Chapter 63 Playing in the Forest
The forest was a little quiet at this time. Although it was not the quietest time yet, the animals were not as active as in spring and summer. The leaves of many trees had almost fallen, forming a thick layer on the mountain road.
The two of them walked on the fallen leaves, listening to the "crackling" sound. Gong Zhili, carrying an empty backpack, walked briskly, moving freely among the tangled tree roots and fallen branches. Gojo Satoru followed behind her, and his movements were not slow either. Occasionally, he would accidentally step on a dead branch and break it, which would make an abrupt "crackling" sound.
Gong Zhili walked and looked around, and saw a low shrub with sparse dark red berries hanging on it. He stopped, nimbly avoided the sharp thorns with his fingers, picked one and put it in his mouth. He squinted his eyes slightly because of the sourness, and then picked another handful.
The berries have not yet been collected by animals, so they must have their own "special features".
"Would you like to try it?" Gong Zhili turned sideways, with a few small red fruits lying in the palm of his hand.
Gojo Satoru leaned close to her palm to take a look, picked up one and put it in his mouth. Just after chewing it, his handsome face instantly wrinkled: "...It's so sour!" He couldn't spit it out or swallow it, and his expression was rarely distorted.
Miya Chiri looked at him, her lips curving upwards quickly before Gojo Satoru could accuse her. Gojo Satoru endured the bitterness and said, "Why do you look so calm? Aren't you afraid of the sour taste?" Miya Chiri replied sincerely, "I can endure it when I think you were tricked into eating by my expression."
Gojo Satoru: "...You're so boring."
Gong Zhili continued to walk up with a smile, Gojo Satoru smacked his lips, followed without getting angry.
The forest was deeper, and the light was filtered by the dense treetops, and the smell of soil and rotten leaves in the air became thicker. Gong Zhili didn't have any goals in the mountains, so when she saw a suitable dead branch, she broke it with her bare hands and put it in her backpack. Gojo Satoru followed her in the woods and found something that interested him.
He looked down at a pile of unusually bright orange mushrooms at his feet, their caps dotted with white spots, like standard fairy tale houses.
"This is definitely a poisonous mushroom!" Gojo Satoru squatted down and reached out to pick it. Gong Zhili said, "Huh? You want to pick it? It's really troublesome to have poisonous mushroom spores on your hands."
Gojo Satoru simply activated his Unlimited Power - this was even more strenuous than before - he picked up this standard poisonous mushroom and played with it for a while, then threw it away when he lost interest, and crushed the poisonous mushrooms according to Gong Zhili's instructions.
The two played in the forest for a while, and Gong Zhili encountered the big target of the day.
It was a huge fir tree that had been struck by lightning at some unknown time. The broken trunk was stuck diagonally on the ground, and the branches were twisted, exposing the dry wood inside.
Gong Zhili put down the backpack and walked around the big tree twice. She didn't bring any tools with her today, so she definitely couldn't break the tree completely and take it away by her own strength.
Gojo Satoru stood a few steps away, watching her get caught up in her little troubles.
He could probably tell what was bothering her, but he saw this as a kind of "test"—a challenge Gong Zhili had created for herself, pushing her body to its limits.
In just a short while, she seemed to have made a decision.
Gong Zhili found a sharp-edged stone nearby and began to chop at the dead, yet still strong, branches. "Crack! Crack!" The stone struck the wood with a dull thud, sending splinters flying. Her movements were steady and powerful, each swing of her arm bringing her full strength to bear, gradually forming a rhythm.
Seeing that she had already started her "play", Gojo Satoru simply found a sturdy tree to sit on, leaning against the tree to observe her, his eyes moving from her arms waving the stone to her focused profile, and then to the battered broken tree. The sunlight fell from the treetops, landing on her sweaty temples and flying hair, casting a faint halo.
He just let his mind go blank, his eyes subconsciously following her movements.
Finally, she successfully chopped off the upper half of the fir tree's dead branch that had touched the ground. It rolled to the ground. Gong Zhili took a breath, wiped the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve, looked up at Gojo Satoru above, and said, "Are you asleep?"
Gojo Satoru's eyes began to focus, and he said unhappily, "I have my eyes open."
Gong Zhili: "Some people can sleep with their eyes open. After all, you have six eyes. What if you have this ability?"
Gojo Satoru felt that he was really tolerant of her: "No! I was just staring blankly with my eyes open!"
Gong Zhili: "Since you are in a daze, come down and help me."
Gojo Satoru jumped down from the tree and asked, "What are you going to do?"
Gong Zhili: "Please help me put this on the backpack, place it horizontally on it, and tie it up with vines." As she spoke, she had already pulled off a few tough vines from the side and skillfully wrapped them around the dead branches.
Gojo Satoru cooperated by placing the dead branches on the edge of the backpack. The two of them were very close. He could see the small whorl of hair on Zhili's head and seemed to smell the scent of pine sawdust on her body. He lowered his eyes and helped her tie and tighten the vines.
Gong Zhili tightened the vines and exerted force on his legs. After getting used to the weight of the backpack, he shook the heavy backpack to make sure that the dead branches would not slip down while walking, and then prepared to leave.
"Wait," Gojo Satoru asked in surprise, placing his hand on her shoulder to stop her from moving forward. "Are you planning to go back like this?"
Gong Zhili's calm face showed a hint of doubt: "Really?"
Gojo Satoru stood there, thinking for a few seconds why he wanted to watch her carry the branch on her back. He also reflected on his bad mentality of wanting to watch the fun until the very end. Finally, he said, "Take it off. I'll carry it."
After the dead branch was placed on the backpack, she looked even thinner. He felt that he could not keep following her and watching her like this. Somewhere in his heart, he was whipping himself.
