Chapter 01: The Sea Transforms into Mulberry Fields

People are always forgetful, so after walking a stretch of life’s journey, they can’t help but stop and sort through the gains and losses of the previous period. If gains exceed losses, it proves the time wasn’t wasted, and they joyfully prepare for the next journey. If losses exceed gains, it proves all that time was wasted on nothing, and they desperately wish they could reverse time and live it over. There’s no medicine for regret in this world, so what’s lost can never be recovered, even if you ran faster than Liu Xiang. This is a universal law of human existence. Is there really no exception in this world? In this era where even Newton’s laws can be overturned, having one or two supernatural occurrences is quite understandable.

Yun Ye had just taken the medicine for regret, except the effects were a bit too intense. So when he discovered himself standing naked in the wilderness, besides being dazed, he was still dazed.

The wilderness was beautiful. A carpet of emerald green grass stretched from his feet all the way to the edge of his vision. A few wildflowers occasionally peeking out from the grass added several splashes of bright color to this grassy carpet.

“Flutter flutter” – a wild pheasant burst out from the grass, startling Yun Ye so much he stumbled. Only then did he snap out of his daze. His eyes regained their liveliness, and his consciousness returned to clarity from its confusion.

“Where is this?” Yun Ye asked himself. Ten minutes ago, he had still been carrying his backpack searching the Gobi Desert for those two missing foreigners. Now he was standing naked on a grassland. This was already beyond the scope of what he could understand. Looking at the scorching sun overhead, it still appeared familiar.

Yun Ye determined he was still on Earth. The low elm trees, scattered locust trees, quietly interspersed among the waist-high wild wormwood – this settled his mind considerably. Since he was in the Northwest, it wasn’t such a big deal. He just needed to go back – walk a few extra steps, that’s all. Yun Ye estimated he had encountered the legendary wormhole phenomenon, walking from the front of the paper to the back, nothing more. Not walking outside the paper’s boundaries was pure luck. Having made a living in this Northwestern wilderness for fifteen years already, he had experienced sandstorms, encountered mudslides, witnessed quicksand, run into wolf packs, and been bitten by giant ants. His nerves had long since become exceptionally resilient. Now encountering a wormhole, he wasn’t particularly surprised.

A breeze blew past, chilling his entire body.

The Northwest in May hadn’t yet reached temperatures suitable for running around naked. He remembered that before coming out, he had been replenishing water at the sixth water point when he saw golden light flash at the bottom of the pond. Thinking it was a natural gold nugget, he reached down to fish it out, only to be pulled here by a tremendous suction force. No wonder greed is humanity’s original sin. Yun Ye viciously slapped his right hand – let you be greedy, now you’ve caused trouble, haven’t you?

Covering his private parts, he searched all around for the pond. After circling four times, the “splashing” sound of flowing water finally reached his ears. Overjoyed, he bounded to the water’s edge in two or three steps. He saw a clear stream slowly flowing through the grass. Following the stream upward, he soon reached the small creek’s source. A pile of clothing covered the creek’s outlet, bobbing up and down with the water’s movement. Yun Ye recovered all his clothes, including shoes and socks, and even a flat-bottomed pan – the one Yun Ye used to cook instant noodles. Wringing out the clothes and spreading them on nearby small trees to dry, Yun Ye let out a long breath of relief. Finally, he didn’t have to streak anymore. If only they would return my backpack too, then I’d ask for nothing more.

Yun Ye spread open his hands, looking at these pale and tender hands that were a whole size smaller than his previous hands. These weren’t an adult’s hands at all. He had actually discovered this problem long ago, just tried hard not to think about it. He reached back and grabbed the hair cascading over his shoulders, pulling hard. It hurt – this wasn’t a dream. Turning to look at that familiar yet childish face in the water, Yun Ye vaguely felt things weren’t as simple as he had thought.

Survival came first. In the wilderness, you could go without clothes, but you absolutely couldn’t go without shoes. Running – this instinctive ability inherited from ancestors – though clumsy, was the most effective escape method. Yun Ye knew that water sources in the wilderness were not safe camping spots. Clinging to the most remote hope, he forcibly endured the fear from within his heart, staring intently at the spring water, hoping heaven would open its eyes and return his backpack.

