Great Puppet Disaster

It is recorded that there is a fairy island in the sea, with high waves and no way to get close. There are four seasons on it, and blue grass grows everywhere. Fireflies grow on the rotten grass, and eating them can make you young again, or turn you into an 80-year-old overnight. There is a giant beast on the island, shaped like a ghost or an ape, which can understand human language and is good at helping people.

The villagers said that I was born with knowledge.

I don’t know where they heard the rumors from, I don’t think I heard them. It’s just that sometimes, there are a few trance moments, I suspect someone is watching me. That gaze may come from the mountains, from the small slope outside my yard. That person seems to be in my mind, and seems to be in the dark world, always spying on everything about me. I mentioned it to my father, my father looked at the crooked words on the paper, said that I was distracted and not focused, and hit my palm with a small bamboo stick.

On the paper were the mysteries of heaven and earth, the vast universe, and the principle of the university on clarifying one’s moral character. I smacked my lips and told my dad that these things were boring, as boring as Old Master Xu in the village. My dad scolded me for talking nonsense and waved a small bamboo stick to send me to the chess hall to learn chess.

I don’t want to go. I’m the only girl in the chess hall now. There was originally another one. She just turned fifteen and was taken to the village matchmaker with her horoscopes. She passed the six-day engagement ceremony a few days ago. She is good at chess and is also pretty. She often gives me snacks and embroidery, as if she is coaxing a younger sister. In fact, we are the same age. She was born in the first month of spring and I was born in the second month of winter. The last time she came to the chess hall, I asked her if she wanted to get married. She held my hand and said bitterly that it was not her turn to make the decision on such matters. I pouted and thought that only such matters should be decided by herself. Maybe she cried too hard, so I pinched out a tortoise shell and a few coins and asked if I could tell the fortune for her. She shed tears, shook her head and said that it was fate and she had to bear the hardship herself. For some reason, I remembered her words very well.

The days in the chess hall were long, and the teacher was slow to teach. After I won the game, I would climb up the tree outside to catch cicadas and pick fruits. The tree in front of the chess hall must be thousands of years old. The teacher usually cared for me. When he saw me jumping around on the tree, he was so distressed that he stopped playing chess. He jumped under the tree with his robe in his hand, sighing and saying, “Your father sent you here to learn chess because he wanted to calm your temper. You are so restless, how can you get married in the future!” I lay on the branch, thinking to myself that I didn’t know what my father was thinking. Most of the girls of the same age in the neighborhood were promised to someone else, but my father didn’t even mention it.

On the thirteenth day of the winter month, the day of my coming of age, my father swept the yard early, brought out a jar of old wine, and got drunk beside the half-bald plum tree in my yard. I saw him snoring loudly in the cold wind, and asked my mother if we should call a doctor to boil the medicine first. My mother pulled me into the house with a sullen face, combed my hair carefully, and inserted a shiny wooden hairpin in my bun. The hairpin head was a plum blossom with delicate stamens, which was completely different from my rough and careless personality. I always felt that she had something to say to me, but she said nothing. Back in the house, I took out a small turtle shell and a few coins, and wanted to tell a fortune, but I didn’t know what to ask. I leaned out and asked my mother if the wine buried under the tree was my daughter’s red, and if you had told me about my in-laws? My mother scolded me for being naughty and turned her head away. I stamped my feet, thinking that I had to decide my own marriage, so I grabbed my robe and ran out in my slippers.

My mother couldn’t catch up with me, so she yelled and asked me what I was doing. I said I was going to find a doctor. Actually, there was no doctor in our village today. The old man in the next village was about to die, and his filial sons called all the doctors in the nearby villages, as if these people could stop the devil from taking his life. I picked up my shoes, turned a corner and ran to the back mountain.

There is a forest of stone pagodas on the back mountain. Some people say that they are used to commemorate the dead souls of the old battlefield, while others say that they are used to suppress the evil spirits that the Heavenly Master has conquered. I have no intention of correcting them. There are four pagodas there, but they are not for worshipping Buddha. There are also 36 stone pagodas of similar size but different shapes, and none of them look like they are for worshipping relics. There are words and images on the pagodas and stone pagodas, but they are covered with moss due to wind and rain, and cannot be seen clearly. I have scratched a few figures that I can reach, and I always feel that it seems to be a story about aliens. But this kind of thing cannot be told to the villagers. Old Master Xu in this village has a long life and cannot stand any strange and supernatural things. He said that I was a demon who knew it by nature, and forced my father to perform several rituals and cut down half of the plum trees in my yard. I don’t know whether the evil spirits were exorcised, but my father has been worried about the plum trees for many years.

On days when I don’t go to the school or the chess hall, I often go there. It’s very quiet. The trees around are tall and dense, blocking out the sun. The mountain wind blows through the stone towers, making a whistling sound, which sounds very much like the sound of a butcher in the village blowing pig belly bubbles with his cheeks puffed up. The ground is full of wild flowers, more than a person tall, and they bloom in yellow and white in spring and can bloom until midsummer. Butterflies and wild bees fly among the flowers, and finger-long grasshoppers jump, all of which know to avoid me.

The river water in winter was extremely cold, soaking the hem of my robe. I looked back and could no longer see my yard. I suddenly felt a little sad, thinking of going back and sitting in front of the table where my father was warming wine and chanting sutras, and respectfully asking him to find someone to match my horoscope. Then I could wear a wedding robe, put emeralds and flowers on my hair, sit on a donkey, and spend the rest of my life with a person I had never met.

Bah. I curled my lips. Screw the parents’ orders and the matchmaker’s words.

The stone tower was very quiet, with a thin layer of snow on it. The pines and cypresses around it were dark green, and some dead branches and thin vines were hanging in the bushes. The sky was gray and white, which really looked gloomy, just like the place where ghosts and spirits roamed as the villagers said. I walked through the stone tower and brushed off the snow. I grew taller this year, and I might find some patterns I had never seen before. In fact, those patterns were like the difficult articles in the teacher’s mouth. I couldn’t understand them, but I always found them interesting, as if I could see the appearance of a new world.

I was digging the moss under the stone ring when I heard some noises behind me. I thought my parents were looking for me, so I turned around. Behind me, there was a bright yellow round lantern, and only one bright yellow round lantern, hanging high in the air, flickering. I blinked and suddenly realized that it was not a lantern, but an eye. I screamed and ran for my life, but the road under my feet seemed to soften, and the surrounding scenery seemed to be still. I watched a big furry hand appear out of thin air and grab me by the waist.

“Don’t be afraid, the time has come.” I heard a deep voice saying, and then my body began to emit a faint blue light. I didn’t know what was glowing, but I suddenly remembered my parents’ behavior today – did they know that I would glow and be captured by a furry round lantern monster today? Why didn’t they tell me! I struggled desperately, but fortunately the hand was not holding tightly, so I slid down smoothly and fell into the snow. I grabbed the snow and threw it at the big hand, shouting sharply: “Go away, don’t touch me!” I kept repeating this sentence until the big hand dropped helplessly and disappeared in the surrounding scenery.

