One person: Senior brother Zhang Zhiwei, the Celestial Master begged me to descend the mountain.

The path on the back mountain is much more rugged than the one on the front mountain.

The bluestone slabs underfoot were in disrepair, with unknown wild grasses sprouting from the cracks, occasionally startling a few grasshoppers hiding in the grass.

The sky was getting dark.

The setting sun cast long shadows of the two people, which were crookedly imprinted on the mottled stone steps.

It took about fifteen minutes to walk there.

A lone courtyard appeared ahead.

This courtyard has been abandoned for who knows how long. The red brick walls are covered with withered ivy, and the dark wooden door is half-open, with the copper rings on it covered in green rust.

It looks like a forgotten corner.

Zhang Taichu stopped and pointed to the dilapidated courtyard:

"arrive."

"You'll be living here from now on."

Chen Duo stopped two steps behind him.

She didn't look at the yard immediately, but instead raised her head and stared intently at the two-meter-high wall.

That wall is very high.

It's also very thick.

Although it was dilapidated, its enclosed structure and the way it completely separated the inside from the outside...

too familiar.

Chen Duo's breathing became slightly more rapid.

Her pupils began to dilate slightly, and her once clear eyes became empty.

Memories flooded back like a tide.

Those cold steel walls, those cameras flashing red lights, those people in protective suits observing them as if they were monsters…

And that bunker that you can't escape no matter how hard you run.

"here……"

Chen Duo's voice trembled slightly. She subconsciously took half a step back, her hands gripping the hem of her Taoist robe tightly, her knuckles turning white from the force.

"Is this... also the place where I'm locked up?"

Is this the only exit?

"I won't run... but I can't run away anyway..."

She was muttering to herself.

My body began to tremble uncontrollably.

That was a servility ingrained in their very bones, an instinctive fear formed after years of imprisonment.

Even after changing clothes, even after leaving that city.

But whenever she sees a wall, whenever she sees this enclosed space, she feels like she's still that little white mouse locked in a cage.

Zhang Taichu turned around.

He looked at the girl trembling in the shadows and frowned slightly.

Then he turned around and strode to the half-closed wooden door.

He lifted his leg.

boom!!!

A loud bang.

The heavy wooden door, which was already rickety, was kicked off the frame and sent flying.

Wood chips flew everywhere.

The two door panels, like two broken wooden planks, slammed heavily onto the pile of weeds in the yard, stirring up a cloud of dust.

Along with it, half of the already flimsy courtyard wall collapsed with a crash.

The entire courtyard instantly became bright and airy.

Chen Duo was startled by the sudden loud noise.

She suddenly raised her head, her Qi instinctively circulating to its maximum, and a faint purple light even flashed in her eyes.

But next second.

She was stunned.

The door that blocked her way, that boundary that symbolized confinement and isolation.

Gone.

All that's left is a huge, empty gap.

The evening breeze blew in unimpeded through the gap, stirring her white dress and dispelling the musty smell of the courtyard.

"The door is too dilapidated; it's an eyesore."

Zhang Taichu patted the dust off his trousers, as if he had done something insignificant.

He turned around, looked at Chen Duo who was staring blankly, pointed to the large gap, and then pointed to the vast mountains behind him:

"Look carefully."

"It's not locked."

There was no surveillance footage.

"Come in if you want to sleep, go out if you want to wander around."

"If you still think this wall is too high and gets in your way while you're sunbathing..."

Zhang Taichu grinned, revealing a set of white teeth:

"Just tell me."

"Master, please do me a favor and help me tear down this whole wall."

Chen Duo stared blankly at the gap.

She tentatively stretched out her foot and stepped over what was originally a threshold.

No alarm sounded.

No electric current passes through the body.

No one rushed out to reprimand her for breaking the rules.

Only the wind.

The wind of freedom.

"Come in."

Zhang Taichu walked in, his hands behind his back, stepping over the scattered pieces of wood.

"It's a bit run-down, but at least it's a place to stay."

Chen Duo pursed her lips and followed.

