girl with incomplete emotions."
For so reason, hearing this made Li Xiaoyu's chest suddenly feel tight.
Tang Xian's gaze fell on Li Xiaoyu again:
"Because of Yan Xiaoling's existence, I was able to beco less dreadful, and then later on I had many friends willing to help ."
Tang Xian smiled and said,
"And because soone like her once liked , I dare to confidently believe that even soone like can be loved by others."
Li Xiaoyu looked at Tang Xian, seeing his eyes for the first ti so clear.
She suddenly rembered, this was the first ti she was in such close proximity, making eye contact with Tang Xian.
That mosquito blood eventually beca a cinnabar mole in Tang Xian's heart. But Li Xiaoyu couldn't feel even a bit jealous.
In this story, she heard about two emotionally incomplete individuals slowly changing each other.
If it hadn't been for that pitiable girl, perhaps the present Tang Xian would have a completely different personality?
"The story is finished, and it's late, you should go back."
"I'll sit for a little longer..." Li Xiaoyu didn't want to leave.
Tang Xian didn't insist, nodded, and said,
"Oh, and this story, I've never told anyone else."
"I won't tell anyone."
"That's not what I ant."
"Then what do you an?"
"The distance of mountains and waters, the distance of social classes, both can be reached. Only the divide of life and death is difficult to bridge. So, it's best to live a little longer."
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