Chapter 273: All Fulfilled One By One
Fang Mu felt uneasy in his heart and did not dare to stay in the village any longer. Besides panic, there was also guilt toward the Old Village Chief’s family in his heart. He had no face to face the Old Village Chief, so that night he packed his luggage, and the next morning he boarded the train back home.
Because the return journey was too smooth, Fang Mu momentarily did not know whether he had truly killed the Old Village Chief’s Son, that Law Enforcement Captain.
If he had really accidentally killed the Old Village Chief’s Son, the Old Village Chief would have a high chance of knowing it was his doing, so why did the Old Village Chief not seek revenge or make a move against him? In such a remote place, he could die silently, as if he had never existed.
However, the Old Village Chief merely held a funeral for his son whose cause of death was unknown, and then let it pass without a word, as if he really did not know what had happened.
These days of horrifying and bizarre experiences made Fang Mu feel somewhat dizzy. Those eerie and inexplicable memories were even more like a real nightmare. He wrote a diary entry in a daze and then fell asleep on the sleeper berth of the train.
……
Risking his life to venture alone into Nong Mountain seemed worthwhile. Fang Mu experienced two years of peaceful and beautiful times, but after reading Fang Lin’s diary, he also knew that everything would come as expected.
Sure enough, some day after his wife returned to her hometown to await the birth of her second child two months into the pregnancy, Fang Mu received a package of unknown origin.
In that era, sending and receiving a package required signing the name as procedure, but this package that suddenly appeared at the door, Fang Mu neither saw the deliveryman nor any information from the sender on the package label.
He silently carried the package back into the house and opened it with a stiff scalp.
Even though he was already mentally prepared, Fang Mu still felt like the sky was collapsing, heavy and suffocating to the point of inability to breathe.
The Black Paulownia Wood Box left behind in the cave was delivered to his hands, along with a key. It seemed to tell him that the effect of resisting the Toad God’s blessing had ended, and he would return to the days of being “blessed,” continuing to endure pain.
Opening the Paulownia Wood Box, it was empty inside, and the nail hammer indeed did not appear.
The person who sent the package seemed to be telling him that this time he would have no ability to resist.
“Will I forever live in this cycle of pain?” That night Fang Mu got himself drunk, but the bursts of toad croak coming to his ears were hard to wear down even by the numbed nerves from alcohol, clear as if croaking right by his ear.
The next day, after simply packing his luggage, Fang Mu decided to set foot on that land filled with mysterious aura for the third time.
When he arrived at the mountain village again, the village had changed completely. In merely two years, he discovered that the elders in the village had almost vanished, even middle-aged men were very rare, and young men would go out to the city for labor anyway, so the village seemed to be left only with children, who were almost the sole masters in the village.
Fang Mu went to the Old Village Chief’s house, but got no response after knocking. Moments later, he was informed by a child’s eerie laugh that the Old Village Chief’s family was long gone, and no one lived here now.
Led by the child, Fang Mu met the new Village Chief of Wenyatun, and the information about the Old Village Chief’s family was verified there.
Fang Mu went to visit the villager’s family that had previously hosted him, but discovered those children who had been tailing him hiding at the end of the corner, giggling mischievously at him, just like the laughter he heard when he previously visited the Village Chief’s house.
While Fang Mu was wandering in the village, he happened to encounter a young man who was returning home, about twenty-something years old. The other party saw at a glance that he was an outsider and came over to inquire if he needed help. Fang Mu wanted to ask about the whereabouts of the elders in the village, but after hearing the question, the young man’s facial expression changed drastically, he vaguely said he did not know and quickly dodged away.
Uneasy, Fang Mu gritted his teeth and advanced into Nong Mountain to investigate, but unexpectedly he circled back in the misty forest. When he came back out from the forest, he realized he had already circled once in the forest.
Somewhat incredulous, but Fang Mu felt there was some special restriction that did not want him to approach this place.
Although he did not encounter any danger, Fang Mu’s behavior still angered the new Village Chief. He angrily rebuked Fang Mu’s death-seeking behavior, and then, following his emotions, finally told Fang Mu the truth.
The Old Village Chief and others had entered Nong Mountain a few months ago and never came out again. Because not long ago, there was an unexplained collapse accident in Nong Mountain. All those who believed in the Toad God and went to Nong Mountain to worship were crushed under the mountain rocks. Due to the huge workload and the inconvenience of going up Nong Mountain, their bones could not even be recovered; they could be said to be forever left in the mountain.
Probably out of fear and for safety considerations, the remaining people in the village did not dare to enter the mountain again. They only dared to erect their graves at a good distance away, by the mountain path entrance of Nong Mountain.
Since the matter spreading out would cause too great an impact, almost everyone in the village kept silent about it, to avoid attracting outsiders and bringing criticism to the village.
Fang Mu saw a trace of fear in the new Village Chief’s eyes; clearly, what the other party truly feared was something else, such as a reckless fool like himself who was not afraid of death and directly charged into Nong Mountain.
Gaining nothing also meant no hope. Fang Mu returned to the city where he lived with complex emotions.
Thinking that he was destined to die in a flood disaster, Fang Mu was endlessly melancholic.
As a transmigrator from future generations, although Fang Mu had not experienced it, the massive basin-wide flood in 1998 in Shenzhou’s Southern Region, mainly in the Yangtze River Basin, was a well-known event.
That disaster occurred during his birth period; his parents were witnesses and direct experiencers of that flood as contemporaries.
“Perhaps I should move to the North to live.” Fang Mu thought. After An Qin gave birth, it would almost be the flood season in the Yangtze River Basin.
Moving house and changing places originally required adaptation time, let alone bringing along a young mother like his wife and two worldly-inexperienced children, so Fang Mu considered not delaying too long and starting preparations now, setting off in at most two months.
Fang Mu told An Qin about his plan to move house. An Qin was initially somewhat surprised, but seeing her husband’s serious gaze, she seemed to have noticed something and agreed without any doubt.
The surrounding friends and family were very puzzled by Fang Mu’s sudden moving behavior. Fang Mu did not explain too much, only saying he wanted his wife to change to a different environment to live in. His wife An Qin also cooperated by saying it was her wish as well.
Fang Mu moved his entire family to Yanping City. This city was far from the flood-prone Yangtze River Basin and had no record of flood disasters. Except for the smaller living space and no acquaintances around, there were no other downsides; overall, it was a livable city.
But Fang Mu did not relax his vigilance because of this. Ever since transmigrating, nothing in Fang Lin’s diary had failed to happen; he would probably encounter other dangers later.
While worrying about himself, Fang Mu also considered the disastrous consequences that flood brought to the people of Shenzhou.
Taking advantage of it still being early, Fang Mu felt it necessary to write a letter to the relevant organization.
At night, at the desk under the desk lamp, as he picked up paper and pen to act, Fang Mu’s vision blurred.
In the blink of an eye, all things around him disappeared. He stood on a white path, surrounded by void darkness. A door stood about a li away, with a huge eye on that door, standing there. Fang Mu looked up and met that gaze.
Fang Mu was dazed for a moment, and upon blinking again, the eerie environment around had already disappeared. He looked at the paper and pen in his hand, puzzled and not understanding what he had forgotten, then put the paper and pen back in place.
