Published at 8th of October 2024 3:10 am

Chapter 1253: Immortal Couple

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Bohemia had never seen so many pictures of herself in her entire life.

Surrounded by a small mountain of photo albums, she spent the entire afternoon flipping through the photos one by one. At first, the sunlight from the window lit the albums so brightly that she could hardly see the people in the pictures. But as the glare gradually diminished, the images became clearer. The sun sank heavily below the horizon, casting everything in a cool, dark blue veil.

Lin Sanjiu probably wouldn’t be able to find clean water anytime soon.

Bohemia placed the photo album aside and rubbed her eyes. This pocket dimension would likely take her quite some time to explore. She and Yuan Xiangxi spent the entire afternoon looking at the photos, and nothing strange happened in the house. As Yuan Xiangxi had said, her photos were consistently abundant in every album. Whether group photos, solo shots, or candid moments, she had the most pictures among all the family members.

After looking at hundreds of pictures of herself in one go, Bohemia was almost out of breath. It felt like she had unknowingly lived a life captured in these pictures. She was always smiling in the photos, her long hair flowing under the bright sunlight. Her skin was radiant tan, and she looked up, about to bite the red apple from a tree branch.

‘Was life before the doomsday really so carefree?’

Bohemia glanced at the picture of herself biting the apple—Yuan Xiangxi held her high in his arms, her legs resting in the bend of his arm. She smiled, her eyes crescent-shaped, while Yuan Xiangxi looked up at her as if he had captured a star in his embrace.

This was, of course, not surprising.

In most of the photos, Yuan Xiangxi was by her side. His photos were only about a hundred less than hers. After an afternoon of looking through them, Bohemia had become extremely familiar with his appearance. If he looked a bit ethereal and pale as a ghost in person, the pictures showed him in his lively and vibrant self. After drinking a few glasses of wine during festivals, his cheeks were rosy, his lips moist, and his eyes were almost brighter than the stars. Over the years, he had tried various hairstyles, and each one suited him well, emphasizing his graceful and delicate bone structure like a freshly fallen immortal.

“I was thinking, since there are so few pictures of Baby Bao, maybe it’s not that she died,” Yuan Xiangxi said.

Bohemia absentmindedly stuffed the pictures into her pocket and retorted mercilessly, “Your mind is so dark, you know? Haven’t you noticed? We simply don’t have that many photos of our children.”

1

Indeed, compared to the happy couple, their children seemed like accessories.

As Baby Bao grew older, her photos became scarcer. Bohemia wasn’t even sure of the child’s gender. Baby Bao always had a round face and wore the same hairstyle as her father, making it difficult to tell if she was wearing a skirt or shorts. Baby Bao appeared occasionally in the photos when she was five years old, often riding on Yuan Xiangxi’s shoulders with her arms around his neck. However, after she turned six, her photos completely disappeared.

The second child was a boy; perhaps because he was the second child, there wasn’t even a name written on the back of his photos. The third child was a daughter; all family photos stopped when she was just learning to walk.

“Do you think it’s because after having the second and third child, we got lazy and stopped taking pictures of the children? We only took photos of ourselves?” Yuan Xiangxi put down a stack of Baby Bao’s photos and stood up to find the light switch. “It can’t be, right? I always thought I would be a more doting father.”

“You’re not anyone’s father,” Bohemia said with a sneer, standing up. The temperature dropped rapidly as evening approached, and the trees and wheat fields outside merged into a deep black shadow. She walked up behind Yuan Xiangxi and watched him flip the switch several times, but the living room remained engulfed in darkness.

“Maybe the power lines have been cut,” he said, turning back to her. “Wait inside. I’ll check if the backup generator in the back is usable.”

“After that, let’s catch some fish and make dinner, alright?”

Yuan Xiangxi’s foot hovered in the air as he glanced at her as if she were the ghost. “The ones caught inside the pocket dimension are probably pocket dimension residents… Do you want to eat them too?”

Bohemia rubbed her forehead and took a deep breath. When she looked up again, she put on a fierce expression. “Hurry and check the generator!”

As soon as the door closed behind Yuan Xiangxi, she dashed up the stairs. Despite the absence of electricity, she still had the Glowfish.

“I am pregnant.”

The words were written in the center of the page, with blank spaces both above and below. She flipped through several pages, finding nothing but blank sheets. Puzzled, Bohemia suddenly exclaimed, “Oh… You’ve skipped several pages.”

‘Why would she skip them all of a sudden?’

