The flames hovered above the fallen reeds, and from a distance it looked like some kind of luminous yarn dancing on the waves. In the shadow under the fire, birds spread their wings and lay dormant, like a looming large bush of gorgeous flowers. They all leaned on each other quietly, looking at the direction where the reeds were pushed away with their beady eyes. In the center of the flock of birds, Jing Huang was dazed with his head down, while Yaleriga was teasing the trembling chicks on her palm with crumbs of bread.
The swaying and twisting red halo made Luo Binhan, who was gradually approaching, feel that this scene was unreal, as if he was approaching a blue-red oil painting. The characters in the painting are looking across the grass and out of the frame, but they can't actually see him. No matter what he does outside the frame, the characters in the painting continue to maintain their respective moods.
The black cat jumped off his shoulder and merged into the swaying red light. It paced back and forth under the flying flames, its small body almost completely covered by the grass. Only its pitch-black tail stood high and curved half a circle to the left at the end, wandering on the grass like a question mark made of shadows.
"You'd better not use this road," said the black cat, "and you don't have to ask him to come."
Jing Huang glanced at the tip of its floating tail. The dark eyes of the birds followed him and stared at the tail. They looked so smart and calm this night, not at all panicked by the sight of their natural enemies. They seemed to be no longer the native species that Luo Binhan was familiar with, but had turned into more ancient and mysterious creatures. They are indeed very ancient here, and these flyers who are suspected to be the descendants of dinosaurs have all seen many secrets.
"Does he agree?" Jing Huang asked.
For a while, Luo Binhan wondered whether the "he" in Jing Huang's mouth was him. Of course, he agreed to come and see him off, even though he had no idea what he would see. But then he knew that it was none of his business, because the black cat replied in his usual dissatisfied tone: "You know he won't refuse you to mention this - given your mother's relationship. I don't even have to ask for it." He gave a clear answer.”
Jing Huang glanced at the cat's tail on the grass again. The atmosphere didn't seem very friendly, so Luo Binhan thought that the two of them would have to argue a little more. But Jing Huang didn't say anything more, but turned his attention to Luo Binhan.
"What are you looking at?" Luo Binhan said.
"...How is Zhou Yu doing lately?"
"I'm addicted to working overtime." Luo Binhan said. He began to wonder again whether the relationship between Zhou Yu and Jing Huang was a good one.
Jing Huang nodded, lacking interest in more specific details. Since their return to Lihai City, he has become increasingly preoccupied. Luo Binhan wasn't sure whether it was because he was worried about his missing sister or for some other reason. This reaction made Luo Binhan strangely uncomfortable. He hoped that the farewell meeting would be a bit comforting, but he couldn't walk over and touch Jing Huang now. There are too many birds hidden in the grass. He had to trample at least dozens of them before he could get Jing Huang's hair.
He cleared his throat and said, "I just heard this cat say that you are going to take a shortcut. Can you explain what that means?"
"You should have walked by, right?"
"What have I been through?"
"When Asabam was able to lead you to the river in the Gaoling Belt, it was probably through the Moon Realm used by the Dwarf Star Guests. There were all the residual dreams of the dead, and they looked like they were made up of shadows and gray mist. The wilderness of... So you should have an impression, right? That thing is called a 'shortcut', because if used properly, it can easily cross the star layer - however, it is too dangerous for rational equipment, Unless there is a clear agreement, they would rather enter a wish machine environment than enter a shortcut with unknown ownership."
"Oh." Luo Binhan said, unconsciously wiping his trouser leg with his left hand, but the fingers were still clammy and cold. He controlled himself not to recall the moment when he and Asabam walked through the shadow path, and also prevented himself from asking another obvious question: Did Jing Huang follow anyone on that shadow path?
"I thought only Dwarfstars could do this." He said, "I remember you could do similar things before, like turning lake water into a hole or something. But that's not quite the same as what Asabam did... She seems to be able to enter that place anytime and anywhere, and stay there for as long as she likes. So, you want to go in this time too?"
"He can't," said the black cat in the grass, "and he's not going into the shadow's territory. He'll be in big trouble there."
"That……"
"He is going to take a shortcut that belongs to Will." Black Cat interrupted him a little rudely, "You will understand later."
Its voice sounded unhappy and not suitable for joking at all, so Luo Binhan had no choice but to shut up and wait. His knowledge of current affairs did not satisfy the black cat much. Luo Binhan could hear its claws tearing at the grass blades in the dark. The tail that was higher than the top of the grass was also fluffy, proving that its owner was in a sudden bad mood.
"Let me say it again before we begin," said Black Cat, "this is a very unwise idea. Will's dream does not fit here at all."
