Chapter 181 Mystery In Stone Valley Part 11

"Wake up," a boy's voice said as he walked around Hajime, who lay in the darkness. "You can't be so mean to me. After all the trouble you've caused me, you can't give up so easily. What should I do if you die? Get up...please...get up..."

Hajime felt so tired that he didn't want to open his eyes or get up. He murmured, "Leave me be... I can't get up. It feels so good to sleep here."

Hajime heard tiny footsteps running around him. "Get up... get up..." Then the footsteps suddenly stopped in front of him. He felt a small hand touch his face. "You can't sleep here. I don't want you to die yet. You still have to take me to see my parents. Please get up..."

Hajime sighed. "Look kid, my chest is broken. Even if I want to get up... I can't move. So, I'm sorry, I can't take you to meet your parents."

The child began to cry. "But I don't want to die...ma... I don't want to die..."

Hajime's ears heard the cry of a child. He said weakly, "Okay... okay... I'll take you to meet your parents... don't cry." He slowly opened his eyes and saw that one side of the house was burning. Sitting next to Hajime, the seriously injured maid hugged her knees and cried.

"Ma... I don't want to die here... ma..."

Hajime groaned in pain and tried to sit up. He reached for the wall, but it was hot to the touch. "Maiden..." Hajime coughed as the smoke became thicker. "Maiden... we have to go..." He knelt.

The maid looked at Hajime and said, "There is nothing we can do." The door was completely on fire."

Hajime looked towards the front door and saw that three standing walls and the front of the house were on fire. He looked up and saw that the beams supporting the room were threatening to collapse at any moment.

"If the roof collapses, we won't survive," Hajime said. "We must find a way out of here. You still want to see your mother, right?"

The maid nodded with tears in her eyes.

Hajime smiled bravely through the pain and said, "I'll make sure you can see your parents again."

Hajime looked around the kitchen and saw that everything was on fire except the large water jar next to the stove. Hajime used the last of his strength to walk towards the water jar. He touched the water and it seemed to be warm. He jumped into the jar, making sure his clothes were completely soaked.

"Come here," Hajime shouted to the maid.

When the roof began to cave in, the maid quickly crawled towards Hajime.

"This is your way out," Hajime said.

"What about you?" She asked.

Hajime smiled and said, "I will find another way out."

Hajime jumped out of the water jar. He helped the maid into the water jar, took out his outer robe, and wrapped it around the maid's face. He smiled at the frightened young maid and said, "You're too beautiful to have a scar on your face. So, keep your head down and stay inside until you are out of the fire."

The maid cried and asked, "What about your face?"

Hajime smiled bravely and said, "I'm a man, it's okay to have scars. The more scars I have, the more masculine I look."

The maid smiled with tears in her eyes, "Thank you..."

The moment he heard the maid thank him; a feeling of happiness suddenly surged in his heart. With a simple "thank you" from a stranger's mouth, Hajime suddenly had the strength and determination to live. "So, this is what selflessness feels like," he whispered with a smile.

Hajime flipped the water jar to the side and pushed the water jar forward with all his strength. He watched the water jar roll over the burning bamboo fence. The moment the water jug rolled over the bamboo fence in front of the house, the structure of the house began to collapse.

The two surviving wolves jumped in front of the collapsed side room and rushed towards Hajime. Hajime jumped on the back of one of the wolves, the first wolf broke through the wall, and the second wolf carrying Hajime quickly followed behind.

U-ri and Bi noticed from a distance that the kitchen area was engulfed in flames. The fire had reached the roof where the servants and maids were sleeping. U-ri and Bi quickly ran towards the maids and servants who were trying to put out the fire.

U-ri shouted, "Hajime... Hajime..." He grabbed a servant. "Have you seen Hajime? The young white-haired man."

"No dear sir."

Abrafo and some soldiers came running from the far right, carrying buckets of water and trying to help put out the fire.

Abrafo spotted U-ri searching for something among the crowd. "U-ri... U-ri..." He grabbed U-ri's hand. "What are you doing here? Where are the others?"

U-ri panted heavily and said, "I'm looking for Hajime. He was originally here to ask the maid to help prepare food."

Abrafo looked at U-ri and then at the burning house. "Did you think Hajime wouldn't still be inside?" Abrafo asked.

Abrafo and U-ri quickly looked around and saw the bodies of three maids on the ground. The maid closer to the house had been burned to char.

