One-Eyed Monster

Kadi’s simple judgment instantly cleared Igor’s mind considerably.

Igor felt he sometimes overcomplicated things.

He often couldn’t control the scales within his heart. Whether it was his limited understanding or some other reason, Igor wasn’t sure.

To him, the world was clear-cut, with no middle ground. Good was good, bad was bad; kindness would always be kindness, and evil would always be evil. In his heart, there were no ambiguous answers. Every question had one, and only one, answer.

That’s why he had never considered that the song, acting as a trap, could be real in itself.

He had been wracking his brain, wondering what those two verses of the song meant.

Now Kadi had solved this problem for him. He could now focus on another issue.

He hadn’t initially held high expectations for Kadi...

It seemed now that one shouldn’t be too arbitrary in anything. Sometimes, experience and feelings were the most deceptive.

Kadi pinched his nose. Ever since he had lost his way in Ghost Wind Valley, he’d been feeling quite confounded. His inborn agility and cleverness seemed to have vanished completely. He thought it might be because he used to play alone on Guru Mountain. With nothing to compare himself to, he had always felt good about himself. Now that Igor had arrived, creating a contrast, his weaknesses were immediately exposed.

However, Kadi was slowly regaining some of his confidence. He had discovered a problem Igor hadn’t noticed. This could be considered a great improvement, enough to give him a burst of pride for a while.

Igor carefully observed the Moonflow Stream beside him. The water flowed downstream, gushing in white, frothy clusters, quite beautiful to behold.

But crossing to the opposite bank was not easy. Firstly, they couldn’t even see the other side. Though called a stream, a closer look revealed it was more like a small waterfall, with a low hill barring their way.

The most difficult part was crossing this low hill. Although it didn’t look high, traversing it was far from easy. This was one reason Igor and Kadi were stuck.

If they wanted to cross the Moonflow Stream, they had to conquer this hill. But they had no idea how to cross it because there was no path.

Their only option was to circle the hill. However, looking at the mountain terrain, they could surmise that these roundabout routes would only lead them farther away.

The song verses could become a trap precisely because there were no formed paths around the Moonflow Stream. Without a path, one could only follow the sound forward. The sound was like navigation; following its source would naturally lead to the hidden path.

But how many people could actually capture the sound? The Moonflow Stream sang only when the moon hung in the sky, and the song it produced was a trap.

This problem gave Igor a headache. He didn’t dare to think any further. Could he and Kadi possibly have to spend another night here? He was completely out of ideas. There was no path; the visible paths surrounding the Moonflow Stream all looked indistinguishable…

”What should we do…” Igor clutched his head, on the verge of collapse. This state was rare for him, one he wouldn’t fall into unless absolutely helpless.

The reason for his impending collapse was that he felt he had wasted too much time in Ghost Wind Valley and at the Moonflow Stream, not to mention the time he had simply lost. The passage of time made him panic, though he couldn’t quite explain why.

Kadi was startled to see Igor like this. He had been with Igor for so long, but this was the first time he had seen Igor in such a state. He didn’t know what to do and felt he was only adding to the chaos.

What could have possibly made Igor this way? Wasn’t he confident and full of vigor just a while ago? How did he suddenly become so emotionally unstable?

Kadi didn’t know what to do; the situation was a hundred times worse than in Ghost Wind Valley.

In Ghost Wind Valley, Igor had been calm and composed, but now he was distressed and anxious. Clearly, the Moonflow Stream was proving to be a very difficult challenge.

”What’s wrong, Igor?” Kadi couldn’t just stand by and do nothing, so he steeled himself to ask the obvious question.

In Kadi’s mind, Igor could have completely ignored this pointless question because the situation was self-explanatory: they were stuck and couldn’t find a way over the hill.

But Igor, unlike most people, didn’t ignore Kadi’s pointless question. Although his head throbbed with irritation, he still lifted it to look at Kadi seriously. He then replied earnestly, ”I’m stuck. For now, I can’t find a good solution. This hidden path is too hard to find.”

Igor’s response left Kadi at a loss. He hadn’t anticipated this. He’d thought Igor would either ignore him or lose his temper. Either scenario would have been better than the current one, as he now had no idea how to respond to Igor.

Should he comfort him, advise him, or just do nothing…

Perhaps it was better to do nothing. It seemed he was still just someone who only made things more complicated.

Igor, head in his hands, let out a long sigh, then looked up at the sky and lamented aloud.

”If only I were a pangolin. I could dig a hole and burrow straight through. Then I wouldn’t have to rack my brains trying to find a path.”

”If only I were a bird! I could just spread my wings and fly into the sky. I’d see everything on the ground clearly and find the path quickly.”

”If you were a bird, you wouldn’t need to find any path. You could just fly straight over,” Kadi couldn’t help but interrupt. He had never imagined Igor would be like this when frustrated and on the verge of collapse—mumbling to himself, fantasizing about being various animals...

Speaking of which, Kadi suddenly remembered. There actually are creatures on Guru Mountain that can fly and dig tunnels—real monsters.

”Sigh, unfortunately, I’m none of those things. I can only watch helplessly as I remain trapped here,” Igor said, sounding almost ready to give up.

”There will always be a way. You made it out of Ghost Wind Valley, Igor. This place won’t be your end,” Kadi could only continue with his somewhat useless words of comfort.

”Ghost Wind Valley, Ghost Wind Valley...” Mentioning Ghost Wind Valley seemed to trigger another thought in Igor. He involuntarily gasped.

We didn’t reach Ghost Wind Valley by following a path, did we?

That means we don’t necessarily have to find a path!

Though he had been somewhat despondent, Igor suddenly seemed revitalized, his face alight with delight and excitement.

Well, seeing Igor’s expression, Kadi’s anxious heart finally settled. This Igor was the normal one, even though Kadi had no idea what he was talking about.