This was virgin land that no one had ever reached. A primordial atmosphere enveloped this tranquil land. Yun Ye knew he was just a mechanical technician. If he wanted to survive here, he absolutely couldn’t lack equipment. Only by getting his equipment could he have food, could he rely on tools to keep this fourteen or fifteen-year-old body alive.

Yun Ye shook the heavy fur-lined boots on his feet. The soggy leather boots felt indescribably uncomfortable on his feet. Every step produced a “squelch, squelch” sound. In his hand he gripped a stick as thick as an egg, occasionally striking the grass twice to give himself courage.

The gods and Buddhas in heaven seemed to hear his plea. From the water outlet floated a green canvas strap. Yun Ye’s eyes lit up. He bent down and grabbed the strap, pulling hard outward. With a splash, a half-person-height backpack burst out of the water. Yun Ye clutched the backpack desperately – this was life itself! He pulled out the entrenching tool with his other hand, his heart settling completely.

Not far from the creek was a patch of red sandstone, completely bare of vegetation. Yun Ye transferred his camp there, carefully clearing out a flat area. The red sandstone had been baked scorching hot by the sun. He spread the wet clothes on the stones, confident that within an hour, the clothes would be baked dry.

He set up the tent, leaving gaps on all four sides to let the hot wind carry away the tent’s moisture. After checking that all his equipment was intact, Yun Ye let out a long breath of relief. As for the positioning device, he had long since given up hope. The more precise something is, the easier it breaks – this was common sense. The compass still stubbornly pointed north, even though it was filled with water. After using the cross-line method to determine his position on the map, he was shocked to discover that his location hadn’t changed from before at all. How was this possible? Could the compass be broken? After observing the plants, Yun Ye dismissed the idea that the compass was broken. He was utterly perplexed. His powerful knockoff phone had no signal whatsoever. Looking at the distant mountain contours – except for being covered with trees, wasn’t this just that barren Gobi Desert?

Had the wormhole not changed his position, but changed time instead?

Yun Ye buried his head between his knees, his head as big as a bushel basket, his mind in utter chaos. “Time travel” – this term he had always thought was created by novelists. Now it had happened to him in stark reality.

Yun Ye had always thought he was someone who loved home. His mother, wife, and son constituted the most solid fortress in his heart. If it were just a matter of distance, he wouldn’t consider it a problem. Even if he were on Mars, he would kidnap little green men to send him home. But now it wasn’t distance – it was a vast expanse of over a thousand years. The Northwest – no, to be precise, the disappearance of Longzhong’s forests occurred after the Tang Dynasty. Drastic climate change and explosive population growth caused an ecological catastrophe. As someone from Longzhong, Yun Ye understood better than others what all this greenery before his eyes represented.

“Is this the Tang now? Or the Han? Perhaps even the Qin? Please don’t let it be the Northern and Southern Dynasties – I’m just a small person who can’t shoulder such great responsibility.”

Yun Ye muttered incoherently to himself.

The air was pure, the scenery was beautiful, even the rabbit beside him was kind-hearted, hiding in the shade next to Yun Ye to comfort him.

The splashing creek carried away the crimson bloodstains. Yun Ye’s eyes gleamed as he looked at the plump rabbit. His stomach had been hungry for a while now.

Yun Ye chewed the delicious rabbit meat in large bites, grease occasionally sliding down from the corners of his mouth. The campfire before him still burned. The sun had already set, and the sky full of red clouds pressed down on the mountain peaks. Birds of all sizes returned toward the distant forest. Yun Ye couldn’t help but feel sorrow welling up from his heart. Clutching half a roasted rabbit, he burst into tears.

The boundless cold awakened Yun Ye from his sleep. Last night, he seemed to have returned to that noisy world of before. His wife’s tenderness, his son’s rebelliousness, his mother’s nagging appeared before him once again. He wiped his face, driving away the last trace of longing.

Survival was the most important thing at hand. Only by staying alive could he speak of other matters. Today, he must thoroughly, thoroughly face this new life. The campfire was lit again. Yesterday’s leftover rabbit meat was heated over the fire. He ate it methodically, bite by bite, washing it down with boiled water. Food was precious. After sucking the last trace of oil from the bones, Yun Ye’s will also hardened.

He couldn’t possibly continue living alone in this wilderness like a savage. Humans are social animals with various emotional needs. Living alone would only lead toward atavistic phenomena – language function would degenerate, brain function would degenerate, while limbs would become strengthened. Yun Ye didn’t want to be a savage on the wilderness.

