“Woof! Woof woof! Woof!” The vicious barking of dogs outside the car was relentless.
Inside the car, Lu Chu wiped his face with a blank expression and retied the rope connecting him to the man around his wrist.
Lu Chu hadn’t brought many things with him, but they were all practical, like the clock from his home that announced the time. He pulled out the clock and pressed a button. It announced the time: “2:56 PM.”
The man had said they needed to reach the central tower of the town by dusk, around 6:30 PM. They had less time left than he realized. Conservatively, it would take them about two hours to cover the remaining distance without any obstacles. The route was relatively straightforward: they needed to follow this road to the end, then turn left onto the next street, and finally, pass through a park with a small artificial lake, winding stone paths through quiet woods, and recreational facilities. Once through the park, they would see scattered single-family houses with yards. This small cluster of houses formed a circle, and in the center was a large open space with the high tower standing tall.
After about ten minutes, the vicious dogs outside dispersed and soon vanished completely. If they had stayed longer, Lu Chu would have considered getting out of the car to kill them, despite the extreme danger and the risk of being bitten.
After listening carefully for a moment and confirming the dogs were gone, Lu Chu put on his backpack again. He then used some clothes he found in the car to fashion a sling-like carrier to hold Radish securely in his arms.
After checking his gear one last time, Lu Chu signaled to the man that it was time to leave.
Opening the car door, Lu Chu carefully helped the man out, and they quickly and quietly moved to the side of the road, hugging the edge as they walked.
Throughout the journey, Lu Chu remained vigilant, constantly listening to his surroundings for any signs of danger. Luckily, due to the sparse population of the town and the fact that it was a weekday when the sensory loss event occurred, they encountered very few other people who had lost their senses. Their path to the park was smooth and uneventful.
Upon reaching the park, Lu Chu led the man to a small grove of trees and found a quiet corner where he crouched down.
The man, known as “7,” was naturally reticent and had become even more silent after losing his senses. He followed Lu Chu’s every move without question. Even now, he didn’t ask why Lu Chu had stopped in such a dangerous situation but instead stood quietly to the side, gently touching the rope connecting them with unexpected tenderness.
“Rustle, rustle—rustle, rustle—”
The sound of digging soil broke the silence of the grove, steady and rhythmic. After a while, there was the sound of covering soil.
About half an hour later, Lu Chu finally stood up. He faced the direction where he had been digging for a moment, then turned and took the man’s hand, leading him out of the dense woods.
A gentle breeze blew, causing leaves to fall from the trees, some landing on the small mound of soil Lu Chu had just created.
——————
They walked around the lake in the park.
In the lake, carp occasionally leaped out of the water with crisp splashes. Suddenly, Lu Chu spoke, “I buried Radish.”
The man remained unaware, which somehow made Lu Chu feel more at ease to express himself.
“This is probably the second time in my life I’ve hated being ‘blind,'” Lu Chu murmured as if talking to himself. “The first time was when my parents passed away. I don’t fear the judgments or the hardships in life that come with it; what I fear is not being able to see the important people in my life, not being able to protect them in the most dangerous moments, and not even knowing their pain and sorrow.”
He couldn’t even see them for the last time.
Lu Chu tilted his head back, suppressing the wetness in his eyes. He forced a bittersweet smile, “But I still have to smile.”
Because he had promised them to live well.
Perhaps coming into this world means experiencing the process of gaining everything and then losing everything, only to leave as clean as one came. Even though both the beginning and the end are solitary, the process of living is so important.
Lu Chu used the back of the hand holding the cane to touch the blood-stained clothes on his chest, collected his scattered thoughts, and led the man out of the park.
It was a little after 4 PM now. As long as they didn’t encounter any unexpected incidents while passing through the houses, they could reach the tower before nightfall.
Lu Chu continued forward, holding the man’s hand.
The journey went surprisingly smoothly, and soon they arrived at the base of the tower.
Lu Chu had heard various legends about the tower from the town’s residents. There seemed to be a silent reverence for the tower, and apart from warning children not to approach it lightly, it was rarely mentioned. Thus, Lu Chu never had a chance to learn more about it. Upon arriving at the destination, he quickly wrote in the man’s palm.
—We’re at the tower, but I don’t know where the entrance is.
The man paused visibly, then said, “We can enter when it gets dark.”
—Okay.
The waiting period passed quickly. Unable to see, Lu Chu couldn’t tell when it was getting dark, relying instead on the clock to estimate the time. Around 6:30 PM, he indicated to the man that it was about time.
This time, the man led him. As they slowly moved along the edge of the tower, the man suddenly stopped, “This is the entrance.”
Before Lu Chu could react, the man pulled him forward, causing him to stumble a step.
In a daze, Lu Chu heard the man say, “We’re inside.”
Then a strong sense of suffocation and discomfort enveloped him, as if something was rejecting his presence in the dim and obscure environment.
But what shocked Lu Chu the most wasn’t this strange feeling. Instead—
Lu Chu reached out and waved his hand slightly in front of him. Squinting, he forced himself to endure the dizziness.
He seemed to… see light.
