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Chapter 326. The Blind Master's Past (2)

"Ugh——"

The long, drawn-out whistle sounded like a gentle lullaby, softly waking Jingwei from her sleep.

He slowly opened his eyes, and what came into view was the evening light that filled the carriage.

The air was filled with the distinctive scent of old leather seats, mixed with the fragrance of fresh grass drifting in from outside the window.

"Ta...tat..."

He found himself leaning against a large train window, the green train moving at a leisurely pace, the wheels and rails creating a soothing rhythm.

Outside the window, the boundless grassland stretches its verdant form under the setting sun, while the distant undulating mountains are tinged with a warm orange hue by the evening glow.

The clouds on the horizon are like burning cotton wool, slowly spreading out into a magnificent brocade.

Jing Wei stared blankly at the flowing scenery, and in a daze, she could feel the breeze blowing across the grassland through the glass, a breeze that carried the breath of freedom and the distance.

He blinked unconsciously, but a strange sensation came from his right eye.

Jing Wei was slightly taken aback. She raised her hand to touch her cheek and then noticed that a pair of exquisite monocles had appeared on her right eye.

The brass-rimmed frames gleamed with a warm luster in the setting sun, while the world beneath the lenses was a silent darkness.

When he gently touched it with his fingers, he only felt a dull, wooden pain, as if reminding him of what had happened in the hilly area.

"Sir, we have arrived at the Ivar Plateau."

A gentle voice sounded in his ear, accompanied by a hand gently patting his shoulder.

The touch of that palm was unexpectedly warm, with a reassuring, woody feel.

Jing Wei turned his head and saw a train conductor in a smart uniform smiling at him.

The train conductor's face was stern, with swirling wood grain patterns on it, each line gleaming softly in the twilight.

Its eyes were filled with genuine concern.

"Was the trip comfortable?"

The train conductor asked softly, his voice like the rustling of fallen leaves on an autumn day, which was reassuring.

Jing Wei didn't answer, but just looked around.

The entire carriage was bathed in the honey-like glow of the setting sun. Long shadows were cast on the empty seats, like sentinels guarding this tranquility.

The curtains in the train window fluttered gently in the breeze, and the train became his personal mobile castle, carrying him towards a warm and distant place.

"I wish you a pleasant time on the Ivar Plateau."

Seeing that he didn't reply, the wooden train conductor bowed slightly and changed the subject.

"It's the season when irises are in bloom, and we hope you can enjoy the beautiful scenery."

"Om————"

As the train slowly came to a stop, the doors opened softly, like a distant call from freedom.

Jingwei didn't dare to get off the train and could only curl up in a daze.

He remembered being cornered on the hilltop by the blind teacher and being forcibly mentally controlled by her.

Generally speaking, after being mind-controlled, one's consciousness will be disrupted. When the controlled puppet wakes up again, it is either missing limbs and lying in a pile of corpses, dying and enjoying its last moments of lucidity before death, or it is decades in the blink of an eye, weeping bitterly at its gray hair and the stolen life in the mirror.

But he didn't encounter any of them.

He hasn't aged; it seems he's only lost sight in one eye.

This left Jing Wei somewhat bewildered, unable to grasp the current situation.

The surroundings were peaceful, even somewhat warm—could it all just be an illusion?
He sat in his seat for a long time until the train conductor came to urge him again, at which point he gritted his teeth and decided to get off. He picked up his backpack from the seat, but as soon as he took a step, he almost tripped—there was a gray backpack on the ground next to him.

That was the bag that Tantai Hui often carried when he studied at Huiguang Academy. It was dark in color and covered with several colorful and unique floral and bird stickers.

It was a gift he gave to her before.

Jingwei picked up the backpack; it was heavy, as if it were filled with memories of the past.

As a teenager, Tantai Hui was a very shy girl.

She was introverted and taciturn, like a mushroom growing silently in a damp corner.

Because her stationery and clothes were either gray or black, and because of her awkward position in the Tantai family, her classmates in the Control Engineering department gave her a nickname – "Gray Mouse".

When she first heard this title, she huddled in the corner of the classroom, helplessly lowered her head, her lips pursed until they turned white, and she was enveloped in an overwhelming sense of inferiority.

She was too reserved back then. People often bullied her, but no matter what kind of bullying she suffered, she would just stand there silently. Only occasionally, when she couldn't bear it anymore, would she lie on the table and quietly shed tears.

Until one day, Jingwei happened to see the students from the Control Engineering Department cornering Tantai Hui in the equipment room on the top floor of the laboratory building.

The iron door to the equipment room was locked from the inside, and only a few rays of pale light could be seen through the vent.

Several students from the Control Engineering Department were surrounding Tantai Hui, turning her backpack upside down on the dirty floor, spilling various books and inks—books and inks she had saved up to buy, now spreading like sewage around her feet.

"Hey, 'Gray Mouse,' your black clothes match the ink perfectly. Why don't you just change your name to 'Black Rat'?"

The leading man stepped on Tantai Hui's wrist and mocked him.

Upon seeing this scene, Jing Wei was immediately enraged. He quickly ran to the attack department to find a few friends with strong attack power, shattered the iron gate lock, rushed in, and gave those people a good lesson.

In the chaos, Tantai Hui was shielded behind him and led out of the equipment room.

Jing Wei squeezed next to her, asking her angrily and anxiously why she didn't fight back—he knew her strength; if she really fought, those few good-for-nothings would probably have their brains turned upside down long ago.

Back then, Tantai Hui was as introverted as she is now, but she hadn't yet been tainted by the gloom that would later afflict her. She simply smiled bitterly, her voice low:
“Those people… are all from powerful families. If I offend them… the Tantai family will blame me.”

Jing Wei, also from a prominent family, understands the feeling of being on the margins.

He didn't say anything more, silently took out his cherished landscape sticker book from his pocket, carefully tore off the stickers with flowers and birds printed on them, and handed them to her:
"Put this on your backpack, and no one will call you Gray Mouse anymore."

As time passed, after a holiday, Tantai Hui went to the south and never returned.

For the remaining year, Jing Wei cobbled together other strong individuals to form a team, barely managing to graduate. During this time, he wasn't without disappointment, and he couldn't help feeling saddened by her sudden dropout without even informing him.

But all those emotions dissipated during that graduation season—he heard that Black Pupil Pharmaceuticals had promoted an unprecedentedly powerful blind control specialist who looked a lot like her.

As time goes by and things change, the world is ever-changing.

When Jingwei saw the backpack again on the train, a strong sense of unreality enveloped her.

He opened his backpack, which was filled with medication for altitude sickness, glucose, and other essential supplies for survival at high altitudes. His phone displayed a new message: someone from the Ping An Forum had transferred him money for travel expenses.

"It's time for you to get off the bus."

Seeing that Jing Wei didn't move, the train conductor urged her again.

When Jingwei finally got off the bus with her hiking backpack on her back and the gray backpack in her hand, a crisp and pure highland wind swept over her, carrying the faint fragrance of the distant iris fields.

He knew he had just escaped death and should have been laughing out loud.

For some reason, he felt a lump in his throat and squatted down on the empty plateau, bursting into tears like a child.

It was previously sent to a dark room because of its violence and gore, and the reviewer deleted a lot of it. I revised it and made it more moderate.

Please, please don't hold me back from the review process. My writing isn't violent at all, and there's no gore. Please, please let me pass.

Also, I'll be posting two updates on Twitter tomorrow.