Maggie Auntie’s husband and son claimed that, last night, when they were searching for Maggie Auntie, they saw her in that swamp near the low woods. She had been missing for several days, and in the center of the swamp, she was dragged into the swamp by a human-shaped figure.
They couldn’t enter the swamp, and could only watch helplessly as Maggie Auntie was submerged by the swamp, so they knelt sadly in the small chapel to pray.
“Those swallowed by the swamp, their bodies can’t be found. Poor Maggie Auntie, even after death, she won’t be able to ascend to heaven.” Hesha sadly drew a cross over her chest.
Meili never expected this matter would end up being connected to the swamp monster. Her brows twisted sharply, “Why are you so sure it was the swamp monster that killed Maggie Auntie?”
Hesha answered as if it were perfectly natural: “Whether human or animal, as long as they walk into the swamp they’ll sink. No one can pass through the depths of the swamp; only the legendary swamp monster can drag people into the swamp…”
“Maggie Auntie once warned me not to approach the swamp, in case I was taken away by the swamp monster. I didn’t believe her, but I never thought she would end up encountering the terrifying swamp monster herself…”
Seeing Hesha crying emotionally, Meili didn’t continue arguing with her. But she did not believe Maggie Auntie was killed by a swamp monster.
If someone lost their mind and wandered into the swamp on their own, or accidentally fell in, that was possible. But to say that the swamp monster deliberately dragged someone into the swamp—she absolutely didn’t believe it.
The swamp monster had recently been busy planting flowers, how could he suddenly go kill someone?
Leaving the market in a hurry to return home, Meili planned to find her Mr. Mobile Garden to confirm this matter.
Not seeing the familiar floral sign waiting by the roadside, nor any mud left behind near home, Meili set the basket down in her house, then headed toward the forest marsh.
The winter shed was still there, but the thick coverings around it had been removed. A few birds perched on top of the shed, and inside it was empty.
He wasn’t even here. Compared to how the swamp monster had been following her every day recently, something didn’t seem right.
She searched all the nearby small marshes and mud pits, but didn’t see that familiar figure. She could only guess that he might have returned to the wilderness.
It was already noon. She didn’t even have the heart to eat, and under the sunlight she headed toward the wilderness.
She had gone to look for the swamp monster there a few times before. Every time, she could find him. But this time, she couldn’t.
The wind lifted the hem of her skirt, brushing over the newly grown wild grass, stirring up layer after layer of emerald waves, carrying the fresh scent of grass.
Standing in the bright spring light, she felt a heaviness utterly at odds with the scenery.
Where did he go?
Did something… happen?
At dusk, she finally returned home. Exhaustion and hunger left her unable to think much more. Even after dinner, she still didn’t want to rest, and simply took up a lamp and went out again.
Tonight there was hazy moonlight. On the sunny hillside near the house, there were a few flickering lights.
Meili remembered the moon night fairies she encountered over there before, and lifted her lamp to walk over.
“Ah— it’s her!”
“Are you here to play with us?”
The moon night fairies, who had spotted her, stopped their spinning dance, lying atop the white stones and speaking to her.
Meili stopped a meter away from them and asked, “I want to ask you, have you seen the swamp monster?”
“Ah—”
“Hate—”
“We won’t tell!”
A few moon night fairies shrieked sharply and disappeared into the pattern of the stone flowers.
Meili had just remembered that she might be able to ask the fairies living near the forest whether they had seen any trace of the swamp monster and ask them for help yet her first attempt had already failed.
When there was nothing going on, she would often see the fairies coming and going around her. But now that she needed them, she couldn’t find even one.
Meili crouched by the small lake to rest, scooped up some water to wash her face, and suddenly noticed a little point of light drifting over the surface, like a firefly, circling once near her ear.
“The swamp monster you’re looking for has appeared, in the wild land—”
A thin, small voice drilled into her ear. Meili raised her head just as that faint light spoke again: “He’s gone crazy, it’s so noisy, you should hurry and deal with him.”
With that, the tiny light fairy covered its ears, looking very troubled, and drifted away.
Meili didn’t know what kind of fairy it was or whether what it said was true. She dared not delay and ran toward the wild land.
The wild land was a stretch of path between the forest here and the wilderness. Meili had passed by there twice during the day and hadn’t seen even the shadow of the swamp monster.
A warm wind brushed her cheeks, carrying the scent of rain and earth. The damp moisture appearing on this clear moonlit night undoubtedly came from the swamp monster. Along with that familiar scent, Meili also heard a terrifying and eerie crying sound.
Meili’s spirits lifted, and with confusion she quickened her steps. At last, she saw from afar that long, thin silhouette.
He was still dragging his steps across the grass, but unlike before — when he always kept his head lowered and his body hunched — he was now looking upward, toward the sky, letting out… a shrill crying sound?
That crying echoed through the wilderness, sharp and piercing, unbearable to hear, frightening to approach.
She had never heard him make a sound before, this was the first time. So he couldn’t speak, but he could make sounds.
But why was he crying?
Why was his crying so sharp and painful?
