Chapter 8
Wei Huo always had a weak presence from a young age. He was a mediocre and ordinary person who was always easily neglected by others. Do you know the feeling of being left out by the virus when all his classmates were infected by influenza? Do you know the feeling of being neglected by the teacher when others were called out to do volunteer work? Do you know the feeling of being overlooked twice by the discipline teacher, once at the school gate, and once in the corridor, although you arrived late for class and left early?
That feeling was… quite satisfying!
Ahem anyways, being a person with a weak presence brings a lot of benefits too. For example, you could concentrate on your studies as you need not have to worry about girls asking you out. You would not be tempted by money as you would not be nominated for scholarships or school grants. You do not have to interact with others or join parties that you do not like because nobody would notice whether you were present or had left during class gatherings.
Of course, awkward events would occur occasionally like that time when he confessed to his schoolmate for three years. The girl asked in surprise, “Who are you?”
When he requested his teacher for a signature and his teacher asked in confusion, “Are you a student in our class?”
When he walked into his classroom after P.E. class, the student sitting at the front row would remind him. “Hey, you’re in the wrong class!”
Wei Huo’s heart sank when he was reminded of those incidents.
Wei Huo’s attitude since high school towards love was… Trying hard in keeping her only as a crush even if he liked her a lot. Trying hard in preventing himself from longing for her even if he was crushing hard on her. Trying hard in avoiding any contacts with her even if he was longing for her. Trying hard in ignoring her even if he desperately wanted to contact her. Try hard to… That was the end. If they had already ignored each other in the first place, how can they even fall in love?
Despite that, there was one person who held a special place in his heart. Although time erased his memories, that girl still came to his mind when he saw her again.
“Oh fleeting times, even though we had parted ways. Even though you do not remember me, fate brought us together again. Right now, I just want to tell you that I missed you so much, Li…”
‘Li, What’s her name again?’
Wei Huo was lost in his thoughts. “???”
‘Sh*t, why can’t I remember her name?’
Wei Huo showed an embarrassing expression. He facepalmed himself and sighed. “All good things in life could not escape from the erosion of time.”
Such sayings were indeed used to conceal embarrassment, right? For example, in the poem ‘Rainy Alley1, Dai Wangshu could not remember the appearance of the girl he met so he described her as ‘A girl like lilacs’. In the poem ‘On Leaving Cambridge2‘, Xu Zhimo went to Cambridge to meet his friends but they were not there so he wrote ‘Quietly I am leaving, just as quietly as I came’.
However, time could really erase everything. Wei Huo was not trying to cover up his awkwardness. Not only had he forgotten his crush’s name, but he also could not even remember his parents’ appearance and phone number anymore. In addition, he also had forgotten his own I.D. number and online I.D. password.
This was quite a terrifying phenomenon. How much memory would I have left when time finally recovered?
Still, there was nothing Wei Huo could do at this moment. He could only continue to wait and keep moving forward.
He glanced over his crush whose name he had forgotten and continued moving forward. After walking for a while, Wei Huo saw a cave engulfed by a thick forest on the opposite hillside. The cave was inconspicuous, but coincidentally it was located not far away from the most crowded rest stop.
Wei Huo understood instantly. Other animals would have sufficient time to evolve and mutate as time was only halted for humans. However, humans were not provided so much time like the other animals. Animals are bound to overtake and leave humans behind when time recovers. By that time, humans would need to catch up via receiving rewards through completing quests and taking part in all sorts of adventures.
Wei Huo arrived at the cave entrance. After examining the surroundings, he retreated to make a torch. Since he needed to use the torch for a long period of time, a firewood torch was not suitable as it would burn out after a short while. Bamboo would be the best choice to make a torch’s handle. After chopping off the top of bamboo, he filled it up with kerosene. He then dipped a rope into the kerosene filled bamboo and ignited it. He could now use the torch until its kerosene ran out.
It looked like a handheld kerosene lamp. If he ran out of kerosene, he could use animal fat as a substitute instead.
In brief, although the world’s electricity and internet connections were cut off, Wei Huo could still figure out a way to survive in the wild. He made the torch and lit it up before entering the cave.
The cave was relatively small and narrow at the beginning. It got more spacious after moving deeper into it. Soon enough, Wei Huo could hear the sounds of water babbling. He grazed the cave wall, and his hands were instantly wet.
Wei Huo had come across numerous caves for the past 10 years, but most of the caves were not deep enough. He could reach the end only with just a few steps. However this time, Wei Huo felt that there was more to it than meets the eye.
The cave was very deep, almost bottomless.
The ground felt damper as he moved further inside. The cave reeked of a foul stench too. Suddenly, sounds of wings flapping blasted through the cave. It seemed like something was alarmed by Wei Huo’s movement. The next thing he knew, a crowd of bats spiraled out from the fathomless cave.
Wei Huo immediately crouched down and dodged the bats.
Wei Huo knew right away where the foul stench came from when he saw the bats.
It was said that bats sleep hanging upside down. Do they also defecate upside down then? Wei Huo used to read comments from the Internet saying, “If this question isn’t coming out in the exam, I will sh*t upside down.” or “If I don’t get champion in RNG, I will fly upside down.”
‘These people were spirits bat aren’t they?’
Wei Huo kept walking ahead as the sounds of water babbling became more distinct. Not long after, Wei Huo set foot on a small stream.
At this moment, Wei Huo found himself in a dilemma as he came face to face with a fork in the road. One was going in the upstream direction whilst the other one was in the downstream direction.
If he followed upstream, he would progress deeper into the cave. On the other hand, if he had chosen downstream, he might exit the cave.
Wei Huo was torn between moving forward and exiting? He was caught up in a dilemma.
After a bit of thought, he felt that he should be more cautious. He should follow the downstream and explore it for a bit. If he found nothing much then he would go upstream.
He walked downstream after making his decision. He realized the cave became wider as he advanced forward. The water beneath him gradually deepened, and he was standing knee-deep in the waters. His torch crackled when it came in contact with water droplets dripping from the cave roof.
Right then, Wei Huo stopped in his tracks from feeling itchiness around his right ankle. He was about to lift up his leg and check what was going on when suddenly he felt something coiled around his shank. It was even climbing up his body. The feeling of icy-cold scales rubbing along his right leg brought goose-bumps to his skin.
It was snakes!
Wei Huo lowered his torch, just to find a black snake coiling around his leg. The snake was swirling up his body, seemingly targeting his private parts.
“F*ck!”
Wei Huo blurted profanities out of shock and he started jumping all over the place. He shook his right leg aggressively, attempting to shake off the snake. Consequently, he lost his balance after accidentally stepping on a rock and plunged into a puddle.
As he tripped, he knocked off a rock stuck on a small slope. The rock loosened and caused the waters to rush in and washed everything away. The water in the puddle rushed down the slope and brought along Wei Huo.
Wei Huo did not even notice that he was on a small slope. What was more important now was the fact that the slope was getting steeper. Wei Huo was flushed down by the voluminous water as if he was river rafting.