Oleg's invitation

After leaving the Great Dump, Chu Mu grew even more troubled.

Svarog had pointed out that there was a seed in his green left eye, but even he had no answer as to what kind of seed it was.

All he knew was that it was connected to the power of an Aeon.

More precisely, to an Aeon.

This seed had not been planted in the dimension where mortals lived, which was why Natasha and the others could not sense it.

But through Svarog's eyes, the world was a torrent of accumulated data.

Chu Mu's left eye was like an incongruous black spot in that world of data, connecting it to a world in a higher dimension.

According to legend, that higher dimension was the world where Aeons dwelled.

Chu Mu's eye was the point where the two dimensional worlds intersected.

A strange seed had been planted at that very intersection.

Svarog had no way to remove it. A seed planted by an Aeon could only be removed by an Aeon's power.

Chu Mu had considered gouging out his left eye, but Svarog had told him that doing so would be futile.

Even if he gouged out the eyeball, the seed would remain in the socket.

Because all he could gouge out was the physical eye that existed in this dimension, not the seed in a higher dimension!

Chu Mu could only abandon that idea.

Right now, he desperately wanted to ask Yaoshi, the Aeon of Abundance, why he had done this to him!

But he also understood that even if he met that Aeon, he was destined to get no answers from him.

There was something deeply wrong with that god's condition.

It seemed all Chu Mu could do was wait for the moment the seed sprouted and pray that this eerie seed would not take his life.

That sent Chu Mu's spirits plummeting. First there had been an illness that could strike at any time, and now there was a seed that could sprout at any time, too.

He barely spoke on the way back to the Orphanage. Natasha could see that something was weighing on his mind, so she did not disturb him much.

As evening fell in the Underworld, the streetlights began to dim. Only at times like this could Chu Mu remove the black gauze covering his eyes.

He could only make out blurry outlines, and everything in the world he saw was shrouded in green light.

He really disliked that color, which reminded him of the Aeon of Abundance. He simply closed his eyes and walked back to the Orphanage one step at a time, following the route he had memorized.

Only when he reached the steps outside the Orphanage did Chu Mu open his eyes again.

A small figure was sitting on the steps. When she saw Chu Mu, she ran down in delighted surprise.

The silver-haired girl held a Snow Globe in her arms. A blood-red crack ran across its round surface.

Back at the Fight Club, Chu Mu had sheltered the Snow Globe against his chest, but it had ultimately failed to withstand the thugs' beating. A crack had been pressed into it, and his blood had seeped inside.

Of course, Chu Mu had told Xiao Bu that it was a rust stain.

After all, how could a treasure dug out of a dump not have a little rust on it?

Xiao Bu had refused to believe him and insisted on checking him for wounds. Only after finding none had she finally relaxed.

Perhaps it really was just rust.

When Chu Mu had managed to fool Xiao Bu back then, he had even silently thanked the blessing of Abundance for healing all the wounds on his body.

Except for his eyes...

Now that Chu Mu knew about the seed, he saw the matter in a different light.

If Abundance was an enemy, there was no need to heal him.

But if he was not an enemy, why had he pressed his eyes blind back then?

Chu Mu recalled what Natasha had told him about Aeons. Once a mortal became a god, they were no longer the person they had once been. Instead, they merged with the laws of the universe and became the embodiment of a philosophical concept.

Mortals living in a lower dimension could not use their own logic to fathom a god who existed in a higher dimension!

Chu Mu could not figure out what Yaoshi, the Aeon of Abundance, was thinking. He had only ever met this one Aeon. Perhaps gods were simply this strange and unpredictable.

Thus, Chu Mu could not tell whether the seed Yaoshi had planted in his left eye was a blessing or a curse.

Who could say for certain what the future held?

Beneath the dim yellow streetlights, Natasha held Chu Mu's hand, and Chu Mu took Xiao Bu's hand. Together, the three of them climbed the steps.

Let the future take care of the future!

At least things were good enough right now. That was enough!

Early the next morning, on Monday, Oleg came to the Orphanage and knocked on the Library door.

Chu Mu had been reading inside since early that morning. He had been sleeping very little these past few days, unwilling to waste even a second of sight.

Perhaps in the very next moment, he would lose his sight and be unable to see anything at all!

That sense of urgency had made his hunger for knowledge almost insatiable.

This might be the last stretch of his life in which he could freely read books.

When Oleg entered the Library, he immediately spotted Chu Mu sitting beside the Heater. Piles of books surrounded him, as though the boy were immersed in a sea of books!

"You're going to read all these books?" Oleg asked, unable to hide his astonishment.

"These are the ones I've finished." Chu Mu raised his head to look at Oleg and snapped the book in his hands shut. "Uncle, did you need something?"

"Of course I do, kid. No more reading today. Come somewhere with me and have some fun for a couple of days!" Oleg stepped forward and took Chu Mu's hand to pull him up.

"I've already been everywhere nearby. There's nowhere I really want to go." Chu Mu shook his head. "Sorry, Uncle. I don't want to turn down your kindness, but I really can't spare any thought for having fun right now."

"Hey, you little rascal!" Oleg planted his hands on his hips and looked at Chu Mu. "Don't you want to see a real blue sky and white clouds again?"

"Uncle, do you mean going up..."

Before Chu Mu could finish, Oleg covered his mouth.

"Shh. As long as you understand. Don't say it out loud."

"Mm-hmm." Chu Mu nodded, then looked at Oleg in confusion. "Uncle, I heard it's very difficult for the people here to go there. You need a legitimate job, and you have to submit an application. Only after it's approved can you board the Cable Car. Someone like me couldn't possibly go, right?"

"Heh, you're talking about the proper official channels. Of course you can't go that way." Oleg patted Chu Mu's shoulder and smiled. "Kid, have you ever heard of something called smuggling people across?"

"..."

Although Chu Mu really wanted to loudly rebuke Oleg, point out that this was illegal, and tell him to come turn himself in...

The lure of blue skies and white clouds was simply too strong.

If he missed this chance, it would be even harder to see them once he went blind.

But after thinking it over again and again, Chu Mu still chose to refuse.

"Uncle, I can't ruin your future."

Oleg was a Guard Captain in the Silvermane Guards. If anyone discovered that he had used his position to smuggle Underworld residents to the world above, the consequences would be severe.

But upon hearing this, Oleg looked at Chu Mu seriously and said:

"Kid, I didn't come here to ask your opinion. You're going today whether you want to or not! You don't get a say!"

In fact, Oleg had arranged this smuggling trip precisely so that Chu Mu would have as few regrets as possible in the life ahead of him.

Ever since learning from the Old Director that Chu Mu would soon go blind, he had been planning this operation.

Even if Chu Mu refused, he would tie him up and take him to the world above, so this child from the sea of stars could see the blue sky and white clouds once more, and gaze once more upon the brilliant river of stars!

After all, according to the information he had received, if they did not go now, they would never have another chance to reach the world above.

The passage between the upper and lower worlds would soon be closed.