Sunny Xu didn't realize how presumptuous he was until he got closer.

The residential area covered a vast area, and from a distance, it did give off a cold and dark feeling like a cemetery. However, the interior decoration was splendid and dazzling.

Most of the windows in each apartment building were dark, with only a small number of households having their lights on. But this didn't stop the entire community from shining brightly, like a city that never sleeps standing by the river.

The streetlights here were different from the ones seen elsewhere. They were not only adorned with glass lampshades resembling lanterns but also decorated with dark copper products.

After entering the entrance of the community, the first thing that caught their eyes was a row of Roman columns and arches. The cobblestone road extended to different intersections.

They passed by well-maintained lawns and flower beds, hearing the sound of "water" gushing. As they approached, they discovered a continuously running fountain pool located in a garden, which was several times larger than the one in their school.

Out of curiosity, Sunny Xu stepped into the garden and found himself walking into an ancient Greek temple. Classical-style marble sculptures were placed everywhere, dazzling the eyes.

And as Seigetsu Zhu had said, there were security guards patrolling the community 24 hours a day, and they had encountered them on the way. They were even in pairs, giving off a professional vibe.

In fact, when the young people entered Qingjiang Garden, they were stopped by a serious-faced guard at the entrance. Even with Seigetsu Zhu as a resident, Sunny Xu and Starry Lin still needed to register to enter.

In this era, motorcycles and bicycles were still commonly seen on city roads, but Qingjiang Garden had a specially built parking lot that could accommodate a large number of cars. Sunny Xu even suspected that all the private cars in the city were parked here.

"Wow, this place is really something."

Sunny Xu wandered around curiously like Liu Laolao entering the Grand View Garden. He heard Starry Lin's exclamation behind him, not knowing if she was amazed or mocking.

"Well, indeed, seeing is believing."

He nodded involuntarily.

"It's my first time coming to a place like this."

Starry Lin quickened her pace and walked to Sunny Xu's side, whispering in a voice that the girl walking in front couldn't hear.

"...Sunny, people are really different, as can be seen from where they live."

Yes.

Sunny Xu thought to himself.

Qingjiang Garden in front of him was like two different worlds compared to the dilapidated alley in the old city where they lived.

"But..."

Sunny Xu crossed his arms and carefully observed the towering buildings rising from the darkness.

"I still think our home is better."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. Although this place looks magnificent, no matter how beautiful the scenery is, it will become boring after a while. The most important thing is that people here are too scarce."

Upon hearing this, Starry Lin nodded in agreement.

"Even if the lights are bright, the whole place still looks deserted. I feel like even during the day, walking alone in such an open place would be scary."

It was different in the alley.

The alley had dirty and dark corners, narrow paths where rats and cockroaches crawled. The roads were narrow, with potholes on the stone pavement, and after rain, water would accumulate, making it easy to step on dirty water accidentally.

The antennas on the eaves, the overhead wires, and the clotheslines below divided the space above the alley into chaos. The clothes hanging out compressed the already narrow walking space, forcing people to lower their heads to pass...

Living in such a visible alley, there were always inconveniences, but Sunny Xu saw more than that.

He could also see children running around in the alley, shouting and laughing, and elementary and middle school students carrying big school bags on their backs, quiet women coming out with umbrellas to water the flowers, elderly people pulling out lounge chairs in the afternoon, brewing tea and basking in the sun, men wearing vests and slippers coming out with basins to fetch water, and women carrying laundry basins to hang clothes...

He had become accustomed to this world surrounded by the atmosphere of life.

"Although I didn't have a good impression of that alley before, if I were to live here, I would definitely be reluctant." Starry Lin said, "Now, I would think even more so."

"...On the other hand, aren't we the ones who can't taste the grapes and say they're sour?"

Sunny Xu suddenly remembered this saying and couldn't help but laugh."It's not like that," Starry Lin snorted, puffing out her chest with a proud expression like a swan. "Only the grapes grown in our own home are the sweetest in the world."

"Hey, are you two coming or not?"

Seigetsu Zhu noticed that the two people behind her had already lost track of her, so she had to turn around and wave at them from a distance.

"Or are you planning to go back?"

"I'll be right there."

Sunny Xu and Starry Lin smiled at each other and took another step forward.

*

They arrived at the entrance of one of the apartment buildings and watched as Seigetsu Zhu opened the electronic lock and entered the elevator.

Sunny Xu even felt that the interior of this elevator was better furnished than his own bedroom. It had a soft red carpet and comfortable wooden walls... After all, the place he currently lived in was a small storage room that had been converted.

They walked along the wide marble corridor.

The sound of their footsteps echoed quietly in the empty night.

There was no one else here, and every door on this floor was tightly closed, only to be passed by Sunny Xu and the others.

As they walked up the high floors of the apartment building, the night wind outside the windows grew stronger, occasionally blowing fiercely and causing the entire glass pane to tremble.

Although the crystal chandelier above their heads emitted a soft glow, the sense of desolation and loneliness that could be felt since entering the neighborhood seemed to linger and become even stronger.

"Alright, let's stop here."

Seigetsu Zhu stopped in front of one of the security doors.

"Oh, okay."

