One-Eyed Monster

While Stan Sol and Joela were tacitly engaging in battle, Igor and Kadi were arguing incessantly in Ghost Wind Valley.

”We should’ve turned left at that Red Leaf Tree,” Igor began.

”So, are you the master of Guru Mountain, or am I Guru Mountain’s monster?” Kadi retorted angrily.

”I am merely correcting your error, given your flustered state,” Igor replied.

”Where am I wrong? To my recollection, the fork on the right of the Red Leaf Tree leads to Cat’s Eye Spring under Grey Eagle Peak...”

”Your memory is in error!” Igor cut Kadi off.

”But, but what basis do you have for saying we should take the left fork?” Stammering, Kadi began to question his own memory.

Those memories Kadi used to pride himself on were now full of contradictory details.

”I don’t know how to express it, but I feel that my intuition is correct,” Igor blurted out, and for once, he didn’t feel he deserved a beating.

If someone resorts to intuition to negate another’s experience, truly they’re worse than a swine.

Kadi recalled old Kevin saying something like this before, but he wasn’t sure now. The memories in his mind had become increasingly unreliable in such a short time.

Ghost Wind Valley changed so rapidly; how could he possibly find his way out?

They had actually spent the previous night here. Kadi didn’t even know how he had gotten through it. Ghost Wind Valley, a desolate and untamed wilderness, was truly not a good place.

It was entirely Igor’s fault. He kept stopping along the way, inspecting this and that, as though he’d never seen mountainous landscapes before. More importantly, that fellow Igor still hadn’t realized that his moments of playful dallying were the primary cause of their current predicament. Instead, he kept insisting Kadi had led them the wrong way. Igor’s reasoning was even more absurd: his intuition... With a teammate like that, how could Kadi not be angry? If that guy hadn’t kept stopping and starting, would they be unable to get out of this Ghost Wind Valley?

Not only was that guy slow, but he was also incredibly playful. Every time he saw something new, his eyes would light up. At such moments, even with the handmade rope tied to Igor’s arm, Kadi found it impossible to drag him away as he lingered before the new discovery.

At those times, Kadi felt as if he were pulling a headstrong bull, something impossible to move.

And that was just when Igor was looking; when he started asking incessant questions, it was even more unbearable. Ghost Wind Valley was inherently mysterious, and Kadi himself didn’t know much about it. For things Kadi understood, like clear-water swamps, pictographic leaves, and Red Leaf Trees, he could more or less provide an answer or two. But for things he didn’t understand, he was helpless.

But Igor was a persistent fellow. He would hardly leave a spot until he understood something. When he encountered things Kadi didn’t understand, Igor would examine them meticulously countless times, then silently commit them to memory. In his own words, he wanted to take these observations back to consult his tutors at Yonder Travel Academy.

Kadi couldn’t comprehend Igor’s thirst for knowledge. All he knew was that if Igor hadn’t been so distracted by the roadside weeds and trees, they wouldn’t have had to spend the night in Ghost Wind Valley.

Spending the night in Ghost Wind Valley—what did that even mean! Any monster living on Guru Mountain knew about Ghost Wind Valley; this place was erratic, and you never knew what terrifying things might appear. Spending the night there was an absolute nightmare.

What was more exasperating was that Igor didn’t seem to sense the danger at all. Instead, he was grinning from ear to ear, sleeping soundly without any hint of apprehension. This forced Kadi to keep watch, his nerves on edge, and he couldn’t find a moment’s peace the entire night.

Never mind Ghost Wind Valley’s wretched climate; the ever-changing paths alone were enough to cause a headache. At night, strange creatures might appear, and there was no telling if ferocious beasts from the lingering winter were hunting outside. The night was too dangerous; it was impossible to sleep soundly.

Yet Igor slept like a log, as if nothing was amiss, completely unaffected by his surroundings.

Having such a teammate was surely a burden!

Kadi had indeed felt thoroughly wronged that night. But then again, for a monster to worry about wild beasts in the mountains was rather pathetic. A monster, afraid of beasts? How could that be?

Every time Kadi thought of this, he couldn’t help sighing. Thinking about Kevin and Xiso, who were also monsters, why was the difference between them and himself so vast?

But now wasn’t the time for sighs. They were lost in Ghost Wind Valley. The urgent thing was to find the way out.

But Igor, that stubborn mule, was impossible to reason with. Not only did he keep grumbling endlessly, but he also stopped in his tracks and refused to move...

”I’m telling you, you definitely chose the wrong path just now. Otherwise, how could we see the same sun again?”

”Oh? So the suns you see are all different?” Kadi asked.

”Every moment is different. The things may look the same, but their states are different. For instance, the sun in the early morning is much more enthusiastic and moves faster, while the sun at noon is lazier, just lying there motionless,” Igor explained vividly.

”The midday sun is clearly more scorching. How could the morning sun be the diligent one?” Kadi scoffed at Igor’s example.

”That’s the conclusion I’ve drawn from my many years of observation. I can’t be wrong. Trust me,” Igor grinned cheekily.

”If you had just trusted me, we wouldn’t be in this mess!”

”But I do trust you!”

”Then why do you keep stopping and starting? Because of you, I’ve completely lost track of the route I remembered!” Kadi’s frustration finally boiled over and he blurted it out.

”Er, I have this little quirk: whenever I encounter something novel, my eyes just light up uncontrollably. It’s like a sickness, you know? You can’t hold it against a sick person, can you?” Igor’s skin was thick enough for him to remain unfazed.

”Blaming you or not doesn’t change the fact that we’re lost. We can’t possibly go all the way back to that Red Leaf Tree and pick the other fork now, can we?”

”That is indeed a problem,” Igor said, stroking his chin, lost in thought. ”I was actually thinking we should try to retrace our steps.”

”With such thick fog, trying to retrace our steps will be hard too,” Kadi muttered helplessly. At this moment, he thought of Kevin again. There’s no way out of this, he despaired. He felt he had run into an enormous problem. This problem was enough to drive him mad.

”The fog... you’re right. I also think this fog is very strange.”

”What don’t you find strange...” Kadi muttered, holding little hope for Igor’s insights. If even I can’t handle Ghost Wind Valley, what can an outsider possibly do?

”Look! Although this fog is thick, it’s dry!”

”Hmm?” Kadi was also intrigued by Igor’s words; he had never noticed that before.

The fog is thick, yet I can’t feel any moisture. This place is indeed strange.

This Igor... he always managed to unconsciously uncover a different aspect of things. Come to think of it, he’s quite an odd fellow himself.