Why it never ends

Chapter 1 Prayer
4623.

The third largest district, Seven Hills in the southern district of Tanyi City.

On the winding mountain road, more than 20 children from St. Anne's Monastery, dressed in gray linen robes, followed a stern-faced nun to pick wild vegetables on the roadside.

The nun was about 50 years old, her hair was already grey, and the skin on her cheeks was old and slack, drooping slightly. Even when she was expressionless, she carried a frightening sternness.

The entire picking team was drawn very long, the nun stood at the front, and the children were scattered and worked on their own. From time to time, they would bring vegetables to the nun and ask if they could eat them.

At the end of the line, a girl with short red hair followed behind a boy with black hair. Her light blue eyes were like two crystals soaked in the stream water. At this moment, she was looking at the grass all around with some vigilance.

"Jane, come here!" The boy beckoned to her with a surprised expression, "Look what I found!"

The girl approached, squatted down, and saw a dark brown mushroom growing on the ground.This made her face change quickly, and she took a step back involuntarily.

"Don't be afraid," Boheng said softly, "This is not a chelating bacteria, but an ordinary mushroom, the kind that can be eaten, look..."

The girl approached suspiciously.

The boy took out the knife and pried the whole mushroom off the ground.

Its canopy is brown, and the mycorrhizae underneath are covered with a bit of soil. The young man quickly swiped the short knife in his hand to cut off the soil-stained roots, and quickly blew off the dust that fell on it.

Under the canopy the mushroom takes on a creamy white color.

"This is tripe mushroom. It looks like it's spitting spores. Many people didn't like to eat this kind of over-ripe mushroom - but compared with ordinary fungi, it's still delicious."

As he spoke, Boheng turned the tripe mushroom in his hand upside down.

"Look at these puffy places under the canopy... We're going to scrape it off now, at least get the spores off, and they fall on the ground and they start to re-root after a while."

The girl put her arms around her knees and squatted aside to watch, "Is it the same for chelating bacteria?"

"Since they're all fungi, it shouldn't be a problem." Boheng said as he stood up and put the processed tripe mushrooms into his cloth bag. "We'll have extra meals tonight."

As soon as the two of them straightened up, a bell rang in front of them—it was an order from Sister Gerding. All the children who heard the bell quickly put down their work and walked towards the place where Miss Gerding was. direction to run.

11-year-old Hesta was still very thin. She was led forward by teenagers, and more than 20 children soon formed a circle around Sister Gerding.

"Frassan found a poor squirrel." Sister Gerdin said with a stern expression, "Frassan, tell me."

A girl who looked about the same age as Hesta timidly held a bloody squirrel.

The squirrel is still alive, but there are blood holes all over his body.

"I just saw a vulture circling in the distance, so I looked over and saw this squirrel. I think it... it must have been pecked by the vulture... the body was also pecked out Several blood holes, I failed to save it..."

"I think this is a great opportunity," said Sister Gerding softly, "let us pray for this poor little thing, may it rest in peace - I have taught you how to pray the other day, is not it?"

"Yes, Miss Golding," answered the children in unison.

"Then let's begin."

Everyone put down the cloth bags or baskets containing vegetables in their hands, put their hands together, and began to chant prayers in soft voices.

"Jane, what are you doing?"

A voice came from above his head coldly, bringing the 11-year-old Hesta back to his senses.

She raised her head, and Sister Gerding, with a serious face, was staring at her. The nun clasped her white-gloved hands on her chest, and her eyes were sullen.

Several children around secretly opened their eyes and looked towards Hesta.

"Everyone else close their eyes." The nun said in a deep voice.

All the children kneeling on the ground shivered, clasped their hands quickly, and resumed their previous prayer posture.

"Everyone is concentrating on praying, and you are the only one with your eyes open." Sister Gerding's voice echoed over the foothills, "Miss Hesta, answer me, what are you doing?"

"I was looking at the dead squirrel . . . Miss Gerding," replied Hesta softly.

"Yes," Gerdin's voice softened a little, "but you should close your eyes when you pray, Hesta."

"...I don't understand."

"Don't understand what?"

"Are we going to bury it in the ground like this?"

"Yes." Gerding replied in a pious tone, "my body returns to dust, but our souls come from heaven. If we can pray for the dead devoutly, then when this prayer reaches the place of the Holy Spirit, the mercy that comes down from him And will cleanse your souls...

"And a clear soul is not easy to be parasitized by chelating bacteria. Miss Hesta, do you understand?"

Hesta frowned and said nothing.

Gerdin frowned again, "What are you thinking?"

"I'm wondering...why don't we 'religiously'... eat it right away."

In an instant, everyone around stopped breathing, and the boy Boheng who had been kneeling beside Hesta couldn't help but opened his eyes, looking at his friend worriedly.

Gerdin's face turned livid: "What... what..."

"It just died, it's only in the afternoon, it's still fresh, if it's peeled and pickled now—"

"Jane Hesta." Sister Gerding's voice was so serious that it made people tremble, she whispered with an unbelievable attitude, "What are you talking about..."

"We don't have to eat it ourselves," Hesta added hastily, "we only need to hang it outside after processing it like this, and wait for those who need it to pick it up. Although this bit of meat may not be a big deal to an adult, but in It would be too wasteful to just bury a life in the ground where a starving person could save—”

Before the words were finished, Hesta was picked up by the nun like an eagle catching a chick, and she was carried to the dead squirrel.

"Look at it," ordered the nun, her voice tinged with a pitiful cry, "look at the poor little thing, I can't believe my ears, Miss Hesta—how I always teach yours?"

"...you can't kill." Hesta looked at the nun, "but we didn't kill it, and we didn't eat it ourselves—"

"Snapped--"

A slap hit the top of Hesta's head.

"Boheng! Take Jane Hesta to the confinement room on the mountain now..." The nun's voice trembled, "Her brain is occupied by evil spirits! She will have to be locked up for a few days before she can wake up!"

……

Late at night, in the confinement room of St. Anne's Abbey, Hesta curled up in an iron cage.

Her red hair fell over her face and she was a light sleeper.

"Jane, Jane..." A voice woke her up, Hesta opened her eyes, and saw Boheng's face outside the iron cage.

"Sister Gerding is asleep, I brought you something from the kitchen, you come out to eat."

Hesta's eyes lit up instantly.

Bo Heng removed the heavy lock on the iron cage.It looks like it's wrapping around the cage tightly, but in fact it's just a trick—the lock hangs over the cage and doesn't trap the cage at all.

(End of this chapter)