Escape the Infinite Chambers Chapter 146 - The Corridor of Time (II)

Chapter 146 - The Corridor of Time (II)

Bonus chapter (1/1)–Thank you so much Kitty & lorenzo86
Editor: Kitty
Luo Jian stayed in the old house until evening. His grandma came back from the market with a basket of vegetables and cooked a full table of good dishes including a meat dish and a soup dish for the two cousins. For a family that was not rich, it was rare to eat meat. Eating meat may even be considered a luxury for them.
Because those chairs in the countryside were wooden benches that could be sat on by several people, Luo Jian simply sat beside little Luo Jian. He held his red umbrella up and watched the child eat. Luo Jian realized that he was not picky when he was a child and ate everything. He and his big brother would eat all kinds of food. He would swallow all the dishes his grandma and his big brother brought to him.
Luo Jian did not think that he was so obedient when he was a child. He seldom threw tantrums or made a fuss and stayed very quiet. He could not help feeling depressed. Now, he could seldom recall those days. If he did not come here today to see all this, maybe he would not remember that he had such a happy childhood during the span of his life.
After eating, little Luo Jian left a bowl and filled it with some food. This action was quite unusual. His cousin Luo Feng asked him, “What are you doing?”
“I’m saving the food!” Luo Jian had a serious expression.
“For whom?” Luo Feng was surprised.
Luo Jian seemed to be puzzled by this question. He rubbed his head and doubtfully said, “I don’t know.”
Luo Feng could not help laughing: “You don’t know who you’re saving the food for?”
Little Luo Jian was also stubborn and insisted on saving the food. Only later did they find out that Luo Jian was taking the food to feed the little dog outside. After that, little Luo Jian remembered that recently, an old couple had died in the neighborhood. After the funeral was conducted by their children, their children left the village, and the house was locked. There was no one to take care of the old dog that the old couple had. Occasionally, it would go around from household to household during mealtimes. This time, the dog had inched towards Luo Jian’s house’s entrance.
Luo Jian remembered that he liked that dog very much when he was a child. There were many dogs in the countryside. When the dogs grew up in people’s yards, it was especially protective of the owners and caught thieves. At that time, he followed his cousin to pick peaches in other people’s courtyard and was chased two miles by a dog. Luo Jian ran until he was out of breath, was finally carried home by his big brother, and was severely scolded by his grandmother.
Luo Jian followed little Ah Jian out the door and saw him squatting in the dark on the mud road to feed the dog. Although the dog was old, it was very fierce. It was also brought up in this small village. Every time an outsider came to the village, it would bark twice as warning.
This time, it seemed to smell something. It actually barked at Luo Jian, which made Luo Jian a little surprised. Now, he was still carrying a red umbrella…… However, it was also true that a dog’s nose is very sensitive, and there are even rumors that many dogs can feel the presence of spirits, ghosts, and so on. It was not impossible for the dog to detect Luo Jian’s existence.
Next to the dog, little Luo Jian felt confused. The doggy was eating as per normal, but it suddenly barked towards a place where there was no one. He could not help but stretch out his little hands to touch the dog’s head to pacify it: “Be obedient. Don’t bark!”
The old dog did not listen to him. It walked a few steps closer to Luo Jian, continued to bark louder, and put on the appearance of protecting little Luo Jian behind him. Luo Jian, who was standing there, could not help crying and laughing. He stared at the old abode with a gaze that showed that he hated to part with the old abode and his cousin and grandmother, who came to check out the dog’s barking.
Then he spun his umbrella and walked away.
“I have to go somewhere else and wait quietly for the next time I can leap across space and time,” Luo Jian said to himself.
However, after taking two steps, Luo Jian reluctantly turned his head and took a glimpse. The dog came after him. The dog’s eyes, which were as small as beans, glared at him fiercely. It followed him and barked wherever he went. The little kid also followed the dog, causing several families nearby to light up their lamps and gaze outside. Luo Jian even heard their discussions.
“What’s going on? The old Hu family dog kept barking.”
“It’s barking in front of nobody.”
“Would there be a problem? It used to bark when it saw outsiders.”
