I began to understand the old man's warning to me. This place was not as peaceful and beautiful as I imagined. Such a peaceful town turned out to have been shrouded in such a terrible and sad curse, as if it were a night that would never dawn.
"Is there no other way? Make an agreement with the giant, or... leave here..." As I said this, I began to understand what kind of mood Di had when he met me.
"Some people have tried it before, many people have tried it, including my brother Jhin." Di took a deep breath and said: "Many people, they have died in the outside world. Or died from the cannibal race, Or an unknown beast, or even die at the hands of a giant!"
"Including... your brother?" I subconsciously said this sentence and immediately fell into self-blame.
Di saw my self-blame, smiled, and said: "It doesn't matter. Jhin is different from other people, or in other words, he was born very different from other people. We people in Gray Town always like to wear gray clothes." Robes. Because we like to go out at night, and gray robes just cater to the moonlight. But Jhin is different. He likes to wear black robes, haunting all kinds of dark corners, and even wandering alone in the territories of cannibals and beasts many times. .I asked Jhin why he did such a dangerous thing, and his answer to me was, "Curiosity." I can't understand Jhin's thoughts, just like how I felt when I first saw you, he seemed to be a... Alien! Please forgive me for saying this."
I have no special feelings about being called an alien. Instead, I am curious about the person called "Jhin". I quieted down, hoping Di would tell more about Jhin.
"Unlike others, Jhin didn't want to escape here, but wanted to find out the truth about the curse." Di continued, "On the night he left, Jhin said he noticed some clues, but for my safety, he He didn’t tell me what it was. Because he was so different, even if many people died outside, I still believed that he was still alive. This was another reason why I wanted to leave Gray Town at that time, I wanted to find him .”
"Is he still alive?" When I heard this, I suddenly felt my heart beating very fast.
Di shook his head, "I always feel this way, but I don't know where he is, and I don't know how to find him. Last time I mustered up the courage to leave Gray Town, because I met you, I came back again . It was precisely because of that short experience of less than half a day that I actually saw the legendary giant’s claws, that ferocious beast. This made me realize that the outside world is really full of dangers, and I didn’t know that I still had I don’t have the courage to leave again.”
I understand Di's feelings, because I have personally experienced the dangers of the outside world, but the person he described made me yearn for him. I suddenly wanted to see what the person Di described looked like.
I couldn't help but ask: "Where did he go? Maybe I can help you find him."
Di looked at me in surprise, "Do you want to leave here? Return to that dangerous world again."
Faced with this problem, I hesitated. I was worried myself, maybe wanting to find Jhin was just a temporary impulse. After all, if I return to the outside world again, a crisis that may arise at any time will kill me.
While I was still hesitating, a group of people broke into Di's residence. From the conversation between Di and them, I learned that they were the guards of the priests.
"The high priest wants to see you." The head guard said these words coldly.
Facing Di's questioning gaze, I didn't know how to answer, because I didn't know what happened.
Following the guards, I came to the priest's residence, which was on the tallest tree in Gray Town. I stood there and saw the ash town at my feet. People were coming and going, as if they were moving grains of sand, weakly reflecting the moonlight, and extremely small.
"What do you see?"
I heard the priest's voice again, so gentle and calm, as if a god was compassionate without any emotion. I turned my head and saw her Virgin-like face, and I felt inexplicably moved in my heart. I never realized that I am so sensitive and easily affected by everything around me. Maybe the idea of meeting Jhin was really just an impulse on my part.
When I came back to my senses, I found that she was still staring at me peacefully, waiting for my return. I felt a little embarrassed and mustered up the courage to answer: "They are like grains of sand, very... small."
The priest smiled and nodded, seeming to appreciate my answer. She said slowly: "Your observation is very interesting and appropriate. Life is often so small, isn't it?"
I looked at the people coming and going below and said nothing. The priest came to my side and looked down as well. I noticed her eyes, and a hint of... indifference suddenly flashed through her warm eyes, as if a high-ranking god was looking down on the insignificant mortals. I thought I had seen it wrong.
"How weak." The priest sighed, "In this place surrounded by crises, as long as there is any change, earthquake, storm, foreign invasion, this painstakingly managed town will be destroyed in an instant."
My heart moved and I couldn't help but ask, "That's why you got in touch with the giant, even at the cost of being cursed?"
"Our race needs to continue, and for this, it is inevitable to pay a price." The priest replied faintly.
The priest looked away and looked around. I found that the guards around me had disappeared at some point.
"Actually, that's not what I want to say." The priest said lightly, "I asked you to come here because I want you to help me answer some questions."
"What's the problem?" I asked.
The priest looked at me and said, "Did you meet an old man yesterday?"
"Yes." I nodded.
"What did she say?" The priest's eyes became sharp.
I frowned and thought back, "She said I don't belong here and should go back to where I belong."
I seemed to hear the priest sighing in my ears. I looked up and found that her eyes had softened.
"Is that all?" said the priest.
"This place doesn't belong to you. You should go back to your own place. I can't warn them. At the very least, I should let you know..." The old man's words echoed in my mind. For some reason, I didn't want to tell the priest all the truth.
"That's right." I nodded again and boldly asked, "Did something happen? Is she okay?"
"Nothing?" The priest shook his head, "She is the old maid who has always taken care of me. Maybe she was old and faint and lost her way for a while. The guards have found her and brought her back."
"Oh, that's good." My temporary impulse didn't yield much.
"But she is right, you do not belong here." The priest suddenly said.
The guards came forward from both sides, and I felt a fierce aura from them. Following the priest's instructions, they moved to either side of my body.