Chapter 60: Returning Home, Returning to the Village, Old Huang's Situation

In the end, he taught them step by step, guiding their hands. After successfully logging out of the game, that night, the excited elderly couple chattered animatedly about the various changes they had experienced in the game.

For example:

“This game lets me become younger. Does that mean I could look like I did as a child?”

When she mentioned her childhood—

“Honey? Back when you looked like a star—were you beautiful?” he asked, full of anticipation.

But as soon as he finished, a pair of hands twisted his ears.

In an instant, the air in the room grew quiet.

Watching this odd scene unfold, Hua Tian quickly finished the food in her bowl and made a hasty escape from the house.

“What’s that supposed to mean? Do you think I’m old? That I’m not attractive now that I’ve put on weight? Are you looking for someone new?”

…

Her father, cornered and covering his head with both hands, shook it desperately—like a child being scolded by his mother.

After about half an hour of playful bickering, Hua Tian, having tidied up upstairs, noticed the house had grown quiet again. Coming downstairs, she found her father kneeling on a wooden plank—beneath which sat four eggs, precariously balanced.

Puzzled, she wondered how the eggs had ended up there. No, never mind how the eggs got there—she was more curious about how he managed to kneel on them without breaking them!

Before she could ponder further, her mother came down as well.

“See? Even our son is more reliable than you…”

“Reliable? How?”

…

“Here’s the plan: tomorrow, you and our son will go back to the village together. You’ll bring back all the dogs, cats, and wolves we’ve raised there. I’ll stay here and take care of the yard, build them a home. Do you hear me?”

Her father nodded obediently.

“Son, what do you think? In the game, is the Paladin stronger, or the Berserker? Looking at my skill panel, I still think the Paladin is fantastic. His skills are nothing compared to mine, and I’m faster too. He can’t beat me in the game or in real life! Hahaha!”

Listening to her mother boast about herself, Hua Tian felt a headache coming on.

If she pointed out that her father always lost and never fought back, she’d just end up getting scolded alongside him. If she dared ask about the eggs, her mother might make her try kneeling on them herself.

She could only agree, feeling that father and son were rather cowardly.

“Son, your dad doesn’t have a car. Your pickup truck is perfect for transporting them, right? If you’ve nothing else tomorrow, go with your father. It’s a good chance to visit home. I have a feeling that after this trip, it’ll be a long time before we return. So if you’re not busy in the game, either your dad goes alone or you both go together. If he goes alone, he’ll take at least two days to come back. There’s just too much stuff.”

Hua Tian thought about returning home the next day.

“Mom, it’s fine. The team captain has already retreated into herself after seeing my stats. In the three days left, I won’t even make it to the first stage or level 6. I might as well go home with Dad and deal with things!”

His mother was pleased—if he left, she’d have to stay alone in the villa, and after what happened earlier, moving in to a dark, empty house was just too frightening.

“All right, all right, tomorrow you and your dad go and bring everything back from the old house!”

After an hour, they went to bed. Night passed quickly.

As dawn broke—dark below, pale above—before four in the morning, Hua Tian’s freshly renovated door was suddenly kicked open.

Startled awake, she glanced at her father, then promptly lay back down and fell asleep again.

But he dragged her out of bed, hauled her to the car, and took her keys.

Opening the car door, he dropped her onto the driver’s seat.

Still groggy, Hua Tian started the car and glanced at the time on the dashboard before exclaiming, “Come on, we’re in the suburbs—the community gates aren’t even open yet! We live in the fanciest neighborhood; the car gates don’t open till at least five!”

Her father looked embarrassed.

“Shall we just sleep in the car then?”

They killed the engine and dozed off.

…

Around five, her father’s phone rang.

Forgetting he was in the car, he lunged forward, smacking into the dashboard.

The noise woke Hua Tian with a start—she thought they’d crashed, but realized it was just her father’s mishap, so she gave up on sleep.

“Dad, did you forget we’re in the car? Was one phone call worth all that fuss?”

