Chapter 232 Epilogue - New World Arc (Twenty-Nine)
Yu Qingzhou was accused of murder.
Of course, given the scale, it might be more accurate to call it a massacre.
But... how could that be?
I was less than ten years old at the time.
A frail child under ten years old killing an entire village sounds like a fantasy.
—No, to be precise, even a fairy tale wouldn't be made up like this.
At least on this point, Yu Qingzhou was able to make a judgment.
[Perhaps not if they were conscious, but what if those people were already unable to move at that time?]
It's been... for a long time, it's been unable to move?
Something seemed to flash through his mind—perhaps a thought, perhaps a scene—but the boy couldn't grasp it.
His head started to throb again.
It was as if the area deep in the brain that governs memories was being slowly poked in with the cold, hard tip of tweezers, ignoring the obstruction of the skull, just like gently inserting chopsticks into a piece of tender tofu.
So, can tofu feel pain?
Yu Qingzhou was unaware that he was licking his slightly dry lips.
He thought that after meeting Tan Hong—the person he had mistakenly identified as a monkey when he was a child—nothing could surprise him anymore.
As it turns out, expectations are meant to be repeatedly shattered.
It's not a monkey, and it's not a human...
After many years, the person I thought was dead has reappeared alive before my eyes, which is even more unacceptable than the fragmented soul of the dead.
—At least that way, Yu Qingzhou could comfort herself, thinking that it was the world that was crazy, not herself.
His mind was in complete chaos, but his face remained unusually calm.
【What's the meaning? 】
Do you remember? That day was your village's worship day.
Of course I remember...
A flickering campfire, a frenzied crowd, endless wild grass, moonlight, a pounding heart, and panting breaths...
They are all memories that linger like nightmares.
Someone poisoned the food that night.
As the words on the other end faded, what vaguely appeared in my mind was the serene figure of the woman bending over patiently weeding the vegetable garden.
So slender, yet so warm and strong.
Being able to hold a sick child in your arms, gently pat his arm, and softly hum a tune from a foreign land in a gentle voice.
That was the moment that Yu Qingzhou—also known as Pipa—cherished most from the bottom of her heart during her childhood.
However, he didn't know when it started, but his mother never hugged him like that again.
She would no longer affectionately pat his head and tell him, "You are a good boy."
Children are not necessarily unaware of the reasons behind this.
But humans are such greedy creatures; once they have tasted the sweetness of being loved, it is hard for them to endure the loneliness of being alone again.
Reason ultimately led him to stop at the corner, only gazing at it from a distance.
In that undisturbed corner, even the child could see the woman's faint smile.
—Did Mother think of something happy?
The child cannot know, but if so, he feels that in that beautiful imagination there must be no father, and of course, no existence of himself.
However, after piecing together the general outline of the incident by combining Tan Hong's account, that faint smile seemed to have taken on a different meaning.
It not only contains the beautiful imagination of a free life after escaping, but also a sense of satisfaction at getting revenge.
The woman smiled slightly, bent over, and patiently pulled out the things that everyone else in the village considered weeds.
Later, Yu Qingzhou rediscovered that plant in a somewhat outdated illustrated guide.
More than the complicated names and family descriptions, the boy noticed its toxicity first.
Even small amounts can cause adverse symptoms such as dizziness, vomiting, and coma. If consumed in a single dose exceeding the body's tolerance limit, it can be fatal.
And they died in extreme pain.
Of course, this is only in theory, because the requirements for reaching a lethal dose are extremely strict, such as the corresponding concentration, which cannot be achieved by simply poisoning food.
Yu Qingzhou didn't know if Yu Rou was aware of this.
Perhaps the woman simply wanted to escape in the chaos.
Perhaps, she really wanted to kill everyone.
The dead deserve peace and need no further questioning or inquiry.
Those who survived were different.
Tell me, how did the other people in the village die?
Under the white light, the indistinct face asked this question.
Yu Qingzhou did not answer immediately, but blinked her eyes, which were sore from drowsiness.
Then I heard a somewhat dissatisfied question coming from the other side.
【why are you laughing? 】
Upon hearing this, Yu Qingzhou paused for a moment, realizing that what the other party said was true. She then tried to pull back the corners of her mouth, but failed.
