Sleeping Valley (V)
There was a cool breeze blowing by my ears, but there was no movement in the forest, even the wind bypassed the forest.
The Siyang fish repeated two actions, swimming from the center of the fish tank to the north and then back to the center, and then circling in the center.
Jiang Yu's eyes gradually became solemn. Si Yangyu sensed Yu Shu's location, but also found that he was trapped in one place and was spinning back and forth.
As soon as he stepped into the woods, he felt that something was wrong. Although it was almost evening outside, the woods were still sunny and bright.
Si Yangyu kept jumping out of the water to urge Jiang Yu to speed up.
The crackling sound of branches and leaves breaking became the exclusive BGM of my steps. Not long after I walked, I heard the first crows cawing and flying away.
At the same time, the Siyang fish in the fish tank also headed in the direction where the crow flew away.
"Follow the flying crow." The child's voice echoed in Jiang Yu's ears.
Before coming to the forest, Jiang Yu tried to use a talisman to send the two children away, but the cinnabar talisman had no effect when it hit their foreheads. He was even asked in return: Brother, do you want to play games with us?
Jiang Yu had never encountered a little ghost that was not afraid of even the cinnabar talisman, and he was a little worried, but he wanted to find Yu Shu quickly, and was afraid that they had two faces and would cause trouble, so he combined the talisman with the soul-trapping formation, but he didn't expect that he could really trap them.
This further perplexed Jiang Yu, as they could not be purified yet could be bound by a formation designed to trap ghosts and spirits. He sensed them again and again, finally concluding that the two children were still ghosts, but incredibly close to humans.
The two little ghosts were trapped in the magic circle and couldn't get out or move, and they actually started crying like children.
The second crow's cry drew Jiang Yu's attention back, and he realized that he had already walked three or four hundred meters following the crow.
Si Yangyu changed direction again.
"Traces of people walking?" Jiang Yu looked down and saw the road covered with crushed dead branches and leaves.
Jiang Yu also noticed that Si Yangyu was in sync with the crow, but the direction Si Yangyu guided was more detailed. If he took one more step, Si Yangyu would change direction.
He noticed that the walking path was very clever, as if he was using traces of movement to draw talismans in the woods.
The third and fourth encounters with crows further confirmed Jiang Yu's guess.
The forest was indeed not simple. The route that Si Yangyu took Jiang Yu to take was a super large soul-trapping and soul-dispersing formation. If one did not follow the crow's guidance after entering this forest, something would definitely happen.
Even if you know to follow the crows, you can't be as precise as Si Yangyu. In other words, once you come in here, you are basically doomed to be unable to get out.
Jiang Yu became even more worried because the guiding talisman that Yu Shu had taken from him could not break the formation here.
"Don't be afraid..." Jiang Yu murmured softly, but terrible anticipation kept popping up in his heart.
According to the two little ghosts, Yu Shu left the village early in the morning and ran into the woods.
Yu Shu was trapped in this forest for the entire day without Si Yangyu's guidance. Not to mention the most basic needs of food and water, he had most likely encountered even more difficult problems.
If Jiang Yu couldn't find Yu Shu for more than 24 hours, Yu Shu might have to stay in this forest forever.
But no matter how anxious he was, he could only follow Si Yangyu's instructions, and he didn't know how long it would take.
Yu Shu glanced at his phone. It was almost seven in the evening, and the sun outside the woods was still in the morning. Even more frightening than the sun's inconsistent position was the other person in the woods.
On the fourth cycle, he finally saw the man's face clearly. No wonder he felt a strong sense of familiarity when he saw his back. That man was also "Yu Shu" and had the same face as him.
"Me?" The person he had been following for so long turned out to be himself! But if that person was Yu Shu, then who was he?
Yu Shu was almost driven crazy by this place, and his mentality also changed.
He went from hoping Jiang Yu would show up to rescue him to not wanting Jiang Yu to come to this strange place and fall into danger with him.
But Yu Shu was unwilling to sit and wait for death, and the fifth cycle of chasing began, and he followed.
This time there is a change!
