With a squeak.
The heavy metal door slowly opened, revealing Guo Suo who was guarding behind the door.
The little Guo Suo turned into a towering giant.
Densely packed sturdy legs straddle the hem of the skirt.
The pair of hands that usually made tea and arranged flowers turned into powerful claws, and the sharp serrated edges flashed a cold light.
A cold gaze looked down from a height of three or four meters, his eyes were dark red, murderous, and full of vigilance.
The tall Guo Suo was tense all over, like a fully armed powder keg ready to explode at any time.
Until Lin Yuan entered the door and closed the iron door with his backhand.
The slamming sound of the door trembled Guo Suo's body, as if he had only reacted at this moment and dared to believe who the person who entered the house was.
She slowly descended from a height—her body was getting smaller until her skirt touched the ground, returning to her original petite and exquisite appearance.
Xiaosuo looked at Lin Yuan and pursed his lips tightly.
That look, full of grievance and panic but forced to be suppressed, reminded Lin Yuan of the way she looked when he first saw her in this house.
But now, looking at the trembling little lock, I feel like my heart is suddenly pierced by a red-hot needle.
"What happened?"
Lin Yuan heard her own voice, which still sounded calm, as if she could stage anything and everything was under control. No one knew that the strong sense of uneasiness made her heart shrink.
"There's a thief in the house." Xiaosuo lowered his head and frantically stirred his apron with his fingers.
"Well, is there a thief?"
There have been many thieves in the house. In the past, they were just petty thieves, and later some powerful ones appeared, but they were all easily dealt with by Xunhua's interference with his thinking.
What kind of thief came in
The lush flowers and plants in the courtyard were visibly wilting.
I've been here for so long, but I haven't felt Xunhua's spiritual power.
Lin Yuan stopped walking, and Xiaosuo, who was standing in front of her, lowered his head.
"I don't know what happened. When those people came in, Mr. Gardener suddenly told me to go back to the house and go to sleep."
She kept her head down, as if she had done something terribly wrong. "I don't know why, but I suddenly became so obedient. I went back home obediently and fell into a deep sleep..."
"This is not your fault," Lin Yuan interrupted her, "Xunhua is a powerful guide, and you are defenseless against him. It is easy for him to guide you. It is his will that makes you go back to sleep."
Xiaosuo raised his head suddenly, tears in his big eyes, and his chest heaved violently, as if the heavy stone pressing on his heart was lifted and he could finally breathe.
"And then?" Lin Yuan's voice was still calm, even steadier than before.
Xiaosuo suddenly became excited and spoke very quickly, telling Lin Yuan everything that had happened at home in the past few days like pouring beans.
There was clearly a thief in the house that day.
She didn't know why she fell asleep peacefully.
When I woke up, I found that the nest of groundhogs in the front yard were quietly huddled in the same room with me.
There are also a pair of wild ducks in the backyard pond, the furry snow rabbit in the rabbit hole, and the orange cat that often steals food from the kitchen... In short, all the little animals that Mr. Gardener likes in the whole house are now crowded in their own small house.
As if protected by the gentle shade of the tree, everyone slept quietly in the cluster.
Was there a thief in your house last night
Xiaosuo sat on the bed in a daze for a moment, then saw the gold necklace on the bedside. A golden heart-shaped pendant. Only one person in the family had it.
She knew that this was the treasure that the gardener always kept with him. Why did it appear in her possession
The little crab jumped up and grabbed the necklace, then used his hands and feet to hurriedly run through the chickens, ducks, mice and rabbits, and ran towards the yard.
She ran faster than ever, using all eight legs.
The yard was a mess, with broken branches of trees everywhere, and the flowers that the gardener had carefully nurtured were scattered all over the ground.
Guo Suo didn't search for too long and soon saw a small half of a golden tree stump in the courtyard.
The most beautiful golden tree in the whole yard had its trunk and branches cut off, leaving only a small stump standing alone among the messy branches on the ground.
Xiaosuo still remembers very clearly that when Mr. Gardener first came, he had no arms or legs and was brought back by his owner in a luggage bag.
His owner placed him in the room with the most sunlight so that he could bask in the sun on the terrace every day.
Later he planted himself in the yard, disguised as an ordinary tree.
