This is a world where the fog never seems to lift.
The large ship is like a ghost ship, empty except for itself, and all the other moving things are just shikigami, or mechas. Ye Lingyu still hasn't figured out what those things are. But after being attacked by herself, all the shikigami would attack her presence, as if she had triggered some kind of... defense mechanism in them. The only thing that is certain is that their actions are limited to the cabin. Once exposed, even on the open deck, they will not take another step forward. When they attack, they will extend a kind of slender tentacles that are not usually displayed. The width is even, the front end is sharp, and the length seems to be endless. When Ling Quan runs onto the ship's deck, those tentacles will stop abruptly and stop moving forward. She didn't know what it was, she just felt sick.
She didn't know how long she had been wandering here. But, at least the time substitution here is so normal. The entire ship was enveloped in thick fog, and her sight could not reach any further place. Everywhere you look, there are rolling rivers. She often got seasick from the turbulence, but she had nothing left to throw up. Getting food is not easy these days. Because she no longer eats processed food on the ship, she is no longer affected by any enchantment formations or ghost walls in the ship. The structure inside the ship is very fixed. Those shikigami started patrolling, and she had to avoid them. I was able to defeat them before because the tentacles hadn't been triggered yet, but it was different now. The only way for Lingyu to get food is to find a gap in their patrol and run to the kitchen. There is a warehouse in the kitchen, which stores a lot of raw rice, noodles, and vegetables. They always seem to be fresh. Is it because they are under the influence of some magic? Ling Huan no longer dared to eat. And until now, she still hasn't figured out where the rust-like powder came from. In the past few days, she had to rely on eating raw rice grains to stay alive.
No one comes anymore...maybe it's because time is running out. Anyway, neither that young master nor anyone else came to deal with this out-of-control place. Perhaps the truth can be figured out. After all, it is lonely and isolated on the vast river, and it is difficult for news to be conveyed. Ling Huan knew that he had to think of some way, at least to leave before the young master came again.
Ling Hu's stomach often feels heavy and sore, probably caused by the indigestible uncooked rice. She recalled inexplicably that the elders said that during the famine, people in many places could only live by eating Guanyin soil. Even now, many poor people still live on this. She had asked at that time that it was impossible for soil to be digested, wouldn't it be... excreted in the end? The elders said, yes, there is really nothing we can do, but at least we can trick our stomach into knowing what it feels like to be full. Moreover, a lot of soil cannot be expelled. If you drink some water, it will be firmly stuck in your stomach, and your belly will still be high until you starve to death.
Education like this is very common in the Ye family. Before their ancestors became rich, they also lived in poverty. Nowadays, the family is not very prosperous, but it still occupies a small corner in various fields of the world, relying on passing on this spirit. Of course, Ling Huan had never been hungry since she was a child. No matter how much she sympathized with the poor people in the story, it was just something in the story. But now, hunger is really coming to my door. During the short period of time when she and Xie Zhe were traveling around the world, there were certainly times when she couldn't eat on time, but she didn't feel any pain because she knew that the next meal would always be there. Even in the wilderness, a good hunter like Han Zhang could get them game. It’s completely different now. Every day is on tenterhooks, and every grain of rice is hard-earned. When she really couldn't swallow them, she would grind them into finer pieces with her teeth, mix them with saliva and turn them into porridge, which was almost cooked.
This life would never last, she knew, and she couldn't wait another day.
Ling Huan has noticed that the fog will not dissipate day or night, and it must be caused by magic. What she couldn't figure out was what role did the fog play? According to her current deduction, this may be the source of power for the ship. For such a large, quiet ship had no oars, but it drifted slowly. Another thing that puzzled her was that she wanted to know what kind of river this river was? There are at least a dozen such wide rivers in her knowledge. But no matter which one, it will pass through some large cities, and the cities along the large rivers are very prosperous. But these days, she never heard any noise coming from the shore. Could it be that this ship is traveling very slowly and has never passed a town before?
She must leave. Can't stay any longer.
Ling Quan sat on the side of the boat and looked at the river below. It was already dark, but there was a warm shimmer on the water, which was reflected from nowhere. She wasn't very good at swimming, to the point where she couldn't drown herself. The distance from the river bank was completely invisible due to the thick fog. Nothing in her package was valuable, and she didn't plan to take the risk. Anyway, the most precious things, Wan Guizhi and Tao Xun, were not in her hands. She held her breath and stared at the river, finally made up her mind, leaned forward and jumped.
The sound of water blasted in my ears, and the water was bone-chillingly cold, hardly like summer temperature. For some reason, the water here was very thick and heavy, as if countless hands were dragging her. She swam vigorously in the water, trying to overcome these inexplicable resistances. The fog was so long that there was no end in sight, and she felt discouraged every time she took a breath. But when she accidentally opened her eyes in the water, she felt that everything in front of her eyes was red, as if she was struggling in a sea of blood. But she confirmed that her clothes were not dyed and the water had no strange smell. Is there something wrong with my eyes?