Sunny Xu nodded. He looked back and saw Starry Lin standing next to the decorative blue and white porcelain jar near the elevator, curiously peering inside.

"Do you want to come to my place and take a look?"

Seigetsu Zhu took out the key from her backpack and turned around, giving him a slight smile.

"...No, it's alright."

Sunny Xu hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and declined.

"Why don't you and Starry Lin come in for a drink of water before leaving? It's embarrassing for you to have escorted me all the way here."

"No, I think..."

"Besides, I want to get closer to Starry Lin and you," the girl said with a smile as she inserted the key into the door, "I wonder if there will be another chance in the future?"

"People like Seigetsu Zhu, everyone would be willing to be friends with you."

Of course, Starry Lin never belonged to the category of "everyone." How she would view the class monitor was completely unknown... While Sunny Xu was thinking about this, for some reason, Seigetsu Zhu stopped her hand.

"That's not necessarily true. Putting aside others, Sunny Xu, what kind of person do you think I am?"

She suddenly threw out this question, leaving him stunned.

Intelligent, hardworking, friendly...

It seemed that all those common words used to praise someone's virtues could be used to describe this girl.

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

Sunny Xu hadn't known her for long. The images in his memory flashed by, finally pausing at a certain moment tonight:

When their peers hesitated and shrank back, it was Seigetsu Zhu who took the initiative to go back and save Guo Zixuan, who had been left behind in the classroom.

After that, he and she ran together on the stairs, the bright lights and the darkness of the corridor intertwining and overlapping, the changing light and shadow resembling fences and flowing water, flowing past the girl.

And he could clearly see the fearless smile on the face of this girl beside him.

"...I think you're a brave person."

Finally, Sunny Xu said so.

Among all the people who hesitated in the face of a dilemma and could still be the first to step forward in the face of life-threatening danger, besides "brave," he couldn't think of a more suitable adjective.

"Haha."

Since Seigetsu Zhu was looking down, he couldn't see her expression clearly, but he could hear her laughter.

There was a complex emotion hidden in the girl's tone, but at least Sunny Xu could tell that it was not the tone of someone who was happy or shy because of being praised.

Facing a puzzled Sunny Xu, she finally turned her head and slowly spoke:

"Sunny Xu, do you remember who suggested that we had left Guo Zixuan behind?"

"Um, I remember it was the one with the twisted braids, her name seems to be Sun... Sun something, what's wrong?"

"Do you think, among that group of people, only she remembered this?"

There was still a smile on Seigetsu Zhu's face. In her pupils, which were shining brightly under the light in front of the door, there was something indescribable and inexplicable.

"Well..."

Sunny Xu widened his eyes and realized that he had indeed overlooked this point.After all, they had been running around the school for quite a while to avoid the possessed, and apart from him and Seigetsu Zhu, a few others had even run back and forth. It wouldn't be surprising if someone remembered this matter during the process but didn't speak out for self-preservation.

"No one would know the answer to such a thing as long as they are not honest with themselves."

Seigetsu's voice was gentle and slow, yet it held a startling firmness.

"But at least I know one thing: before this, there were more people who remembered that Guo Zixuan was still in the classroom, not just Sun Xiaofang."

She pointed to her chest and said word by word:

"—And me."

For a moment, Sunny Xu didn't know how to respond, so he just closed his mouth and remained silent.

"Xu, did you remember him at that time?"

"…"

Sunny Xu shook his head.

"No wonder, after all, you just met Guo Zixuan for the first time today."

Even when speaking such heavy words, the expression on Seigetsu's face remained unchanged.

"But it's different for me. Because he is my classmate, and as a girl, I might be more careful about certain things. So, I actually remembered it a long time ago, and realized the problem before I ran away with you."

"I just never spoke up. I even hoped that no one would discover this, that we could all escape from the school safely and immediately seek help. Maybe then we could still save Guo Zixuan…"

"There's nothing wrong with that thought."

Sunny Xu interrupted.

"But it's indeed not 'brave', is it?"

Seigetsu tilted her head and refocused her attention on the door.

"Click."

She opened the door.

"Are you two done talking?"

Starry Lin shouted at them from a distance.

"Uh, I'll be right there."

Sunny Xu responded, but his gaze never left Seigetsu.

He watched her put down her backpack, take off her shoes, revealing her feet wrapped in black cotton socks, and then put on slippers. During this process, he racked his brains trying to think of something to say, but couldn't even come up with a casual remark.

When Seigetsu walked into the dark room and closed the door halfway, leaving only her face visible, she even apologized to him.

"I'm sorry, I wanted to thank you, but ended up talking about this strange topic."

"It's, it's okay."

Sunny Xu sighed deeply. He really had nothing to say about the previous topic, feeling that no matter how he responded, there would be a hurdle he couldn't get over… In the end, he decided to just leave.

"Well, I'm leaving. Goodbye."

"Goodbye, I hope you and Starry Lin have sweet dreams."

Seigetsu's tone was still light and cheerful.

……

When he returned to the elevator, Sunny Xu pressed the button and couldn't help but turn his head, finding that Seigetsu hadn't closed the door.

She poked her head out from the door and waved at them.

Although he couldn't see clearly from a distance, Sunny Xu knew that on the girl's face, there must still be that gentle smile that would make people feel at ease.