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墨書 Inktalez
The autumn sunlight gently floated on the stream, reflecting scattered spots of light. It also fell on the sleeping man, allowing him to feel a bit of warmth. Xu Yicheng slowly regained consciousness. "What happened...?" He opened his eyes and raised his arm to shield himself from the blinding sun. Memories quickly surged back like a tide.
He recalled almost falling into a mudslide and then being hit by a rock... Not far away, he heard the crackling sound of firewood. Xu Yicheng caught a whiff of grilled fish. He touched his empty stomach, wondering which hermit had saved him.
He got up and was instantly stunned. On the burning pile of firewood, several skewers of grilled fish were cooking. Standing by the stream was a giant over four meters tall! His body was intertwined with dark green and light gray, with blue stripes running across him like veins. He stood silently by the riverbank, perfectly still, resembling a living statue.
Xu Yicheng thought this must be a statue placed at the entrance of some village and approached to touch it. To his shock, the stone statue suddenly reached out its hand into the water and caught a fish.
"Oh my god!" Xu Yicheng exclaimed, sitting down in fright and retreating repeatedly. The Stone Giant was startled as well; he turned sharply to look at Xu Yicheng, recognized him, and knelt down beside him, curiously examining him. Xu Yicheng's heart raced in his chest like a bouncing ball, and he felt sweat pooling in his palms.
"What kind of monster is this? It won't eat me, will it?" Xu Yicheng thought as his fearful gaze met that of the Stone Giant. The Stone Giant extended a finger, and Xu Yicheng thought he was about to strike; he tightly closed his eyes...
Instead, the Stone Giant merely poked him gently on the forehead twice. Xu Yicheng opened his eyes to find the Stone Giant tentatively poking his forehead again. He touched his head and discovered that his wound had been wrapped in cloth.
He glanced down at his torn clothing and then looked at the Stone Giant, asking, "Did you save me?" The Stone Giant nodded.
"You can understand what I'm saying?" The Stone Giant nodded again.
Xu Yicheng couldn't believe his eyes: could there really be a race as advanced as humans in this world, or perhaps even more advanced? The Stone Giant seemed a bit embarrassed; he looked around before getting up to grab a skewer of grilled fish from the fire and handed it to Xu Yicheng.
Xu Yicheng couldn't help but chuckle: one side of the fish was already burnt. At first, he hesitated to take a bite, studying the grilled fish until he saw the Stone Giant's eager expression; feeling embarrassed to refuse, he took a big bite.
Ignoring any fish bones, he stuffed the fish meat into his mouth due to hunger. The Stone Giant squatted beside him watching him eat. Suddenly, Xu Yicheng got choked on a fish bone and began coughing uncontrollably. Seeing this, the Stone Giant immediately slapped Xu Yicheng's back with one hand. Xu Yicheng felt as if he had been struck by a master of martial arts and nearly spat out the meat in his mouth.
But coincidentally, that fish bone was indeed dislodged by the slap. After catching his breath, Xu Yicheng said, "Regardless of everything, I have to thank you. You've saved me twice now. Do you have a name?" The Stone Giant paused for a moment before shaking his head.
"Um..." Xu Yicheng rested his chin on his hand. "Let me think, how do you say 'kind and friendly' in English... Calling you Aimerbo seems a bit too long. Let's just call you Aibo, shall we? What do you think?"
The Stone Giant tilted its head and surprisingly clapped its hands. Xu Yicheng's guard gradually lowered. He smiled cautiously, "So it's settled then?" Aibo nodded affirmatively.
At this moment, it was already dusk. Aibo glanced at the sky, pointed into the distance, and patted its chest.
"Trust you, follow you?" Xu Yicheng asked.
Aibo nodded.
Reluctantly, Xu Yicheng stood up. There was no choice; in this remote wilderness, even if he died, no one would know. He could only trust Aibo for now. Xu Yicheng followed Aibo deep into the forest.
The autumn forest is the most beautiful, especially at sunset. The Autumn Water shimmered, frost had turned the leaves yellow, and shadows danced on the shy face of autumn fruit. The fiery red sun hung high atop the pine trees, heavy as if it would fall to the ground at any moment. Xu Yicheng raised his hand to outline the sun's silhouette when suddenly he bumped into something hard. Coming to his senses, he realized he had bumped into Aibo's leg. Aibo had stopped to look at him.
"Ah, I think this sunset is quite beautiful," Xu Yicheng said. Aibo actually smiled, looking somewhat cute when it did. It also looked at the sun on the horizon and continued leading Xu Yicheng on their journey.