Others can't notice it and can't see that beautiful color.
But Xiaosuo knew that there was a very beautiful golden tree in their yard.
At first it was bare and lifeless, but day by day it slowly sprouted golden branches and grew golden leaves.
Slowly, slowly, and after a long time, he finally took root here.
Become a part of this family just like yourself.
Xiaosuo likes the wind blowing through the courtyard the most. The golden leaves jingle against each other, as if they are singing, and all the trees in the courtyard sing along.
At that moment, whether she was busy in the kitchen or making tea in the dining room, she would shake her head and hum along with Mr. Gardener's tune.
All the trees, animals and people in this house hummed along.
The lady in the attic, like herself, sat at the attic window, listening to the singing in the courtyard.
Such a happy life.
No matter what humans call it, to Xiaosuo, this is his home, and the young lady and Mr. Gardener are all family members.
But she only slept for a while, and then the handsome gardener disappeared.
The glittering golden treasures in the courtyard were so cruelly cut in half and carried away and stolen by those hateful enemies.
Why did I fall asleep? Why didn't I come out and tear those guys into pieces!
If I were awake, I would bite off some pieces of flesh from those people even if I died!
I hate it so much and regret it so much.
It's all my fault.
Xiaosuo stretched out his hand, wanting to touch the broken golden stump on the ground, where only a small bare piece was left.
"I just touched him lightly. Very lightly. He turned into ashes. The ashes were so light that they flew all over the yard. I couldn't catch them."
Xiaosuo's voice was choked with sobs. He took Lin Yuan to the place where Xunhua disappeared and pointed it out to Lin Yuan.
The land there was scorched by flames, leaving only a charred pit.
The pit was empty, there was nothing in it.
There were tears in Xiaosuo's eyes. She gritted her teeth and her eyeballs turned blood red.
Lin Yuan said nothing and stared at the empty cave in silence.
Huge tentacles appeared from all directions, hovering over the charred land, searching carefully.
Several days have passed, but the strong mental fluctuations that occurred here at that time still vaguely remain.
It can be seen that an extremely fierce life-and-death struggle took place here that night.
Xunhua stood here alone, protecting this courtyard and this home from arrows and stones.
In the end, he was defeated, his body was chopped off and turned into ashes.
Just like back then,
The soil was charred, there was no trace of ash, nothing was left.
Lin Yuan stared at the empty cave.
The tentacles searched the ground carefully and densely, while the arms and legs buried their heads, silently squeezing every inch of soil carefully.
Even if you find a small piece of gold, a small branch, or a little root, it would be great.
For Lin Yuan, as long as he could find a piece of his body, there would still be a little hope.
That was her gardener, friend, teacher and family.
Try your best to get him back.
A newly born groundhog poked its tiny head out of the pit, looked around blankly, and showed a puzzled look.
Seeing the little groundhog and Lin Yuan who was busy searching without saying a word, Guo Suo suddenly came to his senses.
Densely packed legs stretched out from under the skirt, quickly climbing up the outer wall of the house, and soon and carefully brought down a flower pot.
"Here, miss, are you looking for this?" She panted and handed the flowerpot in her arms to Lin Yuan to see.
The clay pot was filled with black mud, and in the soft and moist soil, a thin sapling sprouted.
A very small and thin branch, with two solitary young leaves sprouting from the top, looking weak and lifeless.
But the leaves were not ordinary green, there was a golden color flowing in the veins.
"Where did this come from?" Lin Yuan hugged the flowerpot, his eyes lighting up.
"It's... it's the heart. Mr. Gardener left his golden necklace behind." Xiaosuo gestured.
"It was these little mice scurrying around in the dirt that reminded me. I thought Mr. Gardener was a tree, and this was something he always wore, so maybe I could plant it."
"I just filled it with some soil from here and buried my heart in it. I didn't expect it to sprout."
Xiao Suo Ping was concentrating, afraid that he might say something wrong. He was also afraid that if he spoke too loudly, he would break the little seedling that he had finally grown.
"I watered it every day and let it bask in the sun. I didn't expect that this heart would actually grow into a small seedling from the soil. I don't know if I did the right thing?"
When Xiaosuo saw the young lady who had been calm since she entered the room, his shoulders suddenly relaxed.
