Monster Paradise

I decided to make up to my regrets since it was a test from the heart-glimpsing rune. I knew how devastated I was when my parents and Granny passed away, not to mention breaking up with Zhang Yan. Those were the reasons for my lack of confidence. I could only set myself free if I completely got over it, so I decided to follow my heart and propose to Zhang Yan.

My parents did not expect me to marry Zhang Yan as they thought it was our first time meeting each other. My parents and Granny had passed away when I started dating Zhang Yan, so they did not get to meet her. In this parallel world, perhaps the heart-glimpsing altered my memories when it was writing the script because Zhang Yan had never met my parents. After informing them that we had been dating for two years, they realized that our wanting to get married was not a hasty decision.

After they met each other, the wedding date was soon decided. It was the 7th of July, the Chinese Valentine’s day. The wedding was well prepared to be held two and a half months later. Time passed by quickly, and soon it was the big day. Zhang Yan wore a white wedding dress like an elegant swan among everyone else. Fortunately, I was not a toad. If I may say so, I looked like a black swan in a black suit.

We exchanged rings in the presence of our friends and families as witnesses. I felt a great sense of achievement as I put the wedding band on her beautiful ring finger. During our two years of dating, I had considered spending my life with this girl more than twice. I did not expect that my dream would come true with the heart-glimpsing rune. My parents and Granny were still alive, I was married to the love of my life, and I had no regrets in my life.

However, I was well aware that I was still in a story. It had been going too smoothly; it was almost perfect. Until now, I had no idea what the heart-glimpsing rune test was about. At the end of the night, Zhang Yan and I went back to our wedding room after sending our friends and families off. As we turned off the light, the bright moonlight glowed on the bed through the balcony sliding door. My heart almost stopped beating when I saw Zhang Yan taking off her clothes under the moonlight.

Her skin was as fair as snow, and she looked like she was glowing. I was utterly indulging in the moment, forgetting everything about the heart-glimpsing rune…

On the second morning, I felt like I had forgotten something when I woke up from the bed. I could not recall anything, but I had a terrible headache from a hangover as well as an unrealistic sense of reality.

”Lin Zhi, come drink this honey ginger tea.” Zhang Yan brought a glass over. I took the cup and had a sip, smirking when I look at her.

”I think you should call me something else now, wife?”

Zhang Yan blushed as she bent down and looked into my eyes.

”Okay, my husband!”

”Come, kiss your husband now,” I teased and got closer to her.

”No, you haven’t washed your face.” Zhang Yan pouted like she was disgusted with me.

”Oh no, my head is hurting.” I pretended.

”Drink this. It’ll help with your hangover.” Zhang Yan knew how bad hangovers made me feel.

”I’ll drink it if you kiss me,” I insisted playfully.

As soon as her warm lips touched my face, she stood up and looked at me angrily.

”Finish it, don’t leave a single drop behind!”

”Alright, my wife.” I finished the drink once and for all. I even licked the last few drops at the bottom of the cup.

”I think I’ll need to sterilize the cup…” Zhang Yang pretended to be repelled as she picked up the cup with two fingers and left to the kitchen.

…

We entered our honeymoon period. Since we had dated for two years, we knew other so well that we could understand each other just with a single glance. I completely indulged myself in this sweet life, losing all semblance of what was real and what was fake anymore.

I had even forgotten about Xiao Hei, Bai, Charcoal, Tyrant…

I had forgotten about Life Power, Sword Skill, Telekinesis, Witchcraft…

I had forgotten that my parents and Granny had left me…

When I woke up every morning, I would feel that something was missing, but I could not put a finger on what that was. Three months into our marriage, Zhang Yan got pregnant. I stopped fretting about what was missing. The happiness of fatherhood occupied my heart, my head, and even my soul.

Zhang Yan gave birth to a son when she was nine months pregnant. Our creation of love made us even happier than ever. It was challenging to bring a child up, but we managed to get through it. To be exact, there was more happiness than pain. My wife was pregnant again when our son was almost one. It was a daughter this time. Our kids grew up, and our life was finally much more relaxed when they went to kindergarten.