"There's usually no one here."
"Humph, there's no one. Not a living thing?"
"They can detect it themselves." Jing Huang said. The firelight jumped slightly, and all the birds turned to look at him. They all seemed to understand the situation better than Luo Binhan.
The black cat flicked the end of its tail straight. "Just wait and see," it said in a low voice, almost like a grunt. "Sooner or later this place will attract a bunch of idiots looking for excitement. It always does."
"They can't tell the difference."
"Of course. They will only think that there have been some massacres here, or ancient tombs, sacrificial pits... those ridiculous things. But they will still cause trouble. Do you think they don't know how to call out, or even cause a little response? But you can’t imagine what these idiots can do when they’re bored.”
The black cat slapped the grass in front of it, and several birds flew away from it and landed far away on the other side of the fire. It repeated: "They're going to cause trouble. You'd better remember this."
Luo Binhan found it difficult to ignore these words. At the risk of being scratched by the cat, he interrupted and asked, "What's the trouble? Who caused the trouble?"
"Those who are too curious." Black Cat said coldly.
Luo Binhan was a little unsure whether this was threatening him, but he still had to defend the safety of his homeland. "This is a nature reserve," he warned. "If you damage the environment here, I will go to jail."
No one showed any apparent concern for his liberty. Luo Binhan frequently looked at Yaleriga for help, but the woman only caressed the down of the birds on her palms and seemed not to care at all about the conversation between the black cat and Jing Huang. Momolo looked back and forth among his companions with an innocent and happy expression. Luo Binhan suspected that he would also have this expression when he came to visit the prison in the future. No one can consistently give him reasonable attention and feedback. This is really a moment that reflects Zhou Yu's strategic value. He really regretted letting Zhou Yu work overtime. Just when he was considering whether to make a phone call with Zhou Yu, another savior came from the depths of the night.
"It's okay, Luo Binhan. There won't be any obvious changes in the environment here, and no one can connect all this to you."
The firelight stretched and spread in the darkness. Luo Binhan saw half of Chen Wei's cheek emerging from the edge of the red light. She looked like she had just walked over from a distance, but Luo Binhan didn't notice it at all, as if she had been here from the beginning. She stood at the edge of the fire and smiled at him: "Is Zhou Yu okay over there?"
"I'm working overtime." Luo Binhan said, "Are you here too?"
"Of course. I also want to go together. And without me, this shortcut might not be so easy to use. You should know this, right, Jing Huang?"
Jing Huang turned his head to the other side dully. All the birds imitated him and turned their heads, pretending to appreciate the distant scenery without Chen Wei. Luo Binhan quietly used his toes to poke a nearby wild goose, trying to force it to look at the person Jing Huang didn't want to face. What he got was a peck on the ankle.
"Oh!" Luo Binhan shouted. Chen Wei looked at him helplessly, as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she just shook her head.
"Ignore him," said the black cat. It jumped out of the grass vigorously, fell steadily into Chen Wei's open arms, and curled up into a high-arched sphere. Luo Binhan immediately forgot about his painful ankle, and instead stared dumbfoundedly as he flicked his tail in Chen Wei's arms and accepted the latter's gentle caress. He had never seen it be so well-behaved and affectionate, almost like a real house cat.
"Don't put on that stupid look." Black Cat said in Chen Wei's arms, "I watched her grow up. When Will was still busy killing a few old friends, it was me who rocked the cradle in the palace. I'm not complaining, but Will doesn't know how to deal with young children. He was a mess with Alan Mings."
"Young master, you seem to have lost weight. You must have been very hard recently, right?"
Chen Wei lifted it up and shook it gently twice. Luo Binhan could have sworn that he heard several slight and pleasant purring sounds. He couldn't help but open his eyes hard, trying to see the black cat's expression at the moment from the mass of pitch-black fur, but a ball of grass suddenly hit his cheek. He instinctively grabbed it and struck back at the attacker.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Stop staring." Jing Huang said coldly.
"What's going on? Is there a charge to see cats here?"
"……time to go."
Jing Huang stood up from the grass. Almost at the same moment, the birds also fluttered their wings. They scattered in all directions as agreed in advance, creating a gust of wind that stirred up broken feathers and shavings of grass and wood.
Luo Binhan stretched out his hand to cover his face, but did not close his eyes completely. Through his fingers, he noticed that Jing Huang was approaching him. He didn't know whether it was because he squinted his eyes, but Jing Huang looked hazy and unreal at this moment, like a living portrait, some kind of mirage formed by a mixture of clouds and rays of light. He found this scene so interesting that he was almost in a trance, until Jing Huang pulled out a straight, thick branch from behind with an expressionless expression. He immediately put down his hand and took a step back warily: "What do you want to do?"
