"I don't know, but the sun still rises every day, doesn't it? The clock's flame keeps burning. We've gotten used to this scene, and it seems like nothing will ever change. I think life in this small town is pretty good. The food is decent; at least my family can eat meat once a week." Xiaorou said contentedly. In her heart, this peaceful and happy life seemed to be her greatest wish.
"But why is the clock in the sky? Shouldn't it be at home? Is there some kind of time indication?" Ling Yun turned around, seemingly asking himself. It wasn't that he couldn't understand this commonplace question; for the townspeople, asking this question was as foolish as asking why the South Pole is in the south or the North Pole is in the north. But for some reason, this seemingly idiotic question kept replaying in Ling Yun's mind.
Xiao Rou didn't speak. Although she didn't understand why the clock always appeared in the sky, things in the sky were too far removed from her life, and real life was full of terror and worry, so there was no need to think too much about such an unrealistic question. The most important thing now was to pray for a peaceful night and to spend a happy night with her husband. That was what the young girl hoped for most at this moment.
Her heart was completely devoted to Lingyun; in Xiaorou's heart, her husband was everything.
A moment later, she heard Ling Yun's soft and soothing snores beside her. Xiao Rou propped up one of her tender arms, looked at her sleeping husband, gently kissed his forehead, then tucked the other side of his body under the covers. Her slender and tender arms tightly embraced Ling Yun's chest, her head tilted and nestled in Ling Yun's arms as she gently closed her eyes.
Tonight's dream will surely be sweet.
Feeling the tenderness and fragrance of the girl in his arms, even in his sleep, Ling Yun's lips still curled up slightly.
Then, without warning, he opened his eyes.
Chapter 313 The Cannibalism Incident
Thump, thump, thump!
Ling Yun saw an enormous heart beating rhythmically before him, emitting a powerful pulsation. It was a human heart, but its strangely black color was somewhat eerie, as no human internal organs are black; black usually represents death. Yet, this black heart before him strangely juxtaposed the immense life force with the empty void of annihilation, giving Ling Yun a disorienting and even somewhat bewildering feeling.
In this illusory space, Ling Yun stood on a platform that seemed to be against the backdrop of an endless starry sky. Above him, in front of him, and to his left and right, were stars and meteor-like objects flying at lightning speed. Countless colorful points of light rose and fell in the distance, like fireworks in summer, creating an unparalleled and magnificent beauty.
Beneath their feet was a light panel, faintly brownish in color, made of some unknown material, appearing both hard and remarkably soft. Directly above the far end of the panel stood the enormous heart, suspended in mid-air like a black mountain, exhibiting no other unusual features except for its regular pulsation.
Ling Yun stared intently at the black heart, his mood surprisingly calm. Even though it was exactly the same as a human heart, and even the pacing action was exactly the same, Ling Yun knew that it was definitely not the heart of any person or being. The pacing sound was deep and powerful, and even contained a mysterious and vast sound of heaven and earth, which was shocking to the heart, like chanting in Sanskrit, with essential syllables that penetrated directly into the heart and soul.
Ling Yun seemed to hear calls, sounds that were definitely not human, but rather the voices of beings devoid of emotion yet possessing extremely high intelligence and immense power. Ling Yun couldn't be sure if the calls were directed at him, because he couldn't understand their meaning. If he simply listened, he would perceive them as pure noise.
The call came from the heartbeat, the thumping sound drowning out everything. The black heart seemed to be the ruler of the universe, with billions of stars revolving around it, forming a huge galaxy around it. All the galaxies combined formed an indescribably huge humanoid figure. Ling Yun couldn't even imagine the size of the humanoid figure. Only an astronomical number could appear in his mind. Even if the humanoid figure moved its finger slightly, it would cause him to be instantly reduced to ashes.
He could only vaguely sense that opposite the humanoid figure, there was another, even larger, unknown organism composed entirely of galaxies, communicating with the humanoid figure in a way that humans could not comprehend. The communication was measured in billions of years; time and space were meaningless to them. In the blink of an eye, countless civilizations were destroyed, and then countless new civilizations were born. It was a vast world on the order of ten powers of geometric progression, and the human civilization was merely a low-dimensional, miniature fundamental particle within it.
