Witch Redemption

"Karen, you're awake?"

Della looked at Li Lan with some concern and quietly stuffed the tissue in her hand into her jeans pocket.

Humans are peculiar creatures; they often reveal a different, more authentic side of themselves when they are asleep or drunk.

While Li Lan was asleep, it was Della who quietly wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes. Today was also the first time Della had seen that the incredibly strong witch "Karen Elf" could actually show such a vulnerable side.

"Hmm, we should be almost there, right?"

"Yes, the station just announced that we have arrived in Lanning City."

The view outside the car window wasn't of skyscrapers, but rather the kind of messy long street typical of a fourth-tier city. The low-rise buildings on both sides looked quite old, and the ground floor was filled with all sorts of shops, offering everything imaginable.

Li Lan was very familiar with this scene. More than ten years ago, before he traveled through time, he would see the same sight every time he returned to his hometown. More than ten years later, apart from a few outstanding new-generation buildings, the other buildings remained largely unchanged.

That's how it is in impoverished areas. Prices keep rising, and even when people achieve a comfortable standard of living, they don't have enough extra money to improve their living conditions. They just get by.

By this time, the bus had slowed down and entered a not-so-large station. At the same time, the driver's assistant's loud voice rang out from below, "Tantai Town, we've arrived! Get off here!"

As a large number of people squeezed out of the car, a number of motorcycle drivers soon swarmed up, chattering and trying to attract business for themselves.

The scene was similar to that of more than ten years ago, except that more than ten years ago Li Lan saw a group of middle-aged people in their forties and fifties, and more than ten years later it seemed to be the same group, with the motorcycle drivers generally being around sixty years old.

That's life; there are all sorts of people, and all kinds of professions.

However, some of these professions will gradually decrease until they eventually disappear completely.

Take this group of motorcycle drivers, for example. With future economic development, they may gradually give up this job that they rely on for a living. The younger generation will basically go out to work and will not come to do this job.

Li Lan skillfully rejected several men who tried to chat her up, and quickly pulled Della out of the crowd and onto the long street outside the station.

These scenes haven't changed much compared to more than ten years ago, easily triggering countless memories in Li Lan's mind.

"Let's walk slowly, there's still time."

Li Lan said this, and at this moment, he felt extremely conflicted, and even had some thoughts of escaping.

"Ah."

Walking side by side down the bustling main street, we soon crossed countless wide roads and began our journey into the remote mountains...

Everything was so familiar, yet Li Lan was no longer the same person he once was. This hometown was no longer the place where his heart once belonged. He was like an outsider, someone who had only come here by accident, and at most, a tourist passing through.

More and more memories flooded her mind, and the uncontrollable longing made Li Lan's heart surge, and even her legs felt weak when she walked.

He walked slowly, imprinting all the surrounding scenery into his mind once again, as if this journey would be the end of his life, after which he would have nothing and step into the abyss of darkness.

He wanted to escape reality, to freeze time in this moment, but his heart urged him to take a step forward, reminding him that no matter what happened, he should never stop.

"Hey......"

After walking in silence for more than two hours, Li Lan finally turned onto the highway winding through the mountains and entered a small path leading to the countryside.

Looking around, there were barren farmlands on both sides, with only a few areas still cultivating crops. It seemed that Li Lan's hometown was like the impoverished villages in Linxi Town, with a large number of young people leaving and the place being extremely desolate.

Li Lan walked into the village entrance, only to find that the doors and windows of the buildings on both sides were tightly closed, and the steps were covered with moss. It seemed that these people had not returned to this backward village for a long time.

Along the way, most of the pedestrians she saw were elderly. Since Li Lan was often away from home, she couldn't recognize who these pedestrians were for the time being, and she didn't greet the old man.

These elderly people also seemed particularly indifferent, and quickly disappeared from Li Lan's sight, at most glancing at them briefly.

After crossing the fields, they entered a bamboo forest road leading to the far end of the village, where Li Lan stopped at the corner of the crossroads.

“My mother was a very hardworking ordinary person. No matter the wind or rain, she would wake up at six o’clock every day and go to work in the fields. She would take a three-hour lunch break at most, and when the sun was slightly less intense, she would continue to go to the fields and not return until the sun went down.”

“My father usually goes to work in town. When the work schedule is less busy or during the busy farming season, he will also work in the fields with my mother. Rural people almost never care about romance. The young couple just make do and live a fairly comfortable life. Sometimes they have fewer worries than someone like me who is educated.”

Standing at this intersection, if I choose to wait here, perhaps I will run into my parents again.

What should we say after meeting them?

To pour out one's longing over the years? To reveal the fact that one's body has been taken from one's body? Or to pretend to be a distant relative of the two elderly people?

Li Lan didn't know; all he knew was that at this moment, he was in a state of utter confusion, his mind was blank, and he felt a slight sense of panic.

"Karen, why don't we go and see our old house?"

Della asked with some heartache, knowing what Li Lan was afraid of and why she was in pain.

If Li Lan could go to that home she longed for day and night, see the wife and children she might have had in her past life, and even strike up a conversation with them, perhaps she would feel a little better.

Of course, this was just Della's wishful thinking; in reality, she didn't know how to comfort Li Lan.

"Let's see later."

With a somber response, Li Lan shifted his gaze to the other end of the road. In his memory, his mother and father would always appear there before sunset, which was why he was so expectant at this moment.

As dusk settled, Li Lan, overcome with melancholy, spoke slowly once more, a rare occurrence, "Della, should I come back?"

Everything here no longer belongs to Li Lan—neither his parents nor that home. All that remains for him are his memories, and nothing more.

Della found it difficult to answer. Whether it was right or wrong, these were Li Lan's own inner conflicts, problems he would have to face sooner or later.

