When she returned to her place an hour later, she wandered deeper into the woods until she found a fallen tree and decided to set up camp. She couldn't start a fire since it would attract the attention of securities in the park. So, she hid in the shadows of the tree. Silently munching away her cakes little by little whilst fighting the urge to just take a big bite out of it. Trying to forget the hunger that now stung her stomach, she tried to ponder the time of her death and how little it had surprisingly impacted her as well as the death of the man that started everything.
The last time she recalled her death, she remembered how they were left stranded by a volcanic explosion that shouldn't be anywhere near the Ring of Fire. Obviously, now she knew that the volcano definitely wasn't a natural disaster. Still, the man was dead now. What can she do?
However, what would she do if he also reincarnated like her?
That guy was the son of a god of the underworld. It shouldn't be too hard to convince his pops to give him a second chance at life in the same body.
She recalled how the man with his bleached hair and outlandish clothing disappear before a small group of people calling themselves demigods. That was when she first discovered the existence of the demigods and that the man was one as well. Elijah. She hated him, but watching him die by another's hands made her realize how much his death didn't mean all that much to her.
Instead, she only grew empty after watching him die. Perhaps, she really did wanted his life at some point after realizing the truth, but at what point was that at?
When she saw that he was the masterminds behind the victims contaminated by the unknown disease he started?
It was already disappointing how she was so blinded that she didn't even realize the unusual behavior he had, but it didn't make any sense why she was so devoted to him in the first place? Sure, she wanted to join his medical company after she ran into him once during a school event, but that was it. So, how was it that she became so...
Embarrassingly creepy?
Thinking thus dawned upon her how unusual it all was. That she had blindly trusted every word he said even after he began acting weird before the poll at the UN. The UN was an acronym that stood for United Nations and during the time of the catastrophe, there was to be a poll on the next representative, and Elijah, the CEO of the medical company she worked under, was one of the candidates.
If he were to win the poll that day instead, he would've no doubt ruled the world's capital once every begun to rely on his medical force to cure the people of his own doing. It was a good thing that he lost the qualifications as a candidate after those demigods showed images of his doing. Yet, it surprised her how very few people still don't recognize that what they were facing before them were related to gods.
Contemplating this thought a little longer, Willow guessed that not everyone is willing to believe in something as unexplainable as gods and goddesses. Even she was still surprised that such tales of legends were true.
Now, she has to complete a mission given to her by those gods and goddesses if she wants to keep her new life.
At the moment, she's doing the best she can to earn some money so she could move about much easier. She had already made a makeshift wallet out of the newspaper and hid her money in there. She wasn't expecting to find more customers tomorrow, so she should think about getting a part-time soon.
Having had thought this long and hard, Willow had some ideas in mind.
After experiencing betrayal and dying once, she can say that she held no fear camping out in the open as she would've in the past. She just have to make sure she doesn't die again since she would rather do everything she wanted to now than head over to hell. All she needed to do was continue to be cautious and tread lightly on her feet for a while.
Slowly, Willow laid flat on her back and carefully rested her injured ankle on the dirt floor. Like that, she continued to think about her past and future until sleep finally took over her body shortly after darkness and silence took over the park.
Willow awoke the sound of morning birds chirping and something that fell into her eye the moment she woke up, she groaned as she slowly sat up with a scowl across her dreary face since she only slept for a few hours depending on the position of the sun shining down on her face. While struggling to wipe it away hoping it was only the morning dew from the humid air, she looked around before seeing that the coast was still as clear as it had been last night.
Taking her wallet and remainder of the few cartwheel cakes, she went down to the small river and thoroughly washed her face clean. Stacking away the small bundle of newspaper, she hid it away into the same bush after fishing out the figurines she had made the day before.
Like that, she spent the next two or three days selling figurines in different parts of the park until she had about nearly three hundred RMB, which would be about forty US dollars, in hand. Basically, Chinese currency that stood for "people's currency" in Chinese. Most of which she profited from tourists or young students. Even her personal masterpiece, the horse, was sold off for half the amount she had earned in total!
