Chapter 4

Chapter 4

After work, I returned to my cramped old apartment block.

Pei Yu had already made dinner.

The only thing steadier than his mood was his cooking. On the grimy little wooden table sat the same stack of dry, tough steamed buns, paired with a few green, unripe fruits.

It didn’t taste good, but it made me feel deeply content.

After dinner, I picked up the Bodhisattva again and wiped the dust from the soles of its feet.

A while ago, I had found a reliable gold shop and used that money of unknown origin to have the Bodhisattva gilded. Now, its gleaming outline sparkled in the dim light.

I was very pleased, and asked Pei Yu for his opinion.

“What do you think?”

“Not bad.”

With his approval, I kept wiping the Bodhisattva while muttering under my breath, “Just wait a little longer. Once I buy a bigger place, you won’t have to sleep on the wall anymore.”

“Mm.”

After that, we sat shoulder to shoulder on the sofa and watched the eight o’clock soap opera on TV together.

When I looked back at the table, the empty lunch boxes had already been filled.

I was instantly moved beyond words.

Wasn’t this my ideal life?

I still dreamed of that monster.

Only, once I knew it was a dream, much of the fear faded away. I even had the mental space to observe the details.

Outside the window in the dream was a dense, black forest. Branches stretched straight up toward the sky. The monster was beneath a tree not far away, so clear that I could even see the spots on its skin and the fine fuzz on its limbs.

But this time, it seemed to sense my presence. Its lowered head was slowly turning toward me.

In the instant before our eyes met, my heart gave a violent tremor. An indescribable, dangerous thrill swept through my body like an electric current.

The next moment, I woke up.

Before my nerves had even settled, I saw Sister Luo leaning over the window where I worked, glaring fixedly at me.

“The Senior Leader wants to see you.”

The Senior Leader’s office was located in the deepest part underground.

I took the elevator down to the lowest level, only to be told by a guard to wait where I was. The corridor was empty, with no one in sight. There was only a massive floor-to-ceiling painting.

With just one glance, I was left stunned and speechless for a long time.

It was hard to describe the grandeur and tragedy of the scene. On that rust-stained painting was a desolate river spanning a yawning chasm. Along the jagged, sprawling shore, gods had been driven to the riverbank, waiting to be beheaded.

The reason I could be certain they were gods was because the humans were painted even smaller. Most of them were dressed in rags, all skin and bones, reduced like ants to dust and bloody rain filling the sky.

For some reason, even though it was only a painting, it gave me the terrifying sensation of being there in person, as if my very soul had been seized by it.

Just as I stood there in a daze, a kindly voice suddenly sounded beside my ear.

“Do you like this painting that much?”