Chapter 1: Don’t Go Outside When It’s Dark (1/2)
Chapter 1: Don’t Go Outside When It’s Dark
Translator: NinetalesEditor: Ninetales
‘Don’t go outside when it’s dark.’
This phrase had been circulating through Disabled Elderly Village for years, but exactly when it started doing so was never figured out. In spite of that, the truth of this phrase was never in doubt.
In Disabled Elderly Village, Granny Si started getting anxious as she watches the setting sun slowly hide behind the mountains. As the sun set, the last of its rays disappeared, suddenly leaving the entire world in absolute silence. No sound could be heard. The only thing that could be seen was the darkness that slowly approached from the west, swallowing every mountain, river, and tree in its path before finally arriving at Disabled Elderly Village and engulfing it.
Four ancient stone statues had been erected at the four corners of Disabled Elderly Village. These statues were so old and mottled that even Granny Si didn’t know who sculpted them or when they had been constructed there.
As darkness fell, the four statues emitted a faint glow in the darkness. Seeing the statues light up as usual, Granny Si and the rest of the elderly in the village let out sighs of relief.
The darkness outside began growing thicker and thicker, but with the light of the statues, Disabled Elderly Village was still considered safe.
Suddenly, Granny Si’s ears twitched as she let out a cry of astonishment. ”Everyone, listen! A child is crying outside!”
Beside her, Old Ma shook his head and replied, ”Impossible. You must be hearing things... Eh, there really is a baby crying!”
Except for Deaf, the rest of the elderly looked at one another upon hearing the cries of a baby echo through the darkness from outside the village. How could a baby appear nearby when Disabled Elderly Village was located in such a remote area?
”I’ll go take a look!”
Granny Si grew excited as she tiptoed then ran to the side of one of the statues in the village. Old Ma immediately hurried over as well. ”Have you gone mad, Old Woman Si? Leaving the village when it’s dark means death!”
”The things in the dark are afraid of the stone statue. I won’t die so quickly if I carry this statue out of the village!”
Granny Si bent over as she attempted to carry the stone statue. However, since she was a hunchback, she was unable to carry it on her back.
Old Ma shook his head. ”Let me do it. I’ll help you carry the statue!”
Another elderly person to the side walked over with a limp and said, ”Old Ma, you won’t be able to carry that stone statue for long with just that remaining arm of yours. With both my arms intact, it’ll be better to let me do it.”
Old Ma just stared at him. ”Can you still walk with your lame leg, Damned Cripple? I may only have one arm left, but there’s more than enough strength in it!”
He stabilized his footing as he carried the impossibly heavy stone statue with his only arm. ”Old Woman Si, let’s go!”
”Stop calling me damned old woman*! Cripple, Mute, and the rest be extra vigilant. Since the village will be short one stone statue, be sure not to let the things in the darkness slip in!”
…...
As Old Ma and Granny Si walked out of Disabled Elderly Village, strange and unknown things floated through the darkness around them. However, as the stone statue shone with rays of light, all of them screeched strangely and retreated back into the darkness.
After following the baby’s cries for a few hundred steps, Old Ma and Granny Si moved forward and arrived at a huge river bank. This was where the baby’s cries were coming from. The faint glow from the stone statue did not reach far enough, so both of them had to intently listen to the direction that the sound came from, moving upstream. After dozens of steps, the cry could be heard nearby. At the same time, Old Ma’s only arm had nearly reached its limit. Granny Si used her bright eyes and spotted a small fluorescent glow in the distance. The glow came from a basket which had stopped at the river bank. It was also where the cries had been coming from.
”It really was a child!”
Granny Si moved forward to pick the basket up, but she was startled upon realizing she couldn’t. Under the basket was a pair of pale white hands had become bloated by the river water. These hands were propping up the basket and the child inside of it, pushing them all the way to the river bed.
”Don’t worry. The child is safe now,” Granny gently said to the woman under the water.
As if the female corpse heard her words, her hands loosened their grasp. She disappeared into the darkness as she got swept away by the river.
Granny Si lifted the basket up, and inside of it was a baby swaddled in cloth. A jade pendant that gave off a fluorescent glow rested atop the clothing. Both the glow of the jade pendant and the glow of the stone stature were very similar, but the glow of the jade pendant was much weaker. It was this jade pendant that had protected the child in the basket from the encroachment of the things in the darkness.
Since the glow of the jade pendant was weak, it was only able to protect the child and not the woman.
”It’s a boy.”
Returning to Disabled Elderly Village, all the villagers that gathered were old, weak, sick, and disabled. Granny Si peeled away the swaddling cloth to take a look at the baby, and the remnants of her withered, scattered teeth broke out into a grin. ”There is finally a healthy person in our Disabled Elderly Village!”
Cripple, who only had one leg remaining, surprisingly asked, ”Are you planning on raising him, Old Woman Si? We can’t even take care of ourselves! I think we should give him away...”
Granny Si erupted in anger. ”I, an old woman, retrieved this child with my own strength. Why must I give him away?”
The group of villagers became submissive and did not dare to oppose her. Carried on a stretcher, the village chief came over. He was slightly worse than the rest of the elderly; at least the others had limbs, even if they were lesser than those of a normal human. He, on the other hand, had no limbs at all. However, everyone was very respectful of him. Even the fiend-like Granny Si did not dare to be impudent.
”Since we’re going to raise him, should we give him a name?” she asked.
Village Chief replied, ”Old woman, do you see anything else in the basket?”
Granny Si went through the basket and shook her head. ”There isn’t anything in here other than this jade pendant. The word ”Qin” is on the pendant. The jade does not have any impurities, and it also has a strange power. It definitely isn’t an ordinary object… could it be from a rich family?”
”Should he be called Qin, or should his surname be Qin?”
Village Chief gave the question some thought before saying, ”Let his surname be Qin, and let his name be Mu. Qin Mu. Once he grows up, let him be a herder. That should be enough for him to survive at least.”
”Qin Mu.” Granny Si looked at the swaddled baby who wasn’t afraid of her and was unexpectedly giggling without a care.
...
The sound of a flute echoed across the river bank. A herder boy sat on a cow, playing a melodious tune on his flute. The herder boy looked to be eleven to twelve years of age, and he had delicate features, such as his red lips and white teeth. With his shirt half-open, a jade pendant dangled in front of his chest.