The carriage creaked and slowly moved forward on the muddy road, and finally stopped in a slightly dilapidated yard full of debris on the edge of the town. This was a corner of the yard rented by the drivers, and it was usually used to park the old car and some debris.
The rain finally stopped, but the sky was still gloomy. The drivers cursed and took off their soaked raincoats, complaining about today's bad luck and delayed work. They just glanced at the cart, which was covered in mud by the rain, and hurried into the house to warm themselves around the fire. The heavy mud on the wheels and axles slowly became hardened and hardened in the cold and humid air.
As night falls, the yard is quiet, with only the occasional sound of wind passing through the dilapidated fence.
Under the car, the deep, sticky shadow seemed to be "tired" after a long period of vibration, squeezing and rain washing. Its creeping became slower and almost imperceptible. Part of the material that penetrated into the gap between the axle and the bearing, due to the loss of water and the extreme restraint of its own energy, began to become more viscous, hardened, and even... somewhat "dried up".
It no longer suffers from extreme energy suppression, long-distance bumpy consumption, and continuous mechanical pressure for "fitting", which has caused it to fall into a state of lag that is almost "dormant". It is like an overly viscous, cooled, dark black "asphalt block", firmly adhered to, or even "welded" in the gaps between the metal and wood at the bottom of the car, mixed with rust, dried mud, and old grease, indistinguishable from each other.
The next day, the sky cleared up. The elderly driver was worried that the car was not turning smoothly yesterday, and he was afraid that a stone might have jammed the bearing, so he brought a bucket of water and an old brush to clean the axle and check it.
"This damn weather is full of mud." He muttered, dipped a brush in water, and vigorously scrubbed the hard mud on the wheels and axles.
The mud fell rustlingly, revealing the rusty iron parts and worn wooden bearings underneath. The driver brushed hard and water splashed everywhere.
When he used the brush to forcefully poke at the particularly dark and seemingly stubborn "mud" at the line connecting the axle and the body, a sudden change occurred.
"Tsk--"
There was a slight sound, like cold water dripping into hot oil. The "mud" was not brushed away like ordinary mud. Instead, the moment the brush tip came into contact, it suddenly "shrunk" and the color seemed to become darker and darker. Immediately afterwards, the tip of the hard-bristled brush in the driver's hand that was in contact with the "mud" quickly became charred, dried up, lost its toughness at a speed visible to the naked eye, and then silently shattered into fine black powder, falling down!
"Ouch!" The driver was startled, and suddenly retracted his hand, looking at the brush in his hand with only half of the bristles left and the broken end charred black, and then at the dark black stain that was still "sticky" and unscathed at the line connecting the axle.
"What... is this? Why is the brush rotten?" He got closer and smelled an extremely faint smell that hit his forehead. He pointed at the stain with his finger (without daring to touch it directly), and felt that his fingertips seemed to be a little cold and numb.
"Evil!" The driver felt a little scared. He had been driving for many years and was well-informed, but he had never seen such weird "mud". He tried to poke it with a wooden stick, and the tip of the wooden stick quickly turned black and became brittle. He picked up another bucket of water and rushed towards that place., washed away by the water, some of the surface layers of the "stain" seemed to have been washed away, and the color became a little lighter, but the core part was still stubbornly attached, and in the places washed by the water, the water seemed to become a little turbid, with a hint of ominous dark color.
"Isn't this... stained by something unclean?" The driver thought, thinking of the scary green-haired old man he met outside the forest yesterday, and some weird legends about Sunset Forest, his face changed.
He didn't dare to deal with it by himself anymore. This thing looked evil and could even be damaged by wooden brushes and sticks. Who knows what would happen if someone touched it? He decided that he couldn't keep this car body. At least, he couldn't just leave it in the yard.
So, one dark evening, the driver called his companions, used burlap and wooden sticks, and carefully dragged the entire vehicle body to an abandoned courtyard far outside the town using burlap and wooden sticks, trying not to directly contact the "evil" axle. It is said that there was a plague in the early years of this place, but it was later abandoned, and no one usually came here.
They threw the cart into the corner of the dilapidated courtyard as if throwing away some ominous object, and left quickly without looking back.
In the dilapidated yard, there were overgrown weeds and broken walls. The abandoned car was parked alone in the corner, its wheels sunk deeply into the weeds and rubble.
Night falls again. The cold moonlight shines through the broken roof and shines on the car body covered with dust and Spider Web.
Under the car, the dark, almost "dry" substance "awakened" extremely slowly in the silence.
It felt the change in the environment. There were no bumps, no rain. Under the soil of the ruined courtyard, there were dead wood and bones of unknown age buried, and the air was filled with the smell of decaying vegetation and the growth of mold.
It began to "flow" slowly and tentatively from the gap in the axle. The movement was very slow and sticky, like cooled asphalt. It left the car body that carried it and imprisoned it for a period of time, and slowly "spread" on the damp, cold, and decaying ground of the broken yard.
Then, it starts "eating".
It's not swallowing, but more like infiltration, decomposition, and absorption.