The deep voice sounded again: “For the thirty-ninth time, the match failed.”

After the sound disappeared, the blue light on my body also disappeared. I didn’t care about the mud on my body, and ran home desperately. There was smoke coming out of the house, maybe my mother started cooking. I opened the door with my hair loose, crying loudly. I made too much noise, and my father looked up from his drunken state, sleepy, and stared at me, as if he had seen a ghost.

I turned around and saw the bright yellow round lantern floating neatly behind me.

I was so shocked that I almost couldn’t breathe, and I tumbled into the yard. My father stood up, stared at the round lantern, and hurriedly gathered me behind him. My mother came out of the house, wiping her hands. She saw me first and asked me why my clothes were so dirty. Then she saw the round lantern and fainted. My father hurried to help her.

There was a lot of noise in my yard, and it seemed that Round Lantern was embarrassed. He stopped at the gate, dropped a silver-blue flower, and disappeared. I waited for a while, but nothing happened, so I ran to the gate and took the flower back. The flower was not a local variety, and the color was extremely rare. I handed the flower to my father, but he refused to take it. He said, “It’s yours.”

I said, “How do you know it’s mine?”

My father tried to touch his wine jug, but I quickly snatched it away. My father stamped his feet and said, “Let your mother tell you.” My mother woke up quickly and was very unhappy when she heard what I said. She spat, “You just want me to be the bad guy!”

I pointed at them while holding the wine jug and asked, “Did you promise me someone?”

My father put his hands in his pockets and said, “It’s not such a serious matter.” My mother leaned behind him and muttered something with her hands in her pockets. She thought she could fool people, but I had sharp ears and an even sharper voice. She shouted, “You said I was picked up?!” The doctor who passed by the door was startled and hurriedly walked away. My father stretched his neck and said, “It seems that the old man in the next village is gone… Should our family give some money as a gift…”

My mother shook her head and said, “When they came to cut down the plum trees, their family sent the most people.”

Meishu is my father’s treasure. He immediately said firmly, “Then we really don’t have much of a relationship.”

I stood there holding the wine jug, feeling very awkward. I really wanted to throw it away to get their attention and change the subject back. However, my mother said the rice was going to be burnt and went into the house. My father said he wanted to sober up and followed her in. I could only squat under the half-bald plum tree, shaking the silver-blue flower from time to time.

The flower has a long stem and a large calyx with five pointed petals. There are fine silver lines on the petals, which look bright in the dim light.

Flowing light and colorful. I thought of this word in my mind, and held up the flower to show off to my father. My father was not surprised, and asked me to find a vase to keep the flower. I thought his plum vase was very good, so I threw away his plum branch and put my flower in it. My father saw it while holding a bowl of rice, and for a moment he didn’t know whether to pick up his plum branch first or put down the bowl and beat me.

While eating, they knew they couldn’t hide it from me, so they told me my story over a bowl of stir-fried pork with winter bamboo shoots.

Fifteen years ago, they found me in the Stone Pagoda Forest. There was no message or token in the package that wrapped me. I was holding a silver-blue flower in my hand and smiling at them. The flower disappeared later. My father and mother blamed each other for a long time and could not explain why. I knocked on the table and asked, “What happened next?”

“Later? Then we had a daughter!” my father said with his eyes wide open.

“I’m coming of age today, and you guys haven’t been acting right all day.”

My mother looked at my father, sighed and said, “On the way back when I was carrying you, I met a Taoist priest. He said that our fate would only last for fifteen years.”

“What about fifteen years from now?” I asked.

My father quickly said, “Then he didn’t say that.”

I snorted and said, “You didn’t say anything nice, did you?”

“No, it’s just that it’s hard to predict good or bad luck.” My mother smiled as she picked up a bite of food for me and said, “How can we trust the Taoist’s words?”

I lowered my head and shoveled the food into my mouth, thinking to myself: I don’t believe you’ve been frowning for most of the day!

Knowing that I could not get any more information from him, and not believing the Taoist priest’s nonsense about fortune-telling, I ate my meal and took my dirty clothes to wash. I looked down and found that the wooden hairpin my mother gave me was missing. I thought about it and thought that it was probably lost in the stone pagoda, so I decided to wait until tomorrow when the sun was at its highest to check it out.

The night was not peaceful. Soon after the lights were turned on, many villagers were circling around my house, seemingly looking for something. My father asked them, but they said nothing. I was leaning against the window and eating melon seeds, while my mother took me to review my lessons. I held a handful of melon seeds and asked her if she was worried that these people would embarrass my father. She let me go and grabbed a handful of melon seeds.

My father is a simple-minded and poor-spoken person, but my mother and I have a consensus on this.

After a while, Old Master Xu from our village came walking over with a cane, and several servants were carrying a throne behind him. I said, “This old man is definitely up to no good!” My mother agreed and whispered, “Let’s see what kind of crooked ideas he can come up with.”

Old Master Xu was sitting at the gate of my house, coughing two or three times before he spoke: “Lei Si, did your daughter bring back a lantern today?”

My father’s eyes widened and he said, “This girl stole the lantern from the old man’s house? Oh my, this is terrible…”

The old man coughed unhappily and said, “Don’t play dumb. Someone saw her coming back from the back hill before dinner, with a bright yellow lantern following behind her.”

“Then, where are the lanterns?” My dad looked around, and I almost wanted to applaud his acting skills.

Old Master Xu pounded the ground with his cane and said, “Lei Lao Si, this question should be asked to you! You raised a demon and cast a curse to kill Master Zhou from the neighboring village. You have to hand over the demon and give an explanation to the Zhou family!”

I rolled up my sleeves when I heard my father say in a serious tone, “My daughter is just naughty, she is definitely not evil. Mr. Zhou’s death has nothing to do with my family. Does it mean that just because I raise a daughter, the village will not allow the King of Hell to take her in?”

Master Xu was so angry that his beard stood up. He waved his hand, and two thugs in the village pushed the crowd away, pointed at my father and said, “We saw it with our own eyes. Your daughter was in the stone tower on the back mountain. She was glowing with blue light and was floating in the air.”

Without even taking a breath, my father replied, “It’s just a disease I got from the womb. I just haven’t had the money to treat it all these years.”

“Lei Laosi, when you were stranded here, our village was kind enough to take you and your wife in, gave you land, and helped you build a house. But now you are raising evil spirits and repaying kindness with enmity. Are you worthy of the villagers?” Old Master Xu pointed at my father and shouted. I rolled my eyes, thinking that I hear these words dozens of times every year. They are just taking advantage of my father’s honesty and fooling him to get some advantage.