The courtyard is not big.

The ground was paved with blue bricks, but because no one had taken care of it for so long, the cracks between the bricks were full of weeds that were half a person tall.

Several broken water vats were piled up in the corner, filled with rainwater, with a few withered yellow leaves floating on the surface.

Everything here exudes a sense of desolation and wildness.

Compared to the spotless, disinfectant-smelling white interior of the bunker, this place was horribly filthy.

But Chen Duo felt...

Very comfortable.

There is no suffocating order here.

"Meow!"

Sudden.

A dark figure darted out from the nearby bushes at great speed, heading straight for the top of the wall.

hum!

Almost at the same time.

Chen Duo's body reacted instantly.

Her pupils shrank to the size of pinpoints, and her right hand shot up abruptly, a chilling dark glint appearing at her fingertips.

If that dark figure gets any closer, by just half a meter, she can instantly turn it into a puddle of pus with her poison.

"That's a cat."

Zhang Taichu's voice rang out lazily.

He didn't even turn his head; he simply picked a green fruit from a nearby tree and flicked it with his finger.

Snapped.

The fruit hit the wild cat's rear end precisely.

"Meow!"

The wild cat let out a scream, its fur standing on end in fright. It scratched wildly at the top of the wall with its four paws, then leaped over the wall and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Chen Duo's hand froze in mid-air.

The glint of dark light at the fingertips slowly dissipated.

She looked in the direction the stray cat had disappeared, then looked at her own hands.

There are no enemies.

There was no assassination attempt.

That was just... a frightened little animal.

"Don't be so nervous."

Zhang Taichu walked over to the broken water vat, peered into the water, and seemed to be trying to figure out if fish could be kept in it.

"On this mountain, apart from that stupid cat, no one dares to bare their teeth at you."

"Take back those killing techniques."

"We won't need it anymore."

Chen Duo slowly lowered her hand.

She let out a long breath, feeling the tense muscles in her body gradually relax.

She turned her head and looked at the weeds covering the yard.

Some of the grass had turned yellow, some were still green, and some were blooming with unknown wildflowers.

It's a mess.

Yet it is full of vitality.

Chen Duo walked over.

She crouched down, reached out, and gently grasped a foxtail grass.

Slightly cool.

Rough.

It's also a little bit prickly.

She pulled hard.

puff.

The grass roots were pulled out with a clump of damp soil.

A faint earthy smell wafted over.

Chen Duo brought the clump of soil to her nose and smelled it.

It is soil.

It's the true taste of the earth.

"I think……"

Chen Duo crushed the clump of soil, watching the fine grains of sand slip through her fingers and fall back to the ground.

"I want to grow something here."

Back in Biyou Village, her job was only to kill or be studied.

No one had ever told her that these hands could create anything other than destroy.

Zhang Taichu turned around and glanced at her.

The sun had completely set by then.

The last rays of sunlight shone on the girl crouching in the grass, gilding her slender figure with a faint golden edge.

"Let's plant it."

Zhang Taichu shrugged:

"This land is yours."

You can plant whatever you want.

"Scallions, garlic, or chives?"

"If we go out like that, we can save some money on food."

Chen Duo shook her head.

She looked up, her eyes sparkling like stars just washed clean by the rain.

"flower."

"I want to plant flowers everywhere."

"That kind of flower...with many colors."

Zhang Taichu was stunned for a moment.

Then he laughed, a relaxed laugh.

"OK."

"Then let's plant flowers."

"I'll have that unlucky Zhang Chulan go down the mountain to buy you some seeds later."

"What if it doesn't grow..."

Zhang Taichu pointed to the broken jars in the corner:

"I made him drink all of your water tanks."

Chen Duo ignored his threat.

She simply looked at the patch of land overgrown with weeds, a very faint smile appearing on her lips.

That is an expectation for the future.

Even a broken door is still a door.

Chen Duo said softly.

She stood up, brushed the dirt off her hands, and for the first time, walked voluntarily into the house:

"This is home."