Green stretched beyond the reach of the eye, ancient trees scarcely differed from one another, and patches of sunlight fell through gaps in the leaves... Everything seemed like an illusory dream. Such an excessively peaceful, uniform environment could easily draw someone into endless fantasies, making them temporarily forget every trouble in the world, forget their family, friends, and loved ones...
Qian Fan reached out as though to cradle something precious, gently catching a patch of light in his palm and slowly lifting it. Yet his palm held only an empty warmth. A profound sense of emptiness permeated the entire forest, and his heart as well.
"Have you been here a long time?" Qian Fan asked softly, gazing at the sunlight in his palm. "This place feels so unreal, like a dream. It seems to have no end..."
Strange Chicken nodded twice. Qian Fan's fair, clean profile and the long golden hair fluttering behind him were reflected in its black eyes. His fingertips brushed the edge of the patch of light, and the golden glow trembled gently in his palm like a butterfly trying to spread its wings and soar. He tilted his head back. Sunlight filtered through the overlapping leaves into his pupils, melting into blurred points of starlight on his retinas and leaving him dazed.
"Looks like you don't know either..." Qian Fan sighed helplessly, then stood, brushed the dust from his robes, and turned toward the depths of the forest. "I'm going to find my friends. Follow me if you want to come."
Qian Fan's robes snapped in the cold wind, yet his presence grew increasingly somber, carrying a trace of weariness and resolve. Dry leaves crunched beneath his feet, as though accompanying his lonely journey. His footprints, some deep and some shallow, marked the ground like an