I can return to the age of mysterious-Chapter 48 - 0 Memory_1
Chapter 48: 048 Memory_1
Chapter 48: 048 Memory_1
“Little Wei, cough, cough, do come in.”
Casio enters the room, ten minutes later.
He stepped out of the room, standing in the wide corridor and fell silent for a while. Did Teacher Lixia come down with some disease?
I guess I’ll have to ask her more about it when I get back from Li Wei’s home…
**********************
Early the next morning, Casio packed his luggage and descended the mountain.
The Oak City where the Wind Elephant Gate Headquarters is located is not far from Li Wei’s hometown, Black Sand City, just over a hundred kilometers away.
Of course, one hundred kilometers in this era is definitely not comparable to the real world. Not only are there no goldfish-mouthed sedans on the streets, but there isn’t even a widespread railway track.
Taking a passenger train is almost impossible.
But, what is not feasible for passengers can be feasible for cargo.
The name “Oak City” itself is very telling; this place is rich in timber, so there are actually several railway lines laid out.
However, most of them are purely for cargo transportation.
In this era, steam trains were slow, sometimes a good horse can catch up. It is said that there was even a group of specialized horse bandits robbing trains in the western desert of the Hong Li Federation.
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With Casio’s physical skills and ability to sprint at full speed for a short period of time, it is more than enough to keep up with a galloping horse. Hitching a ride on a train was not too difficult.
Or, you could sneak into the train station and wait for your chance to board.
For ordinary people this might be difficult, but for a Secret Martial Artist like Casio who has undergone secret technique training, it is not a worry. It is as simple as eating and drinking water.
Of course, you must have accurate information about the train. Otherwise, you might end up out of the North Flow Country after a night’s sleep on the train. In order to get the precise information, Casio had to spend quite a bit in Oak City, but fortunately, the information was completely accurate.
Because this bit of intelligence was leaked by an insider. As for where the money came from, that of course was his good junior fellow Damo.
However, what seemed strange was that Damo seemed overly willing to hand over the money. Especially when he heard that Casio was going home for a while, he provided him with funds cheerfully.
On this day, the sky was cloudless, brilliantly blue. The rolling green fields stretched along the slope of the hill like a carpet.
A river from the east to the west meandered through, splitting the plain into two halves. From above, it looked like a shimmering ribbon of reflection, extending into the depth of the woods.
Whoo…
Thick black smoke billowed up to the sky.
Through the smoke, a coal-fired steam train clattered along the rails, like a long black snake crawling.
As the train passed by a small hillock.
A nimble figure suddenly dashed over, like a cheetah, until it leaped lightly onto it.
The whole performance was as smooth and silky as milk.
“Made it.”
Now, Casio was standing on a metal platform, not on the train roof but a slightly jutting ledge at the rear of the carriage.
It’s small, but just enough to accommodate a person.
After placing his bundle to one side, he looked down at the continuous moving black rails then turned to scan both sides.
Stretches of green and blue seemed like an oil painting under a painter’s brush, the colors blending where they met. The blue sky and the green land melted into each other, occasionally punctuated by a passing lone tree.
Casio found this experience rather novel, so he sat cross-legged, pulling out the remnants of his lunch from the bundle.
After lunch, he began practicing.
Truthfully, the rhythm of a train in this era was quite strong. Every time it passed a section of track it would shake.
The swaying, coupled with the noise, really affected efficiency.
But there was no other choice. Casio was weighed between wasting four to five days or wasting twenty-something days.
One hundred kilometers in this era is a round trip, and hitching a ride on a train could already save a lot of travel time.
At night, Casio laid on the platform. He used his bundle as a pillow tucked under his neck, silently gazing up at the sky.
The entire night sky was empty, except for a layer of faint hazy clouds, behind which the mysterious moon hid.
There were no constellations, only a few solitary stars scattered about, desperately trying to shine. They were like solitary broken marbles abandoned by someone, evoking a sense of dreamlike confusion.
