socalfunplaces Chapter 1363 The Moment of Awakening
Chapter 1363 The Moment of Awakening
It was still that familiar pasture, still the unique scent of grass and sunshine in Nata mornings. The warm morning light still streamed through the bedroom window, slanting across the bed and landing on Ying's cheeks, so gentle it was almost unbelievable.
At this moment, only one night had passed since Shao Yun and Kong finished devising their plan to sneak into winter and obtain ice elemental power.
After experiencing two completely different yet equally clear "dream revelations," Ying slowly opened her eyes.
Even though the sunlight touching her skin was clearly warm, Ying felt cold all over, as if she had been thrown into an ice cellar. The chill spread from her bones, making her limbs stiff and her whole body tremble.
She stared blankly at the ceiling, her eyes filled with fear and unease. What on earth was going on?
Is this an endless nightmare...? Has she reloaded her save file again and returned to the past?
In her mind, two completely different memories were colliding and tearing at her nerves.
One scene depicts her watching helplessly as her husband commits suicide in front of her, and her daughter being taken away by Mavica, renamed "Mengjia," and no longer recognizing her.
Shen He and Ning Guang are gone, and her brother no longer loves her; they're only superficially together... She has nothing left...
Another part is about how she drove her brother Kong to his death, and how she, burdened by guilt, barely maintained a false sense of stability on the ranch with Shao Yun, Shen He, and Ning Guang, watching everyone else sink deeper into despair.
Both memories were incredibly clear, every detail vivid in her mind, yet they conflicted and contradicted each other, as if two completely different lives had been forcibly crammed into her mind.
Ying felt a throbbing pain in her temples, a splitting headache, and was on the verge of a mental breakdown.
She sat up abruptly, her back slamming against the cold headboard. She clutched her head tightly with both hands, her fingertips gripping her blonde hair, trying to ease the tearing pain.
"Am I awake or am I dreaming...?"
Ying's voice trembled violently, choked with sobs, as she cried out in despair, tears welling up in her eyes and sliding down her cheeks, dripping onto the blanket.
"Someone please save me, what's wrong with me... why is this happening..."
In her despair, a terrible thought gradually took root in her mind: perhaps only death could end this endless torment and chaos.
She slowly raised her hand, silently contemplating suicide.
Perhaps this is still just a dream? Or should we give it a try?
Meanwhile, in the kitchen on the first floor, Shao Yun waited and waited, but Ying never came downstairs to eat breakfast.
According to past habits, Ying should wake up at about the same time as me... She went to bed earlier than me last night, so why is she waking up so late today?
So, Shao Yun put down the tableware in her hand, slowly walked up the stairs to the second floor, arrived at the bedroom door, and gently pushed open the door.
What came into view was Ying, who had already woken up but was leaning against the headboard in a daze.
Her eyes were empty, her cheeks still wet with tears, her expression numb and desperate, as if her soul had been ripped away. She didn't even notice him pushing the door open and coming in.
Shao Yun frowned, his doubts growing: He was already awake, so why was he still lying in bed and not getting up, washing up, or getting ready to eat?
He smiled helplessly, snapped his fingers crisply, and gently reminded her, "Wife, get up and eat. The sun's already high in the sky."
The familiar call made Ying stiffen. She slowly raised her head, her empty eyes struggling to focus on Shao Yun, her gaze filled with confusion, as if she were seeing him for the first time.
The Shao Yun before her was completely different from the depraved and violent devil she remembered.
As Ying looked at Shao Yun, who was pushing open the door and speaking gently, a twisted and dark past flashed through her mind.
On those nights, Shao Yun would go out with a gloomy aura, saying "hunting" under his breath. When he returned, there would always be a fearful girl behind him. He would then take her into the basement, close the door that blocked out the light, and do unspeakable things.
That memory was so vivid, so vivid, that it sent a chill down her spine. Almost instinctively, she blurted out, "Honey, didn't you go 'hunting' last night?"
Upon hearing the word "hunting," Shao Yun's smile froze instantly, followed by a blank expression, completely failing to grasp the deeper meaning behind Ying's words.
In his mind, "hunting" meant hunting in the wild around the ranch to supplement the family's meat supply.
After all, Nata is a vast and resource-rich land, with plenty of strong and healthy prey such as deer and wild boar, so there's no need to spend money on meat every day. (After all, the little finches are bigger than cranes...)
Besides, I already have the Apocalypse Horse "Plague" anyway, so I won't get sick from eating it, and most of it is cured meat, so it's unlikely to cause any problems...
He subconsciously touched his chin and casually replied, "Hunting? Are we short of meat?"
As he spoke, he was thinking to himself that if they were really short of meat, he would go for a walk in the wild in the afternoon and see if there were any other game to hunt, which he could pickle and eat for a long time.
But when Shao Yun said these words as if they were perfectly reasonable, Ying's heart sank instantly.
She looked at Shao Yun, who had an innocent expression, her eyes slightly reddening, her voice pleading and trembling.
In her memory, Shao Yun's "hunting" was never hunting, but hunting innocent girls, locking them in the basement after he caught them, and letting him vent his desires at will.
“It’s not that we’re short of meat…” Ying’s voice choked up as she continued, “It’s about those girls locked in the basement… I… I know I’m sorry to you, sorry to my brother, but please don’t go too far, okay?”
