Chapter 733: The Untouchable World (2)

Some say memory is like water poured into the palm of your hand; whether you spread your fingers or clench them tight, it will eventually trickle away through the gaps. I used to think so, too.

If the eyes knew no sorrow of parting, one would never believe the world could turn hair white. It wasn't until I met this elderly woman, a survivor of the war, that I finally understood: some things truly are impossible to forget.

The Old Granny's figure was illuminated by the candlelight, casting a single, faint shadow on the wall. Her hoarse voice echoed through the room, as though piercing through more than seventy years to return to that very day.

"I waited for him in the agreed-upon mountain hollow for two days and a night. He never came. Instead, the adults from Longchang began to appear around the hollow. They carried ropes and iron bars. I knew they were hunting—or rather, they were looking for me..."

"I didn't know what had happened to Junsheng. I was terrified. After dark, I slipped out of the hollow, but I didn't have the courage to return to Longchang."

"The only passage between the inner district and outer district of Jinghai was Hongqiao Port. There was only one choice laid out before me: step into the enemy-occupied territory currently being ravaged by the flames of war."

"It was nine deaths and one life. I still don't know how I survived. I ran through artillery fire and smoke, hiding everywhere I could, until I finally stumbled upon a scattered company and was luckily escorted out of the war zone."

"Six months later, the war on the outskirts of Jinghai took a turn. The army recaptured the area, and the roads that had been blockaded for nearly two years were finally opened."

"The moment I heard the news, I rushed back to Longchang. The scene there shocked even soldiers who had been tested by the crucible of war."

"Out of tens of thousands of refugees, only a little over seven hundred survived. As for how they managed to live on without any food, that topic became a taboo."

"The refugees were relocated. I followed them, checking them one by one, but I couldn't find Junsheng."

"I asked everyone. I didn't blame them for the sins they had committed; I only wanted to find Junsheng. But even this simple wish could not be fulfilled."

"On the afternoon of the second day, an old man sought me out. He said he had been a guard that day. From his mouth, I learned something I should have realized long ago."

"After I was drawn to become food, Junsheng went around looking for every resident on that floor. He knelt before every single one of them, just asking to be eaten in my place."

The elderly woman's body trembled violently. She pressed a clenched fist against her chest. "Junsheng didn't leave behind any remains. In the end, the only thing I found in his room was this."

She reached out with a trembling hand, peeled back the silk cloth, and retrieved the Embroidered Ball pressed at the very bottom. "According to that surviving old man, Junsheng spent his final moments with this Embroidered Ball."

Gently cradling the Embroidered Ball in her palms, the Old Granny slowly raised her head. "When people get old, they easily fall into memories. I've let a youngster like you see me make a fool of myself."

She tried to use a smile to cover up the scars in her heart, but sadly, the moment she looked up, tears spilled from her eyes along with that smile.

Her cloudy eyes were a field of pale white. Looking at Granny, I felt as if an invisible hand had tightly gripped my heart. It was hard to bear.

"I'm sorry. I didn't expect it to be like that." I turned to look at the short, shadowy figure standing behind Granny. He was currently observing the old woman. He raised his arm slightly, and finally, overcoming his fear, reached out to wipe the tears from the corners of her eyes.

Unfortunately, his hand couldn't touch the old woman's body at all. It was like a shadow cast upon a screen; he tried several times but failed entirely.

The elderly woman sat there in silence. Her pupilless eyes quietly gazed at the small shadow beside her, even though they could not touch each other.

"Granny, this child is Junsheng, isn't he?" I sat down on the bed as well. "Can your eyes see him?"

The old woman nodded and spoke of something even more unbelievable.

"After the war ended, I stayed around Longchang. Perhaps because too many sins of slaughter were committed in this place, even the heavens couldn't bear the sight of it. Disasters struck constantly, and over time, it became entirely abandoned."

"Other than me, a survivor who walked out of Longchang, very few people ever come here."

"Day after day, year after year, many people tried to persuade me to leave, but I refused them all. I promised Junsheng I would wait for him here. Since I made that promise, I have to wait for at least a lifetime."

"As the days dragged on, I would occasionally hallucinate, feeling as if Junsheng was still keeping me company. Sometimes, I would even hear him calling my name."

"I made a living relying on my embroidery skills. Perhaps I strained my eyes too much, because by my thirties, my vision in one eye began to blur."

"It was around that time that I faintly began to see a child. He looked very much like Junsheng, and he bore no malice toward me. Just like when he first met me, he acted like a little shadow, curious about everything—frail and timid, yet he loved to quietly watch me embroider."

"Neither of us broke the peace. Just like that, over ten years passed."

"My eyes grew worse and worse. Looking at everything else became a blur, but looking at that child gradually became clearer. It was a very strange feeling, as if I were standing in the middle of two worlds. When you want to see one world clearly, you have to abandon the things of the other world. It's very fair."

"Later, I went completely blind, and for the first time, I clearly saw this child's face."