Ling Yun suddenly understood what he was seeing. The fact that he could take in such a vast scene was not because his eyesight had actually reached such a level, but because he could see it through the communication with the black heart that was like a mountain peak in front of him. This scene was the macroscopic world.
Beyond the limits of the microscopic world, Lingyun finally glimpsed the grand blueprint of the macroscopic world. What is macroscopic? It is its boundless vastness, vast enough to surpass limits, vast enough to contain any disillusionment, vast enough to transcend the boundaries of time and space, vast enough to be unimaginable. The macroscopic world is defined solely by its vastness, and it is precisely because of this vastness that it possesses an unyielding power. When you are within a world, no matter how strong you are, can you be stronger than that world itself?
The answer is no. The word "vast" encompasses everything, includes everything, and explains everything. Ling Yun has never understood the meaning of "vast" as clearly as he does now, because its vastness is enough to overwhelm everything.
His eyes suddenly shone with boundless golden light, and through his pulsating black heart, he suddenly saw in the infinite distance. Above the communication between the humanoid and another unknown creature, there seemed to be an even greater existence. However, Ling Yun could only see an abstract representation formed by symbols, and could not see the whole picture. With his current power, even if he tried to observe that world through a hole the size of a pinhole, it would probably bring about a huge disaster. Compared to that, everything else was nothing but dust.
Suddenly, a few words appeared in Ling Yun's mind like a thunderbolt!
This is nature! This is the universe!
wake up……
A familiar voice gently called out, and Ling Yun first slowly closed his eyes, then slowly opened them again. A ray of golden sunlight shone in through the gap in the curtains. The soft light that had automatically lit up the bedroom was gone, replaced by unparalleled sunlight filtering through the curtains, full of the vibrant life of the morning. The sounds of the early-rising townspeople talking loudly could be heard from the market, which wasn't very soundproof.
The bedroom door was open, but Xiao Rou was gone. Ling Yun heard the clanging sound of a cleaver chopping on a cutting board coming from the kitchen. He threw off the covers, got out of bed, and went to the living room. He saw Xiao Rou busy in the kitchen through the glass window, obviously preparing breakfast for the two of them.
Beneath the wide, silver-white silk robe lay her slender, graceful figure, a beautiful curve displayed in the kitchen window. Her long, straight, jet-black hair cascaded loosely over the white robe, the contrast of black and white creating a striking and understated beauty. Her delicate, alabaster-like hand gently brushed aside the hair that had fallen as she leaned forward, revealing a breathtakingly beautiful profile.
Hearing footsteps coming from the living room, Xiaorou looked up and smiled gently at Lingyun through the smoky glass, like the most beautiful young cook in the world preparing breakfast for her beloved. On the stove in the kitchen sat a gleaming stainless steel pot, steam rising from it, and a delightful aroma of milk wafted gently from it, making Lingyun involuntarily sniffle.
Xiaorou gently cut a piece of sausage into even pieces on the smooth, pale yellow bamboo cutting board, then placed it on a plate. She then placed the warm, toasted steamed bun slices and two bowls of soft, thick egg drop porridge together on a clean black tray. After the milk was heated, she turned off the stove and poured the milk into two glasses with sugar already added. She stirred it a few times with a delicate stainless steel spoon before carefully carrying the tray out of the kitchen and placing it on the coffee table in the living room.
"Honey, have you washed up? Let's have breakfast." Xiaorou took off her apron, then gently walked over and carefully and tenderly buttoned up Lingyun's shirt. The couple gave each other a light hug.
"I'll wash up now, and then have a happy breakfast with my wife." Ling Yun gently stroked her small, white nose, turned around and went into the kitchen to brush his teeth. The toothbrush cup was already filled with warm water, and Xiao Rou had carefully prepared toothpaste on the newly opened toothbrush. Ling Yun's eyes suddenly became a little moist. He didn't say anything, but just brushed his teeth quickly.
