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墨書 Inktalez
I finished writing this chapter amidst the sound of firecrackers. I could hear and smell the festive atmosphere of the New Year. Let me wish everyone a happy New Year in advance; may you all enjoy good health and family happiness.
I do not believe I am luckier than that person; it is very likely that in the next moment, my fate will be even more tragic than his. Even the unconscious state of the old man does not evoke my envy; he does not have to face a more terrifying scene and can die in a state of oblivion. However, the moment he was struck by me, he had already suffered pain ahead of time. Moreover, they will all miss witnessing the tragic scene. I thought to myself, feeling somewhat psychologically twisted.
At this moment, time seemed to stand still. Yet, events continued to unfold, creating a strange sensation, perhaps due to my confused and sluggish brain. I saw a bamboo pole flying backward, a massive bamboo that shot past me like an arrow, accompanied by wind and water that sent chills through me, yet I could not hear its passage. It was like a scene from a silent film; of course, it wasn't that it made no sound, but rather that all sounds were drowned out by the roaring water. My ears felt nearly deafened.
In front of me, there was a flickering light that seemed to belong to the One-Eyed Beast. However, the light was hazy and lacked the blinding characteristics of the One-Eyed Beast, as if it were covered by a layer of film that softened its brightness.
I certainly could not explain this situation; I thought it might be an illusion before death or perhaps the people and light ahead had already perished—this was merely an appearance of light fading away. I became somewhat curious; was I about to witness another kind of natural miracle? Eagerly, I grabbed the One-Eyed Beast Flashlight beside me and adjusted its beam slightly to make it shine brighter.
As I pointed the flashlight ahead, I muttered self-deprecatingly to the still unconscious old man, "The moment to witness a miracle has arrived."
Under the white light of the One-Eyed Beast, the world before me split into two parts: one half where I and the old man leaned against a piece of wood, despite the bloody scene before us and both living beings on the brink of death. Yet our world appeared normal, even peaceful; my mindset as the only one still conscious was tinged with curiosity about witnessing a miracle.
The front end of the wood presented a hazy picture; when my flashlight illuminated it, everything appeared blurred and distorted. The light from across also revealed nothing but haze. It felt as though there was a layer of space separating us. Although it did not completely block my line of sight, it certainly obscured what was happening on the other side.
For someone desperately wanting to witness a miracle before dying, this was sheer torment. I could not bear having my last bit of joy stripped away from me; in frustration, I reached into the old man's backpack and pulled out two batteries. I needed to replace them; I wanted to turn up the brightness of the One-Eyed Beast Flashlight to its maximum—I wanted to reclaim the joy of witnessing a miracle. I had forgotten that this backpack contained all our remaining batteries. But that no longer mattered.
Tearing open the waterproof packaging of the batteries proved to be laborious. I struggled without success. This only heightened my agitation and exacerbated my numb hands' lack of coordination.
Suddenly, an odd thought flashed through my mind: time seemed to stand still. Damn it, how could this be possible?
The moment my bamboo pole pressed against the right side of the dam, an overwhelming force beyond human resistance knocked me back toward the rear end of the wood. Yet since my bamboo pole could rest against the dam, it meant we would collide with it in an instant; even at that moment when I was pushed back, we should have been obliterated upon impact with the dam.
I am still alive, still filled with the imagination of witnessing miracles, still have time to crawl down from the cushion of flesh and sit side by side with him, still tearing open the waterproof packaging of the battery. Damn, has time really stopped?
The battery in my hand fell silently, and I quickly grabbed the Flashlight wedged between my legs.
I wanted to slap myself for being so scared. Right before me was the greatest miracle; I didn't think this scene could be any less impressive than wood smashing against the Dam. In fact, it was even more captivating in its mystery and spectacle.
Perhaps my mind was starting to clear, as the scene before me began to sharpen into focus. This could definitely be called a miracle, even a divine event. What separated the two ends of the wood was not an Alternate Dimension, but a mass of splintered branches that formed a wall of isolation in front of me, pressing towards me. It was as if the front end of the wood had crashed into the Dam, instantly shattering into splinters. This impact not only failed to stop the wood's advance but also did not transmit any resistance or force to the rear end of the wood, leaving me completely unaware.
This whimsical speculation lasted only a moment before I had to take action. Time had not stopped; the wall formed by the splintered wood was bearing down on me, and its concentrated direction was right where I and Lao People were leaning against a branch. Out of instinct, I knew that avoiding it would do no good and wouldn't spare us from disaster. However, facing a barrage of splinters piercing my eyes was not something everyone had the courage to confront; I admitted that I did not possess that courage.
I rolled over and hid on the other side of the trunk, not leaving Lao People behind, even though he might have lost consciousness in an instant. I hoisted Lao People onto a fork in the tree on the other side.
Habitually, I bit down on the One-Eyed Beast Flashlight, realizing it was a bad habit that needed changing.
I lay with my head facing backward; under the dim light of the Flashlight, I saw splinters and leaves flying past me like a barrage, disappearing into the darkness at the tail end of the wood. Then I heard Lao People emitting short and piercing cries of "Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah." I thought that if his cries weren't right next to my ear, I wouldn't have heard them at all.
The anticipated violent impact had yet to arrive when suddenly, the massive tree we were clinging to began to flip over. The solid wood unexpectedly tilted towards the side where I had just been resting. I desperately grabbed onto a branch and stretched my leg to step on the fork I'd been relying on but missed entirely. My lower body plunged into the water.
Fortunately, both my hands were gripping a branch while my upper body lay across the trunk of the giant tree, allowing me to withstand this sudden drop caused by missing my footing. However, Lao People clearly had no time to react; he was oblivious to our current situation and seemed dazed, failing to take any effective self-rescue actions as he clung tightly around my neck in a manner reminiscent of a wrestling chokehold.
I wanted to loudly curse his family’s women if I could muster any sound. But all I could do was kick wildly in the water with my legs, hoping to find some branch to step on. The strength in my legs far surpassed that in my arms, especially with someone on my back; if I could maximize my leg strength, my chances of survival would increase significantly.
My legs kept changing angles as they kicked in the water, but there was nothing beneath my feet—just like this tree's branches submerged in water had been gnawed away by something. And it had been gnawed away exceptionally cleanly, leaving no protrusions behind.
My lower body, submerged in the water, suddenly felt a wave of numbness. I felt that in the next moment, I would become a person with only an upper half.
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