A squeak.
The heavy metal door slowly opened, revealing Guo Suo who was guarding behind the door.
The little Guo Suohua? For the towering giant.
Densely packed sturdy legs stand astride the skirt.
The pair of hands that were usually used to make tea and arrange flowers turned into powerful claws, and the sharp saw edges flashed with a cold light.
A cold gaze looked down from a height of three or four meters, his eyes were dark red, filled with murderous intent, and full of vigilance.
The tall Guo Suohun was tense, like a powder keg that was fully armed and ready to explode at any time.
Until Lin Yuan entered the door, he closed the iron door.
The sound of the door slamming shut made Guo Suo's body tremble, as if only at this moment he reacted and dared not believe who the person who entered the house was.
She slowly descended from the height - her body became smaller and smaller until the hem of her skirt touched the ground, returning to her original petite and exquisite appearance.
Xiaosuo looked at Lin Yuan with her lips tightly pursed.
That look, full of grievance, panic and forced suppression, reminded Lin Yuan of the first time he saw her in this house.
But now, looking at the trembling little lock, does it feel like your heart is being stabbed by a red-hot needle?
"What happened?"
Lin Yuan heard her own voice, and it still sounded calm, as if she could handle anything and everything was under control. No one knew that a strong sense of uneasiness was making her heart tremble.
"There's a thief in the house." Xiaosuo lowered her head and frantically fiddled with her apron with her fingers.
"Hmm, is there a thief?"
There have been many thieves in the house. In the past, they were just some thieves, and later, some powerful guys appeared. However, Xunhua distracted her and easily dealt with them.
What kind of thief got in?
The lush flowers and plants in the courtyard were wilting visibly.
I've been here for such a long time, but I haven't felt Xunhua's spiritual power.
Lin Yuan stopped walking, and Xiaosuo, who was standing in front of her, lowered her head.
"I don't know what happened. When those people came in, Mr. Gardener suddenly told me to go back to the house and go to sleep."
She kept her head down, as if she had done something terribly wrong. "I don't know why, but I suddenly became so obedient. I went back home obediently and fell into a deep sleep the moment I woke up..."
"It's not your fault," Lin Yuan interrupted her. "Xunhua is a powerful guide, and you are defenseless against him. It would be easy for him to guide you. It was his will that made you go back to sleep."
Xiao Suan raised her head, tears welled up in her big eyes, and her chest heaved violently, as if the heavy stone pressing on her heart was lifted and she was finally able to breathe.
"And then?" Lin Yuan's voice was still calm, even steadier than before.
Xiao Suo suddenly became excited and spoke very quickly, telling Lin Yuan what had happened at home in the past few days like pouring beans.
A thief clearly broke into the house that day.
But she didn't know why she fell asleep peacefully.
When I woke up, I found that the groundhogs in the front yard were quietly huddled in a room with me.
There are also a pair of wild ducks in the backyard pond, the furry snow rabbit in the rabbit hole, and the orange cat that often steals food from the kitchen... In short, all the small animals that Mr. Gardener likes in the whole house are now crowded in their own small house.
As if protected by the gentle shade of the tree, everyone slept quietly in the cluster.
Was there a thief in our house last night?
Xiaosuo sat on the bed in a daze for a moment, then saw the gold necklace on the bedside. A golden heart-shaped pendant. Only one person in the family had it.
She knew that this was the treasure that the gardener never left. Why did it appear here?
The little crab jumped up and grabbed the necklace. Using his hands and feet, he hurriedly ran through the chickens, ducks, mice and rabbits and ran towards the yard.
She ran faster than ever, using all eight legs.
The yard was in a mess, with broken branches of trees everywhere, and the flowers that the gardener had carefully grown were scattered all over the ground.
Guo Suo didn't search for too long before he saw a small half of a golden tree stump in the courtyard.
The most beautiful goldenrod tree in the entire yard had its trunk and branches cut off, leaving only a small stump standing alone among the messy branches on the ground.
Xiaosuo still remembers clearly that when Mr. Gardener first came, he had no arms or legs and was brought back by his owner in a luggage bag.
The owner placed him in the room with the most sunlight so that he could bask in the sun on the terrace every day.
Later, he planted himself in the yard, pretending to be an ordinary tree.
