The golden age began in 1977

Chapter 236, "The Chase," is released; heading to Mount Tai.

The autumn of 1978 seemed to come exceptionally early.

In early November, the wind in Haibin City already carried a sharp, razor-sharp edge, whistling like a knife across the wall of the No. 6 State-owned Cotton Mill, which was half-painted white.

Withered yellow sycamore leaves twirled and fell, piling up in the corner of the empty courtyard. No one swept them up, and stepping on them produced a soft, mournful sound.

The bell had just rung to signal the end of the workday when the factory's loudspeakers were still broadcasting the final notes of the production briefing.

The day shift workers in the fourth spinning workshop, unusually, did not rush to the parking shed to push their bicycles and run away. Instead, they gathered under the notice board opposite the workshop gate, which was covered with various kinds of papers.

The young people's eyes seemed glued to the brand-new red notice on the fence.

The paper was a glaringly red, making the large black characters on it stand out prominently.
Red Star Cinema is showing the Japanese crime romance film "Manhunt" today. All are welcome to watch...

Workshop director Liu Tiezhu stood at the front of the notice and read it carefully.

This was a middle-aged man in his early forties. He was burly and strong, and his face looked ferocious from years of being surrounded by a stern expression.

At this moment, he was reading the notice with his large, bony hands behind his back and his back straight.

After reading it, he tapped the edge of the red paper heavily with his rough knuckles, then turned around, habitually adopting a serious expression, and began to speak:
"Listen up, all of you! I don't care what kind of Japanese movie or what kind of hunt they're showing at the Red Star Cinema or Liberation Cinema tonight..."

At this point, his voice suddenly rose eight octaves, like a steel brush scraping sandpaper:
"The country spends its precious foreign exchange to bring in these foreign films, do you think we'll just let you blindly accept all the tricks of capitalism? Don't even think about it!"

His eyes widened, his gaze sweeping across the eager young faces in the crowd like hooks:

"Everyone, go home after get off work! Eat when you're hungry, sleep when you're tired! Get some rest so you can be ready for work tomorrow!"

"That Japanese stuff is no good, especially their so-called 'love,' it's purely spiritual evil. So nobody is allowed to step into the movie theater, you hear me? Anyone who dares to go against the grain..."

He deliberately dragged out the sound, then slammed his palm heavily against the metal casing of the notice board again, making a dull thud.
"Let me tell you, workshop discipline and factory rules are not just for show! If I catch you making mistakes tomorrow, don't blame me for being ruthless!"

These words were like cold water poured into a boiling oil pan, immediately igniting a buzzing murmur among the crowd.

Li Xiaomei stood in the middle of the crowd, slightly towards the back, biting her lower lip tightly.

The red lettering on the notice pierced her eyes through the gaps in the crowd; every stroke read "Prohibited."

她下意识地捻紧了捏在指缝里的两张淡蓝色纸条片，上面印着“红星电影院、二层2排12座、1978.11.1晚20：30”字样，这是红星电影院的电影票。

The ticket was damp with a thin layer of sweat from her palms, making the material somewhat soft.

Without making a sound, she slipped her hand into the faded pocket of her old work clothes, her fingers touching a small, hard, round object—a fruit hard candy wrapped in red and green cellophane.

That sweet anticipation, specially reserved for tonight, now feels as cold as ice.

"Tsk," Li Jinbao muttered under his breath as he stood beside him.

He had a shaved head, the stubble on the back of his head gleaming with a hard, bluish sheen in the afternoon light. "Mind your own business, why should I care if people go to the movies after get off work?"

The taller young man next to him, named Wang Weidong, didn't respond; he simply shoved his hands deeper into his work pants pockets.

At the same time, his shoulders shrugged almost imperceptibly, and a hint of youthful stubbornness flashed in his eyes.

They dared not provoke Liu Tiezhu, and could only complain in hushed tones or defy him with their eyes.

But some people dare to do this:

"Liu Tiezhu, what are you saying? What do you mean no one is allowed to step into the direction of the movie theater?"

As soon as the sound came out, many people found a mouth double and looked at him with admiration, also wondering who had such guts.

Liu Tiezhu was furious.

His face contorted into a ferocious expression as he stared at the speaker with one eye larger than the other. Just then, the crowd dispersed, and his gaze lashed out at the speaker like two swords.

