C1 Natural Disaster!

The night had already set in, and the autumn breeze carried with it a few withered yellow leaves that fell to the earth, each telling the story of a brief existence.

After setting down his heavy axe, a young man lamented that it looked like another night would be spent hungry. With a sigh, he lowered his head and trudged toward the tent.

Upon lifting the tent flap, a pungent odor hit him. The slaves were strewn about, already deep in slumber, their snores uneven but familiar. Using the faint glow to navigate, the young man found his spot and settled in.

Despite his gnawing hunger, he had no other options and hoped to stave off the pangs with dreams.

"Yu, Yu..." Are you asleep?

Just as he was on the cusp of sleep, reality snapped him back. "Lin Shan, can't it wait until tomorrow? I'm dead on my feet," he replied, a hint of irritation in his voice.

"Just wait, look at this," Lin Shan whispered, pressing a round, soft object into the young man's hands.

Opening his eyes, the young man was astonished to find a meat bun. "Where did you get this?" he exclaimed.

Lin Shan quickly shushed him, "I saved it for you after you were punished at the factory. Eat it quickly and then get some sleep, but make sure no one catches you." After a sly grin, Lin Shan tiptoed back to his spot and lay down.

The young man clutched the bun, scanning his surroundings. Seeing nothing amiss, he took bites of the still-warm bun, realizing Lin Shan must have hidden it in his clothes to avoid detection. A feeling of warmth spread through him.

Since he could remember, Lin Yu had been at this logging camp, with no recollection of how he arrived. The older workers said he was sold here. The name recorded for him was Lin Yu, but whether it was his real name or one given at random, he couldn't tell.

Lin Yu had seen other children brought here to do menial tasks like serving tea and water. By their teens, they were put to work felling trees, doing the heavy lifting. The reasons for the work or the location's significance were unclear to them. All they knew was that failure to meet the daily quota meant punishment from the factory overseers—ranging from missed meals to physical beatings.

The disciplinary measures at the factory were primarily intended to establish authority and serve as a deterrent to others. Rarely were the punishments so severe as to cause death, as the shortage of workers and the superiors' demands for efficiency were always considerations. However, there were exceptions, and the occasional death was not deemed to have a significant impact.

Lin Shan and Lin Yu were part of the first group brought in together. They quickly bonded in the relentless work environment, becoming each other's support. Though they sometimes heard tales of the world beyond the lumberyard, neither had experienced it, and such discussions soon lost their appeal, eventually fading into insignificance.

Lin Shan was a bit taller than Lin Yu, and in the indifferent atmosphere of their surroundings, they came to regard each other as kin. Consequently, Lin Shan often looked out for Lin Yu.

The pitch-black night often brought a sense of disquiet. Lin Yu, lost in his dreams, was indistinguishable amid the chorus of snores.

In the depths of sleep, Lin Yu felt himself being hoisted up, his body bobbing up and down uncomfortably against something hard. As his consciousness slowly returned, he awoke to discomfort.

The cacophony of cries, shouts, and panic brought Lin Yu to full alertness.

The wind howled fiercely as the sky erupted with noise, and the earth trembled as if the world were turning inside out. Lin Yu, realizing his predicament, saw that he was being carried on Lin Shan's shoulders as they dashed through the forest.

"Lin Shan, Lin Shan... put me down! What's happening?" Lin Yu called out, patting Lin Shan's back.

"I have no idea what's going on. I was just asleep, and then all of a sudden..." Lin Shan replied, setting Lin Yu down before grabbing his arm and continuing their frantic escape.

Lin Yu followed Lin Shan as they darted through the forest, dodging collapsing ground and the thunderous sky. The terror that gripped the two young men only subsided with their relentless running, the soreness in their bodies a stark reminder that they were still alive.

In the dark night, the sky was intermittently lit by flashes of lightning. Amid the thunder, they thought they saw a giant hand sweep across the sky. With the earth in upheaval and the sky ablaze, they wondered if their eyes were deceiving them.

Without any time to spare, Lin Yu sprinted desperately. It was the dead of night, and the darkness was pervasive, intermittently pierced by flickering light that made the surroundings alternately visible and obscured. As he ran without pause, Lin Yu abruptly noticed the absence of screams and the disappearance of Lin Shan's figure. Pushing through the underbrush, he found himself at the edge of a cliff.

Before Lin Yu could fully process the situation, a sudden burst of red light filled the sky, and a fierce wind whipped up, sending sand and stones flying and causing the earth to crack open. Lin Yu felt his life force spilling out, his footing gave way, and he was pelted by tumbling rocks as he plummeted downward.

"It seems I'm really going to die. Well, it doesn't matter if it's sooner or later; death is death. Besides chopping trees, hauling logs, and sleeping, there's nothing else to do. I've grown weary of these tasks long ago. I wonder how Lin Shan is faring. I hope he managed to escape," Lin Yu mused to himself.

To Lin Yu, death wasn't frightening; rather, it was something he longed for. At the logging camp where he worked, deaths occurred occasionally, and Lin Yu believed that at least in death, one could rest, which seemed preferable to the fleeting sleep he experienced each night.

As these thoughts swirled in his mind, the last sensation Lin Yu felt was his body colliding with a solid object. A sharp pain shot through his leg, then faded to numbness. He gazed at the sky, where the lights shifted from red to blue, beautiful like fireworks, before everything gradually faded to black.

Yet unbeknownst to him, a streak of golden light surged into his mind and settled in his lower abdomen.

After the appearance of the golden light, tranquility slowly returned to the surroundings, and the first rays of sunlight heralded the start of a new day.

"Hmm..." A soft groan broke the stillness.

Lin Yu, with his eyes still closed, stretched languidly, enveloped in a sense of well-being unlike anything he had ever known. He couldn't put this feeling into words and felt no urge to stir.

Blinking open his bleary eyes, a shaft of sunlight struck him, dazzlingly bright. Where was he?

"Ah, that's right..." Lin Yu remembered the events of the previous night and felt a sense of peace wash over him.

"I never imagined that death could be so peaceful. If I'd known, I would've taken the plunge off that cliff much sooner..." Lin Yu murmured to himself.

Opening his eyes, he found himself at the base of the cliff, his body sprawled across a large rock with another stone pinning his feet. Rocks were haphazardly strewn all around him.

"Great, I'm dead, and I've still got this damn rock on top of me," Lin Yu grumbled as he kicked the stone off.

He got to his feet, shaking out his arms and legs, and surveyed his surroundings. "Where am I? Is this what comes after death? It doesn't seem too bad. At least there's no one here to prod me into work with a stick."

A rumbling came from his belly.

"Seriously? I still need to eat after dying? Well, I was always hungry when I was alive; I suppose I should at least be well-fed in death. Time to find some food," Lin Yu thought, choosing a direction and setting off.