CHAPTER 321: CHAPTER 107: REBIRTH PHENOMENON

Stone Church, Highland Church, then Memorial Church. That collector named Yamai Ichiro was like the mist of Karuizawa, just as one caught sight of him, he soon vanished without a trace.

The only consolation for Su Ziceng was that in those churches, she could always hear about Yamai Ichiro, although by the time they arrived, Yamai Ichiro had already left, only by a day or two.

By the end of the month, they finally found reliable news about Yamai Ichiro in a church named Xize.

"That gentleman usually comes the next day," said the priest in the church, revealing that Yamai Ichiro had already been staying locally for three days, and based on past years, he would probably stay for another four to five days.

Thinking of the next day, Su Ziceng found a nearby hot spring hotel and settled in. The next morning, around eight o’clock, she waited inside the church, but ended up waiting all day without Yamai Ichiro showing up.

She patiently returned at the same time the next day, and waited until dusk fell and mist shrouded everything, yet Yamai Ichiro still didn’t appear.

On the third day, Su Ziceng couldn’t contain her impatience and sought out the priest again, who exclaimed in surprise upon hearing that she had waited for two full days.

The Japanese priest with a Kansai accent tapped his head and said: "I’m really sorry, look at my memory. When I said the next day, I meant according to Mr. Yamaiz’s schedule. He suffers from insomnia, so he often leaves at midnight and returns only in the early morning. ’Next day’ was meant to refer to the early morning, not the daytime."

This explained why the last time Su Ziceng encountered Yamai Ichiro, it was in the morning. By around 8 o’clock, he probably had already returned home, no wonder they kept missing each other repeatedly.

Understanding this, Su Ziceng sincerely requested that the female exchange student accompany her out again at night. After resting well in the hotel during the day, they didn’t set out until past eleven at night.

At night, under the illumination of streetlights and stars, the visibility was even clearer than during the day. Numerous stars filled every corner of the sky, and people’s shadow stretched long into the night, appearing somewhat lonely.

Xize Church never closed its doors at night, saying it was to allow anyone in need of help to find a suitable place to rest.

The surroundings were eerily quiet before midnight, with nothing but increasingly loud cricket chirps, without any other human breathing sounds.

Following the main entrance of the church, walking inside, one could see a bright lamp lit on the altar. Rows of pews were deserted. It was wet and cold outside, so they decided to wait inside the church.

The female exchange student felt sleepy and tried to sit close to a pew, but she screamed and jumped up the moment she sat down. It turned out there was a living person on the pew.

The person was lying flat, in a darker spot at the back rows of the church that the light couldn’t reach. In the dead of night, it frightened the female exchange student severely.

As Su Ziceng was about to move toward the front altar area, hearing the noise she turned back and saw the figure curled up on the pew.

"Yamai Ichiro," recognized Su Ziceng the dim figure; it was just a few days, but he seemed to have aged so much.

The female exchange student then realized that the person haphazardly sprawled on the church chair was the collector they had been searching for over half a month.

If it were not known that Yamai Ichiro had gone bankrupt, just seeing him on the street, Su Ziceng would never believe he was once a collector who possessed a great treasure.

The Yamai Ichiro in front of her was completely a vagabond, whose hair and beard had grown significantly over the month, looking like a wild man who just came out of the deep mountains.

The female exchange student made several attempts to talk, but Yamai Ichiro ignored her completely, not even sitting up but lying on the bench, staring fixedly at the dome of the church.

Su Ziceng was getting frantic as she and he did not speak the same language, and the female exchange student’s shouts were ignored.

The two stood in the empty church, surrounded by emptiness, where only three breaths could be heard. Su Ziceng thought for a moment, took out a dictionary from her pocket, and turned on her phone’s light to illuminate it, revealing a clear human anatomy sketch.

The white light dazzled Yamai Ichiro’s eyes, he looked at the sketch first. He seemed no longer to recognize the anatomy sketch he had drawn by himself.

Then his eyes moved, glancing at Su Ziceng’s face. Unfamiliar, Yamai Ichiro shook his head. He didn’t recognize this woman.

Su Ziceng grew more impatient, disregarding the fact that they were just acquaintances, she brushed away some stray hair blocking Yamai Ichiro’s view, his eyes fixed on herself, emphasizing some Arabic numerals deliberately.

Due to applying too much force, a chain fell from inside her down jacket. In the dark night, the Red Love looked like a piece of red-hot charcoal, searing into Yamai Ichiro’s eyes in an instant.

His hand, like a dry chicken claw, swayed in the air, trying to grasp the tempting red.

The moment his hand got close, it was as if he was scorched by flames, and he began yelling "wah lala".

Su Ziceng looked down in shock too. The Red Love, which hasn’t changed for a long while, was suddenly covered in numerous tiny red spines, appearing like a red hedgehog. The female exchange student also looked over but did not show any surprise, merely captivated by the beauty of the diamond.

Yamai Ichiro quickly sat up, his previously dull eyes now clear, gazing intently at Su Ziceng, and the red diamond that repelled others’ touch.

From his gaze, Su Ziceng was certain that apart from the female exchange student, Yamai Ichiro too could see the anomaly of Red Love. Maybe tonight... no, the large clock outside the church had already struck, twelve midnight.

There were no glass slippers, nor Cinderella. Inside the church, there were only a destitute man and a woman anxiously waiting for an answer.

"You can see it, tell me, tell me everything," Su Ziceng rushed forward in agitation, shaking Yamai Ichiro’s arm, screaming at the top of her lungs. She didn’t care if Yamai Ichiro might be frightened by her sudden act, she didn’t care about any language barrier, Su Ziceng knew, Yamai Ichiro understood her, understood her current plight —an awkward wandering spirit between the past and the future.

Conversely, the female exchange student was frightened by Su Ziceng’s actions, she looked at the church engulfed in darkness, then at the two people—one hot, one cold—and shivering said, "Sir, this lady wants to ask you some things?"

"I know," Yamai Ichiro spoke a sentence in proficient Chinese, with a Northeastern accent, but clearly Chinese, "I have already told you everything." (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation ticket and monthly ticket, your support is my greatest motivation.)