Volume 2: Winter’s End
Qing Meng stood by the window for a moment, then returned to the living room, sat down, and picked up the cards again. It seemed as if nothing had happened just now. But Shu Xun could clearly feel that Qing Meng was not in the right state. Something seemed to have caught her attention.
After playing the game for a while, Qing Meng discarded the cards. The outside world was sparkling with a faint glow, not very bright, but enough to see everything clearly.
Qing Meng, holding colorful brushes and paper, enthusiastically decided to draw a picture for Lie Yang. Lie Yang readily agreed, so Qing Meng, in high spirits, circled around Lie Yang twice and pointed to his back. “Can I add wings?”
Lie Yang casually smiled. “Of course.” As he said this, a pair of fiery red wings suddenly unfolded, as if flames were burning on them, dazzling and radiant, making the room seem a bit warmer.
At this moment, Shu Xun seemed to understand the meaning of the two words “Lie Yang.” Shu Xun didn’t know much about Lie Yang, but from the current situation, Lie Yang was likely his real name. Because Lie Yang was so casual, exuberant, and confidently radiant, he seemed to consider even thinking of a fake name a waste of time.
On the other side, Qing Meng had set up the scene on the coffee table, spreading out a white sheet of paper. With pen in hand, she carefully outlined, occasionally looking up seriously at Lie Yang on the sofa. The sofa seemed a bit small for Lie Yang; his long legs were casually supporting him. The wings on his back, fiery as fire, looked tamed on him, making him appear somewhat obedient.
After a long time, Lie Yang remained motionless as if frozen in place, while Qing Meng continued to concentrate on her drawing. Shu Xun wanted to jump onto the coffee table to check Qing Meng’s progress but was stopped by Qing Meng. Qing Meng, with a rare serious and solemn expression, said, “Wait until I finish the drawing before you can see.”
The result was that, even after Shu Xun fell asleep on the sofa, he still didn’t see Qing Meng complete the drawing. Qing Meng directly took the outlined picture back to the bedroom, leaving behind a brilliant smile. “I’ll add colors, and you can see it tomorrow! Goodnight!”
Lie Yang, stiff as a stone: “…”
However, no one anticipated that the bright smile would be the last image Qing Meng left for them.
The next morning, in the early dawn, the morning light filtered through the clouds, casting a faint glow on the crystal-frozen city. The weak light and warmth seemed powerless against the light blue ice.
Waking up on the sofa, almost flattened like a pancake, Shu Xun smacked his lips in the faint light. As he opened his eyes, he saw a white paper on the coffee table with a vividly colored pattern on it – the one Qing Meng had drawn yesterday. A somewhat ominous premonition suddenly surged within him. In an instant, Shu Xun sat up from the sofa and hopped onto the coffee table.
Standing on the paper, Shu Xun confirmed that this was indeed the drawing of Lie Yang by Qing Meng yesterday. However, it looked quite abstract. Looking towards the bedroom, where there was complete silence, the voice of Nuan Dong rang out above him. “No one in the room, no signs of damage to the locked door and the frozen ice layer outside. Clear Meng has disappeared.”
Turning his little head, Shu Xun saw Ye Qian as expressionless as ever. He also noticed Nuan Dong leaning against the floor-to-ceiling window in the living room, facing the vast and empty world outside, leaving only a back view. Lie Yang remained on the sofa, but his expression was unusually low. His eyes, once confident and radiant, now seemed deep and a bit dangerous.
Shu Xun lowered his head again to look at Qing Meng’s drawing. The strokes of the artist appeared inexperienced and childish. Perhaps, in the hands of children, only they could determine who was depicted. At least, without the wings, Shu Xun couldn’t tell it was Lie Yang. Moreover, why were Lie Yang’s fiery red wings turned into black in Qing Meng’s drawing? Shu Xun curiously walked over to the paper, examining the black wings. He found that there was no other color underneath, indicating that Qing Meng chose black as the first color when drawing the wings. Why did she do that? Couldn’t Qing Meng distinguish between red and black? This seemed unlikely because Qing Meng seemed to prefer red clothes rather than black.
Temporarily setting aside this question, Shu Xun jumped off the coffee table and headed toward the bedroom. The bedroom door was slightly ajar, suggesting that others had already checked the room upon discovering Qing Meng’s absence. Following the opening of the bedroom door, Shu Xun stepped into the room.
The first thing that caught his eye was a large bed in warm yellow. On the left side of the bed was a spacious and bright floor-to-ceiling window. Dim morning light spilled onto the bed and also onto two huge stuffed animals placed on the bed – two large brown teddy bears. One had a slightly darker color, wearing a bow tie and black-framed glasses, while the other, slightly lighter in color, had a pink bow on its ear. Both stuffed animals were adult-sized, positioned on the left and right sides of the large bed. In the middle, a small plush bear wearing red clothes nestled there, with a somewhat silly smile on its face.
