Daomu Biji: The Southern Archives

Side Story 8: Gadflies

The air was filled with the sound of buzzing gadflies, the edge of the rainforest was very wet, and the ground was full of mud puddles that would never dry up.

The trees here were all perennial yellow eucalyptus and banyan trees with huge trunks. Wades tent had been erected next to one of the huge banyan trees.

Wade was now sitting against that very same tree after Zhang Haiyan had temporarily stopped the bleeding. He was already extremely weak and his face looked pale.

Next to Wade, Nanres body and the grass cocoon sat side by side. This grass cocoon seemed to have some kind of magic power, for all the gadflies didnt dare fly near it. Instead, they focused on sucking up the pool of blood that had spurted out of Wade just now. Even the locusts were rushing out of the mud and straight into the pool.

It was still very hot and humid at night, so Little Brother Zhang tore off his dirty face. He even started to fan himself with it right in front of Wades widened eyes.

Madison was leaning on the other side with his head lowered and his long hair covering his face. He was trying to recover from what had just happened.

How do you feel? Zhang Haiyan asked him.

I feel very bad, Madison said slowly.

Guilt, shock, and the collapse of your faith? Zhang Haiyan asked.

Too many things have happened recently. My daughter and children were all killed, I burned down my church, and now Im going to kill someone.

Dont do this to yourself. If you think this matter is very serious, then its very serious to you. But if I beat you so hard that you become dumb, then you can still live to ninety-five while drooling.

Thats easy for you to say.

I have a way to temporarily relieve you of this self-pressuring emotion.

What is it?

You can get yourself off while watching this fat man called Wade. That way, you can make the serious and logical self-hatred become something ridiculous. Then, youll be able to let go of it.

Wades eyes went even wider and he turned his head.

Madison raised his head, completely puzzled (1). What did you just say?

Get yourself off. Play with the snake. Play with the whip. How do you say it?

No! Im not doing that. Madison covered his head with his hands.

Zhang Haiyan sighed and looked at Wade, who immediately shook his head, No, please.

Come on. Tell me. What is this huge secret in the rainforest?

Will you let me go if I tell you? And one more thing, who are you exactly?

Ah, youre so annoying. Zhang Haiyan was running out of patience and looked at Madison. Forget it. I dont want to know about the secret. Lets continue practicing. He still has an artery. Dont waste the opportunity.

Alright, alright. Ill stop asking. But you need to let me go if I tell you the secret.

Youre basically paralyzed. How about you tell me the secret and Ill give you a swift death?

No, I want to live. You get that, right? I dont want to die. Wade started to cry.

Zhang Haiyan looked at Nanres body and felt disgusted. He could recognize bad people who treated every life the same way. If you felt that peoples lives werent worthy of anything, then youd better feel that your own life wasnt worth a thing, either. But if you felt that your life was worth something and other peoples lives werent, then Zhang Haiyan felt that this mindset was too disgusting.

This fat man was an undeveloped evil, just like a child who didnt know how to properly treat others lives. Humans were like beasts. When their consciousness began to develop, they used killing to determine their place in the food chain. But this kind of desire would quickly be restrained by human consciousness. It seemed that Wade, however, didnt go through this because of his bodys deformity.

This man was broken.

Fine. I wont kill you. Talk.

Wade looked at Zhang Haiyan, Youre lying to me, right?

Im not lying. We sorcerers place the utmost importance on honesty. I can swear to God.

Wade looked into Zhang Haiyans eyes.

If you keep waiting, I wont be interested in the secret anymore, Zhang Haiyan said.

Ill talk, Ill talk. Wade coughed a few times. They entered the rainforest to look for a valley. Theres a tribe in that valley whose people blink vertically.

****

TN Notes:

(1) The original text actually mentioned this is what Madison looked like upon hearing Zhang Haiyans words: