CH 19

Chapter 19: The Twins’ Undying Hatred 2

Shan’an’s people had delusions of slaying the dragon, but they instead angered the sleeping Black Dragon, causing a catastrophe.

The thundercloud, which almost covered half of the sky, swept down swiftly. Lou Muge and Ning Shaosi also went back. When did the villagers ever see such a predicament? They were scared shitless that they couldn’t even step a toe out of their houses.

A thunderstorm suddenly detonated. As if splitting the sky, black clouds covered the sky with a radius of 100 miles, and the wind started howling. All the mud houses could not withstand the blow, and were totally demolished under the gusts. Occasional bursts of screams filled the air, but they were also buried under the booming thunder. Lou Muge looked upward, and in the darkness of the sky, he caught a glimpse of the Black Dragon flying among the thunder clouds, accidentally revealing its sharp claws and dragon scales. 

He also found it quite laborious to walk in the wind, especially whenever the wind blew his clothes away. It swept the dust out of his body, but then almost smeared his face with new ones. Sand got into his mouth, and he spat several times to get them out.

A dragon roar resounded through the heavens and the earth, and that echoed in the empty valley.

The torrential rain poured down, and in a matter of seconds soaked all the clothes on Lou Muge’s body. Soon, villagers fled around screaming.

Lou Muger avoided the chaotic crowd and still made his way towards the home of that family. Halfway through, someone suddenly pulled him. He turned around and found that it was the girl who looked like a monkey.

The redness and swelling on her face were clearly visible. She was carrying a three or four-year-old child in her arms and handed her to Lou Muge. “Brother, carry our little sister and run with them to the mountains! I’ll come and find you later! Don’t be afraid!”

She pointed at the fleeing villagers and said again, “I’ll go back and fetch some things for our family!”

Before leaving, she instructed him once more, “Don’t be afraid! Just follow along!”

She had already turned and sprinted off before she could even finish speaking.

After Lou Muge took the child, he froze. He had never held such a baby before. Besides, it was pouring rain now, and the child was soaked all over. She opened her mouth and cried, and soon her mouth was filled with rainwater.

Lou Muge promptly covered the child’s mouth, looked at the girl who was running into the crowd, and tossed the child to Ning Shaosi. “You carry her for now. I’ll go take a look.”

Ning Shaosi was also a little flustered, but still carried the child obediently in his arms, and followed Lou Muge without staggering even for a moment.

The fleeing villagers rampaged for their lives, and Lou Muge kept dodging them while running under the heavy rain. Midway through the road, he saw a very high wall of waves rising into the air, like a monster with huge fangs, ready to pounce at any moment and drown everything in Shan’an Village.

The stagnant water submerged Lou Muge to his waist, making him struggle more and more to move. The good thing was that the water washed him cleanly.

The water wall was still building up power. Lou Muge trudged through the heavy rain, and finally reached the dilapidated house. There he saw the woman carrying a couple of large and small bags, with a man following behind her. She wept when she saw Lou Muge and rushed to him. “Gen’er, you’ve scared me to death. I thought you drowned in the water!”

Lou Muge hesitated to let the woman hold her. He took a sidestep to avoid her hand, opened his mouth and asked, “Where are the monkeys?”

The woman’s expression froze: “Huh?”

Lou Muge thought she didn’t hear clearly, so he raised his voice and shouted, “Where are my sisters?!”

The woman pulled his hand at once and led him forward without saying a word. She moved quite swiftly, and then said, “Those two unlucky creatures drowned, let’s go!”

Hearing that, Lou Muge struggled and broke free from her hand. His eyes turned icy, but the woman became anxious at his reaction. She shouted to the man beside him, “Lou Muge, drag him!”

The man turned around and dragged him. “Chuangen, we angered the Black Scaled dragon. If we don’t leave, we will die!”

Lou Muge twisted his arm, forcefully resisted the man’s strength, turned around and ran towards the dilapidated house. Only when he got closer did he realize that the door was locked.

In this critical moment of escape, did they still have the leisure to lock the door?

Lou Muger thought nothing of it. He raised his foot and kicked. Because of the resistance of the water, the door didn’t move. Just as he wanted to land another kick, Ning Shaosi suddenly pushed the door from behind him, and the door opened smoothly.

He gave Ning Shaosi an approving look, but the foot that was about to step into the door stopped because of the scene that appeared before his eyes inside the house.

He saw the scattered things in the empty house being washed away by the water at a glance, including two corpses hanging from the beams, swaying silently. When the corpses turned around, Lou Muge saw their hideous faces.

Once was the girl who handed him the three-year-old child and said “Don’t be afraid” not long ago.

Lou Muge stared at the two corpses and drew a cold breath. A chill rose from the soles of his feet to his fingertips, and his chest heaved violently.

Ning Shaosi raised his eyes and glanced at them, and then said softly to Lou Muge, “They’re already dead.”

They were indeed dead, not from drowning, but by their biological parents who hang them from the beams of their house.

Lao Guo rushed toward them anxiously, grabbed Lou Muge’s shoulder, and pulled him away from the door promptly, dragging him away despite his struggles. He kept muttering, “They’re two worthless creatures. They don’t have much use at home. I’m doing all the work for you, to feed you…”

Lou Muge was dragged away for a while, when he heard a loud crash. He turned his head and saw the dilapidated house washed away into mud and under the flood. The two hanging corpses also crashed into the bottom of the water.

The water level was rising higher and higher, and the baggages in the woman’s hands were also lost. Lao Guo wanted to lift Lou Muge on his shoulders, but he shook his hands off and rejected him, walking forward sullenly. He and Ning Shaosi walked faster than the couple. Even if the water hit his chest, it didn’t slow him down.

