I am weak and friendly

Chapter 72 Du Yuanshan's Legacy, [The Heart of the City That Stopped Beating] (Please continue reading)
As if endless darkness were sweeping in, Tang Yiping felt that everything around him was blurry.

A force pulled him toward the deepest darkness, where the darkness dissolved him.

Memories are fading, light is fading, and colors are disappearing.

But before it all faded away, it all repeated itself.

Therefore, this darkness is also so colorful and radiant.

At that moment, he seemed to have returned to when he was six years old, playing football with Master Tang under the tree.

"Kick it! Give it your all!"

The big tree disappeared, Master Tang disappeared, and the football disappeared too.

Then it seemed as if he had returned to when he was twelve years old.

He returned home with his schoolbag on his back, threw it down, and shouted:
"Mom, I'm hungry! What's for dinner today? It smells so good!"

Mrs. Mu came out of the kitchen carrying a large bowl of braised pork ribs and smiled at him.

Mrs. Mu disappeared, the schoolbag disappeared, and the braised pork ribs disappeared too.

Then comes eighteen.

Someone pushed a wheelchair in front of him and said to him, "..."

What did you say?
who is it?

Why don't I remember?

Is this death?

Strangely, there was no pain.

There was no fear.

All that remains is loss.

A permanent loss.

This is [the moment of death].

Tang Yiping sat in the wheelchair for a very long time before slowly opening his eyes.

But Du Yuanshan's eyes never opened again.

It seemed that his recent clarity of mind had exhausted his strength.

In the ward, most people had left, leaving only Qiu Zhaodong and the round-faced nurse.

Qiu Zhaodong remained silent, while the round-faced nurse continued to wipe the old man's body, crying as she did so.

Tang Yiping held the hand of the elderly Du Yuanshan.

The elderly man's body temperature was dropping, and his heart rate was getting weaker and weaker.

His breathing became louder, one breath after another, like panting, groaning, or sighing.

Each breath seemed to drain his strength.

Suddenly, he spoke.

It's not done by using a mobile phone to open the door.

It was him speaking.

He opened his mouth and said something.

"Grandpa?" Tang Yiping thought the old man might have some last words, and hurriedly moved closer. "Are you going to contact them? Are you going to..."

Tang Yiping paused.

He finally heard what the old man was saying.

He was calling out "Mom".

In fact, after suffering a stroke, Mr. Du Yuanshan had lost the ability to speak.

But some things are not about language.

It's more like a human instinct, engraved in our genes, and the first word everyone utters.

It is also the only way for any little baby, who is too ignorant to understand anything, to ask for help from the outside world.

Whenever he utters that word, there is always a warm embrace that holds him.

Drive away all hunger, fear, pain, and anxiety.

Hold him in your arms, tightly.

Then, everything will be alright.

everything will get better.

When an elderly person is on their deathbed, and there is no one left to turn to or to comfort them.

He only had one person left to turn to for help.

It's mom.

"Mommy mommy……"

"Mother……"

However, the person who could comfort and soothe him no matter what was wrong with him was long gone.

His calls were destined to go unanswered. "Mom, Mom..."

The old man called out again and again, but his voice grew weaker and weaker.

Tang Yiping looked up and saw the round-faced nurse looking at him expectantly, hoping that he could comfort the old man again.

But he knew that nothing in this world could comfort the old man anymore.

The "Friendly Beacon" or anything else has lost its meaning.

All he could offer was a hug.

The old man's hair had long since fallen out due to chemotherapy, and his skin was dry and withered like straw, with almost no flesh underneath.

Tang Yiping even felt that he had almost no weight.

Tang Yiping hugged her so easily.

“I’m here,” he said softly.

In that instant, Tang Yiping remembered the sentence he couldn't recall at all when he was on his deathbed.

That's what Master Tang said to him when he climbed onto the rooftop, intending to end his life.

He gently kissed the old man's forehead, then whispered:
"Child, give up, living is too painful."

"You can give up now, you can give up now."

"I'm allowing you to give up."

He softly hummed the lullaby that his teacher's wife had sung to him when he was a child.

"Go to sleep, go to sleep."

He said.

The calling stopped, and the sound of panting breaths gradually subsided.

The old man opened his eyes.

the last time.

He looked at Tang Yiping with a smile on his face.

So happy, so warm, so innocent.

"Ah—" he sighed his last breath.

He closed his eyes again.

Go to sleep.

"Di-"

—[Carrion Consumption] Success! You have obtained the [Heart of a Stopped City], a legacy left by the Homo sapiens Du Yuanshan upon his death.

—【The Stopped Heart of the City】: You know this city like the back of your hand, and what it should have been like. Every alley and every building is etched in your mind; you know their past and can foresee their future. Every city and every building is willing to confide in you; if you listen carefully, you can always hear the heartbeat that once resonated within you.

Perhaps, in the end, the old man left his inheritance to Tang Yiping.

The most precious one.

……

In the distant South Pacific islands, at dawn, in a detached house, some silent middle-aged men are always startled awake from their beds.

Outside the window, something was blown away by the wind, making a crackling sound.

Beside me, my wife wasn't fully awake yet. She probably heard the noise and mumbled something. Last night was a night of movies and games; after such a weekend of indulgence, now was a rare opportunity to catch up on sleep.

He didn't want the noise to wake the neighbor's child.

"You go back to sleep, I'll go check on things." He got up, put on his coat, went downstairs, and opened the door.

A cold wind blew, and the man shivered. He looked up and saw that the yellow trash can in front of his house had been blown over, with trash scattered all over the ground. The lid was being blown back and forth by the wind, making a clattering sound.

I righted the trash can and placed it in a spot where it wouldn't be exposed to the wind.

A snowflake falls.

It's snowing on the warm northern island!

For a fleeting moment, he suddenly recalled the city where he grew up, a city where it always snowed in winter.

I remembered the castle I built with snow when I was a child.

Why can't I remember what happened to that castle in the end?

He shook his head, trying to banish these unwanted memories.

I don't know if it will snow later, so I can dig out the snow play equipment that I bought years ago but haven't used. It would be great if I could build them a snow castle.

he thinks.

He turned and walked back to the house, intending to sleep a little longer.

"How foolish!" he heard someone say in his ear.

He turned around abruptly, but saw no one, only a snowflake entering his eye.

　Right, Uncle Ha doesn't have a knife, does he?

　　
　
(End of this chapter)