novelraw Chapter 68 : Old Man
Chapter 68 : Old Man
Chapter 68: Old Man
"Past... the past world?" Zhang Wenda was instantly stunned. What kind of new twist was this? He couldn’t quite make sense of it.
"No, Old Man, I don’t quite get it. What do you mean by the past world? Isn’t the past just... past? How can the past world still exist?"
The old man shook his head. "Who told you it doesn’t exist? Ah, what are schools even teaching nowadays? This generation of young people, they’re no good."
Saying this, he planted the hoe in his hand into the ground and began to explain to Zhang Wenda. "Time is a tool we humans invented. It follows the living. Without people, there is no time."
"The river of time they speak of is actually the river of people. Though the river of time may have flowed on, the riverbed of the past remains. The world we’re in now is the riverbed of time—it is the past."
"Time... is that how it works? Could it be that what I learned before was wrong?" Just as this thought surfaced in Zhang Wenda’s mind, he felt something wasn’t quite right.
"Ah, don’t just stand there. Come with me, I’ll bandage you up."
Taking the chance while getting bandaged, Zhang Wenda asked carefully again and finally discovered the problem. The one who was wrong wasn’t him—it was this strange world’s definition of time.
This place wasn’t just strange in its Youth Center or the Library. Even time itself had undergone bizarre changes!
If, in the world he came from, time advanced along with people and the world, then in this place, it didn’t. Here, time only moved forward with people, while environments without people were frozen in place like photographs!
Anyone who wanted to look at these photos could pull them out and view them at any time.
They, however, had become detached from the river of time due to a paradox in Network Time, and ended up in this photographic past world.
"No wonder," Zhang Wenda muttered. "No wonder the Yellow Core shows no signs of decreasing."
He looked down at his watch and saw that the yellow digits on the Digital Pocket Watch remained frozen in place, unchanged.
There was no time here. The Yellow Core could persist indefinitely without diminishing. However, under the current circumstances, that was not a good thing.
Just then, the old man had already cut open Zhang Wenda’s clothing with scissors. He took out a pack of white powder from an old cabinet and smacked it directly onto the wound.
The sting of the painkiller powder made Zhang Wenda wince. Instantly, he stopped caring about time or no time and focused his mind back on himself.
"Hang in there. This powder does sting a bit." The old man said as he picked up a piece of gauze from the side and began wrapping the wound.
"Old Man, are there many people like you who enjoy staying in the past?" Zhang Wenda thought of the person who had shot at him.
"A lot, most of them are old men and women."
As he bandaged the wound, the old man continued, "Though this modern society has advanced technology and better food, it just doesn’t feel right living in it. So some folks feel the past is better—folks like me."
After thinking for a bit, he added, "Lately, it seems even some youngsters think the past is better than modern society. I don’t know what they’re thinking. They never went to the countryside or queued up for food. They have no sentiments, so what are they after?"
Zhang Wenda didn’t know what they were after either. He just wanted to return. This empty past world—whoever liked it could stay. He certainly didn’t.
"Old Man, may I ask your name?" Zhang Wenda asked.
"My name isn’t anything nice—it’s Wang Daniu. Back in the old days, names were given carelessly."
After bandaging Zhang Wenda’s wound, Wang Daniu pulled out a thimble and some thread and began mending Zhang Wenda’s jacket.
"Um, Old Man Niu, I ended up here by accident. May I ask how to return to modern society?" Zhang Wenda asked impatiently.
"What? You want to go back? That’s not so easy."
The old man’s words made Zhang Wenda’s recently settled heart tense up again. He forced a smile. "Don’t joke around, Old Man. A little taste of countryside life is enough. I’m sure you also want to return to modern society, right?"
After biting off the thread in his mouth, Wang Daniu replied, "Who’s joking? This old man doesn’t use phones or the internet. All your newfangled gadgets—I don’t know how to use them. Why would I go back? I’d rather stay in the past."
"I used to at least watch some TV, but now even TVs need the internet or whatever. So many menus and settings—it’s a huge hassle. I can’t even watch TV now."
"Before I came, I told them—don’t come get me. I’m not going back. When I can’t work anymore, I’ll just let the yellow earth cover me. I’ll stay in the past."
These words stirred a sense of despair in Zhang Wenda. "So we can only wait for them to come get us? Is there really no other way to return ourselves?"
"How would we return? Do I look like some cultured man researching time travel? I didn’t even finish primary school."
"Ah, if only back then—" Zhang Wenda had just begun to speak when he stopped. He couldn’t lie to himself. Even if he went back to yesterday, he would still make the same choice.
Zhang Wenda understood that regret was useless now. He could only look for another way.
"Right, young man, how did you get hurt? Scratched by something?" Wang Daniu handed Zhang Wenda his jacket with a large patch sewn on.
"I got shot."
Someone had fired at him out of nowhere. If it had hit, he would’ve been done for. He still remembered that grudge.
"What? A gun? There are others besides you?" Wang Daniu’s eyes widened in disbelief. He looked more shocked than Zhang Wenda.
"Yes, just over by the mountain city, not far from here. At least five people. Aren’t they folks like you who also came back from modern society? Though their tempers aren’t as good as yours. They shot at me the moment we met."
Wang Daniu slapped both thighs in shock. "How could that be? This area’s a sent-down youth farm. The sent-down youth who came with me all died long ago! How could anyone have returned?"
He pulled a green rubber notebook out from a nearby drawer and showed Zhang Wenda page after page of phone numbers he had personally crossed out. "Look here, this one had a stroke, this one had diabetes, this one had a cerebral hemorrhage..."
It was clear Wang Daniu had deep feelings for these old friends. He remembered exactly when each had died.
Zhang Wenda first asked the old man to put away the death ledger, then said, "Old Man, they probably aren’t your friends. They didn’t seem as old as you. Though they were a bit far away, none of them looked like old men. They chased me for quite a while."
"Huh~ that’s strange. Then what are they here for? And with guns?" Wang Daniu frowned deeply and stroked his whitening beard in thought.