Casio held his hand above his eyes like a child looking through the gaps in his fingers at the divided night sky.
His gaze was somewhat unfocused, with a touch of bewilderment.
Grieving spring and sorrowful autumn? Perhaps so, but who doesn’t have a confused moment, particularly in such solitary circumstances?
As the sound of the train’s heartbeat echoed, Casio gradually fell asleep. When he opened his eyes again, the sky was already turning light.
A touch of pale yellow dawn rose slowly in the clouds at the horizon.
The morning air was somewhat cold, but Casio with his robust physique bore it well. As the sun rose, the temperature also slowly rose.
Noon came, the train drove through a plain once more.
Casio, clutching his bundle, took a leap and landed, rolling twice on the ground before standing up with a face full of dust. He watched the departing black train, then followed along the train track.
After a few hours of trekking, Casio saw Black Sand City in the distance. Not choosing to enter the city, he followed Li Wei’s vague memory and headed towards the eastern suburbs.
Midway, Casio came across a bullock-cart heading to Firmwood Town. He paid a small amount and took a ride.
The bullock-cart swayed, but the pile of straw on the wooden cart was very soft. Because of the hot weather and the sun, the straw was very dry and fluffy, and one could completely sink into it.
Casio tipped back his head and lay down, feeling quite comfortable.
In this manner, shaking and swaying, the bullock-cart traveled over this not-so-smooth stone road, gradually moving onto a mud path within the woods. There was no swaying, the tree shade blocked the sunlight. This comfortable feeling put Casio to sleep again with his arms crossed over his chest.
After what seemed like an eternity, the bearded old man driving the cart said with a bit of an accent, “Young man, we’re here.”
Casio jerked awake.
The bullock-cart was on a small hill, the muddy road leading downhill. On both sides were green grasslands, interspersed with yellow and red flowers showing through the plants. A faint fragrance filled the air.
Up ahead, the outlines of a human-settled village could be seen.
This was Firmwood Town, and Flower Road Village was less than two kilometers from here. Casio nodded in thanks and alighted from the cart.
Following a familiar impression, he entered a small country lane.
After about ten minutes, Casio stopped to take in the view. The dilapidated wall belonging to Flower Road Village had come into view. The gray wall was covered with moss and the wall was adorned with creeping ivy.
Walking into the village, he felt both strange and familiar. The last time Li Wei returned to the village was several years ago.
That time was to repair his mother’s grave.
“Don’t run, stop! Watch me, Sir Knight, chop the head off this evil dragon!” Nearby, youthful voices echoed.
Two kids, reaching only up to Casio’s waist, chased and played on the village road. Each held a slender straight tree branch in their hands, seemingly imagining them as knight’s swords.
Casio held up his bundle and moved sideways to give way.
The children simply glanced at Casio before plunging back to their roles, chasing each other until they disappeared in the distance.
Casio shook his head and continued walking, following the memory in his mind.
Five minutes later, on the side of Flower Road Village leaning into the mountain, there was a remote house. Low and worn-out, it was rudimentary.
It was surrounded by a fence, but one side had collapsed.
Casio walked in silently. Seeing familiar objects maybe, Li Wei’s vague memory became clearer. The placement of farming tools, the locations of tables and chairs, where they ate, where they slept, where he played with his sister.
This house stored most of the thirteen years of Li Wei’s memories, from his childhood to his adolescence. Everything in front of him was as it was in memory, except the familiar trio was gone.
Casio pushed open the door and walked in. The room was filled with cobwebs, and there was a lot of dust on the floor. Some wooden furniture had even grown mold due to disuse.
Placing the bundle aside, he spent an hour cleaning the room, but didn’t move any of the furniture from its original position. Casio wasn’t going to stay here for long. It was best to let the furniture and this house decay slowly in memory.
Glancing at the time, it was around three o’clock in the afternoon.
Casio headed for Berna Mountain behind him.