The lady's tentacles stretched out and tightly wrapped around the flowerpot. Some of them climbed up and rubbed her hair vigorously.
"Great, Xiaosuo," Lin Yuan said, "You did a great job."
She let out a long sigh from her chest, reached out and grabbed Xiaosuo's shoulders, hugged her, and patted her little back hard.
This was the first time the young lady hugged herself like this.
It turned out that the young lady was also panicked and upset. She was not as calm as she appeared.
She, she also needs my hug.
She also said I was doing great.
Guo Suo hurriedly hugged Lin Yuan back, put away the sharp edges of her feet, and imitated Lin Yuan, patting Lin Yuan's back with her hands and feet in an unfamiliar manner.
"But Miss, can you really grow up to be a gardener like this?" Xiaosuo asked hesitantly.
Although the leaves were golden and the young lady looked very happy, she could not feel the familiar spiritual fluctuations of the gardener at all.
A soft and thin seedling stood upright in the black soil, looking very lifeless, and the only leaf that had sprouted was wilted.
Not only did the leaves rustle in the breeze, but they looked like they were about to fall off at any moment.
The tree is Xunhua's real body. The real body has become so weak, and the spiritual body has lost its way somewhere.
"I'll try my best to get him back."
Lin Yuan rolled up his sleeves, dropped his luggage, and sat on the ground in the courtyard.
The sun's light slanted through the mottled shade of the trees, and fell on the ground in stars.
The tiny bits of golden light fell on Lin Yuan's dusty body, like flashing bits of gold.
The tentacles held the small flower pot, and Lin Yuan sat cross-legged on the ground with his eyes closed.
Xunhua’s spiritual vision is vast and boundless.
The world is vast and deep, and it is full of myriad things.
To date, Lin Yuan has come into contact with many spiritual images.
The mental landscape of some sentinels is very small: a room, a hillside, a conventional world that can be seen at a glance.
Some people have a broad, wild and dreamy vision.
A small picture, in which it is easy to find anything, whether it is looking for memories, emotions, or those spirits hiding because of injuries.
In such a small space, everything can be easily found.
But in those vast and boundless spiritual scenes, if there is no guidance from the master, this kind of thing will become extremely difficult.
For example, Ni Ji’s spiritual picture is the sea.
If an alien invader is not very familiar with the terrain, it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack for a foreign invader to search for a pearl of memory in the vast ocean, or to find a big fish hidden in the deep sea.
Before our eyes, Xunhua’s spiritual landscape is not only huge, but also has countless worlds of all sizes stacked up and interconnected.
Chaos, disorder, the space was twisting, and there were hurtful hurricanes blowing everywhere. Doors of all sizes were twisting one after another.
If you take one more step or one wrong step, you may be dragged into a disordered world of thinking, from which it will be difficult to escape.
Not to mention going deeper into it and finding Xunhua's disappeared spirit in such a chaotic world.
Lin Yuan took a step forward. The sharp wind quickly cut the tentacles.
Xunhua's memories include scenes from his human period as well as scenes from his time as a mutant.
Darkness and mud, blood and tears, singing and bright moon.
The kaleidoscopic world spins before your eyes, making you dizzy.
Calm down, Lin Yuan thought, calm down.
In the long tunnel of Food Pang City, so many people have experienced the mental images. Think about how they all came out in the end
In the courtyard, Lin Yuan sat under the shade of a tree with his eyes closed, his face solemn and his brows slightly furrowed.
The thick shade overhead swayed, and it was as if the trees were singing, rustling, rustling, and the sounds gradually merged into one.
The rabbits pricked up their ears and the groundhogs popped out their little heads.
"Come on, miss. I will protect you and the gardener." Xiaosuo whispered beside him.
It seemed that everyone was waiting, waiting for Lin Yuan to find Mr. Gardener back.
Lin Yuan thought back to the past. He had sat here countless times, under the shade of the golden tree.
On the branch, the masked teacher taught her a lot.
"Everyone's mental landscape contains his darkest memories as well as his happiest times."
"If someone's spirit body is lost and can't be found, then you go to these two places to look for it."
Once, Xunhua lazily sat on the treetop and said to her,
“When a person loses himself, he either stays in the most painful scene or stays in the world that makes him feel happiest and most peaceful.”