"Sorry, officer, I didn't realize it. Maybe I was just too tired... You know, people often can't control themselves well when they're sleepy."
Yu Qingzhou tried to explain sincerely, while realizing that she had done something unnecessary.
If it were the usual Yu Qingzhou, she wouldn't act like this.
This shows that he was indeed tired.
In the completely exposed, square interrogation room, he was forced to repeatedly dig out the deep-buried fragments of his memories. For the boy, this was undoubtedly a double confinement of body and mind.
The urge to sleep, the urge to escape this situation... was stronger than ever before.
So, can we continue our previous topic now?
"Excuse me, could you repeat the question I just asked, officer?"
It was clear that the young police officer next to him, holding the notebook, had used a great deal of patience to hold back from yelling.
It's as if the only person who has endured this until now is the other party.
Yu Qingzhou glanced subconsciously at the video recording in the corner; the red dot was flashing—did it mean it was in progress?
Time in the outside world flows by at a leisurely pace.
However, Yu Qingzhou was stuck in that terrible night, going back and forth, from midnight to dawn, to daytime, and back to the previous night, back to the open space with the campfire burning.
—The testimonies never match.
In the boy's memory, he had been accidentally involved in the village's strange sacrificial ritual, which led to that thrilling escape, like a real prey.
After narrowly escaping death, he hid in a secluded cave on the back slope of the hill.
I fell asleep from exhaustion and have no idea what happened that night.
When I woke up, it was already bright daylight. I wanted to sneak home and pretend nothing had happened before anyone noticed, but instead I saw my mother being executed by being placed on a bonfire.
At the time, he was completely stunned, but now that he thinks about it, it must have been because the poisoning had been discovered.
The moment he saw the fire start, he rushed out almost without thinking.
Perhaps due to the effects of the toxins, the support frame was not sturdy and was knocked over by him.
The scene was chaotic, and he was able to reach his mother's side, but it was at best a hasty farewell.
The moment he jumped off the hillside, he thought he was going to die.
Unexpectedly, I survived.
Even more unexpectedly, the lightning struck right into the village, and the ensuing fire burned everything to the ground...
At this point, the boy couldn't help but laugh.
And without any explanation.
This time, the officer finally seemed to have reached his limit and slammed his fist on the table, shouting out loud.
[There weren't just adults in there, there were children too, even babies... How could you just laugh about something like that?! Are you an animal?!]
Yu Qingzhou stared at the police officer opposite him. The overhead lights were too glaring, and he couldn't look the officer in the eye. He could only see the heaving chest beneath the uniform shirt.
"If I don't laugh, will those children and babies come back to life?" the boy asked softly, his eyes lowered, his voice as soft as if he were sleepwalking.
【……What? 】
The young police officer was clearly stunned for a moment, it was unclear whether he didn't hear clearly or he heard clearly but didn't react immediately.
The boy, however, continued speaking on his own.
Or is it possible that my mother could be brought back to life because of this?
[...]
No, nothing will change. The dead will not come back to life, and the sins that have been committed cannot be erased.
At this point, the boy sat up slightly, looked up at the blinding light, his expression calm, without a trace of extra emotion.
"I may indeed have animal blood flowing through my veins, but officer, you're not some omnipotent god."
You bastard—
The young officer was about to say something when he was pulled back to his seat by his sleeve.
Thus, the power of discourse was returned to his companions.
The latter, however, asked a rather strange question: "So, you believe in the existence of God?"
Upon hearing this, the boy lowered his gaze again: "I don't know, maybe there is..."
He paused, then frowned slightly, seemingly uncertain: "I think so."
The officer who was questioning him smiled, then suddenly said, "So, is it your god teaching you to lie?"
Upon hearing this, Yu Qingzhou's heart skipped a beat. He looked abruptly at the person opposite him, not understanding why they had said that.
[There are two obvious inconsistencies in your account that need correction. First, there were no thunderstorms in the area where your village is located for a week before and after the incident. Let alone the possibility of a fire breaking out in the village due to a lightning strike.]
[...]
Secondly, your mother, Yu Rou, had actually died a year before the incident.
The officer leaned forward slightly, casting an imposing gaze that brooked no refusal: "Now, can you explain how someone who's long dead could poison the food of a living person?"
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