“You don’t understand, Tian—your tiger of a mother is calling again. I’ll answer now!”

“Hello? I’m in the car with Tian, we’re on our way home.”

While talking, her father gestured urgently at her: Start the car, hurry!

She quickly turned on the ignition and drove to the entrance. No one was manning the gate, so her father got out to look around.

Soon, a security guard hurried over, surprised to see a car waiting at this hour.

He peered at them—he’d never seen them before.

“Brother, I don’t think I’ve seen you here before.”

“Uncle, that’s normal. We just moved in a couple of days ago.”

“Oh, I see! Let me open the gate right away.”

Afterward, the two sped along the road, reaching the foot of the mountain by the village in an hour. Switching the car to off-road mode, Hua Tian floored it and drove four hours through mountain roads to the village entrance.

At about ten, they arrived—feeling as if they hadn’t been back in ten years, though nothing seemed to have changed.

In the distance, a sixty-year-old man, leaning on a hoe and cane after harvest, spotted them.

“Ah Yong, Tian, what brings you two back? And you—wasn’t your wife saying you were still at the hospital?”

Her father greeted the modern village chief.

“Yes, I was at the hospital, but now I’m cured and back. Chief, I’ll probably be living in the city from now on. Come visit us when you have time.”

The chief eyed the car behind Hua Yong.

“Your son has a good car now—living in the city sounds wonderful. Tian, you’ve done well for yourself! Take good care of your father, though—he’s getting old, and his health isn’t what it used to be. All right, enough chatting. Bring Zhuang along when you can.”

“Uncle Zhuang, where has he gone?”

“Him? He went to the Sea of Silence!”

“The northernmost bay near Cold City?” Her father knew the area—his wife’s hometown was there.

“Yes, he went to do hard labor. He was doing fine here—I don’t know why he went south!”

With that, the limping chief hobbled off into the fields to turn the soil and plant more cold-weather crops.

After a sigh, the two drove to the far east of the village and stopped in front of their house.

It was a humble tile-and-earth dwelling, single-story but spacious inside, shaped like a backward seven from above.

The kitchen was at the top of the seven, near the eastern hills.

The house took up a tenth of the yard; the rest was the domain of cats, dogs, and wolves.

Hua Tian looked down at the ground, where her companions—crowding each other—were either arriving or emerging.

“Meow? Meow meow! … Woof woof! Awoo! Arf!”

As the commotion grew louder and closer, two animals appeared—a yellow dog, now faded to white, and a black cat with a hint of other colors.

The cat was a bit smaller than the dog, but not by much.

A large black cat, just under a meter long, appeared before them, followed by the oldest, strongest, but now dying yellow-and-white dog—pausing every few steps with a whimper.

The two elders of their kind called out, and the rest of the animals answered.

Her father watched the failing Old Yellow.

“No matter how strong a dog is, it will die eventually. No method can save it. Old Yellow’s lived over twenty years—far longer than most. I still remember when you were born, he was the same size as those puppies, kittens, and wolf cubs. Who’d have thought?”

Hua Tian looked at the dog she’d grown up with—it had always followed her, no matter where she went.

“Dad, are we taking them all? Not leaving a single one?”

“Yes, all hundred—cats, dogs, and wolves. The oldest are older than you; even the youngest are a year or two old. It’d be a shame to sell them. I have to take them with me. But Old Yellow—he probably won’t survive the trip; the ride is too rough.”

“There are just two from the oldest generation, but more from the next. Do you think Old Yellow can make it? Should we try to treat him first?”

“A dog at twenty is like a human at a hundred. Most rural dogs don’t live that long. Ours made it to twenty-two—he’s done well. We’ll drive slowly; every extra day is a blessing. That’s the end for all life—it’s nature’s law.”

With that, her father went inside to gather their things. Seeing her son still standing outside through the window, he assumed he was pondering his words of wisdom.

But Hua Tian was actually thinking about the laws of nature—and the rules of the world.

She wondered, could that thing also save Old Yellow’s life?