1322 Lost Soul
"And that's the last thing you remember before you fell asleep, right?" asked Hyson.
"Right," answered Xiang Wai.
"What exactly was your wish?" he asked.
"I said I don't wanna talk about it."
Hyson nodded and didn't ask any further. "What happened after you woke up?"
"I woke up the next day. And I was not in that ruined building anymore. I was lying in a wooden cabin which seemed to be the resting place of hunters. Also, I thought I woke up the next day but it seemed I was asleep for two days. I realized that only after finishing the training exam. When I woke up, I looked around and found it weird that I was in that wooden cabin. I tried to find the ruined building but there was no sign of it anywhere. I looked at my leg which I thought I'd have to amputate even if I survived but guess what? I was as good as new. Like there wasn't even the snake teeth mark on my leg. It was perfectly fine."
"All of that was a very clear dream?" asked Raelle.
"That's what I thought too. I thought I dreamed all of that. Everything around me told me it was a dream but a part of me was unwilling to believe that it was really just a dream. And I was convinced when I found the red string inside my pocket."
"Red string?"
"I told you I gave her a meeting gift which was a wooden bead. What she gave in return was a red string tied around her own wrist. When I found that string, I knew it was not a dream. I just seemed to have had a magical adventure."
"Did you never see her again?" asked Justin.
"No, I never saw her again," answered Xiang Wai.
"I believe the red string you always wear is the same one?" asked Hyson.
Xiang Wai looked at the red string on her wrist and nodded in response.
"You wore something a ghost gave you?"
"You don't know if it was a ghost."
"What else was it then, Major?"
"Maybe just a lost soul," answered Xiang Wai.
"Ha!" was Hyson's response. "Why don't take it a step further and say that it was the spirit of the forest that came to save you?"
Xiang Wai had a thoughtful expression, "Actually, I never thought in that direction. It could very well be possible."
"Okay. You have lost your mind. Lost your mind for sure."
Xiang Wai gave him a smile, "I never shared this experience with anyone before."
"Indeed. Even I didn't hear you talk about this before," said Xiang Weimin. "And here I thought you told me everything."
"Ge, when it happened, you had been stationed at a different base. I didn't see you for a year or something. By the time we met, I did not feel like talking about that experience. If you think about it, I almost lost my life in that forest. If it wasn't for that magical adventure, you wouldn't see me here. And before Raelle you say anything, I'm not alone. You should know that I have gone to very strange places for my missions. And that's why I heard a lot of folk stories too. And almost everyone from my team has had some kind of a magical encounter. Whether it was a good or a bad one. So, no matter how much I believe in science, I won't deny supernatural too."
Xiang Wai as happy as a kid when she heard this and said, "See? I told you nephew that I have huge reserves of stories to tell. No one has had as many adventures here as me."
10:54
Raelle was thinking deeply about what she just shared and didn't question anything. Just because she never had to experience it, didn't mean others didn't either. Anyway, there was a lot in the world that she didn't experience so there was no point questioning others' experiences.
"You never heard anything about the girl you met?" asked Justin.
Xiang Wai took a pause and then told him, "It happened years after that. I was the supervising instructor this time around when we went to the same forest again. We had to stop and take shelter in a village. The village was very small. Only old people lived there because younger ones had all gone to big cities to make a living. The old lady I lived with shared a story. She said not to enter the forest of the bride will kill you."
Justin gasped. Xiang Wai rubbed his head lovingly, "According to the old lady, the bride was the vengeful ghost. She was betrayed by her family. Her father colluded with others and offered her as a sacrificial bride to the forest god. But later on, her whole family was found dead in their house. That's when people got scared because all the people who took part in sacrificing her, slowly started dying. The village was said to be haunted because something kept happening one after another over the years. And the worst part was that the people couldn't even leave the village."
"Then what about the young ones who went to big cities?"
"Only one person from one family could leave," answered Xiang Wai. "But they all had to eventually come back and beg for forgiveness or they won't be able to live to their old age. Just the fact alone that only one person could leave was enough to cause internal strife in the village. So, the population of the village even if we include those who left was very pitiful."
"Do you believe all that?" asked Hyson seriously.
"No," she answered. "I only believe what I saw and experienced. I don't believe in such stories without any basis. Maybe they were talking about the same bride I met. But it's also true that she saved my life. Why would I believe in others' words that she was a vengeful spirit? What I saw in her eyes was melancholy. I didn't see hate."
Justin clapped his hands, "I liked this story. Do we have more?"
Xiang Wai as happy as a kid when she heard this and said, "See? I told you nephew that I have huge reserves of stories to tell. No one has had as many adventures here as me."
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