Then it was like being struck by a diamond.

It broke.

The person speaking looked at him with a nonchalant air.

The fat on his face twitched, finally twisting into a smile: "Hey, Dong-ge? Why aren't you home yet after get off work?"

"It's Wang Dong! Wang Dong from the security department!" The crowd began to whisper.

"Yes, it's him. Old Liu has met his match this time!"

"Wang Dong is not someone to be trifled with. I heard he's related to the factory manager..."

"That's all nonsense. He and the factory manager only share the same surname, but he's very close to Qian Jin from Taishan Road..."

Do you think Liu Tiezhu would dare to mess with him?

"Even if you gave him two more lives, he wouldn't dare! Wang Dong is from the security department, and he's also from the Taishan Road Labor Assault Team. That Taishan Road Labor Assault Team is formidable, with over a hundred people. They're rich and powerful, who would dare mess with them?"

Liu Tiezhu heard these sounds.

But he pretended not to hear.

Because what these people are saying is true.

This Wang Dong isn't just from the security department; he also has over a hundred, or even more than two hundred, powerful figures behind him.

What others might not know, Liu Tiezhu did: the Taishan Road Labor Commando Team and the Jiagang Port Porters Brigade of the Municipal Supply and Marketing Cooperative were sister units.

When one is in trouble, both sides offer support. Not to mention him, now all the criminals in Haibin City are afraid of these two groups!
When Liu Tiezhu asked him, Wang Dong replied nonchalantly, "I dare not go home. My home is on Taishan Road. Isn't Taishan Road the same direction as going to the Red Star Cinema from our workplace?"

Liu Tiezhu chuckled awkwardly, "Brother Dong, you've misunderstood. I was referring to the young people in our workshop."

The fourth textile workshop was mostly staffed by young people who were difficult to manage, so the factory assigned Liu Tiezhu, a tough character, to be the workshop director.

But in Wang Dong's eyes, there was only one ruthless character in the entire Haibin City:

Money in!

He went up to Liu Tiezhu, patted him on the shoulder, and laughed, "Alright, Director Liu, the government has already approved the film's release, and the people want to see it. And you're here to stop it? Who do you think you are?"

"Besides, you know this movie was imported by the country with foreign exchange, so shouldn't we, the people, all go see it? The movie tickets we buy are real RMB, and in the end, the money goes to the national treasury!"

Many people echoed, "Yes, yes."

"Our company doesn't provide movie tickets; we have to buy them ourselves."

"We are contributing to the country's economic development."

Liu Tiezhu became anxious.

He pulled Wang Dong aside and whispered, "I've seen this movie. It's indecent. There are scenes of men and women kissing, and scenes of Japanese women with their butts naked in a cave!"

Wang Dong was shocked: "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Liu Tiezhu grinned: "Right? I..."

"You son of a bitch, you've been hiding such a good thing from yourself? No wonder people say you're a piece of trash!" Wang Dong cursed.

"Then I have to go see it tonight, no, I want to see two in a row!"

After saying that, he pushed through the crowd and ran away in a hurry.

Liu Tiezhu was dumbfounded.

The crowd dispersed in a flurry, and the main entrance gradually became quiet and deserted.

Only the deep hum of the machines deep inside the workshop never ceased, like a tireless heart.

As the sun gradually sets in the west, it sinks slowly like a dark yellow oil stain, eventually being swallowed by the horizon.

As dusk settled in, it pressed down heavily, enveloping all the low factory rooftops and long Soviet-style dormitory buildings.

One by one, the dim streetlights lit up, standing alone in the chilly autumn night.

The dormitory building was dimly lit.

Dinner consisted of steamed buns and a small amount of pickled vegetable shreds from the canteen.

Zhang Haibo, Wang Weidong, and Li Jinbao sat around the only small square table in the room, silently eating.

The pickled vegetables were so salty that they made my mouth feel numb from chewing.

With a soft "click," the plastic curtain was lifted and then carefully lowered back down.

Chen Xiuqin, Li Xiaomei, and Zhao Aihong, three female companions, slipped in.

No one in the room spoke, but their eyes met briefly in the air, and they understood each other perfectly.

Especially Li Xiaomei.

The young woman, who always wore a faded yellow-green military uniform overcoat and had served in the factory's propaganda team, now had a flame flickering in her eyes.