Others can't notice it and can't see that beautiful color.
But Xiaosuo knew that there was a very beautiful goldenrod tree in the yard of their house.
At first it was bare and lifeless, but day by day it slowly grew golden branches and golden leaves.
Slowly, slowly, and after a long time, he finally took root here.
Just like myself, become a part of this family.
Xiaosuo likes the wind blowing through the courtyard the most. The golden leaves jingle against each other, as if they are singing, leading all the trees in the courtyard to sing together.
Every time at that moment, whether she was busy in the kitchen or making tea in the restaurant, she would shake her head and hum along with Mr. Gardener's tune.
All the trees, animals and people in this house hum along.
The lady in the attic, like herself, was sitting in front of the attic window, listening to the singing in the courtyard.
Such a happy life.
No matter what people call them, to Xiaosuo, this is her home, and both the young lady and the gardener are family members.
But she only slept for a while, and the handsome gardener disappeared.
The glittering golden treasures in the courtyard were so cruelly cut into pieces and carried away and stolen by those hateful enemies.
Why did I fall asleep? Why didn't I come out? Cut those guys into pieces!
If I were awake, I would bite off a few pieces of those people's flesh even if I died!
So hateful and regretful.
It's all my fault.
Xiaosuo stretched out his hand, wanting to touch the broken golden tree stump on the ground, which was now only a small bare piece left.
"I just touched it lightly. Very lightly. It turned into ashes. The ashes were so light that they flew all over the yard. I couldn't catch them."
Xiaosuo's voice was choked with sobs. She took Lin Yuan to the place where Xunhua disappeared and pointed it out to Lin Yuan.
The land there was scorched by the flames, leaving only a charred pit.
The pit was empty, there was nothing.
There were tears in Xiaosuo's eyes. She gritted her teeth and her eyeballs turned blood red.
Lin Yuan said nothing, just stared at the empty cave in silence.
Huge tentacles appeared from all directions, hovering over the charred land and searching carefully.
Several days have passed, but the strong mental fluctuations that occurred here at that time still vaguely remain.
It can be seen that an extremely fierce life-and-death struggle took place here that night.
Xunhua, alone, stood here, protecting this courtyard and this home against all the arrows and stones.
In the end, he was defeated, his body was chopped off and turned into ashes.
Just like last year,
The soil was charred, there was no trace of ash, nothing was left.
Lin Yuan stared at the empty cave.
The tentacles searched carefully and densely underground, with their heads buried, silently, carefully squeezing every inch of soil.
Even if you can find a small piece of gold, a small branch, or a little root, it would be great.
For Lin Yuan, finding a body means there is still a little hope.
That was her gardener, her friend, her teacher and her family.
Try your best to get him back?
A newly born woodchuck popped out of the hole. It looked around blankly with a puzzled look on its face.
Seeing the little woodchuck and Lin Yuan busy searching without saying a word, Guo Suo suddenly came to his senses.
Densely packed legs stretched out from under the skirt, and a trail of smoke climbed up along the outer wall of the house, and soon, carefully brought down a flower pot.
"This one, miss, are you looking for this?" She panted and handed the flowerpot in her arms to Lin Yuan to see.
The clay pot was filled with black mud, and out of the soft and moist soil grew a tiny sapling.
A very small and thin branch with two solitary young leaves at the top, weak and lifeless.
But the leaves are not the usual green, a golden color flows through the veins.
"Where is this from?" Lin Yuan hugged the flowerpot, his eyes lighting up.
"It's... it's the heart. The gardener left his golden necklace behind." Xiaosuo gestured.
"It was these little mice that were digging in and out of the holes that reminded me. I thought Mr. Gardener was a tree, and this was something he always wore, so maybe I could plant it."
"I just filled it with some soil from here and buried the heart inside. I didn't expect it to sprout."
Xiao Suo held her breath and concentrated, fearing that she might say something wrong. She was also afraid that if she spoke too loudly, she would blow off the young sapling that she had finally managed to grow.
"I watered it and exposed it to the sun every day. I never thought that a seedling would actually grow out of the soil. I don't know if I did the right thing."
Xiaosuo saw the young lady, who had been calm after entering the room, and her shoulders suddenly relaxed at this moment.
