Chapter 145 - The Corridor of Time (I)

Editor: Kitty

Luo Jian finally remembered where he was. When he saw that person, his memories whirled in his head. He saw the fields and houses he knew well, as well as the thick and low willow tree right beside his old home. At that time, the roads at the gate of his house had not yet been built. The roads were all made by household members from all generations in the village stepping out onto the mud roads. The mud road proved the famous saying true—in the beginning, there was no road here, but after more people walked by, it subsequently became a road.

Yes, this was the village where Luo Jian lived as a child. It was the place where his grandmother lived. It was also the small village where he and his cousin Luo Feng (later known as Specter) lived. Luo Jian’s parents sent him to this village when he was about four or five years old. After finishing studying in the elementary school near the village, he went to the big city to enter middle school.

It was here that his cousin Luo Feng disappeared from everyone’s sight, and he had disappeared until now.

This place seemed to be the beginning of everything.

“How did I come here?” Luo Jian looked at the familiar house in front of him in a trance. At that time, the houses were all made of yellow bricks and tiles, and the buildings were very old. Luo Jian remembered that when he lived here as a child, he had to retrieve a few pots and pans and put them in the house on rainy days because the worn-out roof bricks and the tiles on the top of them were not waterproof.

Droplets of water would gather into a big puddle of water, and the wet and cold weather would cause his grandma’s leg to ache. At that time, his cousin, aged around 13 or 14 year, would be busy working around the house, doing all the ch.o.r.es and household matters by himself, and Grandma would sit in the room and slowly choose vegetables. At that time, his grandma had several acres of land which were all sublet out to earn some extra income. Moreover, her children could send some money every month. Their life was not particularly poor, but they could not eat anything luxurious.

In Luo Jian’s eyes at that age, that period was filled with happy and blessed memories. Although he was not in good health when he was a child, his cousin never despised him. He always took him everywhere—he took him to roll around the ground while yelling on the top of their lungs, to climb trees and dig bird’s nests, to run into other people’s corn fields in the middle of the night to steal corn and pick jujube trees planted by others, and thereafter to catch pheasants in ponds and touch snails in the fields.

At that time, Luo Jian’s paternal cousin did everything a mischievous child would do with him.

However, no matter how happy he was in his memories, now in retrospect, for the current Luo Jian, it would only bring him sorrow. He was no longer Luo Jian. He stood in this horrible place with a new skin and looked at the people and houses he saw long ago. No one would recognize him. He would become a person who had no past or future.

Luo Jian stood at the door of his old abode for a very long time until he heard an effeminate voice near him. The child asked him, “Big brother, what are you doing here?”

Luo Jian was slow to react for a moment. He touched the red umbrella in his hand, then opened it and let the handle rest on his shoulder. Afterwards, he lowered his head and looked at the little brat standing beside him.

It was a child of about seven or eight years old. He was small and thin, and his face was lacking in the redness normally seen in people. He knew that the child was sick at a glance, but the child was very energetic. He carried a small basket containing some fruits: persimmons and dates.

Luo Jian knew that these fruits were given to the child by the families who planted fruit trees next door. It was not known whether it was out of sympathy or some other reasons. Although the child was awfully ill, he was very cheerful and loved to laugh, and it formed a stark contrast to the current Luo Jian.

“Big brother, are you lost?” Seeing that Luo Jian had not answered, the child widened his eyes and asked him innocently and purely. Then the child looked at the fruit in his basket. He continued: “Big brother Feng asked if I wanted to eat persimmons just now. Do you want persimmons too?”

Luo Jian could not help but smile at him, stretched out his hand to touch his head, and replied, “No, I don’t want persimmons.”

Later, Luo Jian found that his arm was also very small. He found that he was only half a head higher than the child in front of him, so he speculated on the age of his body. His body was likely about 10, 11, or 12 years old. The body was not much older than the kid in front of him.

“Then eat dates! Dates are delicious!” The child kept trying to give Luo Jian something to eat. He held up his basket and showed him the fresh fruits.

Luo Jian could not help laughing again. Just as he was about to say something, a 14-year-old boy came out of the dilapidated house. As soon as he came out, he called out, “Luo Jian, who are you talking to?”

The child pointed to Luo Jian and said to the boy, “Talking to this big brother…”

The young man looked left and right and said inexplicably, “There is no one here.”

The child also froze. Turning back to look at where Luo Jian stood, he found that the little big brother who had just laughed with him was missing…… No, he was not missing. It was just that the child couldn’t see him now.

Little Luo Jian scratched his head strangely and said to himself, “Eh? Where did that big brother I saw just now go?”

The boy came over. Although he was only 14 years old, he was very tall. He squatted in front of his little brother and touched Luo Jian’s head: “Ah, there’s no big brother here?”

“Yes there was!” Little Luo Jian said boldly, “There was a……. well, a little older than me, a big brother with a red umbrella was here!”

The boy immediately laughed and teased, “Was there? That’s terrible! It’s sunny now! No one will walk around with an umbrella, and it was a red umbrella. Maybe it was a ghost!”

“That’s not true.” Little Luo Jian shook his head. “Big brother is a liar! Ghosts don’t come out in broad daylight!”

