Chapter 103: The Path of Two Exiles, Part 45

They placed Lu Li back into the RV. Since the RV wouldn’t start, they hooked it up and towed it with the off-road vehicle as they set off.

The two vehicles traveled one after the other toward the oasis. The night was clear and calm, the moon bright and the stars countless. Under the vast night sky, the lake looked like a shining mirror, its surface calm and still.

The vehicles stopped by the lakeside. Ye Liuyun carried Lu Li to the water’s edge and gently laid her down.

Blood stained the water, tinting the shallows a dark pink.

In truth, Ye Liuyun felt this was futile. Lu Li was already dead—her heartbeat had ceased, her body cooling, her limbs stiffening. There was no chance of saving her now.

But Shi Xianyu insisted on trying.

Lu Li’s body lay immersed in the shallow water, the clear lake water surrounding her. Though her body was broken, her face was peaceful and serene. She lay quietly, as if asleep, no longer afraid of abandonment’s past or the exile of the future.

Everyone gathered around her. Rather than waiting for a rebirth, it felt more like a funeral, a final farewell.

Ye Liuyun’s heart ached bitterly. She looked up at Shi Xianyu and whispered hoarsely, “Xiao Yu, let it be.”

Let it be—there was no saving her.

Let it be—accept reality.

Let it be...

Shi Xianyu couldn’t hold back. She covered her eyes with both hands, pressing hard, but tears flowed uncontrollably. She sobbed silently at first, then her cries grew louder, until she could no longer restrain the helpless, anguished wailing.

Just a little more… just a tiny bit more, and she could have brought little Li to safety.

She hadn’t found her mother for her yet, hadn’t fulfilled her wish!

There was nothing she had managed to do in time!

Shi Xianyu’s heart sank to its deepest depths, overwhelmed by regret, sorrow, guilt, and pain. Every time she thought she could become some kind of immortal, someone who could help those in need, reality would always drag her back down.

She could do nothing!

She was just an ordinary, powerless person—not a god!

Why had she come here at all? If she hadn’t come, maybe Lu Li would still be living peacefully in Qinghe Oasis, even if alone, even if surviving only by hunting mutant rats. At least she would be alive! Alive and safe!

Lu Li was still so young, she hadn’t truly seen the world yet...

Shi Xianyu closed her eyes, tormented by heart-wrenching pain, crying herself exhausted.

Ye Liuyun said this place was beautiful, that Lu Li would have liked it. They dug a grave amidst a field of flowers, cleaned Lu Li’s body, and dressed her in a beautiful new dress. Into the grave they placed her favorite picture book and watercolor pens, a doll, a small backpack, and the cherished potted plant she had longed for, transplanting it to grow around her resting place.

Shi Xianyu sat by the grave all night, motionless.

Time seemed to freeze for her, stuck on the day Lu Li died.

But for Ye Liuyun and the others, time had to move forward.

The next day, the bearded man drove away from the oasis and returned at dusk with seven or eight war vehicles.

From these vehicles stepped many young men and women. Some were comrades who had fought alongside Ye Liuyun—they embraced warmly upon meeting. Others were allies invited from other oases, exchanging polite handshakes and greetings.

On the third day, they pitched tents and set up a camp of significant size at the oasis.

Ye Liuyun declared her intention to build the finest oasis on the continent. It might not be the largest, but it would be the most equal and free oasis. Even humans infected by the parasitic flower Su could live here.

By the fourth day, more people arrived, drawn by the reputation, to join in constructing the new oasis.

On the fifth day, a giant flower lizard also arrived, causing a small stir before becoming the first special resident of this new oasis.

A mutant beast researcher noted that the giant flower lizard was pregnant and close to giving birth. So, apart from building homes, they also prepared a comfortable birthing chamber for her.

On the sixth day, with no insect monsters threatening, more animals appeared—coyotes, mutant rats, thorny pythons...

Ye Liuyun was busy building the community, with no time to erect protective walls or gather enough weapons and ammo to fend off mutant beasts. Yet no chaos erupted. Under the deterrent presence of the giant flower lizard, a delicate balance formed among the animals. The oasis welcomed its seventh day of new life.

On the seventh day, a tree sprouted from Lu Li’s grave.

Overnight, it grew several meters tall, with a thick trunk and broad green leaves. At its crown blossomed a vivid red six-petaled flower.

Shi Xianyu pressed her palm against the trunk and felt, beneath the sturdy bark, the pulse of flowing blood.

Tears instantly welled up as she looked up at the six-petaled flower and whispered, “Little Li, is that you?”

From the flower’s center emerged six slender red tendrils, gently wrapping around her fingers. At first, she felt a prickling pain, then an intense, familiar consciousness—like the wish she once heard from the Prayer Fish.

The voice said: Thank you for caring for this child.

Shi Xianyu was confused. “Who are you?”

The voice replied: I am Mother. I was born to be Mother. All life in this world is my child. I care for all the children I can. Some snakes want bigger mouths, some lizards want stronger bodies. I nurture them and fulfill their wishes. But this child—I spared her from hunger and illness, yet she only ever wanted her mother. For the first time, I felt puzzled. I wanted to know what her mother was like.

Shi Xianyu understood and murmured, “So that wish was your voice…”

She asked, “Have you found the answer?”

The voice said: Perhaps I have, perhaps I haven’t... Within this child’s body, I have seen many mothers.

I saw a mother who refused motherhood, unwilling to bear the burden of raising life.

I saw a mother who gave everything to her child but was hated and despised in return.

I saw a mother who once loved her child, but her love came with conditions; if the child failed to meet her expectations, she could not accept it, even cruelly destroying her child.

I also saw a mother who was not originally a mother... but she taught me how to become one.

Shi Xianyu choked back tears and asked, “Little Li... will you come back to life?”

The voice was silent.

After a long pause, it said: As a child, she is gone. But as a mother, she will live forever in this land.

Shi Xianyu closed her eyes, tears silently streaming as the image of that innocent smile filled her mind... She had once sought her mother, and in the end, she herself became a mother.

Perhaps this was the best ending. Dreams would take root and blossom here. Shi Xianyu knew Lu Li would be the best mother this land had ever seen.

Opening her eyes, she gazed at the flourishing tree beside the RV, its branches full, just like the picture Lu Li had drawn.

—My home.

She looked toward the distance where people busily built houses and cultivated the sandy fields, a scene of thriving vitality.

“Little Li, your home is truly wonderful.”

...

At parting, Shi Xianyu told no one. She quietly left behind all the supplies stored in the space, taking only Lu Li’s drawing with her.