CHAPTER 1159: CHAPTER 893: THE GIANT UNDER THE STARS

What is this? Are they dead people?

Xu Cheng was somewhat surprised as she saw them motionless, all clad in red monk robes and sitting for a long time.

She held Bubble’s hand and returned to the village entrance, where Huaicang had already unloaded all the goods. He sat on the nuclear-powered tricycle, waiting to take Xu Cheng and Bubble out of the village.

"Guagua." Xu Cheng waved to Huaicang, who turned his head and looked at Xu Cheng and Bubble with his electronic eye.

"So many people, so many dead!" Bubble gestured in surprise, "From the edge of the village to the distant mountains!"

"Are they all wearing red monk robes?" Huaicang asked.

"Yes!" Bubble nodded vigorously.

"...Compassion. Those are the elderly villagers who want to save resources for the whole village. For six years, everyone over the age of 60 has consciously put on the red monk robes made by their families or villagers, left the village, and walked toward the distant snowy mountains, walking as far as they can go. When they get tired, they sit down. And then they leave us." Huaicang said gently.

Xu Cheng swallowed her saliva.

She turned to look at the village, where young people were taking the food Xu Cheng had delivered from Jialong Slope out of the warehouse and bringing it home to cook.

The things they brought made the village a bit wealthier. But it might not be enough to save the lives of those elderly.

Knowing the village’s circumstances, Xu Cheng looked at some people probably in their fifties. Their faces were full of wrinkles, their expressions were kind, and their demeanor was calm. Red monk robes hung on the walls of nearby houses as if waiting for the day they would be worn.

They were willing to sacrifice themselves to save resources for the village’s survivors. Xu Cheng felt strange but didn’t know what to say.

Would Kojima Kanako willingly sacrifice herself when she turned 60 to make room for future generations? Xu Cheng pondered.

"Do you bid them farewell?" Xu Cheng asked Huaicang.

"We bid farewell to the entire world." Huaicang replied.

"The Afterlife World is no big deal; people queue up for resurrection." Xu Cheng said. There were probably 4 billion people still waiting in line.

"Compassion. That’s best." Huaicang said.

He packed a lot of food in boxes, food made by the villagers out of gratitude, to treat the envoys from far away.

Since the goods were unloaded, this trip was successfully completed. Huaicang put the food boxes on the back of the nuclear-powered tricycle and invited Xu Cheng and Bubble to leave the village and return to the airport.

"Bye-bye..." Xu Cheng climbed into the vehicle and waved farewell to the people of Village of Budan.

They also came to see her off; among the crowd were young farmers, artisans, women mending clothes, women holding babies, children, ordinary villagers, slightly more well-off villagers, those vaguely from big cities, students who joined farming, little girls... They spontaneously gathered at the village entrance, waving goodbye to Xu Cheng and others.

"Bye-bye!"

"Goodbye! Envoy!"

"Come again next time!"

"Take care!"

"See you tomorrow!"

"Have a safe journey!" They waved their hands, looking forward to what the envoy would bring next time.

Xu Cheng sat in the back seat of the tricycle, waving at the villagers with Bubble, until Huaicang drove the vehicle around a corner of the mountain road, and they couldn’t see them anymore.

But after leaving the village a little way, Xu Cheng could hear the sound of drums and the trembling of reed flutes coming from the direction of the village. It was not clear who was playing melodiously, bidding farewell to these envoy who had traveled through perilous zones, conveying the villagers’ gratitude.

Xu Cheng closed her eyes, and her thoughts seemed to transform with the flute and drum sounds, humming slowly to the beat.

The whistle faded away, she smelled the fragrance of grass and trees and the cool air of the mountains, night gradually arrived, the stars above encircling them, seemingly unable to escape the illumination of the starlight.

Huaicang drove back to the airport and distributed the food the villagers sent to everyone on the Shuttle Machine.

"These are sincerely prepared by the people of Village of Budan." Huaicang opened the food boxes among them.

