Chapter 225: Where is home

The wart was slowly cut out as the green gelatin-like colloid slid out of the opening. In the middle of the green colloid was a dark brown shrapnel, but the colloid did not dissolve and remained as though it was frozen.

Zhang Xiao Qiang looked at the strange gelatin substance and took a whiff at it. He turned towards Wang Le and Fat Chef, “What do you guys make of it?”

Fat Chef took a whiff carefully, “Bloodstench, and some filthy smell.”

“Yeah, I smell some fishy smell, it is very fishy, even more so than fishes.” Wang Le added.

Not only did the odd smell not dissipate, but it got even stronger. Upon sensing that the stench was getting worse and seeing the green gelatin thing in front of him, a sense of thirst surged from the bottom of his heart.

He looked at the unknown object in front of it and felt the crazy urge to eat it. This bizarre thought became stronger and stronger, so stronger that it made him out of control.

“Clank…” The claw dropped from his hand and landed on a thigh bone, releasing a clear and loud sound. His trembling right hand unconsciously extended towards the thing….. “Eat it…..eat it…..eat….” A strange voice came out from within Zhang Xiao Qiang’s mind, prompting and urging Zhang Xiao Qiang to take the thing up and eat it.

Zhang Xiao Qiang was unable to make out where the strange voice came from, whether it was from something or someone else, or it was just him subconsciously mumbling to himself. The current him had already forgotten about Wang Le and Fat Chef beside him, his eyes completely fixated on the strange and green gelatin.

Zhang Xiao Qiang held the soft colloid in his hand, it felt slightly cold and the scent got even more concentrated. From his throat, he felt as though a claw was extending out towards his hand to grab the colloid.

Zhang Xiao Qiang struggled within himself and his mental state became unstable. Ultimately, he found a box and placed the colloid-gelatin inside, picked up the claw and without saying a word, left the kitchen and headed out.

Inside the densest part of a bamboo forest, Zhang Xiao Qiang sat cross-legged on the floor with the box in front of him where the green, transparent gelatin object sat in quietly. Zhang Xiao Qiang looked at the increasingly fragrant object and his heart hesitated more and more.

He did not know what would happen if he were to eat it, but it was a thirst coming from deep within his soul, calling out to him to eat the object.

Although Zhang Xiao Qiang was no longer the computer nerd with no self-control and had tempered his willpower and determination through countless of life and death battles, his heart was still struggling against the object. His fingers caressed the object endlessly as the smell got stronger and the desire from his heart got stronger…..darkness……endless darkness….. Zhang Xiao Qiang walked inside the darkness, a step at a time…..Unaware of how he got here, he could not recall why he was here. Aside from his own name, Zhang Xiao Qiang could not remember anything. He could not remember when he got here, inside this quiet space that had no cold, no warmth, no joy or fear. Yes, there was nothing…. Zhang Xiao Qiang walked within this dark void of emotions, unable to see anything, unable to see the path he was on, unable to see the environment around him. He could not see his shadow and could not think of anything. He just continued walking in the darkness, not feeling any discomfort, as though him walking in the endless darkness was the most real fact, and was the reality.

Images of battles, lives, men, women, all lit up in his mind and started to burn.

Zhang Xiao Qiang did not pay any attention to these images, he reckoned that they were illusions and fabrications his bored mind had invented. He thought that the endless darkness was his home, where he was born and grew up in. Even his home that was gone, he felt comfortable, yes, this is the feeling of home…..home?

He suddenly thought about his home, I should use my keys to open the door. He extended his hand to his neck, where is it? It’s gone? Where’s the key?

The anxiety broke Zhang Xiao Qiang’s strange state of mind. He groped about his own body trying to look for his own key, if I don’t have my key, I can’t go home…despite the endless search, he was unable to find the key.

For the first time, he stopped in his tracks. Where is my key?

“BANG…..” He saw the steel doors shut tight. He looked at his home doors, the keys to the steel doors was hanging by his neck as he carried his rucksack and crossbow and headed out. The gloomy sky spiraled over his head…. “Bang”…He entered the car and closed the doors and drove off, he saw the dirty girl inside the car screaming….the doors opened, Yuan Yi entered with hot water, she carefully poured the hot water on a towel and gave it to him….the doors in the distance looked so far, yet so near. He crawled on the floor covered with rice grains towards the doors, the furious roars of the D2……He sprinted with his life on the line, the red tide behind him that enveloped the sky. In front of him, the black steel doors were his only hope…..He stood on the grass by the quiet lake. He turned and saw the doors to the villa, and saw Yuan Yi at the windows…. “Who am I? I’m Zhang Xiao Qiang…..but I don’t belong here, this isn’t my home? Where’s my home? …..”

Zhang Xiao Qiang started to panic, he looked around him, he wanted to find his own home, he wanted to leave this ghastly place. He suddenly felt himself flying upwards. The darkness around him started to thin and a faint trace of light shone down from above. As his body continued to rise, the light got stronger to the point of being too bright, too bright that he could not open his eyes.

“Cough cough cough….” A fit of coughs woke Zhang Xiao Qiang up. He dropped on all fours and hacked violently. With great difficulty, he stopped the itch in his throat, but his stomach started to churn and a feeling to vomit followed on. He knelt on the ground and gagged endlessly. As time passed, he spat out the bitter phlegm in his mouth and used the bamboo by his side to pull himself up.

After standing straight up for a while, he managed to drive away the faint spell. Waves of fatigue struck him once again. Noticing the flipped over box, Zhang Xiao Qiang became furious. He had no idea why he was obsessed with eating the object. “Bang….” Zhang Xiao Qiang kicked the box and sent it flying. He watched it tumble down the hillside and felt slightly better.

Zhang Xiao Qiang picked up the bag containing the claw, ignoring the dust accumulated and swung it onto his shoulders, then staggered down the hill. The original plan was for him to head to the repair shop and look for He Wen Bin, but after the affair, Zhang Xiao Qiang just wanted to sleep. He headed back to his place.