My father clasped his fists and bowed, saying, “I dare not forget, but I know my child well. Even if he is a little naughty, he is definitely not a demon.”

He paused and said, “If the villagers really can’t tolerate her, we will move away with our whole family. We will share the land and houses with the neighbors. No matter what, Lei Zhiqi is my daughter who I raised, and I will never let Master Xu control her.”

“I’m afraid it’s not up to you!” Old Master Xu coughed, and the villagers slowly gathered around. I was anxious. My father would definitely not be able to do it, and I wasn’t very good either. I spit out the melon seed shells, and suddenly thought of a great idea, so I opened the window and jumped out.

The villagers were startled when they saw a figure rolling out from under the window, and they all stepped back. I rolled in front of Old Master Xu and said in a rough voice, “Old Master, have you ever thought that what if I am not a demon, but an immortal who came to transcend the calamity? Today, I showed my true body in the back mountain and refined immortal flowers and auspicious herbs. You heard a little news and rushed to make things difficult for me. Someone died in the neighboring village, and you came to catch the demon, regardless of whether it was an offense to the immortals, and brought endless disasters to the village. How many benefits did the Zhou family promise you, and you were so anxious to get struck by lightning for others.”

“You, you, you are talking nonsense!” His eyes turned red, and the villagers began to whisper.

At this moment, the bright yellow lantern suddenly lit up behind everyone, and a mountain-like figure appeared in the crackling torches. His face was unclear, and he leaned forward slightly and whispered, “She is right. I am her guardian. Her time has come.”

Old Master Xu’s chair was overturned, and everyone shouted “monster” and ran away in panic. I was stunned for a moment, and quickly asked my father to get the flowers in the plum vase, and shouted: “Am I a god? Today I will open your eyes!” The people didn’t run far, and when they saw that the mountain-like monster didn’t move, they slowly came back. I don’t know if the flower is set off by the plum vase, but it swayed slightly in the wind, and it really showed a bit of immortal spirit. I held the vase and raised my head, and walked around the yard twice. I knew that this could only fool them for a while, and when they came to their senses, they would come to cause trouble again. So I discussed with Mr. Xu, “I have an idea. You ask someone to send me to the Grand View in the capital, and let the respected Taoist priest come to see if I am a demon. If I am a demon, he has great magical powers and can subdue me. It’s better than you asking these people to block me here. I have called these uncles and aunts every day, and they have watched me grow up. Could they really be moved to kill me and see blood?”

The villagers were afraid of trouble, and they all agreed without waiting for Old Master Xu to speak. My father was circling behind me, but he couldn’t think of a better explanation. The villagers dispersed, and the round lantern disappeared without a trace. My father sat in the yard, bowed his head and said, “They say you are born with knowledge. I always thought you were just a bit naughty and liked to talk nonsense. But after what happened today, I have to believe it.”

I squatted in front of him, held his hand, and asked, “Am I still your daughter?”

“Of course.”

“Do you regret picking me up and raising me?”

“No regrets.”

“Then wait for me to come back.” I touched the calluses on his hands and whispered, “Wait for me to come back and plant plum trees all over your yard, brew the best flower wine, and build you a bigger desk so you can put a black lacquer snow jade chessboard.” I paused and said, “Wait for me to support you.”

My father sighed, touched my head, turned around and looked at my mother, and sighed: “Pack up, let’s leave here at night.”

“Where are we going?” My mother rolled her eyes, a little hesitant.

“The world is so big, there is always a place for you to stay.” He stood up, hugged me, and said, “You are still young, don’t think about going through the ups and downs of life. As long as your parents are still here, you will always have a place to shelter from the wind and rain.”

My dad hadn’t hugged me for a long time, and I was a little uncomfortable. In fact, both of them were a little strange today. I took two steps in the yard and asked tentatively, “So, it’s not me, it’s you?”

My father’s body froze. I thought I had guessed it right, so I walked around to him and looked up and asked him, “Back then, the Taoist priest lied and you believed it. Because you are the ones with the problem, not me. Right?”

My father turned half of his face away and said, “You are still young, don’t ask about these things.”

I looked at my mother, and she was also avoiding me. I immediately knew that this was not a trivial matter.

“You… have killed someone?” I looked around and guessed. My father hurriedly covered my mouth and kept saying, “Nonsense! You dare to think anything!” I rolled my eyes and pulled his hand away and said, “Then… did you two elope?” This time it was my mother’s turn to beat me. My mother would not fight easily, but when she did, she would be ruthless, unlike my father who would just show off. I quickly hid far away. My father stopped her and whispered, “This girl is very smart. If you don’t tell her, she might cause trouble.”

He looked outside and said, “The old man has asked people to keep an eye on us, so don’t make too much noise.” My mother always listened to my father. She glared at me and told me to go into the house. I obediently took the plum vase and went into the house.

My father closed the doors and windows tightly, listened to the noise for a while, sat down at the table, and winked at my mother. My mother checked the front door and back windows, cursed a few times, and when she saw the shadows rustling away, she closed the windows again and nodded to my father. My father looked at me, pushed the melon seed basket towards me, and said, “I’ll tell you a story.” In fact, he didn’t have much ability to tell stories, and his stories were as bland as water.

Seventeen years ago, chess player Lei Siyun entered Beijing at a young age and became famous in one battle. At that time, chess was popular in Beijing, and Lei Siyun was awarded a doctorate. He had many friends who were powerful and influential, and he was also close to the virtuous king Li Mian. Later, Li Mian was involved in a party dispute and was convicted of treason. He was beheaded and his relatives were implicated. Lei Siyun was implicated and fled in a hurry. Since then, he has kept his name and name secret and dared not play chess.

I looked at my father’s desk. There were a few sutras on it. They were tattered and he never flipped through them. There was a vacant corner with a few water marks on it. My father often stared at the water marks in a trance. But when someone approached, he would quickly wipe away the water marks.

I said, “I heard the gentleman in the chess hall talk about you. He was full of praise for you and sighed with regret.” I felt very proud that I could use two idioms.

My father shook his head and said, “I am devoted to the way of chess, but I regret leaving the secular world. Back then, my master advised me not to go to the capital, but I didn’t listen. I was young and full of energy, and I didn’t know how to advance or retreat. Now that I think about it, those two years of glory have only brought me back to these years of cowardice, and I haven’t made any progress in the way of chess.”

He looked at me, then at my flowers, and said, “I thought we were destined to be together for only fifteen years, so I let you go free without worries, fearing that something might happen in the future and I would feel indebted to you. But if you have your own destiny, then we will accompany you. The road to the capital is long, and the mountains and rivers are far away. How can we let you go alone? There are only a few people from the village, so we can find a chance to escape along the way.”

I thought of the mountain-like monster, stared at him and asked, “Are you really not afraid that I am a demon?”

