Mei Li leaned back, and after taking a closer look at the lantern, a strange and subtle expression appeared on his face.
She didn't move, and the swamp monster didn't move either. He just handed the mud-covered lantern to her again, as if wanting her to take it.
This simple and easy-to-understand body language suddenly gave Mei Li an idea - could it be that the swamp monster had been chasing her just to return the things
The two pieces of sticks from before, the lantern lost in the wilderness, and... the white mushroom that hit him.
After Mei Li stretched out two fingers to take the lantern, the tall and thin swamp monster slowly bent down and lowered his head and shoulders in front of her, so that the white mushrooms that were growing well and making their home on his body were facing her.
You can pick them off with just one hand.
Because of his action of bending down and moving closer, Mei Li smelled the moist scent of rain, and at the same time saw his appearance clearly.
The swamp monster actually has a face that's... not that scary.
I didn't dare to look at him closely the few times I met him before. I ran away as soon as I saw him appear. I just had the impression that he was a strange humanoid sculpture standing in the water, with skin that had the texture of grayish-white stone. Only now did I realize that his face was also as three-dimensional as a sculpture.
Gray lips and skin, gray eyes, looking a bit dazed and emotionless.
There was also gray hair that covered most of the face, with water dripping down.
There should have been a melancholy, eerie and solidified temperament, but those round white mushrooms destroyed this feeling.
After a stalemate, Mei Li finally moved. She tentatively reached out her hand and picked a white mushroom from the swamp monster's head.
He didn't move.
Mei Li observed him for a while and found that he really had no intention of getting angry and attacking. Instead, he was waiting patiently. She quickly picked all the white mushrooms off his body and put them in her skirt.
After the last white mushroom was picked, the swamp monster moved slowly. He raised his head again, turned around, and walked towards the quagmire at the same slow speed as when he came. He was actually ready to leave.
Viewed from behind, the hunchbacked swamp monster was unusually thin, with a clear section of the spine in the middle of its back, two protruding shoulder blades, vague traces of the arrangement of the ribs, and wet short gray hair draped over the back of its neck.
Upon closer inspection, besides being weird, it's actually kind of... pretty
Mei Li was holding a bag of white mushrooms and a lantern at hand. She watched the swamp monster sink into the mud and disappear, feeling a little dazed for a moment.
Just... is it really a gift? Returning lost property, is that a high standard
However, if she had been a little more timid, she would have been scared to death by this "living Lei Feng" a few days ago.
Mei Li was in mixed feelings, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. It took her a long time before she walked back with the things and the white mushrooms in her bag.
Because of the sudden appearance of the swamp monster, she is not so afraid of the ghost Mrs. Peg in her house anymore.
She now felt that the fear she had experienced for so many days was really not worth it.
And the more I think about it, the more embarrassed I feel for my past self.
She returned to the silent house and paused for a moment in the garden, intending to pretend that nothing had happened and that she knew nothing.
We made dinner with the white mushrooms picked from the swamp monster. When Mei Li ate it, she felt that the taste was different from the previous white mushrooms and had a more grassy scent.
After frying in oil, it is quite delicious and has a fresh taste.
As usual, she brought Mrs. Peg her meal.
Walking up the stairs with heavy steps, she thought that it might be better to prepare some paper money for Mrs. Peg instead of human food. But then she thought it was not appropriate, after all, it was not the custom here to burn paper money for the dead.
This time, she did not open the curtains in the room on her own initiative, nor did she say anything.
Mrs. Peg stabbed her in the back with that indifferent look until she left with the food.
The hairs on Mei Li's back stood up until she reached the kitchen downstairs, and then they slowly calmed down. The black cat on top of the cabinet still wouldn't let her touch it, but looking at this little creature, Mei Li still felt a great comfort.
At least she wasn't the only living thing in the room.
After the lantern was cleaned of mud and dried, it was used again.
Under the comfort of this light, Mei Li finished writing today's letter (diary).
"Ma'am, the horror movie life I had a few days ago suddenly turned into a comedy today. The swamp monster I encountered didn't seem to have any intention of hurting me, which surprised me. Maybe it's not as bad as I thought..."
"Looking at the bright side, since Mrs. Peg is dead and it's just her ghost living with me, I don't have to worry about her dying from illness and lack of food..."
It didn't rain tonight, but it was very windy outside.
After many twists and turns, Mei Li finally became indifferent to the non-human creatures around her. She began to work hard for her life with a more positive attitude.
For example, a pipe was connected from a nearby river into the house to completely solve the water problem of washing and watering vegetables;
Another example is making a simple small hand-pushed lawn mower to trim the wild grass growing in front of and behind the house;
Although the materials and tools were not complete, it was successfully made.
Having lived independently for more than ten years, her hands-on ability exceeds that of most of her peers.
