Graywater

Only later did Shen Nian learn that the ancestral homeland far away still echoed with teachings. The twinkling stars went dark one by one in the rainforest. The permafrost heaved, and cracks carried its sighs. The boiling waters of the Ganges burned with everlasting hellfire. All beautiful fables were nothing but fantasies. The heaps of clogged wastewater could never carry anyone's longing for the past. He had naively believed that his hopes could give Xiaoyu a reason to exist, but then discovered they were only an echo that had fallen into the mortal world.