When has my father ever been threatened by me? He asked, “Aren’t you afraid that I might have a case of rebellion?”

I spat out a handful of melon seed shells and snorted, “What am I afraid of?”

My father rubbed my head and said with a smile, “What am I afraid of?”

They packed up their things very quickly, and the amount of things they had was pitiful. I almost suspected that they were ready to flee at any time. I opened my small box and looked around, but I felt that there was nothing to take. Suddenly I remembered that the hairpin was still lost in the back mountain. I was afraid that I would not have a chance to look for it tomorrow, so I made up my mind and planned to sneak to the back mountain to look for it. Unexpectedly, as soon as I went out with the lantern, I saw a bright yellow round lantern floating outside the yard.

When he saw me, he blinked politely.

To be honest, the round lantern had done nothing to harm me. I had been disturbed all night, and for no reason I felt fearless, so I approached him with a paper lantern with a flickering candle, thanking him for helping me out.

A big furry hand appeared out of nowhere and carefully placed something in front of me. The object was too small for his hand, but he treasured it so much that his action looked very funny. I took a closer look with the lantern in my hand and found that it was the plum hairpin I had lost. I felt a little embarrassed, so I thanked him and put the hairpin in my arms. Seeing that he had no intention of leaving, I remembered the basic social etiquette my father taught me, so I cleared my throat and asked, “My name is Lei Zhiqi, what’s your name?”

“Kui.” He made a low sound.

I patted his big hairy hand and said, “Are you a monster from the mountain?”

He hesitated for a moment and replied, “No.”

“Then what are you?”

“Puppet.” He answered awkwardly.

I sighed deeply and said, “You’ve been following me. Is there something wrong?”

“Time is up.”

I have heard this several times and was about to ask for clarification, but suddenly I realized that I didn’t seem to need to ask anymore.

There was a wildfire in the back hills, and the blue flames shot up into the sky, exactly the same as the blue light on my body. Behind me, my father stumbled out of the house, holding his precious plum vase in his arms. In the plum vase, the silver-blue flower was blooming, and as the light blue light spots were emitted from the stamens, the flower quickly disappeared.

I watched those light blue dots of light fly into my body and then disappear. I stared at my father in amazement, and my father also stared at me in amazement. But I soon realized that he didn’t rush over to ask me if I was feeling unwell, so there was only one possibility – he had seen it. The flower they picked me up with must have disappeared in this way. Before I had time to complain to him, Kui gently held me and ran to the back mountain. I looked back in his palm, and a wisp of light blue smoke followed closely behind me. The night wind was howling, and the smoke was condensed but not dispersed, shining brightly. Through the smoke, a village dotted with stars was lying on the dark ground. The villagers were running around with torches, and their voices were faintly heard. I couldn’t hear clearly, but I felt that those dots of light were like candles swaying in the wind, which would go out as soon as the wind blew.

The strange thing is, I still didn’t know what Kui meant by “the time’s up”, and I didn’t even know what kind of monster he was, but my heart became very calm. I remembered what the girl in the chess gym said, that it’s life on both sides, and you have to bear it yourself.

The back mountain was almost unrecognizable. The ground had been lifted up from the ground, the trees were leaning here and there, and rocks and dirt were rolling down the mountain, but the stone pagodas and sutra pillars were still intact, but they were all standing crookedly, which was very neat and strange.

The pagoda moved to another position, revealing a large round hole at its original location, letting in a faint light. Kui took me and jumped straight in. We kept falling down, into the endless darkness, passing through the silent city, and finally landing on a smooth platform.

The platform was very wide, and reminded me of the altar used for offering sacrifices during grand festivals in the countryside. Pah, this is unlucky. I patted the puppet’s big hand, signaling him to let me down, and he held his hand and carefully put me down – only then did I see his appearance clearly.

He was hunched over, with broad shoulders, arms that went past his knees, huge hands, and a body tightly wrapped in something that looked like armor, with thick dark hair on the exposed parts. His face was very broad, with a bright yellow round eye on it, and the pupil was slightly red, which made him look extremely fierce at first glance. But his nose was round and fleshy, and his wide mouth with the corners of his lips turned up, which made this fierceness look funny and cute. I asked him why I didn’t see him like this usually, and he stammered to explain something about optical camouflage and biomimicry. I didn’t understand, so I waved and walked around.

The platform was surrounded by a blue-grey mist, and there seemed to be a huge building in the mist. I couldn’t make out what it was, so I went back to Kui and asked, “Where is this?”

“Pingxing.”

“What?”

Kui opened his mouth and uttered a long list of names, some interstellar, some scientific research ship, I curled my lips and asked Kui to explain it simply, Kui looked very embarrassed. I didn’t make it difficult for him, and wanted to walk into the gray fog to see what was going on, but Kui stretched out his finger to block me and said, “It’s time.”

Before I finished speaking, blinding light came from all directions, illuminating the stage. I couldn’t open my eyes, and Kui reached out and covered me with his palm. I heard a voice saying, “The time wheel vortex has appeared, and the fortieth match has begun.” Countless blue light points overflowed from my body, scattered around, and quickly began to condense into a halo. The halo hummed, and a complex and magnificent symmetrical pattern extended from the periphery. The pattern continued to unfold, forming a light wall that stretched from the sky to the earth.

I took two steps back and was about to exclaim when I heard someone say, “Matching begins.” Then, I saw myself moving my feet and was about to put my hand into the halo.

I was horrified.

At this moment, I finally realized that the sound of “matching started” was ringing in my mind.

It’s the voice that occasionally rings in my head.

It turns out that she is really there, she has always been there.

She caused me to be falsely accused of being a demon and had my palms hit with a bamboo stick, but she never defended me or gave me any good advice. So why should she ask me to listen to her now?

I held my wrist tightly and shouted, “Who are you and what do you want to do?”

“Go home. We have waited too long. We cannot miss this vortex.” Her voice remained calm, but the bluish light spots began to spread and dance everywhere, and the magnificent walls also made a buzzing sound.

I shouted, “My home is right here!”

She said: “This place will be gone soon. The energy of the Pingxing takeoff will destroy the entire mountain.”

I remembered the mountains that kept collapsing when I thought about it, and I believed it about 70% of the time. I shouted to the puppet: “What’s going on! She said this place will be destroyed! What should I do?”

Kui raised his hands awkwardly, forming two circles with his thick fingers, and said, “One vortex needs to connect to another vortex to open the jump channel and return to the correct time point. The Pingxing does not have enough energy to open another vortex, so we can only wait for it to appear. This waiting time is astronomical, so we must not miss it.”

“I asked you how you could stop this!” I yelled. “Who is in this group with you!”

Kui obviously hadn’t thought about this question. He said in a panic: “We, you and I, were created by them. We must obey their orders.”

I didn’t understand what he said before, but I understood this sentence. I jumped up and down and said, “Nonsense! I have nothing to do with them!”

