One-Eyed Monster

Igor and Kadi basked in the winter sun, chatting as they walked.

They had no idea which direction they were taking, just randomly choosing a path, as their surroundings all looked the same. If the position of the sun was their guide, they seemed to be heading north.

The sun was warm and inviting today, and even the wind didn’t feel cold. Kadi looked up at the sky; it was clear and cloudless, a beautiful day.

Igor scratched his head, still contemplating the hidden meanings of those songs. He was convinced they were the key to the breakthrough he sought.

From Kadi’s description, Igor understood that Moonflow Stream and Ghost Wind Valley differed greatly, but as he pondered, he realized they also had similarities. Anyone who neared or ventured into these two places would invariably lose their way. Undeniably, both locations were filled with numerous traps. However, the traps in each location were completely different in style, with no apparent point of overlap.

The traps in Ghost Wind Valley were those realistic paintings, Igor thought. Even now, I can’t quite figure out how those pictures appeared before me. If I hadn’t made a habit of cataloging the features of various scenes, I might not have realized that what I was seeing were paintings. This habit of mine paid off. It might seem accidental, but it was actually inevitable. Without that accumulated experience, no matter how quick-witted I am, I wouldn’t have immediately recognized the difference between the image and reality. Ghost Wind Valley is a solved puzzle now. The traps there were advanced, but once a trap is figured out, no matter how sophisticated, it seems ordinary, nothing special. Those paintings trick your eyes, making you unable to distinguish real from fake, eventually causing you to get lost and unable to find your way out. So, the traps in Ghost Wind Valley were designed to deceive one’s vision…

Wait a minute!

As if he had realized something, Igor abruptly stopped walking.

”Hmm? Why did you stop? Noticed something new?” After spending some time with Igor, Kadi had grown accustomed to his habits. Igor would often stop to examine things he hadn’t seen before, contemplating them thoroughly for a while.

Honestly, Kadi didn’t like it when Igor stopped because Igor always had many questions. Some Kadi could handle, but others were too complex, and Kadi simply wasn’t keen on such intellectual exercises…

Unfortunately for Kadi, Igor had stopped, which meant Kadi had to prepare himself.

Kadi looked left and right but noticed no unique plants or animals. Finding nothing unusual made Kadi a bit uneasy, as he couldn’t figure out what had caught Igor’s interest and made him stop.

Igor scratched his head, his expression a mixture of emotions, as if troubled by something. His brow furrowed so deeply it resembled the hide of a hippopotamus.

”How did I not think of this before!” Igor sighed, leaving Kadi even more confused.

Why am I always stuck on the same idea? Traps don’t necessarily have to deceive the eyes! Igor continued to berate himself, seemingly regretting his late realization.

”What are you talking about?” Kadi waved a hand in front of Igor’s face, thinking Igor was having delusions again.

”Er, I’ve thought of something crucial,” Igor said. ”This might be the key to getting through Moonflow Stream.”

”Huh? What is it? Quickly, tell me!” Hearing that Igor had thought of a way to pass through Moonflow Stream, Kadi grew excited, gesturing eagerly.

”Well, it’s just a hypothesis. I’m not certain if it’s correct...”

”Seeing how vexed you are with yourself, you must think this hypothesis is very likely correct, right?” Kadi pressed Igor for answers. He believed Igor had found the crucial point this time.

”That’s right,” Igor said. ”I was just thinking about what happened in Ghost Wind Valley. Even you, who’s lived on Guru Mountain your whole life, couldn’t immediately tell that the scenery before you was a painting. This points to a very important problem.”

”What problem?” Kadi was baffled. Why is he bringing up Ghost Wind Valley again? Even though I wasn’t very helpful there, it’s not like I was completely useless. What is Igor getting at by mentioning it now? I have no idea.

”It means that whoever set up those paintings put them there a very, very long time ago.”

”Huh? What does that mean?” Kadi was utterly lost, not understanding what Igor was getting at.

”It means these traps have existed for so long that people like you, who live here, have grown accustomed to them,” Igor explained. ”You’ve come to see them as a normal part of your lives.”

”But I never noticed any traps,” Kadi still couldn’t understand Igor’s explanation.

Actually, Igor wanted to say that Kadi had been kept in the dark all along, treating those traps as real. However, he didn’t say it outright, fearing it would be too crushing for Kadi.

Clearly, the traps in Ghost Wind Valley were meant to stop people from reaching Moonflow Stream, Igor continued to reason internally. They deceive one’s vision. Vision is the most direct sense; people tend to believe what they see. For someone like Kadi, who has seen them so often, these false images have formed a solid impression in his mind. It would be hard for him to uncover the secrets hidden in the traps anytime soon. And now, that singing river in Moonflow Stream... that also seems like a very obvious trap.

”Impossible! That’s impossible! I don’t believe it!” Kadi shook his head, refusing to accept what Igor was implying.

”Think about it,” Igor patiently explained. ”Hearing might provide a slightly less intense sensory stimulus than sight, but not by much. If you suddenly heard a familiar voice behind you, wouldn’t you turn around to see who it was?”

Igor hadn’t expected Kadi’s reaction to be so strong. It seemed the singing of Moonflow Stream held a special meaning for him.

Indeed, deep down, Kadi couldn’t bring himself to believe the songs were a trap. He had heard the melodies of Moonflow Stream since he was very young and had long since etched them into the depths of his heart. Now that Igor was telling him these songs were traps, deliberately set to mislead him, he found it incredibly hard to accept.

”Actually, you don’t need to be so upset,” Igor said, attempting to soothe him with a different approach when he saw Kadi on the verge of a breakdown. ”These are just some connections I’m making about the traps. Maybe I’m completely wrong.”