The first passage after she got pregnant was also only a few lines long. If it weren’t for the different dates on each passage, it would look like an excerpt from the diary. “I really didn’t expect it… I feel like I’m still a child. Can I raise another child? Should I get an abortion?

“Of course, I can’t abandon this child. A part of his bloodline is growing inside my belly. He seems to be constantly moving around inside me. I’m even afraid I’ll choke when I breathe.

“Today, my chest feels uncomfortable, especially when I walk. I’ve been feeling nauseous recently. Everything I smell or do makes me want to vomit… Even when he bent down and kissed the mole on my neck today, I gagged. He looked so hurt; it breaks my heart when I think about it.”

‘Aren’t these two a bit nauseating?’

Bohemia felt a bit uncomfortable and touched her neck.

Perhaps due to the poor condition during her first pregnancy, the hostess’s handwriting gradually became messy and hasty. Sometimes, she would just jot down a few hurried sentences to get by, and at times, there would be a gap of two weeks with nothing written. In the written content, her physical condition, physiological reactions, and pregnancy-related matters occupied over ninety percent of the space. The remaining part always included a few sentences like, “He’s so handsome, I hope the child looks like him,” or “Even though it’s difficult, I really want to have his child,” which made Bohemia’s face flush with warmth.

The pages were blank again in the days following the baby’s birth, but that was normal. Which new mother would have the energy and inclination to write a diary during that time?

Bohemia glanced at the clock on the wall. Yuan Xiangxi had been gone for about ten minutes, and she could faintly hear the generator behind the house making intermittent dull noises. To avoid being caught reading when he returned, she quickly scanned through the contents following the birth of their baby. There wasn’t much, with most of it being her thoughts on motherhood and her deep love for their newborn daughter. The remaining portion still documented their relationship as husband and wife.

“Today, I accidentally stumbled a few times…”

This passage was unusually blunt, with the handwriting deeply etched into the paper and the content a bit mundane: “I’m unhappy right now. In fact, I don’t want to leave him for a moment, but since Baby Bao was born, my mom has only seen her once. How can the baby not visit her grandmother?????? Mommy only sees the photos we send; it’s not enough. It’s not my fault he can’t leave this time!”

Bohemia looked at the date, and it was written in June 1975.

She glanced at the string of question marks——each dot under each question mark was deeply pressed into the paper, and a few dots even tore the paper.

In the next week or two, visiting her family was never mentioned again. Perhaps the couple had concluded, and the diary’s content returned to sweetness, happiness, and daily trivia. The diary reached its final page when Baby Bao turned one and a half years old.

The last passage read: “This book is full. I can’t believe two years have passed so quickly; it’s nostalgic! I’ll continue to write in the diary when I have another child.”

‘Are there other diaries here?’

Bohemia flipped to the last page and touched the raised imprint of the words on the back of the paper, feeling a little melancholic as if saying farewell to an old friend.

She stuffed the diary back into the drawer. While searching for others, she absentmindedly tidied up the mess she had created. However, she couldn’t find a second diary. As the Glowfish swayed and cast its glow, most of the bedroom furniture was immersed in a hazy, half-lit, half-dark light. She glanced at the half-open bedroom door; the corridor outside was dim and muted.

“Yuan Xiangxi?”

As Bohemia descended the stairs, the Glowfish followed, swishing its tail and swimming above her head, casting shifting shadows as if the stairs themselves had come to life. When she reached the living room entrance on the ground floor, she vaguely saw a figure sitting on the sofa amidst the darkness. As she approached with audible footsteps, the figure slowly turned its head towards her.

The head seemed disproportionately large compared to the shoulders.

“Why did it take you so long to get the generator? And is there still no power?”

The person moved silently, so it was no wonder she didn’t hear him come in. As Bohemia went down the stairs, she suddenly felt something was wrong. Based on the size of the figure and the body proportion ratios, it couldn’t be an adult.

“B-baby Bao?” she said, her voice rising in pitch.

Following Bohemia’s cue, the Glowfish swam into the living room, illuminating the empty beige sofa, showing even the texture of the fabric and the occasional stain.

Bohemia quickly turned around and looked into the dim corner the Glowfish hadn’t reached. She almost believed a dark little figure was standing just outside its glow. After a few hurried turns, her goosebumps slowly subsided.

There was no one there. She was alone in the living room.

The front door was pushed open, and the hinges creaked, startling her.

“Bohemia?” Yuan Xiangxi said. “I found a piece of paper under the generator; the previous posthumans who entered must have left it behind. Come and take a look… Hey, what’s wrong with you?”

Bohemia didn’t know what was happening. Without thinking, she rushed over and threw herself into his arms.

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