The lady's tentacles stretched out and clung to the flowerpot. Some of them climbed up and rubbed her hair vigorously.
"Great, Xiaosuo," Lin Yuan said, "You did a great job."
She let out a long breath from her chest, stretched out her hand, held Xiaosuo's shoulders, hugged her, and patted her little back hard.
This is the first time the lady hugged herself like this.
It turns out that the young lady was also panicked and sad. She was not as calm as she appeared.
She, she also needs my hug.
She also said I did a good job.
Guo Suo hugged Lin Yuan with all her might, retracted the sharp edge of her feet, and imitated Lin Yuan, patting Lin Yuan's back with her hands and feet in an unfamiliar manner.
"But Miss, will you really grow up to be a gardener like this?" Xiaosuo asked hesitantly.
Although the leaves were golden and the young lady looked happy, she could not feel the familiar spiritual power fluctuations of the gardener at all.
A soft and thin seedling stood upright in the black soil, looking very lifeless, and the only leaf that had emerged was wilted.
Not only did the leaves rustle in the breeze, they looked like they would fall at any moment.
The tree is Xunhua's main body. The main body has become so weak, and the spiritual body has lost its way somewhere.
"I'll try. Get him back."
Lin Yuan rolled up his sleeves, dropped his luggage, and sat on the ground in the courtyard.
The sun's light slanted through the mottled shadows of the trees and fell on the ground in dots.
Those tiny bits of golden light fell on Lin Yuan's dusty body, like flashes of gold.
The tentacles held the small flower pot, Lin Yuan sat cross-legged on the ground and closed his eyes.
Xunhua's spiritual landscape is vast and boundless.
The world is vast and boundless, and the length and depth are endless.
To date, Lin Yuan has come into contact with many spiritual images.
The mental landscape of some sentinels is very small: a room, a hillside, a conventional world that can be seen at a glance.
Some people have broad, wild and dreamy visions.
A small picture where it is easy to find anything, whether it is memories, emotions, or spiritual entities that hide because of trauma.
In a small space, everything can be easily found.
But in those vast spiritual pictures, if there is no guidance from the master, this kind of thing will become extremely difficult.
For example, Ni Ji’s spiritual picture is the sea.
If an alien invader is not very familiar with the terrain, it would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack for a foreign invader to search for a pearl of memory in the vast ocean or to find a big fish lurking in the deep sea.
Before our eyes, Xunhua’s spiritual landscape is not only vast, but also contains countless worlds of all sizes stacked one on top of the other, interconnected.
Chaos, disorder, space is twisting, and a hurtful hurricane is blowing everywhere. Doors of all sizes are twisting one after another.
If you take one more step or one wrong step, you may be dragged into a disordered world of thinking, and it will be difficult to escape.
Not to mention going deeper into it and finding Xunhua's missing spirit in such a chaotic world?
Lin Yuan took a step forward. The sharp wind quickly cut his tentacles.
Xunhua's memories include scenes from his human period as well as scenes after he became a mutant.
Darkness and mud, blood and tears, song and moon.
The kaleidoscopic world spins before your eyes, making you dizzy.
The sky and the earth seemed to be turned upside down, and door after door opened, revealing abysses one after another.
Calm down, Lin Yuan thought, calm down.
In that long tunnel of the Gnome City, so many people’s mental images have passed through it. Think about how they all got out in the end?
In the courtyard, Lin Yuan sat under the shade of a tree with his eyes closed, his face solemn and his brows slightly wrinkled.
The thick shadows overhead swayed, as if the trees were singing, huala la, huala la, and the sounds gradually merged into one.
The rabbits raised their ears and the woodchucks popped out a row of little heads.
"Come on, miss. I will protect you and the gardener." Xiaosuo whispered beside her.
It seems that everyone is waiting, waiting for Lin Yuan to find Mr. Gardener back?
Lin Yuan thought back to the past. He had sat here countless times, under the shade of that golden tree.
On the branches, the masked teacher taught her many things.
"Every person's mental landscape contains his darkest memories as well as his happiest moments."
"If someone's spirit is lost and can't be found, then you go to these two places to look for it."
Once, Xunhua lazily sat on the treetop and said to her,
“When a person loses himself, he either stays in the most painful scene or in the world that makes him feel happiest and most peaceful.”
