325 Rain (2/2)

”Huh?” The man froze. ”Didn’t you give him it?”

He stared at Donald; their expressions changed drastically.

The leader stared at the youth’s silhouette. After a long while, he muttered, ”He even steals horses? This *sshole Simon is so shameless…”

”Yeah. That Ye Qingxuan is shameless too!”

-

The youth whistled as he raced through the wilderness. After the long journey, he was finally close to Auschwitz. After five kilometers, he would be at the small village of Oz. It was the last rest stop before Auschwitz.

Under the blazing sun, he could only see clumps of withered brambles and half-dead shrubs on the prairie. This was not far from the ancient Thebes civilization and still contained old relics and remains.

According to ancient literature, there was a radiant city here in the past. Innumerable people lived here and created a glorious culture. Sadly, the times changed. The once-fertile soil had become a barren desert through the changes of aether and rivers. There was no sign of the original glory. The city was now reduced to crumbling walls.

”Is this really the place that fed one hundred thousand citizens?” Ye Qingxuan looked around. He saw a small creek not too far away but the beach was covered white salt. It was undrinkable. Ye Qingxuan dismounted and reached out. He wet his fingers but almost threw up after tasting it.

It was extremely salty and bitter, with a pungent metallic and fishy smell. The underground water here was clearly not drinking water anymore. It might be close to standard after several filtrations, but the citizens here could not even afford it, let alone use it for irrigation. It was impossible to herd livestock or grow anything. Transportation to this place was difficult too. It was hard to develop an artisan industry. There were no specialties either.

”One-hundred thousand people? It’ll be hard to support a couple hundred, right?” Ye Qingxuan sighed. He rose and looked into the distance. An old woman was waddling over with a heavy wooden basket and a cane. Her head was lowered as she looked through the shrubs for wild plants to eat. When she occasionally chanced upon a palm-sized vegetable, it was like she had found a gem.

Ye Qingxuan stopped beside her. ”Excuse me, how far it is to Oz?”

The old woman looked up and squinted at him for a long time with eyes covered in cataracts. Her accent was difficult to understand. Finally, she raised her finger and pointed in a direction. The general meaning was that it would take three hours by foot.

Ye Qingxuan nodded. She stared at him. Her gaze was not pleading or full of prayers. It was just blank. Ye Qingxuan could not help but feel sad.

He glanced at the basket on her back and saw dried vegetables, roots, and berries. ”This is all you eat?”

”There’s nothing else to eat,” the old woman said unclearly. ”It hasn’t rained in months. Everything’s dried out on the ground. No water either…” She looked down at the roots in her hands. ”It’s all we can eat.”

Ye Qingxuan fell silent, not knowing what to say. He suddenly realized that it was a mistake to ask. So what if he knew the answer? He could not change anything. Even if he gave her money, what could she buy in the wilderness?

”Sorry.” He did not know why he said that either.

With one last glance, he mounted his horse. As he galloped away, he turned back and saw that the old woman was still standing there, staring at where he had stood. There was nothing there, but her rheumy eyes seemed to see something.

A drop of water fell onto Ye Qingxuan’s face. Stunned, he touched his face. It really was water. Water had fallen from the sky.

Gray clouds had gathered in the sky without him realizing. Thunder boomed in the distance like resounding horns and drums. No, it really was horns and drums.

Booming like thunder and whistling like wind, it roared in the sky and swept through the gray clouds and wind. Ripples appeared in the aether sea and performed a wild and coarse melody. The earth shook with the thunder.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Ye Qingxuan froze. Raindrops the size of beans fell from the sky. One drop, two drops… The dry land instantly became wet under the rain. It was raining!

Under the thunderstorm, Ye Qingxuan stared at the clouds. A massive music theory made of aether and incredibly large formula was slowly being organized. The formula stirred the aether sea, guided power from the sky, transformed into wind and rain, extracted water from thunder and fire, and tossed down the countless water droplets. Rain fell in torrents.

”It’s raining?” On the barren land, an old woman dazedly reached out. Feeling the wetness on her hand, she looked up incredulously. A raindrop splashed onto her face, washing away the murkiness in her eyes, and rolled down like tears.

”It’s raining!” She danced and yelled happily, ”It’s raining! It’s finally raining!”