Those figures locked in the basement, those suppressed cries, pierced her heart like needles; even now, recalling them makes her breathless.
Upon hearing this, Shao Yun immediately lost his composure. The blankness on his face was instantly replaced by shock, and his voice involuntarily rose.
"Hey, hey, hey! Ying, don't scare me! What do you mean by a girl locked in a basement?"
He waved his hands frantically, took several steps back in fright, his eyes filled with panic and confusion.
"Our basement is just for storing odds and ends, food, and cured meat. How did it become a place to imprison people? It makes our house seem like a hellhole! Don't scare me!"
He paused, then quickly added, "Although Ningguang has lived in a basement before, that was of her own free will. When have I ever locked her up?"
"Besides, how could I possibly grab a girl and lock her up? Are you still half asleep, having a nightmare?"
Seeing Ying's pained expression, Shao Yun felt anxious and flustered, completely unable to understand why she would say such outrageous things.
Shao Yun's flustered explanations still lingered in her ears, but a more distant and piercing memory suddenly flashed through Ying's mind.
It was a scene filled with blood. Shao Yun lay in a pool of blood, lifeless. She looked at his cold body, her heart breaking with grief.
That memory was so vivid, so vivid, that it sent a shiver down her spine. Completely disregarding Shao Yun's panic, she blurted out something shocking.
"Wait, aren't you dead?"
These words startled Shao Yun, whose panic instantly turned into a state of utter despair, leaving her completely numb.
Early in the morning, his wife first said he had kidnapped a young girl and locked her in the basement, and now she was saying for no reason that he was dead. This string of nonsense made his scalp tingle.
"Wife, don't scare me!" Shao Yun's voice changed with anxiety. He took two quick steps forward, but dared not touch her easily, for fear of upsetting her.
"This is no laughing matter! I'm standing right here, perfectly alive and well, how could I be dead? Are you still half asleep, having a series of nightmares?"
Looking at Ying's incoherent state, he felt anxious and pained, but he was completely clueless and had no idea what was wrong with her.
Ying was completely disoriented at this moment. Her memories were a jumbled mess, a mixture of past despair, present confusion, and false nightmares. She could hardly distinguish between reality and dreams anymore.
She desperately wants to see her brother Kong, to confirm whether he is really still alive, even if it's just a dream, she wants to see it with her own eyes.
Ignoring Shao Yun's urgency, she scanned the room with a vacant look, and asked again in a stubborn tone:
"Where is my brother? I need to see my brother!"
Seeing that Ying had suddenly changed the subject and wanted to see Kong, Shao Yun, though still puzzled, dared not be negligent lest she upset her further, and quickly nodded in agreement:
"Your brother? He's here, he's eating in the kitchen downstairs! Oh, I'll go get him right now, don't worry!"
After saying that, Shao Yun didn't dare to linger. He turned and ran towards the stairwell, shouting loudly towards the kitchen on the first floor as he ran:
"Brother-in-law! Brother-in-law! Your sister wants you to come up here right now, she doesn't seem to be feeling well!"
His voice carried a hint of urgency, as if he was afraid that if Kong was too slow, Ying would say something outrageous or do something foolish.
At this moment, in the kitchen on the first floor, Kong was sitting at the dining table, eating steamed buns and drinking milk oatmeal porridge with great relish.
Yesterday, he finalized the plan with Shao Yun to smuggle himself into the country to winter. A huge weight was lifted off his shoulders, and he had an exceptionally good appetite this morning.
Suddenly hearing Shao Yun's urgent call, saying that his sister wasn't feeling well, his heart tightened. He quickly swallowed the unchewed steamed bun in his mouth, wiped his mouth, and hurriedly ran upstairs.
She rushed up the stairs in two strides, and the moment she pushed open the bedroom door, her gaze fell on Ying, who was leaning against the headboard.
His anxious expression instantly transformed into gentle attentiveness. He quickly stepped forward and asked softly, "What's wrong, little sister? Are you feeling unwell? Your brother is here. Tell me what's wrong!"
As he spoke, he reached out to touch Ying's forehead to see if she had a fever.
Looking at her vibrant brother, at the face she thought she would never see again, all her strength and pretense crumbled instantly, and tears streamed down her face like a torrential downpour.
She choked back tears, opened her arms wide, her voice soft and filled with extreme grievance, and reached out her hands towards the empty air.
"Brother, hug me~"
Seeing his younger sister's tearful eyes and eager request for a hug, Kong's heart melted instantly. He grinned, his eyes filled with doting affection and pride.
It's quite rare to see a sister who usually calls herself "stinky older brother" acting so cute and asking for a hug!
He temporarily forgot the deep pain and confusion in Ying's eyes, and strode triumphantly to the bedside. He bent down and hugged Ying tightly, gently patting her back, and said in a tender yet domineering tone:
"Brother's here, little sister, don't worry, brother's here. Tell brother who bullied you, and brother will get revenge for you!"
Shao Yun, who was standing to the side, froze instantly when he saw the two embracing.
He knew they were siblings bound by blood, but he was still incredibly jealous! It made his teeth itch with jealousy.
"Hmph, you brat brother-in-law, why are you hugging me so tightly!"
He silently made up his mind: "Hmm, she's angry. I'll ask Ying for a second child tonight, let's see if she's still so smug!"