Xing Zhaozhao froze at the scene outside the door.
This place was…
She turned to look at the cellar behind her, then glanced back outside…
It was still her family’s cellar, but half of it had collapsed, leaving a gaping hole. The fallen earth and stones piled up in one half of the cellar, with sporadic weeds growing—as if many years had passed.
Xing Zhaozhao suddenly realized something, her heart involuntarily pounding fiercely.
Hesitating for a moment, she stepped over the threshold and tested the ground in the opposite cellar.
It was real.
After a brief contemplation, she walked through completely.
Turning to look behind her, the door was still there.
Temporarily reassured, she glanced at the collapsed opening in the cellar and climbed up the slope formed by the debris.
Outside the cellar, their newly settled home had completely collapsed here. Rubble of various sizes was piled together, with lush weeds growing in between. The surrounding forest remained largely unchanged.
Where exactly was this…?
Xing Zhaozhao felt her heart thumping wildly in her chest.
If home was gone, what about the village?
She quickly scrambled over the collapsed stone pile and followed the familiar mountain path toward the direction of the village downhill.
The mountain path seemed long untraveled, overgrown with weeds, but the trail was still faintly visible.
However, after walking only a short distance, Xing Zhaozhao abruptly stopped.
The path ahead ended.
In its place stood a massive reservoir.
The village was gone.
Where was this place?
Why did everything feel vaguely familiar yet so alien?
Staring at the shimmering water surface, Xing Zhaozhao felt deeply unsettled.
“I see the boar, Uncle! Right ahead!”
“Uncle, shoot quickly! The boar’s charging!”
“Oh no! The boar’s chasing me…”
“Uncle, save me! I can’t run anymore! I don’t want to die! Waaa…”
Just then, Xing Zhaozhao suddenly heard a child’s crying coming from the woods behind her.
Her expression hardening, she immediately turned and ran toward the source of the sound.
Gao Lianzhou had heard that wild boars were overrunning the mountains near his hometown, nearly attacking people several times. When his uncle Gao Yang decided to lead a team to hunt them, he immediately caught a flight back over the weekend and eagerly joined.
Though not his first time visiting his hometown or entering these mountains, this was Gao Lianzhou’s first encounter with those bulky creatures—let alone hunting them. Despite being too young to carry any weapon besides a hiking stick, he couldn’t contain his excitement.
He shadowed his uncle step for step, asking every few paces:
“Uncle, where’s the boar?”
“Where is it, Uncle?”
Gao Yang moved cautiously through the woods, holding a powerful compound crossbow alertly before him, constantly ready.
Listening to his nephew’s incessant chattering behind him, a vein throbbed visibly at his temple.
Gao Yang had often gone hunting abroad before and was considered quite skilled. Now back in the country, though firearms weren’t an option, the compound crossbow in his hands was no less powerful than a gun. The few companions who’d joined him were also capable hunters. Dealing with a few wild boars shouldn’t be a problem, he thought. So when his nephew Gao Lianzhou insisted on tagging along, he didn’t refuse, figuring it’d be fine for the boy to gain some experience.
He never expected the kid to be this noisy.
“Shut up. Any more noise and you’ll scare the boars away,” Gao Yang turned to glare at him, hissing the reprimand.
Gao Lianzhou immediately sealed his lips, miming a zipper gesture across his mouth to signal “Okay, I’m quiet.”
Gao Yang turned back and continued advancing.
Suddenly, Gao Lianzhou’s voice erupted from behind again: “Uncle! Pigs!”
Gao Yang: “…”
Speechless, Gao Yang turned once more. “Didn’t I tell you to shut up?”
Gao Lianzhou pointed excitedly straight ahead. “I see pigs, Uncle! Right there!”
Gao Yang’s eyes lit up, immediately following the direction of his nephew’s finger.
Sure enough, one large boar of indeterminate gender was slowly approaching them, followed by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 little piglets.
He quickly contacted the others spread out on both flanks: “Wild boar spotted at ten o’clock. One large, eight small.”
After relaying this, he turned to Gao Lianzhou trailing behind him. “It’s too dangerous up ahead. Stay here and wait. Don’t move around.”
Seeing the mountain-like wild boar in the distance, Gao Lianzhou felt a twinge of fear himself and nodded, remaining in place.
As he watched Gao Yang and the others move to surround the boars, a “whoosh” sounded—someone had taken the first shot. A crossbow bolt pierced through the air, embedding straight into the large boar’s forehead. Unfortunately, not only did the boar not die, it began digging its hooves into the ground and charged toward Gao Yang’s group. Gao Lianzhou panicked, shouting: “Uncle, shoot! Shoot quickly! The boar’s charging!”
Several more “whooshes” followed, adding more bolts to the boar’s forehead, yet still failing to bring it down. The enraged beast continued its ferocious charge.
Gao Lianzhou had initially been watching from a distance as if it were a show, but gradually he realized something was wrong. The boar, while charging, suddenly changed direction and was now heading straight for him.
Gao Lianzhou: “??!!”
“Oh no! The boar’s chasing me!” he exclaimed in terror, immediately turning to flee.
Unfortunately, the grunting and snorting behind him only grew closer.
Gasping for breath, Gao Lianzhou felt his strength nearly gone. Desperate, he burst into tears: “Uncle, save me! I can’t run anymore! I don’t want to die, wu wu…”
Not far behind him, Gao Yang was frantic with worry.
His elder brother only had this one son. If anything happened to him, his brother would skin him alive.
He fired several more arrows at the boar’s hindquarters, but to no avail.
Watching the boar close in on Gao Lianzhou, his mind went blank with panic. He screamed hoarsely: “Lianzhou—!”
Just then, a petite figure suddenly burst out from the bushes nearby, placing themselves between Gao Lianzhou and the charging boar, and abruptly threw a punch directly at the boar’s forehead.
With a “boom,” the wild boar that had been charging fiercely moments before suddenly came to an abrupt halt, then its massive body tilted sideways and crashed to the ground. Bright red blood flowed from its mouth—it was already dead.
Just as Gao Yang saw the boar about to catch up with Gao Lianzhou, his legs went weak. He stumbled forward, nearly falling. Witnessing this scene, he froze momentarily before quickly letting out a sigh of relief. He scrambled up and staggered over: “Lianzhou…”
Gao Lianzhou sat slumped on the ground, looking up at the girl who had suddenly appeared before him and blocked the giant boar. After a dazed pause, he suddenly burst into tears, clutching her leg tightly: “Fairy sister…”
Xing Zhaozhao: “??”
Gao Yang rushed over and stared at the “fairy sister” whose leg was being hugged by Gao Lianzhou—a girl with pretty features but dressed in strikingly dated fashion: “…”
This fairy sister seems a bit… rustic in her attire…