The Withered Rose

Thirty kilometers north of Black Flame City, on a stretch of hills outside the city, lay a cemetery. After learning that Angel and the others had been buried there, Zhang Tie left Black Flame City's northern gate alone on foot at daybreak on January 7th, with the cold wind howling around him, and came here by himself.

Knowing that Angel, Shawa, and the others had been close sisters at school, their families had buried the girls together so they would not be lonely.

The snow outside the city was deep. Every step Zhang Tie took sank past his knees. Wearing a trench coat, he spent two hours walking step by step from Black Flame City to this place.

The five fresh graves lined up side by side were conspicuous. Zhang Tie found them without much effort. A layer of pure white snow weighed upon the gravestones. He took off his gloves and brushed the snow away with his hands, revealing the girls' photographs.

The photographs were black and white.

Yet within those black-and-white pictures, Angel's brilliant golden hair, Shawa's beautiful face, Nia's lovely eyes, Hildina's infatuated clinginess toward him, and Mia's adorable dimples when she smiled seemed to reappear before Zhang Tie's eyes.

The days he had spent with those lovely girls felt like yesterday, yet now they were lying beneath the cold earth.

This was what separation in life and death meant.

Scalding liquid flowed from Zhang Tie's eyes, trickling down his face and dripping onto the icy gravestones.

When no more tears came, Zhang Tie bent down. He gently kissed each girl's gravestone, then turned and left.

After leaving this place, Zhang Tie made his way back toward Black Flame City step by step. When he saw the city gates, he did not enter. Instead, he went around