Chapter 12 – Entering the tower

“Woof, woof, woof! Woof! Woof woof!” Outside the car, the vicious barks continuously sounded.

Inside, Lu Chu wiped his face indifferently, then retied the rope that connected him with the man back onto his wrist.

He hadn’t brought much things with him when they went out, but all of them were practical items, such as the alarm clock in his house that would give out the time. He searched for the alarm clock and pressed the button, and the clock reported the time — “14:56”

The man had said before, they needed to reach the tower in the centre of the town before about 6:30 in the evening, when the sky would turn dark. Now, before they even knew it, they didn’t have much time left, and even with a conservative estimate, they needed to use about two hours to finish walking the remaining route.

The next part of their journey was relatively simple. First, they needed to follow along the left side of this road until they reached end, then turn left and into the next street. After which, they would pass by a park that had an artificial lake, a quiet and forested stone road, and finally some entertainment facilities. After passing through this park, they would be in an area with scattered villas that had small yards. These villas were built in a circle, and in the centre of the circles was a large vacant lot where the high tower stood.

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After about ten minutes, the fierce dogs outside had started to disperse, and not long after that, they disappeared. If they had remained outside for a few more minutes, Lu Chu would have considered getting off the vehicle to kill then, even if the process could be extremely dangerous, and he might even get bitten by accident.

After listening carefully for a while longer, and confirming that the fierce dogs weren’t near them anymore, Lu Chu picked up his backpack again, then tied up some of the clothes he found in the car into something similar to a baby carried, and held Carrot firmly in his arms.

Lu Chu checked everything that he’d brought to ensure that it was all okay, then he wrote in the man’s hand, signalling that it was okay for them to leave.

sorry to readers who use mtl translations or readers, but this is copy protection. Simply erase the parts that don’t match the original on the site for MTL.

Opening the door, Lu Chu carefully pulled the man out of the car, and the two of them walked quickly along the side of the road, pressed against the edge.

Along the way, Lu Chu didn’t let down his guard, and carefully listened to everything around, for fear that were would be another emergency situation. Fortunately, this town didn’t have many people, and in front of them was the park. It was during working hours where everything started, and they rarely encountered other people who had lost their senses, so their route to the park was relatively smooth and safe.

Dr. He was quite a good person, nice and honest. Before this infectious disease started, Lu Chu often went to him to get some medication, to replenish his first aid kit at home. The two of them were quite familiar, and Hehe could vaguely be regarded as someone he had watched growing up. However, despite this, Lu Chu wouldn’t take to risk and go up and acknowledge him that easily.

After Lu Chu brought the man to the park, he relied on his memories to walk to a small grove, found a quiet area, and squatted down.

“Carrot?” Lu Chu lowered his voice and called.

The man with the name ‘7’ wasn’t good at talking, and this was even more so after he had lost both of his senses. No matter what Lu Chu did, he would always follow quietly behind, and at this moment, although he didn’t know why Lu Chu would stop in such an urgent and dangerous situation, he still didn’t ask anything and simply stood quietly at the side. Only, his hand subconsciously touched the rope binding his and Lu Chu’s wrists together, and this movement was unexpectedly gentle.

Lu Chu stopped and wrote in the man’s palm.

“Rustle– rustle–”

Realising that something wasn’t right, Lu Chu asked, “is there danger?”

The steady and firm sound of soil being dug sounded in the originally quiet forest, and after a while, came the sound of something being buried.

Hearing Lu Chu’s call, Carrot ran over to Lu Chu and bit his trousers, pulling him forward in an urgent manner, yet, he was too weak, and could only let out warning howls.

About half an hour later, Lu Chu finally stood up. He stared at the patch of soil that he had just dug for a while, then turned and led the man out of this dense forest.

The breeze blew through the forest, and some leaves fell, falling upon the small mound that Lu Chu had just dug.

If humans could still be considered to have morals, and have a conscience that wasn’t destroyed, then a hungry animal, other than those extremely loyal ones, the rest would no longer be constrained as they started to ‘hunt’.

All living creatures had the instinct to survive, and human beings weren’t the only species that had that right.

—–

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And the thing that surprised Lu Chu the most was that these animals, unlike the humans who had lost some senses and were wandering around, aimless and ignorant, these animals had both their sight and hearing, and they could even be considered as extremely sensitive.

