Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 577 - 484: Goodbye_1

"Aren't you angry?"

In the chill night breeze that rushed toward them, Huai Shi heard the voice behind him and asked in confusion, "Angry? Why should I be angry?"

"Someone just cursed you out, and you're not the least bit pissed?"

Fu Yi asked in surprise, "Since when did you become so even-tempered? Seriously, I was really scared you'd suddenly leap up and slap his head clean off his shoulders..."

"Wouldn't that be a bit too cruel?"

As Huai Shi envisioned the horrific, insane scene, he couldn't help but draw a sharp breath and shook his head. "No need, no need."

"Besides, he wasn't wrong."

Pedaling the bicycle, Huai Shi thought about it and couldn't help but sigh. "As an ordinary person, I'm really not as good as him in anything except playing the violin. Well, except that I'm a little better looking... But that's not really something a man should take pride in, right?"

"You've got a point... What shampoo do you use? Your hair doesn't even have split ends?"

Fu Yi grabbed Huai Shi's hair as if teasing a girl by pulling her pigtails, full of enthusiasm.

Huai Shi, in front, rolled his eyes. "Enough already, it hurts. Stop it."

"Alright then."

After having her fun, Fu Yi TSK-TSKED admiringly, then thumped him on the back. "So? You really didn't do anything?"

"Uh..."

"What does 'uh' mean?" Fu Yi asked. "Did you do something or not?"

"I didn't do anything."

Huai Shi sighed. "I initially wanted to wish him a valuable experience with dysentery at the Border before school started... but then you stepped in, and I didn't have the heart to kick him when he was down."

"Haha, I knew it!"

Fu Yi burst out laughing, rocking back and forth with laughter on the bicycle's back seat, overcome with amusement.

"Stop rocking, be careful not to tip us over!"

Huai Shi tried hard to maintain balance and looked back to glare at Fu Yi. "Give directions, how do we get to your house? I've never been this way."

"Turn right up ahead; the shortcut is faster."

"Seriously, even if you took a motorcycle taxi, it would be faster than my bike," Huai Shi sighed, then immediately heard the calm voice behind him. "So, are you still taking me or not?"

"Fine, I'll take you," he conceded.

Following Fu Yi's guidance, Huai Shi turned right, shaking his head and sighing, "Who asked this 'Dad' here to care so much about you?"

Then he got a hard punch in return.

"Enough already, don't take advantage of my dad," Fu Yi said. "He's been losing a lot of hair recently."

"Is it because of your dog?"

"It's either the dog or you," Fu Yi asked. "Which one do you think it is?"

Huai Shi thought about it, remembering his recent slacking off, which had plumbed new depths, and figured it was probably both. Middle age really is especially hard... One could only admire Brother Elephant King's resilience under pressure.

With that thought, Huai Shi couldn't help feeling ruefully sentimental. "Your dad and I both have it tough."

Then he got another hard thump.

He could only shut up, abashed.

In the brief silence, as he pedaled forward, he heard the rhythmic grating of the bike's axle and the faint humming coming from behind.

It seemed to be a song, but only an indistinct and fleeting tune remained. It became strange and elusive in the intermittent hum, as if it were losing its shape and dissolving like mist into the dim night.

It repeated, yet was never clear, until at last, the humming faded away.

Leaving only the sound of breathing in the quiet.

Calm and peaceful.

In the narrow alley, the teenage girl sat quietly on the rear seat of the bicycle, tilting her head back, allowing her long hair to float in the wind.

She just gazed absentmindedly at the patch of night sky visible in the gap between the tall walls. Beneath the clouds reflecting scattered, faint light, the stars were not visible, yet the sky still appeared so vast and distant.

"The outside world is so beautiful, Huai Shi."

She murmured softly.

"Huh?" the boy in front asked in puzzlement. "What did you say?"

"Nothing."

Fu Yi shook her head, gathering her wind-tossed hair, and then suddenly asked, "When did you decide to leave?"

Huai Shi was taken aback, feeling as if he had heard this conversation before, but couldn't recall where.

He didn't know how to answer.

"I haven't decided yet."

He said, and after thinking for a while, couldn't help but clarify, "Actually, it's quite troublesome. You might not believe me, but today I received more than fifty notifications, all of them..."

"I'm leaving."

Fu Yi interrupted him, speaking softly, "My flight is the day after tomorrow, to Rome."

"Rome? Why so suddenly go so far away?"

Huai Shi's pedaling faltered for a moment. He turned around in shock. "So soon? Will your dad agree? Whose idea was this?"

After asking, he realized he had asked too many questions.

Fu Yi couldn't answer them all.

After a long pause, he nearly crashed into the wall ahead before awkwardly making the turn and glancing back.

But Fu Yi was looking down, not meeting his gaze.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yeah, I mentioned it to my Mother first," Fu Yi replied. "I talked it over with my dad for a long time, and he agreed... He's not as stubborn as you think; he just sometimes doesn't like to admit defeat..."

"The day after tomorrow?" Huai Shi was bewildered. "Why so fast?"

"My Latin isn't good; I need to attend a preparatory course first. If I'm lucky, I can catch up before the school year starts in November. If not, I'll have to wait until next year."

Fu Yi said, "My Mother has arranged everything, and I figured there was no point in staying, so I decided to go."

Huai Shi listened blankly, not knowing what to say.

He pedaled onward, dazed.

After a while, he couldn't help but ask, "Isn't it good to stay in Dongxia?"

