Mysterious Hidden Journey

Chapter 4

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Chapter 4

Day finally arrived, and the fire had already died out.　　They continued their journey and exited the valley, only to come to an empty s.p.a.ce. The frost and snow swirling and dancing in the air blocked their vision in front, leaving only a hazy blur. They could only see that there were short, withered tree stumps peaking out unevenly from the ground blanketed in snow. The snow soon melted, instantly showing the bare earth. When they looked around, there were only tree stumps. Past the horizon, it was only a white hazy blur. “We will have to hold hands to avoid getting lost,” Ah Can said as he extended his arm to her. Xinqing started, but she still took his proffered hand without hesitation. When his warm hand held hers, Xinqing felt very safe and secure. Two figures, one short and the other tall, walked together shoulder-to-shoulder carefully. They couldn’t see clearly what was before them, and they didn’t know whether terrifying monsters would appear. “What is this place?” “This is the Broken Forest,” replied Ah Can. The Broken Forest, just as they could see, had no trees, only the stumps of chopped-off trees. Although she didn’t know why the trees were cut, but Ah Can told her that these trees weren’t chopped down, but were instead like there in the first place. There was not a blade of gra.s.s nor a single flower here, because this place could never grow wild gra.s.s, neither could it grow flowers.　　There was no shortage of wonders to be had in this world, it was just like a fantastical world which amazes people. Although it was the world of death, it had scary places, beautiful places, and peaceful places. It was a place where monsters, ghosts, tree G.o.ds or cat G.o.ds could exist.　　As they slowly walked out from the fog-filled Broken Forest, they seemed to see something before them. When they got closer, Xinqing herself was surprised. An emaciated woman sat upon the back of a horse that had long since turned into bones. She wore an old red robe, with the robe already utterly tattered. In her embrace, she held a child wrapped in white. The exposed arms and feet of the child were an eerie white. She gently caressed the child in her arms, but her eyes were simply deep empty holes.　　She did not pay any attention to them, and she didn’t attack them like monsters did. Xinqing was afraid, yet she was sympathetic towards the woman. What she saw was simply a mother holding a child. Although this scene was heartbreaking, it was also filled with maternal love. “Do you want to hear her story?” Ah Can turned around to ask Xinqing. “You know her story?” Xinqing was surprised, but she was interested at the same time. Ah Can nodded. He had some knowledge about this woman. Not only this woman, he also knew about the things and happenings here. “She was originally the wife of a shepherd, but due to war, the enemy troops had invaded her country, and invaded her town. They killed everyone including her husband and family. At that time, she was already on her horse with her child about to run, but bombs repeatedly fell upon the entire town. The fire surrounded her so she couldn’t escape, and so she was burned alive in the fire along with her horse and child.” Xinqing stared at the emaciated woman holding her child on the horse. Now that she knew the woman’s backstory, it was as if she was touched by something, but she couldn’t move. It was as if that scene appeared before her eyes, as if she lived during that warring era. Everyone was running as bombs rained down, houses were destroyed, the residents were slaughtered. The sounds of wailing and crying wouldn’t stop. Blood flowed like rivers, and corpses littered the ground. It was difficult to escape the cold blades and the bombs. This was the first time Xinqing comprehended death. Everyone fears to face death, but there are also some people who had long since stopped being afraid of death, having grown indifferent to everything. Ah Can suddenly grabbed her hand, his smile shallow. “Let’s go.” Xinqing walked behind him, looking at the hand leading her and then looking back at that skinny and lonely figure. She suddenly felt that she wanted to understand him more deeply. She really wanted to know his past, and she also really wanted to know how he lived his days alone in this world. “Ah Can,” Xinqing called softly. “Yes?” He replied, but he did not turn his head. “N-nothing.” The questions that Xinqing wanted to ask didn’t make it out of her mouth. She lowered her head, but her thought began to become complicated.Chapter 5 Within the thick dense fog was a small town suspended in the air. The floating buildings looked to be in a constant state of disrepair: the rubble and the run-down broken houses all looked as if their positions were fixed in the air.　　Xinqing and Ah Can walked under the town. The rubble around them floated, as if they would never fall to the earth. She couldn’t help but stretch out a hand to touch a rock. When she touched it, the rock floated away. “It’s said that this town will automatically restore itself once in a hundred years in this world, but after a period of time, it then becomes rundown again… for several hundred years, this cycle has repeated itself. It is like how a queen of the night blooms and then withers,” explained Ah Can.　　”Restore itself?” Xinqing was astonished. “Yes, that means it returns itself to how the town originally looked,” said Ah Can. “This town has been here since ancient time, it’s just that it doesn’t exist in the real world any more.” “It’s just that, why did it become like this?” Xinqing still didn’t know why this town would repeatedly restore itself and then fall back into disrepair. “This is like the real world and history: when an era changes, the new era will replace the old one, and the old era will die, thus forming a new look. A hundred years later, the new becomes old and fades away. A new appearance is then formed, and so on, never to change.” Hearing Ah Can’s words, Xinqing had the look of someone who now understood something. Death would welcome birth, and the new era will replace the old era. Wasn’t that how it cycled?　　Suddenly, a red b.u.t.terfly flew past Xinqing. She was surprised: how could this place have b.u.t.terflies? The red b.u.t.terfly fluttered its thin red wings, light faintly shining off it. It then settled on one of the floating rocks. Xinqing blinked, then curiously made her way over. That b.u.t.terfly did not seem afraid of her, and it didn’t fly away. The b.u.t.terfly fluttered its wings again, and then flew up in the direction of the floating town. The rocks which were floating around her suddenly began to move, flying up to the town piece by piece and beginning to put themselves together. Xinqing was rooted to the spot; even Ah Can was seeing this once-in-a-lifetime event for the first time ever. The broken rundown town turned back into its old self in a blink of an eye. The houses and roads appeared and spread out in the air, the withered trees grew green leaves, the withered flowers in flowerpots by the windows bloomed again brilliantly. A few red b.u.t.terflies flew past the two of them, as if they were dancing. Under the azure blue sky, it formed a parallel world. Xinqing had never seen such a wonderous happening before. She stood dumbfounded for ages, What attracted her was not only the b.u.t.terflies, and was not only the scene of the town restoring itself, but the miracles that existed in this world.　　Ah Can extended his hand, and a red b.u.t.terfly settled upon it. However, Xinqing saw that his hand had turned transparent for an instant. Xinqing froze that instant: why did his hand turn transparent? Wasn’t he already dead? It was only after the b.u.t.terfly flew off that Ah Can took back his hand. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and walked over to Xinqing. When he saw Xinqing with her head low and her expression distracted, he was worried. “Is there something wrong?” “No, let’s go,” Xinqing said as she squeezed out a smile, before turning to leave as if nothing ever happened. She walked in front of Ah Can, but her heart refused to calm itself. It was an indescribable feeling, as if she was scared of something.　　Every time she got closer to Ah Can, she couldn’t help but want to see his worldm yet she was afraid to know. She clutched her hand by her chest: what exactly was this odd feeling?| | Chapter 6

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