Chapter 274 - 272. The Orb

Third-person POV

Zhang Wei was frozen in his place from Hong er's words, his hands were visibly trembling as he stared at Hong er in disbelief.

"No…no... I must be mistaken… please, please write once again. I must have read it wrong. Please I beg of you!" Zhang Wei grabbed Hong er's hand and pushed his palm to Hong er.

Hong er's face twisted as she didn't know what was happening. She just stated the truth and the child in front of her seemed to unable to accept what she just told him. There was no reason for her to lie, it was not an uncommon matter when one's husband and child died due to the war.

The most vivid memory she had was when she received a piece of news that her husband died in the frontline. At that time, she was 9 months pregnant and predicted soon would go into labor. She hoped that her husband would be by her side during the labor therefore she impatiently waited for her husband's return.

And to make it worse, as soon as the war was done for the day, his body was buried with the other fallen soldiers. Even she couldn't see him for the last time. The moment she heard the news, her water broke and went into labor.

After hours and hours of exerting her energy to push the baby out of her w.o.m.b, the first word that came out of the midwife's lips wasn't congratulatory but another sword that stabbed her heart. Her baby that she carried for 9 months died from complications.

Her vision instantly went black and the first thing that she noticed when she woke up was her eyes were gone together with her voice and hearing ability. She didn't know how she can become so miserable in a single moment, she was devastated. Losing everything she had, if it wasn't Tao Qi who looked over her, she probably would have long died. Whether it was from starvation or taking her own life.

In order not to be a burden to Tao Qi, Hong er learned to communicate through writing and doing the housework relying only on her smelling and sensing ability. It was very hard at the first time, but she never gave up despite the countless injuries that she got every single day.

Sometimes she would wonder how could a little kid like Tao Qi be able to live in such a desolated cave. But every time she inquired about these things to Tao Qi, he would always dodge the topic. And over the years, Hong er realized that Tao Qi wasn't a normal human being.

'He doesn't grow at all.' Was one of the reasons why she thought that Tao Qi wasn't a human.

She fully knew that Tao Qi wasn't a human but what creature he was, she didn't know at all. A ghost? A demon? A spirit? Or maybe a zombie? This question was left unanswered even after 13 years had passed by.

Hong er skillfully took Zhang Wei's frantic hands and pressed his hands with hers. The warmth from Hong er's palm transferred to Zhang Wei's drenched in cold sweat's skin. Zhang Wei's eyes directed to Hong er's finger that was gliding on his rough palm.

"Little boy, do you perhaps mistake me for someone else?" Hong er flashed a warm and sympathetic smile.

"No!" Zhang Wei immediately shouted.

How could he be mistaken? The resemblance of the lady in front of him with the lady in the painting was uncanny. Zhang Wei looked down and noticed the bedsheet was stained with the tears that had unknowingly fallen from his eyes.

At this point, Zhang Wei didn't know what to do. He suspected that Hong er had amnesia, yet, it didn't seem like a normal amnesia. The better way to explain this was her memory was reconstructed into a new series of memories. It was like she was living as another person.

Zhang Wei racked his panic brain as he tried to find a solution for his mother's memory loss. Then the face of the person who knew his mother the best appeared in his head.

"Father…Father!" Zhang Wei urgently stood up and almost caused Hong er to fall off her little stool.

Zhang Wei swiftly pulled Hong er so that she wouldn't fall and his face immediately scrunched in worry, "Mother, I am sorry for being rough. Do you perhaps hurt anywhere?"

Unfortunately, Zhang Wei forgot that Hong er was unable to hear him. Therefore he did a quick inspection on Hong er's body and sighed in relief as he didn't found any injury on her. After he was convinced that he didn't cause any wound on Hong er, he released Hong er's hand and started to fumble around.

Hong er who was left hanging by Zhang Wei had given up in getting the answer to her question. She just let him do whatever he wanted, even after spinning her around without telling her what it was for.

(A/N: Zhang Wei answered her verbally but Hong er who couldn't hear anything thought that Zhang Wei ignored her.)

'Where? Where is it?' Zhang Wei clenched his jaw in irritation.

Zhang Wei rummaged the bed and his rigid face instantly relaxed when he found the little box that he was looking for was hidden under the pillow. He hurriedly unwrapped the cloth around it and scrutinized the content. Zhang Wei sighed for the tenth time today after he checked that the content was still usable even after being dipped in the river water.

Fortunately he took two of this box just in case one of them failed to launch. And as he predicted, one of the box was flung away when he was going to give it to Rong Ai during the attack.

Inside of the box, there was a piece of dark orb perfectly secured with a tiny pillow beneath it. The orb was only half the size of Zhang Wei's thumb yet a mystifying flow of aura that was circulating inside the orb caused one's hair to rise just by standing near the orb.

The orb was given to Zhang Wei as a present for his success in controlling his power. In people's eyes, the orb was too typical to be considered as the most precious gift, yet to Zhang Wei it was the most precious gift that his father gave to him.

Weisheng invested numerous sleepless nights into creating this magic orb that could be used as a signal for them to locate one's whereabouts.

"Ah Wei, if you are in any danger, don't hesitate to smash the orb. You are now able to control your power, Father believes that you can do it." Weisheng said this sentence and placed the two little boxes on Zhang Wei small palm.

Zhang Wei dashed to the entrance of the cave and stared at the cloudy sky, 'I don't know how this works but maybe with this, Auntie Meiyun can immediately pin down my location. With that, she can inform Father about Mother's being as fast as possible.'

Zhang Wei took the orb and placed it in the middle of his palm. He took a deep breath and clenched his fist. The orb was crushed into pieces, a surge of dark aura instantly shot up to the sky and dispersed the clouds in the sky.

Not even a second later, an earth-shattering thunder stroke the top of the mountain. A tall man in an imperial robe stood menacingly in front of Zhang Wei. His blood-red eyes were filled with murderous intent. Even the child in front of him froze on his spot.

Hong er who was horror-stricken by the sudden earthquake quickly ran to the mouth of the cave, 'Little boy!'