Chapter 1 Prologue: God Manifestation First Year
Gou Wa had been very troubled lately.
Because his parents wouldn't let him go to school.
He had only just learned the first few sentences of the Thousand Character Classic!
Moreover, they wouldn't let him go out, locking him in a dark room, saying he had a rash on his face that couldn't be seen by others.
How ugly was his rash, Gou Wa really wanted to know, but everything in the room that could reflect a person's image had been taken away by his parents.
Knock, knock, someone knocked on his window from outside.
A clear girl's voice rang out: "Gou Wa, is your face not better yet?"
Gou Wa recognized it as Xiaoya from the house next door, a six-year-old girl, one year younger than him. The two of them had practically grown up together. According to what their master taught, they should be considered childhood sweethearts.
This was the first time someone had come to find him after so many days. Gou Wa, who hadn't spoken to anyone other than his parents for a long time, was a little excited and stammered, "You, how do you know about my face?"
"My mother heard it from your parents. They won't let me get close to your house, saying your rash is contagious."
Gou Wa said gloomily, "I heard that's how it is. You shouldn't get too close either."
"Have you been seeing a doctor and taking your medicine properly? You seem to have been sick for a very, very long time, haven't you?" Xiaoya didn't have much concept of time and couldn't say exactly how long.
"Taking medicine, yes… every day a bowl of very thick, very black, very bad-tasting medicine. I've never seen a doctor."
Gou Wa also felt a bit strange in his heart, wondering why he hadn't seen a doctor despite being so seriously ill, but he was still a young child after all, and he quickly forgot about things he couldn't understand.
"Then it must be because you didn't listen to the doctor properly and scared him away."
Xiaoya was very quick-witted, while Gou Wa could only stammer a few denials.
"What's it like outside now?" Gou Wa hadn't seen the outside world for a long time and was very curious. If his parents hadn't locked all the doors and windows, he would have slipped out to play long ago, given his restless nature.
"It's strange, too. These days, there are people crying their hearts out everywhere, adults, children, and old people, all wearing white clothes. And there are lots of white cloths fluttering around, and yellow and white paper pieces floating in the sky, like the fairyland the storyteller talks about!" Xiaoya's tone became a little more excited, "And there are many new mounds in the mountains. There's always lots of food and drink placed in front of them. Gou Sheng and I snuck some a few times. One day my mother caught me and gave me a good scolding."
"But we haven't eaten meat for a long time, only thin porridge every day. Where else can we eat if not the chicken, duck, and pork in front of those mounds?" Xiaoya sounded very wronged: "However, later on, there wasn't much food in front of these mounds anymore. And some people just slept there directly, and I couldn't wake them no matter how much I shook them. And some people were missing arms, legs, or heads. I even wanted to help them put themselves back together. There are so many fewer people in the village. It feels like they all went to sleep."
"Gou Sheng, is Gou Sheng still alright?" Gou Wa listened to a long string of words, but his only focus was on Gou Sheng. Gou Sheng was also their usual playmate, but his family was poor and couldn't even pay the school fees.
"He went missing a few days ago. I don't know where he went, and it's made it so I can't find anyone to play with."
It turned out that Xiaoya only thought of him because she couldn't find anyone to play with. Gou Wa felt a little sad.
"Then, what about Da Niu, Tudou, Xiao Qiang, and Zhu Zai?" Gou Wa asked about his good friends from school. He hadn't seen them come to visit him for so long, even though they were so close at school.
"The school closed a long time ago. Many of them aren't from our village, so I haven't seen them for a long time either."
Although Xiaoya was a girl and couldn't go to school, she loved to sneak and listen by the window. The master gradually turned a blind eye to her, so over time, she became very familiar with these children from school.
"Hmm, it should be around the same time you got sick," she thought for a moment and added.
What on earth was going on? Gou Wa was a bit puzzled.
"Do you want to come out and play?" Xiaoya suddenly asked.
"Yes! But my parents locked all the doors and windows..."
"That's easy. The lock is outside the window. I'll just find a stone and smash it open! Your parents aren't home. I'll let you out to stretch your legs. Wait a moment."
The footsteps gradually faded away, seemingly Xiaoya went to find a stone. After a while, the footsteps returned, and there was a loud cracking sound from the window. Not long after, Gou Wa was surprised to find that the tightly locked window had quietly opened a crack, letting in a faint yellow light.
"Xiaoya, you're amazing!" Gou Wa exclaimed excitedly.
"Of course! Hurry up and come out!" Xiaoya was very proud.