Willow didn't think that her business would be so successful. Almost as if it was all planned. She certainly hoped that the gods didn't have a hand in this beside her birth and rebirth. She really hated getting things and doing things she didn't work hard for. If she finds out that somebody helped her attract such good business while others struggle in the cold mornings working for little pay, she'd be depressed and guilt-ridden for a week!
With the money she earned the day before in hand, she decided that it was time for her to leave the park. Spending around a dollar worth, she bought some cartwheel cakes for the last time before leaving the park.
This time, her goal was to find a part-time job elsewhere. With the help of some educated homeless people around her and student customers, she was able to pick up a bit of the Chinese language albeit not enough for a long or precise conversation. She can't expect too much at the moment, anyway.
To be honest, she had been thinking about how to approach the subject of the controlled demigods and that child situation. Rumors just weren't enough and second-hand information was only worth so much. So, she had decided to head over to the site instead.
This would require mask, gloves, and disinfect as the place probably still had some remnants of the bacteria/virus clinging on places. That to acquire those would require currency. Quite a bit of it too. After saying farewell to the friendly vendors and her other friends, she made her way out the entrance blending in with the crowd that morning as she found herself in the more urban parts of GuiYang.
Fried goods and outdoor vendors filled the air as she walked out. She smiled as she remembered the areas around her from her childhood. It was just as lively as she had remembered when compared to the early morning. People were walking across the streets, playing mahjong or selling/buying wares and food from the street. It was then that she noticed it.
Two blocks across at the entrance of a driveway was a small stall selling little inflatable toys, fans, candies, boxes of cigarettes, pens, and ice cream just as she had remembered.
Willow's eyes almost teared up as she saw the elderly plump woman behind the register interacting with her passerby customers with a wide smile that now bore two missing teeth in the set. Her hair had become almost white and her back was now hunched over with a plaid yellow dress and an apron over it.
Besides her was an elderly looking woman with a neat smile and black hair. She wore a more dark flowery shirt and black pants to accompany with her sports shoes.
A man not too far from them was playing mahjong with the other older men out in the open with his t-shirt, beige shorts and sandals as his black hair was groomed to the side as she had remembered but looking more elderly now than he had before in his prime. With a small smile, she watched the three from afar in contemplation before heading over with suppressed joy and pointed to the orange popsicle, "One of this, please?"
The younger woman was surprised as she heard Willow's order. Having realized her english, Willow wore a small apologetic smile as she recovered and clarified in Chinese, "Sorry. I'd like this one. How much is it?"
"One dollar." The elderly woman responded easily as she took out the ice cream for her.
Willow handed the money to her and received the ice cream.
"That surprised me!" The other woman laughed after watching the small scene, "I thought I would have to call my son over to help us!"
"Sorry! Sorry! Bad habit!" Willow responded with slight embarrassment, "I came from America initially but got lost."
The elder woman laughed, "What a good child! You remind me of my great-niece! Ah, when she visited her, we would give her ice cream and toys from here. Her English is very good!"
"You don't know this, but she also lives in America with her mother." The other woman smiled proudly and continued to boast, "My granddaughter is very talented, like her parents! She's a doctor in New York and her little brothers are entering college in California!"
"That's amazing!" Willow feigned a smile.
"You should watch over your health." The woman noted with a sigh, "I haven't heard much from my daughter these days, but, if you're not careful, you might have to see my granddaughter in the future!"
"Especially with the plague and commotion going on." The elderly woman nodded firmly, "Watch yourself out there. For some reason, seeing you youngsters always reminds me of our younger generations."
"That's the second time you've said that this morning, Big Aunt!" The man called out from the side with a weak smirk around the mahjong table with the other older men.
The younger woman sighed and scolded the man, "You just go pay attention to your game! Just don't gamble our money away!"
"Okay, I hear you! I hear you!" He chuckled and returned to his game.