Chapter 231 Epilogue - New World Arc (Twenty-Eight)
Pipa saw the monkey again—although it wasn't actually a monkey, but a person.
But at least, the loquat didn't know that at that time.
He even harbored a certain suspicion that he was hallucinating.
Nothing happened; all I had were empty fantasies fueled by the high fever... If only that were true.
That day, because of the monkey trainer's departure and the unexpectedly cheerful weather, the loquat was immersed in a kind of unusual excitement.
Just like sometimes, when people are extremely tired, they become trapped in their own wild thoughts, staring into the dark until dawn.
Until, filled with despair after a sleepless night, they were passively drawn into yet another exhausting cycle...
Despite being threatened the day before for sneaking off to the back hillside, she suddenly had the idea to go there alone.
In fact, due to the persistent high temperatures, the loquats hadn't been able to sneak out for quite some time.
I wonder when that little girl first bumped into him...
It's amazing that they managed to keep it to themselves until yesterday, when they finally used it as leverage. It really caught Pipa off guard.
Finally, without a word, they simply left the child alone in the grove.
If Pipa hadn't been caught off guard and ended up falling asleep, she probably would have thought those people were just there to play a trick on her.
In any case, Pipa was noticeably more cautious this time. She carefully observed the surroundings, looking for anyone nearby.
He wasn't walking on a main road to begin with, and with the lush vegetation of the season, his small figure almost instantly disappeared into the tall bushes and grass.
My nasal cavity was filled with the smell of plant sap evaporating, cool and slightly bitter, with a faint, indescribable fishy odor.
The soft leaves brushed against my cheeks like gentle, furry little hands, and the slender twigs that snagged on my clothes looked like tiny claws reaching out from under the downy hairs.
It subtly and almost imperceptibly held back the child's ever-moving steps.
It should have been an ordinary afternoon, even though Pipa knew that what she was doing was not something that was allowed.
Looking back, Yu Qingzhou wished she had never had that sudden impulse.
But at that moment, a kind of inexplicable excitement, as if possessed, had already seized him—constantly pushing the child's steps, pulling him, and rushing towards the predetermined destiny.
So, a little later that day...
Deep within that cave, in a narrow space connected to the ancestral hall, the child witnessed a secret, a terrible truth that he would later almost completely forget.
—A bloody murder.
Watching the dark droplets gradually gather and slowly crawl along the ground into the crevice under the offering table, I smelled the increasingly strong stench of blood in the air.
The child strained with all his might, gripping his arm tightly, and managed to suppress the scream that was already rising in his throat.
At that moment, he suddenly understood why the ancestral hall had become a forbidden area for the entire village.
So that's what a place for worshipping gods is all about... So that's what it's all about...
Pipa didn't understand why she had the leisure to think about these things.
Perhaps because they were too frightened, they were unable to react normally.
A hoarse cough could be heard from outside from time to time, a thick, phlegmy cough accompanied by the slapping sound of shoes on the wet ground.
The loquat's heart followed the footsteps, bobbing up and down.
Whatever you do, don't look down, don't look this way...
Pipa kept repeating this in her heart, but she didn't know to whom she should pray.
—A deity?
But isn't the village's ancient faith being worshipped right above his head right now?
If gods truly exist, and if gods can truly manifest their power, how could they allow murderers to commit such acts with such impunity right under their noses?
How could we condone the other party's act of polluting the ground in front of the offering table with blood?
—How could this be?
Unless they were accomplices from the very beginning.
This realization stirred up a storm in the young minds of children.
It was no less dramatic than witnessing firsthand the village chief, who always appeared kind and approachable, suddenly turn grim and plunge a knife into the body of a stranger.
[Pah! He's so tight-lipped, I thought he was hiding some money. What a penniless wretch, trying to act tough right in front of me. It's just a few coins, why didn't he just hand them over? Why did he have to be so stupid and waste so much time? Oh dear, these old bones of mine can't take this much trouble...]
The old village chief muttered to himself as he kicked the dead man in a fit of rage.
As the old man did this, the corpse rolled over, half its face lying prone in the pool of blood, and the other half facing the bottom of the altar.
In the dim light, the unseeing eyes met the child's terrified gaze.
At that moment, Pipa felt a sudden rush of energy in her head, and her heart almost jumped out of her ribs.
That was probably the first time in Pipa's life that she so desperately wanted to be a real piece of wood, just like everyone else in the village.
Unfortunately, he isn't...
However, it might be very close...
Pipa couldn't remember how she managed to escape home that day.
He dared not be discovered by anyone and could only sneak into his room.
After closing the doors and windows tightly and checking them several times to make sure they were secure, he finally collapsed onto his small bed.
It's probably because I expended too much mental and physical energy beforehand.
At this moment, the child lying on the bed felt dizzy and lightheaded. Everything around him seemed to be slowly spinning, changing, and twisting into a completely unfamiliar form.
Although on the surface, they look no different from what I remember.
But something is different.
This world, along with myself who is enveloped by it, has all... fallen into an unbelievable absurdity.
A feeling of nausea churned within me, in my stomach...
Pipa struggled to move her body, trying to alleviate the terrible feeling.
But as he turned his body, he remembered the filthy corpse lying in thick blood and other bodily fluids.
For some reason, at that moment, in the child's mind, the corpse's unseeing face suddenly transformed into his own.
Finally, unable to bear it any longer, Pipa clung to the edge of the bed, bowed her head, and began to vomit.
Only when he could vomit nothing but acidic fluid did the child finally stop feeling unwell, collapse back onto the bed, and weakly close his eyes.
The loquat just fell asleep...
Then, he had a high fever while he was in a coma.
After several days of agonizing semi-consciousness, the child successfully convinced himself to regard everything he saw deep in the cave as a false nightmare.
After the high fever subsided, he completely discarded this terrible nightmare and buried it deep beneath the layers of memory.
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