On the way, Ning Shaosi was tired of carrying the child, so he picked up a floating board and pushed the child on it.

Lou Muge and his company were not the last to go up the mountain, but as soon as they got out of the flood, the water wall smashed down, submerging all the houses, and those who had not escaped from their houses. Lao Guo took his wife and pulled Lou Muge, quickening his pace in an attempt to climb to a higher ground.

The water level had not stopped, and it continued to spread upward. The dark rain in the sky morphed into thousands of tumbling giant snakes, and gradually swallowed the mountain into its belly. The Black Dragon hovering in the sky occasionally showed its monstrous body, dividing the whole dark world, regardless of where the villagers fled.

The mountain was almost unexplored wilderness. There wasn’t even a decent road, and some sharp blades of grass inflicted injuries on the people’s calves. The woman cried non-stop and shouted Chuangen behind them, but Lou Muge walked ahead and totally ignored her. 

Suddenly, he remembered what Elder Guo, the owner of the wonton stall, said before with a mocking smile, ‘I’m afraid everyone thought the two girls drowned… Guo Chuangen, the only one who knew the truth, became a fool who would not fight back even if he was beaten.’

There was no light in the sky, and the villagers fled in a panic. No one brought any fire tools, so they groped their way up the mountain, accompanied by wails and sobs the entire journey. At this time, the unity of ordinary people manifested. Everyone held hands as if they were genuinely helping each other.

The road was slippery in the rain, and one careless move could cause someone to slip on the ground. The possibility of sliding all the way down was highly likely. And once they fell, they might drown in the flood, so the people rushing to the mountains moved with vigor. No one dared to take things lightly.

Ning Shaosi hardly opened his mouth along the way. He just held Lou Muge’s hand. Although his strength was not heavy, his grip was firm. Occasionally, when someone collided with Lou Muge, Ning Shaosi stabilized him in time.

Even Lou Muge couldn’t help but sigh deep inside, This child is too reassuring!

Nobody knew how long they walked. When the surrounding environment turned from dim to dark, the Shan’an villagers decided to stop and rest.

Everyone sat on the ground in twos and threes. Too many complaints and quarrels arose along the way, but by this time, everyone was dog-tired. Only some children cried once in a while, but they were quickly hushed.

Although it was the Guo family’s idea to slay the Water Dragon, almost all the men in the whole village participated in it, so no one was in the right. They could utter a few words to scold the Guo family.

Lao Guo’s wife usually was a woman with sharp teeth and a glib tongue, but now she seemed to have lost her soul. Even if others were to charge towards her with guns and sticks, or blatantly scold her, she wouldn’t respond. She merely sat on the ground and shrank into a tight ball.

Soon someone discovered that the two girls were missing in the Guo family and hurriedly asked, “Lao Guo, where are those two girls in your family?”

Lao Guo didn’t bat an eyelid. He just replied, “I don’t know where they were after the flood. I searched for them for a few laps but couldn’t find them.”

After hearing this, people shook their heads and sighed. Naturally they didn’t believe his words. Someone turned to ask Lou Muge, “Xiao Gen, have you seen your sisters?”

Lao Guo’s wife who had been silent jumped up all of a sudden and sharply spoke, “You, why are you questioning Chuangen?! He doesn’t know anything! If you don’t believe what Lao Guo says, who else are you going to believe?! Those two are like pigs. They’re gone if they are gone. Why are you sticking your nose into it?!”

The person who raised the question earlier shut up immediately. The woman’s eyes widened like copper bells, so no one dared to mention it again. The woman scolded the man away, then turned her attention and walked toward Lou Muge. “Son, it’s cold at night. Let me hug you to sleep.”

Lou Muge remained cold-eyed. Seeing that she was coming to hug him, he hurriedly turned around and hugged Ning Shaosi beside him. “I’m not cold.”

Ning Shaosi supported him by hugging him and smoothly stuffing the three-year-old child into the woman’s arms.

The woman snapped again, “Why are you always with this wild child?! Come to my side!”

Lou Muge ignored her and let her scream.

The Village Chief on the side couldn’t bear it any longer, and shouted, “Lao Guo’s family, why are you arguing at this time?! Aren’t you afraid of attracting the Black Water Dragon in the sky?! If it weren’t for your Guo family…”

Village Chief Li was about 40 years old. He has white hair on his temples, but his eyes were full of vim and vigor. He has a simple and honest appearance, and he usually hept his thoughts to himself. He didn’t finish his sentence, trying to leave Lao Guo some face.

The woman instantly behaved and did not dare to make a fool of herself.

Due to a momentary greed, death and destruction ruined their families in turn. Those who rushed up the mountains were lucky enough to survive, but almost all the possessions in their homes were submerged in the flood. Moreover, the flood kept rising, and they had no idea when it would stop.

Lou Muge’s was soaked all over, and he was really cold when the cool wind blew. However, Ning Shaosi was out-and-out dry, without a drop of water on him.

Lou Muge was sleepy, and in order to keep himself from dozing off, he asked with a big yawn with nothing else to do, “Why don’t you have any water on you?”

“I don’t belong to this illusion world.” Ning Shaosi explained in a low voice, “The empathy illusion created by Tao Zhai is mainly based on Guo Chuangen’s memory. Everyone who enters the illusory realm is Guo Chuangen. I wasn’t summoned in. Instead, I entered on my own initiative to watch the illusion with you, but I’m out of the illusion.”

Lou Muge nodded, muddle headed. In fact, he didn’t hear much of what he said. His eyelids seemed to weigh thousands of pounds, and they pressed down straight down.

He treated Ning Shaosi’s shoulder as a pillow, and after a moment of silence, he let out a faint snore.