Kui said hurriedly, “Thousands of years ago, the Pingxing made an emergency landing here, but the planet was poor in energy and could not get through the time vortex. So they copied the creatures on the planet and used human forms to go to various places to collect energy. You and I were both created. You collect energy and protect the vortex storage device, and I protect you. If your body is broken, you will make another one, and another one.”

I cleverly grasped the point and shouted, “You protect me, you just said so! Tell me how not to destroy the village!”

Kui scratched his head and ears, apparently he didn’t know anything, and I felt a chill in my heart.

The voice in my head spoke at the right moment, saying, “If you are willing to sacrifice yourself, there may be a way.”

I hesitated, and she explained, “The relationship between the two of us is like a clay pot and water. According to normal procedures, it’s like pouring the water out of the clay pot. I leave and take away the energy, and you can still retain your self-awareness and live like an ordinary human. To protect this land, you need to compress the water in the clay pot to its limit and then expand it in an instant. As long as the energy threshold is calculated and the high-energy core carries the vortex particles to flash, the entire Pingxing can be dragged directly into the jump channel, and the energy impact can also be completed in the channel. But the clay pot will shatter.”

She paused, then added, “Moreover, success is not guaranteed. The Pingxing has limited computing power and does not have time to perform comprehensive calculations and simulations. The existing energy is only enough to barely complete one jump…”

I didn’t listen to her anymore and ran to confirm with Kui that I was made here. Kui assured me that my original cells were taken from pure natural humans, unlike his hybrid of machine and beast. The only difference between me and normal humans is the uterus and the simulated uterus. Even with the implanted vortex energy storage device and personality algorithm chip, I am still a human in essence.

Despite his repeated assurances, I still had a strange feeling, as if some burdens had been lifted off my shoulders, and at the same time, some thoughts that I had never dared to have arisen in my mind – I no longer have to be bound by human rules, worry about future marriage, worry about the prejudice of evil spirits, care about other people’s eyes and gossips, and human morals and laws can no longer restrain me – I am free, I can control my own destiny, become who I want to be, and live the way I want to live.

At this moment, I suddenly missed the home where half of the yard was planted with plum trees. The people there annoyed me, laughed at me, and disciplined me, but they also really missed me, loved me, and cared about me. They were wholehearted and wanted nothing else. I crossed the stars and was reborn again and again in time to be their daughter. There is probably no better deal in the world than this.

It’s too late to cheer for freedom, and if I don’t do anything, they will be disappointed.

I gritted my teeth, walked towards the spreading blue halo, held out my hands and said, “Let’s just throw it away.”

I am totally confused about the current situation.

I firmly believed that I was dead, but when I opened my eyes, I saw Kui sitting opposite me, holding a jar more than one meter tall in his arms.

When I was pleasantly surprised and thought that I had escaped, I saw faint blue spots of light spreading all over my body, and only blue spots of light.

Gui was fiddling with some “beans” in a panic. I had no idea what they were, but it was clear that Gui was trying to install them in the “jar.” His hands were too big, and the “beans” jumped back and forth in his hands. He didn’t get angry, but just picked up the beans and put them into a pile with a sad face.

I wanted to ask him something, but I obviously had no organs to speak. I suddenly realized that everything I could “see”, “hear” and “feel” was fed back to me by the scattered light points around me. How far they floated was how far I felt – I seemed to understand what it felt like to be the “person” who existed in the universe. But this was obviously not what I was most concerned about at the moment. I was anxious to know whether the village had been saved.

The scattered light spots made me “see” a wilderness in front of me. I suspected that I had messed up, and wanted to ask Kui. Seeing me circling around him, Kui hurriedly opened the jar for me. There was a “me” in the jar, but she looked a little older. The back of her head was opened, and some black and green fragments rolled out. If the villagers saw this scene, it would be difficult to explain that this was not Kui digging people’s brains to eat. Kui explained: “I snatched out a machine-hybrid experimental body that they didn’t want. Your core components can match it, but these parts are too small and I can’t install them.”

I didn’t care about these things, I only cared about whether the village was still there, but Kui was only thinking about repairing the “me” in the jar. Just when I was in a hurry, I “heard” a familiar voice.

“Um, is there anything I can do for you?”

If I had eyes, I would cry.

My father was wearing plain clothes, holding a large bundle of paper money, and stood not far away very politely. Then he explained softly, “Today is the seventh day, I came to take a look.”

Kui probably had never spoken to anyone other than me. He hesitated for a long time and said, “Put the parts in place.”

My father put down the gold ingots and paper money and came over. Seeing the miserable appearance, he didn’t say much, but just sighed: “You have a lot of heart. You can just make a paper figurine, but you made such a detailed one.”

Under the panic command of the puppet, my father reached out his deft hands without knowing anything and stuffed the small pieces into my brain step by step. Before I could marvel, I saw the light points quickly gathering towards the jar, and I felt a flash in front of my eyes, and I could not feel anything.

It was as if thousands of wild bees were buzzing in my ears, and a warm current was rolling in my brain. My consciousness gradually became clear in this chaos. I vaguely heard my father discussing with Kui Xuxin: “Your magic is very advanced, but can the puppetry technique passed down from foreign countries really bring back the souls of the dead and bring people back to life?”

Kui asked in a low voice: “Why aren’t you afraid?”

I guessed that what Kui meant was “Why aren’t you afraid of me?”, but my father obviously misunderstood and replied, “She’s my daughter, how could she hurt me?” I felt embarrassed to suddenly sit up and scare him. But Kui had sharp eyes and shouted, “Wake up!” I had no choice but to sit up reluctantly and called out “Dad” in a hoarse voice.

My father was surprised and delighted. He came over and touched my face carefully, saying, “You look older, but Mr. Kui’s ability is really not to be underestimated.” I smacked my lips and thought I should not tell my father that I was not a human. So I grabbed his hand and asked, “Where is my mother?”

“She cried for several days before you came back. She was really sick. I was afraid she would catch a cold again, so I came here by myself.” My father also held my hand tightly and said, “If I had known this adventure would happen, I would have asked her to come with me.”

After my father and I sighed for a while, I asked about the village. My father briefly explained. That night, the villagers saw the mountain fire rising to the sky, and saw me being taken away by the puppet. They were all extremely shocked. Old Master Xu shouted “Big Puppet Disaster” and asked the villagers to take refuge. My father wanted to chase me, but was carried back by someone. We stayed in the open area in the front mountain until midnight, and suddenly saw a huge blue light explode in the air, which lasted for a long time and swirled like a cave. A huge city rushed out of the mountain, sank into the blue light, and disappeared. Then there was a heavy wind and rain, thunder and lightning, and when I looked closely, the whole mountain was gone. When I went back at dawn, I saw that only some rocks had fallen in the village, which damaged a few houses and injured a few cows. Everyone celebrated. I breathed a sigh of relief and told my father everything I saw and heard. My father didn’t care much and just asked me if I could go home.

