Hourglass Project - Chapter 7

The mountain’s wandering souls do not permit undying obsessions.

——

Li Moyao slowly strolled over to Lin Yi, sat on the chair beside her, stretched lazily, yawned, and smiled as she asked, “What’s up?”

Lin Yi turned to her and smiled, “Want some water?”

She picked up on Lin Yi’s randomness and replied, “Mhm~”

Lin Yi fetched a new plastic cup, raised her hand, and the iced black tea on the table floated and tilted, pouring itself into the cup.

Seeing this, Li Moyao whistled and said with a laugh, “Oho~ not bad!”

Lin Yi chuckled softly, and as she lowered her hand, the iced tea bottle floated back to its original position.

Her power had first revealed itself on the day she arrived at the village—discovered, of all places, in the bathroom.

But she hadn’t told anyone, because she didn’t know.

She didn’t know what use it had.

Was it just for pouring iced tea like now? Or maybe grabbing toilet paper mid-squat?

Li Moyao grabbed the tea and downed it in one gulp, then let out a satisfied sigh.

Lin Yi laughed out loud at her, then asked, “So, what do you think of my ability?”

“Not bad at all,” Li Moyao grinned. “There’s real potential there.”

“How do you know?”

“Just imagine, with control what couldn’t it do?”

Lin Yi raised an eyebrow. “Pour drinks?”

Li Moyao burst out laughing. “Seriously, what do you think?”

Lin Yi went silent for a bit, then said, “Not much.”

Li Moyao smirked. “C’mere~ take a look.”

Lin Yi watched her take the plastic cup in hand and squeeze it flat, then stopped.

That was it?

“That’s all?” Lin Yi asked, puzzled.

“Mhm,” Li Moyao nodded, then casually tossed the cup into the air.

Lin Yi looked up. The cup floated midair, not falling, which surprised her. “You can do this too?”

“Basic stuff.”

Li Moyao said this as she made the cup hover a few centimeters above the table.

Lin Yi glanced at her hand and left palm open, the cup returned to its original shape. Then she clenched her fist and the cup crumpled into a ball. Eventually, it returned to normal again.

“You can try it,” Li Moyao said with a smile.

Lin Yi clenched her hand, and the cup wrinkled into a crumpled lump. She opened her hand again, but the cup shattered into plastic fragments. She was stunned. “What… why…”

“Looks easy, right?” Li Moyao said, laughing. “But to restore the cup, you need to control the cup itself, not the air around it.”

Lin Yi froze, flexing her hand.

She suddenly realized until now, when she “gripped” something, she was only sensing the air, not the object itself.

“You think your power isn’t offensive,” Li Moyao said, noting her blank look with a grin, “then try this next part.”

Right after she said it, Lin Yi suddenly felt a sharp pain shooting through the muscles and bones in her right hand! She instantly clutched her wrist, hissing in pain, breaking out in cold sweat.

“Holy sh*t!”

Li Moyao didn’t let her suffer long. Seeing her go pale and afraid to touch her hand, she found it amusing. “Once you get the hang of it, you’ll be able to control that muscle-cramping-bone-breaking feeling at will~”

Lin Yi was panting, wiping tears from her eyes, and cursed her, “You… you crazy b*tch…”

Once she recovered, she gingerly moved her hand again. Just remembering that pain brought it back faintly. She shook her hand out and asked, “You’re not seriously good at everything, are you?”

“Nooo~” Li Moyao answered modestly. She picked up the iced tea, poured herself a new cup, tapped the cup’s side, and instantly a thin layer of frost formed on the outside. She took a big sip and laughed, “This stuff’s all super basic~”

“….”

Basic, my ass.

…. 

The wind carried the news—before midnight, two players had died.

Cause of death: unknown. All anyone knew was their bodies had been carried up the mountain by the villagers.

Knock knock knock.

Tao Luo opened the door to find Huang Jijun standing outside, with several players behind her.

Huang Jijun said, “They asked me to come find Yaoyao.”

Because she was polite, easy to talk to, and the de facto rep of their group of five.

“?”

Tao Luo glanced back, Li Moyao and Shen Wenyu were sound asleep in bed. She looked at the other players.

They blushed at her beauty, but her cold demeanor quickly wiped that out.

Huang Jijun turned to them, smiled, and asked, “What do you need Yaoyao for?”

They fidgeted, a few of them blushing again. After a long silence, a girl finally said,

“We… we wanted to ask her… for help…”

To help them avoid being attacked by the wandering souls.