Lin Yuan, who was lost in his mental picture, stopped.
Yes, Xunhua once taught me.
The darkest memory, or the most beautiful place. Go to these two places to find his spirit body.
Lin Yuan once rescued a sentinel whose mental state was close to collapse.
He was the older brother of a pair of twins.
At that time, I also searched for a long time in the world of spiritual images. It was by the pond where they used to fish when they were young, by the lake where fireflies danced, that I found the sentinel who was almost lost.
That was the most peaceful and beautiful place in the sentinel’s memory of his youth.
Lin Yuan walked through the floating and twisting doors.
There are many dark memories in Xunhua's world.
The painful memories turned into hideous and terrifying poultry, holding sharp blades. They kept crawling out from the dark shadows in groups and chasing after Lin Yuan, the invader.
Lin Yuan ran wildly in the upside-down world, with a long line of terrifying ghosts following him and tracking him all the way.
She passed through one dark doorway after another, but did not see Xunhua's familiar figure.
She saw the young Xunhua's high-spirited face in the military camp.
The young guide and his comrades fought on the battlefield with great vigor and vigor.
At that time, there was no White Tower and no Holy Bricks. People in the rear worked hard to develop and produce stronger weapons, while the soldiers in the front fought a desperate battle with the enemy on the battlefield.
There was no mood for feasting or singing and dancing, and the guides’ faces were as bloodstained as the sentinels’.
There were more humans than there are today, and there were fortresses, bases and underground towns of all sizes everywhere.
It turns out that this is what the world was like four hundred years ago.
Lin Yuan saw scenes from the past while running, but where was Xunhua
Lin Yuan ran in the military camp and on the battlefield.
Passing through the filthy Rose Camp.
Fragments of Xunhua's memories are everywhere, but his spiritual body is not here.
Lin Yuan saw a damp alley and saw Windsor who was almost bullied by his neighbors.
Xunhua appeared in the alley and drove away the evildoer. This memory was different from reality. The guide as pure as the bright moon did not leave. He smiled and extended his hand to Windsor.
Windsor raised his head and smiled, and the two held hands together.
Lin Yuan was delighted and ran towards there.
As she ran closer, the two imaginary figures disappeared like bubbles.
The dark alley was empty, not a single person was in it.
No one can remain in a fictitious memory.
Not here either.
Lin Yuan panted and stopped. The huge shadow of the bull-headed monster covered the alley, and the monster behind him seemed to be catching up again.
[Is it time to go back?]
[If we go any deeper, even we won’t be able to remember the way back]
[Will be completely lost here]
[Then you can never go back]
[But I can’t bear to part with it]
[That is the gardener teacher]
[Xiaosuo will cry]
[I will cry too, but I haven’t cried yet]
[I will cry too, I can’t bear it]
[It's time to go back. I've tried my best, but I can't find him. ]
[I will be dragged into this, I don’t really want to die]
Lin Yuan wiped the sweat from his forehead.
She was a spirit body at the moment, and a spirit body shouldn't sweat. But she felt that she had been running for a long time and should be sweating all over, so she became wet and tired all over.
I reached out and wiped away the sweat, ignoring all the random thoughts in my mind. I once again stepped through a new door and walked deeper into the place.
[You will die, go back]
[Reluctant, keep going]
Xunhua spent only twenty or thirty years as a human being, but he spent hundreds of years as a mutant.
Where will he stay, where will his spiritual body hide
Lin Yuan is searching, not knowing whether he is stuck in the darkest memory or in the most peaceful and happiest time.
Lin Yuan started running again and saw doors one after another. His eyes swept across the world of memories behind those doors. It was mostly dark, with occasional bright spots.
Lin Yuan suddenly stopped.
There is a door, there is a world, she has never entered.
She thought Xunhua would not choose to stay there.
After all, it was only a short period of one or two years, which I thought was nothing in his long life.
Lin Yuan stopped, and in the rotating and intertwined mental images, he cast his gaze there and tried to walk towards the door.
Step through that little door.
Inside the door was a scene that he was extremely familiar with.
That familiar courtyard.
It's home.