I was stunned.

The villagers were waiting to catch me as a demon. Now they all thought I was dead, and I suddenly came back alive, and my appearance was different from before, which was simply a handle for them. The talk of an immortal transcending tribulation was definitely not going to work.

I grabbed his hand and said, “Dad, why aren’t you afraid of me? My body was broken into thousands of pieces and can’t be put back together, but I can still talk to you here. Don’t you think I’m a demon? I destroyed the entire mountain overnight and almost caused the lives of all the people to be destroyed. Don’t you think I’m born with bad luck and will bring disaster to my relatives sooner or later? You picked me up anyway, how can you still recognize me?”

My father patted my hands and said, “We live a careful life. We picked her up and raised her for fifteen years. How can we just say we don’t want her anymore?”

If it were usual, I might have been coaxed back by these words, but at this moment, I was wrapped in this cold body, and I knew I couldn’t listen to him. I looked at Kui, who was sitting next to me, and this idea became more and more firm – if I really went back without hesitation, what would he do? When my father saw me looking at Kui, he understood a little bit, so he said, “If you have any concerns, don’t go back yet. In a few days, when your mother is feeling better, we will come to see you.”

I nodded, and my father asked me if I wanted some food and clothes and where to live. I looked at the puppet and felt that we were no longer within the five elements, so we didn’t need to worry about these things.

After my father left, I asked Kui about this body, but he couldn’t explain it. But I realized that this body was not a human body. The bones felt hard and cold, the chest cavity made a chaotic and hollow sound, and the fluid flowing in the body could not bring any warmth. I was like a corpse that could still think, clumsily embracing unrealistic fantasies.

I was extremely sentimental and asked Kui what I was. He answered me very seriously: I am a walking time and space vortex marking point. If my body had not been uncomfortable, I would have jumped up and hit him. Kui explained that it was normal for the time vortex to leave marking points, but he pulled out the time vortex’s storage and personality algorithm chip from my original body. I can retain my self-awareness because of the chip. My power source is vortex particles, which need to be converted by the storage. Kui suggested that I stay here for a while. The anchor point of the jump channel left a very high concentration of vortex particles. It is better to store more because there is very little of this thing on the blue planet. I still don’t quite understand what he said, but I agree to stay for a while.

My parents came secretly a few times, and I also went down the mountain and returned home at night. How strange, I knew clearly that I was no longer human, but I still acted as their daughter with ease, as if I was still a naive fifteen-year-old, naughty and causing my old father to have premature gray hair.

I am very attached to this home, so I dare not think too much about leaving.

Half a month later, my father came to the mountain to find me. A marquis who was granted a fief in this state passed away a few days ago. Some people said that there was a great disaster in Qimei Mountain, and the people in the marquis’ mansion wanted to come to worship. When the villagers saw me being abducted by the puppet that day, rumors spread, so a government official came to my house to inquire. My father was worried that someone in the marquis’ mansion would recognize him, so he planned to leave with my mother and asked me if I would go with them. I asked him where he was going, and he said he was going to Yangzhou. A knight had saved him that year, and he hadn’t seen him for many years, so he wanted to go and thank him. Yangzhou is prosperous and wealthy, and it is impossible for me to live there permanently with the puppet. I scratched my head, and suddenly marveled at fate. It always pushes people into unknown situations and forces them to make choices.

I asked my father, “Will you be disappointed if I don’t go with you?”

My father is a smart man. He saw what I was thinking and comforted me by saying, “It’s not important whether we are disappointed or not. What’s important is whether you regret it or not. Children have to leave home when they grow up. If it weren’t for this incident, I’m afraid I would have been thinking about finding you a husband.”

I bit my lip, cried and shook my head. He sighed, looked at Kui, pressed his big hairy hands and said, “You must take good care of her.”

Kui nodded and said, “I will always be with her.”

We said goodbye reluctantly. I thought, I still have to do something for them.

After sending my parents away, Kui and I hid in the mountains to avoid people. Time passed in the mountains, and I gradually got used to coexisting with those light spots in this body.

I had nothing to do, so I polished a chessboard. In the sound of the chess pieces falling, I vaguely saw a line. Kui said that it was the time wheel threshold being formed, and it would take a lot of wheel thresholds to form a wheel vortex. He tried to take out a net to explain it to me, but I didn’t want to listen, so I asked him what this thing was for. He thought for a while and said, “Maybe it can control someone’s past and future in the time sequence.”

I’m interested.

The practice was long and boring. I tortured Old Master Xu to the point of wanting death countless times. Later, I couldn’t bear it anymore, so I replaced him with two village thugs.

That day, blue spots of light covered the entire chessboard. I took a deep breath and gently pushed the chess piece.

Lei Siyun left his master at a young age and went all the way to Beijing. On the way, he played chess with someone in a teahouse and tied two games in a row. He was so angry that he lifted the opponent’s hat, and the face under the hat was as beautiful as a snow plum.

We met halfway and fell in love at first sight.

He and she went to the capital to play chess, and they became famous in one game. From then on, they went in and out of deep houses and visited the rich and powerful. Later, she said she wanted to go to Taihu Lake to feel the breeze. So he left the capital with her and boarded a boat. A few days later, Li Mian, the virtuous king of the capital, broke his leg while riding a horse in the suburbs, and since then he has been bedridden, avoiding being implicated in the party struggle.

I pushed the chess piece in front of me and thought to myself, I just threw a stone under Li Mian’s horse’s hoof, and the fate of the man changed dramatically.

The couple had never been to Qimei Mountain, had not found a baby girl on the mountain, and had not met a Taoist priest whose words came true. They met a young man carrying a sword by the Taihu Lake, followed him to the fireworks Yangzhou, had crab roe soup dumplings and hot dried bean curd, watched several sunsets on the bridge of Slender West Lake, and met two people.

When drinking, you meet a worthy opponent.

He bought a house by the Slender West Lake and planted a garden full of plum trees, with jars of Baihua wine buried under the trees. The window in his study was always open, and there was a large desk next to the window. On the desk was a black lacquer snow jade chessboard in a prominent place, and flower petals often fell into it. My father would sometimes stare at the corner of the table in a daze, and occasionally wipe it with his hand, as if wiping away a water mark.

Kui wouldn’t let me get close to them, saying that I had already interfered with their time sequence, and if I kept getting close to them, it would inevitably have an irreversible impact on them. I promised him that I would try to be restrained, but I couldn’t let it go. After all, I didn’t have anyone in this world to care about.

One day, I hid from the puppet and came to the small courtyard in Yangzhou again. I pretended to pass by the door casually, and saw my mother standing at the door with a plate of sweet-scented osmanthus cake and waving at me. I was stunned for a while before I realized that she was calling me. I took small steps to approach her, and the word “mother” kept turning around in my stomach, but I couldn’t say it out loud. I just bent my knees and said “Hello, Madam!”