Gou Wa suddenly remembered his face and hesitated again: "But, I'm afraid of infecting you, and… it will scare you."
"I'll just stay far away from you, and," Xiaoya said carelessly, "you're already ugly, how much uglier can you get?"
Gou Wa wasn't angered by Xiaoya's words. All he wanted now was to experience the long-lost sunlight and fresh air.
He took a deep breath and pushed open the window. Outside stood the thin, small Xiaoya, wearing a dirty coarse cloth dress.
"Long time no see." Gou Wa showed what he thought was a very friendly and handsome smile.
But Xiaoya looked at him, her eyes wide, staggering back a few steps, her face flashing with shock, disgust, and revulsion.
And fear.
"What's wrong?"
"They, they're all on your shoulders..."
...
As dusk fell, Sòng Guǎfù waited for Xiaoya to come home.
This girl, running around in such chaotic times, was truly worrying.
Her husband had passed away before the child was born. She had no parents, and neither did her husband, leaving her an orphan and a widow, struggling to survive.
And, with no one home, that feeling came over her again.
It was that feeling of constantly being watched.
That gaze was cold, sticky, and bone-chilling.
No matter where she was, or what she was doing, that gaze followed her like a shadow, clinging to her tightly.
Whenever she was alone, she could feel it, as if someone was in the dark, little by little, inch by inch, scrutinizing every strand of her hair, her waist, her hips and legs, down to her toes, making her terrified and nauseous.
Every day, she would constantly check every corner, behind every door, inside every cabinet, and even under the table and bed, hoping to find those eyes hidden in the dark.
However, no matter how she searched, she found nothing.
There was always only her, and the surroundings were so silent that even the sound of a needle dropping on the floor could be heard clearly.
But the feeling of being watched was so real, so real that her skin could feel the temperature of that gaze. Her heart raced, each heartbeat seemed to remind her that those eyes were in some corner, quietly, coldly staring at her.
She felt she was on the verge of a breakdown. The torment of many days, the pain of sleeplessness, had pushed her fragile nerves to the edge of a cliff.
Yes, she had to find Xiaoya! Tomorrow, she would take Xiaoya and leave this place. Although she heard it was just as chaotic outside, it was better than here, right?
She rushed out the door frantically, escaping the oppressive and cramped house. She breathed the cold air, but that sharp feeling of being watched still followed her closely, as if a shadow was always behind her.
She looked around desperately, seeing only the empty courtyard with its simple fence and the pitch-black night.
Strange, fragmented sounds came from Gou Wa's house next door, as if something had also happened to their family recently.
Under the moonlight, her shadow was stretched out lonely on the ground, and the sticky gaze from behind her wrapped around her body.
Suddenly, a realization dawned on her.
...
Under the night sky, Old Man Lu ran frantically.
He tripped over a field ridge and fell face down in the field, accidentally biting a mouthful of mud with his open mouth.
He sat up, spat a few times, and spit out the mud from his mouth.
Ignoring his aching hands and feet from the fall, he quickly fumbled for the item in his embrace.
It was a tightly wrapped cloth bundle. He carefully opened it, and inside was an ancient bronze mirror.
The dirty mirror surface reflected a dim moonlight. The intricate and delicate patterns were covered in rust and dirt, but judging by the material and design, it was clearly no ordinary object.
If it weren't for the fact that it could be worth some money, Old Man Lu wouldn't have stolen this thing from Sòng Guǎfù's house.
He was really too hungry. The next village had butchered a pig, but a piece of meat cost a lot of silver. In these times, the prices of food and daily necessities had risen sharply.
He heard that Sòng Guǎfù was once a Young Miss, who had only fled here. A Phoenix in distress must have some valuable belongings at home.
He didn't dare to directly bully an orphan and a widow. He had also been squatting outside the wall for a long time today, waiting for Sòng Guǎfù to go out before sneaking in to search. And he really did find such a treasure.
As soon as he found it, Sòng Guǎfù entered the courtyard. He quickly climbed out the window and slipped into the neighboring yard, planning to stay for a while and wait for the right moment to run, as this house seemed to be empty anyway.
Who knew, he heard rustling sounds from the side yard, and heavy footsteps, as if a clumsy fat person was dragging his feet.
Old Man Lu sometimes hated himself for always being so curious. He tiptoed towards the source of the sound, squatted in a corner, and peered over, only to see a scene that sent chills down his spine.
Under the dim moonlight, a tall figure was slowly moving. It wasn't a clumsy fat person, but a seven-year-old child, but his shoulders were piled high with round objects as big as human heads. Those round objects seemed to be wriggling and swaying, and some black hairs were fluttering in the wind.