Where was the road? Lu Xun once said, when many people walk the same way, a road comes into being. But Yun Ye was the first person to set foot on this wilderness, so he could only forge his own path. After walking less than half a mile, Yun Ye was already panting. What stamina could you expect from a fourteen or fifteen-year-old youth, let alone while carrying over thirty pounds of equipment? Never mind – Yun Ye decided to follow the creek. It would eventually merge into the Yellow River anyway.

The icy creek water made both feet nearly lose sensation. The sun overhead baked his scalp until it was burning hot. The reeds by the creek grew green and tall, cutting across his cheeks like little knives. Soon his face was covered with red marks, one here and one there. Hot and cold alternating – this was how one caught typhoid fever.

Yun Ye saw ahead a huge sandy area, a good two acres in size. He hurried forward a few steps. Just as he stepped onto the red sand, a black shadow suddenly lunged at him. His heart and courage shattered, he instinctively swung his shovel toward the shadow. With a “baa” of a pitiful cry, a gray wild mountain goat tumbled into the creek, the splashing water soaking his entire body.

The goat fell in the creek water, struggling desperately to stand. Probably its leg had been broken by that shovel strike – it had just turned over when it fell back into the water. Seeing its painful state, Yun Ye could only raise the steel shovel again…

The rabbit leg he had eaten in the morning had long since been digested completely. His stomach was rumbling again. A half-grown boy eats his father out of house and home – Yun Ye had returned to this embarrassing age. He sighed for a long time, then took out that Yingjisha knife and began to butcher that pitiful mountain goat. Of the sheep’s internal organs, he only kept the heart and kidneys. The other organs were buried deep under the sand.

Back in the day, Yun Ye’s cooking skills had been making rapid progress under his wife’s unremitting efforts. After feasting on roasted mutton, the lingering taste of chili peppers still danced in his mouth. The remaining mutton had been carefully smoked using lemongrass. Who would have thought that the green-haired grass common in the Northwest was superb material for smoking mutton?

Once again Yun Ye felt proud of his powerful social skills. Back when he first tasted the Uyghur Elder’s roasted mutton, he nearly swallowed his tongue. A set of Yingjisha knives plus a week of free labor – only then did he pry the secret recipe from the old man’s mouth. The most critical element was precisely this grass that grew everywhere. For this, the old man nearly fell out with him. Although using it to smoke meat was somewhat beneath its station, in this early summer weather, if not processed promptly, it could attract all the flies in the world within a few hours.

After sincerely thanking that sheep, Yun Ye put on his dried clothes and once again embarked on his journey to find human settlements.

The creek water turned a corner at the mountain’s foot and flowed east. Ninety-nine point nine percent of the world’s rivers are roughly like this, and this creek was no exception. Yun Ye followed this creek for three days. Except for trees becoming increasingly scarce and grass increasingly sparse, the cities on the map were nowhere to be seen.

Looking out across the landscape, the entire basin showed not the slightest trace of human habitation. Emerald green grass covered the earth. Occasionally a small bird would “whoosh” straight up into the sky from the grass. Large herds of wild horses galloped and frolicked on the grass carpet. Their flying manes were illuminated by sunlight into ten thousand threads of gold and silver. Yellow sheep lowered their heads to graze in the grass, then stretched their necks to gaze into the distance. Even the wild pheasants made no attempt to hide, flapping their wings in low flight before running through the grass again.

The wind brought the fresh fragrance of green grass. The air carried all kinds of life’s breath. Nature was so beautiful.

Yun Ye completely broke down. What kind of terrible scenery was this? Where was his concrete jungle? Where was the roar of automobiles? Where was the acid gas discharged from his factory? Where were those rows of heavy industry smokestacks? Where was that city hall building full of the spirit of the times yet endlessly cursed by people? Where had his most cherished plastic bags dancing all over the sky gone? Where were those crowds of people he detested? Where was that urban clamor that drove him to collapse? Where was that rotting, stinking, mountain-high pile of city garbage?

My loved ones, where are you all?

Don’t leave me alone!

Yun Ye lay face-up on the soft grass, tears flowing unbridled like floodwaters through an open gate. In just a dream’s span, the sea had transformed into mulberry fields.