The Human History of Those Gods: A Continuous Stream

He squinted as he peeled the potato, eating it while glancing at the cloth shoes on his feet—handmade, roughly stitched, and a bit too tight. The potato was cold and hard, difficult to swallow. Liang Song had never eaten such coarse food in his life. Just as bad as the potato was Liang Song's mood.

If it weren't for last night's flood, and if he still had his gear, he could have left this godforsaken place today. If all went well, he could have reached Erwang Mountain before sunset, taken a sightseeing bus down the mountain, found a hotel with Wi-Fi and hot water, taken a hot shower, filled his stomach, and then posted photos of the journey to his WeChat Moments.

Sun Wuliang would definitely be the first to like it, and Song Yun'er from KAOS-6, whom he had just added on WeChat but hadn't had a chance to chat with yet, would like and comment: "Brother is so awesome." Thinking of all this, Liang Song couldn't help but feel resentful. He tilted his head and looked at Li Jushuang, wanting to say something unpleasant, but then he felt that his unlucky state had little to do with Li Jushuang. In fact, to put it more bluntly, Li Jushuang was his savior.

If he hadn't encountered Li Jushuang, he would have camped near the mountain pass last night, and by then he would either have died of hypothermia or been swept to the bottom of the lake and become a ghost.

After finishing the potatoes, Liang Song asked Li Jushuang, "Is there anything else to eat?"

Li Jushuang shook her head: "There are only three. You ate the biggest one, and we still need to leave one for Nandou."

Can cats eat potatoes?

"Nan Dou will eat if he's hungry." Li Jushuang looked down at Nan Dou.

Liang Song sighed. Who would have thought that one day he would actually scheme to save a potato for a cat? For a moment, they were silent. The two were like old friends who hadn't seen each other for many years and happened to meet again. They didn't need to say anything; just sitting together was enough.

The atmosphere was harmonious. Last night, it was as if Li Jushuang was not the one who drugged Liang Song, took off his clothes, and tied him up with magic. In the dream, he was just an innocent child, and the black cat was just a soft and cute kitten.

Only the burning pain on the inner side of his left upper arm reminded him that last night's events were not a dream. He glanced at Li Jushuang again, pulled down half of his sleeve, and a winding, blood-red wound spread from his forearm to his shoulder like a vine, resembling a ferocious red snake. He gently touched the wound with his finger, and it burned with pain.

"It failed..." Li Jushuang turned her head and stared at him blankly, her expression showing the weariness of someone who had survived a disaster.

"What?" Liang Song asked.

"It failed... Martial Uncle... can't come back..." Li Jushuang said it again, and Liang Song didn't know how to respond, so he could only hum.

"Uncle-Master..." Li Jushuang called him again, and for some reason, Liang Song really wanted to answer this time, "Yes, I'm here."

He opened his mouth, but said, "It's a deal, don't drug me again, or I'll tie you up first, so you won't scheme against me."

Li Jushuang buried her head in her Taoist robe and mumbled a soft "hmm".

Days are short in the mountains; after a nap, dusk had fallen. Liang Song woke up hungry, and Li Jushuang and the black cat were not there. He got up and walked around the ancestral hall. The lake was only about two meters below the stone steps of the hall, and the water was lapping against the rocks in waves, echoing the somber sounds of the trees overhead, with the occasional noisy chirping of birds, most likely cuckoos.

The moon had just risen, hanging softly and delicately in the sky. Many stars shone, like snowflakes scattered across the dark, frozen earth. The mountains were vast, the trees vast, the cliffs vast, the darkness vast, the void vast. He was small, smaller than his knees, smaller than his ankles, smaller than his toes. He was crushed by the void, and behind the void lay a surging power, making him feel both strange and terrified.

He struggled to overcome his discomfort and prepared to go find Li Jushuang. "Humans really are social animals," he murmured to himself. Even though she was just a child like a mountain spirit, having her around made him feel more at ease.

Just then, the locked door of the ancestral hall suddenly moved, and with a clang, the copper lock struck the bolt, the sound standing out abruptly in the natural sounds.

Liang Song was taken aback. "Li Jushuang?" Liang Song asked.

Is Li Jushuang inside? Oh, how could it be Li Jushuang?

Liang Song stopped and stared at the copper lock. "It must be the wind," Liang Song thought again.

The door shook again. This time, Liang Song's hair stood on end. The force came from the inside out; who was pushing the door from the inside? At this moment, Liang Song actually imagined Li Jushuang imprisoning the hiker, then thought it was impossible, and found his own thoughts amusing.

He stared at the dilapidated door, and the door… the door was staring back at him. He could even sense the door’s contempt and hostility. He had also experienced battles, battles that he considered remarkable. In his second year of high school, he was cornered in an alley by a dozen thugs. He faced them and gave a slight, cold laugh.

Just fight. When war is unavoidable, just fight and that's it.

He had always thought that way.

Whatever it is, if you need to fight, then fight.

But at this moment, he dared not move, like a beast with its fur standing on end, every muscle in his body tense, danger, danger. This is the human instinct for danger etched into our genes.

"Meow……"

A meow came from behind me; it was Nandou.

He looked back. In the dim moonlight, he could vaguely see the shape of Nandou, its fur bristling and its body hunched, its tail puffed up like a duster.

Strangely enough, he suddenly felt relieved. The door behind him turned back into a door, and the thing that had terrified him receded.

Li Jushuang walked over expressionlessly, brushed past his shoulder and went into the house. A moment later, carrying a small bottle, she looked down and found a pile of mud.

