Wounds and Trauma

"I just hope that my father will also return soon" said Ao Nan after a moment of silence that filled this living room, while Wu Liang himself landed his gaze on Ao Nan in front of him.

The two of them finished this board game in a heart-piercing silence, naturally both of them felt sad, especially Ao Nan who was thinking hard about his father who was on duty on this extreme weather day.

*****

The third border forest.

"Huhh huhh, hfff, Hei Xing he's been out there for too long" said uncle Bei Shen after catching his breath.

Everyone paused for a moment, all of them thinking very intently about the next plan, but under the harsh pressure of nature, they all finally agreed with each other to continue on their way, but also because they felt sorry and sympathized with uncle Cang Yan's condition.

The cold wind from the direction of the mountain, passing them from the opposite direction, enveloped the forest, through flesh and bones, stirring the heart, the atmosphere was getting darker, but it was still clear to see with the dim light, occasional lightning strikes made flashes of light showing their surroundings empty without any other animals.

The muddy road hampered their running, worried about slipping, they slowed down their pace, especially uncle Bei Shen who was carrying uncle Cang Yan who began to shiver frequently.

"U-uhh Beeii Shenn..." uncle Cang Yan said softly, but uncle Bei Shen couldn't hear him because the sound of the wind mixed with the light rain and the sound of their footsteps passing through the soft road.

They ran dozens of steps, unlike before, they could reach over 100 steps in dozens of breaths, but under the pressure of the conditions, even they could only run less than 100 breaths.

The light rain drenched their entire bodies, making their bodies even heavier, but this was also an advantage, it made the odor on their bodies gradually fade and disappear.

The five of them's long hair was completely disheveled and dirty, and so were their legs and pants, covered in patches of mud stains from the dirt of this path.

Time passed and they came to the center of the forest bordering the third layer.

Not far from here was a small hunting lodge for resting, so the five of them headed towards this place.

"hahh... Huff It's a good thing, let's quickly restore your energy" Uncle Bei Shen said while taking a hasty breath, while Uncle Cang Yan was made to sit leaning against one of the small poles in the hut.

"Hei Xing where is he..." just as uncle Feng Ge spoke, faintly from the sound of light rain and tree leaves rubbing together, someone's shout could be heard softly.

"UNCLES!!!" the voice shouted.

"Hei Xing, it's him!" said Hong Ling's uncle after realizing the voice belonged to Hei Xing.

"Are you sure? It could be a voice-mimicking mole" said uncle Yong Chun suspiciously while looking at the faint voice he heard.

"Hey, look over there, it's really Hei Xing" replied uncle Feng Ge who saw Hei Xing at the edge of his eyes, on the path that was amongst the dense undergrowth.

The five of them waited for Hei Xing's arrival at this hunting lodge, while uncle Yong Chun, Feng Ge and Hong Ling took their seats on the porch of this fairly small hunting lodge.

"U-uncle, something very serious has come out" Hei Xing said breathlessly and hurriedly.

"You better catch your breath first, good... now that you have, okay, what is it?" asked Uncle Bei Shen as he stood up to greet Hei Xing and held his right shoulder, while the other uncles sat listening, and Uncle Cang Yan only glanced at his weak eyes while slightly turning his head towards Hei Xing.

"That, that animal, the Golden saw centipede it came out of from his hiding" Hei Xing said nervously.

"Oh my, are you really serious?" asked uncle Yong Chun with shock and a look of anger and fear.

"I'm serious uncle, otherwise I wouldn't be like this, I think I'm safe now" replied Hei Xing with a look of worry and relief mixed on his face.

"What do you mean?" asked uncle Feng Ge.

"I accidentally met him, the Golden saw centipede passed not far in front of the path near here earlier, then he found me, he chased me at first, and I also ran towards uncle, but I thought about your safety, so I was desperate to go off the path, and deep into the forest" said Hei Xing, for ordinary people, it would be difficult if they had to walk outside the designated path, but we now being discussed was the border pine forest.

For ordinary people like this group, going in there is like finding death, and you need to be careful and knowledgeable enough to avoid fatal mistakes.

Various vegetation, strange, strong, and poisonous animals, everything is here, in its own place with its own uniqueness, such as the silverback fur bear, they are unique because of their habits during hibernation, the male will gather many females to accompany him through the snowy cold period.

"Why isn't he chasing you anymore?" asked Uncle Bei Shen as he watched and tended to Uncle Cang Yan on his left.

"I don't know clearly, he suddenly had the luck to head toward me, and he kept walking toward the end of the road," Hei Xing replied.

"He's heading towards Ao Qi's group" Hong Ling's uncle added.

