CH 109.2

Chapter 109.2 – The Lighthouse

The wind was fierce, and the waves were surging. The boat was like a fragile willow leaf, and could only drift with the current.

It was dark everywhere, except for the light of the lighthouse behind him, which swept in again and again and became the only source of light. He was so dizzy from the shaking that his mind cried out, ‘Let me take a look! That white dolphin is just ahead!’

Just a little bit!

Bang!

A huge wave overturned the boat, and he fell into the sea, choking on a large mouthful of water.

In such an ocean, no one could survive. He grabbed a plank and floated, the seawater caused him to quickly lose temperature, until finally, he looked in the direction of the aurora.

…he was so close, just a little bit.

His hand loosened and he sank into the deep sea.

When he woke up again, he saw the aurora.

A group of small fish lifted him up from the sea. They waved their translucent tails, and the aurora swayed away from their bodies, smudging the sea and connecting to the sky upward. He turned his head hard and saw a white dolphin at the front of the fish.

It had a moist white color more exotic than pearls.

Clad in aurora borealis, it rode the wind and waves.

On this stormy night, they headed toward the lighthouse and returned him home.

He woke up in the hospital——

[I told Gina that there was really a white dolphin, Monroe didn’t lie to me! Gina said, I must be crazy, it was the navy that rescued me and sent me to the hospital.]

[And she said, without complaining, that the child was still so young, and I should have thought through the consequences before doing anything, instead of being a rash person and getting myself killed, otherwise, what should they do if I died?]

[She doesn’t believe the story anymore.]

[Later, I went to live in the town and went back to the lighthouse a few times, but I never saw a white dolphin again. Perhaps it was not meant to be a creature that regular people should see.]

[Now – in 170 years, the abyss has appeared, everyone is fleeing, and we are going to the south.]

[Only when I saw the monsters did I realize that they surpassed the limits of species, and they themselves exceeded human imagination. I suddenly remembered the white dolphin again. Monroe was right. It shouldn’t be a creature from here. I suspect…I suspect it was also infected by the abyss. It’s just that it appeared earliest and got lost here.]

[Who would believe it if I said it? More than eighty years before the Empire discovered the abyss, the first monster appeared and saved me.]

[Until I wrote this line, I thought it was unbelievable.]

[My family and I are leaving soon. I will leave this note at the lighthouse. If someone sees this story one day, please take a look far away. Maybe you can see the white dolphin and its aurora. That was once the longing of an old man’s life.]

[—Anthony Alexander, left on March 9, 171]

The notes ended.

Along the way, Shi Yuan retold the story to Lu Tinghan while reading.

He was so focused that he didn’t notice that the sky was dark and the world was without light. It was clearly not raining, but the surroundings abruptly fell into dimness.

“…Shi Yuan,” Lu Tinghan said.

Shi Yuan: “Hmm?” He looked up, “Ah, why is it so dark, is it going to rain again?”

Lu Tinghan: “… Shi Yuan, look at the sea.”

Shi Yuan looked back and saw a large area of gorgeous colors floating across the ocean, red, yellow, green, purple, and blue, ever-changing. It was a floating aurora borealis, swaying in the air and under the sea, with schools of fish swimming.——

At the same time, the voice calling him became clearer.

It was the white dolphin.

Shi Yuan’s eyes widened.

At this moment he understood, it was it that had been calling him!

However, the school of fish went all the way forward, passed through the ice floes, and went straight to the distance. They didn’t know that Shi Yuan was here!

“Hey—!” Shi Yuan subconsciously shouted, “I’m here! I’m here!”

He let go of Lu Tinghan’s hand and ran to the beach. He should have turned into a black mist, but this was in the territory of the Empire, and he was worried that he would encounter a hidden monster and cause it to be infected.

He could only run on foot, shouting as he ran: “Wait for me! I’m here!”

The ground was soaked with rainwater and was extremely soft. He fell down again with a “plop”, and before he could get up, a pair of strong hands picked him up.

Lu Tinghan shouted in his ear: “Go! I’ll follow you!”

The two ran forward. The flashlight fell off and rolled on the ground dripping, so only the aurora was left between the heaven and the earth.

They went toward the glow, the coastline so far away.

Shi Yuan’s heart was pounding, he kept shouting, and finally stepped into the sea. The biting cold flooded his ankles and then his calves, and the resistance of the water made him run arduously, but he still ran toward the sea: “Stop! I am here! I’m—glub glub glub!”

A fierce wave hit, he stood unsteadily and fell into the water, choking on a salty and bitter taste.

Lu Tinghan’s body also shook, then moved forward against the waves and lifted Shi Yuan up.

It was much easier for the two to walk close together, and they continued to chase the white dolphin.

