"Whooo..."
A cold, eerie wind swept past. The withered yellow weeds swayed nonstop, looking grim and terrifying in the dim sunlight, like a demon's claws reaching for the souls of the living.
At the other two boys' urging, Todd set the piglet down and walked up behind a dairy cow.
The open ground around them was smeared with filth and manure, and the stench in the air was overwhelming.
"I'm not a coward."
Todd clenched his fists and pumped himself up, then planted a hand on the cow's rear and shoved with all his strength.
The little piglet didn't stay idle either. It kept nudging Todd's calf with its head, helping him push.
But then the cow suddenly turned around, scaring Todd so badly he dropped onto the ground.
His foot slipped, and with a wet plop, a heap of yellow cow dung splashed all over the piglet.
"Hahaha! I'm dying!"
"Todd, you'd better go home and drink milk! Hahaha!"
Seeing the boy and pig make fools of themselves, the Spiky-Haired Kid and the Chubby Kid laughed so hard they could barely stand, clutching their stomachs and nearly collapsing.
"You guys...!" Realizing he'd been played, Todd whipped around, ready to blow up.
The Spiky-Haired Kid and the Chubby Kid instantly stopped laughing.
"Ah!!"
They screamed in terror, then bolted with the piglet, leaving Todd behind.
"What the heck? What's going on?"
Todd scratched his head, completely confused.
Huff...
A blast of hot breath hit the back of his neck.
Todd's body went rigid. Goosebumps prickled all over him, and every hair on his body stood on end.
Slowly, stiffly, he turned his head.
An enraged cow was staring him down. Its huge nostrils kept blasting out hot air that washed over his face.
Todd was about to run, but then another thought hit him. Running would only make the cow more aggressive.
So he forced himself to be brave, puffed out his chest, and shouted at it, "What are you looking at? I'm not afraid of you! Come on then, if you've got the guts!"
The moment he finished speaking, the sturdy cow backed up two steps.
"It worked!" Todd's eyes lit up.
But in the next second, hope turned to despair.
The cow hadn't backed off because it was scared of him. It was setting its stance and gathering strength.
The maddened cow scraped at the dirt with its forelegs, gouging a deep trench into the ground.
It was getting ready to charge.
Fear and despair rose uncontrollably in Todd's blue eyes.
Was he really going to die here today?
He'd raised cattle for so long, but never once had he imagined that one day he might be rammed to death by a cow.
Suddenly, the cow stopped pawing at the ground. Its bell-sized eyes stared past Todd, and a flicker of fear appeared in them.
"Moo!" The cow turned and fled at once, not daring to stay even a moment longer.
The other cow nearby did the same, as if it had seen something horrifying, and sprinted up the mountain.
In the blink of an eye, both cows were gone, leaving Todd standing there alone in confusion.
"That's so weird. What happened to them?" Todd muttered, scratching his head again.
Tap, tap...
Just then, footsteps sounded behind him.
Todd thought the Spiky-Haired Kid and the Chubby Kid had come back, so he spun around, ready to curse them out.
In the next instant, he froze where he stood. The anger on his face was quickly replaced by fear and confusion.
"Roar!!"
A tall Snare-Oh, wrapped from head to toe in white bandages and wreathed in a strange purple glow, was walking toward him. Its purple eyes were filled with violence and ferocity, fixed on Todd without blinking.
"Ah!" Todd screamed and ran for his life.
"Roar!"
Snare-Oh roared again. Several thick purple bolts of lightning ripped across the clear sky, as though they were about to tear it apart.
...
The next day at noon.
A large old RV was parked beside a clear stream.
Ben had his headphones on and was completely absorbed in a video game, fingers flying.
Gwen sat across from him with her laptop, scrolling through Weibo and listening to music.
Lucian lay on the sofa, reading a novel.
He had already finished the last one, Mechanical Godzilla, and the ending had been incredibly exciting.
Especially that final battle where Mechanical Godzilla faced off against the boss, "Zhuangzi's Dream of the Butterfly." The scene had been absolutely explosive. Even King Ghidorah had joined the fight, with experts from every side entering the fray until the world itself seemed to shake.
The novel Lucian was reading today was about the King of Hell. It told the story of the protagonist Lucifer challenging supernatural rules and taboos. It was pretty good, just a little short.
But Lucian understood that what mattered in a story wasn't quantity, but quality.
A mountain does not need to be high to become famous. It only needs an immortal.
Water does not need to be deep to become spiritual. It only needs a dragon.
The same was true of novels...
"Ben!" Grandpa Max suddenly rushed out of the bathroom and yanked off Ben's headphones. "The water cut out halfway through my shower! You were supposed to fill the tank!"
"Oh, man, Grandpa, I'm on summer vacation! Why do I still have to do chores? If it's like this, I might as well have stayed home," Ben grumbled.
"Doofus, filling the water tank every day is your job. What if we end up in the desert someday and have no water to drink?" Gwen said, enjoying his misery.
"And you too, missy." Grandpa Max darkened his face and turned to Gwen, who looked stunned. Then he pointed at the pile of bowls stacked in the sink. "Washing the dishes every day is your job. Just look at this."
"Those dishes aren't going to wash themselves!"
Meanwhile, Lucian remained stretched out on the sofa, calmly reading.
His job was to keep everyone safe.
It sounded simple, but it really wasn't.
They had run into all kinds of danger on this trip, and Lucian had dealt with almost all of it.
That was why Grandpa Max was especially tolerant of him.
Just as Ben and Gwen were about to argue back, a woman's voice suddenly came from the radio.
[Hi there. Anyone want to breathe some fresh air? Want a chance to spend time with animals?]
[Some people need to learn the value and meaning of hard work!]
[Come sign up for a week at Darly Village's Family Fun Farm Camp and enjoy the most authentic rural life experience!]
As Grandpa Max listened to the broadcast, the corners of his mouth slowly lifted into a knowing smile.
"Oh no."
Ben and Gwen immediately had a bad feeling about this.
...
More than an hour later.
The Rustbucket drove along a country road, with green fields stretching out on both sides. The scenery was beautiful, full of life and fresh air.
This place was far removed from the noise of the city and the fast pace of modern life.
Here, there was only peace, and the slow rhythm of country living.
"Grandpa, I don't want to go to that Darly Village or whatever. It sounds boring," Ben said, rolling his eyes.
"Ben, trust me. You're definitely going to like that kind of life," Grandpa Max said with a gentle smile.
"Oh my God, why do I suddenly feel like my perfect summer vacation is over?" Gwen groaned.
"It's good for you to experience rural life," Lucian said with a smile. In his previous life, he had been born into a rural family.
Lucian knew what hardship was like. When he was little, he had helped his family with farm work under temperatures above thirty degrees. It really was miserable...
But all that was in the past now.
By the time evening approached, the group finally arrived at Darly Village, at the Family Fun Farm Camp...