Chapter 86: A sudden awakening

At the edge of the forest is a low mountain range. Compared to the dense forest, the scenery here is better.

A gentle slope covered with green grass and swaying bamboo, occasionally dotted with a few wildflowers, made me feel as if I had returned to my hometown in Sichuan. It looked similar to the bamboo hut.

But even so, I didn’t feel any sense of beauty here, and I didn’t even feel a little bit touched. It was because when I was passing through the dense forest just now, I felt a lot of breaths that made me tremble with fear, but I didn’t know why, and nothing provoked me.

Now this gentle slope seems peaceful, but it gives me a more dangerous feeling than the dense forest. I firmly believe that this is not my illusion, because Grandma Lingqing, who has been holding my sleeve, is constantly trembling, and her eyes reveal a fear that makes people feel scared when they look at it.

We were standing at the edge of the forest, and Granny Lingqing wouldn’t budge, holding onto my sleeve.

I gently took Lingqing’s arm and said as gently as I could, “Why don’t you wait for me here?”

She shook her head in fear, strongly indicating that she did not want to, and the fear in her eyes was even greater…

What should I do? My brows furrowed. Now that we have come this far, we have no way back. If we don’t follow the will of the so-called “God,” I’m afraid that even if we retreat into the forest, we will be besieged. Besides, I have always had the intuition that being here is the key to finally finding Master and the others.

So I can’t possibly stop here.

At the same time, that “God” used some unknown method to communicate with me again. There were no more words, just a constant urging for me to move forward and take the gentle slope.

Although Granny Ling Qing was delirious and her mentality and IQ had regressed to that of a six or seven year old girl, she was still Granny Ling Qing. Just like some children who learn to read people’s expressions and understand things at the age of six or seven, she sensed my dilemma and couldn’t help but pout and say to me with great grievance, “Big brother, I’ll go with you.”

“Big brother,” I sighed in my heart, and took Ling Qing’s old and rough hands. I said very gently but sincerely, “Don’t worry, no matter what happens, I will protect you.”

“But, but… there seems to be a very fierce person in here, very fierce…” Grandma Lingqing let me hold her hand as we walked towards the gentle slope, but she said this with a trembling voice.

At first I didn’t pay attention to it because I knew that Grandma Lingqing was afraid, but after thinking about it carefully, I felt that something was wrong. From the moment I met Grandma Lingqing, I felt that she was like a blank sheet of paper, with no logical memories at all.

Now this simple sentence is a clear memory, telling me that there is a very fierce person here.

Surprised, I turned to look at Grandma Lingqing, and I also felt a detail, that is, her hand holding mine had become loose, and there was no longer any voluntary movement, but rather a mechanical feeling of letting me hold it.

And her eyes had also changed. Before, they were clear and innocent like a little girl’s, but now they were unfocused, as if her thoughts had wandered off somewhere.

“Grandma Lingqing…?” I was worried and scared by her appearance, and couldn’t help but call out to her.

During the conversation, we had already climbed a third of the gentle slope and entered the bamboo forest that spread from the mountainside to the top of the mountain. However, apart from the sound of the bamboo forest rustling, Grandma Ling Qing did not respond to my words at all, but walked on her own. As she walked, she suddenly said, “That was a very fierce person. He beat me, and I couldn’t beat him. All my goblins died in his hands, except for Little Flower…”

“How did he beat you?” Hearing her words, my heart tightened and I couldn’t help but ask.

“He likes to torture people. He tortured a lot of people. In his eyes, I was useless, so he kicked me out to fend for myself. Someone saved me. Someone saved me…” Grandma Ling Qing’s expression became very painful. With her other hand, she subconsciously touched her forehead.

I couldn’t help but stop in my tracks. Even though I really wanted to know something, I couldn’t help but gently rub Ling Qing’s temples with my hands and kept saying softly, “Ling Qing, don’t think about it. Don’t want anything. Let’s rest here. Take a good rest?”