"Cinnabar..." As if sensing Liang Song's curiosity, Li Jushuang spoke while mixing mud. After a while, he seemed satisfied, holding a lump of mud in his hand, and walked to the wooden door, beginning to draw from top to bottom. In no time, he had finished. Turning back, he passed Liang Song, went to the lake to wash his hands, and after washing them, he squatted down without moving, looking up at the sky, seemingly lost in thought.

"What's in there...?" Liang Song felt that his question was very unscientific.

Li Jushuang didn't answer. After a while, she suddenly said, "The sealing formation below might have been damaged by the water; we need to find a way to repair it."

He walked over, pulled something from his pocket, and handed it to Liang Song. Liang Song held his hand out to the moonlight; it was a handful of hazelnuts and pine nuts. For some reason, a sudden feeling stirred within him, a feeling he couldn't quite understand welling up inside him. He thought, maybe he was just tired, otherwise why did his heart feel so sore?

"You went out just now to look for these things?"

Li Jushuang hummed in agreement.

"Have you eaten?"

Li Jushuang hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Squirrels, go up the woods behind the house, and you'll find squirrel nests under the pine trees. They're storing up for the winter, but unfortunately, there aren't many left this season."

Her voice trembled with sadness as she finished speaking, "They're going to go hungry, but thankfully the mountain will be open soon..."

Liang Song finally managed to peel a hazelnut, popped it into her mouth, and tasted a raw, sweet flavor. "Where's the cat? What do cats eat?"

Li Jushuang wiped her hands on her robe. "It's alright. It's almost the third year of junior high. Huangchang will bring it fish, and we can eat fish too."

Junior high? Liang Song felt stupid.

"Hmm, the third day. The third day is called 'shuang' (爽), meaning 'refreshing,' and 'Zhen' (震) is associated with the west. Look at the moon; it rises in the Geng (庚) direction, so it's the third day." Liang Song was sure he was listening attentively, but he didn't understand at all. He silently chewed on a hazelnut, lost in thought. Fish. Yes, having fish to eat is always a happy thing. As for who Huang Chang (黄肠) was, he forgot to ask.

"Are you thirsty?" Liang Song then realized that she hadn't drunk any water today.

Because of the fire, the house became warm.

Liang Song tossed a pine nut into the fire; it crackled and popped. He quickly reached for it, but burned himself on the hot coals and cried out. Li Jushuang smiled. Liang Song looked up at him; the firelight illuminated his face, revealing his long eyelashes and a small mole on his left cheek, like a dimple.

Li Jushuang made a very simple water filtration device. He turned over a ceramic jar, wrapped it tightly with layers of hollow grass cores, and gradually the water dripped into the water bowl below. He held the water bowl in his hand and placed it on the charcoal fire. Liang Song reminded him to be careful. He felt that Li Jushuang had become very close, even a very important person in his life, but he couldn't understand why he had such feelings for a child he had just met.

"Uncle-Master... the water is ready, you can drink it now."

Liang Song hummed in agreement, finding the title "Uncle-Master" not at all jarring.

"How old are you?"

Li Jushuang raised her eyes to look at Liang Song, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Seventeen."

She's seventeen, but looks like she's fourteen or fifteen. When He Huanhuan was fourteen or fifteen, she was already quite well-developed. He couldn't think of anyone else for the moment, so he had to compare her to He Huanhuan. He remembered when he met He Huanhuan, she was only thirteen, in the next class, the music representative. On a Sunday when school was out, He Huanhuan came to see him with heavy makeup on, and her legs were bare even though it was -5 degrees Celsius.

He was terrified. He didn't know why He Huanhuan was suddenly wearing heavy makeup, or why she kept standing in front of him, swinging her legs back and forth. Li Jushuang… was too small; children in the mountains lack nutrition. He needed to be given better nutrition. He didn't understand why he was thinking of the female He Huanhuan instead of the male Sun Wuliang. Yes, Sun Wuliang, Sun Wuliang should have noticed he was gone by now, and should be looking for him.

Liang Song took a sip of water; it tasted sweet. "Where are your family? Will they come up the mountain to see you?"

Li Jushuang looked up at Liang Song and said, "I have no family. My martial uncle dug me out of the mountains."

He's just a child after all.

Seeing Li Jushuang's serious face, Liang Song chuckled.

The next day, Liang Song decided to go up the mountain to find something to eat. The mountain was so big and deep, and a man as big as him couldn't possibly rely on a child and a cat to support him.

He got up early and took out the hemp rope he had twisted the night before. He then tightly bound the shoes that didn't fit his feet well. Although they didn't look very nice, they should be fine for walking around in the woods.

He continued south along the new lake shore, starting his ascent from the ridge. Apart from some shrubs whose names he didn't know, there weren't many weeds. Perhaps it was because the forest offered little shelter, as the mountain winds from the northwest swept over the alpine meadows and rushed straight in. The mountain also had quite a few rocks, which, once broken into gravel, were unsuitable for the growth of wild grasses.

The sun shone brightly, with remnants of snow still clinging to the tips of leaves. The mountain breeze was gentle, revealing the mild and beautiful side of Aimang Mountain. After walking for a while, we plunged into the forest. At first, there were low bushes about the height of a person, but as we walked, we saw tulip trees, sassafras, and what looked like camellia trees.

At this time of year, most plants in the mountains are still dormant in the spring chill. After more than half an hour, Liang Song only encountered one hazelnut and picked up a handful of hazelnuts that had been gnawed by insects. Further on, the hillside began to descend, and the sound of a babbling brook could be heard not far away. Passing through some shrubs with small leaves, a clear and shallow mountain stream came into view.

There were no fish, but some small crabs were found when the stones were turned over. Liang Song caught some, smashed them with stones, and wrapped them in leaves.