Meili felt a sudden pain in her ears. She quickly tore off a decorative hem from her skirt, rolled it into a ball, and stuffed it into her ears, blocking some of that piercing noise.
Covering her ears, she ran toward the swamp monster walking through the grass.
As she caught up to him, she saw that wherever he passed, the wild grass was, in the blink of an eye, swallowed by the swamp. The swamp spread rapidly to both sides — at this rate, it wouldn’t take long for this whole area to become a new swamp.
It was truly a plague-like spreading speed.
Meili’s heart jumped. She avoided the sections of ground that had collapsed into swamp.
“Cute! Stop—”
She had given him the name “Cute,” and whenever she called him, her heart would be filled with a fluttering feeling, like a dandelion quivering, sending loose fluff swirling wildly in her chest.
When he heard her calling, he would look at her and reach out his hand to her, as docile as a large pet.
“Cute!”
The swamp monster’s shrill crying echoed across the wilderness, completely drowning out her voice. He kept walking forward. The flowers that once bloomed on him were gone, melting away like thick gray mud dripping down, and it was those clumps of mud that fell to the ground and rapidly turned it into swamp.
Meili wasn’t paying attention for a moment and stepped into swamp. She struggled to pull her leg free, but her shoe got stuck in the sludge and wouldn’t come out. Gritting her teeth, she didn’t care about the shoe anymore, and continued the chase barefoot on one foot.
Sharp blades of grass cut her foot, and a dull pain spread beneath her.
Enduring the pain in her ears and her foot, Meili ran faster and faster, finally catching up to the swamp monster who seemed to have grown taller and she dropped her lamp, throwing herself forward to grab his hand with both of hers, clinging tightly.
Her strength was far too small compared to the swamp monster’s. When he no longer remained docile and cooperative, it was only natural that she couldn’t pull him at all.
Now he was like an unshakable giant. She clung to his arm, but instead of stopping him, she was dragged forward with him.
“Cute, stop! Stop!” Meili shouted loudly.
Being so close, the destructive force of his crying was even stronger. She even felt as though blood was flowing from her ears. Everything she heard was blurry, even the sound that came from her own mouth, fractured and broken when it reached her ears.
Dragged forward endlessly, her throat raw from shouting, she didn’t know how long it had been until suddenly she felt the movement beneath her stop. The crying stopped as well, leaving behind a sudden ringing in her ears caused by the abrupt silence.
The swamp monster halted in place and slowly lowered his head to look at her, as though he had regained some clarity.
Meili lifted her face and saw that on the swamp monster’s sculpted, emotionless visage were two extremely distinct trails of tears. The mouth that had been letting out those shrill cries was still open, gradually closing under her gaze.
“Drop—”
Clear droplets that continuously overflowed from the swamp monster’s eyes splashed onto her face.
Along with them, the emotions of sorrow and grief were transferred to her as well.
“What’s wrong? Why are you crying like this?” Meili pulled out the two tufts of cloth from her ears and stretched her arms toward him.
The swamp monster lowered his head, and his two long arms crossed behind her, wrapping around her, almost entirely enclosing her within his shadow.
Meili’s back pressed against his arms. With no space to retreat in that narrow enclosure, she could only feel the swamp monster’s tears falling faster and faster, like a downpour crashing over her face and body.
His tears were different from human tears. They carried the scent of rain soaked in fresh grass — Meili felt as if she were sitting in the grass under pouring rain.
“…I’m going to drown in your tears.”
“Ah, don’t cry first… my hair is soaked, my clothes are soaked too…”
“Pu— cough cough—” She choked on water.
Meili’s hands groped to the swamp monster’s cheeks and covered the two “water faucets” on his face.
Clear rainwater still seeped out between her fingers.
Although Meili wanted to wait until his emotions calmed down a little before figuring things out together — slowly communicating and understanding the situation — right now they were standing in the midst of a newly forming swamp, and her lower legs up to her knees were already nearly completely buried in mud.
The swamp monster was still “raining.” By the time he recovered on his own, she might already have been buried in the swamp he created.
Wouldn’t that be a tragic fate?
She could only grab the motionless swamp monster and struggle to pull her legs from the mud, stepping onto his arm.
After forcibly raising her footing, Meili lifted her sleeve and vigorously wiped at the swamp monster’s face.
“Stop crying, you big mudball, or your girlfriend is going to disappear.”
“Pull back your swamp, and pull back your tears too.”
“What grievance did you suffer?”
“Were you bullied? Who would dare bully you?”
She didn’t know if he understood her rambling at all, but at least he reacted — he suddenly lifted Meili into his arms and walked forward.
Sitting in his arms, Meili couldn’t help but keep looking at his face. His tears were not as many as before, but they still streamed down. She suspected that those two tear streaks on his face were formed by the tears repeatedly washing over his skin.
If they never disappeared in the future, wouldn’t he become like a cheetah with natural tear lines?
She even couldn’t resist bringing her hand to his chin to catch some water and wash her hands with it.
The swamp monster carried her for quite a while. Meili’s sleeves were soaked from wiping his tears.
