Chương 11: Chapter 10: Another Direction

The days that followed settled into a comfortable rhythm. Most were spent at the house. I cooked, cleaned, and continued documenting every oddity I'd discovered. Every few days, once I had a new objective in mind, I'd head back outside. The expeditions became routine. Drive out. Stay in the open. Keep the forest at a respectful distance. Return before sunset. So far, the routine had worked.

Each trip extended the edges of my map a little farther, filling in empty spaces around the house one careful journey at a time. There was still plenty left to investigate toward the mountains, but there was no reason to rush in that direction. The farther I traveled from home, the more important it became to understand what surrounded me first. Today, that meant going somewhere new. Instead of turning right and continuing along the tree line toward the mountains, I'd drive straight and see where the landscape led.

After one last glance outside—more out of habit than necessity—I loaded the little electric four-wheel drive. Several bottles of water. Enough food for a full day, maybe two. A shovel. A pair of sturdy wooden planks. My toolbox. The ratchet strap. A flashlight. A small first-aid kit. The list had become routine. Yato watched from the garage doorway, tail lazily swaying.

"I'll be back before dinner." The cat blinked once, evidently satisfied with that promise. The garage door rolled upward, revealing the familiar wall of trees beyond the invisible boundary. A moment later, I eased the car through. The mountains remained off to my right, gradually sliding farther behind as the car crawled along the edge of the forest. I kept the same precautions as before. Never get close to the forest. Did you know this text is from a different site?

Read the official version to support the creator. Keep the open ground in sight. Stop often. Listen. The scenery changed slowly. The trees remained dense, though different species gradually replaced those I'd seen before. Some had pale trunks streaked with silver, while others carried broad leaves that shimmered faintly whenever the wind caught them. Birds flitted between the branches. Small mammals I'd never seen before occasionally darted into the undergrowth.

Every new discovery earned another photo in the steadily growing folder on my phone. After some time, I started hearing a distant sound. A low, continuous roar drifted across the landscape, too steady to be thunder. The farther I drove, the louder it became. The air grew cooler. The ground sloped almost imperceptibly downward. Even the vegetation changed. The grass became greener. The trees stood farther apart. Then they simply... stopped. Beyond them stretched water. Not a lake. A river. A massive one...

The constant roar drowned out almost every other sound. The air carried the cool scent of fresh water, and a fine mist drifted above the rapids where the current smashed against exposed rocks. Tens of meters wide. Not a bridge in sight. It was far beyond anything I could have hoped to cross on foot. I picked up a fallen branch and tossed it into the water. The current seized it instantly. Within seconds it had vanished downstream.

"... Yeah." Neither swimming nor driving across would work. Whatever lay beyond this river would remain beyond it. At least for now. Movement beneath the surface caught my eye. I knelt near the bank. Several large fish drifted through the clear water before disappearing into deeper currents. One of them had to be at least half a meter long. Another leapt completely clear of the surface, scattering droplets that sparkled in the sunlight before crashing back into the river. Food. Lots of it.

I stared for several seconds before sighing.

"I really should've bought that fishing rod." How many times had I walked past camping equipment in stores? How many times had I thought, Maybe next summer? I'd spent thousands on computers over the years. Multiple monitors. Enough cables to wire a small office. A graphics card that cost more than my first car. Not once had I bought something as simple as a fishing rod. It hadn't seemed useful. Until now. I made a mental note anyway. Spears. Traps. Nets.

Humanity had been catching fish for thousands of years before someone tied a hook to a stick. Still... A rod would've made life a lot easier. The drive home felt quieter. Not because anything had changed. Because I'd spent most of it thinking about everything I still didn't know. How large was this place? Was the river a border? Was I on an island? A continent? There was no way to say with certainty. At least now my notebook contained another line. One more piece of a puzzle whose picture I couldn't even imagine.

The house eventually came into view in the distance. I let out a quiet breath. Then... The sunlight vanished. Instantly. A shadow swept across the meadow. Across my car. Across the forest. I hit the brakes before I consciously realized why. By the time I'd thrown the door open and stumbled outside, the light had already returned. Too late. The meadow swayed gently in the breeze. The forest stood motionless. The mountains watched from afar. Whatever had cast that shadow...... was already gone.

I remained there for another minute before climbing back into the driver's seat. For the first time since these expeditions had begun, I locked the doors. I knew it wouldn't stop whatever had cast that shadow. Still... I locked them anyway.