“Ouch, this little brat.”
Feng Juguan, whose hand had been bitten, shook it off, then dropped the person there, turned around, and walked back.
The woman had one leg crossed over the other, with fine sand on her clean toes, as she swayed a foot and looked at the boy on the ground.
“Honey, how could you bite Mr. Feng’s hand?”
“Scram, you old witch, who’s your husband?”
“You are, ah. You like me, don’t you? I like you too. If we get married, then you’ll be my husband.”
“Marry you? As if! I advise you to stop this kind of joke. I don’t even know your name.”
Hong Haocheng intended to get up and run out, but for some reason, every time he tried to stand, his hands slipped, causing him to fall back to the ground.
“Just call me baby, darling.”
“You think I’d call you *that*, you vicious woman.”
Sensing something was wrong, Hong Haocheng gave up resisting and lay prone on the ground, looking up at an angle. From this perspective, he could only see her small feet dangling in front of him, swaying back and forth.
He gritted his teeth. That venomous old witch definitely wanted some perfectly sculpted, handsome muscle-man, which was why she made him exercise every day. No doubt, she had more wicked plans in store, forcing him to learn all sorts of things just to satisfy her twisted desires.
The woman leaned down and took a closer look at Hong Haocheng.
“You can see the Sail-Ink Drawings behind them, can’t you?”
Hong Haocheng’s head shot up, then his gaze quickly shifted away.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Heh heh~ Still a lying little boy.”
“Let me go. You’d better send me home.”
She picked up the thick Hermes translation manual and tossed it onto the ground.
“Memorize this within three days, and I’ll consider letting you go home.”
“No way!”
“Hehe, you saw through my lie so quickly. You must have at least tens of thousands of kilometers’ worth of sail-ink drawings, right? Just try treating them like map routes and memorize them—as for understanding, you’ll get familiar with it gradually over time. Memorize it all, and I’ll grant you one small wish, like going on a movie date or something.”
Hong Haocheng was stunned for a moment before catching on.
“I meant ‘there’s no way I can memorize it,’ you wicked, rotten woman! You were lying to me all along—you never intended to let me go!”
Hong Haocheng stared intently at the woman’s smiling face. With a push of his hands, his chest lifted off the ground, and he felt that this time he could actually stand up.
Having successfully risen to his feet, the boy dusted off his clothes and, after silently regarding the woman before him for a few seconds, said:
“You said to remember them like map routes… does that mean as long as I have enough sail tracks, I could even memorize all the books in the world, or even every line and pattern?”
“Darling, you’re amazing—setting such a big goal right away. By all means, give it a try. I’m sure something brilliant will come of it.”
Hong Haocheng responded to this vile woman with nothing but a snort through his nostrils.
Still, since he now knew one use for the lines, there was no harm in giving it a shot himself. If he could truly become someone with an eidetic memory, that would be quite an impressive feat. So he’d start with this book. Once he learned more skills, he’d surely find an opportunity to escape.
“Fine, I’ll listen to you. Once I’ve memorized it, you’ll let me go. If you don’t keep your word, I’ll follow Xiang Yu’s example.”
The woman broke into a joyful smile.
“Ah, then study hard. According to the data, the conversion speed might be a bit slow at first, but it’ll pick up once you get familiar with it.”
“Hmph, you… forget it, I can’t be bothered with you.” Hong Haocheng walked toward the table with the manual, but suddenly his foot slipped, and he fell headlong into the woman’s arms.
The woman giggled and wrapped her arms around the neck of the man who was struggling in panic to get up, yet failing completely.
“You just love bullying me.”
“Bah! You jerk, let me go!”
“What are you saying? Look at your hands, groping around.”
“Ahhh!” The boy gave up after a few seconds of frantic effort. “Who on earth are you people? Don’t think you can trick me into submission with such seduction!”
The woman gave a little cry and said:
“They now all live as ordinary people. Because what we have to do transcends countless years̶—it’s not something that can be accomplished in a day or two, nor in one or two dynasties. It’s destined to go beyond any appointment by official organizations.”
Hong Haocheng was stunned: “Then who funds you? You even have a submarine.”
“Of course, it’s powered by love. Just kidding, since last year, four or five countries have been supporting us.”
“You’re… you’re joking, right?”
She leaned down and whispered in the man’s ear:
“There is a place that only my family can go. I want you to find it. So, you have to work hard to learn to use your ability now.”
……
On the desolate plain, the sound of weak crying echoed helplessly. A little girl stood at the base of a collapsed rock, beneath which lay two old, withered bodies.
“Dad… Mom…”
She dug at the cold, hard rocks with her bare hands as a faint, shuffling footsteps approached.
“They’re dead.”
The girl turned around and saw an old man with rather peculiar hair, who supported a frail woman tied to his back with cloth strips using his crippled right hand.
“Liar! I want my dad and mom!” she yelled with a hoarse voice, but the man grabbed her with his left hand and, without explanation, dragged her small body forward.
“Not far now…”
A few hours later, a woman’s strained voice suddenly came from beside him.
Huang Xu turned his head and glanced at the pale-faced woman on his shoulder.
He’d been in the Lost Dimension for quite a while now. Since the Defender was shattered with a few punches by something Yang Zicang had summoned, he no longer dared to show himself in the outside world. Fortunately, he’d found a small gap entrance to hide for a while, but ended up here at the end of the month.
A couple of days ago, during the cave-in, this woman had used her body heat to warm his frostbitten broken limbs. In this hellish place, how rare was it to find someone to support each other?
“We should reach Rose Creek by afternoon. Can you hold on, Xiao Qing?”
“Hmm…”
The woman suddenly coughed.
Hearing that weak, powerless cough, a sudden panic surged in Huang Xu’s heart.
“Hurry, we need to go faster.”
He grabbed the little girl’s hand with his left hand and ran swiftly. After a long while, a dark shadow faintly appeared ahead. Seeing the vast expanse of collapsed buildings, Huang Xu felt an immense surge of joy.
“We’ve arrived, Qing’er, I… Xiao Qing?”
Huang Xu suddenly froze…
“We’re here…”
The little girl watched him tremblingly place the motionless woman on the ground.
The man, filled with regret, slammed his fist on the ground:
“If only… during the earthquake, you and I had both escaped that underground cave… If only, before you got hurt, I had expanded your lifespan by a few more decades… If only…”
The little girl, who had walked the entire afternoon, wiped away her tears and suddenly sobbed, saying:
“Mom said the sisters in Rose Creek can weave cloth, weaving warm and beautiful floral fabric… There’s a Rose Queen there, all-powerful… who can protect people’s souls… If I beg Her, could She bring Mom and my and the sisters back to life?”
Huang Xu looked at her.
The squatting girl stood up, widened her eyes urgently, and shouted, “Mom gave me a whole array of years. If we find the big sisters in Rose Creek and beg Her, could Mom’s soul come back?”
Tears streamed down her stubborn little face.
Seeing that Huang Xu didn’t answer, the girl suddenly turned and ran a few steps away, yanking fiercely at the blades of withered grass on the ground.
“What are you doing?”
“Yingying also wants to become someone like the Rose Queen! Yingying also wants to weave beautiful floral cloth…” She tore desperately at the withered grass, “As long as I weave the best cloth, I’ll surely be able to resurrect Dad, and Mom too…”
Huang Xu walked over, grabbed her little hand, and angrily kicked the pile of withered grass apart.
“That’s impossible!”
He shouted in rage, then tugged the little girl’s hand and headed toward the collapsed walls on the horizon. In the man’s anger, Yingying’s small hand still clung tightly to a few grass stems, stubbornly pursing her lips as she was dragged along.
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