"Gosh, what an worst day" cursed Uncle Yong Chun who was on the other side of the pole of the hunting lodge as he crossed his legs and hugged his spear which was touching the ground.

Everyone contemplated for a while under the extreme weather, sometimes thunder boomed, striking and cutting off their conversation, the light rainfall almost soaked all parts of their bodies.

Uncle Bei Shen took off his outer garment, the blue loose-sleeved shirt, then asked the others to take off theirs as well, then he used the bundle of clothes to add a layer on Uncle Cang Yan, covering his missing limbs, and also covering his whole body to be slightly protected from the piercing cold mixed with the slightly strong wind, although their clothes were wet, but it still had an effect on Uncle Cang Yan who was sitting helplessly.

"Alright, everything is prepared, let's move on" Uncle Bei Shen said, and after he stood up and carried Uncle Cang Yan behind him, the other uncles and Hei Xing followed him back to the village.

*****

Uncle Ao Qi's group now.

"Gosh, it's so hard to run in this condition" said Hei Tai complaining while carrying Su Meng's uncle on his back, his strong body was able to support Su Meng's body without much problem, it's just that his energy expenditure increased and drained a lot of his strength.

"Hei Tai just stay focused, the bears have noticed us and we are being chased, surely you don't want to be eaten alive and die young right?" said uncle Ao Qi.

The cold wind smelling of moist forest soil waved the long hair of uncle Ao Qi and uncle Su Meng, while Hei Tai, his short hair was slightly bald.

("Gosh, I've become such a burden") Uncle Su Meng said with a gloomy expression on his face.

The bears behind were chasing after them with a murderous vibe, free food was in front fo you so why refuse, especially since we needed to collect the food as much as possible.

The longer Uncle Ao Qi and Hei Tai ran, the slower they moved, the muddy road greatly hindered their footsteps, the muddy ground occasionally trapped their wooden footwear, making the interval between the right foot and the left foot disturbed, unlike these bears, especially the male bear, the silverback fur bear, their feet and claws were designed to be able to bulldoze through the entire terrain in the forest without exception, and the conditions that were unfavorable to Uncle Ao Qi's group were turned in favor of the bear group.

The longer it went on, the closer they got, death right behind, like a train that couldn't stop as it sped along the tracks, with coal steam billowing thickly out of its funnel, and so it was with the bears behind them, the females occasionally roaring to encourage their large group.

But from the shadow of the bushes some distance ahead on their right, there was a massive movement of swaying bushes and pine trees.

"Gosh what is that again" said uncle Su Meng who noticed something strange, he pointed towards that place.

Uncle Ao Qi and Hei Tai didn't answer but only glanced over while running fast, hoping that this nightmare would end soon.

The farther they ran, the closer they got to that strange thing, slowly revealing the shadow of an insect, more precisely it was a huge Golden saw centipede, as big as Hei Tai's body width.

The crackling sound of each segment rubbing together, the simultaneous and orderly thousand footsteps, brought the body of a black centipede with golden patterns on the sides of its body and head, its teeth jagged and neatly arranged like a saw.

("Is this my end?") Uncle Su Meng thought, while Uncle Ao Qi and Hei Tai only wore expressions of annoyance, anger and fear simultaneously.

Without saying much, they continued running, the three of them agreeing on something real and their fate now, to die poisoned and cut by the Golden saw centipede heading their way, or to die torn to shreds and torn apart by a large group of bears behind.

"Uncle, should we keep running, that thing is getting closer fast" said Hei Tai with a limp as while keeping up his running strength, he glanced at the golden chainsaw centipede that was getting not far away from them now, in front of their right, walking into the road they were walking on, Hei Tai felt a deep horror and his body got goosebumps, very goosebumps when he saw the sharp segmented legs that hit the ground, leaving clear and large visible traces.

Uncle Ao Qi was silent and unresponsive, his face serious as he assessed the situation, looking to see if there was even the slightest chance of surviving this deathly situation.

("This is the worst day of my entire life, but I still have to do my best, I am a good father, and a fully responsible person, I must be able to bring the two of them out of this situation") Uncle Ao Qi thought.

Hei Tai ran and slowly decreased his running speed, then a moment later uncle Ao Qi patted Hei Tai's back so as not to slow down his running speed, less than a hundred steps later, the golden saw centipede was right in front of them, beside the path where they ran, Hei Tai who could not think any further just continued to run with all his legs his breath was almost exhausted, uncle Su Meng behind him just resigned, because he was the slowest here.

("There is no hope now, this is the end, huhh.. that?") said uncle Ao Qi in his heart.