"That's good too."

Fu Yi said indifferently, "Then I'll stay. Going to Ji Xia would also be fine... But when you really think about it, there's no difference, right? Both are new places filled with strangers."

Huai Shi remained silent, not speaking.

But Fu Yi could not help but start to laugh.

"Huai Shi, the college entrance exams are over," she said softly. "People can't stay in one place their whole lives, right? Even if you wait in the same spot for ages, nothing will change. You always have to look forward..."

She paused for a moment, then asked, "Isn't this the principle you taught me?"

"I don't remember ever saying something so philosophical."

With his back to her, Huai Shi continued pedaling, saying earnestly, "You must have misunderstood me."

"Then let me be wrong. Who doesn't make mistakes?"

Fu Yi shook her head indifferently. "You won't always stay in Xinhai, right? You're a Sublimator, an Inspector for the Astronomical Society, a savior and hope for many people... Xinhai is too small for you, like a cage."

Huai Shi fell silent for a long time before whispering, "Actually... I don't mind if it's a cage."

"Don't be silly."

Fu Yi shook her head and began to smile. "No matter how nice a cage is, you'll eventually get tired of it, right? You're just not yet used to life outside the cage. It's the same for me... I don't know where I'll go after leaving home. But what place wouldn't be good? It's definitely better than staying in a cage forever, right?"

"..."

Huai Shi said nothing.

He pursed his lips, pedaled in silence, onward, strenuously uphill.

Actually, it didn't require much effort, yet it felt as though he had to put his entire body weight into it, giving his all—until even the bicycle protested with creaks and groans under the strain.

Clutching the handlebars tightly, he crested the hill.

Before him lay a strange landscape. Though Xinhai was small, it still held places he had never been, still enough for him to explore at length.

On a sudden impulse, he couldn't stop himself from shouting.

"Fu Yi, can't you just not leave—"

"I can't."

His words were interrupted by the voice behind him.

So gentle, yet so firm.

It was firm in a way that was unlike the always-smiling girl Huai Shi remembered, yet it was undoubtedly her voice, even if it had changed subtly.

She said, "Because you won't stay."

Huai Shi faltered for a moment. He almost forgot to pedal, forgot what he had just said, and forgot the reply he had heard.

In the long silence, a lonely figure leaned against him from behind, ever so gently.

They passed through East Slope Lane, took a right onto Jade Mountain Road, then a left, and another right. Gradually, the lights grew sparse, and the noisy sounds receded into the distance. In the quiet, Huai Shi stopped the bike outside the residential complex, and Fu Yi jumped down.

The night wind had tousled her hair as they rode, leaving her face somewhat pale, but her smile remained.

"Okay, you can drop me off here."

She waved goodbye and asked, "Shall we team up to climb the ranks tonight?"

"Sure." Huai Shi nodded, just like always. "Anytime is fine."

"Then... nine-thirty?"

"Alright, I'll wash up and get on the computer when I get back."

Huai Shi nodded and waved goodbye. He turned his bicycle around. After a running start of a few steps, he hopped on and pedaled, the bike smoothly gliding down the road.

He glanced back at Fu Yi. She was still standing there, quietly watching him go.

Huai Shi looked ahead again and picked up speed. But soon, he heard a voice from behind him.

It sounded as if she were using all her strength to shout.

"Huai Shi!"

He turned around in surprise.

Across the road, he saw the familiar figure.

She was also looking at him.

Fu Yi took a deep breath, mustered all her courage, and asked loudly, "If, in the future—I mean, if—you ever pass through Rome... will you come look for me?"

Huai Shi answered without hesitation, "Of course I will!"

At that, Fu Yi smiled, took two steps back, and waved vigorously at him.

"Then, until we meet again..." she said with a smile, bidding farewell. "We'll definitely meet again, right?"

"Yeah."

Huai Shi nodded, solemnly responding.

He started pedaling again, into the night wind. He felt as if he'd cast off some burden, so light, yet he couldn't stop himself from looking back, wanting to turn around.

He saw Fu Yi still standing there in the distance, watching him and waving.

Then, Huai Shi continued forward but couldn't help looking back one more time.

But she had vanished.

She had vanished like a Phantom from the past.

Huai Shi blinked, then couldn't help shaking his head. "She didn't even watch for a moment longer?"

No one responded to him.

He slammed on the brakes. In the brief silence that followed, Huai Shi gazed in the direction Fu Yi had disappeared, took a deep breath, and shouted, his voice carrying far enough for the girl to hear, no matter how distant:

"Fu Yi, have a good journey!"

The teenager shouted with all his might.

The quiet was broken. The drowsy security guard in the gatehouse of the residential complex was startled awake and looked around in bewilderment.

The cries of a baby, the blare of a TV, the excited barking of dogs, and the angry roars of a middle-aged man—who had just fallen asleep on his rare day off only to be rudely awakened—all mingled in the air.

The hushed night seemed to shatter in an instant. A cacophony of sounds emerged, reverberating in the sparse light.

The girl walking under the shade of the trees couldn't help but laugh.

Humming a faint tune, she raised her hand and waved behind her.

As if Huai Shi could still see her.

Bidding a solemn farewell.

And firmly believing they would meet again.

And so, the little hedgehog, who had grown fond of her cage, mustered her courage, pushed open the door, and stepped out into a world that seemed far too vast for her.

She began to look forward to the arrival of tomorrow—