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But how am I to believe that by remaining here, you're doing something good for Yan and its people?

How long are you staying here?

...Until this time next year.

Wait for this year's harvest. You'll see.

By the way, have you ever worked the land before?

It's planting season now, and everyone has their hands full. Would you mind lending me a hand?

I vaguely remember that the crops grew particularly well that year.

The plowed rice piled up into little hills, and the farmers said they wouldn't need to worry about Catastrophe for the next few years.

You're smiling?

...I'm really glad.

Are you still going to write me up in your report to the Sui Regulator?

Are you going to stay here forever? Stay here and help us...

With you here, everyone feels safe.

I used to have a friend just like you.

Now, there truly is no other way.

Just once... I'm begging you just this one time.

Can you please save the people here, only once?

You promised me that you'd stay here forever...

Shu...

The room is empty.

A warm bowl of soup still sits on the table.

I see... You've already...

The rain starts to fall.

It's raining?

The farmer looks up to see a thin cloud covering the crescent moon in the sky. Shortly thereafter, a few drops of cold rain fall.

Who is that...?

In the distance, someone walks deeper into the fields.

She walks across the barren fields, and wherever her feet fall, small verdant patches follow.

'Wei, where are you going?'

She does not respond, and simply continues to walk forward.

She walks further and further, until her figure disappears altogether with a thunderclap.

Unlike the heavy rain from just a few days earlier, the rain right now is so tender and fine.

As the rain falls, all the cracks in the land fade away.

And thus, a soul trapped for a thousand years dissipates.

All things will come to grow.

Laoshi?

It's raining?

As I thought...

Like ink stains blending and blurring with water, the painting sealing this section of space gradually dissipates without a trace.

What just happened?!

You were so close...

Why you—

Lord Zuo, I have no intention of becoming your enemy. However, I do hope you take what I said to heart.

The days ahead of us are long, and there shall come a time when we meet again.

In the end, this is how it turned out. Just like I said.

My dear sister... These humans can't do anything without you.

May you rest well now.

When you next awaken, everything will be better.

The cries of fowlbeasts waft through the window of the farmhouse along with the rays of the rising sun. A mother opens her sleepy eyes, the child in her arms tightly grasping at the hem of her clothes.

She lets out a sigh and sits up, thinking of the events of the previous day, as well as the cries of her frightened child throughout the night.

The young child rouses from his sleep when he notices his mother's departure. His nose twitches, and tears soon flow down his chubby cheeks. The father adroitly picks up the child and stands next to the window, patting his back and lulling him back to sleep.

'Hush, hush, there's no need to cry. Look out the window – there's nothing there at all.'

'Look at the flowers, and look at our fields. Everything's fine, so there's no need to cry...'

However, the child bawls even louder, even stretching his arm to point out the window. The mother and father follow his gesture and look outside, where they see a strange, pale beast standing at the farmland's edge.

It stares back, through the window of the family of three.

The silent lumberjack picks up his axe, and a wisp of tattered red cloth floats by. He rubs that coarse gash, as if remembering something.

A pair of strong, calloused hands – not quite bleached, but with distinct joints, coalesces with blood and mud. The hands tied a strand of red silk to his arm, before they fell lifelessly to the ground.

Those hands once lifted a heavy weapon. They once stroked his face. They once held a crying child.

The hand's master has slightly darkened skin, and when she smiles, she reveals her white teeth and shallow dimples.

He stands before the woods along the riverbank. Among the tree trunks are tied strips of red silk, wooden placards engraved with blurry names dangling from them.

A gust of wind blows, the branches sway, and the wooden placards make crisp sounds.

Nngh...

A strange braying sound floats by, and the lumberjack half-opens his cloudy eyes.

(Howls)

They've returned.

They shouldn't be here.

What's wrong? An earthquake?

I thought the plate hadn't been completed yet?

Wh-What's going on then?!

Watch out!

That was a close one... My head...

What's happening... All the Sky Poles are out of control?!

The Sky Poles seem affected by some disturbance, passing over the people's heads in swarms, blotting out the sky in a manner reminiscent of an insect plague not seen in ages.

Look at that!

What's with the color of the sun...?

The people lift their heads and see that the sun has suddenly dipped down into the west, illuminating half the sky blood-red.

Everyone is stricken with a sense of fear.

A primordial fear that has existed within human hearts since ancient times.

Catastrophe, pestilence, disease, famine...

This realm is no longer the home they have known.

(Unsettling braying noises)

What are these things? Pests?

How can this be?! They're popping out of thin air, straight out of the ground... They're everywhere!

What's going on...? Why are these animals not listening?

(Eerie cry)

Are you okay?!

Um...

I've never seen animals like these before. They almost look like... they're not even <i>animals?</i>

They're more like the monsters from popular operas than pestilence beasts... They're even popping out of the ground?

Let's give this a try...

A gust of wind suddenly rises, and the monster's body is torn into fine threads. However, it snaps right back to its original form in an instant and continues to crawl forward.

More and more monsters begin to rise from the soil. Wherever they go, crops wither and the land dries up.

It didn't do anything?!

(Piercing wail)

Watch out—!

Zuo Le! What are these things?

Get back... This isn't something I can explain in a sentence or two.

Zuo Le plucks a strand of silk with his longsword, but before he can raise it to eye level, the silk thread disappears on the wind.

Are they the same...?

Yes.