"Let's go?" Li Jinbao suddenly stood up and threw the half-eaten steamed bun on the table.

A single word, like a silent command.

The curtain was lifted and then fell again, and the faint footsteps disappeared on the old staircase in the hallway.

The cold autumn wind swirled and lashed at their faces like knives, and everyone wrapped themselves tightly in their thin coats.

The streetlights stretched their shadows, making them appear longer and shorter, casting them crookedly onto the cold asphalt.

No one spoke; only the sound of footsteps crunching on dry fallen leaves and hurried, barely suppressed breathing could be heard.

They walked briskly through the sparsely populated streets with their heads down.

The closer I got to the movie theater, the faster my heart pounded, eventually pounding against my chest like a drum.

At this point, the gray-white, square building came into view, with the words "Red Star Cinema" in large red letters on the roof standing out prominently under the lights.

The area outside the movie theater was even more bustling at night than during the day.

A young man wearing bell-bottoms chuckled to his friend: "My cousin in the capital wrote me a letter specifically to show this to me. He said there's a young woman named Zhenmei in it, kissing that Du Qiu guy. The camera is very clear!"

The voice wasn't deliberately lowered, which drew chuckles from the crowd.

Someone said, "It's not called 'Mami,' it's 'Mayumi'! Not only is there a scene of her kissing Chief Du Qiu, but also in the cave... hehehe!"

Many young people joined in with chuckles.

Their eyes were fixed on the movie posters on the wall, which gleamed with a wolf-like green light.

Six people lined up, and the line had already turned to the intersection.

Militiamen in green uniforms, maintaining order, were scolding several young men who tried to cut in line, their rubber boots making a "splat" sound as they stepped into puddles.

Ticket checking has begun.

The team moved forward amidst cheers and jubilation.

Finally, it was the turn of the six people.

"Tickets!" The ticket inspector, an older woman wearing a red armband, looked the group of young workers suspiciously. "How many people?"

Wang Weidong quickly pulled out the crumpled movie ticket: "It was organized by the Youth League Committee of the Sixth State-owned Cotton Mill, for six people."

Behind him, Zhang Haibo stood on tiptoe, peering into the cinema, his nose still covered in cotton lint from the spinning workshop.

The entrance to the screening room was filled with the smell of mothballs mixed with sweat.

As you walk further in, you can smell the distinctive chemical odor of the cinema interior, the smell of film reels being heated in a projector.

The cinema was extremely dimly lit, with only a few small lights in the corners emitting a faint green glow.

When Chen Xiuqin found her seat in the dark, she discovered that the paint on the wooden chair had long been worn away, revealing the original color of the wood.

She looked around and gazed at the surroundings.

The entire screening hall was found to be full, with many people crowding into the aisles or even standing in the back row of the open space.

The throng of heads formed undulating black outlines in the dim light.

With so many people together, it's natural for it to be noisy.

They were all looking forward to the first performance of "The Chase" in Seaside City.

The film was shown in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai a week ago, and it caused a huge sensation among young people.

They all have relatives and friends in these big cities, and they all received instructions from their relatives and friends:

You absolutely must watch this movie!
Amidst the clamor—

pat.

The dim wall lamps overhead all went out, as if the entire world had been instantly covered and swallowed by a huge swath of ink, leaving only absolute darkness and boundless silence pressing down.

Suddenly, a sharp, white beam of light, accompanied by the faint hissing sound of film scraping, pierced through the darkness from the projection hole behind everyone's heads, heading straight ahead.

Then, as the seven large characters "Shanghai Film Dubbing Studio" appeared on the screen, it sparked cheers from some young people.

Based on their experience, they assumed that what followed would be a synopsis of the film's plot, introducing the setting and background.

But no!
Suddenly, a variety of vibrant, dynamic colors and moving figures, with an unprecedented and compelling clarity and color saturation, pierced into everyone's eyes!
The movie will start streaming immediately!
Moreover, the scene that appeared shocked the young people:

What comes into view is a bird's-eye view of a vast metropolis, with towering buildings and crisscrossing steel tracks.

There were no opening drumbeats, no familiar opening theme, and no psychological build-up.

A bustling metropolis was thus almost brutally thrown into the eyes of the young people, attacking them with a prosperity they had never seen before and sharp image quality.

In an instant, all whispers and breaths were choked.