Pushing his homemade lawn mower to mow the weeds, Mei Li wondered, could it be that he had come through time to promote the development of agriculture in this world? Relying on various handmade tools
The area she cleaned up was very large, and because the house was close to the forest, the cleanup extended almost to the edge of the forest.
The first time approaching the big forest here, Mei Li unexpectedly discovered a small sunny hillside covered with weeds and many small stones.
Round stones as big as palms, one after another, formed circles on this small hillside.
Mei Li cleared the weeds before she saw the circles formed by the stones.
This was obviously man-made, and people in the town hardly ever approached this place, so it was most likely placed there by the former Mary.
She has no companions, and perhaps in the past she would secretly fiddle with the stones here to amuse herself.
Mei Li had done this kind of thing before, and now when she suddenly saw this, she felt a sense of familiarity.
Looking at the stones that she had accidentally kicked crooked, Mei Li squatted down with her skirt gathered up, picked them up one by one, and arranged them into a huge flower pattern.
The messy circle turned into a complete flower with a core and six petals, which was extremely conspicuous on the hillside cleared of weeds.
Mei Li finished arranging the pattern and returned home with the lawn mower. After using it for a day, this simple manual lawn mower needed to be repaired.
As night fell, a round moon appeared in the sky. The bright moonlight shone on the forest and the hillside. The ordinary white stones that were inconspicuous during the day emitted a bright white glow in the moonlight.
"jingle-"
"jingle-"
There were tiny sounds of playfulness in the forest, as if a group of tiny people were talking in whispers.
Suddenly, a small white footprint appeared in the crooked grass, and then more and more footprints appeared. When the footprints extended to the edge of the stone flower pattern, a small head appeared out of thin air within the range circled by the stone flowers.
It was a small creature the size of a palm, with a body like a lily of the valley, thin limbs, and eyes that took up half of its face.
It stood on a glowing round stone, turned around and waved behind it. In just a moment, several other small creatures that looked similar to it appeared among the stone flowers.
They circle around the stone flower pattern.
“What beautiful flowers~”
“Is this a gift for us~?”
“Hahaha~”
"Who did this for us with the goblin stone?"
"I like this pattern. I want to take her back to the forest~"
The little moon elves were spinning and laughing in the circle of glowing stones, and when one of them said that, they gathered together and made small laughs.
Mei Li kept hearing soft laughter in her dream, which was very clear and sweet. She felt very happy, as if she had many friends, singing and dancing with them, and everyone was very happy.
In the silent room, the girl who was sleeping on the bed suddenly lifted the quilt and sat up. With her eyes closed and a smile on her face, she left the room, went downstairs, and walked towards the hillside in the night.
She took one step at a time, until her toes kicked a stone, then she was startled and opened her eyes.
The moon above my head is big and round, a hazy halo appears in the nearby forest, the night breeze is gentle, and I can smell the fragrance of unknown flowers.
She stood in front of the hillside where she had weeded during the day, and before her was the stone flower pattern she had made with stones.
Mei Li was confused for a moment. She remembered that she was sleeping soundly, so how come she found herself standing here when she woke up
Feeling her nightgown being pulled, Mei Li looked down and saw a few strange little creatures tugging at the hem of her nightgown, trying to pull her into the circle of stone flowers.
Their tiny voices said:
"Come on, become our partner~"
"Come on, enter the forest and become one of us~"
What is this
Mei Li was startled and took a big step back, grabbing her nightgown.
Whatever they are, they must be the cause of her appearance here in the middle of the night.
But now, after the baptism of the swamp monster and Mrs. Peg, she can no longer be scared by just a few small things.
"No, you guys play by yourselves. I'm going back to sleep." She said calmly, turned around and wanted to walk towards the house.
"No, you can't refuse the invitation of the Moonlight Fairy!"
The thin voice seemed to be a little angry. Mei Li felt that her arms and legs had their own ideas. Under the guidance of those little things, they slowly stepped into the middle of the stone flowers.
At this time, there was a rustling sound in the forest not far away. A few night fairies were dragging Mei Li to dance happily, but suddenly they all stopped and let out a few screams.
"Ah! The dirty stuff is coming!"
"I hate mud the most!"
"Today is a moonlit night and it's not raining, how could such dirty things come out of the swamp?"
"Hate!"
The little things made noisy and panicked sounds.
Mei Li raised his head with difficulty and saw a slowly moving tall and thin figure appearing at the edge of the dark forest in the distance. As he approached, the scent of moist water vapor and green grass hit his face, and the wasteland covered with weeds not far away turned into a muddy swamp.
Seeing this, the little creatures around cried even louder. They let go of Mei Li and disappeared hurriedly into the hazy forest like a few flashing fireflies.