I got promoted and became the department manager while my wife started working again. Our life was getting better day by day. The only bad news that I had was that Granny passed away. On the day she passed away, some unsettling images flashed vaguely through my head. However, the images disappeared immediately, so I did not figure them out.

Time was passing by swiftly, and our kids grew up from kindergarten, primary school, junior high, high school, and university. My wife and I had finally completed our role in bringing our kids up. They then started working, and we did not have to worry about them anymore. It was then that I realized that time had flown by. My wife and I were old. Our hair was getting gray…

Father passed away the day our son got married. There was an odd image that flashed in my head again, but it disappeared quickly. I did not manage to figure out what it was. Our daughter got married later on, and we soon had grandkids, followed by Mother passing away…

Although our life was getting better, my wife and I were getting older day by day. She passed away when she was 87. Our marriage lasted for 62 years, but our love could not fight the fate of life…

Many images flashed in my head the day she passed away, but I was drowning in the pain of losing her and treated those images as ridiculous hallucinations. Losing a person that you have spent 62 years with was like your soul being wrenched away, and you felt completely alone…

After my wife passed away, my health went downhill. I would dream of my wife whenever I closed my eyes. Not sure if I was not feeling well, I was eating less, and I was becoming weaker.

Although my kids tried to help me, I could not stop time from making me older. I woke up from a coma on the hospital bed, and I had an oxygen mask on my face. I knew I did not have much time left.

”Dad…” My son’s eyes were red, and I knew he had been crying.

My daughter was holding my hand.

”Dad, are you trying to tell us something?”

I tried my very best to nod. The tiniest movement made me tired. Taking the oxygen mask off, they came closer to me.

”Dad, speak to us. We’re listening.”

I tried my very best to speak, but my voice was low and weak.

”I have… no regrets… in this life…”

After saying that, I felt like I had lost all my strength. As I stared at the white hospital ceiling, I felt my body was drowning as though I was falling somewhere.

”I think I forgot something. What’s that?” Suddenly, an odd thought came into my head. I was trying to think about what I had overlooked.

I heard my son and daughter sobbing in the hospital room as well as somebody else wailing. However, the sound was getting further away like it was being isolated. Images started flashing through my head. My father opening the door for me, Mother sorting our vegetables in the kitchen, Granny watching TV in the room, my wife’s fair skin under the moonlight…

Wait, why were those memories starting from when I was 25? What had happened to my memories before that? I thought that it was odd. Suddenly, another reel of images started playing. It was a rainy night when I was 9 and completing my homework in the house. The phone was ringing. My father ran out of the house like a lunatic after answering the phone without bringing an umbrella with him. He looked devastated when he got home. I only found out from my Granny that Mother was not coming back the next day.

When I was 13, I went to junior high. My class teacher called me when I was revising at school.

”Lin Huang, something’s happened to your dad. Let me send you home.”

Granny was crying when I got home. I kept asking my class teacher what had happened and soon found out that my father had a heart attack. It was too late when he was sent to the hospital. When I was 19, and at school, I got a phone call from my aunt saying that Granny had passed away… When I was 24, Zhang Yan called and broke up with me…

I was doubtful that of all these images that were completely different from the reality I had been living in.

”Where did all these memories come from?! Why is the timeline wrong?”

My body was getting heavier as images looped in my head like a movie. Every detail was clear from the beginning to the end.

Just when I felt like I was falling into an abyss, a subtly familiar name flashed in my head.

”Xiao Hei?”

As the name came up, more and more names appeared in my mind.

”Bai, Charcoal, Tyrant, Kylie…”

”Oh yeah, my name is Lin Huang. I’ve Life Power in me. I also have Telekinesis and Witchcraft. I know the Sword Skill and flying daggers. I can also summon monsters… I’m now in a virtual world that the heart-glimpsing rune has created!”

As that thought came to me starkly, the feeling of falling completely disappeared. There was a bright light ahead, and the dark world started to shatter. A moment later, my consciousness returned to my body. I realized that I was standing in front of a stone tablet. A golden glow shot out of the stone tablet and went in between my eyebrows.