Chapter 45-45- Journey, Beginning, and Ending
After that interesting spring outing and exploration, Rosalyn embarked on a solo trip around the island in September and October of the same year.
As to whether it is September or October, it is unknown. After all, it is a doomsday world with only two people, and the time can only be recorded according to the climate changes in spring, summer, autumn and winter.
She felt that the teacher had the ability to observe time more accurately, even to the date, but was just too lazy to do so.
Of course, the sword-fighting course should be an obstacle to this trip, but the teacher recently asked her to do basic exercises alone and did not allow her to watch. He called it "freeing up her time", but she felt that the slow learning progress must have stimulated the teacher's self-esteem, which led the teacher to make such a decision.
As expected, teachers who make excuses are still very cute.
But when I go out traveling, what does the teacher eat and drink?
Rosalyn still had some doubts about this, but the teacher confidently said that it was not her concern, so she felt relieved.
Yes, the teacher had lived alone for hundreds of years, so she didn't need to worry about that. Moreover, many of the dishes in the kitchen were originally proposed by the teacher, and she completed them later. The reason why she rarely cooked on weekdays was simply to give her student an opportunity to actively serve and repay her teacher's kindness.
Before setting off, Rosalin packed her bags and first went to water the small vegetable garden in the manor, and then went to say hello to the rabbits and deer raised in the animal pen. After setting off, she did not forget to visit several other farm areas to check on the growth of the wheat and to collect the bodies of the animals or deformities that were entangled in the electric fence.
Then, walking through the long arcade street covered with wisteria vines and with a classical ruin aesthetic, she went to look at the shadow of the viaduct ruins where Ms. Chicken was.
However, the whereabouts of the first generation of Ms. Chicken are a mystery, and this place has become the base for her descendants to reproduce and thrive.
When she arrived, the second-generation members were twitching and playing with a hideous centipede, over a meter long and covered in human-like eyes. Perhaps having recently consumed the flesh of some mutated creature, the centipede's movements were clumsy, and it was easily manipulated by a flock of pheasants. Rosalyn was held captive for over half an hour, and only intervened to save a second-generation member when she saw it near death.
Before leaving, she bowed solemnly to the second generation, placed her right hand on her chest, and expressed her respect for their heroic act of defending their homeland to the death.
——When her father went to the front line to fight against the demons, her eldest brother and others made this gesture before leaving. She didn't know what it meant at the time and just watched silently. Now she understands it but it's a little too late.
But after so many years in the Land of End, there seemed little hope of ever returning. The book that recorded the legend of the Unholy Demons said the Aurora was a rare astronomical phenomenon that appeared only once every century. Perhaps returning home had always been a beautiful delusion.
…
Rosalyn's trip around the island lasted for half a year. The main route was to circle the island and she did not go to the Ish Mountains.
There are two main purposes of traveling: one is to relieve the monotonous and repetitive doomsday life, the second is to continuously exercise one's ability to survive independently, and the third is to check whether there are mother nests or third-stage mutants in various places along the way to prevent certain crises that have occurred in the past.
She passed through the center of Gray Harbor City and saw the large pit that was once occupied by the mother nest. Below it was the city's sewer system. Of course, it would be more appropriate to describe it as an underground river now.
It's covered in verdant moss, and occasionally, in places where sunlight falls, you'll see maidenhair ferns sprouting from nowhere. Perhaps because the waterway is so narrow, there aren't many aberrations in the underground river, but there are many lively fish swimming around. Many small animals rarely seen on the surface also gather here, happily playing, like a secluded paradise.
Later, she walked through the abandoned town and came to the ruins of Luya City.
Luya City's former nest was located in the shallows, spawning numerous deformed jellyfish and fish monsters that were particularly menacing. But now, when you visit, the white sandy beach is gently lapped by the waves, washing up stranded starfish and anemones. Schools of unknown crabs leisurely crawl beneath the coconut trees. If you ignore the dilapidated, overgrown streets nearby, you'll find the tranquility of a leisurely seaside vacation.