"Hajime!" U-ri screamed.

"Haji..." Abrafo shouted as he saw a jar rolling towards them. He quickly grabbed U-ri by the waist and picked him up, taking a step back as the water jar rolled towards them.

Once the water jar stops rolling. The maid slowly pulled herself out of the water jar. Abrafo and U-ri quickly rushed to the maid's side.

Abrafo quickly took off the robe that covered the maid's face, and he recognized the robe. "Hajime...you scared us to death," he said, and was surprised when the face he saw was not Hajime.

Yul and the two Lai Ladies ran in from the left side of the burning house.

Seeing more than one house on fire, Yue shouted, "How could this happen?"

"How did you get this robe?" Abrafo asked.

The maid cried and said, "He wrapped this on my face..."

When Yul saw Abrafo holding Hajime's robe, he quickly walked towards Abrafo. "Where is Hajime?" he asked.

The maid pointed at the half-collapsed house and cried. "He's still in there," she continued to cry.

"Hajime..." Yul's lips trembled. Yul rushes towards the burning house but is stopped by Michio.

"You can't go in..." Michio grunted. "You'll burn..."

"Michio! Let go!" Yul shouted angrily.

Abrafo stood before Yul and said, "Calm down...even if Hajime is inside. He won't die, but if you walk into that burning house, you will."

U-ri tap lightly on Yul's right shoulder and said, "Hajime loves this world too much. He will not give up and will not die without a fight. If anyone can survive this fire...that person... It must be Hajime."

Yul knew that what U-ri said was right. Hajime would not leave him or anyone else behind. He clenched his fists and stared into the blazing flames with tears streaming down his face.

Hajime found himself lying in an open wilderness, and he didn't know how long he had been unconscious. He was severely burned from head to toe and the pain was indescribable, especially in his back. Now, as he lay alone in the night of agony, he finally understood why some people choose death over suffering. It was so painful, having to suffer pain and then die; then the cycle begins again. He wondered if death could end all pain and suffering. After death, does the body no longer hurt and the heart no longer hurts? Could this be why his host wanted to break the immortal curse?

Hajime slowly sat up, trying to see where he was, but to his surprise, he was still far away from the base camp. He doesn't know where he is. He wondered if he had gone in the wrong direction before passing out.

Hajime looked at his hands and found that the skin was slowly healing. He thought to himself, should he take the chance to wait in this deserted place, or should he find a way back to the camp? After doing some thinking, Hajime decided to take the chance to find the base camp. He stood up and decided to leave the sea and walk towards the land.

Hajime walked about twenty yards and suddenly fell into a hole. Hajime had nothing to hold on to and landed on his back at the bottom of the lava tube. Adding more injuries to his already injured body, the impact of the fall made Hajime unconscious as soon as he hit the ground.

Bong didn't know how long he had been walking, because the inside of the lava tube looked similar. He had hit many dead ends and had to backtrack countless times. He felt very tired because he had not drunk a drop of water. Although his body was completely exhausted, he knew that if he gave up, he would die here, and he kept going.

As Bong becomes exhausted, he realizes that he may not survive as he becomes increasingly weak to the point where he can no longer sweat.

Bon sat down and sighed. "Although I don't want to die here, I think I might not get out of here alive," he muttered to himself. "Damn it... I really don't want my body to be eaten by wild animals."

Bon sighed again when he heard a loud noise not far away. Bong's eyes had become so accustomed to the darkness that the hole that was created by the fallen illuminated the dark tube.

"What on earth is it?" Bong frowned and slowly approached the deceased. "Uh... I was wondering if he had anything I could eat."

When Bong gets close enough to see the dead man's face, he realizes that the man is indeed Hajime. He quickly checked whether Hajime was still alive and found that Hajime was still breathing but was severely burned.

"How did you become like this?" Bong asked was startled by the situation in front of him.

Bong knew that if he did not receive treatment, Hajime would probably die before daybreak. He thought about leaving Hajime behind, but he thought about Hajime and his friends saving him, so he decided to wait until Hajime died so that he could hide Hajime's body from animals, hopefully when he finds a way out, he could tell Hajime's friends to come and collect Hajime's body for a proper burial. As he sat next to Hajime and waited for Hajime to die, he noticed that Hajime's burns began to heal on their own. Seeing this scene, Bong was shocked and backed away from Hajime. He wondered if Hajime would be resurrected and be like those in Scattered Forest.