She was not surprised either. She grabbed my hand and asked, “I’ve seen you around here a lot these days. Who are you from?”

I shook my head and said, “My home is in Qimei Mountain. I’m here… to visit my relatives.”

I tried to break free from her hand, but she didn’t let go, so I became lazy and thought, this is fine, maybe I’m the one they’ll meet again and again in their lives? So I took a deep breath and said, “I heard that you’re a great chess player, so I wanted to learn a thing or two.”

My mother said, “Come if you want to play chess. But I see that your relative doesn’t care much about you. Come in first.” She dragged me in without saying a word.

The yard was full of plum trees, and on the wooden table next to the plum trees was a set of sky-blue tea sets. My father was just coming out of the house with a chessboard, and when he saw my mother pulling me in, he quickly put down the chessboard and asked what was going on.

“This girl wants to play chess with you,” my mother said. “Go light the fire first, and I’ll comb her hair. She’s already past the age of marriage, how can she have her hair disheveled all day?”

My father responded, rolled up his sleeves as if nothing had happened and went to get some firewood.

My hair was tied up and piled on the side of my head, with a plum blossom hairpin inserted in it. I looked at myself in the bronze mirror and vaguely remembered the clear snow on Qimei Mountain that year. Even if they didn’t remember me, could I still be their daughter?

The chess pieces hit the chessboard with a crisp sound. I used to not study chess very hard, but now there is only a chip in my brain buzzing every day, and I can calculate dozens of chess moves. My father hesitated while holding the black piece. The wind rustled the flowers, and scattered petals fell on the chessboard, which he picked up patiently. I bit the osmanthus cake one bite at a time, thinking that if time stopped here, our family of three would be in this small courtyard, knocking chess pieces and waiting for the snow to fall and the flowers to bloom. It would be a long-lasting peace. My father made a move and hummed a few times with some pride. I was not to be outdone. I stuffed the osmanthus cake into my mouth in two or three bites, wiped my hands on my clothes, picked up the white piece to block his retreat, and suddenly heard a “Huh”?

I looked up and saw my father looking behind me, saying in surprise, “This blue firefly is not very common.” I hurriedly dropped the chess pieces and ran out the door. From afar I heard my mother say, “The winter bamboo shoots have been peeled, why are you leaving?” I covered my ears while crying, turned around and ran into an alley.

The alleys in Yangzhou are narrow and long, winding and endless. The stone walls are scorching hot from the sun, rubbing my palms roughly. I found an empty corner, took a deep breath, condensed the particles into silver-blue flowers, grabbed a handful in my hand, and ran towards the Dongguan Ferry.

Under the sunlight, these particles dissolved in water are not so conspicuous. In the panic, I actually forgot that there were many people at the Dongguan Ferry.

When I was young, my favorite thing was to go to the market. On the first and fifteenth day of each month, people from several nearby villages would flock to the open space west of Wanxi River to go to the market. My mother looked after the fruits, vegetables, poultry and livestock, while I stared at the fried cakes, sugar figurines and roasted sweet potatoes. At that time, I always sat on my father’s shoulders, holding a handful of candy in my hand, slurping the sweetness in my mouth while watching the crowds of people, hearing the hawking sounds one after another, and the wind was filled with the smell of pastry and honey. I once asked my father why there couldn’t be a market every day? My father shook my hand and said, “Because everyone needs to spend more time living an ordinary life.” I asked what an ordinary life was, and he smiled and said, “It means a life where you can’t eat candy every day and break your teeth.” My father’s words of comforting me fell on my ears, and I still thought about going to the market to play every day, so I never thought about how to avoid the crowds that filled the entire street in front of the ferry.

While I was standing at the entrance of the alley, someone with sharp eyes saw me and approached me curiously. I was so scared that I turned back to the alley. Someone chased me for a while, but then lost interest. I ran away in panic, not knowing where to go. After a long time, I looked up and saw a familiar courtyard not far away. At the gate of the courtyard, sat the familiar person.

“It’s getting dark, come back for dinner!” My mother leaned half of her body out of the door and called him.

“Wait a minute, the game isn’t over yet.” My father shook his sleeves and stood up, saying, “I was careless and forgot to ask whose girl this was.”

“I’ll ask around with you tomorrow.” My mother came over and pulled him, saying, “I don’t know why, but she seems quite friendly to me.”

I was moved and looked around. I saw that the particles had stopped flowing out. I threw away the flower in my hand, walked over awkwardly, and said, “Master, Madam, I was in a hurry just now because of something. I’m really sorry. Please teach me how to play chess.”

My father was surprised and delighted. He pulled me into the yard and said repeatedly, “I just thought of a good move…”

My mother coughed loudly, and my father quickly changed the subject and said, “Eat first!”

The pork ribs were stewed with winter bamboo shoots. The ribs were soft and tender, and the bamboo shoots had absorbed the rich and delicious soup. I raised my bowl and refilled my rice twice.

There were two lanterns next to the plum tree. My father and I played chess back and forth. After a while, I lost half a piece. My father laughed and said, “Let’s play another game.”

I knew I couldn’t stay long, so just as I was about to leave, I heard a commotion outside the courtyard. Some people gathered at the door, talking about why the blue fireflies disappeared in this area. My father followed the sound and went out to ask. I was watching from afar under the plum tree, as if I could see the night of Qimei Mountain that year.

The particles condensed and did not disperse, and they were even clearer in the night. My face was seen at the ferry, and I thought it would not end well. But now, they no longer have any reason to protect me.

I walked towards the door, but my mother quickly grabbed me and said, “Don’t go.”

Even though she knew nothing, she still wanted to protect me. I patted her hand and said, “It’s okay, I’ll call the teacher back.”

I invited my parents to sit on the chairs in the main hall, then I knelt in front of them and kowtowed, saying, “My name is Lei Siqi, and my father gave me this name. I was raised by my parents for fifteen years, and they are very kind to me. You two and I originally had a connection, but the laws of nature are unpredictable, and it is difficult to continue our connection. I only hope that you two will continue to be blessed and have no worries.”

My parents hurriedly stood up to help me up, but I kowtowed again stubbornly and said, “I have supernatural powers, and people in the world are very surprised. I just hope you two will not regard me as a demon or be afraid of me.”

My father was stunned for a moment, then slowly said, “Although you play chess very well, you are honest and open-minded, without any ulterior motives. How could you be a demon that brings disaster to the world?”

I bit my lip and said, “When I get out, you two must not show up. I will handle the problems I caused myself.”

“This…” The two looked at each other, and my father sighed and said, “You are still young, don’t think about taking on the ups and downs of the world alone…”

I kowtowed again, stood up, and walked to the door. They followed hesitantly. I turned around, looked at them again, opened the door, and closed them behind me.

