The Cicada's Youthful Days

The peace beneath the parasol tree was shattered by a shadow lurking in the dark.

There was no frantic chase, no sudden clash. A long, silent tug-of-war had quietly begun.

Zhao Lei was trapped in his resentment, lurking quietly in the streets and alleys, behind curtains of rain and beyond mailboxes, waiting for a gap through which he could draw near. Xu Man, Chen Yu, Lin Fan, Jiang Hao, and Mo Xiaoyu supported one another, holding their defenses through day after day of vigilance, learning calm and resilience in the face of fear.

Heavy rain blurred the surveillance cameras, letters carried old obsessions, and ominous whispers closed in step by step.

In the end, there was no confrontation and no reconciliation. Reality forced the hunter back, and the shadow drifted away into the distance.

The dread that had weighed on their hearts would eventually settle into the marks of memory. Carrying the wariness this experience had left them with, the young people returned to the everyday bustle of life. Peace was never eternal, only a brief pause between notes.