Then, she left Luya City again. At the end of winter the following year, she walked along the long East Ring Road, covered in frost and snow, stopping and starting, and finally returned to Yish City.
In the suburban factory area outside the city, she saw the semi-mechanical mutant that had attacked the master and his apprentice, the giant mechanical turtle.
Last year, after the teacher acquired the pale tentacles, he launched a major cleanup of the island's high-level aberrations, and the giant mechanical turtle was not spared. The aberrant flesh on its body is now gone, but its body remains relatively intact. The reason for this is that the teacher, thinking it might be repairable later, opted to hold back.
As she passed under the dusty head of the giant mechanical turtle, she looked up for a while and felt that the turtle's eyes, which should have been dead, looked unexpectedly lively, especially the angle of the camera under the glass layer, which seemed to have been adjusted and was facing her direction, as if it was staring at something quietly.
Rosalin thought of the theory of "all things have spirits" that her teacher had introduced to her, and guessed that although this giant mechanical turtle was dead, there were still many soul runes left in its body, which gave her such a strange sense of spirituality.
So, as someone who was not afraid of deformed creatures but was afraid of ghosts, she left here nervously and never planned to get close to it again.
…
I set out last autumn and returned to the central area of Ish City during the spring equinox.
It was drizzling that day, a continuous spring rain, making the ruins of the Black Tower in the distance look like a lighthouse standing in the misty rain. Although it could not emit light, it could guide the direction.
Before returning to the manor, because she was concerned about the second generation and the situation of several farms in the central area, she did not go back directly. Instead, she held an umbrella and went to the shadow under the ruins of the overpass to visit the chickens there.
Apparently, during her absence, the henhouse had been attacked fiercely, reducing the number of second-generation members to about half of what it had been the previous autumn. This deeply saddened her, and she couldn't help but observe a moment of silence for the fallen warriors. But she soon discovered that the nest contained a considerable number of eggs, perhaps a dozen or so. Her excitement returned, and she grabbed three of them before swiftly fleeing amidst the angry crowing of the rooster.
Then she went to inspect the farm's wheat fields.
But what can be said is that the crops were sown, but the surrounding environment was a mess. Not only were weeds growing everywhere, stealing nutrients from the wheat, but the damaged power grids were also not promptly repaired or replaced. The remaining wheat straw was piled unattended, seemingly unconcerned about breeding pests like aphids and borers.
This made her puff up her cheeks, and she thought to herself that the teacher was too relaxed, this couldn't be considered as having been taken care of at all, right?
But he soon became worried again, suspecting that the teacher was living a famine-stricken life with no food to eat and was extremely hungry. He quickly took off with the wind, not even bothering to open an umbrella, and flew back to the manor in one breath.
The manor is still so peaceful and tranquil under the spring rain. The light tubes hanging on the trees release warm light, dyeing the surrounding rain into an orange mist.
Seeing the familiar scene, Rosalyn relaxed and prepared to give the teacher a surprise, then she saw that several clothes had been forgotten to be collected on the clothes drying rack on the second floor and were drying in the rain in vain.
She couldn't help but take a deep breath, pushed open the door, and found her teacher sleeping on the sofa by the floor-to-ceiling window, holding a book.
If we put aside the premise that the wheat fields are not tended, clothes are forgotten in the rain, and the table is piled with miscellaneous items, then this scene is still very beautiful, echoing the melody of the spring rain, like a sleeping beauty who is isolated from the world.
She let out a breath, lowered her steps, and went upstairs to collect the clothes.
She finally confirmed that the teacher couldn't do without her.
…
After Rosalind's six-month trip around the island, life on the manor returned to normal. The weeds were gone, the dust was cleared, the clutter was put away, and there was no need to worry about washing clothes and cooking.