Lin Yuan, who was lost in his mental picture, stopped walking.
Yes, Xunhua once taught me.
The darkest memory, or the most beautiful place. Go to these two places to find his spirit body.
Lin Yuan once rescued a sentinel whose mental state was close to collapse.
He was the older brother of a pair of twins.
At that time, I also searched for a long time in the world of spiritual images. It was by the pond where they used to fish when they were young, by the lake where fireflies were flying, that I found the sentinel who was almost lost.
That was the most peaceful and beautiful place in the sentinel’s childhood memory.
Lin Yuan walked through the floating and twisting doors.
In Xunhua's world, there are many dark memories.
The painful memories transformed into ferocious and terrifying poultry, holding sharp blades in their hands. They kept crawling out from the dark shadows in groups and chased after Lin Yuan, the intruder.
Lin Yuan ran wildly in the upside-down world, followed by a long line of terrifying ghosts, tracking him all the way.
She passed through one dark doorway after another, but she did not see Xunhua's familiar figure.
She saw the young Xunhua's high-spirited face in the military camp.
The young guide and his comrades fought on the battlefield with great vigor and vigor.
At that time, there was no White Tower or Holy Brick. The people in the rear worked hard to develop and produce more powerful weapons, while the warriors in the front fought desperately with the enemy on the battlefield.
There was no mood for feasting or singing and dancing. The guides' faces were as stained with blood as the sentries'.
There were more humans than there are today, and there were fortresses, bases, and underground towns of all sizes everywhere.
So this is how the world was four hundred years ago.
Lin Yuan saw scenes from the past while running, but where was Xunhua?
Lin Yuan ran in the military camp and on the battlefield.
Passing through the filthy Rose Camp.
Fragments of Xunhua's memories are everywhere, but his spiritual body? Not here.
Lin Yuan saw a damp alley and saw Windsor who was almost bullied by his neighbors.
Xunhua appeared in the alley and drove away the evildoer. This memory was different from reality. The guide as pure as the bright moon did not leave. He smiled and stretched out his hand to Windsor.
Windsor raised his head and smiled, and the two held hands together.
Lin Yuan was delighted and ran towards there.
As she ran closer, the two virtual figures disappeared like bubbles.
The dark alley was empty, without a single person.
No one can stay in fictional memory.
Not here either.
Lin Yuan panted and stopped. The huge shadow of the bull-headed monster covered the alley, and the monster behind him seemed to catch up again.
[Is it time to go back?]
[If we go any deeper, even we won’t be able to remember the way back.]
【Will be completely lost here】
【Then you can never go back】
[But I can’t bear to part with it]
[That is the gardener teacher]
【Xiaosuo will cry】
[I will cry too. I haven’t cried before]
[I will cry too, I can’t bear it]
[It's time to go back. I've tried my best, but I can't find him. ]
[I will be dragged into it. I don’t really want to die.]
Lin Yuan wiped the sweat from his forehead.
She was in a spiritual body at the moment, and a spiritual body shouldn't sweat. But she felt that she had been running for a long time and should be sweating all over, so she became wet and tired.
Reaching out, I wiped away the sweat of emptiness, ignoring the random thoughts in my mind. I once again stepped through a new door and walked deeper into the place.
[You will die, go back]
[Reluctant to leave, keep going]
…
Xunhua was a human for only twenty to thirty years, but he was a mutant for hundreds of years.
Where will he stay, where will his spirit body hide?
Lin Yuan is searching, not knowing whether he is stuck in the darkest memory or in the most peaceful and happiest time.
Lin Yuan started running again and saw doors one after another. His sight swept across the world of memories behind those doors. It was a large area of darkness with occasional bright spots.
Lin Yuan's footsteps suddenly stopped.
There is a door, there is a world, she has never entered.
She thought Xunhua would not choose to stay there.
After all, it was only a short period of one or two years, and I thought it would not count for anything in his long life.
Lin Yuan stopped, and in the swirling and intertwined mental images, he looked there and tried to walk towards the door.
Enter that little door.
Inside the door was a scene that was extremely familiar to him.
That? Familiar courtyard.
It's home.
The pointed roof of the attic emerges from the dense shade of the trees, birds are singing among the flowers, there is a window sill in the yard with roses in bloom, and water is bubbling in the kitchen.
