Chapter 2442: Granny Yi's Story
The slender, lingering voice traveled far through the woods. After a moment, the same voice echoed back from a great distance. With Xu Huo's hearing, he could detect sounds coming from different directions—likely villagers who had gone out searching for people were signaling each other.
This was indeed a good method.
"...Uncle found me. I fell asleep in a tree hollow," the little girl had already told Granny Yi what happened, and she looked at Xu Huo with hopeful eyes.
"Thank you for saving the child. Come in and have some tea," Granny Yi said gently.
Xu Huo didn't refuse. Granny Yi's attitude was much better than before. She sat down and said, "I didn't expect we'd meet again."
"Outsiders who come here always leave and never return. Almost no one shows up a second time."
She stared at Xu Huo, her eyes, marked by the obvious weariness of age, glistening with moisture. "Are you trying to find the Hidden Friend?"
Xu Huo shook his head. "The real Hidden Friend... that should be your friend. I'm looking for a player."
Granny Yi nodded slightly, then told him a story from her own experience.
It was when she was thirty years old. She already had a child. Her father had died early, and though her mother was still alive, her health had always been poor. Eventually, she became bedridden and often grew confused, unable to recognize people, frequently mistaking her husband for her father.
Because of this, she learned some of her mother and father's past, understanding certain special signals that only they knew.
One day, when her mother could no longer eat and was barely surviving on water, she suddenly became lucid and clearly told her that she had heard her father's voice.
Over the years, the story of the "Hidden Friend" had become accepted by the people living here. Most believed it was merely auditory hallucinations before death. Although some missing people had seemed perfectly healthy, having lived alongside the forest for so long, they had grown accustomed to seeing small animals that sensed their impending death quietly find a place to hide and wait to die... Perhaps the dying had developed this ability too.
Of course, no one really knew if such an ability existed. The missing couldn't speak, and those who claimed to have heard the voices often embellished their tales, making it hard to separate truth from fiction.
Granny Yi thought the same way back then. She didn't believe her mother's words and only comforted her that she would get better.
After this happened two or three times, one day, when she returned from cooking, she found her mother missing.
Keep in mind, her mother had been bedridden for a long time and had no strength to stand, let alone walk. So when she saw her mother standing upright in the nearby woods, she was so shocked she couldn't speak.
Her mother, standing like a normal person, one hand leaning on a tree and the other making a peculiar gesture above her head, called out her father's name toward the depths of the forest.
It was then that Granny Yi saw, not far from her mother, a figure standing there. It was as tall as her father. After seeing her mother's signal, it raised both hands above its head and returned a specific signal. Then her mother followed that shadow away.
Some people regarded this as a strange tale, others as a kind of comfort, and still others as some sort of message. But Granny Yi, after her initial shock, quickly ran home, grabbed a hatchet, and chased after them.
She followed her mother's faint footprints for a long time but never found any trace of her. Finally, in a dense area of vines, the tracks completely disappeared.
The vines showed no signs of anyone having passed through. It was as if her mother had suddenly walked there and vanished, leaving no trace behind.
When this story spread back to the village, it still became a kind of comfort or a message, after all, Granny Yi's mother was a dying woman.
"From that day on, almost every day, I would wonder whether what I saw that day was real or not. The longer it went on, the clearer my memory seemed to become. I remember it was supposed to be a dark shadow, but later it seemed to have clothes, shoes, and even a face."
"It looked exactly like my father and used special gestures to respond to my mother's signal. I just didn't hear its voice."
"I wrote, drew, and spoke, trying to record what I saw that day through these methods. My husband thought I had gone mad, burned my paintings and books, and abandoned me. My neighbors also thought I was unstable, believing that sooner or later, my mother would come to take me away."
"So one day, I went back to that place where the vines grew. I brought a knife, fire, and oil, intending to dig up the vines to see if my mother was buried underneath."
"But those mutant plants—as soon as the knife touched them, they scattered in all directions, retreating into the ground. Even though I chased and cut many of them, more survived."
"Still, the ground was cleared. There was nothing underneath—not even insects or ants. The next month, when I passed by again, the cut vines had all grown back."
"A few more years passed, and I moved to Upper Wood Village. Many people move to Upper Wood Village as they age. They think they can predict death, think they can peacefully walk toward it and coexist forever with the forest. But unfortunately, the Hidden Friend is just a man-eating monster, and they are its prey!"
The anger in Granny Yi's eyes overpowered her fear. "I'm waiting here, waiting for the day it comes out again. I'm going to kill it!"
Xu Huo listened to the story in silence, then asked, "You didn't hear the voice, but you saw the figure's special gesture?"
Granny Yi's gaze sharpened. "You don't believe me?"
Xu Huo shook his head slightly. "Your mother was the one taken. Only she heard the voice. But the special gesture the figure made—you learned about it from your mother. The fact that you could see it means there really was a figure there at the time."
"As for why it imitated your father, it could be a plant that is good at learning. Mutant plants sometimes mimic human behavior. That's not strange."
Granny Yi's expression calmed a little. "I thought the same thing back then, which is why I went back for the knife. My mother suddenly disappeared—maybe she was dragged underground."
After a pause, she added, "You should leave here quickly. Those outsiders who came before—it's hard to say whether they died or left, but some must be buried here."
Xu Huo accepted her kindness and asked further, "Every time outsiders come, do any villagers go missing?"
Granny Yi thought carefully. "It's hard to match up. Outsiders come all the time."
Xu Huo pondered for a moment, then pressed her for more details about the local disappearances she truly understood before finally taking his leave.
Hearing the door open, the two children inside ran out.
As promised, Xu Huo gave them a snack pack from the Painting Woman. The two children quietly thanked him, and the little girl pressed a whistle into his hand. "Grandma told me to give this to you."