An Mu carried the unconscious Bai Yu on his back, trudging unsteadily into the black mountain forest shrouded in blood mist.
At the entrance, the Rebirth Stele, shattered by fell words, stood silently behind them like a broken seal, while ahead lay a domain of despair that had been utterly twisted.
Beneath their feet was no longer solid earth, but a damp, sticky, nauseating texture, as though they were treading upon a thick mixture of moss that had rotted for who knew how many years and some kind of animal bones. With every step came a soft creaking crunch, as if the false ground might give way at any moment, plunging them into a bottomless abyss.
The surrounding trees displayed postures that defied the laws of nature. Their trunks were twisted and gnarled, like human figures struggling in extreme agony. The pitch-black bark was covered in circular knots that eerily resembled eyeballs, silently watching the uninvited guests in the dim blood mist. In the air, a thick, almost corporeal stench of blood mixed with the foul odor of decaying corpses drilled into their noses, assaulting every person's nerves.
"Stay alert. This place... is worse than I imagined." An Mu's voice rang out through the mental link. He adjusted Bai Yu's position on his back, his gaze sharp as a blade's edge as it swept over the dense fog ahead, where visibility was less than five meters. "Lan Ce, can you still detect energy signatures?"
"No, Captain." Lan Ce's voice was filled with deep exhaustion and gravity. "The field of resentment here is so dense that it's formed a 'domain.' All conventional detection methods have failed. My instruments are no different from bricks right now. You could say we're completely blind and deaf."
"Then we'll use the most primitive method." Mo Fei held that massive battle-axe horizontal across his chest. The black blood residue on the blade glinted with a faint light in the blood mist. "Use our eyes to see, our ears to hear, and our instincts to sense danger."
They pressed forward in silence, a trio as tiny and insignificant as a lone leaf upon the vast sea in this death-filled forest that seemed to have no boundaries.
And within this terrifying land forsaken by reality, the consciousness of Bai Yu—carried upon An Mu's back—was sinking into an even deeper dream.
...
Cold.
Bone-piercing cold.
His consciousness was like a stone cast into a boundless deep sea, endlessly falling, falling, falling through absolute darkness... No direction, no time, only an eternal sensation of sinking and that chill which constantly eroded his soul.
Who am I?
Where am I?
What happened?
Countless fragmented thoughts flickered in the darkness, yet the moment they formed, they were devoured by the cold void, unable to coalesce into complete thinking. He could vaguely sense that his "existence" itself was like a porcelain vessel shattered and then clumsily glued back together, covered in a dense web of cracks—as if a light touch would cause it to crumble apart once more.
He did not know how much time had passed. Perhaps an instant, or perhaps an eternity.
"Drip... drip... drip..."
A faint yet extremely regular sound pierced through the endless darkness and deathly silence, reaching his ears.
This sound was like the first ray of light at the dawn of primordial chaos, giving his dormant consciousness something to cling to. Instinctively, he tried to capture this sound, to discern its origin.
It was the sound of dripping water.
Immediately after, his sense of touch began to revive. He felt that he was lying on a hard, cold surface. His clothes were drenched through, icy fabric clinging tightly to his skin, causing him to shiver uncontrollably.
There was light...
His eyelids felt as if they weighed a thousand pounds. He exhausted every ounce of his strength just to force them open into a narrow slit.
Blurry shadows and light swayed before his eyes, gradually coming into focus.
What he saw were rafters covered in cobwebs and dust, the wooden beams already rotted and blackened. Above the rafters were broken tiles leaking daylight. The water droplets going "drip, drip" seeped through the gaps in the tiles, falling into a puddle on the ground not far away, creating tiny ripples.
He struggled to sit up and look around.
This seemed to be a long-abandoned ancestral shrine. In the very center of the shrine was enshrined a clay statue whose features had long since become indistinguishable. Half of the statue's body had collapsed, revealing the rotten frame of straw and wood within. The air was permeated with a thick mixture of moisture, mildew, and decaying wood—an extremely unpleasant smell.
Strangely, although the shrine was leaking everywhere, and he himself was soaked through, the tiles directly above his head were intact, and no rain was falling directly upon him.
He lowered his head to look at his hands. They were distinct and bony, but at this moment, they were deathly pale without a trace of blood color. He felt waves of weakness and dizziness. His mind was a blank void, save for some vague, fragmented remnants.
He leaned on a moss-covered pillar beside him and struggled to his feet, walking step by step toward the shrine's great doors, of which only half a door panel remained.
The instant he walked out of the shrine, the sight before him caused his already chaotic thoughts to come to a complete standstill.
Outside the shrine was a world shrouded in eternal rain and gloom.
The gray sky was like an enormous pot lid, pressing down heavily upon one's heart. Fine, ox-hair-like threads of rain fell from the heavens without cease, draping the entire world in a hazy, sorrowful veil.
And beneath the sky was a flooded realm.