In the backyard, fruits are hanging from the branches, and the roses climbing over the wall are in full bloom.
Tiny woodchucks popped out of holes in trees and butterflies fluttered their wings among the grass.
Everything is exactly the same as the outside world.
This is Lin Yuan’s home, the small yard with flowers in it.
The only difference from the outside world at this moment is that the time here is night.
The moon was looming in the clouds, and a cool breeze blew on my cheeks.
Lin Yuan walked slowly along the long gravel road. All the fierce monsters were blocked outside the yard, and they couldn't get in.
Lin Yuan saw the golden tree hidden in the courtyard. The golden tree was still shining in the moonlight as before.
A young boy was crouching under a tree, playing with a tiny woodchuck.
The boy had his back to her, playing happily with the little mouse. He had a focused look, a smile on his face, and his signature silver hair.
He was very young, only about two or three years old, but Lin Yuan would not mistake that face.
It is Xunhua, Xunhua's spiritual body.
It turns out that Xunhua has been here all the time.
This courtyard under the moonlight is the place he wants to stay the most in his memory of more than 400 years. It is the last resting place he has chosen for himself.
His spiritual body has become very young, even smaller than the young lion that Lin Yuan saw in Rachel's spiritual vision.
If Lin Yuan hadn't come, if Lin Yuan hadn't walked in so quickly, the two or three-year-old boy would have very likely become even smaller, degenerated into a baby, and eventually disappeared, completely dissipating in the world.
Under the golden tree, a little boy playing with a woodchuck saw a drop of water.
The drop of water fell on the back of his hand, crystal clear, and looked like human tears.
He raised his head and saw a Kraken with countless tentacles standing in front of him.
The mighty Kraken stared at him with its golden pupils.
Although not human, he felt very familiar with it.
"Why are you crying? Is there something sad?" little Xunhua asked, raising her head.
It was a little strange, because he had always thought that the spirits of deformed creatures like them would not shed tears.
He knew in his heart that he was not human. So this guy with only tentacles should not be human either, right?
Why is she crying?
Crying is a complex emotion unique to humans, and it is something that cannot be learned.
Kraken stretched out his hand to him, "I'm here to take you back."
"I can't go back." Young Xunhua shook her head. "I'm very weak. There are many terrible monsters and strong hurricanes outside here. They can easily tear me apart."
"I'm fine staying here. I like it here. There's wind here, and there are singing trees to keep me company." The little boy said innocently.
His consciousness was a little hazy, he only remembered that this seemed to be his favorite place.
The little boy looked at Lin Yuan with his silver eyes and said, "I vaguely remember that this can also be considered my home. So I just stay here."
"I will take you back to your real home." Kraken stretched out his countless hands to him, "I will protect you. On the way home, I will never let you get hurt."
The boy hesitated for a moment.
Those twisting tentacles? They look scary.
She's still going strong.
But I don't know why, but when I see her I feel very close to her, like a creature that makes me feel at ease.
"If you don't go back, the little crab will cry so hard, you know, her tears will flood your balcony."
Who was the little crab? The boy couldn't remember. He just felt uneasy.
"And your mice. No one in the house knows how to feed them except you. When I came in, I saw a squirrel steal all the food they had stored."
The little boy cried out, wondering what was going on, and felt very panicked.
"When you're not home, all the flowers in the yard are dead, and the trees are listless. No one in our family can take good care of them except you."
"And me. Without my teacher, I wouldn't even be able to fall in love."
"The family can't do without you, Xunhua."
"Let's go back together."
The tentacles? One by one, they raised their arms and legs patiently, waiting for his answer.
It looks very cute and familiar, like a family member's hand.
The young Xunhua finally couldn't help it, and took two steps forward with her little legs.
He was immediately and carefully embraced by the tentacles, wrapped tightly and held up as if he were a treasure at home.
Oh, remember there was a treasure at home. When little Xunhua was picked up, she thought in a daze that she had tried her best to hide that thing.
Why? Why didn't she ask me where the treasure box was hidden right away?
She looked as if the most precious thing in her house was not the Box of Truth, but a rotten tree root like herself.
Maybe she really is his family.
Just about to take me home.
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