However, this time, Grandma Lingqing did not accept my kindness. She was motionless for a moment, then pushed me away and leaned against a clump of bamboo, holding her head in pain and saying, “No, don’t rest here. You can’t stay here. He will appear at any time. That very fierce person will appear at any time.”

“Who is that person?” My anger had already risen, and I had not noticed that I had been delayed until now, and the voice of the god had never appeared again.

“Who is that person?” Grandma Ling Qing suddenly looked up at me, her eyes more scattered. But the next moment, she held her head, more and more painful, looking at me with a sudden clarity in her eyes: “But the key question is, who saved me? Who saved me?”

How could I possibly know who saved Grandma Lingqing? In my opinion, the key to the problem is not this, but the tone of her voice at the moment is not at all like the tone of the little girl before, but has become very normal. Although it is not as wise and calm as Grandma Lingqing was back then, but…

“Grandma Lingqing,” I couldn’t help but call out, and I walked a few steps toward her. I felt that her current state was very dangerous, and I had to stop her from thinking like that.

At that moment, I couldn’t help but think of Xiao Chengqian’s eldest cousin. His situation could be described as a typical example of being “lost and disoriented.” At first, I thought that Ling Qing’s grandmother was also like that, but her situation was much lighter than his.

Now I have a realization, that is, Ling Qing’s soul is intact. The reason why she has become this way is because she has been hurt… Because I am not a medical practitioner, I did not notice it at first. I should open my eyes to see.

Thinking this way, my heart became hot. If this is really the case, then Ling Qing’s grandmother can be saved, as long as Brother Chengxin is here…

However, when I approached Grandma Lingqing, she suddenly changed her expression and stared at me with an incredible look. Her hands were originally covering her head, but at this time, because she was in a daze, her movements suddenly stopped.

Her gaze at me changed from incredulity to shock, and then from shock to excitement and familiarity. This gaze made me “jittery,” and a possibility that I simply could not believe appeared in my mind. Could it be that Grandma Lingqing recognized me?

This thought made my breathing almost stop, and my footsteps stopped as well. I looked at Grandma Lingqing very nervously, afraid that it was my illusion.

Looking back at Grandma Lingqing, she slowly lowered her hands that were holding her head, and then two lines of tears rolled down her face. She stood up straight, letting the tears on her face roll down, and then walked towards me step by step. She stopped half a meter away from me, and one hand couldn’t help but tremble and reach out, touching my cheek.

“Chengyi, is that you?” Finally, Grandma Lingqing spoke. Her brows were furrowed, and her forehead was covered with fine beads of sweat. It was obvious that she was suffering from great pain in addition to her excitement.

But this sentence was like music to my ears. My eyes suddenly filled with tears, and I let Grandma Lingqing’s hand rest on my face. I choked in my throat several times before I said, “Grandma, do you remember? It’s me, I’m Chengyi, Chen Chengyi! I… I finally found you. We were all looking for you.”

Grandma Lingqing’s breathing became short and rapid. It was obvious that this state was a great burden to her. Her hand on my face was also trembling, and tears were still flowing. But she suddenly pushed me toward the edge of the bamboo forest with all her strength, almost exhausted, shouting at me, “Hurry up and leave! How did you end up in a place like this? Hurry up… you all go back! How can you be such a disobedient bunch of children?”

Without resisting, I was pushed back by Grandma Lingqing, and I sat down on the lawn. I didn’t understand why Grandma Lingqing was so agitated, but I couldn’t leave at all. I said loudly, “Grandma Lingqing, there are many things I have to do here. We have to find you.”

Grandma Lingqing was already very weak at this point. She walked unsteadily towards me, grabbed my hand weakly, and said in a disorganized manner, “Go… hurry… don’t look for… don’t look for! Your master is thinking of you all the time. You know that’s enough… go…”

Master, you miss me all the time?

When I heard these words, sadness exploded in every part of my body. How could I possibly leave? I stood up suddenly, but what else could I say? But when I looked up, I froze, staring ahead in disbelief.

When Ling Qing saw my eyes, she turned around, suddenly covered her head, and let out a piercing scream.