Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Driver showed admirable skill at repairing the mechanical arm. With the tools by his side, he quickly got to work. He filled the oil tank with diesel oil and started the ignition. Soon, the engine of the arm roared to life and started working.
The same afternoon, the engineers worked with the mechanical arm to dig through the mountain boulders. With this trump card of a tool, the engineers made quicker progress. In the evening, Maung Kyaw Zin and his family brought tools up to the mountain, along with a feast for the men. They carried it all up on shoulder poles. When they reached the top of the mountain, they set the things down and warmly urged everyone to start eating.
Aside from the food they had already cooked, they also brought with them stoves, pots, food, and fuel so they could cook some more food on the mountain. Maung Kyaw Zin’s wife and daughter set out the dishes. The crowd sat down and prepared to eat while Maung Kyaw Zin busied himself with setting up the stove and pots.
Li Du waved at the man. “Mayor, sit down and eat with us. This much food is more than enough for us all.”
Maung Kyaw Zin shook his head and smiled. “Please start eating. I’ll just make some soup. You can’t have a meal without soup, but it’s difficult to transport soup up the mountain so I wanted to cook it here instead.”
Li Du walked over and said to the man, “That’s a lot of trouble.”
Maung Kyaw Zin waved in dismissal. “Not at all. You’re paying for this, remember? I have to give you what you paid for.”
As he was talking, he set the pot on the bronze stove that was covered with patterns. He opened the door to the fire pit of the stove and took what looked like wooden shavings from a bag he brought up with him.
Li Du’s interest was piqued as he stared at the bronze stove and pot. They looked like ancient relics with an air of primitive simplicity. The patterns resembled clouds, along with carvings of little reptiles. It was an extremely dense pattern and undeniably pretty.
Maung Kyaw Zin chuckled as he noticed Li Du looking at his stove. “Haha, you must think this is amusing. We don’t have the modern outdoor stoves they use these days, just this old relic, but it works just as well as the new ones.”
Li Du said, “You’re too modest, mayor. This stove is much better than the modern kind. It’s pretty old, isn’t it? I feel like it’s an heirloom.”
Maung Kyaw Zin managed to light a fire. He replied, “You’re right, it’s kind of old, old enough to be considered a relic. Heirlooms, however, are works of art; this stove and pot, they’re just regular appliances, however, so how can they be heirlooms?”
“That’s not true. Regular appliances from the old days are considered heirlooms today, like vases, bowls, chopsticks and different types of porcelain,” Li Du said. “Mayor, how old is this stove set?”
Maung Kyaw Zin pursed his lips and said, “I’m not too sure, actually. My grandfather said it existed in his grandfather’s time. It’s been around in the family for so long that no one actually pays attention to how old it is. All we know is that it’s a really sturdy item, so we’ve been using it all along.”
Li Du could tell the man was lying.
This stove and pot were old as time. There was practically no use for it in day-to-day living, because items made of bronze did not last long, especially since they were difficult to properly maintain if frequently used. After many years of use, it was completely impossible to avoid regular wear and tear, and this was especially so for this specific pot. It had a smattering of patterns carved upon it. There was no way the patterns could still be in such good shape despite years of daily burning, roasting, and exposure to oil and smoke.
However, this was all just his own conjecture and might not actually be true. For all he knew, Maung Kyaw Zin and his predecessors might have really cherished the stove set and took really good care of it every time they had to use it.
To test his theory, he released the little bug and turned back time. The moment the little bug appeared, it rushed towards the stove set at a faster speed than ever! This surprised Li Du, because the little bug disappeared the moment it was released, then reappeared right in front of the stove set. It was as if it could teleport.
Li Du was shocked: this was the first time the little bug demonstrated such an ability. Teleportation!
He restricted the little bug from absorbing the time capability of the stove set, which proved to be a difficult task. This stove set seemed to be tempting the little bug more than usual, making it inch towards the set with all its might. Li Du felt like he was about to lose control over the bug! This was an equally new experience.
He tried with all his might to retain his control over the little bug, focusing all his energy upon it. As he did that, he felt a little weird.
Maung Kyaw Zin seemed to sense this. He asked, “Boss Li, are you alright?”
Li Du tried hard to control the little bug and forced a smile onto his face as he did so. “I’m alright, I might just be a little too hungry. I sometimes feel dizzy when my blood sugar dips.”
Maung Kyaw Zin rushed over to support him. “You should be careful, then. Go eat. I’ll join you once I finish the soup.”
With his help, Li Du sat down and assured the man, “I’m alright, you can leave me now. Go finish what you have to. I’ll be fine after a bite of chocolate.”
Godzilla always carried with him a supply of chocolate, candy, glucose water, and other things that could restore energy quickly. Li Du waved and Godzilla came over with the stuff.
With much effort, he finally retained his control over the little bug. In those few short seconds, the little bug seemed to have gained some sort of sentience. It struggled valiantly against Li Du’s grip. This was a foreign feeling and it made Li Du’s heart race. There was one thing he was sure of: these were no ordinary stove and pot. These two things drew out the weird change in the little bug.
Just like that, his curiosity grew even stronger. He made the little bug use its time-traveling ability but despite that, he could not go far enough back to the origin of the stove set. As far as he knew, the little bug could go as far back as a millennium. That was to say, the stove set was at least a thousand years old!
How far back did civilization in Myanmar date? Li Du was not too sure, but if he had to guess, he would say about a thousand-odd years, from what he’s read up on the country’s history. According to what he knew, local historical materials and written records that could be examined dated back to about 1000 A.D.
As time moved, Li Du saw more scenes of the stove and pot. He had guessed correctly — this set was not something frequently used. The scene showed that the set was often stored away in a case; there were very few scenes that depicted the stove set being used.
The odd thing was that the stove and pot had two main uses. Sometimes they were used as they were meant to be used — that is, to cook. Other times, they functioned as totems that people worshipped.
Gradually, a terrifying scene unfolded. At first, it looked like just another scene of the stove set serving as an object of worship. There were many people worshipping it at the start, but the crowd gradually thinned. From what he could see, it went from the entire tribe worshipping the totems to just some elders worshipping it, to a single person in the end.
After the set was used to cook, the next scene was sometimes a scene of death. There would always be someone dying, and most of the time, it was a large number of people who died.
As he neared the end, the people in the scene seemed to be dressed in relatively more modern garb. They sat surrounding the stove as they ate, and then they ended up dead. In the next scene, the clothes the people wore seemed even more modern, as did the people who were eating around the stove. Those people died after that, too…
