Time in a collapsing world

In the cemetery behind the church, Aponya was walking aimlessly among the tombstones, stretching her hands to both sides. As she moved, Aponya's palms could just touch the top of each tombstone. It's like stroking the little heads of children.

This was not possible in the past. Before, these tombstones were all uneven, almost cubic stones, and they were all manually carved by Qianjie and Li. At that time, they did not have the energy to build a stone for the children. A decent tombstone.

Not long ago, Li specially hired people to prepare new tombstones for all the dead children, otherwise the place would not be as tidy as it is now.

"Hey! Aponia!"

Li's voice came from behind.

Aponya turned around and looked at the figure from far away, with a smile on his lips.

"Li."

"Well... Pado asked me to come and ask you to eat."

Li looked at Apponia's dusty hands, then looked at the obvious traces of wiping on each tombstone, and understood.

"I kind of know what's going on with the dirty fingerprints that appear inexplicably in our room... Qianjie always scolds me every time he cleans the room."

Having said that, Li was gloating about his misfortune. Under normal circumstances, his happiness was based on the pain of others.

"...I will apologize to Qianjie."

"This is not something that requires an apology. Qianjie just complained a few words rudely. In fact, he didn't take it to heart." Li felt that when Aponya went to apologize to Qianjie, he only snorted and mocked. Nothing else is available.

The characters of these two people are not easy to deal with, even though Qianjie just doesn't deal with it unilaterally... Aponya still likes Qianjie as a child. In her eyes, Qianjie is just an ignorant little boy, right?

"Well~ it would be better if you wash your hands frequently."

"I will."

Aponya nodded and prepared to leave the cemetery, but found that Li did not follow.

"Li?"

"Ahem, Aponya, you go first. I have to do something here first." Li's eyes moved slowly in the cemetery, trying to find the fourth row from the bottom that Pado said. Five tombstones.

"Doing business?" Aponya was puzzled.

"Pado was frightened by something here and asked me to help her take a look."

Li didn't hide anything, and there was no need to hide it.

"Is it a ghost?"

"Eh? Pado also asked you for help?"

"Yeah." Aponya nodded first, then shook his head and said:

"There's no one else here, I'm sure of it."

"Ghosts are not considered humans..." Li rolled her eyes.

"Na Li, do you believe in the existence of ghosts?" Aponya asked.

"I don't believe it." Li said firmly.

"I came here just to find some materials and try my best to use scientific explanations for Pado about the anomalies that happened that night."

"Li, you really dote on Pado..."

"It's my own kitten! If I don't spoil it, who will?" Li finally found the target, but that tombstone...

"Aaron?"

This is the name of the child who died a month ago. How could it be such a coincidence?

Li walked to Aaron's tombstone and squatted down. Aponya did not leave, just stood behind him.

"Apponia, did Pado tell you it was this tombstone?"

"Well, that's it. Pado brought me here to look for it."

Li glanced at the soil next to the tombstone. There were obvious signs of being refilled.

"This was done by Qianjie, and Pado also asked him for help." Aponya saw Li's thoughts, so he explained in advance.

"Oh? Then it seems that this tombstone has really been moved?" Li lowered his head and pondered, but he didn't think about ghosts at all. After all, there was no precedent.

Is it the wind? Or some other creature?

Li reached out and touched the surface of the soil under the tombstone. There were cracks and some protrusions from the inside out. In other words, something was about to break out of the ground before?

Fake corpse?

Li's expression became serious. If it was what he thought, then this would be a serious matter, because from the past to the present, Li had only seen one kind of "corpse": dead soldiers.

Will Aaron's body look like that?

Li was a little confused. She put her left hand on the soil and wanted to use force, but what if it was a misunderstanding? Li didn't want to do something like digging a grave so easily.

rustle---

At this time, some sand and stones under the tombstone slid, and small cracks appeared again on the dry and hard ground. One of them protruded outward. This time, something was really coming out.

"Apponia, please step back a little."

Li retracted his left hand and kept his eyes on the movement here. Just in case, he asked Aponya to stay away from here temporarily.

"?" Although Aponya was puzzled, he still retreated five meters away obediently. After all, every time Li showed this expression, it was when something big happened.

Because it was blocked by Li's body, she didn't notice the movement under the tombstone.

There are more and more gaps, and it seems that the thing inside will pop out at any time, but it doesn't matter, Li's iron fist is always ready. As long as the thing inside dares to show its face, Li guarantees that it will never survive the second second!

Li had originally imagined that Aaron's head, transformed into a dead warrior, would emerge from inside, but in the next second he would send it back to the bliss of the West.

Can……

"Zhizhi——"

A little mouse poked his head out from inside, curiously looking at the world outside.

"..."

Li stared at it silently, his fist not falling, but the protruding veins on it showed his inner unrest.

"Li, what's going on?" Aponya asked after seeing that Li had been maintaining that movement for a long time.

"Nothing, everything is normal."

Li's face was expressionless, her right hand still raised, but her left hand held the mouse's head, grabbed it and put it down on the open space away from the tombstone.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak!"

The mouse was tightly held down before it could react, and it immediately began to struggle desperately, but unfortunately it had no effect.

Bang————

Li's fist fell, and it was smashed into pulp with one punch.

He was actually preparing for this thing just now? !

"Li, is there anything strange about this mouse?" Aponya asked seriously, but these words undoubtedly hurt Li's heart.

"No, this is just an ordinary mouse..." Li's words were a little decadent.

"Let's go, Apponia, I can now use scientific methods to explain the reason to Pado..."

He left the cemetery with Aponya, who seemed to understand. Li also specifically told her not to talk about this matter to Qianjie, otherwise she would be laughed at by him for two and a half years.

……

Click click click————

But after the two of them walked away, they seemed to be affected by the smell of blood. A hand suddenly stretched out from the hole, quickly grabbed the mouse's body and then retracted it. It didn't take long for a subtle chewing sound to be heard from inside.