The air in the screening room seemed to freeze suddenly.

The crowd was silent.

Looking at the vast city, at the colorful clothes and shoes in the crowd, at the bustling traffic, Li Xiaomei felt a sudden "boom" in her mind, as if she had been struck by something heavy, leaving her completely blank.

This...this is the Japanese city?!
Why is this happening?

She instinctively reached for the fruit candy in her pocket.

Her fingertips touched the cellophane, and the cool, smooth sensation made her shudder.

On the screen, light and shadow shift, and scenes change.

Amidst the thunderous hoofbeats, the prosecutor named Du Qiu galloped across the valley, the background music carrying a peculiar electronic sound effect that sent shivers down one's spine.

Then, the scene freezes on a street corner, where Du Qiu appears wearing a smart long trench coat and sunglasses.

Young men and women crowded forward, their eyes wide, some even instinctively standing up to get a better look: "What kind of clothes is he wearing?" Those behind shouted in dissatisfaction, "Hey, comrade in front, sit down! That's so rude!"

Du Qiu lowered his head slightly, his jawline as firm as if carved by a knife, exuding a fierce and masculine charm that was intoxicating.

The style of his clothes and trousers was also mesmerizing.

Both the clothes and the pants were styles that Zhang Haibo, Wang Weidong, and others could never have imagined.

So cool, so stylish!

They stared at Du Qiu's imposing physique and cold face, and at the clothes and appearance of Du Qiu and his friends.

Those clothes clung to Ken Takakura's tall, imposing frame; every fold seemed meticulously designed, every curve conveying a chilling distance and an aura of...

An almost chilling attraction!

what is this?
This is fashionable!
The young people continued watching with near-obsessive fascination.

Du Qiu strode quickly across the street, the strong wind billowing the wide hem and hem of his clothes, his thick trouser legs fluttering and rustling with his firm steps.

Sometimes, when his trouser legs met his shiny, rugged black leather boots, they seemed to make a strange rustling sound!
Wang Weidong, who was sitting next to Li Xiaomei, suddenly shuddered, as if he had been struck by an electric current.

In the darkness, his right hand, which was resting on the cold wooden armrest, instinctively grabbed Li Xiaomei, who was sitting next to Tiantian.

Li Xiaomei didn't notice.

She was stunned into a daze by the intense plot, exciting visuals and sound effects in the movie!
This movie had a huge impact on young people.

Especially as a climactic scene unfolds, the female protagonist, Mayumi, in order to force the police officer to leave and create an opportunity for Du Qiu, actually takes off all her clothes in the hotel room and provocatively asks the officer, "I'm going to take a shower, do you want to shower with me?"

This really ignited the entire audience!

Many young men clapped and shouted, "That's so manly!"

The young woman blushed and became agitated.

This is what it means to love and hate fiercely!
Wang Weidong remained silent, but the bulging veins on the back of his hand testified to how excited he was.

Another thing is that he was still holding Li Xiaomei's wrist.

The sudden, sharp pain in her wrist snapped Li Xiaomei back to reality. She was shocked to realize that she had been holding her breath and her chest felt tight.

She tried to struggle quietly, but Wang Weidong held her wrist tightly and she couldn't budge it.

But in the darkness, Wang Weidong seemed completely unaware that he had grasped something.

His eyes, reflecting the light and shadow on the screen, shone like burning embers, fixed intently on the male protagonist.

It was nailed to his fluttering trench coat and flared trousers that made him walk with a breezy air, and to the cold, hard silence on Du Qiu's face that remained aloof yet powerful in the face of false accusations and pursuit.

As the plot unfolds, that unfamiliar Japanese city appears on screen time and time again.

A wide street market filled with bizarre and dazzling lights, where vehicles weave through like giant beetles...

The glass curtain walls of the skyscrapers reflect the sky like a silver waterfall...

The shelves in the shopping mall were piled high with goods in packaging I'd never seen before...

Even the coffee cans that fall out of vending machines on the street have packaging printed on them in unbelievably vibrant colors!

Every scene, every detail, is like a sharp icicle, repeatedly chipping away at the ice layer of cognition held by the Chinese people today.

The plot has reached its climax:

To prove his innocence, Du Qiu stood on the edge of the rooftop of the Metropolitan Police Department building in Shinjuku, Tokyo, which stood like a steel behemoth.

