Chapter 20: Witch Reborn

"Wake up, wake up!"

"Hold him down, I'll do CPR."

"Is this how you press it? Why isn't he waking up?"

The suffocating feeling of drowning had not yet dissipated, and the chest was stuffy and difficult to breathe. Qi Qian's tightly closed eyelids struggled and trembled. Suddenly, he gasped and opened his eyes in horror. "He's awake! Great! We actually saved someone!"

"Another good deed, hehehehe..."

His chest inhaled a large amount of fresh air in retaliation, and his retina gradually became clear from blurry. Amidst the sharp and chaotic tinnitus, he saw the little girl lying in front of him and peeking out.

The girl was no more than eight or nine years old, with a small bun tied up on her head. Her little face was fair and cute. She stared at him with her round, innocent black eyes, blinking. Her chubby cheeks were still chewing something.

She stared at him for a long time, then suddenly mumbled, "Wow, you look so good with your eyes open."

Qi Qian coughed and struggled to get up.

The girl spat out the grass leaves in her mouth and called her friends behind her to help her. Qi Qian then realized that they were all wearing clean and worn cotton and linen clothes. Not far away there was a plastic bucket with a missing corner, which was filled with discarded bottles and jars.

He sat up and heard the sound of water beside him, and shivered unconsciously.

The girl patted his back and soothed him, "It's okay. We've rescued you. Is your family nearby? How could you fall into Fei Laotou's pond all by yourself?"

Is this actually a pond? He mustered up the courage to look to the side, and saw that under the setting sun, the turbulent waters that had just made him despair and want to die were actually just a pond of more than ten meters. The water was now calm, shimmering, and peaceful.

At this time, it was only a dozen minutes since he was wrapped in the pool water, struggled desperately, and gave up trying to survive.

Qi Qian looked up at the sky in a trance, feeling a sense of confusion as if he had been reborn.

The girl squatted down, pinched his little arm, and brought him back to reality: "You look so thin, have you not eaten for a long time? Hmm... could you be a new member?"

She exchanged a glance with her companion, who said, "Well, I thought I'd finally have a good meal, but I didn't expect there would be another beggar."

The girl said optimistically: "There is strength in numbers. We have a new strong warrior."

The partner turned around and picked up the plastic bucket with a chipped corner: "Take him to eat something. Don't use our common treasury. I have to continue picking up trash."

As his friend walked further away, the girl sighed, took out a coin from her pocket, and said to him, "Come on, I'll take you to eat."

"Thank you, but no thanks." Qi Qian said.

He had nothing to repay her with, and those who were chasing him were probably not far away. He had to leave immediately and not involve her.

He struggled to get up, broke away from the hand that was supporting him, and left without looking back.

…The girl didn’t catch up.

Yes, he looked like this, soaked all over, covered with wounds and sores, limping and unable to walk properly, so he would not be needed even for scavenging.

Those who were pursuing him disappeared, and he fled north for several months day and night, but his captors kept coming back, and even after they died, they were determined to capture him alive.

Layers of black mist appeared in Qi Qian's dark green eyes.

There would be no going back - those days of fear and hopelessness in the culture medium, the countless electric shocks and foreign objects implanted in the body, the pain of the body being torn and stitched after the injection, the chest being squeezed and spitting out tube after tube of blood and unknown liquid... He would rather die, rather jump back into the pond and drown, than return to the sealed jar that would never see the light of day.

He walked tiredly, his body gradually became heavy, and he paused after every step. Finally, he felt dizzy and fell to the ground.

Footsteps approached from a distance. His vision blurred again, his consciousness wavering, and the fleeting past few years of his life flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern. But he didn't want to recall the painful past. His mind searched through his barren memories, and the only thing he could call warm was the girl's warm face in the sunset.

She held her cheek and opened her round eyes, naive and ignorant, like a little rabbit nibbling on new leaves in the grass after rain. The little rabbit was obsessed with her dark green pupils and exclaimed: "Wow, you look so beautiful with your eyes open."

His voice was gentle and soft, coming from a world that did not belong to him.

Qi Qian had always known that, with his acne-riddled skin, he didn't belong in this world. He had no life or past, and only through a brief escape from darkness could he glimpse a glimmer of light in this vast world. Now, with this last glimmer of warmth, he was about to fall back into a new hell.

In the last few seconds before his death, he slowly closed his eyes. In a trance, he seemed to see a short angel draped in white gauze stepping into the light and coming towards him.

…

I woke up again in the evening. My mouth was wet and bitter, as if I had drunk something to replenish my energy, and my body finally had strength.

This was Qi Qian's second "rebirth". He found himself lying on the ground with a layer of white gauze behind him. The girl in front of him was struggling to pull the end of the white gauze, moving him away little by little.

He wasn't heavy, but the fragile white gauze still made a suspicious crackling sound. After he sat up, it finally couldn't bear the weight and broke into two pieces with a whine.