"He is Junsheng. It's just that his memory only lasts for a single night; whenever dawn breaks, he forgets everything. Late the next night, he appears as if for the first time all over again, hiding in the distance with curiosity and timidity, watching me embroider."

Hearing this, I was a little puzzled. "This little guy's memory can only last one night? That doesn't make sense. Since he comes looking for you, it means some unseen force in the dark is guiding him. He knows you're waiting for him."

I couldn't figure it out. This short, shadowy figure was neither a ghost nor an evil spirit. He was just like a shadow, living in another world.

As for why he appeared here, one reason was Granny's waiting and some kind of obsession of his own. The second possibility was that he needed some sort of medium—a medium capable of traversing the two worlds, or rather, traversing reincarnation.

The moment that thought arose, I almost immediately thought of one thing—the Reincarnation Mirror Fragment the Underworld Live Show had tasked me with finding!

Could it be that the item was on this child? I didn't act rashly. Just earlier, when the Embroidered Ball fell from the little guy's hands, I had tried to help him pick it up, only to grasp empty air. I couldn't touch this child at all, let alone search his body.

'When I was looking out from Bai Ya'er's house, I saw that there was more than one shadow inside the Ancient Building. It's just that this little guy ran out. If the people who died in Longchang Community decades ago all became shadows living in another world, then what exactly am I looking at? Master Tianxin speculated that the Red Building is near the Animal Realm. Could it be that the so-called reincarnation is hidden within the Longchang Old Site? Does that world truly exist, or is it fake? The boy's memory only lasts for a single night, and by the next day, he forgets everything. Looking at it this way, even if that world is real, I'm afraid it has massive limitations.'

Heavy rain, dead of night. Lightning flashed across the sky. Guided by the momentary brilliance, two worlds gazed at each other from afar.

I reeled in my thoughts and stole a glance at the short shadow. Who would have thought the little guy would be so timid? The moment I looked at him, he immediately hugged the Embroidered Ball and hid behind the old woman.

No one in the room spoke. Afraid of agitating the elderly woman, I didn't dare to ask any questions. Only when her mood had stabilized did I softly say, "Granny, they say people enter reincarnation after they die, but no one knows what it looks like after death. Do you think Junsheng might be right on the edge of reincarnation?"

My original intention was to steer the conversation toward the Longchang Old Site, but before I could finish, the old woman handed me another completely unexpected clue. "I believe reincarnation exists. Have you ever seen the foolish boy who lives on the sixth floor?"

"The foolish boy?" I was stunned for a moment, but a second later, I realized she was talking about the little boy on the sixth floor who stole the rotten apple to eat. "What does that child have to do with reincarnation?"

"I suspect that child is Junsheng's reincarnation," the Old Granny said, her words startling. "Their family moved into the Pig Cage Apartments two years ago. The child was only four or five years old at the time. According to his parents, the reason they moved here was because they received guidance from an expert. Among his three ethereal and seven physical souls, the child had lost one—and it was the soul of spiritual wisdom, which represents emotion and thought, which is why he is foolish. The expert calculated that his lost soul was in Longchang Community. They moved here just to save their child."

"What does that have to do with reincarnation? There are many causes for congenital foolishness."

"You don't understand." The old woman's emotions were extremely complex. "I've touched that child's face. His features are almost identical to Junsheng's. Moreover, that child's voice, his personality, even the way he does things—they're exactly the same as Junsheng when he was little." The old woman's words were suffocating. Immediately after, she revealed yet another shocking fact: "You remember the monsters chasing you and Junsheng outside the door, right? You called them obsessions. Actually, no matter what those things are called, one thing is certain: they are connected to the people who were eaten in Longchang decades ago. It might be the resentful energy of their tragic deaths combining together, or perhaps, as you said, the obsession of gluttony that survived. In short, those things are incredibly hostile toward all living creatures. But they turn a blind eye to me, as if they treat me as one of their own kind."

"I'm a survivor of the Pig Cage Apartments from back then. I experienced all of that hellish nightmare. It's possible that kind of aura still lingers on me. After all, if you've eaten it, you've eaten it." The old woman's tone shifted, cutting straight to the core. "It's understandable that I wasn't attacked by them. But there is one other person in this building who is also treated as their own kind, and that's the foolish boy living on the sixth floor. Both of his parents were murdered by the monsters, yet he escaped the disaster. Separated by seventy years, he can't possibly be a survivor of the Pig Cage Apartments. The only explanation that makes sense is that he's the reincarnation of someone who died tragically in the Pig Cage Apartments."

The old woman's words left me deeply shaken. I organized the thoughts in my head, completely speechless for a moment.

Separated by over seventy years, memories and people had actually overlapped.

Information regarding the child on the sixth floor surfaced in my mind. I carefully recalled the events I had experienced with him. Even when he was starving to the extreme, he wouldn't eat meat. And he was absolutely terrified of Li Ming, who had already been taken over by the obsession...

Slowly, in my mind, his figure and the short shadow hiding behind Granny perfectly overlapped.

"Is it reincarnation?"