What this implied was obvious.

It only took him seconds to reach this conclusions, and Lu Chu immediately responded by pulling the man forward as they ran.

He led the man around the lake in the park.

A carp jumped out of the water and made a crisp splash, and suddenly, Lu Chu said, “I buried Carrot.”

The man didn’t know and couldn’t tell, and this gave Lu Chu the confidence to speak.

“Since I could remember, this is probably the second time that I hated the fact that I couldn’t see. The first time was when my parents passed away.” Lu Chu said, just like he was talking to himself, “I’m not afraid of being criticised, nor am I afraid of encountering difficulties in my life, but because I can’t see, so I can’t see those beings important to me, can’t protect them during dangerous times, and I couldn’t even tell if they’re in pain or sad.”

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And he couldn’t even ‘see’ them one last time.

Having said till there, Lu Chu raised his head, and tried to hold back the painful wetness in the corner of his eyes. Then, he tried his best to lift up the corner of his lips to reveal a small and bitter smile, “but I still have to smile.”

— In a while, we’ll have to cross the overhead bridge. There’s a lot of steps, so hold onto me, and we’ll hold onto the railings as we make our way up.

Because he promised them, that he needed to live on.

No, Lu Chu shook his head. They really were just sick.

When a person came into this world, perhaps they had to go through such a process, of gaining everything and losing everything, before leaving with a clean slate Although they would be alone at the start and in the end, but the process of living was important.

The man nodded, then immediately reacted to what he did and didn’t make any noise as he wrote an ‘okay’ in Lu Chu’s palm.

Lu Chu used the back of the hand that was holding his walking stick to touched his clothes that were stained with Carrot’s blood, arranged his chaotic thoughts, then led the man out of the park’s exit.

Whether they couldn’t see, or couldn’t hear, it was just a disease. It took away a necessary part of life, but it didn’t take away their human intelligence or wisdom.

By this time, it was slightly pass four in the afternoon, and as long as they didn’t encounter any accidents while passing by the villas, they would be able to enter the tower before dark.

Holding the man’s hand, Lu Chu continued forward.

Their journey was unbelievably smooth, and soon, they reached the tower.

Lu Chu had always heard about the various rumours that surrounded the tower from the town’s inhabitants. The people in this town seemed to hold the tower in some sort of silent and solemn awe, and other than telling their children not to approach it, they didn’t talk about it. Thus, Lu Chu never had the opportunity to understand more about this tower.

see this? it’s a scrambled text.

When they arrived at their destination, Lu Chu skilfully wrote in the man’s palm.

— We’ve arrived at the tower, but I don’t exactly know where the entrance to the tower is.

The man paused for a while, then said, “when it gets dark, we can enter.”

— Okay.

The process of waiting passed by very fast, and because he couldn’t see, Lu Chu didn’t exactly know when the sky would turn dark, and could only judge the time based on the alarm clock. At about 6:30, he signalled to the man that it was almost time.

Lu Chu gripped the hand of the man next to him, then bent down and reached his hand out. Seeing this, Carrot gave a low bark, and nudged his back towards Lu Chu’s hand. Lu Chu smiled and ruffled his neck, then said softly, “it’ll all pass.”

This time, the man was the one leading him, and just as they slowly went around the side of the tower, the man stopped at a certain spot, “this is the entrance.”

They didn’t encounter any unexpected situations when they walked through this street. Not to mention ‘senseless people’, they didn’t even encounter much obstacles. It seemed that the people who had gathered at the crossroads were just wandering along the streets, then became a small group when they couldn’t move forward due to the blocked road.

Immediately after that, before Lu Chu could even respond, he was pulled forward by the man who had did something he didn’t know.

There weren’t many people living in this town, and with such a thing happening, most people still retained their rationality, and chose to avoid the outside by staying at home, and occasionally, they would come out to find food.

Vaguely, Lu Chu heard the man said, “we’ve entered.”

Then, a heavy sense of discomfort and suffocation loomed over him, and in the dark, there seemed to be something repelling his very existence.

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But the thing that caused Lu Chu to be the most surprised wasn’t this strange feeling, but–

Lu Chu stretched out his hand in front of him, waving it from side to side a few times, then squinted, and tried to resist the dizziness.

He seemed to have…… seen light.

The translator has this to add:

Three guesses as to what happens next, first two don’t count.