Sometimes far away, sometimes close, as if in the fields, as if by the riverbank, they could always see the figures of that mother and child, soaked by rain and leaning against each other beneath a banana leaf.
It swayed.
"Klaus! Klaus! Cough, cough... cough, cough..."
"Ruan Ming?"
The instant he came to, Klaus's hands were clamped tightly around Ruan Ming's neck—almost killing him.
He hurriedly released him, and Ruan Ming coughed painfully without stopping.
"I had a nightmare." Klaus frowned.
"I... I could tell..." Ruan Ming said between breaths. "Are you all right? I heard you suddenly passed out in front of my house..."
"It's nothing." Klaus shook his head. "What about you? Why are you here... Have you finished everything?"
Ruan Ming shook his head gloomily, hesitating to speak.
"What is it?" Klaus keenly sensed that something was wrong.
Ruan Ming gritted his teeth and slowly spread open his palm. A button lay in it. "Klaus, when I was arranging Grandpa Sanshui's body, I found this in his hand..."
Klaus frowned. "What are you trying to say?"
"This isn't my grandpa's. How could it... Why would Grandpa be clutching..." Ruan Ming grabbed Klaus's shoulder. His body trembled, and his voice shook as well. "Klaus, do you know... who this might belong to? Tell me... could it be that Grandpa's fall wasn't... an accident?"
Looking at the panic-stricken young man, Klaus suddenly slapped both hands against his face.
"K-Klaus?"
"Leave this to me for now, all right? You only need to do what you have to do now, understood?" He stared intently into Ruan Ming's eyes as he slowly took the button from his palm. "Understood?"
Ruan Ming finally nodded, still trembling.
Klaus said, "Aside from this button, did you find anything else? Or did anyone around you appear...