I'm trapped in a block

Chapter 1280 Witnessing the True Flow

Mo Ling used to not understand why two terrible chess players would have a large group of strategists offering advice and strategies.

Now he understood; seeing the two old men fighting and getting increasingly out of control, he couldn't help but want to "lend a hand."

Fortunately, he restrained his desires, maintained the composure of a true gentleman who observes chess without speaking, and forcibly looked away.

Mo Ling walked to a sculpture in the center of the square, which was the highest point in the entire area.

It was past lunchtime, and most of the elderly people downstairs were there for a walk.

The sun had not yet completely set; the slightly reddish sunset shone on the iron roof of the high-rise building, sending a warm red light to every corner of the square.

People strolled along, enjoying their leisure time in the afterglow of the setting sun—something that would have been impossible in the years immediately following the invasion of the abyss, when everyone was on edge and had no time to appreciate the beauty around them.

People back then were often burdened with bitterness and resentment, and their minds were heavy with worries, unlike now where they can relax both physically and mentally.

The sea has its turbulent moments and its calm moments, just as the tides of time are sometimes turbulent and sometimes calm.

Mo Ling sensed these subtle differences, and her state of mind gradually became peaceful under the setting sun.

It felt like returning to the evening before the abyss descended.

People were just as calm back then.

The arrival of the abyss stirred up waves in people's hearts, and as the waves gradually subsided, people returned to that familiar past.

Time flows backward, and it seems that humanity has come full circle, only to find itself back in the same place.

The elderly playing board games and the elderly playing chess seem to have overlapped at different points in time, and nothing has changed.

Flowers are planted along the edge of the square, just as they have been a hundred years ago, enduring the ebb and flow of the abyss, yet they remain as vibrant as ever.

The clouds drifted to and fro, then returned to their origin. People a hundred years ago and people a hundred years from now look up and see the same water vapor, which has transformed back into clouds after five complete atmospheric cycles.

Human life goes on endlessly, generation after generation, and the moon over the river looks the same year after year. When placed on the scale of cosmic change, a human life is not much different from a Planck time. Each generation simply experiences the same things in different ways.

In the end, Mo Ling only lived a short twenty-odd years, but his life experiences were more colorful than many others.

At his age, he should be just beginning to enjoy the beauty of the world.

But after experiencing so much, his tense mind seemed somewhat worn out.

He was like an old man in his twilight years, beginning to lament the fleeting nature of time.

Sitting next to that sculpture, he seemed to have become a sculpture himself...

In front of the frozen sculpture, the flow of time seems to accelerate.

The sky flickered a few times, the sun and moon alternating.

The sun suddenly moved from the east to the west, and then hurriedly reappeared in the east.

The flowers in the distance suddenly withered, but in the blink of an eye, new buds sprouted...

A little boy ran past Mo Ling with a windmill, and then, in a flash, he transformed into a young couple in love.

As the young man walked along, another "little follower" appeared beside him, holding his parents' hands and babbling incoherently.

Later, the little follower disappeared, and the middle-aged couple continued walking, chatting idly. They seemed to have no worries left, with contented smiles on their faces, praising the evening sunset and the weather. Everything seemed so beautiful...

They strode forward, their bodies growing increasingly hunched, until finally, after passing through the crowd, only one of them remained.

Those who accompany you will eventually leave, leaving you all alone in the end.

Happiness turned into bewilderment, and in the time that followed, the remaining person lost the meaning of life, counting down the days until death.

The old man sat down next to Mo Ling. Just then, a child carrying a windmill ran past like the wind, ruffling the old man's silver hair... The old man turned his head somewhat absentmindedly and asked Mo Ling:

"Do you come here every day? I see you sitting here every time I come."

“I remember seeing you when I was young. I had just fallen in love with my wife, and she whispered in my ear that there was a strange person sitting up there. When I looked, it really was him.”

"Later, we had a child, and that child would ask her mother every day: 'Why does that person with the square head always sit there?'"

“Every time my wife and I come for a walk, you are here. From when the children started school, to when we started working, got married, and had our own families, so much time has passed, but you haven’t changed and you don’t look old.”

"I'm really curious, what are you doing sitting here the whole time?"

……

"I'm just sitting here... watching."

"What are you looking at? What's so interesting?"

"Look at you guys."

"us?"

"Yes, you are very good-looking."

"They're just ordinary people, not big stars, what's so great about them..."

"No, it's like watching a movie. The scene flashes and the protagonist changes from a child to an adult, and then the scene flashes again and he becomes an old man with white hair."

"Now that you mention it, it's true. Time really flies. Memories are like movie clips, jumping around until the ending. The curtain falls, the music ends, and nothing is left..."

"Yes, it's a very good movie."

Upon hearing this assessment, the old man pondered for a moment, then shook his head: "My life... isn't as exciting as a movie."

"Your wife loves you very much."

"what?"

“You love your wife very much, which is wonderful, more wonderful than any movie, because it’s real.”

"It's real, but that has nothing to do with being exciting, does it?"

"Of course it's related. Your movies have stood the test of time. True love is more important than anything else. When the river of time flows to similar points and the movies are shown at the same point in time, true love can move the audience. No matter how many times they watch it, the audience will still be moved because it's real, and real love is what makes it wonderful."

"I... don't quite understand."

"The real thing transcends all dimensions. Even if the sun and moon change, the stars shift, and the world is destroyed, the real thing will not disappear because it has been seen by witnesses."

"You mean, it's enough that we existed?" the old man asked, seemingly understanding but not quite. He felt he couldn't quite see the strange man in front of him clearly.

"It's not just about existing, but about living a vibrant life. Look at all these people below, but very few of them are living vibrant lives. They float and sink in the river, merging into the silt, becoming pebbles that can be seen everywhere in the river. They're nothing special."

Do we have to be special?

"Only the extraordinary can be seen; if it's not extraordinary, who will come to see it?"

“That’s true. We spend our whole lives trying to prove our specialness, to those who are looking at us, and to our own confused hearts…” The old man nodded in agreement.

The square-headed oddball continued speaking slowly, following the old man's words, but his speech was somewhat cryptic:
"The gaze that stares into your eyes, and the confusion in your heart, will become the abyss that devours you, but also the reason that leads you toward truth. Only what is seen can become truth..."

"Only what is real can be seen, and only what is seen can become real."

(End of this chapter)