The faint morning light painted the warm yellow bed with an unparalleled coziness, yet an unmistakable desolation. It portrayed a scene that was both heartwarming and helpless, lively yet desolate.
Shu Xun stood by the door for a long time, suddenly understanding who Qing Meng greeted yesterday. Quietly stepping out of the room, he extended his short arms to carefully close the bedroom door. Dragging his little head back to the living room, he weakly sat on the carpet.
The atmosphere in the living room was exceptionally silent. No one spoke again. At some point, they had gradually forgotten that they were in a game. Perhaps, this was the characteristic of a true game, immersing people, making them feel and experience it, whether it be the beautiful shock or the melancholic sadness, all blending into flesh and blood unconsciously.
Though Shu Xun had only known Qing Meng for a short day, evidently, the sensible child always evoked a sense of pity. Did Qing Meng really not understand anything? That was impossible. She knew how to evade certain questions; she understood that the city had already perished. She was aware that Shu Xun and others appearing here were illogical. Even the most innocent eyes, after witnessing too much death, would become tainted with sorrow. Moreover, based on the clues obtained, the person with blue eyes had experienced a period of extreme rejection before reaching the end.
Therefore, Qing Meng was intelligent, sensible, and sensitive. She would retract her hand, feeling her own hands were not clean enough, when attempting to pat Shu Xun’s head. She knew to greet the “parents” when entering the house, prepare slippers for guests, pour water, and diligently act like a little hostess, fearing she might not entertain properly. She would laugh carefreely at Lie Yang’s exaggerated performance and offer her favorite snacks as a gift. She would gently pat Shu Xun’s little head, satisfied with having made a friend she had known for only a day.
Sniffling, Shu Xun sniffed his small nose, suppressing the tears in his eyes. He finally understood that beneath the end, there were no children. Just as he was about to encourage himself, his body suddenly lightened, and he was lifted up by Ye Qian.
Ye Qian picked up the seemingly lifeless dumpling from the carpet and placed it on the coffee table. Simultaneously, he took out a stack of drawing papers from the box under the coffee table. Looking at the patterns on them, it seemed they were all drawn by Qing Meng. “She should have done it voluntarily. Remember her yearning look towards the window yesterday? Perhaps she has achieved her wish. Want to know where she went? Then let’s search, maybe we can see her again.”
Ye Qian rarely speaks such a long passage at once. Everyone in the room shifted their gazes towards him. Nuan Dong nodded slightly. “Exactly, this piece of drawing paper and the box were not on the coffee table yesterday evening. Qing Meng must have quietly placed them there, indicating that she realized something. Moreover, the small bear placed in the middle of the bedroom also suggests that she was prepared, even facing it willingly.”
Standing on the coffee table, Shu Xun looked at the painting of Lie Yang and the stack of papers next to it. He tugged at his hair. “I know, it’s just that my mood is inevitably a bit low.” Saying this, the little dumpling took a deep breath. “When I woke up and saw the painting on the coffee table, I had a premonition. So after seeing the scene in the bedroom, I retreated. Qing Meng left the painting outside, probably not wanting anyone to disturb the family in that bedroom. That should be the reason she insisted on staying in Micro City.”
Lie Yang, whose antennae rolled into a bundle again, muttered, “… What to do when the IQ is not enough? What should I say?” In the end, Lie Yang didn’t say anything. However, the gloominess in his eyes had obviously diminished. He moved two steps to the coffee table, picked up the drawing paper on the table, and examined it carefully.
Shu Xun was naturally very satisfied with Lie Yang’s spirited performance. He wasn’t used to the sight of Lie Yang being so low and gloomy. However, he didn’t expect that when Qing Meng went missing, the man who seemed carefree and indifferent to everything would have the most significant emotional fluctuations. Shu Xun recalled the scene from yesterday when Lie Yang, initially unresponsive, eventually turned into a stone. He quietly curved the corners of his lips.
Sometimes, a person’s delicacy and tenderness were revealed silently, requiring you to carefully observe with your eyes to discover the subtle traces.
Shu Xun and Lie Yang naturally examined the painting Qing Meng drew of Lie Yang yesterday. Shu Xun looked at it carefully for a long time and raised his little head to ask Lie Yang, “Did you figure out anything?”
Lie Yang frowned. “Is it me she drew? Finally, there’s a pair of wings, but it looks like almost nothing, and the color is wrong.”
Shu Xun sighed. “Forget it, I’ll look for myself.” So, Shu Xun walked to the stack of drawing papers and started examining them. This stack of papers seemed to be arranged in chronological order, with the earlier ones depicting warm daily life. It seemed to be the life before the arrival of the end. There were basically only three abstract figures in the paintings – a man with glasses, a woman with long hair, and a girl in red, probably Qing Meng’s family. In addition to these, there were also some still-life drawings and some imaginative drawings that even Shu Xun couldn’t understand.