The wind whipped his hair wildly across his forehead and made his clothes flutter in the wind.

He glanced down—all the audience members, including Li Xiaomei and six other young people, also glanced down.

Their hearts started racing.

The city's neon lights spread out beneath my feet, shimmering with an eerie and bewitching glow, while the vehicles and pedestrians on the street looked like tiny ants.

This overhead shot is quite sharp, with a modern, commanding perspective, showing the people of the seaside city in the movie theater a mega-structure that they could not have imagined at all.

The height was dizzying and suffocating, and it also made one's heart race with inexplicable excitement.

A young woman screamed.

They didn't know that this was called acrophobia.

Finally, the final subtitle slowly appeared, and the music gradually faded away.

The screen was blank, reflecting the remaining light from the projector lamps, much like the mood of the audience.

Empty.

But it was also full of light!

light is on.

The pure white light flooded the entire screening room like water, stinging the eyes that had just emerged from double vision.

People stood up one after another, and the crackling of wooden chairs being overturned, the sound of footsteps, and coughs resumed, but it was no longer the buzzing noise that had preceded the entrance.

No one spoke, no one laughed or joked.

The dazzling lights, the breathtaking prosperity, the intensity and the starkness of the past hour have left everyone stunned and unable to recover.

Especially young people.

They consider themselves different from their parents who lived in poverty, believing that they have seen many new things and been exposed to a lot of new information.

As a result, a single movie shattered the pride they had maintained for so many years.

The immense sense of loss between oneself and the bustling life, and the bewilderment as if one had been violently pushed aside by modern civilization, swept over every soul that had just emerged from the darkness.

Including those six young men.

They moved mechanically with the flow of people, their feet feeling as if they were stepping on soft cotton, descending the steps and passing through the smelly corridor.

The heavy double wooden doors creaked open, and the biting cold wind of the early winter night rushed in from the street outside.

They instinctively shrank their necks.

The huge neon sign of the movie theater flashed red, blue, purple and green lights overhead, and the ever-changing halo of light painted on everyone's face.

Look out using this light.

The streets in the distance were deserted and empty.

The roadside trees looked lifeless.

The buildings are low and dilapidated.

The autumn wind was chilly, and when it suddenly blew in, many people shivered, as if they had just been forcefully awakened from a strange and eerie dream.

"Oh my god!" Zhao Aihong grabbed Chen Xiuqin's wrist tightly, "Mayumi's dress!"

"Xiaomei, did you notice? That dress!"

On screen, Mayumi once twirled around in a beige dress, which drew gasps of amazement from all the young women in the audience.

How could Li Xiaomei not notice?
The skirt's hem flared out like an umbrella, making it more fashionable than any tailor shop in the seaside city.

But Li Xiaomei didn't want to talk at that moment.

She leaned against the tree trunk, staring blankly at her clothes.

The blue work cloth was spotless; she had washed it until it was sparkling clean.

She used to work in the propaganda department and loved beauty, so she secretly and proudly added a waist-cinching design to her clothes.

When she stands up straight, it's easy for people to notice her slender waist.

But after watching the movie, her clever modification turned into a joke.

She even thought of a word she had learned in a book:
Peasant-like cunning.

The act of altering one's own work jacket appears, in contrast to the polished ready-made clothes worn by any female character in the film, as a kind of peasant cunning.

"What's wrong?" Wang Weidong noticed that she was in a bad mood and asked with concern.

Li Xiaomei remained silent, lowered her head, and walked away from the sycamore tree.

The others were completely bewildered and had no choice but to follow her.

They stood in stark contrast to the young people around them who were enthusiastically discussing movies, Tokyo, Du Qiu, and Mayumi.

The six young people walked silently down the sparsely lit street.

The wind picked up, carrying dust and chill from the north.

Li Xiaomei subconsciously tucked her hands deeper into the pockets of her old blue cloth coat, which she had worn for several years and whose cuffs were already pilling.

What my fingertips touched was still that hard candy.

These were originally snacks she prepared for the movie.

But we didn't get to eat it.

So she silently peeled it open and put the small piece of orange-yellow candy inside into her mouth.

Soon, the tip of my tongue tasted a cheap, industrial sweetness, so strong it was cloying, far from the wonderful flavor I had imagined.

“That…that’s Japan?” Chen Xiuqin finally couldn’t hold back, her voice dry and trembling, breaking the stagnant silence.