Yu Shu No. 2 was no longer in a hurry to travel, his steps became steady, he did not stop to carve a mark when passing by a tree root, but looked back calmly.
Yu Shu didn't understand what was going on. He glanced at the tree roots as he passed by. The growth rings were neat and clean without any marks.
But I clearly saw four vertical marks before, how come they all disappeared suddenly?!
When he looked up again, Yu Shu No. 2 was nowhere to be seen. He only saw something reflecting the sunlight in the pile of dead branches in front of him.
I have walked this road twice, and the sunlight has basically not changed its position. I passed by it before but didn't see anything, and now there is a new variable.
"Knife?"
Yu Shu walked over and took a closer look at the true appearance of the reflective object. The appearance of such a brand new knife in this deserted place pushed the eerie atmosphere to a higher level.
Yu Shu clearly wanted to leave quickly, but his body uncontrollably moved forward to pick up the knife.
He returned to the tree root as if possessed by a ghost and carved a vertical mark with his knife. When he came to his senses, he dropped the knife several meters away as if he had been electrocuted, and even took a few steps back.
A loud "buzz" sound exploded in Shu's brain.
So he had turned around so many times before, and saw the marks appear from nothing, all of which were carved by him. So when he heard someone following him, it was him who was following himself, and now he had become Yu Shu No. 2 who had just been lost.
So is he Yu Shu, Yu Shu No. 2, or Yu Shu No. 3?
The sound of footsteps behind him didn't give him any extra time to think.
Yu Shu's mind was blank, but his body started moving on its own.
He didn't dare look back, for fear of seeing another self, so he could only keep moving forward, wandering aimlessly in the woods that looked the same no matter how you looked at them.
Walk from the roots of the tree to where you can see the river and then walk back, then carve a second vertical mark on the tree root rings.
The third cycle began, and Yu Shu's actions and thoughts separated. He didn't know why he couldn't stay where he was and had to keep moving. He didn't want to continue this similar cycle, but he couldn't control his body.
Now he is like a puppet, with only a little independent consciousness left, watching his body perform actions contrary to his thoughts.
As expected, when he returned to the tree roots for the third time, the incisions were covered with ashes. He remembered that they were the remains of the burned-out guide amulet.
"Didn't I discover the scar first, and then heard someone following me?" Yu Shu used his limited thinking ability and muttered to himself while looking at the familiar Fu Hui.
Before he could finish his words, Yu Shu's body started moving again on its own, taking steps in the direction he had already walked.
The footsteps behind him became heavier and clearer. Yu Shu could hear that the distance between him and the person behind him had gone from being dozens of meters away to being only a few meters away. He was certain that if he turned around he would see another self.
The crisp and loud sound of dead branches breaking pierced my eardrums.
This step is too heavy and is not Yu Shu's walking style.
"Follow me!"
The familiar bass voice of the young man was like a spring breeze that melted the ice and snow, blowing away all the anxiety and fear in his heart.
It’s Jiang Yu.
Jiang Yu came and saved him again.
Yu Shu was like a deflated balloon. He had no strength left in his body and fell backwards limply.
He fell into thick and reliable arms, and when he looked up, the person he saw in his eyes was the person he was both afraid of and wanted to see - Jiang Yu appeared when he was on the verge of collapse.
Yu Shu's body, which had been so cold that it was almost unconscious, gradually warmed up. He narrowed his eyes, breathed a sigh of relief, and said lightly with a smile, "You're here."
Jiang Yu, who always had a cold expression, now had countless worries in his eyes. This was the first time he saw Yu Shu's smile was more painful than crying, but he still pretended to be nothing.
Jiang Yu quietly tightened his arms, wanting to use a hug to tell Yu Shu that everything was fine, and also to make his anxious and restless heart feel at ease.
"Don't be afraid, I'm here, I'm coming." He whispered comfortingly in Yu Shu's ear.
At the same time, it is also a persuasion to myself, allowing the arrogant tension and worry in my body to slowly calm down.
Yu Shu closed his eyes and didn't dare to look at Jiang Yu's dark circles. But even if he didn't look, an image would naturally appear in his mind, reminding him again and again that Jiang Yu was so worried about him because he was lost and couldn't be contacted, so he couldn't sleep well.