The girl lost her strength and stumbled forward. Despite the pain, she got up and found that the whole piece of yarn was broken into two pieces. A look of disappointment flashed in her eyes.

But facing Qi Qian, she forced a smile: "Are you awake? I just fed you some...nutrients that Ge Mi picked up. You look much better."

Qi Qian stood up silently, picked up the two pieces of white gauze, slowly clenched them into a ball in his hands, and wrapped them in his palms.

He put his hands together, and in his palms that the girl couldn't see, a light black mist gradually spread, seeping into the cracks in the white gauze and condensing into silk threads.

Before the silk thread was finished, he felt dizzy again and almost fell down, but he still insisted on finishing everything. In the severe dizziness and exhaustion, he unfolded the white gauze and handed it to the girl.

"Wow, it's back! That's amazing! How did you do that?"

Qi Qian shook his head. He was truly exhausted. The pursuers hadn't come for a long time, and it looked like he'd finally lost them. He could use a break.

The girl carefully put away the white veil and sat on the ground with him. She smiled and said, "I don't know your name yet. My name is Xu Nuo. What's yours?"

Qi Qian didn't think they were in a name-exchange relationship, even though she had just saved him twice. Besides... not knowing her name might be better for her.

He didn't say anything, and the girl kept looking at him with a smile, as if they would stay facing each other like this forever unless he said it.

He finally gave in as the girl meticulously described his face for the fifth time and whispered, "...Qi Qian."

"Seven thousand? One thousand, two thousand, three thousand?"

"Qi Qian."

"Seven thousand."

"It's this Qi... this Qian..."

Some people say that a name is the shortest spell in the world. Nameless kittens and puppies are given names, grow up under the passionate love of their owners, and can be reincarnated as humans after death. When a person has a name, his soul is endowed with spirituality, and God will give him the ability to establish relationships with others and accompany each other.

But Qi Qian didn't understand why Xu Nuo would take his hand without any precautions even though she only knew his name, and from then on, share everything she had, which was not much.

She didn't know his age. He was obviously a child, but she acted like an elder, always calling him "you kid" and forcing him to call her "sister".

She always pretends to be mature, sighs from time to time, and interacts with people like a little adult, but she is teased by those real adults and can't help laughing.

She has a friend, Ge Mi, whom she just met but is very good to. However, not long after, Ge Mi was taken in by an unknown wealthy man while she was picking up trash. Without even a chance to say hello, she was left alone in the cold wind, carrying an overturned plastic bucket, at a loss.

Later, he was all she had left.

They picked up rubbish together, wrapped themselves in plastic bags to avoid the rain on rainy nights, snatched a can from a stray dog ​​on the street, and fought with other scavengers in the soup kitchen where they were receiving donations.

Fighting would cause injuries, but compared to the pain she had experienced before, it was nothing. He stood in front of her, taking the brunt of the blows, and she took the opportunity to sneak to the porridge stall and ask the kind-hearted people who gave her food for an extra bowl.

Later, she had Xiaogu, and he... was still the same.

Over the past five years, the girl's body had grown like a bud emerging from the moist soil after a recent rain, growing from tender to slender, with a bulging bud and a radiant stamen. Her childish, baby-fat face had become thinner, but her eyes remained round and bright. Her bright red lips, like dew-soaked kapok trees in March, held his gaze tightly with a single movement.

He was also growing up, his shoulders became broader, his arms became stronger, and gradually, he went from being shorter than her to being at eye level with her, and even a little taller than her.

Xu Nuo didn't understand why the first thing he did when he woke up every day was to compare their heights, just like he didn't understand why Xu Nuo insisted on going to Uncle Wang's bun shop to buy three buns as the first thing when he woke up.

During the more than 1,800 days and nights they spent together, Qi Qian had everything he had ever dreamed of for a peaceful life. However, what made him happiest was the girl calling his name over and over again all day long without getting tired of it:

"Qi Qian, come quickly."

"Qi Qian, are the buns delicious?"

"Qi Qian, let's go over there."

"Qi Qian, I'm so hungry, I want to eat noodles..."

She is a witch, the everlasting flower that blooms wantonly in these ruins. Her name is her shortest curse. Just a gentle call will make him indulge in the distant moonlight that descends on his world and willingly do anything.

But now, his Yuehua, his witch, the immortal flower that he dared not touch or desecrate in his unspeakable dreams, now called out another man's name in his arms with a blushing face.

The irony was that this man had never existed in this world. He was merely a shell, a figure who knew her preferences intimately, planned her every move, even her name. This shell contained the mad love that had sprouted eight years earlier, a love that would never see the light of day, and locked up a cowardly soul named Qi Qian.

Witch, please have mercy on your despicable and desperate believer, and don't let him wander and get lost, and fall into the abyss of dark hell that is within reach.