The pointed roof of the attic emerges from the dense shade of the trees, birds are singing among the flowers, there is a windowsill in the yard full of roses, and water is boiling in the kitchen.
In the backyard, fruits hang from the branches, and the roses climbing over the wall are in full bloom.
The tiny groundhog poked its head out of a tree hole, and butterflies fluttered their wings gently among the grass leaves.
Everything is exactly the same as the outside world.
This is Lin Yuan’s home, the small yard with flowers in it.
The only difference from the outside world at this moment is that the time here is night.
The moon was looming in the clouds, and a cool breeze blew on my cheeks.
Lin Yuan walked slowly along the long gravel road. All the ferocious monsters were blocked outside the yard and could not enter.
Lin Yuan saw the golden tree hidden in the courtyard. The golden tree was still shining in the moonlight as before.
A young boy was crouching under a tree, playing with a tiny groundhog.
The boy had his back to her, playing happily with the little mouse. He had a focused look, a smile on his face, and his iconic silver hair.
He was very young, only about two or three years old, but Lin Yuan would not mistake that face.
It’s Xunhua, Xunhua’s spiritual body.
It turns out Xunhua has been here all the time.
This moonlit courtyard was the place he wanted to stay the most in his memory of more than 400 years. It was the final resting place he chose for himself.
His spiritual body had become very young, even smaller than the young lion that Lin Yuan had seen in Rachel's spiritual vision.
If Lin Yuan hadn't come, if Lin Yuan hadn't walked in so quickly, the two or three-year-old boy would have become smaller very quickly, degenerated into a baby, and eventually disappeared, completely disintegrating in the world.
Under the golden tree, the little boy who was playing with the groundhog saw a drop of water.
The drop of water fell on the back of his hand, crystal clear, looking like human tears.
He raised his head and saw a Kraken with countless tentacles standing in front of him.
The powerful Kraken stared at him with its golden pupils.
Although not a human, he felt very familiar with it.
"Why are you crying? Is there something sad?" little Xunhua asked, raising her head.
It was a little strange, as he had always thought that the spirits of deformed creatures like them would not shed tears.
He knew in his heart that he was not human. So this guy with only tentacles should not be human either, right
Why is she crying
Crying is a complex emotion unique to humans, and it is something that cannot be learned.
Kraken held out his hand to him, "I'll take you back."
"I can't go back." Young Xunhua shook her head. "I'm very weak. There are many scary monsters and strong hurricanes outside here that can easily tear me apart."
"I'm fine staying here. I like it here. There's wind and singing trees to keep me company." The little boy said ignorantly.
His consciousness was a little hazy, he only remembered that this seemed to be his favorite place.
The little boy opened his silver eyes, looked at Lin Yuan and said, "I vaguely remember that this can also be considered my home. So I'll just stay here."
"I will take you back to your real home." Kraken stretched out countless hands to him, "I will protect you. On the way home, I will never let you get hurt." The boy hesitated for a moment.
Those writhing tentacles look terrifying.
She is still very powerful.
I don't know why, but I feel very close to her when I see her. She is a creature that makes me feel at ease.
"If you don't go back, the little crab will cry miserably. You know, her tears will flood your balcony."
Who was the little crab? The boy couldn't remember. He just felt uneasy.
"And your mice. No one in the house knows how to feed them except you. When I came in, I saw a squirrel steal all the food they had stored."
The little boy cried out, wondering what was going on, and felt very panicked.
"When you're not home, all the flowers in the yard are dead, and the trees are listless. No one in our family can take good care of them except you."
"And me. Without my teacher, I can't even have a relationship."
"The family can't do without you, Xunhua."
"Let's go back together."
The tentacles raised their arms and legs patiently one by one, waiting for his answer.
It looked very cute and familiar, like the hands of a family member.
The young Xunhua finally couldn't hold it in any longer, and took two steps forward with her little legs.
He was immediately and carefully wrapped by the tentacles and held up as if he were a treasure at home.
Oh, I remember there was a treasure at home. When little Xunhua was picked up, she thought vaguely that she had tried her best to hide that thing.
Why didn't she ask me where the treasure box was hidden right away
She acted as if the most precious thing in her home was not the Box of Truth, but a shabby tree root like herself.
Maybe she really is his family.
Just about to take me home.
(End of this chapter)