"I was thinking, 'Don't come here, it's dangerous.' I saw me, the second me. I chased the second me and spent the whole day here."
"What if we don't go out? I feel like I'm causing you some trouble."
Yu Shu was already a little confused.
When Jiang Yu heard these words, his heart seemed to be cut open, painful and defenseless.
Jiang Yu held Yu Shu's hand tightly: "No, I will take you out."
"Maybe we can see a second Jiang Yu later." Yu Shu felt Jiang Yu's heartbeat and warmth in his palm and felt like joking.
But he wanted to relieve Jiang Yu's excessive nervousness and psychological pressure more, because normally it is impossible to feel the pulse in the palm of your hand. You can only feel the pulse in the palm of your hand when you are extremely nervous, doing strenuous exercise or having an illness.
Jiang Yu could tell that Yu Shu was only joking to reassure him, but he was still very nervous and worried: "No, follow me and find your lost soul. There won't be another Yu Shu, nor will there be another me."
The self that Yu Shu met was his lost soul.
Because the soul did not follow the flying crow, it got lost in the Soul Dispersion Formation and touched the plants in the woods. The soul was trapped in a vicious circle, so it saw the river every time but could never reach it.
"It's dark outside, I'll take you home." Jiang Yu hugged Yu Shu in his arms.
Yu Shu didn't notice the turbulent and complicated look in Jiang Yu's eyes at all. He was still immersed in the joy and excitement of Jiang Yu's appearance at the critical moment.
It wasn't the first time for him, but this time his heart was pounding. When he heard Jiang Yu's voice and saw Jiang Yu's face, he felt as if he were in a pitch-black cave, and suddenly a beam of light came in.
Or in other words, Jiang Yu became his light.
"Eat slowly, we'll leave soon." Jiang Yu brought a whole backpack of food with him because he was worried that Yu Shu would be starving after being trapped here for a day and a night without eating anything.
Jiang Yu watched Yu Shu eat and explained the whole story.
"Aren't you afraid that if the Siyang Fish fails, we won't be able to get out?"
Yu Shu didn't dare to look at Jiang Yu. He didn't know what was wrong with him. He was neither nervous nor afraid, but his heart was beating faster and faster.
The refreshing and gentle sunlight hid in Jiang Yu's eyes, and the glaciers in the cold boy's eyebrows melted away, turning into a thin stream of clear and sweet water, flowing towards the person in front of him.
However, Yu Shu lowered his head and didn't notice.
"There's no such thing as an emergency." Jiang Yu said firmly.
After eating, drinking and resting enough, Jiang Yu took Yu Shu and set out to find the lost souls.
With Si Yangyu, this unpredictable forest repeatedly turned into an open and flat road, which was much simpler.
The figure that Yu Shu could never catch up with was soon caught up with.
The four marks corresponded to the four lost souls. Yu Shu just touched his own soul lightly, and they dissipated like smoke while his body felt solid.
After a whole day of trying to get out of the woods, Yu Shu finally found a way out in about a few hours under Jiang Yu's guidance.
As he was about to step out of the forest, Yu Shu slowed down his pace, looked back calmly at the place where he had been trapped for almost twenty-four hours, feeling both fear and relief.
The moment you step out of the forest, the sky is filled with stars sparkling like diamonds, and the cool night breeze fills your lungs, making you feel alive again.
Yu Shu followed Jiang Yu. He used to think of Jiang Yu as a capable but immature young man, but tonight for some reason he thought he was a reliable and dependable man.
He looked at the familiar figure from behind, and a constant warmth and sense of security welled up in his heart.
"Jiang Yu, it's great to meet you." Yu Shu said with emotion.
He couldn't find another one even after digging ten feet underground.
His meeting Jiang Yu changed his life. He went from being an unemployed, laid-off and heavily in debt doctor to someone who had paid off his loans and had a considerable amount of savings.
Moreover, Jiang Yu had appeared at two critical moments to help him, lighting up his extinguished hope and illuminating the path under his feet.
"You seem to be in much better spirits." Jiang Yu didn't look back, his eyes darkened.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