But Yvette still felt quite innocent. She wasn't actually that lazy. She didn't put away the clothes on a rainy day because she'd fallen asleep and hadn't noticed. The wheat fields weren't well tended because she could skip meals, lacking any hard needs, and she didn't know when her apprentice would be back. There was a lot of clutter on the table because she was used to waiting until a certain threshold had been reached before clearing them all up.
Just like some single guys would fill the laundry basket with clothes and then throw them all into the washing machine, why would you be so elaborate if you live alone?
Apart from anything else, she has really been practicing her cold weapon skills and is no longer dependent on large-scale ritual bombardment like before. This is proof of her real efforts.
But she decided not to explain this to Rosalyn.
Because it doesn't fit her personality.
Well, this is really not hard talk.
…
Time flies, and another year has passed.
Rosalyn was nineteen years old that year, and she was truly a big sister. Yvette used her craftsmanship to make her a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, which added a lot of intellectual and scholarly temperament.
Rosalyn didn't understand why she had to wear glasses. After all, she wasn't nearsighted, but since the teacher liked it, she did it. And this made her feel more like a teacher when she looked in the mirror.
Of course, considering that she was indeed serving as a martial arts instructor to her teacher, it seemed that this feeling was not a problem.
Compared with previous years, this year was particularly peaceful. The two of them started growing rice through an underground seed bank at the site of an agricultural college, and the day when they could eat rice was just around the corner.
The following year, with improved food, the two of them went to the northernmost city of Luya and built a small, wooden beach house together. This way, when the summer heat got too hot, they could go north together to escape the heat and stroll along the white sand beach.
In the third year, Rosalyn proposed the Ocean Upgrade Method, which transformed the ocean into a super training ground for her to upgrade, absorbing distortion factors. However, due to Yvette's lack of adaptability to underwater activities, the two spent most of their time in shallow waters, not daring to stray too far.
But the efficiency is indeed much higher, and both of them are certain that the white tentacles will definitely evolve during the continuous swallowing and digestion. However, how long this process will take is still unknown.
…
On a summer night, the Milky Way hangs down.
The stars crisscrossed the deep blue sky, like a handful of shattered mirrors, reflecting tiny specks of silver light on the distant lake. The chirping of insects drifted among the grass, and occasionally a firefly flitted by, casting a brief, luminous arc.
Riding on a magic skateboard, skimming across the lake, Rosaline, dressed in a blue wizard robe, gracefully stepped onto the metal platform of the Abyss Base.
This is the 12th year since she traveled through time. Now at the age of 22, she has finally shed the girlish temperament under the protection of her teacher, and instead has a sufficiently intellectual, mature and full-bodied side. In the words of her teacher, "You are already a qualified queen."
She was puzzled by this, but since the teacher didn't explain, she didn't ask any further questions.
Pushing her gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of her nose, she opened the door and walked down the stairs. The crisp sound of her high heels hitting the metal steps continued all the way to the dark depths below.
However, she was not here for adventure, but because her teacher needed some soft decoration for the newly built seaside villa in Luya City, she came here to cut some magic light vines to take away.
Tucking the excess blonde hair behind her ears, she began to get busy, cutting the magic light vines one by one, tying them up, and carrying them to the metal platform outside.
This is undoubtedly a tedious and boring process, but she is very motivated to do it. Who doesn't like the process of gradually making the little home warm and beautiful?
As for returning home, she had completely given up on it two or three years ago. Crossing the aurora and meeting her teacher was already incredibly lucky. But to have this once-in-a-century celestial phenomenon reappear and send her, now accomplished, back to reunite with her family—how could such a good thing happen? It wasn't even something she could dream about.
In this way, after spending more than half an hour and tying several bundles of magic light vines, Rosaline, having completed her mission, could finally leave. She walked onto the metal platform, stretched her waist lazily, and looked up at the starry sky.
She saw a brilliant aurora stretching across the night sky, like a melting river of stars, pouring down into her eyes.
(End of this chapter)
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