C14 (1/2)

The hissing went on for about ten minutes before it stopped. When I opened my eyes, I was in a burned-out house. The only things around him were the burnt walls of earth and the charred beams of houses.

I stood up. Not a single house in the village was intact.

The old lady stuck her head out of the quilt and asked, ”Is it too much?”

I replied, ”Yes, grandmother. What happened here?”

The old lady sat up and said slowly, ”At the age of five, bandits entered the village and burnt a piece of it. Everyone was dead, my father was a husband, that night in the middle of the night, he was going to go out to play for more, but I woke up, clamoring for him to cook my noodles. ”If father went out to fight, then we would be able to see the bandits' movements at the village entrance and remind the villagers to be prepared so that they wouldn't all die.”

So that's how it was. The houses I saw earlier were illusions, this was a ghost village. They affected my nerves and made me hallucinate that this was a whole village.

The old lady continued, ”The entire village is dead. I was the only one who survived while hiding under the bed. Hehe, I am the main culprit, but I survived!”

”So, in order to punish yourself, you didn't leave this place. Why don't you come out and fight every night? They will be sleeping during the day, and this village is very remote. It's also a tragic sight, and even if someone were to pass by, they would not stay behind, and would not discover you. ”

The old lady was silent.

I said, ”Grandma, the calamity that happened that year was not your fault. You don't have to punish yourself like that.”

The Old Granny laughed. ”Why do you think I'm punishing myself? I'm not punishing myself, I'm just continuing to work for the village. Everyone is still living here. ”

Her words made my back turn cold. This meant that the villagers were suddenly killed, yet they didn't know that I was dead? And the old lady, in order to make herself feel better, took her father's gong and beat it every night?

”Let's not talk about this anymore, young man. Are you hungry?”

”A little.”

”I'll cook a bowl of noodles for you.”

The old lady went into the kitchen, fumbled for a lighter, set fire to the water, and cooked noodles for me.

I curiously asked, ”Grandma, you've always been living here. How did you get all these daily necessities?”

”I grew some food in front, so I could sell it for some money. Some people think I'm pitiful, so they'll give me an extra two dollars. ”

So that's how it was. I looked around me and couldn't help but sigh. So many people had died in an instant. I was still in the same state I was when I died in this isolated little valley.

”You can leave after you finish eating the noodles. Just now, another piece of the fire burned through and everyone was asleep. No mischievous brat would lift your car up so that you can't ride it anymore.”

”Do you repeat the scene of the burning every night?”

The old lady nodded and said nothing.

After the noodles were done, I put down the bowl and chopsticks and said, ”Grandmother, these people are already dead. There's no point in tricking them into still being alive.

”You want to send them off?” the old lady asked, looking up.

”Mm, see you out. I'm here to see you off. When I encounter something like this, I can't just ignore it.”

”It's good to send you off, but it's also good to send me off as well. Thank you for your hard work.” The old lady said.

How could I possibly send her away? However, I thought the old lady probably wanted me to send her to the orphanage, so I said, ”Alright, I'll contact the nearest orphanage as soon as it's daybreak.”

When the old lady didn't answer, I turned to look at her. She was lying on the ground, not breathing. I touched her hand. It was icy cold, not like I'd just died.

Could it be that the old lady had already been dead for some time, and was only holding on for a while, continuing to fight for the village like a living corpse?