She looked up at the faint outline of the city on the distant horizon.

There was only a gray, low-lying area there, a stark contrast to the gleaming steel skyscrapers in the movies.

Zhao Aihong tried hard to recall the scene of a clothing store that flashed by quickly on a street corner in the film. The store had a large shop window, and the plastic mannequins behind the window were wearing brightly colored clothes.

"Their clothes are so, so colorful..."

She didn't finish her sentence, but everyone understood what she meant.

Li Jinbao walked silently for a while, his hands tucked into the pockets of his equally old, worn-out military green trousers, the knees of which were visibly white and worn through.

His brows furrowed, and his usually cheerful face was taut.

After taking a few steps, it was as if a string that had been taut in his mind had suddenly been plucked by something.

He turned to look at the silent Wang Weidong beside him, his raised voice seeming to be directed at Wang Weidong as well as at everyone else:

"I mean, those pants Du Qiu was wearing when he jumped off the building! The kind that's baggy at the bottom and fitted at the top, what's that thing called again? It's always like that, the kind where the cuffs can fan out..."

Wang Weidong was taken aback by the question.

The pants Du Qiu wears throughout the entire film? They're dark-colored, and the style is indeed very unique.

The upper half was extremely fitted, following the leg muscles all the way down, but suddenly flared out like a trumpet below the knee, with the wide trouser legs swaying as if caught in the wind when walking.

This cut...

"Bell-bottoms, huh?" Zhao Aihong interjected hesitantly, her voice soft.

Li Xiaomei finally spoke up: "It's bell-bottoms. I remember it. When the policeman at the beginning was called something like Yamura, he himself called those pants bell-bottoms."

"Bell-bottoms!" Li Jinbao seemed to be ignited by the name.

He slapped his forehead, his voice trembling with excitement: "Yes, yes, yes! This is it! Du Qiu wears it, Du Qiu looks so cool in it, I wish I had a pair too..."

He couldn't help but glance down at the stiff, worn-out army green pants he was wearing.

The others looked at him, their eyes shining.

If I had one too...

This idea was like a strong electric current, instantly piercing through the confusion, shock, and indescribable longing that had been building up in the hearts of the six young people.

The image of those figures, dressed in stylish bell-bottoms, striding confidently towards their pursuers, flashed vividly through everyone's minds once again.

Zhang Haibo, who had been silent until now, slowly said, "I don't know how they got the clothes inside, but I have a way with the bell-bottoms!"

The other five looked at him with surprise: "Haibo, do you have any ideas?"

Li Xiaomei smiled wryly and said, "Are you going to change them yourself? Actually, I already knew that some people were wearing bell-bottoms. When I went to visit one of my friends at Haibin Science and Technology College, one of her classmates was wearing them."

"These bell-bottoms are hard to alter because..."

“Because I won’t change it,” Zhang Haibo continued in a slow, deliberate tone. “I know where to sell it.”

"It's Taishan Road right next to us! A new clothing factory opened on Taishan Road; they produce bell-bottoms..."

Li Xiaomei interrupted him, her pretty face clearly showing shock: "How come I didn't know? I go to the department store every Sunday."

Zhang Haibo said, "Let me finish—it seems that the clothing factory on Taishan Road only opened in the last few months. I guess their production wasn't included in the plan, so the bell-bottoms they produce can't be sold in the department store."

"But they sell them themselves right at the factory gate!"

"Are you sure?" Li Xiaomei seemed to come alive again, her big eyes shining brightly. "Like the bell-bottoms in the movies?"

Zhang Haibo said, "I can confirm it. If you've ever eaten at their mobile canteen on Taishan Road, you'd know that their team members all wear these bell-bottoms..."

"Let's go take a look!" Wang Weidong said instinctively.

"Yes, let's go to Taishan Road!"

Li Jinbao pointed towards the dark, gloomy direction ahead, which led deep into the old city: "Turn! Quickly!"

Without the slightest hesitation, the group quickened their pace.

No password, no discussion.

The wind whistled in my ears.

My heart was pounding wildly in my chest, like a drumbeat, the thumping sound drowning out the wind, the rustling of falling leaves, and the occasional questioning glances from night travelers.

Six young men moved swiftly like the wind.

It's like heading towards a free new world!

(End of this chapter)