Chapter 616: You Followed Me

The Gods left the cave in disappointment.

Their footsteps echoed through the dark passage, growing farther and lighter, until they vanished toward the cave entrance.

Loki emerged from deep within the cave.

He leaned against the edge of the entrance, watching the departing silhouettes.

A corner of his mouth slowly curved upward.

But the smile was faint, as light as a thin sheet of ice that would shatter under a foot.

He turned and walked toward the other end of the cave.

He moved quickly, yet his steps were light, making almost no sound on the broken stones.

What are you doing?

Of course, I'm running away!

He knew very clearly that the Gods would soon come to their senses, soon realize it was his doing, and soon come to capture him!

He had to run, the farther the better, to a place the Gods could not find!

So Loki did not return to Asgard, nor take anything; he simply draped the gray cloak over himself, slipped out from the other end of the cave, leapt into a dark river, and drifted downstream for a long time.

The river water was bone‑chilling; he floated in it like a corpse, letting the current carry him through the underground, through gaps that even light could not reach.

He drifted in the darkness.

When dawn was near, he rose to the surface.

Opening his eyes, the first scene he saw was a desolate wilderness, an extremely remote wasteland, clearly Midgard, having arrived in the Human World.

There were no villages, no roads, no trace of human activity, only rolling hills, sparse pine woods, and a waterfall cascading down from a height.

The water slammed down from a cliff a hundred meters high, booming like thunder.

Mist rose, forming a rainbow in mid‑air that spanned the valley, red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, violet, so vivid it seemed unreal.

Then a voice sounded beside his ear: "That waterfall is called Franzangge Waterfall."

Loki: ".............."

His movement froze.

Turning his head, he immediately bared his teeth and shouted:

"Yu Lin!"

"How do you know I'm here?!!"

"Didn't I tell you not to follow me?!"

"No, no, no." Yu Lin grinned, raised his hand and pointed at the small Wooden House nearby:

"I arrived here before you."

"Isn't it you who is following me?"

".........." Loki fell silent.

He was too lazy to say more to Yu Lin, and simply turned and walked forward.

Having just crawled out of the water, he was drenched, his clothes clinging to his body.

A shake of his body flicked the water clean off.

He stood at the edge of the pool beneath the waterfall, looked up at the rainbow, then turned and walked toward the depths of the valley.

He found a secluded spot in the mountains and began building a house.

It wasn't a palace or a castle, just a simple Wooden House: four walls, a roof, and a single door.

No, four doors.

He cut a door in each wall—east, south, west, north—each facing a different direction.

Thus, no matter which direction the Gods came from, he could see them and escape through another door!

The house was finished, small—just enough for one person to turn around—but sufficient.

He also chopped some branches from the mountain, laid them on the ground as a makeshift bed.

Then he sat down, leaning against the wall, listening to the distant roar of the waterfall, and closed his eyes.

It felt pretty good.

Of course.

It would be even better if that guy down the mountain who was grilling fish weren't there!

Loki opened his eyes, saw Yu Lin holding a skewer of grilled fish and waving at him, and sneered:

"Who can't grill fish?"

"Hm."

He took out the seasoning Yu Lin had given him and immediately grilled a fish for himself.

Yu Lin below the mountain watched, smiled lightly, then focused on handling his own grilled fish.

Of course.

He wouldn't voluntarily mention that Shi Kou Di, who was determined to follow him, was also staying in his Wooden House.

If Loki found out, it would probably trigger another frantic scramble!

In the days that followed, Loki turned into a salmon by day, hiding in the deep pool beneath the waterfall.

The salmon's body was slick, swimming swiftly, able to slip into cracks between stones and hide among aquatic plants.

He liked that feeling—the cold water enveloping his body, the current flowing past his gills, draining his heat, icy cold.

At night, he emerged from the water, reverted to human form, returned to the four‑door Wooden House, sat leaning against the wall, listening to the waterfall, the wind, and the distant howls of a wolf pack.

He kept thinking.

If only Yu Lin, who constantly tried to capture him as food, would just stop...........

But this is also pretty good; at least someone is accompanying me in playing.

Although Loki said he didn't like it, he was actually quite willing.

At least the Gods won't keep him company playing these boring games like Yu Lin does.

Days passed one by one, and the Gods did not come.

Even with Yu Lin there, Loki started to get bored.

He sat in the Wooden House, staring blankly at the four doors, then began to wonder—how would the Gods catch him? What method would they use?

He thought and thought, imagining himself as a God, picturing himself sitting in the Golden Palace, drinking mead, eating roasted boar meat, discussing how to capture that damned Loki.

He thought he would weave a net.

A huge, sturdy, fine-meshed net, cast into the pool beneath the waterfall, would scoop up every salmon at the bottom.

That way, no matter what Loki turned into, he couldn't escape.

The more Loki thought about it, the better the idea seemed, and he even felt a bit pleased with himself.

Then he wondered—if he were a salmon, and they really used a net to scoop, could he evade it?

After thinking for a long time, he felt he should hide where the net's mesh is largest, or swim close to the riverbed, slipping through the gaps between the net and the stones.

Feeling it wasn't safe enough, he thought of a few other plans.

Finally, he decided to give it a try.

He pulled some flax and thread from the Wooden House, sat at its doorway, and began to weave a net.

Loki's net-weaving was clumsy; his fingers were inflexible, the flax thread always tangled together, forming dead knots.

He would undo the weave, weave again, undo and weave, back and forth, tossing and turning for most of the night.

Moonlight shone on his hands, on that tangled mess of flax thread, and on his pale face.

His brows were furrowed, his lips pressed together, making him look like an old woman doing needlework, rather than the God of Schemes who sparked the Twilight of the Gods.

And just as Loki was weaving the net.

Asgard.

Aoding took his seat on the Supreme Throne.

Information from the Nine Realms surged in like a tide, flooding his eyes and ears.

Then.

He saw the Wooden House with doors on all four sides, and saw the guy sitting at the doorway, weaving a net by moonlight.

Aoding opened his eyes and spoke coldly:

"He is at Fúlánlǎnggé Pùbù."

The Gods were waiting below the Throne.

"You go now to Fúlánlǎnggé Pùbù."

"He is right there."

"Good!" Thor turned around first and strode out of the palace.

"All right, I'm leaving."

Yu Lin casually threw the fish bones he had finished eating into the water, stood up, looked at Loki, and offhandedly said a sentence.

Loki frowned: "Why?"

"You're tired of playing?"

"No." Yu Lin raised his hand, pointed to the sky, and said:

"They're here; you can escape now."

"From now on, I'll come to see you."

"Bye."