"There’s food... Wuwu..." Shahua, covered in snow, squatted on the ground and stared hopelessly at the food box.

"Yahoo! There’s a free dinner under the sky!" Lianhua pressed Shahua’s shoulders, almost riding on her sister’s head.

The first food box had buckwheat pancakes, yak butter, butter tea, yak jerky, and rice porridge.

The second food box had meat soup rice noodles, dumplings, sausages, pickled radish, and salty milk tea.

The third food box had wild edible mushrooms stir-fried, lamb pastry, millet beer, plums, almonds, some fresh stir-fried vegetable roots and berries, and amaranth grain noodles.

"Compassion, the junior brother will bring New Buddha’s instructions tomorrow. If things go well, he’ll help you up the mountain. It’s dark now; we’ll just make do here." Huaicang parked his tricycle by the airport runway and locked it.

"Are we the only ones going to Great Snow Mountain?" Xu Cheng looked up and asked.

"You’re the first batch of envoys in three months. Due to the folding of the world, not many come here to transfer, only the unique route from Jialong Slope directly to Taixi Continent visits Budan. The other westbound routes can bypass New Zanges, Nineveh, Honolulu, Chiba City, and other places." Huaicang said.

"The snowy mountain is great." Bubble looked around, seemingly searching for a good spot to enjoy the view.

"This place was spared during the Heavenly Tribulation; it’s a sacred land." Huaicang said.

"...What were you before you became a monk?" Xu Cheng asked curiously.

Huaicang seemed pensive.

"This humble monk was once a producer of a two-dimensional mobile game, dedicated to bringing the fantasy world and beautiful girls to people," he said. "But after the Heavenly Tribulation struck, that small happiness of mine was torn apart by boundless pain and catastrophe. In the face of the immense suffering the entire world experienced, I realized that my pursuit of two-dimensional beauty was not only shameful but also pathetic. Hence, I took refuge in the emptiness, wishing only to sever, sever, sever..."

"Really?" Xu Cheng couldn’t believe it.

Huaicang took a poster from beneath his monk’s robe, displaying a 16-year-old schoolgirl in uniform.

He pointed with his mechanical fingertips to the area between the girl’s over-knee white socks and the short skirt: "Do you know of the Absolute Territory?"

"I don’t know." Xu Cheng shook her head.

"Mercy, to whom do I owe allegiance?" Huaicang lamented, hiding the poster back in his robes, sitting on one side of the Shuttle Machine, chanting sutras in meditation, no longer speaking.

After the Lianhua Sisters ate and drank their fill, they returned to the Shuttle Machine, lowered their seats, transforming them into military beds, then lay down and fell sound asleep, accustomed to harsh living conditions.

Xu Cheng originally wanted to sleep too, but Bubble suddenly called Xu Cheng out to see the stars.

"It’s beautiful outside," Bubble said to Xu Cheng, blinking.

Xu Cheng, half-believing, followed Bubble into the dark mountainous forest outside the airport.

They ventured into the cool, desolate wild, carefully discerning the slope of the ground beneath their feet to avoid a misstep.

The deformed Moonlight ascended the azure-black throne of the night sky. Xu Cheng looked up at the sky, then around at the colorless black forest, feeling as if she and Bubble had vanished into a hidden world, with no way back.

Village of Budan. Xu Cheng recalled the small village where she had previously made deliveries.

It itself seemed as unchanging as the Great Snow Mountain itself. Xu Cheng gazed towards the Great Snow Mountain, the mirrored ice mountain she had seen during the day was still remarkable, like a diamond, like crystal, reflecting colorful moonlight, as if stained with mystic hues from the sky, dreamlike and surreal.

"Croak, croak." Xu Cheng found it too dark.

"The best scenery is at night." Bubble promised, "Trust me."

Their little shoes crunched in the snow and mud, sounding particularly loud, as if they had intruded into a peaceful, sacred, and tranquil world.