He believed he still had a conscience, but Zhili actually gave him a puzzled look: "Why?"
Gojo Satoru: "Just think of it as me not wanting to go back and be nagged by Jie and Nanami."
Without waiting for Gong Zhili to say anything, he had already neatly removed the entire backpack from her shoulders. His movements were so fast that she only felt her shoulders relax, and the remaining marks only brought a little numbness.
Gojo Satoru weighed the backpack, and without a frown, he easily swung the straps over his shoulders and adjusted the position. The branches that seemed too heavy on Gong Zhili's back now felt much more comfortable on his broad back.
Gong Zhili seemed to be thinking about something, but she didn't insist on carrying the backpack herself. When Gojo Satoru put on the backpack, she jumped back a few steps to avoid being hit by the suddenly rising dead branches.
"Let's go," Gojo Satoru said, "You go first."
Miya Chiri led the way, still thinking about Gojo's words. She asked, "Are Geto and Nanami the type of sorcerers with stronger faith?"
Gojo Satoru: "A sense of conviction—or rather, every sorcerer should have their own sense of conviction."
People's mindsets are the hardest to change. He said, "Jay's belief is probably 'the strong should protect the weak.' Although he hasn't yet forced himself to pursue the meaning of this process, he always sticks to one idea and can't cope with the complex changes in the world."
Gong Zhili: "Ah, you mean Geto is a very pure person?" To put it bluntly, maybe he is stubborn, sticks to one path, and is inflexible?
Gojo smiled silently: "Yes, he is a very pure person from beginning to end." He is also a person who has really reached a dead end.
He doesn't let himself off, nor does he want to let those who do the "wrong" things off. He is stricter on himself than on others.
Miya Chiri talked about Nanami again: "Nanami also has a serious personality, is she the same as Geto?"
Gojo: "Nanami has always followed his heart. It's not that he's inflexible, it's just that sometimes he doesn't want to. He's the kind of person who prioritizes his own 'wants'."
Even if the environment is not satisfactory, he will not lose the "courage" to change.
Gong Zhili: "From what you said, it seems that Nanami is stronger than Geto?"
Gojo Satoru chuckled: "It's just my personal prejudice." Geto is now much more lively than before. He doesn't look gloomy even when he is alone. He has really reconciled with a certain emotion.
He stopped talking about the subject and instead said, "Why don't you ask Naoko and Huihara?"
Gong Zhili: "Because you didn't mention them at the beginning."
Gojo Satoru readily agreed: "Now that I've mentioned it, you can ask."
Miya Chiri: "Graybara is the type of little sun. To be honest, after learning about the cursed power of the sorcerer, I suspected for a while that he also had a lot of darkness hidden in his heart. Later I found that I was really overthinking it."
Gojo Satoru: "So, except for Haibara, you think the rest of us are the type who have a dark side in our hearts?"
Gong Zhili glanced at him and said shamelessly: "That's what you said, I never said that."
Gojo Satoru recalled what he had said before: "For a sorcerer whose emotions are too strong, any emotion will develop into a curse. 'Love' is the strongest and most twisted curse."
Miya Chiri: "It sounds like it's hard for sorcerers to have healthy relationships with each other. They all seem very twisted."
Gojo Satoru readily admitted, "That's right. If a sorcerer wants to fall in love or get married, it must be an extremely twisted relationship."
An idea suddenly occurred to Gong Zhili: "So the population of the curse world is almost entirely replenished by wild cursers?"
Gojo Satoru reminded her: "In a place like the Gosanjia, fertility has nothing to do with emotions, it only has to do with talent."
Gong Zhili wrinkled his nose: "Ah, I forgot about this."
Gojo Satoru: "And 'wild' or something, it sounds like some wild Pokémon."
Gong Zhili: "You are actually the same to me."
She paused and said, "As for Nitro, she's a healing type, so it's hard to compare her with you."
Gojo Satoru: "You just have a special preference for her."
Miya Chiri made no secret of her affection for Naoko: "Do you know how precious healing people are? Whether it's healing abilities or healing the soul, they are people who must be treated with care."
If there is a nanny like Glass in the end times, she would be willing to lie down and serve as a bench for her when she goes out exploring!
Gojo Satoru had no idea what was going on in Chiri's head. He simply said, "Rather than ability, whether or not one's beliefs resonate with the other is more important."
Gong Zhili: "Well, a young man's dream is always worthy of praise."
They slowly returned home. Everyone, exhausted from a morning's work, was still asleep. Gong Zhili said, "Want to watch TV? You can choose the program."
Gojo Satoru dusted himself off and casually said, "Are there any interesting variety shows to watch? Anything that's not prime time is just like lukewarm water."
Gong Zhili: "Then watch the outdoor program."
As they watched the show, the two of them had a quarrel. Miya Chiri preferred to analyze the MC and camera techniques of the outdoor show, such as evaluating the show's techniques from the aspects of "strolling - discovering - entering the store - close-up". Gojo Satoru listened for a while and protested, "You keep commenting on these insignificant things. The ramen and tempura shown don't look delicious anymore."
Gong Zhili said calmly, "It wouldn't have tasted good in the first place. It was just for show. The ramen looked overcooked, and the tempura took too long to fry. I guess the outer layer of the dough got hard while we were waiting for the cameras to be ready."
Gojo Satoru immediately counterattacked: "How do you know? You haven't even been there to eat."
Gong Zhili stood up quickly and walked towards the kitchen.
Gojo Satoru lay on the sofa and asked, "What are you going to do? Are you not going to argue with me anymore? Are you going to get a knife?"
Miyajiri's voice came from the kitchen: "I'll make you some ramen and tempura to shut you up!"
Gojo Satoru: This guy is really unwilling to admit defeat.
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The author has something to say: A little time together.
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