Old people in the countryside were a little superstitious. When they saw dogs barking at places where no one stood, they naturally thought of things like this. Several young villagers carried old oil lamps as they followed the dog, rendering Luo Jian extremely helpless. He had to pick up on his speed to cast off the old dog.
It was not known if the old dog had a habit of chasing people, but the faster Luo Jian ran, the faster the dog chased. To Luo Jian’s agony, he knew that he could not turn back and angrily wipe the dog out. On the contrary, the speed of the large group of people chasing after the dog was slower. The kids were relatively more flexible, so little Luo Jian was running behind the dog closely and giggled as he smiled.
Was there such an incident in my memories? Or did my arrival affect all this?
Following the muddy path, Luo Jian ran to a small forest and floated along with the wind to the big tree. The dog finally stopped, hesitated, and did not dare to move forward. It seemed that the dog was afraid of the forest. It circled around several times in the grass, then jumped over the fence of a family’s house nearby, and disappeared.
On the contrary, little Luo Jian, who ran after the dog, did not see the old dog. He was still looking left and right, trying to find it.
Among those who followed him, his paternal cousin Luo Feng also came. Because he was worried about his family’s younger brother, he kept calling Ah Jian’s name. It was not known why the little Luo Jian under the tree did not hear his paternal cousin’s voice calling for him to head home obediently. It was not known what the child was thinking, but he even lifted his feet to step into the woods.
And it was deep in the night now. During nighttime, the countryside would appear very dark. In those days, there were few farmers with flashlights. Most of them carried oil lamps. The light emitted by them would not be very bright. Lamps were lit up on the muddy roads, and most of them were from the houses of nearby farmers. However, when one entered the small forest, one could say that they would not be even able to see their five fingers.
Luo Jian did not know what the child thought. Maybe he was curious because he was still young. Even though he was weak, he still looked fearless. Luo Jian watched him walk into the forest, and that caused him to worry. So he floated down from the tree and landed beside the child.
It was too dark in the woods.
In fact, Luo Jian was not afraid of the dark. Anyway, he could see clearly in the dark. He tried to get the child out of the woods so that he would not get hurt or fall in the forest. But what should he do? Maybe he could hypnotize him.
As Luo Jian thought, he placed his hand on the child’s shoulder to prevent him from running around and thereafter swayed his umbrella. With a voice that carried much allure yet caused people’s hearts to startle and gall to tremble, he lowered his voice and said quietly, “Luo Jian, go home.”
But this time, Luo Jian was yet again disappointed. The child was not affected by hypnosis. He even shook his head in the dark and said in a low voice: “Who? Who’s talking?”
It didn’t work again?
Luo Jian thought it was impossible. He had failed to hypnotize Luo Feng once. Although Luo Feng still obeyed his orders in the end, Luo Jian thought that the same kind of failure could not happen to him twice.
Luo Jian tried again. He repeated the sentence and continued to whisper in the child’s ear, “Luo Jian, go home.”
It still didn’t work. The child looked around and began to regret that he had rashly stepped into the woods. Moreover, the child found that he could not move now. He felt as if someone had pressed onto his shoulders, and his whole body became stiff.
Due to fear, the child started struggling. Luo Jian felt the huge strength brought forth when the child struggled, and soon, he quickly found that he could not control this child.
Little Luo Jian broke away from Luo Jian’s oppression! The child ran forward like a horse that ran away as it galloped frenziedly, and he felt terrified because of the darkness of the woods, the strange voice he heard, and the inexplicable feeling of being unable to move. All of these frightened the young child.
He was so scared that he could not even cry. He merely kept running forward. Even if he was hampered by the branches and trunks in the woods, he did not stop running. He fell into a deep pit on the ground. This pit seemed to be a big hole left by someone who had dug a dead tree away, and for a young child, the pit appeared rather deep.
Luo Jian, who remained at the side, did not understand what was going on. He found that his power had no effect on the child. Hypnosis did not work at all, and suppression could only temporarily trap him. However, Luo Jian realized that his ability had not been reduced. Even if this was in the real world in the past, the secret chamber could not suppress the present Luo Jian.
Therefore, Luo Jian should be in his best state now, even if he had changed his body. His physical strength would be weaker because he was still a child now. But after all, this body was carefully prepared by Ying. No matter how weak it was, it could bear the brunt of Luo Jian’s power.