Even though they didn’t know if Li Moyao would release another red-light firework tonight.

Huang Jijun understood immediately. “Oh~” she said, smiling. “That power? She can only use it once.”

They were shocked! The girl urgently asked, “Wh-why?!”

“Because it takes a huge amount of energy,” Huang Jijun explained, and seeing they were about to ask more, she added, “My power is to read other players’ abilities. Coincidentally, I can only use it once per day. I already used mine.”

Well acted, well improvised, she could pass for Li Moyao’s personal disciple. Even Tao Luo almost believed her.

After sending them off, Tao Luo checked the time. Five minutes to midnight. She woke Li Moyao and Shen Wenyu, while Huang Jijun went to get the others.

“Ha~~” Li Moyao yawned several times in a row, she was really tired. Shen Wenyu curled up in her arms and fell back asleep.

The group stepped outside and saw many players already waiting for midnight. When they saw the five, they couldn’t help but try to approach.

Li Moyao glanced at her watch and smiled at the others. “Shall we go~?”

“Let’s go,” Huang Yuhan said nonchalantly, giving the back hill a glance before leading the way.

Their plan tonight was to find the village chief’s daughter, specifically to learn about the girl and the boy.

They wanted to confirm how many people from the boy’s village were involved.

The six of them headed toward the village chief’s house. Oddly, other players began following, while some stayed behind.

Huang Yuhan glanced back and asked, “Why are they following us? Do they think Yaoyao’s got a divine shield?”

“Well, duh, you dummy,” Lin Yi said, exasperated. “I mean, I’m not that strong either, but at least I can defend myself. These people aren’t powerless, they’ve got abilities too. They just want to survive by relying on someone else.”

People who only want to hide under someone else’s wing, who don’t strive to grow stronger on their own, aren’t any different from cowards.

Everyone is an individual. No one can stay attached to another forever.

That’s what she thought, too bad others didn’t.

They arrived at the village chief’s house just as the clock struck midnight. Looking back, they saw the spirits from the mountain descending.

All glowing blue forms, cascading downhill like a waterfall.

A rough count: about 150.

In five minutes, the spirits had reached the village, and the players near the house were already fighting for their lives.

Li Moyao gave the crowd a glance, she didn’t use any protective techniques.

From beginning to end, she only wanted to protect the four others. She had no desire to be everyone’s nanny.

“Ahhh! Help!” A player tried to hide behind Li Moyao.

The noise woke Shen Wenyu. Seeing the spirits, villagers, and a random player fighting all at once… he actually found it a bit funny.

Li Moyao passed by a glowing blue spirit when another player grabbed her clothes to hide behind her, nearly causing the spirit to snatch the child she held.

She pulled free of the player’s grip, patted Shen Wenyu, and walked toward the village chief’s front door.

The player tried to follow but couldn’t keep up, then got chased and attacked by a spirit.

Oddly, there were few spirits near the chief’s house, just one boy around 15 standing guard at the door, preventing them from entering.

Some spirits, however, had crawled in through the windows.

That boy was likely the daughter’s lover.

Li Moyao approached. The boy saw her, surprise flashing in his eyes, then blocked her path.

She looked down at him, smiled, and said, “I’m here to save your girlfriend.”

He froze. She glanced toward the house, sounds of struggle echoed from within, and said with a smile, “She’s in the basement. Other spirits will get to her soon.” She turned to him. “I’ll take you to her.”

“Help, help!”

The players below were constantly shouting, and only a few were using their superpowers with difficulty.

Huang Yuhan stood in a wooden house, taking in the chaotic scene. She couldn’t help laughing when she saw the other three people being chased by players and needed protection.

In fact, they can all guess the reason why the ghosts would attack the players. This is a trap set by the system. By letting them live in the village, the ghosts will naturally think that they are all villagers and will definitely fight together.

This can also be a small difficulty in this micro space.

For the villagers, they are already accustomed to fighting with the dead, and they all have some skills, but it is difficult for the players.

Tao Luo used an ice knife to block the attack of a ghost and started fighting with the opponent. She suppressed the opponent in a few moves. Then the opponent tried to catch the player hiding behind her. Tao Luo did not stop him and ran away.

The exposed player cried and ran, but was quickly caught by the ghost and beaten to the ground.

Huang Yuhan saw Tao Luo jump onto the roof with a tiptoe, with a light and handsome figure, and she immediately whistled in delight.