Jing Huang put the end of the branch on the ground and drew a circle around him. Luo Binhan's head followed the branches. When the circle on the ground closed, he looked down at himself inside the circle, and then at Jing Huang outside the circle.
"You stay in this circle and don't move around." Jing Huang said.
Luo Binhan said movedly: "Disciple, please go and come back quickly."
He was ready to dodge a flying branch, but Jing Huang just glanced at him coldly and threw the branch into the grass. His gaze was not evil, but Luo Binhan felt something was wrong.
"Let's just call this circle a safe zone. Once the shortcut is opened, you won't be able to step out of here, whether you want to or not."
"Why do I want to step out of here?" Luo Binhan said, "Can I still go with you?"
"Do you really want to leave? You were the one who clamored to come back before, right?"
Luo Binhan shrugged. He wanted to say that there was some very complicated truth here, so complicated that Jing Huang would never be able to understand it, but the look on Jing Huang's face as he stared at him made him a little afraid to say it. He had always thought that Jing Huang did not have the ability to read minds, but at this moment the latter seemed to be able to see through what he was thinking.
"I won't be able to leave tonight anyway, right?" he said. "I'll just stand in this circle and see you off. No problem. I won't move a step until you disappear."
"I didn't ask you to come here to see me off, I wanted you to see the answer with your own eyes."
"What?"
"Let you see what the way out you have always thought is. In this way, you should be able to give up, right?"
This sentence made no sense to Luo Binhan, so he had to wait there confused to see if Jing Huang could give him a reasonable explanation. He didn't know what he should give up on, unless it was the little gossip that Zhou Yu and Chen Wei concealed together that would cause trouble. He still hadn't pried it out of Zhou Yu's mouth, but he would never give up on it. . Jing Huang said nothing worked.
"What is it?" he said with a smile, "let me see it?"
He thought he had dealt with it quite appropriately, but for some reason, Jing Huang looked very unhappy. The people outside the circle gave him one last look, and then walked away into the distance without looking back. Luo Binhan originally thought that they would say a few more polite words of farewell, or recite a few spells, dance to the gods, etc., but he found that Jing Huang was walking further and further away. Both Yaleriga and Chen Wei followed him, walking through the swaying grass together towards the depths of the endless night.
"What are you doing?" Luo Binhan said. He was bewildered by such an unexpected action and almost ran after him. Then he thought of Jing Huang's request to him, and had no choice but to stand there and shout loudly. He called Jing Huang, and then called Yaleriga and Chen Wei, but no one paid attention to him. It was as if they all couldn't hear.
Jing Huang. jalai. Chen Wei. Jing Huang. jalai. Chen Wei. His voice echoed in the night, as if someone was imitating him. The reverberation was stretched longer and longer, and gradually lost its own timbre. Jing Huang. jalai. Chen Wei. The lingering sound of the shouting took on a singing-like rhythm. This is no longer his voice, this is no longer a cry to the departed. When the wind stirred the ears of grass, what he heard was a gentle and beautiful melody. But it is not the song of rustling fibers, but the vibration of jade and drifting ice.
Night air rises from the ground. The smell of freshness and decay has become warm and sweet, like fermented wine. Luo Binhan felt dizzy from the most intoxicating air. He tried to steady himself so that he could look for the three people who were retreating. He thought he saw them reaching a very distant place, walking towards a rising full moon that was emitting a bluish halo. He saw the black cat leading the way, its pupils shining like beads reflecting the moon; he saw Yaleriga appearing confused for a time, opening her arms as if about to dance, but she became calm and composed again under Chen Wei's gaze; The one that stood out was still Jing Huang. Wherever the illusion of blazing fire passed, the grass and trees turned brilliant red, and soon showed the withered black color after being burned out. What he left behind in this beautiful garden was a winding and deep road of ashes. Luo Binhan could see all these scenes clearly.
But he couldn't really see. It was still dark and the grass was as thick as waves. The wind sings, and they dance gracefully in response. Ten flower spikes sprout from the end of a reed leaf, and hundreds of fruit trees grow from the ten flower spikes. Fruit trees are ripe when they appear, and their fruits fall to the ground. Sweet springs and clear streams flow out of the bursting fragrant fruits, and the intact ones turn into colorful and clear jade. The Zhu Bridge crosses over and leads to the Wind Pavilion deep in the Hualin Stone Mountain.
