The Scenery Box fell quiet for the moment. Doors opened in all the village's ramshackle houses, and the little villagers emerged in ragged clothes. They gathered around the little bandits Li Daoxuan had flattened, murmuring among themselves and occasionally glancing up at the sky.
Li Daoxuan sat outside the box, staring at his hand.
His palm was red, stained by the red liquid from the little plastic figures.
No, it wasn't red liquid!
A strong smell of blood filled his nostrils. Each little figure had held very little blood, but after he had slapped dozens of them, his entire palm was stained red. The smell had grown strong, pungent and unpleasant.
The little villagers were now whispering around the bandits' corpses, occasionally looking up at the sky. Some had gathered around the little girl and were asking her something. Their voices were as faint as the murmurs of ants. Unless they shouted, Li Daoxuan couldn't make out a word.
A strange thought arose in his mind: These little figures aren't acting out some preset script? That little girl met my eyes. She was praying to me just now, and after I slapped the bandits to death, the villagers changed their actions as the situation developed.
Li Daoxuan studied the blood on his hand carefully, then looked down at the little figures in the Scenery Box.
"These little figures have minds of their own!"
The discovery startled Li Daoxuan.
He hurried to the bathroom to wash the blood off his hand, then returned to the box and peered inside. The little villagers had already gotten busy. They confiscated the bandits' weapons and gave one to each household. They also stripped the bandits of their clothes and distributed those, one garment per household. Then they dug a pit in the yellow earth outside the village and buried all the naked bodies.
Next, they wrapped the bodies of the villagers the bandits had hacked to death in straw mats and carried them out of the village. They dug several more pits to bury them, then cut a few pieces of wood to serve as grave markers.
Apparently, no one in the village could read or write. There wasn't a single word on the grave markers, only a few crooked marks carved with a knife to identify which household each belonged to.
The little girl knelt before one of the graves, tears streaming down her face, and knocked her forehead hard against the ground several times...
Li Daoxuan watched quietly as the little figures went about their work for a long time, from nightfall until dawn, then from dawn until nightfall again. Inside the box, it was now the second evening. The little figures returned to their houses to rest. The little girl went home too, where she clutched her mother's belongings and fell into a deep sleep, tears still on her face.
The box settled into a "non-static scene," with nothing much left to watch.
Li Daoxuan yawned. Only then did he realize he hadn't slept for two days and a night either.
Rubbing his weary eyes and painfully throbbing temples, he dragged his exhausted body back to the computer. His head was full of questions. Out of habit, he switched on the computer, logged into the History and Military Forum he frequented, and posted anonymously: "The little figures in my Scenery Box suddenly came to life. How should I handle this?"
Reply 1: "Go see a doctor."
Reply 2: "Pinch yourself hard and you'll wake up."
Reply 3: "Are there any female figures? Peek at them changing clothes."
Li Daoxuan: "..."
No one could understand how he felt at that moment.
He opened his work QQ account. His boss's avatar was flashing frantically. Clicking it, he saw that over the entire day he had spent staring blankly at the Scenery Box, his boss had sent him several messages: "Still not up? The client wasn't happy with yesterday's design. A few things need changing. Contact me as soon as you're awake."
"XX initiated a video call... canceled..."
"Look at the time. You're still not up? The client's chasing us hard."
"Fuck, it's noon. Are you fucking playing dead?"
"XX initiated a video call... canceled..."
"It's two in the afternoon. Is this really how you want to play it?"
"XX initiated a video call... canceled..."
"It's six. Still not replying? Fuck it. I'll pay you for this half month, and you can get the hell out."
"XX transferred you: 2,350 yuan."
Li Daoxuan: "..."
He'd lost his job!
But he wasn't surprised or upset. He had wanted to quit this lousy job for ages. Losing it actually left him feeling lighter.
Drowsiness washed over him. How long had it been since he'd had a proper night's sleep? He might as well take this chance to get some real rest.
He couldn't even be bothered to wash up. He walked to the bed, flopped down headfirst, and was out cold in an instant.
July 12, 2023. Shuangqing City. Summer.
When Li Daoxuan woke, it was already past ten the next morning.
The headache from his lack of sleep still lingered. He switched on the computer out of habit, then remembered he didn't have to work today. His stomach was painfully empty. He had spent a whole day staring stupidly at the Scenery Box without eating so much as a grain of rice. Of course he was hungry.
Still bleary-eyed, he walked into the kitchen, put some water on to boil, and dropped two eggs into it.
As his mind slowly cleared, he remembered the Scenery Box and immediately dashed from the kitchen into the living room.
The Scenery Box was still sitting in the living room. The little figures inside were all awake and moving about the village.
Li Daoxuan quickly spotted the little girl. Bamboo basket in hand once more, she was searching for grass roots in the yellow sand outside the village...
She had only lost her mother yesterday. She probably hadn't emerged from her grief yet, but she already had no choice but to return to searching for food.
Li Daoxuan sighed softly and murmured, "That poor girl."
The moment the words left his mouth, the little girl jerked her head up. As though she had heard something, she looked toward the sky overhead. After searching for several seconds, her gaze fixed on Li Daoxuan's position.
Li Daoxuan immediately felt it again. His eyes had met the girl's.
Eye contact!
Their gazes held complicated emotions.
Li Daoxuan's eyes held pity and sympathy, while the girl's were filled with sorrow and pleading.
1627. Tianqi Seventh Year. Summer. Gao Family Village, Chengcheng County, Shaanxi.
Gao Yiye had lost her mother. Now she was utterly alone.
But she had no time to grieve. There wasn't a single grain of food in her home. She had to survive, not become someone useless who did nothing but clutch her mother's belongings and sob.
She got up early that morning, took her bamboo basket, and left the village with a heart full of sorrow.
First, she bowed with her forehead to the ground before her mother's grave, then spat at the grave where the bandits had been buried. After that, she walked on, searching for places where weeds had once grown.
She had combed through this stretch of sandy ground many times already. Finding grass roots was becoming harder and harder.
Her limbs were growing weaker, and her body had begun to sway. She could barely stand steadily.
She didn't know how much longer she could hold on. Perhaps tomorrow, perhaps the day after, perhaps the day after that-one day, she would fail to find enough grass roots and grow too weak with hunger to leave the village in search of food. Then she could only wait at home to die.
She knew that day was drawing ever closer.
Just then, she heard a sigh from the sky: "That poor girl."
She had a vague sense that she had heard this voice somewhere before...
Gao Yiye jerked her head up and saw a young man's face emerge among the clouds. Their eyes met. His were compassionate eyes, full of feeling.
The girl knew she could be saved. Once again, she bowed gracefully to the ground. "Heavenly Deity, I'm so hungry. I can't hold on much longer. Please show me your great mercy and save me."
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