Xu Cheng felt as if she were walking in a dream, tranquility soaking into her bones, washing away her tension and fear. This fear had been present since the Heavenly Tribulation, but now, its threat slowly diminished in nature’s soothing embrace.

It was very quiet, with only the calls of night birds and the babbling stream rushing over rocks.

She led Xu Cheng to sit on a hillside at the forest’s edge, several kilometers from the airport runway, village, and monastery.

"Come." Bubble said, sitting with Xu Cheng at the spot with the broadest view, the scenery here surpassed any place Xu Cheng had been to during the day.

Snow-covered peaks shone brilliantly under the Starry Sea, the sky pressing so low as if the Stars were about to fall onto this planet, constellations glowing like frozen fireflies, almost kindled from within by some heavenly fire.

"Beautiful, isn’t it?" Bubble turned to Xu Cheng with a smile.

Xu Cheng looked around, empty and barren.

"I don’t see anything," she said.

Bubble looked at Xu Cheng, pinching Xu Cheng’s fingers, then gently looked at Xu Cheng’s face.

"I see everything." She looked at Xu Cheng, eyes full of Xu Cheng.

Xu Cheng didn’t understand what Bubble meant. She opened her mouth, turning her head.

Inspired by Bubble, she focused more on interacting with the surrounding world, wanting to see more and more things.

Xu Cheng closed her eyes, feeling inspired, at this moment, she seemed to hear the breath of the mountains, an ancient, sleeping soul pulsating here, occupying this land long before humans carved marks into the stones, exuding a mysterious and eternal aura. Some beauty cannot be possessed, only briefly borrowed by human eyes, letting a mortal’s soul glimpse the immortal.

"How is it?" Bubble asked Xu Cheng.

"Croak, croak." A spark or comet-like thought flashed through Xu Cheng’s mind. She suddenly had a conjecture she wanted to confirm.

"Wha-what is it?" Bubble was baffled, regretting what she said to Xu Cheng.

"Whoa!" Xu Cheng squatted down, tapping the ground with her hand, "Come out quickly!"

"What? What’s coming out? What are you doing?" Bubble was frightened by Xu Cheng’s actions.

"Giant!" Xu Cheng jumped, pointing to the distant snowy mountains, that particular, crystalline-like mountain now doubly eye-catching. Oh! This is Yan Duo’s other fallen brother, just landing in the Great Snow Mountain and peacefully sleeping to this day! It’s also its Power that prevents the Great Snow Mountain from being shrouded in mist, making it a vast safe zone!

She couldn’t operate the machine to check right then, and had to wait until the next day. The thought of possibly finding one of Yan Duo’s brothers and awakening it from the Great Snow Mountain filled Xu Cheng with joy, and she hurriedly took Bubble’s hand to return to the Shuttle Machine for rest.

"Coo, coo..." Xu Cheng lay on the military green sheet, snoring soundly. Bubble helped Xu Cheng cover up with the blanket, tucking it in, setting the timer heater for hot milk for the next morning, quietly tidying up the Shuttle Machine, then went to sleep.

The next day, Xu Cheng woke up, pleased to find the milk was warm by itself, grateful for such considerate milk in the world, as she drank and saw Huaicang’s apprentice monk Minggao descending the mountain.

Huaicang exchanged a few words with Minggao, they communicated information using a data cable, and soon Huaicang came over.

"Can we enter the temple?" Xu Cheng asked.

"No, the New Buddha says your fate doesn’t lie here." Huaicang replied.

"Croak, croak." Xu Cheng was displeased.

"Mercy, but the New Buddha has given us other orders. It seems you are to go to the Taixi Continent? It’s now filled with Vampires and their servants," Huaicang said solemnly.

"Mm!" Xu Cheng nodded. She must deliver the package to Shallow Dream. But Taixi Continent is the home of Vampires, very troublesome, rumored to be super formidable.

"In that case, you must first learn a battle technique called the ’Breathing Method,’ to release sunlight ripples in order to defeat Vampires." Huaicang nodded, "We are willing to teach you such techniques!"