Chapter 267: The Unopened Letter

The Unopened Letter

The air in the tent remained oppressive, the sound of wind and snow beating against the canvas coming through a layer of fabric, low like some kind of sigh. Lu Ran sat on the ground, his legs still wrapped in a layer of thin ice, the biting coldness drilling into his bones, yet he seemed not to feel it, his gaze fixed straight on the ice coffin not far away. Lin Chen and Xia Nuan had already left. Before leaving, Xia Nuan left frostbite medicine and clean bandages, placing them where he could reach them, yet he never moved.

A Nian had woken up, leaning on the cold-proof mat, looking at Lu Ran timidly,

not daring to make a sound. She knew Lu Ran was hurting inside, and also knew that her life had been traded for Sister Chu Yao Yao's life. She wanted to open her mouth to say something,

but when the words reached her lips, she swallowed them back. She was afraid of saying the wrong thing, and even more afraid of seeing Lu Ran's deathly silent eyes.

Lu Ran sat for a long time, until the numbness in his legs gradually faded, replaced by a needle-like pain, before he slowly stood up.

He walked to the ice coffin, reached out, and gently stroked the surface of the ice coffin.

The ice-cold touch came from his fingertips, like Sister Chu Yao Yao's hand. He remembered Sister Chu Yao Yao's smile,

remembered the sound of Sister Chu Yao Yao's voice, remembered the temperature when Sister Chu Yao Yao placed the seed ring into his palm, his heart feeling as if it were being gripped by an invisible hand, the pain making him unable to breathe.

He knew he couldn't go on like this forever; Sister Chu Yao Yao had entrusted A Nian to him,

so he had to live on, and he had to take good care of A Nian. He took a deep breath,

turned, and walked to Sister Chu Yao Yao's backpack. That backpack was one Sister Chu Yao Yao had always carried with her,

containing her medicine, water, and some changes of clothes,

as well as some fragmented little things. Lu Ran crouched down, pulled open the zipper of the backpack, and began to organize Sister Chu Yao Yao's belongings bit by bit.

First was a first-aid kit, the gauze and disinfectant inside still more than half full;

Sister Chu Yao Yao always kept the first-aid kit neat and tidy. Then there were a few changes of clothes, folded squarely, still carrying a faint scent of disinfectant.

Next was a notebook, filled with the efficacy of various herbs and treatment plans,

the handwriting elegant, as clean and neat as Sister Chu Yao Yao herself. Lu Ran flipped through the notebook page by page, seeing the last page, on which a line of words was written,

about a conjecture on treating mutant viruses, with a small sunflower drawn behind it.

Lu Ran's fingers paused, his eye sockets instantly turning red. He closed the notebook,

placed it to one side, and continued to search through the things in the backpack. At the very bottom of the backpack, he touched something hard. He took it out with his hand;

it was an envelope. The envelope was white, its edges somewhat worn, obviously having been kept for a long time. On the front of the envelope, a line of words was written in black pen, the handwriting elegant, exactly Sister Chu Yao Yao's handwriting: Open together after we build our home.

Lu Ran's hand holding the envelope trembled violently, the envelope nearly falling to the ground. He gripped the envelope tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force. He looked at the words on the envelope, his mind buzzing, as if countless bees were flying. He remembered the days he and Sister Chu Yao Yao spent in the southern safe zone a long time ago, when they hadn't experienced so many separations and deaths, when they were still longing for the future, longing to find a quiet place, build a home of their own, and plant it full of sunflowers.

Sister Chu Yao Yao back then always said with a smile, when we build our home, we'll open this letter,

and see what's written inside. He back then always promised with a smile, saying okay, when we build our home, we'll open it together.

But now, the home hadn't been built yet, but Sister Chu Yao Yao was already gone.

Lu Ran sat on the ground, gripping the letter tightly in his hand, his body unable to stop trembling.

His eyes stared fixedly at the words on the envelope, tears falling in large drops onto the envelope,

blurring the ink. He wanted to open this letter; he wanted to know what Sister Chu Yao Yao had written in the letter; he wanted to know what else Sister Chu Yao Yao wanted to say to him.

His fingers were placed at the seal of the envelope; with just a light tear, he could open it.

Yet he stopped.

He remembered Sister Chu Yao Yao's words: Open together after we build our home.

He couldn't open it; he had to wait, wait until he built the home, wait until he completed the promise with Sister Chu Yao Yao, and then open this letter.

A Nian looked at the envelope in Lu Ran's hand, looked at his red eyes,

and her heart ached along with it. She slowly moved to Lu Ran's side,

gently tugged at the corner of his clothes, and said in a small voice: "Captain Lu, if you're hurting, just cry it out."

Lu Ran did not speak, merely shaking his head. He carefully placed the envelope into his inner pocket,

putting it together with that seed ring. He stood up, walked to A Nian's side,

crouched down, looked into A Nian's eyes, his voice hoarse yet firm: "A Nian, we will build a home."

A Nian looked into Lu Ran's eyes; those eyes still carried sadness,

yet were no longer deathly silent, a trace of light appearing inside. She nodded forcefully, tears also falling down: "Yes, we will build a home."

Lu Ran stood up and walked to the tent entrance, pulling open the tent flap. The blizzard outside had stopped,

and sunlight spilled down through the cloud layer, landing on the vast white snowfield, reflecting a blinding glare. In the valley in the distance, the roars of mutants could be heard, but they no longer made him feel fear.

Lu Ran looked at the sun in the distance, swearing inwardly that he would take A Nian and live on,

he would build that home, and he would wait, wait for the moment to open that letter with Sister Chu Yao Yao.

He turned and returned to the tent, picked up the frostbite medicine Xia Nuan had left, and began to apply it bit by bit to his legs. The frostbite medicine carried a faint coolness,

easing the pain in his legs. A Nian looked at him, also stood up, walked to his side, and helped hand over the bandages.

The atmosphere in the tent was finally no longer so oppressive. Sunlight shone in through the cracks in the tent,

landing on the ground, forming small spots of light. Lu Ran looked at those spots of light,

looked at the bandages in his hand, looked at A Nian beside him, looked at the ice coffin not far away, and silently recited Sister Chu Yao Yao's name in his heart.

He knew Sister Chu Yao Yao was always there. ===== CHAPTER 268 =====