So why? Why didn’t his ability work?
“Because it’s another me?”
Luo Jian talked to himself. He could only think of this reason. His ability had no effect on himself…… No, it should be said that the effect would be weakened because his invisibility was also a kind of hypnosis and that hypnosis had an effect on the child; this was an interesting and horrible discovery.
The child, who had fallen into the tree pit over at the other side, seemed to be crying. Luo Jian went over and found that the pit was a little deep for a small lad. But if an adult were to fall into it, it was not a problem for them to climb out of it.
The child was sitting in the tree pit, and even his cries sounded soft. And he only sobbed. While his tears rolled down, he got up by himself, grabbed the weeds growing in the pit, and climbed up by himself. Some of his skin may have been scratched when he fell down. Luo Jian, who was very sensitive, smelled the faint scent of blood.
But the child was so strong that it was incredible. When he was in peril, he would immediately seek a way out of it, even if he was bleeding and crying.
Luo Jian suddenly realized that the child was himself.
It was his childhood, his past, the original him…… It could even be said that the child was displaying his innate character.
He looked at the little brat, who was half-way climbing out of the pit. But he did not place his foot properly and slipped. At that, Luo Jian could not help sighing. He was the cause of this disaster.
So Luo Jian threw the umbrella in his hand and turned it into a lantern. Someone in the Asura Realm used a lamp as a weapon. What was burning in the lamp was not a real flame but a kind of dark fire which emitted a kind of cold light. But the light of this fire was bright enough.
At least it could light up the surrounding area and the whole tree pit. The child in the pit also saw the sudden glare, but the child got excited as he raised his head with squinting eyes.
Luo Jian swayed the lantern in his hands and said to him, “Do you want me to help you?”
The child actually recognized Luo Jian. He shouted an ‘ah’ and stated, “You are the big brother who was carrying an umbrella!”
Luo Jian gave him a gentle smile and held out his hand to him. The little brat in the pit naturally stretched out his hand. Luo Jian picked him up completely. The child was very light, and it was very easy for Luo Jian to carry him.
As soon as the child climbed out of the hole, he wiped his face vigorously. It seemed that he did not want to let Luo Jian see the tears that were smeared all over his face. This action reminded Luo Jian of certain memories. He remembered that when he was a child, he was always crying because of his illness, but he was also very stubborn. He did not know which little child he played with who had laughed at him and said he was a ‘crybaby,’ but after that, he was not willing to cry in front of others again.
The current Luo Jian had even forgotten such a memory.
On the other side of the forest, Luo Feng had been carrying a lamp all the way here to find little Luo Jian, and he had been shouting Ah Jian’s name all this time.
Luo Jian regained his senses and lowered his head to look at little Luo Jian while carrying the lamp in his hand. He said to him, “Don’t run around alone. Your big brother will worry about you.”
“En, en!” Luo Jian hurriedly nodded and gave Luo Jian a smile: “Thank you, little big brother!”
“Why thank me?”
Luo Jian tilted his head, “Ah, because little big brother helped me just now.”
He could not help but reach out and pat the child’s soft hair. He whispered, “Luo Jian, you have a lot of people to thank in the future…… but that’s not supposed to be me.”
Then, Luo Jian leaned over and knocked his forehead against the other party’s forehead, forcing the child to look him in the eyes. This action would increase the hypnotic effect. Even if the hypnosis on little Luo Jian was weaker, this time it would have an effect. Therefore, Luo Jian continued quietly, “Now forget me.”
Luo Jian did not stay in the village for long. At dawn, he felt a force tugging his body. He knew that he did not belong to this time and space, so they were repelling him. If he continued to stay here forcefully, Luo Jian’s new body would be ripped into pieces.
Therefore, Luo Jian left this place. His body now had the power to cross through space, similar to that of the stalker. However, due to some illegal machinations made by Ying, he could cross time and space simultaneously. Unfortunately, it was hard to coordinate space and time. Therefore, it was easy for Luo Jian to enter the wrong space and time.
Therefore, Luo Jian needed to constantly cross through several time spaces to correct his mistakes, locate the coordinates of a certain time and space, and slowly master this ability.
There was no supercomputer to calculate it for him, so everything depended on him.
T/N: Little Luo Jian is so adorable!