C12 - The Road of No Return
The mountain path was far more unforgiving than the gentle fields of Green Willow Village.
Narrow trails clung precariously to steep cliffs, while tangled roots and loose stones turned every step into a careful test of balance. The deeper Ye Chen and Lin Yue ventured into the mountains, the colder the air became. Dense forests blocked the sunlight, leaving the world beneath their towering canopies shrouded in perpetual twilight.
Neither of them had brought much.
A small sack of dried grain.
A waterskin.
A flint stone.
Two blankets hastily taken before fleeing.
Everything else had been left behind.
Or consumed by the flames.
As noon approached, they reached a clear mountain spring flowing from a crack in the rocks. Lin Yue knelt to refill the waterskin while Ye Chen gathered dry branches for a fire.
His movements had become noticeably quieter.
More cautious.
He constantly glanced behind them, listening for sounds that did not exist.
The bandit's lifeless eyes still haunted his thoughts.
Even the snapping of a twig made his heart race.
Lin Yue watched him silently.
She recognized those eyes.
Years ago, after a devastating flood had swept away her childhood home, she had looked at the world with the same mixture of fear and disbelief.
Pain changed people.
Sometimes forever.
"Chen'er."
Ye Chen turned.
"Come and eat."
He sat beside her without speaking.
She divided the dried grain into two equal portions before quietly moving part of her own share into his bowl.
Ye Chen noticed.
He gently pushed it back.
"You need your strength more than I do."
A faint smile appeared on Lin Yue's face.
"So you've learned to argue with your mother."
"I learned from Father."
For the first time since the attack, both of them smiled.
It lasted only a heartbeat.
But it was enough to remind them that hope still existed.
As they rested, Ye Chen looked toward the endless mountains stretching beyond the horizon.
"Mother..."
"Hm?"
"Where are we going?"
Lin Yue remained silent for several moments.
"I don't know."
The honesty of her answer surprised him.
"There is a town several days south of these mountains. Your father once traded grain there many years ago. If we're fortunate, perhaps we can find work."
"And after that?"
She slowly shook her head.
"We'll decide when we get there."
Ye Chen lowered his gaze.
For the first time since arriving in this world, he truly understood what it meant to have no home.
The small wooden house.
The rice fields.
The familiar faces of the villagers.
They existed only in memory now.
Suddenly, a faint sound echoed through the forest.
Crunch.
Both of them froze.
Another branch snapped.
Someone was approaching.
Ye Chen instinctively reached for a thick fallen branch lying nearby.
His breathing slowed.
Every lesson his father had taught him about staying calm while hunting flashed through his mind.
The footsteps drew closer.
Then...
A young man emerged from between the trees.
He appeared to be around twenty years old, dressed in coarse gray robes with a woven basket strapped to his back. Several bundles of medicinal herbs hung from his belt, filling the air with a faint herbal fragrance.
The stranger stopped the moment he noticed them.
His eyes quickly swept across their soot-stained clothes and exhausted expressions.
Understanding dawned upon his face.
"You escaped from the village, didn't you?"
Neither Ye Chen nor Lin Yue answered immediately.
The young man slowly raised both hands.
"I mean no harm."
After a moment, he carefully reached into his basket and removed a bamboo flask.
"Drink."
Lin Yue hesitated.
The stranger smiled bitterly.
"If I wanted to hurt you, I wouldn't have announced my presence from half the mountain away."
Ye Chen looked at his mother.
She gave a small nod.
Accepting the flask, Ye Chen took a cautious sip.
It was warm herbal tea.
Simple.
Refreshing.
The stranger sat on a nearby rock, keeping a respectful distance.
"My name is Gu Ming."
He looked toward the distant smoke still rising beyond the mountains.
"I saw the fire this morning."
His expression grew heavy.
"I'm sorry."
No one spoke.
Some tragedies required no comforting words.
After a long silence, Gu Ming quietly continued.
"The roads south are dangerous now. The bandits have been growing bolder every year."
Lin Yue looked up.
"Do you know why they attacked our village?"
Gu Ming slowly shook his head.
"No."
His answer came too quickly.
Almost...
Too carefully.
Ye Chen noticed the brief hesitation in the young man's eyes.
It lasted less than a heartbeat.
Most people would have missed it.
He did not.
The conversation soon turned to safer topics, yet a small seed of doubt had already taken root within Ye Chen's mind.
When they finished eating, Gu Ming stood and adjusted the basket on his back.
"I'm returning to Stone River Town."
He looked at the mother and son.
"If you trust me, we can travel together."
Lin Yue glanced toward Ye Chen.
Without speaking, they both understood the same thing.
The mountains were too dangerous to cross alone.
Yet trusting strangers carried dangers of its own.
Ye Chen studied Gu Ming one final time.
His clothes were worn.
His hands bore the calluses of someone accustomed to gathering herbs.
His breathing was steady.
Nothing about him suggested hostility.
And yet...
That single moment of hesitation when his mother had asked about the attack refused to leave Ye Chen's thoughts.
For reasons he could not explain, he felt that Gu Ming knew more than he was willing to say.
Whether that secret would save them...
Or destroy them...
Only the road ahead could answer.