Xu Yicheng carefully observed Aibo from behind, a multitude of questions swirling in his mind. He stepped forward and asked Aibo, "Do you have companions? Uh, or how were you born into this world? Do you have parents? What do you eat?"
A barrage of questions was thrown at Aibo. Aibo paused and gently waved its hand; instantly, the flowers, grass, and trees around Xu Yicheng transformed into a tranquil blue ocean. Xu Yicheng was astonished to find himself standing on this sea.
Soon, images began to appear on the ocean's surface like a flipbook, each one passing by quickly. Xu Yicheng saw that in ancient times, several aliens arrived on Earth in a spaceship. One of them pointed a magic wand at a pile of stones, which then formed the first Stone Man.
"Wait, is that you?" Xu Yicheng asked curiously. But Aibo shook its head and surprisingly spoke a sentence in a language Xu Yicheng couldn't understand.
"You can talk?! I thought... Why didn't you speak up sooner?" Xu Yicheng exclaimed with surprise.
The surprising images continued as he heard the leader of those beings say: "Every three hundred thousand years, you have the power to give life to any object."
Then came scene after scene of three hundred thousand years passing by; more and more Stone Giants appeared in the images as Yuan Zun led these Stone Giants through mountains and rivers until they finally hid beneath rocks and never emerged again.
It wasn't until nine hundred thousand years ago that Yuan Zun pointed his wand at some green stones by a stream.
Aibo pointed at that pile of stones.
"This is your birth?" Xu Yicheng asked. Aibo nodded. "Then what about your companions?" Xu Yicheng inquired again.
Aibo's expression suddenly turned sad. It withdrew the illusion and began drawing on the ground with a thick branch. "Why aren't you using the illusion anymore?" Xu Yicheng wondered but kept his thoughts to himself; he respected Aibo's choice.
Aibo's drawing skills were impressive; it seemed like it had practiced specifically for this. In the drawing, Aibo snuck away from Yuan Zun with a wand. "That is the wand that gave you life, right?" Xu Yicheng asked. Aibo didn't respond but continued drawing.
Aibo was so focused on its artwork that it didn't notice Xu Yicheng curiously observing it.
Xu Yicheng felt a sense of closeness to this giant. Its patience and gentleness provided him with a profound sense of security in this desolate wilderness from another time. His hazy vision gradually cleared up; he noticed Aibo was looking at him and tapped his head as if thinking that was how humans slept.
"Oh, sorry." Xu Yicheng snapped back to reality and looked down at Aibo's drawing. In the picture, Aibo pointed its wand at a rock wall. A new giant appeared.
However, this giant seemed a bit different—he had four arms. Aibo showed him the third painting. In the painting, Aibo was expelled from the camp by Yuan Zun, and from then on, Aibo lived alone. However, Aibo did not go far; he stayed nearby.
"Hey, look at you, what a foolish thing you did to get kicked out by your boss," Xu Yicheng said kindly, patting Aibo's thigh. Aibo put on a nonchalant expression.
"So, you're alone now? No one is with you?" Xu Yicheng asked.
Aibo seemed a bit sad and nodded. Suddenly, he pointed at Xu Yicheng, then pointed at himself, and brought his hands together.
"What do you mean? You don't expect me to stay with you all the time, do you? But... I have my own life and home; I will have to go back one day."
At this point, Aibo looked completely dejected. He slowly lowered his head and continued to lead Xu Yicheng on their journey.
"This is pronounced 'a.' Let's say it together, 'a'..."
In the following days, Xu Yicheng went hunting and playing with Aibo during the day and taught him some Chinese at night. Aibo was very smart; he learned quickly and soon could speak some simple sentences.
During the days spent with Aibo, Xu Yicheng felt an unprecedented sense of ease—no complicated relationships, no annoying school assignments, and every day was free. However, Xu Yicheng was still human, and thoughts of returning home never faded.
One day while hunting, Xu Yicheng happened to find a path deep in the mountains that seemed to lead back to human society. After thinking for a long time, he finally spoke to Aibo and said his goodbyes.
Aibo did not stop him; instead, he handed him a small stone covered in moss that looked just like the one on Aibo's body.
Aibo struggled to explain to Xu Yicheng that this small stone could summon him; if necessary, just squeeze the stone tightly and think of Aibo.
"Let's consider this a keepsake," Xu Yicheng thought. He probably wouldn't dare summon Aibo once he returned to society but accepted the stone nonetheless.
Xu Yicheng hugged Aibo's thigh and left Aibo's underground camp, embarking on his journey home.
Aibo watched his departing figure with some reluctance. After all, this was someone he had saved and had spent some time with.
Aibo sat in the camp hesitating for a long time before finally standing up and walking along the small path as well.
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