The turbid, greenish-black floodwaters had submerged more than half the village, leaving only ruined rooftops and some slightly elevated alleys scattered across the water like isolated islands. Several crude wooden rafts floated slowly upon the muddy water. Some villagers dressed in coarse hemp clothes were walking woodenly through knee-deep water, their movements slow and mechanical, like a group of marionettes that had lost their souls.
Where is this?
Hell?
He stood blankly upon the steps of the shrine, icy threads of rain blocked by the eaves, forming a transparent curtain of rain before him that isolated him from the gloomy world outside.
Just then, a series of splashing sounds approached from afar.
He followed the sound and saw a small, thin figure holding a faded, whitened oil-paper umbrella, trudging through the water toward the shrine.
It was a little girl who looked to be about seven or eight years old. She wore a set of washed-faded blue cotton clothes, her small bare feet stepping in the icy, foul water. Her complexion was somewhat pale, but her eyes were as clear as a mountain stream, untainted by a single speck of dust. These eyes were particularly striking in this gray world.
The little girl stopped at the foot of the shrine steps. She looked up, those clear eyes sizing him up with curiosity, then she revealed a timid smile.
"You're awake, Outsider Brother." Her voice was crisp and pleasant, like an oriole chirping clearly in the rain. "I thought you were going to sleep for a long time still."
"...It was you who saved me?" Bai Yu spoke hoarsely.
"Mhm!" The little girl nodded vigorously. "Yesterday I saw you floating on the water, not moving at all, so I dragged you into the shrine. This is Water God Grandpa's territory. Although no one makes offerings anymore, it's still safer than being outside."
As she spoke, she extended the oil-paper umbrella in her hand toward him again, seemingly afraid that raindrops might splash onto him. Then, in an extremely serious tone, she whispered a warning: "Outsider Brother, you must remember—in our Luoshui Village, absolutely, absolutely do not let the rain falling from the sky touch you. The rain here... it can 'eat people.'"
"Luoshui Village..." He chewed on this name, familiar fragments of memory gradually rising in his mind.
"The rain can eat people?" He looked at that endless curtain of rain, unable to comprehend the meaning of these words.
"Mhm," a trace of fear flashed through the little girl's eyes. "If you're rained on for too long, a person will become... become like the uncles in the village. Unable to speak, unable to laugh, only walking around blankly... And then, they'll no longer be themselves."
He followed the little girl's gaze. Those villagers walking woodenly through the water had empty gazes and stiff expressions, indeed like empty shells that had lost their souls.
A chill slowly crept up his spine. This seemingly peaceful world of rain concealed a terror more bizarre than floods and ferocious beasts.
"My name is Xiao Xi, the xi of stream." The little girl smiled again, trying to ease the oppressive atmosphere. "What about you, Outsider Brother?"
"I..." He opened his mouth. A vague name echoed in his mind. "...Bai Yu. My name is Bai Yu."
"Brother Bai Yu, such a nice name." Xiao Xi laughed happily. "You just woke up, so your body must be very weak. It's too cold in the shrine. Come home with me. My dad and mom went on a long trip, so I'm the only one at home. I can boil some hot water for you to drink."
Bai Yu hesitated for a moment. In this place where every corner reeked of strangeness, was a little girl who took the initiative to show kindness a beacon of hope? Or a deeper trap?
However, his condition right now was simply too poor. That sense of weakness emanating from the depths of his soul made even standing somewhat difficult. Looking into Xiao Xi's clear, sincere eyes, he ultimately nodded.
"Thank you, Xiao Xi."
"You're welcome!" Xiao Xi raised the oil-paper umbrella high, completely covering Bai Yu's head, while half of her own small body was exposed to the rain.
"You..." Bai Yu instinctively wanted to push the umbrella back.
"It's fine," Xiao Xi said nonchalantly. "We who were born in the village are already used to it. As long as we don't get soaked for too long, nothing happens. But you're different. You're an outsider, your body is clean, you can't let even a drop of rain touch you."
"Clean..."
This word caused a strange feeling to flash across Bai Yu's heart.
Under Xiao Xi's guidance, Bai Yu carefully walked down the steps and stepped into the icy, stagnant water. They followed a relatively high stone slab path. Along the way, they encountered several villagers walking in the water. When those villagers saw Xiao Xi holding the umbrella and Bai Yu behind her, they all stopped in their tracks, staring at Bai Yu with empty, numb gazes, as though looking at some kind of aberration.
That "gaze" devoid of any emotion made Bai Yu feel as if prickles were stabbing into his back.
"Why do they keep staring at me?" Bai Yu asked in a low voice.
"Because it's been a very, very long time since an outsider came to the village." Xiao Xi's voice also dropped. "Ever since that day, the rain has never stopped, and all the roads outside the village have been flooded. No one can leave, and no one can enter anymore."
"That day?" Bai Yu sharply seized upon this key phrase.
"Mhm..." Xiao Xi's footsteps paused for a moment, her gaze somewhat evasive. "It was... it was a day long, long ago... Mother won't let me talk about what happened that day."