Old Man Lu looked closely and was horrified to discover that they weren't just like heads, they were heads!
All of them had their eyes tightly shut, lips slightly parted, and their faces were in great pain. They were all squeezed onto the child's small body. The size of his shoulders and above was already four or five times that of his body, and in terms of stature, he was even taller than Old Man Lu.
Among them, Old Man Lu recognized one head; it was the appearance of Sòng Guǎfù's daughter, Xiaoya!
If Old Man Lu had seen the students of the school, he would have also recognized the heads of Da Niu, Tudou, Xiao Qiang, and Zhu Zai, those children from the school, also on top.
He knew that these were the “weird objects” everyone was talking about nowadays. Everyone said that once you saw one, you should run as far away as possible, but often there wasn't even time to run before you lost your life.
Old Man Lu covered his mouth and cowered in the corner, feeling like he was about to vomit, but he didn't dare to move or make a sound.
Suddenly, a round, ball-like object rolled from the fence gap to his feet.
He looked down and saw it was a fresh eyeball.
He trembled as he looked towards the source of the object. It was Sòng Guǎfù's courtyard. He saw Sòng Guǎfù standing in the courtyard, her face covered in blood, and only two dark, empty holes where her eyes should have been.
Old Man Lu felt a chill run straight from his spine to the top of his head. He no longer cared about anything else, got up and ran, with only one thought in his mind: escape this place.
...
Old Man Lu recalled the scenes he had just witnessed. His heart pounded as if it would leap out of his chest, and his hands trembled as he raised the bronze mirror. The mirror reflected his pale, aged face, filled with terror.
Suddenly, his shriveled lips in the mirror stretched into a grotesque smile, reaching straight below his ears. His eyes stared fixedly at Old Man Lu outside the mirror, full of malice.
Old Man Lu's heart contracted sharply, and the bronze mirror in his hand fell onto the muddy ground, mirror-side up, reflecting the night sky.
He collapsed to the ground, panting deeply, still feeling a cold, evil gaze fixed on him, like a maggot clinging to bone.
In this silent night, Old Man Lu's fear spread with the cold wind.
Suddenly, that gaze seemed to disappear. He instinctively looked down at the fallen bronze mirror. The upward-facing mirror surface reflected not only the night sky and the stars and moon, but also a gigantic face, filling the entire sky, in the firmament.
Old Man Lu looked up at the sky, his mouth agape in shock.
The gigantic face in the sky became clearer and clearer, descending lower and lower towards the ground. One could even clearly see the fine downy hairs on the face.
This face had soft contours, its gender indiscernible. Clouds and starlight danced upon it, emitting a mystical and fantastical glow.
Its eyes, hollow yet profound, seemed to penetrate all the secrets of the world, and yet also seemed to devour all light.
Its lips, placid as if devoid of any emotion, yet one could feel an intense holiness and compassion emanating from them.
That was God!
For some unknown reason, the moment Old Man Lu saw this face, he instinctively knew that this was the god's face.
It was as if a deity was lowering its head through the clouds to look at the living beings on the ground. The god's face pressed down from the clouds, until it filled the entire night sky, the moon hidden and stars dimmed, as if the whole world had stopped at that moment.
At the same time, Sòng Guǎfù stood in her courtyard. She looked up, and the two black holes on her face also “saw” the great and mysterious presence in the sky. Two lines of black tears streamed down her face.
Gou Wa felt it too. A huge fear inexplicably surged in his heart, wanting to go inside, but his legs felt like they were filled with lead, unable to move a single step, until he and the deity met eyes.
All the faces on his body opened their eyes, meeting the indifferent gaze that looked down upon all things in the sky.
No, God would not meet the gaze of a mere weird objects like him. He merely glanced at him.
Then, Gou Wa died.
---
God's gaze would not linger on such a mere weird objects.
As the pale, indifferent eyes on the god's face turned, wherever their gaze fell, divine light enveloped, and Guai Qi dispersed.
At this moment, everyone in the entire Tang Country was looking up.
Everyone in the entire Northern Territory was looking up.
Everyone in the entire Grassland was looking up.
Everyone in the entire Sea Domain was looking up.
After an unknown period, the radiance of the god's face seemed to dim considerably, and even the face itself became somewhat transparent. The starry sky behind it was faintly visible, and its eyes also slightly closed.
But the god's face did not retreat. It remained eternally in the sky, looking down upon all things.
From then on, the Qi of the Divine manifested.
This year, the world called it the "God Manifestation First Year."
The prologue mainly sets the world.