Wherever it passes, the long-corrupted fallen leaves, rotten wood, and even the faint breath of death in the soil seem to be pulled, peeled off, and integrated into the dark black substance by invisible forces. This process is very slow, and the efficiency is far less violent than swallowing the essence of "Myriad Poison Pool", but it continues.
Its shape seems to have regained a bit of "activity" as a result, and is no longer so dry and hardened. The color is still dark black, but it has an extra layer of dark oiliness that seems to be able to absorb light.
It just moved and absorbed quietly and slowly in the shadow of the ruined courtyard, like a ghost licking its wounds in the darkness.
Time passes day by day. It lurks in the darkest and dampest corner of the ruined courtyard during the day, and moves slowly at night, absorbing the weak and mixed energy that has accumulated here for countless years. Occasionally, creatures such as mice and wild cats will stray into the ruined courtyard. The moment they touch the edge, they will stiffen and fall silently, and their flesh and blood will quickly wither and rot, turning into its insignificant "nutrients".
Its energy is recovering extremely slowly. The chaotic "core" in the body that is on the verge of collapse seems to have gotten a breather and has become... slightly "stable", although it is still broken and chaotic.
Its consciousness has also become slightly clearer during this slow, almost "sleeping" recovery. Those broken memory fragments are like pearls sunk in the deep sea, occasionally flickering, but they still cannot be connected in series.
It "knows" that it needs water, needs more and purer energy, and needs a truly safe place to resolve the chaotic "core" in the body that may explode completely at any time.
But the broken courtyard is just an unexpected, temporary stop that can provide weak "supply" during its long and difficult journey.
It is like a piece of poisonous asphalt thrown ashore by a storm, quietly and slowly recovering in an unknown corner, waiting to dry, soak again, and when hungry, it will devour the insignificant corruption and life around it, and then continue to lie dormant.
Until one night, it "heard" a sound.
Not with ears, but with some kind of vague perception of energy flow, life fluctuations, and even specific words, derived from instinct.
Outside the ruined courtyard, on the dirt road that led to the town and had a cool sheen under the moonlight, there were footsteps and the conversation of two people. The sound was not loud, but in the quiet night, it was clearly transmitted into the ruined courtyard.
"... Really? Go to Star Dou Forest? How dangerous it is there!" A younger voice said with fear.
"What are you afraid of! Wealth can be found in danger!" Another rough voice responded, "Old Wang's herb collection team found a small piece of 'herbal medicine' less than fifty miles away from Star Dou last time and sold it for a good price! This time they organized manpower again and hired two Soul Elder adults to escort them! They said that as long as they are willing to help carry things, they will get money!"
"Star Dou Forest... I heard that Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast is everywhere..." The young voice was still hesitant.
"It's not like entering the core area! It's just on the outermost edge! There's Master Soul Elder here! Besides, Old Wang and the others are familiar with the road! I heard that this time we're going to the southeast, close to an entrance on the Balak Kingdom side. I heard it's safer there..." The rough voice continued to encourage, "Are you going? If not, I'll find someone else! We'll set off early tomorrow morning!"
"Southeast...Balaque...Star Dou..." The young voice seemed to be moved, repeating in a low voice.
In the ruined courtyard, the dark black material that seemed to be integrated with the shadows "vibrated" violently and violently the moment it heard those few keywords!
It was not the slow creeping movement before, but an almost instinctive throbbing coming from a deeper place.
"Star Dou... big forest..."
A cold, vague, but strangely familiar "voice" that seemed to ring directly in the depths of its consciousness, or in other words, a residual, stubborn, obsessive instruction that had long been imprinted in the depths of its broken soul, suddenly became a little clearer:
"Go to...Star Dou... forest"
This "voice" is very vague and intermittent, like a candle in the wind, but it carries an unquestionable sense of command originating from Life Origin. Is it deep in the memory, leaving behind a broken will in the end?
It doesn't know. But it "hears" and "feels" it.
An almost instinctive, cold, yet extremely clear sense of direction emerged in its chaotic consciousness.
You must go there. Star Dou Forest. There is... what it needs. It may be able to solve the "core" of chaos in its body, or it may be able to remind it of more.
Balak Kingdom... Southeast direction...
It "raised" its "head" - the amorphous mass bulged slightly and turned towards the direction of the sound. Then, it began to move slowly, but more "purposefully" than ever before, towards the edge of the ruined courtyard, the low, half-collapsed earth wall.
Under the moonlight, part of it, like a living, sticky shadow, quietly "flowed" through the gap in the earth wall, silently and perfectly blending into the shadow of a dilapidated truck on the dirt road outside the wall, which was parked haphazardly on the roadside, as if waiting for departure tomorrow, with ropes, sacks and digging tools piled up...
This time, it spreads itself flatter and more evenly, and fits on the back of the car floor. The color blends perfectly with the wood grain and stains on the car floor, as if it is just an ordinary, damp, muddy shadow.
There is still a fresh smell of earth on the wheels.
Goal, confirmed.