The aurora was ethereal, and when it reached the depths of the water, the waves submerged up to Lu Tinghan’s chest. Shi Yuan only had his head above the water, and a wave could drown him, choking him several times.

Lu Tinghan shouted: “Hey—! Here!”

Shi Yuan also shouted: “Glub glub glub!!!”

The sea got rougher and rougher, they went too deep. Another wave hit, Shi Yuan was completely submerged, his feet floating, moving underwater wildly.

In the sound of water, he could only feel that Lu Tinghan was holding him tightly.

This time, Shi Yuan was submerged for a long time, cold, dark, and terrifying, the sea showed the most hideous scene, suffocating fear.

After one second, two seconds, five seconds, or almost a minute later, Shi Yuan’s eyes lit up. He set his feet on the ground again and raised his head abruptly——

Fresh air blew on his face.

He saw a sky full of stars and aurora borealis.

Somehow, schools of fish came to them.

Small fish swam to light up the ocean, and not only them, but monsters in the black clouds followed the light and hovered in it.

And that beautiful, mysterious white dolphin was right in front of them.

It looked at Shi Yuan with jet-black eyes, its body like alabaster, or… like a milky white starlight.

The wave subsided.

The sea retreated, leaving only the bright and colorful water that didn’t go past the legs, fluctuating gently.

The noise stopped, and Shi Yuan locked eyes with it.

“……”

He stretched out his hand——

Just like that day in the wasteland when he held out his hands to the queen bee.

His demeanor was calm.

At that time, Shi Yuan did not understand good and evil, beauty and ugliness, life and death. He was a flower in a greenhouse, a recluse in an ivory tower, and a god who strayed into the wild.

As time passed, he was still calm, but there was something more in his eyes.

It was a soft emotion.

It was the emotion that he finally understood after witnessing the stories of humans by Lu Tinghan’s side, love-hate relationship, dying of old age, illness, and death.

When his fingers touched the white dolphin, it had a strange touch, between flesh and jade.

Shi Yuan looked at it intently. Just as he could feel the restlessness of the abyss and the monsters, at this moment, their souls were connected. So he knew that it was a lonely traveler who had been waiting here for more than a hundred years.

“…I understand,” he said softly, “It’s lonely, right, so you keep looking for me.”

The dolphin swung its pectoral fins lightly and rubbed against his hand.

It had gentle eyes.

Lu Tinghan took a half step back and looked at the scene in front of him.

–Monsters all came together: tiny birds in the air, cats with two tails, snakes and fireflies with brilliant gold bodies, dragon-like creatures tens of meters long, crustaceans as huge as mountains, horses and deer shaped like beasts; under the sea were schools of fish in light, glowing waves, with a white dolphin that wandered for years. The aurora borealis enveloped everything in a dreamy color.

As if in a mythical story…

A young man stood among them.

All the heavenly demons and monsters. He held out his hands to them, the monsters were his followers, meekly waiting for salvation.

“I understand,” he said.

Lu Tinghan was silent for a while.

After a long time, he whispered, “Shi Yuan, why are you crying?”

“…Eh?” Shi Yuan turned his head, “Am I crying?”

The world flowed with light.

His expression was calm, but his face was full of tears.

……

After the aurora dissipated, the monsters disappeared.

The white dolphin disappeared into the sea with the school of fish and aurora, and the sea became turbulent and dark again.

Thunderstorms and hail came back with a vengeance.

They returned to the aircraft.

After changing into clean clothes, Chi Yongge gave them two cups of hot tea.

“I don’t know if it’s good or not,” Chi Yongge said, “We only have tea residue.”

Shi Yuan affirmed: “It’s better than seawater.”

Chi Yongge: ?

He was very confused, and couldn’t imagine what Lu Tinghan did to Shi Yuan.

…It was impossible that the general wanted to see Shi Yuan in a swimsuit, so he took him for a swim, right?

Shi Yuan was frozen, drinking tea, and wrapped in a blanket, his hands and feet were cold. And Adjutant Bing was worried in the command room and murmured, “What should we do – this damned weather and abyss, our navigation and positioning are all malfunctioning, it’s too risky to leave! We have been stuck here for five days.”

“In two hours, it will be the sixth day,” Chi Yongge reminded him.

Adjutant Bing rubbed his eyebrows hard.

Shi Yuan slipped into the command room with hot tea in both hands.

Lu Tinghan was studying the map and various values, so he leaned over to look at it.

Looking at it, he said, “If, I mean if, we can see the way we came, can we go back?”

Lu Tinghan replied: “Yes. As long as we are careful of the monsters in the thundercloud.”

“Oh.” Shi Yuan thought for a while, “Then I’ll give it a try.”