Chapter 639 – Crying Out at the Center of the World (2/2)
He was viewing the monoliths.
When those important figures and peerless experts were speaking several li away, even several thousand li away, all the common people of the capital could not hear it, and so naturally, neither could he.
As a drizzle began to descend from the night sky, he took two steps with the assistance of his walking stick to get under the monolith hut, borrowing its roof to avoid the rain, and then continued examining the lines on the monolith.
The storm gradually worsened, the darkness fell heavier, and he continued to head deeper into the monolith hut. Since he couldn't see, he used his hand to feel the lines on the stone monolith.
No matter how furious the storm, it could not affect his thoughts of viewing the monolith.
From time to time, a flash of lightning would illuminate the surface of the monolith, but even this could not rouse him from his trance of viewing the monoliths.
Until the cries of pain spread throughout the Mausoleum of Books, spread to the monolith hut, fell in his ears.
Yu Ren seemed to be struck by lightning, his face turning abnormally pale.
Because he recognized that these were the cries of his junior brother.
He could hear from these cries that his junior brother was in deep pain, deep despair.
He turned towards the direction of those cries.
He was currently at a very high place in the Mausoleum of Books. The only place higher was very likely to be the peak of the Mausoleum of Books.
He stopped thinking, hobbling towards that direction with all his might.
That walking stick that had accompanied him for twenty years quietly lay in the monolith hut, awaiting his return.
The higher one went in the Mausoleum of Books, the more precipitous the terrain, the more difficult to climb it became. Moreover, shrubs were scattered everywhere, the torrential rains had made the rocks incredibly slippery, and the mountain fields had all been turned to mud, increasing the difficulty.
Let alone the fact that he was a person who only had full use of one leg.
But he cared about none of this. He thrust his hand into the crevices, used his feet to step on the muddied ground and tree roots, doing his utmost to climb to the peak.
He only had one hand, and one of his feet was rather deformed.
His hand was very quickly hurt, his fingernails torn off.
His legs were also on the verge of being scraped open.
As he climbed, he left traces of blood behind, but they were quickly washed away by the pouring rain.
He should have been in great pain, but he could not feel it.
His actions were very dangerous, but he did not notice.
His junior brother's cries were still echoing through the mausoleum, so he only knew that his junior brother was in great pain and anger.
Suddenly Yu Ren stopped.
The raging storm had suddenly ceased, and no more lightning descended from the sky.
The cries had also vanished.
In the entire Mausoleum of Books, in the entire world, there was not a single sound, only the silence of death.
This mountain mausoleum seemed to have become a true mausoleum.
He suddenly felt great fear in his heart, his body turning cold.
He turned to the peak of the Mausoleum of Books, giving out two cries of pain.
He could not speak and his cries were somewhat strange: aaaaaaaah, like a child.
Like a wronged and impatient child.
Then he wiped off the muddy water, or perhaps tears, off his face, and continued to climb towards the peak.
……
……
Chen Changsheng quietly lay on the ground, his body utterly drenched, his eyes tightly shut, no movement visible.
Those fragments of starlight that had drifted out of his body could not be washed away by the torrential rain, but now they dispersed with the night wind, returning to nothingness.
The rain stopped and the clouds scattered. Watery starlight descended over the peak.
The Tianhai Divine Empress silently gazed at the profuse stars in the night sky, her hands clasped behind her.
She stood in front of him, blocking out the starlight, and also blocking out what lay behind this vast sky of stars: fate.
”In the future, do not do such absurd things.”
The Tianhai Divine Empress's voice was rather tired, an extremely rare sight.
She and Chen Changsheng were the only two people on this peak.
Chen Changsheng was already dead.
Who was she speaking to?
Chen Changsheng opened his eyes and awoke.
His face was pale and he was feeble beyond compare, constantly coughing out rainwater.
He gazed at her back, saying nothing for a very long time. Finally, he said, ”Thank you.”
The Tianhai Divine Empress did not turn her head as she replied, ”You're welcome.”
(TN: The title of this chapter, '在世界中心呼唤', is part of the title for a Chinese movie, excluding only a single word, '在世界中心呼唤爱', crying out in love from the center of the world.)
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