Song Ran thought, if he hadn't shielded her just now, these glass shards would probably be stuck in her face right now.

"I have erythromycin ointment." Song Ran turned to reach for her bag on the back seat, pulling out a small tube of erythromycin ointment and a small wet wipe.

Li Zan was amused. "Isn't erythromycin for eyes?"

"You're thinking of erythromycin eye ointment. It's an antibiotic anyway, it can kill germs," she muttered, gently wiping the back of his neck with the wet wipe. Perhaps afraid of hurting him, her touch was very light and gentle.

Li Zan kept his head down, only feeling her fingers through the wet wipe move across his neck, cool and a little itchy. After she wiped it clean, she unconsciously blew on it gently a couple of times to help it dry faster.

It became even itchier. His fingers dug into his knee; he almost shuddered.

She wiped her hands clean with a tissue, squeezed out some erythromycin ointment, and applied it to his wound. Probably for better effect, she spread it all around the wound area.

Li Zan let her be.

"Does it hurt?" she asked.

He chuckled with his head down. "What's there to hurt about?"

She thought about it and agreed.

"All done." She screwed the cap back on, sat back in her seat, and added, "Be a little careful, don't let your collar rub all the medicine off."

"Mm," he answered, the corners of his lips curving up ambiguously.

"What are you smiling about?"

He rubbed his face and shook his head. "Nothing."

Song Ran didn't believe him and looked at him doubtfully.

He smiled and said, "You're quite the nag. I didn't notice before."

"..." She muttered to herself, "What else could you possibly notice?"

"True," he said with a slight smile, looking out the window at the barren plains.

Just as Song Ran was about to drive, Li Zan suddenly said, "Song Ran."

This was the first time he had called her by her full name. She paused for a moment.

"Yes?"

Li Zan looked out the window. "Look, what's that?"

Song Ran lowered her head to look out his window. On the sandy plains outside, a vast, continuous olive grove was silhouetted on the distant horizon.

"That's... wait a minute..." Song Ran was utterly astonished.

Li Zan had already involuntarily pushed open the car door and gotten out. Song Ran also got out to gaze into the distance.

In all her past experience, she had never seen a sight as magnificent and stunning yet as absurd and unreal as this—

The golden sand stretched out in rolling dunes, the azure sky was boundless, and on this horizon of contrasting yellow and blue, floated a forest of white olive trees.

Yes, white.

From the leaves to the branches, everything was immaculately white; like pure snowflakes, or like the wings of a dove of peace. But they were truly, genuinely olive trees, each one lush with branches and leaves, standing on the vast, open plains.

"This..." Song Ran couldn't believe her eyes. "How can there be white olive trees?"

Li Zan gazed at the horizon, squinting to discern it for a long time, then suddenly said, "It's a mirage."

"Is it?" Song Ran couldn't tell. The forest was seamlessly connected to the land, not floating in the air. But if it wasn't a mirage, how else could one explain the wondrous sight before them?

"You think it's real?" Li Zan turned to look at her.

"It looks exactly like the olive groves I've seen along the way, except for the color," Song Ran said.

So Li Zan jumped onto the hood, then walked onto the roof, and sat down cross-legged, gazing at the horizon. "Then let's wait and see."

Song Ran was a little surprised, but she also thought it was a good idea. She climbed onto the hood as well, sitting with her legs dangling as she gazed at the distant horizon.

The afternoon sun blazed down overhead, without a breath of wind.

The two sat on the car, one high and one low, yet their hearts were exceptionally calm and peaceful.

The world was silent and vast. They waited.

After sitting for a while, Song Ran suddenly said, "Thinking about it now, it's really amazing. If this were a few years ago, I definitely couldn't have imagined that I'd be driving on a dilapidated concrete road in a war-torn country. And halfway through an escape, I'd even stop the car to sit and watch a mirage."

Li Zan hugged one knee and looked down at her. "You never thought you'd become a reporter back then?"

"No. I thought I'd end up working in a history museum. But now, I think being a reporter is great, too. I can record so many things. Maybe one day, I'll inadvertently record history."

"I don't think we need to wait for 'one day'," Li Zan said. "Every single person who exists in this world is a part of history. You, me, everyone here. Even if paper or pen doesn't remember, this land remembers."

Hearing this, Song Ran tilted her head to look at him. He sat high on the car roof, gazing at the distant sky and earth. As he said this, he seemed to be yearning for something, and his eyes held an indescribable tenderness and deep emotion.

She suddenly felt it very clearly—a deep love for life, or rather, for all living things.

A silent tenderness welled up in her heart.

She looked into the distance again and said, "What about you? Did you always want to be a soldier since you were a child?"

"Yes," he nodded.

"Why?"

"Remember the flood in '98?"

Song Ran said, "Which kid from our province wouldn't remember? Did a soldier save you?"

He smiled and shook his head. "My family lived inside Jiang City, so we were fine. But I saw a lot."

Song Ran nodded, indicating she understood.

"Look!" Li Zan pointed towards the horizon with his chin, reminding her.

The vast olive grove had indeed begun to slowly dissipate. Like a piece of paper soaked by water droplets, it slowly shrank towards the center as the moisture evaporated.

Neither of them spoke again. They were silent and still, staring unblinkingly at the slowly vanishing white olive grove on the horizon, as if to engrave the scenery and feeling of this moment into their hearts.

The forest grew smaller and smaller, until gradually, only a single olive tree remained, standing lonely and stubborn on the plain. Like the most silent watch over this land.

Song Ran suddenly said, "Can you make a wish on a mirage?"

Li Zan chuckled. "It's not a shooting star."

Song Ran: "But I feel you can make a wish on anything nature gives you."

As soon as she finished speaking, both fell silent for a moment, then suddenly said in unison, "Then I wish for world peace."

"My wish is for world peace."

They gazed at the horizon, hearing each other's voices merge with their own, and couldn't help but smile faintly. They didn't look at each other, but instead earnestly watched that white olive tree until it melted into the air, bit by bit, and vanished without a trace.

In the end, only the desolate, sandy plains and a sky so blue it was without a single impurity were left.

As if the magnificent sight he and she had just witnessed had never existed at all.