"Did you sleep well last night, honey?" Ling Yun asked softly as he ate some toasted bread slices and drank some milk.
Xiao Rou smiled as she watched Ling Yun swallow the entire glass of milk: "That couldn't be better, honey. You snored so loudly last night, you almost woke me up several times. Here, I can't finish this, you can have it." As she spoke, she gently placed a slice of bread with honey spread on it onto Ling Yun's plate.
"I want you to feed me." Ling Yun looked at her delicate, white hands and suddenly said with a smile, acting spoiled.
Xiao Rou gave him a playful glare: "You're so old, yet you still act like a child." She gently picked up the piece of bread and put it into Ling Yun's mouth, watching him eat it little by little. Her expression was both gentle and satisfied, as if Ling Yun's happiness made Xiao Rou even happier than she was eating it herself.
………
“I just overheard the neighbors talking outside. Apparently, the one who died last night was a neighbor who lives on the east side of the market,” Ling Yun said suddenly after finishing the last slice of bread and remaining silent for a while.
Xiao Rou's face turned deathly pale, but she didn't speak. Instead, she silently gathered up the leftover food from their meal, put it all on a plate, and carried it into the kitchen. She began to gently wash the plates and bowls with hot water. Ling Yun silently watched her almost perfect back. The girl's shoulders were heaving, clearly she was crying, but the sound of the running water masked her sobs. Sitting in the living room, Ling Yun suddenly felt an overwhelming pang of heartache and anger.
He quickly stood up, went into the bedroom, changed into his outdoor clothes, and was about to leave when Xiaorou came out of the kitchen after washing her hands. Her beautiful, bright eyes were red, but she had already wiped away her tears. "Husband, are you going out?" she stammered.
"I'll go out and find out what's going on. Life is too depressing; it can't go on like this. If you're not feeling well, just rest at home," Ling Yun said softly, looking at his increasingly haggard wife, a pang of suppressed pain shooting through his heart.
"No, I want to go out with you. I don't feel comfortable letting you go out alone." Xiaorou shook her head and insisted, "Wait for me a moment, I'm going to change my clothes."
Ling Yun nodded silently, thinking that it would be good to take her out for some fresh air. Otherwise, staying at home every day was not a good thing. Besides, if a monster really came here, staying at home would be useless. Every night, which town resident didn't lock themselves in their house? But people still died day by day. Today was another new day. Who knew who would suffer misfortune this time?
The sound of dressing came from the bedroom. A moment later, Xiaorou came out. In that short time, she had changed into a pair of long, straight plaid trousers, a simple plaid women's shirt, and a well-tailored unisex top. She had also put on light makeup, which made her already rare beauty even more stunning.
The two walked out of the house hand in hand. Just as he was closing the door behind him, Ling Yun felt a strange sensation. He turned around abruptly and looked at his house. The double-row iron door was still without a bolt. The blue label with white lettering clearly marked his and Xiao Rou's names as husband and wife: Xiao Liang and Mei Yun's Home.
Ling Yun's pupils contracted sharply, and after a long while, he turned his head and asked, seemingly casually, "Wife, what's my name?"
Xiao Rou stared at him in astonishment, her free hand reaching out to touch his forehead: "Husband, are you running a fever? How could you forget your own name? Aren't you called Xiao Liang? I'm your wife, Mei Yun. How could you be so confused? Our names are still marked on our door."
Ling Yun glanced at his wife, then seemed to remember something: "I'm sorry, wife, maybe the breakfast you made today was too delicious. I was so focused on your kindness that I forgot my own name."
Xiao Rou smiled and tapped his forehead, "You, you're not good at anything else, but you're really good at coaxing me."
Ling Yun smiled slightly. He looked around and was suddenly surprised: "Our house has changed direction? I vaguely remember it being on the west side, how come it's on the east side now?"
Xiao Rou gently pinched him: "Honey, what's wrong with you? Our house is always on the east side of the market, how could it be on the west side? I knew it, you're not suited to go out today, your brain is all muddled."