Her strength was slipping away, and she feared she wouldn't be able to swim to shore. To her comfort, the fog became much thinner. She tried her best to make sure she swam in one direction, cheering herself up in her mind. It has been so long, so we are probably very close to the shore, right? She didn't know if there were any pursuers behind her, and she didn't know if the night could provide her with cover, so she could only swim desperately. If this goes on, Ling Huan becomes more and more tired, feeling that the strength around him is getting weaker and weaker, and he can't even encourage himself.
Her consciousness was on the verge of losing consciousness. Just then, she saw a red flower.
What's this? Is it stretching from the shore? It must be very close to the shore! Ling Huan suddenly felt that strength surged into his limbs again, and he stretched out his right hand and grabbed the leafless flower tightly. This flower is very strong, like a hemp rope. What's even more amazing is that it spreads to Ling Huan's arm, and he pulls her up with the same force.
Ling Quan came to the land, like a embarrassed reptile. She coughed hard to get rid of the water in her throat. The vision was still blurry, covered with a thin layer of water. While lying on the ground, in addition to the outlines of her own hands, she also saw a pair of red shoes directly in front of her field of vision.
She recovered slightly, raised her head, and looked up along the shoes.
She is a woman in red shoes and red skirt, with long black hair, who seems to be the same age as herself. As soon as Ling Huan regained consciousness, he hurriedly got up and said to her in a panic:
"Did you save me? I saw a flower..."
When I looked towards the shore again, there were no flowers anywhere. The surrounding area was deserted, with only yellow-brown sand and not even a single green weed to be seen. What surprised her even more was that it was already dark when she jumped off the side of the ship, but now... why was it only the sunset? The sky was orange-red and looked warm, but she couldn't feel any temperature.
It was all so weird that it frightened her.
Seeing that she suddenly stopped talking, the woman in front of her looked confused.
"I saw you struggling in the water."
Her voice was very calm, which made Ling Huan feel a little comforted. She turned back to look at the river. She didn't know whether it was the sunset or the water itself, but the color there was a strange blood-yellow. Ling Huan stammered:
"I, I got off a ship. I was caught by bad guys, and I found an opportunity to escape at night..."
"Where is the boat?" The woman was confused. "The river has always been so calm, and it has never been dark."
A few simple sentences made it almost impossible for Ling Huan to process the information. She stared blankly at the spacious river surface. There was indeed nothing on it, and there was no sign of any big ship. She suspected that the strange fog had hidden the ship. In other words, was the ship still somewhere? If so, will those shikigami catch up? Thinking of this, she couldn't help but take a few steps back. Besides, on this day, from what the woman said, there had never been a change of day and night. If she had escaped from the boat at dawn, she would not have believed what the woman said, but where is the saying that the sun turns back at night? Could it be that every day and night she endured was an illusion created by the strange fog?
"Then, where is this place?" Ling Huan asked dryly.
"This is the bank of the Burial Head River."
"Is it...the intersection of life and death?"
"Exactly."
"So I'm dead?"
Ling Huan couldn't believe it, she stood there helplessly. The water stains on her body had dried, which was unnatural, but she was in no mood to worry about that. She wanted to cry a little, but she couldn't. She clearly felt that she was still alive.
"Ordinary people shouldn't be able to enter here." The woman tilted her head, "Maybe you are still alive."
Also, 80% of the time, he was in the ship and was hidden in some way by the Wuyong clan. Thinking about it this way, they are really smart. She felt slightly relieved, but unabated.
"What's on your arm?" The woman pointed to her wrist, "Why are there so many little dots?"
"I, I don't know..."
Only then did Ling Huan realize that there were indeed dense black spots on his arms, but they were very inconspicuous. How did this girl see them? Then again, she hadn't noticed it herself, maybe she was a little... malnourished. When you don’t eat the right food, you will always get a lot of strange diseases. Previously, because the light was too dark and her mind was not on her body, she had not noticed these small changes. She guessed that she must look like a refugee now.
Ling Huan asked cautiously: "Then who are you? Are you an impermanent ghost, or...a monster?"
"Me?" The woman pointed to herself, "I want to know too. I am neither a human nor a ghost, and I am not restricted by any boundaries. I can come and go freely. If you want to know something, you can call me She Zishu."
"Sa Zishu... then, Miss Zishu, how should I leave here?"
"There are many ways, many roads. Where do you want to go?"
"..."
Ling Huan didn't know where she wanted to go or where she could go. Of course she wanted to go home, but how did the girl in front of her know where she lived? At present, it seems that it is a great good thing that she is willing to help him.
"I think... when we return to this world, the closer the better, and the more people there are, the better."
