Chapter 45
I thanked Mo Huaizhen for his kind invitation to take me home, but I got off halfway. It was still quite a distance from here, so I took the opportunity to clear my mind.
He said the seeds would sprout, bring life, and heal everyone. The World Tree would wither with the world, but when it met the next pure soul, it would cleanse all calamities.
“It cannot be simply summarized as a ‘calamity’.” Mo Huaizhen pondered for a moment, then said, “It will dispose of the symbols of destruction in the destroyed world, burying them underground to rot and become nourishment for the new world. But this is only one version of the rumor. Some people say that because of the will of the gods, the World Tree has also developed its own thoughts. It misses everything in the past, hides the things that represent destruction, and when the new world develops to the point where everything is thriving, it will destroy it and return to the past.”
I must say, what ineffable ancient wisdom must have come from to evoke both protectiveness and resentment in a single tree.
Then I saw the Mo Huaizhen family crest on the spine of the book, sitting there dead, its thin lines like the rope around my neck.
I shut my mouth.
Mo Huaizhen comforted me instead: "Even if it's something left by our ancestors, the younger generation has the right to question it. I believe in God, but I don't believe that all the blame should be placed on the tree. What's the difference between this and blaming a beautiful woman for the downfall of a country? Anyone can tell that the latter part is wrong, and similarly, anyone can tell that the former part cannot be assumed in this way."
I don't believe it either. If a tree had such rebellious thoughts, its first instinct should have been to use the power of the gods to escape from here.
It never considered taking responsibility for the safety of this world, nor did it ever consider judging whether this world was worth continuing to develop. It was just a tree, destined to bloom, bear fruit, and die on that piece of land, exposed to wind and rain, but it was surrounded by a group of strangers who no longer wanted to face their troubles and forcibly granted the ability that it could only perceive and use through natural changes.
Only when a breeze blows can it know whether laughter or weeping is coming from afar; only when a rain shower falls can it know whether the sky has absorbed filth or remains as pure as ever; only when a squirrel crawls by can it know whether the natural ecosystem is still intact; only when a ray of sunlight shines can it know why the calm temperature has become scorching or freezing.
I sighed softly and walked along the path, my feet leaving the cobblestones. Crossing the park, I saw residential buildings on my right. Walking beside the tactile paving, a sycamore tree pressed against the left side of the yellow paving stones. I glanced at it unintentionally; its leaves swayed in the wind, first slightly, then rustling loudly. My eyes were momentarily dazed, but quickly aligned with the world's rhythm, as if the movement had merely caused a shiver. I blinked, my eyelids touching something soft.
I walked past the tree. Behind it were countless other trees of the same species, their stillness remarkably similar. But something was wrong—the touch was wrong, the sight was wrong, and my intuition was wrong. I whirled around, and the tree trembled before my eyes once more, relentlessly, groaning in agony, screaming along with the surrounding landscape.
I've been tricked by those tiny, transparent creatures again.
I rushed towards the center of the road, towards an open space, thinking it was an earthquake. What else could it be? Such a strong and obvious tremor must have been at least a magnitude 4. The building was shaking violently too, maybe even higher. I looked around; no one else was out. Today wasn't a workday, I knew; I had specifically taken the day off to go to Mo Huaizhen's house. There must be people with weekends off or even just one day off who were home. Where were they?
The earth began to tremble, the shaking making my legs numb. After trying to stand on one leg, I watched helplessly as the asphalt road split open before my very eyes, leaving a deep arc, like the fine stitches of a garment. No one sewed up the torn fabric. I must have heard cries, heard screams, the deep pain that would forever linger here, from the ground, from the surface, from every blade of grass, every speck of dust around me.
Suddenly, someone ran out from the opposite side.
People appeared all at once, standing at one end, heads packed tightly together. They stared at the ground in terror, wanting to scream but unable to cry, wanting to call their families outside but suffering from no signal. The stampede happened in the blink of an eye; the crowd accidentally pushed someone down. A desperate silence followed. A desolate silence.
I took out my phone, but I had no signal either.
I feel like I've seen this somewhere before. Something like this.
The ground trembled violently again, and I began to drift further and further away from the opposite side through the deep crack in the middle. Everyone saw it, screaming, some running away, some stunned, some crying, all circling the movement of the cracked earth's crust.
My fingertips twitched along the seam of my trouser leg. My memory had improved considerably, and I knew it was a dream I had before.
Your dreams are all related to them. You can also see the past, present, and future.
Did they never see it, or never say it? Are the first and second sentences about the same thing? What did I see and what happened in my dream?
My body trembled, and I felt the muscles in my face move like a monkey witnessing someone slaughtering a pig. Knowing I wouldn't eat it, I also felt the fear of "whether I would end up like that," but in the end, I had to calm down and pretend to be indifferent. It was as flat as a sheet of paper.
Could this be a lie? No one says that having seeds guarantees dreams about the future, and no one says those dreams will come true. I wanted to laugh, thinking those little guys were deceiving me again, which made me feel a little lighter. I reached out to try and wave them away in the air, but no matter how far I stretched my arm, I couldn't disperse them. If I went to the other side, would they obey?
I walked forward, mesmerized, each step firm and grounded. Once I got there, I knew the world was safe, that this situation would never happen. A silhouette of a woman holding her child high flashed through my mind; I didn't remember her. I didn't remember.
Suddenly, my neck was gripped by a collar, and someone hugged me from behind, their voice anxious and tense: "What you're doing is too reckless, too dangerous!"
Mo Huaizhen has returned.
I turned my head, lost in thought, and stared at him, inadvertently noticing the people gathering behind him. They were calm, as if they had expected this, and wore matching uniforms. Mo Huaizhen patted my back gently. I met his sorrowful eyes, and a surge of emotion welled up inside me, and I pushed him away. Was I going to go save someone?
I have to go save her.
My body jumped over against my own will, rolled on the ground, and got covered in stones, sand, and ash.
Everyone could see what I was doing, and I knew what I was here to face. I stood there, thinking, "Just do what I need to do." I got used to running, running until my throat tasted blood, and stopped in front of the house.
A strange house, one I've never seen before.
It's a familiar house; I know she must be in there.
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