Bai Yu did not press further. He knew that that day was likely the root of all the strangeness in this village.
Xiao Xi's home was at the easternmost end of the village, a two-story wooden building and one of the few houses in the village whose first floor had not been submerged by the flood.
Walking inside, a dry but slightly aged scent assailed their nostrils, forming a stark contrast with the damp, cold world outside. The furnishings inside were simple but neat and tidy.
"Brother Bai Yu, sit down first. I'll go boil water for you." Xiao Xi leaned the wet oil-paper umbrella against the door, then darted into the inner room in a flash.
Bai Yu found a long bench and sat down. That exhaustion that penetrated deep into his marrow assailed him once more. He closed his eyes, trying to sort out the chaotic thoughts in his mind. At the same time, he instinctively sensed the condition within his body.
He could clearly "see" that his soul was like a shattered crystal ball, covered in countless cracks. Several enormous fissures nearly tore the entire soul apart. And in the deepest part of his soul, a mass of unfathomable darkness lay dormant in silence, like a primordial beast slumbering in the depths of a ten-thousand-fathom sea. He could sense the existence of that darkness, could even feel the familiar, arrogant aura it emanated, yet he could not awaken it, nor could he borrow the slightest bit of power from it.
He could only rely on himself.
"Brother Bai Yu, drink some water."
Xiao Xi walked over carrying a crude pottery bowl. It held half a bowl of crystal-clear water, wisps of steam rising from it.
"Thank you." Bai Yu accepted the bowl. The warm sensation traveling from his palm gave his icy body a hint of warmth. He downed the water in the bowl in one go.
The instant that warm stream of water slid down his throat, a warm current brimming with vigorous vitality suddenly rose from his stomach, rapidly spreading to his four limbs and ultimately surging toward his shattered soul!
His soul was like parched, cracked land that had been dry for a thousand years finally greeting the first spring rain of salvation.
Bai Yu's body jolted violently. He could clearly feel that the cracks covering his soul were being gently nourished by this warm current. Some of the minute fissures were actually healing at a speed visible to the naked eye!
Although those horrifying primary fissures still remained, this sensation of "repair" was so real, so clear!
The weakness and chaos brought on by his shattered soul miraculously receded somewhat at this moment!
This water...
Bai Yu's eyes snapped open, staring at the empty bowl in his hand in shock.
This strange place known as "Luoshui Village" was both a cage imprisoning him and, surprisingly, an opportunity to repair his soul!
The rain outside was poison, while the water he had just drunk was the antidote!
A bold notion sprouted wildly in his heart. If he could find the source of this "water," did that not mean his soul, which was on the verge of collapse, could be completely restored?
The look in his eyes instantly changed. It was no longer the confusion and vigilance from before, but now carried an incomparable longing and resolve.
He had to stay. He had to figure out the secret of this village!
Before they knew it, the sky gradually darkened.
The sound of the rain outside seemed to grow louder, changing from "drip-drop" to "patter," like countless palms slapping against the roof and walls. The light inside the house also grew dim. Xiao Xi lit a dim oil lamp. The bean-sized flame swayed in the wind, casting their shadows upon the wall, stretched long.
"It's gotten dark..." Xiao Xi sat on a small stool opposite Bai Yu, chin resting in her hands as she gazed at the curtain of rain outside the window. She began to softly hum a strange nursery rhyme.
"The water's rising, the water's rising, the Moon Granny falls into the river..."
"The fish cry, the shrimp jump, the Water God opens his eyes..."
"Build a new house, take a bride, the outsider makes the clothes..."
"Light the red candles, to the new bed, sleep till you're in the river's center..."
The melody of the nursery rhyme was simple, yet the lyrics exuded an indescribable eeriness, causing Bai Yu's mind, which had just improved somewhat, to tense up once more.
Creak—
Just then, that tightly shut wooden door was slowly pushed open.
Two tall silhouettes entered against the dim light from outside.
"Dad! Mom! You're back!" Xiao Xi cried out in pleasant surprise, jumping down from the stool and running toward the two figures.
Bai Yu also stood up and looked toward the door.
What entered was a man and a woman. They wore the same coarse hemp clothes as the other villagers, their entire bodies soaked through, their faces bearing the same numb smiles as the rest of the village. First, they caressed Xiao Xi's head with affection, then turned their gazes in unison toward Bai Yu inside the house.
The instant their gazes met Bai Yu's, it was as though all the blood in his body was frozen in that split second.
Those two people's eyes...
were pitch-black without bottom.
No whites of the eyes, no sclera, no pupils whatsoever. They were like two ancient wells so deep they could devour all light.
They looked at Bai Yu, and the stiff arc of their smiles seemed to widen ever so slightly.
That was not a friendly smile for welcoming a guest.
It was the smile of a butcher sizing up a sacrificial offering about to be placed upon the altar.
I suddenly realized I wrote two Chapter Seventeens, and I was still wondering why the chapters weren't matching up (;^ω^)