There were still quite a few people standing in the alley, some of them looked at me suspiciously, I took two steps, and the blue fireflies flew up into the sky. Amid the exclamations of the crowd, I made up a lie loudly: “The great supernatural power Fu Yu Guang De Zhen Jun passed by Bao Fang, and I didn’t mean to disturb you, please don’t blame me, immortals!”

A rough voice immediately echoed, “The great supernatural being Fu Yu Guang De was passing by Bao Fang, and we didn’t intend to disturb you. Please don’t blame us, immortals!” The voice was repeated twice, echoing continuously. Amid the kneeling and cheering of the crowd, I was wrapped in a firefly-blue flame and was held in the palm of an invisible puppet’s hand. I leaped into the air as if I were flying.

I landed in a deserted place and the puppet put me down, but I still couldn’t help rolling on the ground laughing.

“You’re being too reckless.” Kui said unhappily.

“When there was a lantern in the yard, I knew you were here.” I wiped the tears from my eyes and smiled, “I can handle my own affairs. I can decide my own fate. I have lived my life to my heart’s content, and I have no regrets.”

Kui didn’t say anything, and I suddenly realized that if I was gone, Kui would be left alone.

In fact, I have thought about this. I picked up this body anyway, so I won’t feel bad if it breaks. But what about the puppet? Apart from me, who else in this world would believe that he is harmless and not a monster? I have peeked into the wheel of time. There are legends of snow monsters and cyclops in the snowy mountains and islands in the west. Maybe I can find a tribe that accepts puppets. But just thinking about it makes me unhappy. I don’t know why, but I just don’t want to, just like my father let go of the sparrows I caught and returned the berries I picked from the neighbor’s tree. This emotion is very unhealthy, and I rationally decided to stop thinking about it.

The night wind was howling, and there was no light to be seen. Kui’s eyes were like a yellow lantern, illuminating the surroundings, and just floating high in the air, flickering, like a mandrill ghost. I took the plum hairpin with fine core off my head and put it in my arms, thinking that it was time to say goodbye to this world, and to spend the rest of my time looking for a place to bury my bones with Kui.

Having made up my mind, I leaned on his palm and said, “Let’s leave!”

“Where are you going?”

“Go east and keep going.”

Kui was very obedient. He held me in his hand and walked eastward. We walked through towns, avoided people, and passed through mountains and wilderness untouched by civilization, covered in lush vegetation. Finally one day, Kui stopped and asked, “Do you want to go out to sea?” I climbed onto his shoulders, and in front of me was an endless expanse of gray-blue, with waves surging like snow, and clouds floating like green mountains where the water and sky met.

I followed the crowd and went to buy a boat. The old boatman at the shipyard asked me if I was from Qimei Mountain while tapping his pipe. He said that he left home when he was young and had not heard the accent for a long time. He really missed the bowl of bamboo shoots stewed with meat in his hometown. We talked for a long time, which made me feel a little dazed. After all, I still carry the traces of my journey in this world. No matter how I drift in the long time, looking back, I can still find a small courtyard to collect all my joys, sorrows, and sorrows.

But, what about the puppet?

The boat was bought cheaply, but since no one knew how to steer it, we just let it drift freely on the sea. On moonless nights, the sea was pitch black, and faint blue dots of light would rise from the bottom of the sea and gather around me. Only then would Kui’s face look better. Occasionally, a huge sea beast would swim past our boat, making a slow cry, like the warm echo of the earth. I stood by the boat and shouted, “I want to find a place to bury my bones—” The giant beast sank into the waves, and then countless faint blue dots of light floated among the waves, and the boat followed the dots of light and drifted towards the vast horizon.

In the wind and rain, the boat ran aground on an island. There were continuous mountains on the island, and huge waves on the side of the island. I fell in love with it at first sight, and Kui also thought it was good, so we built a residence on the island. I didn’t live there for long. My body decayed day by day and fell into pieces. Soon only the skeleton was intact. Kui put the bones, storage devices and chips into the stone, and carried the stone to the top of the mountain. In the diffuse blue light, I learned to feel every breath of the island and control the rotation of the seasons.

Kui often sat on the top of the mountain, and sometimes walked alone on the edge of the cliff. If someone was in trouble at sea, he would help. Someone caught a few vortex particles on the island and brought them back. I don’t know what rumors were spread, so people came to the island from time to time to seek immortals and ask for medicine. It would not be a big deal to take some particles away, but when a huge fleet of ships with firearms landed on the island and tried to capture Kui, I was furious for the first time and did not hesitate to raise a hurricane and thunder to drive them back to the sea.

After the storm, Kui sat beside a rock on the top of the mountain, touching his injured hand, and remained silent for a long time. The blue light fell on him, but he waved away. When the sun set, the island was covered with silver-blue flowers. He looked at the bright and colorful flowers all over the mountain and suddenly said, “Am I unable to protect you?”

He didn’t call my name and I couldn’t answer him.

We were silent to each other, and the silence had never been so long. I searched in my memory, and suddenly it occurred to me that he seemed to have never called my name, no matter the code name given to me in that spaceship or the human name given to me by my parents. Is it true that in his world, there is only one me from beginning to end, and the only one he has been watching over, calling, obeying, and protecting. I once asked Kui what his plans were after this body was broken? He was very confused, grabbed his head and whispered, I will always be with you. For some reason, I felt a sense of peace of mind. Just like this moment. The Milky Way is bright, the sea waves are gentle, the silver-blue flowers are swaying gently, and this moment is forever and it is also good.

That night, there were some fluctuations from the distant starry sky, which made me alert – someone was exploring the traces of the time wheel vortex. If someone finds me, they will lock on this planet. This planet is beautiful and quiet, and it does not need to be spied on by aliens. I looked at the puppet that shrank into a big fur ball and made a decision.

When the moonlight bloomed, a piece of snow fell on the sea. The lonely puppet stretched out his huge tongue and rolled the snow into his mouth. Then, a piece of ice grew in his heart. The ice was extremely thin, extremely bright, and exquisitely translucent. As if it could not bear to be touched, it slowly spread out endless frost and seeped into his bones and blood bit by bit. His eyes that were full of tears were frozen, his heart that was thundering like a drum was frozen, his huge body that was as hard as iron was also frozen, and even the waves that were countless times larger than his body suddenly froze and stopped rolling. The blue light spot stagnated in the air and no longer dispersed. The time wheel vortex storage and chip in the stone no longer operated – I froze everything, hoping that this place would be completely ignored.

Finally, a spot of light fell on Kui’s body, and I felt a little bit of pity in my heart. There is a desolate mountain and a permafrost sea here. No living creature will walk into this place. I don’t know how long it will take before a pair of warm hands will warm his soul.

But who told him that he would always be with me?