Tao Luo stood on the eaves with a knife on his back, looking down upon the people below with cold eyes.

Compared to them, Li Moyao was much gentler. She took the boy into the village chief’s house and saw the village chief fighting with the ghosts. The latter yelled at the boy not to go look for his daughter. Li Moyao smiled back and went down to the basement with the boy who turned a deaf ear to her. By the way, she sealed the door leading to the basement with a seal to prevent other ghosts from entering.

Li Moyao led people to find the girl’s room. As soon as they opened the door, they saw the girl hiding under the table.

My goodness, if you don’t know, you would think it’s an earthquake.

In fact, the boy had not seen the girl many times after he became a ghost. Because of the village chief’s obstruction and other ghosts who wanted to kill the girl, he could only guard the door leading to the basement.

When the girl heard the door open, she thought it was a ghost coming to claim her life, and her body trembled violently until a pair of familiar shoes appeared in front of her.

It was a gift she gave to the boy, and there was a small flower embroidered on it.

The girl was startled, then slowly looked up and saw the face.

The boy was also stunned. He was a little suspicious about the face that was different from his impression, but he quickly confirmed that it was a girl.

The girl opened her mouth and uttered,

“Ah…ah…ah…ah…ah–!!”

Tears flowed from her eyes and the scream that came out of her mouth was sharp and piercing, as if telling of her sorrow.

The young boy also cried at the same time as her. He cried loudly, heartbreakingly, and in great pain.

The boy pushed away the table that separated him, squatted down, hugged the girl, and cried and shouted with her.

Li Moyao and Shen Wenyu finally went out.

Wooden doors cannot block out the powerful voices of emotion.

The sadness of the scene when the two met was destined from the moment the girl went mad.

….

The beautiful singing voice of the girl came down from the mountain and entered the ears of the listeners.

The owner of the singing voice walked up the mountain step by step, walked into the woods, came to the tombstones all over the ground, and found the tombstone he was looking for.

The girl stood in front of the boy’s grave and sang loudly, hoping that he could hear her through the distance. When the song was over, the girl squatted down and gazed at the tombstone with gentle eyes.

She could find him because the other party told her, and their heart-to-heart connection was the prerequisite for finding him.

“Did you hear it?” the girl asked happily, “Did it sound nice?”

Lin Li did not respond.

“I know you like listening to me singing the most,” the girl chattered, her tone full of love, “I was singing all the way to find you just now.”

“You heard it too, those are the songs you have heard before, what? You asked me why I don’t sing new songs? Because I am a melancholy person!”

“Well, actually my dad doesn’t let me sing anymore, and the songs I secretly wrote were torn up by him. I wanted to remember them in my heart, but there were too many and I forgot.”

“I forgot everything.”

The girl reached out and touched his head, and said with a smile, “I can only do it next time~”

“Huh? Why don’t you let me find you? Oh~ It must be because of my dad, you are afraid that he will scold me? Right?! – Really, I’m not afraid, he says this every time, I’m not afraid of being beaten, so what? I still want to come to find you, no matter what you say! I just want to find you!”

“How are you? Do you miss me? No? You really love to lie! My mom said that you will dream about someone only when you miss him for too long. What about you? Did you dream about me?”

The girl blinked, and there was only a cold stone tablet left in front of her. She stared at the blank space on it, her eyes reddened, and she said, “I missed you… I didn’t lie…” 

She choked, lowered her head to wipe away her tears, and continued, “I dreamed of you last night…”

The forest was extremely quiet, and the girl buried her thoughts here alone.

She stood up, bent down and kissed the tombstone, covered her face and said shyly, “See you next time~ Next time it’s your turn to kiss me!”

After that, she turned and went down the mountain road. After walking a few steps, she looked back and shouted on the spot, “You go back! I can go back by myself!”

She waved her hand vigorously and went down, and never looked back.

As we went down the mountain, the winding song sounded again.

——

There are 170 people in the village. Everyone is very enthusiastic, especially to foreign tourists. They will dig out the wine buried underground for tourists to taste, hold a welcome party, and tell tourists not to close the windows at night because it will be very hot.

The children in this village are very cute. They often ask the names of travelers who come to visit, want to get to know them, play with them, and take them to experience the customs and culture of the village.

The villagers like to tell travelers about things in the village and also like to take them to the town outside the mountains to buy things.

The atmosphere in the village is always joyful, and villagers give gifts to travelers when they leave.