“Why is that impossible?” The youth…… that was Luo Feng, continued to smile, “Think about it. Don’t you think that the ghost was holding an umbrella in broad daylight to block the sunlight?”

This really scared the child. Little Luo Jian flinched, looked to the left and the right, and reached out to his cousin: “Big brother, huggy!”

Luo Feng immediately reached out to pick up the child. He was very strong because he often did all the farming and ate a lot. He was tall and strong. He looked like a big brother who would dote on his younger brother a lot, and it appeared as if he could not wait to push the little brat in his arms up into the skies.

“Luo Jian, don’t be afraid. Big brother is full of Yang energy. Ghosts and evil spirits do not dare to get close to me…… Well, that’s what Grandma said.”

The two brothers walked into the room as they talked. They did not see anyone standing behind them. Of course, one could probably see him, but when they did, they would have probably forgotten his existence immediately.

Therefore, Luo Jian could only hold the umbrella to look at the backs of the two brothers.

Luo Jian stood in place for a very long time. He did not know where to go, and there was no destination in his mind. He looked at the door of the dilapidated house in front of him. After thinking about it, he raised his feet and stepped into the house. The walls were made of yellow bricks and mud belonging to the past era. Wooden tables and long wooden chairs were set at the entrance. Moments before, little Luo Jian’s fruit basket was placed on the table.

There was the sound of boiling water in the kitchen. When Luo Jian entered through the door, he saw that the two brothers were squatting in the kitchen, picking at a water bucket in the kitchen. It was likely that they had gone to the pond to touch fishes and took one back to discuss how to cook and eat the fish.

Luo Jian squinted and hooked the corner of his mouth. He skipped into the kitchen and walked into the bedroom beyond that room. He remembered that he lived in the same room with his cousin when he was a child because he was ill at that time and had the habit of kicking his quilts off when he was young. In order to prevent Luo Jian from entering the hospital because he got a cold or a fever, his cousin would wake up at midnight and tuck him back in.

The structure of his old abode was not different from Luo Jian’s impression. On the contrary, he was reminded of many memories when he came to this familiar house. The things that he gradually forgot during the killing slowly returned to his mind, but it felt so distant from him. It was clear that Luo Jian was now standing here, standing in the memories of his happiest times.

Luo Jian placed his red umbrella down and went to the small table in the room. There were elementary school textbooks on the table. Luo Jian remembered that he used to find excuses not to go to school because of physical reasons. Later, his cousin gave him remedial lessons…… Luo Feng’s academic results were very good, and if he had not been pulled into the secret chambers—

It was estimated that he would already have been very successful and recognized now, and he would have ascended in society, having a perfect family and career.

Luo Jian reached out to touch the textbook on the table, but before his hand touched the table, he heard footsteps at the door. Luo Jian turned his head to glance at where the footsteps travelled from. The teenage Luo Feng ran into the bedroom in the house. However, he was stunned when he opened the door. He looked at Luo Jian in shock: “Who are you? What are you doing in our house? ”

Luo Jian realized that if he put his umbrella down, his ability would temporarily deactivate, and naturally he could appear in front of others.

He needed to let the other forget.

Luo Jian thought. He was not a person of this era, nor of this world. He should not be here, so it was better not to leave traces of him, let alone try to change the past. Ying had warned Luo Jian countless times to not change the past because once the past was changed, the future would surely change.

Luo Jian wanted Luo Feng to forget the scene where he saw him, but things had changed subtly at the moment because Luo Feng suddenly cried out, “Ah, is it possible that you are who my younger brother has been saying he saw just now…… the little big brother with the red umbrella?”

Luo Feng laughed: “Which neighboring family’s child are you? I have never seen you before.”

Luo Jian glanced at him, put his umbrella up again, allowed it to fall on his shoulder, turned the handle of the umbrella, and looked at Luo Feng’s bright eyes. He whispered, “You have never seen me.”

Luo Feng gave him a strange smile: “How would I not be able to see you?”

It didn’t work? This time it was Luo Jian who was surprised. He lowered his head downwards to see if there was something wrong with him, but before he could figure out what was going on, Luo Feng had already come to him.

It may have been that Luo Jian had lowered his guard against familiar people. He did not mind Luo Feng’s approach until he remembered what Ying said previously: “If you return to the past, don’t let anyone touch your body.” It seemed he recalled the warning too late because Luo Feng had reached out and picked up Luo Jian.

An embrace that he had not experienced for a long time.

Luo Jian didn’t dare to move at that moment and allowed Luo Feng to pick him up. Although Luo Jian was only about ten years old, he was still very thin. It did not take Luo Feng much effort to pick him up.

Luo Feng touched his head and laughed happily. He said, “Are you here to play with my younger brother?”

Luo Jian still did not speak, hesitated for a moment, sighed slightly, and tried again: “Luo Feng, you haven’t seen me…… Now put me down and forget me.”

This time the ability seemed to have an effect. Luo Feng was sluggish for a while, then he put Luo Jian back on the ground, turned around, and left without saying a word. Luo Jian saw him return to the kitchen and begin to talk to his younger brother about some other topic. Sounds of joy and laughter sounded out endlessly.

T/N: The previous chapters are all edited now.