"Karen, should we ask Miss Shub and the others? Perhaps with their power, they can really help you regain your original body, and then you can..."

Li Lan shook her head. "Perhaps for me, whether or not I can return to my original body is no longer so important."

"Della, you know, right? No one is born equal, and fate is not fair to everyone."

"Ah."

Della noticed that Li Lan's expression was gradually changing.

"These past few days, I've thought about it a lot, every single day, what would my life have been like if it weren't for this time travel?"

Born a shut-in, I've been single until I'm thirty, and I'll continue to be single in the future. I'll save up a lot of money while I'm young to support my parents in their old age and to support myself in my future.

This is the normal Li Lan; this is the path he should have taken.

He was an ordinary person, not a genius, and lacked the talent to change his own destiny; he was destined for a mediocre life.

"That body-stealer took over my life and seized everything I shouldn't have. It should have belonged to him, not me."

Whether it's his career achievements or his current wife and children, these are the peaks that Li Lan could never reach in his entire life. Li Lan is well aware of this, and he also knows that seeing "wife Nan Xiaoxi" and "three children" is meaningless, because the person his wife and children love is not the Li Lan who has lost everything, but the "Li Lan" who has taken over all his identities.

The reality is truly cruel.

An ordinary person is elevated to a position that a genius doesn't deserve, and then the person feels lost.

“Della, from the day we traveled through time, there was no turning back, right? This return was just an accident for us. We shouldn’t belong to this world.”

The emotions that had been building up since his return were almost overwhelming Li Lan, and he was trying his best to control himself so that he wouldn't break down.

He recalled everything that happened in the other world, the countless pains and regrets there, and the path he should have chosen.

The final conclusion was that this regression was a mistake.

"Kallen, no, this return isn't a mistake. It's perfectly safe here. Here, we don't need to face death, we don't need to experience despair anymore, so..."

Della awkwardly tried to explain, but in the end she was speechless. She knew she was saying something against her will.

She should know that this return was indeed a mistake. They abandoned the power they had painstakingly built up in the other world, abandoned a large number of witch allies, and chose to come to this safe Earth world to eke out a living, ignoring their former will and beliefs.

Della herself was well aware of these things.

But! Even so, she absolutely cannot admit that this return was a mistake!

As long as we are here, we will not face destruction, and the future will surely hold hope and happiness.

Della herself didn't care, but what she hoped for most was that the witch Kallen Elf, her beloved comrade-in-arms, could live on forever!

And in this world, there is a way to fulfill her wish!

"I'm sorry, Della, this world causes me pain."

Li Lan murmured, "I think I know what I want now, and I should have figured it out a long time ago."

"No matter what kind of pain you are in, I will be there for you."

Della instinctively sensed that Li Lan's next words might completely surprise her.

"Well, Della, I think we don't need to stay here anymore. Let's go back together."

"..."

As the sun began to set, Li Lan, her face heavy with thought, finally turned and prepared to leave, as if bidding farewell to the past.

However, at that moment, an old and hunched figure came into view at the edge of the field of vision.

Chapter 21 Missed

As people get older, they will have all sorts of worries.

For example, when faced with all kinds of separation and death, one begins to worry about how much of one's life is left, and what one can do for future generations in this lifetime, at least not to become a burden, etc.

As a woman from a farming family with little education, the old woman has been pondering these issues for years, and stubbornly chose to stay in her hometown, continuing to live a frugal and hardworking life.

Facing the loess soil with their backs to the sky, it seems that every rural person can hardly leave this land in their entire life.

Although it has been five years since his wife passed away, and other relatives and close friends have gradually disappeared in recent years, and he sometimes feels lonely, the old man seems to have gotten used to it and rarely feels depressed about it.

Ultimately, everyone needs to return to their roots. Fortunately, the only child in the family has grown up and made a name for himself, so he doesn't need to worry too much and can complete his life without regrets.

Thinking about it carefully, her son Li Lan had always been a filial son, far better than the offspring of other families in the village.

In fact, ever since this son made some progress many years ago, got married and had children, he has wanted to bring her and her husband to the big city to live together more than once.

At that time, she had been discussing with her husband that they were uneducated and rough, and might not be able to adapt to life in a big city. Moreover, their son's social circle was quite "upper class," and they were afraid that the two "country bumpkins" would embarrass themselves and make a fool of themselves in front of their son.

Therefore, until the day his wife passed away, the old man never agreed to his son's request to move to the big city with him.

After her husband passed away, her son began to worry that she was too lonely in the countryside, so he brought his wife and three children back to the countryside to accompany her in her old age.

My daughter-in-law is a very virtuous person. She never looked down on her parents-in-law for being uneducated, nor did she complain about the inconveniences of living in the countryside. She is just as filial as her son.

Whenever she thinks about these things, she feels both moved and regretful. She is already quite old, with one foot in the grave, yet she keeps causing trouble for her son and daughter-in-law. Perhaps it would be better to listen to her son on some matters.

Even if she leaves this land and goes to a bustling big city, she should be confident that she can live as freely and happily as she does now.

"..."

With wrinkled hands, she groped wearily through the field, picking some seasonal vegetables. Dinner was now ready.

Looking around, most of the surrounding farmland is abandoned. After all, the younger generation who were supposed to leave have already left, and many familiar faces of the same age are gradually disappearing. Moreover, farming is indeed a hard and tiring job that few people do these days, so it's not surprising that the countryside is becoming more and more deserted. Even she occasionally considers whether to give up this thankless job.

After all, as she gets older, she is increasingly feeling less and less capable.

"This is the last batch of vegetables. I need to talk to Alan and Xiaoxi soon. I can't let them stay here because of me."