In this moonlit garden, he could no longer see the path of ashes. He no longer remembers the road of ashes, and he never sees the pedestrians walking away. He only saw this nameless garden, which seemed to be all-encompassing, with no place the same and no place unbeautiful. A leaf left at his feet is already colorful, depicting the beauty of all the flowers in the world; the clusters of stream stones are more beautiful and brighter than all the coral pearls in the sea. Green mist spread out from the bamboo branches, surrounding him like this garden.
He was indeed surrounded by the garden. Everything around him has become one with it, has become the scenery and the cornerstone of the garden. But he didn't. He was still outside the garden, just peeping at the scenery in the garden from a distance and greedily through the wall. He wanted to see all this beauty, to enter this pure and flawless world, and to know what was in the deepest part of the garden. There was nothing else to worry about. If he walks into it, he will never think of leaving again. This beautiful garden was everything, and he just wanted to go into it without having to take the fruit from any of the trees. Never have to take anything away again. The answer lies within. The way out is right here.
But he couldn't go there because a wall trapped him. The wall radiated the intense heat and brightness of the fire, making him unable to even take a step, and could only stare and yearn in place. There is no one else in the garden. As long as he crosses the wall, he can stay inside forever. All this belongs to him, just like the shadow belongs to Asabam. No one can find him again, no one can bother him again. As long as he crosses this wall.
He was already eager to give it a try, but some concerns held him back. No, he wasn't afraid of the wall, because that terrifying wall of fire couldn't really hurt him. If he did go into the garden, nothing could hurt him. He just felt a little strange because there was no visitor in the garden. There are no fish, birds, people, or even insects. Who built this place? Who was it made for? Gradually he began to feel confused in longing, then fear.
The green mist became thicker, covering everything he had seen. Only the hazy shadows of flowers still swayed behind the mist. bring it on. The wind whispered to him. Come to this dreamland of forgetfulness, this never-ending flower season. This is a carnival of no return. As long as you cross this intimidating high wall, you can untie the veil of blue mist and become the master of the garden. He heard all the promises, but he felt more and more terrified. Suddenly he realized that this was not an empty garden without an owner. Never. The owner of the garden has always been there, just behind Qingwu.
He began to tremble. The moment he understood this, an unprecedented horror engulfed him. In the most beautiful garden in the world, in this quiet, elegant and infinitely gorgeous peach garden, the most disgusting and ugly things in the world are entrenched. He hadn't really seen the whole thing yet, but he already knew that it was in the garden, behind the fragrant and moist green mist, and the celestial song of the vegetation covered up its poisonous breath, which was more terrifying than the plague. That horrible, dirty, sick and naked thing, that image that can only be touched in the deepest nightmares, is a monster piled up with corrupted flesh and filthy soul. It lurks in the garden outside the wall, quietly waiting for someone to arrive.
He couldn't go in. As long as that thing was still in the garden, he would never be able to peek into the scenery behind the blue mist. Just thinking about it drove him crazy. The demonic shadow in the beautiful garden. The demonic shadow in the beautiful garden. He tried not to think about it anymore, but his body was festering, turning into a putrid insect nest or a piece of flesh slowly dissolving in the stomach of a beast. He was reduced from life to tissue, and then to a complete foreign body. My body is a terrifying monster. He has been tightly locked with the monster destined to be corrupted since his birth. He couldn't think about it anymore. He must escape from here.
Luo Binhan screamed. He screamed silently and endlessly amid the ice song that echoed through the garden, until the burning walls lit up the entire sky. Exhausted, he opened his eyes and saw that he was lying in the grass. Momolo held his hand, a warm glow covering his body.
"Mr. Luo! Are you okay? Do you feel any discomfort?"
Luo Binhan looked at him blankly. Momolo did not leave with Jing Huang. This was not what he expected, and no one told him about this arrangement. But he didn't ask why. At this moment he felt extremely tired.
"Did you see that?" he asked hoarsely.
"Mr. Luo, are you talking about the shortcut? Mr. Xuanhong asked me not to look, so I left temporarily when the shortcut opened. Mr. Luo, you look so bad, did you see something in the shortcut?"
Luo Binhan shook his head hard. No one told him what to do, but he seemed to have understood why Jing Huang didn't let Momolo know about the nightmare garden.
"I didn't see anything," he said exhaustedly.
He closed his eyes and lay there, recalling the dream in a trance. The surrounding reeds looked down on him, illuminated by the rising sun and illuminated by green. His nose was filled with the fishy smell of earth, and his ears heard the rustling of grass. The nightmare of Liyuan and the circle drawn by Jinghuang have evaporated in the gradually dawning light, and no trace can be found anymore. It is another sunny and glorious day in the world.
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
It's already cloudy, please don't worry. However, I feel like I am still in the period of long covid. Omicron seems to be quite powerful. I don’t know how long these symptoms will last.
