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Even taking one step forward doesn't mean everything will be calm; on the contrary, the real test begins.
Staying in place at least offers comfort to one's own will. Perhaps the life experienced is incredibly bad and disastrous, even leading astray, but at least there is no deeper, more desperate abyss.
Instead, moving forward means being pushed by others, or like a moth in the dark drawn to light and fire.
Regardless of the final outcome, just that one step forward could lead to an even greater abyss, a larger, more terrifying disaster.
Because the act of taking the first step is the least confident and assured.
If one doesn't get the desired result, if it's not as beautiful and pure as imagined, then the outcome will inevitably be self-devouring.
Until the gears of thought surpassed all constraints and delivered the sole surprise.
That top-tier human brain, perhaps unmatched in all of history, after regaining control of the body, completed the scan in an instant.
Then, her silver-grey eyes suddenly lit up, as if pink, swaying petals had fallen into them, like returning to their first encounter that day, reflecting none other than... the young man.
Like a ray of light in the abyss, pointing to the only escape, proving that this world is not cruel and dark, devoid of all hope.
"This invitation,"
"I'll take it."
The young man picked up the card with his index finger, tilting his head slightly, a clear, encouraging smile playing on his lips, "I just wonder how long I'll have to wait for your birthday party? If it's too long, I'll hold a grudge, you know~?"
Ah... "Ah?"
It seemed this outcome was too astonishing, even exceeding the young woman's imagination.
For a moment, she was speechless.
Her cherry-like lips parted, wanting to say something appropriate, but only sounds that could barely form characters escaped her throat.
Even her most beautiful fantasies involved a strenuous struggle; she never imagined it would be so simple to snatch Jiang Cheng from Aili Xiya's hands.
"Now you have no room to refuse. You've successfully brought in a practically useless freeloader, and I'm quite grateful to you."
Jiang Cheng lightly wiggled his index finger, uttering a playful taunt.
This was almost his highest-leveled skill.
The tension instantly dissolved.
The young woman didn't hesitate for a moment, so uncontrollably excited that she almost couldn't control the force as she patted her full, soft chest.
"Of... of course not. I absolutely, absolutely, absolutely won't abandon you, Jiang Cheng."
"That would be perfect."
"From now on, I'll be relying on you for my meals."
"But don't worry, I do have some money."
The young man almost simultaneously echoed that action, placing a hand on his chest, his eyes slightly curved, a bit flippant, yet his expression was almost as solemn as when he had previously asked to travel with Aili Xiya.
So solemn, so serious.
There was no difference.
There was no difference from their previous journey.
It was also a step towards a new life, also a departure from everything current, also an attempt to build walls based on others' emotions.
Only this time, perhaps he wouldn't be ignored or treated coldly.
Nor would he continue to hinder Aili Xiya's stride towards freedom.
The young woman clearly had many things to do.
Perhaps, just like the protagonists in fairy tales, she was born with a destiny she had to fulfill, with monsters only she could solve and confront.
In that case, if traveling together slowed her down, wouldn't he inadvertently become the villain?
It's better to have the best of both worlds now... ah... ah... ah... she agreed... she agreed.
She agreed!
It was a possibility she didn't even dare to dream of; the moment she spoke it, she had already foreseen the ultimate tragedy and ending, lacking the confidence and mental fortitude to face the abyss, yet she could only stand there.
But the young man agreed to such an audacious request.
The young man chose to distance himself from that flawless, dreamlike person, like a fairy, who couldn't be faulted, and was willing to extend a hand to an insecure, incapable young woman, and after saving her, still agreed to and accepted her presumptuous request.
Shamelessly, though she was the one saved and helped, she still tried to go further, pushing her luck, making even more unreasonable demands.
It was simply dreamlike... Today, for Vil-V, could already be called a dream.
It even made her want to pinch her plump thigh hard, to test if she had had some beautiful dream of taking Jiang Cheng today?
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24. Aili Xiya can no longer stand by and watch.
The young man she had met by chance, who had accompanied her online and through some special means for several years, now truly stood by her side and agreed to become the sole master of her Spiral Workshop.
Originally, she had just mustered her courage, not wanting the young man to continue being treated like a boiled sheep, so she gambled with her life.
She didn't expect to actually succeed, to truly bring the light that saved her to her side.
Everything was beautiful; shared experiences led to shared recognition. It was precisely because they could tolerate each other that true selfishness was achieved.
It was simply as dreamlike as a fairy tale, with a naturally formed personality, leading to a beautiful ending without any twists or turns.
This scene, however, was simultaneously witnessed by another person who was also paying attention here.
- Aili Xiya.
The young woman, who others said didn't care about Jiang Cheng and only saw him as a stranger, watched all of this, and her pupils suddenly dimmed.
She didn't fully understand the entire process; even as a future Herrscher, without truly embracing her power, she wouldn't be able to hear a conversation from such a distance in such a manipulated place.
However... - suppression.
Unimaginable suppression.
It was as if something that belonged to her had been taken by someone else; the ownership of a long-held treasure had been ceded to another person; something unique and irreplaceable had inadvertently ceased to belong to her.
A large piece seemed to be missing from her heart; she no longer had the ability to pay attention to the conversations of those around her, and the whole world seemed somewhat distorted and faded... [You, who were recording Jiang Cheng receiving gifts, suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of suppression. You looked up and saw the young man chatting and laughing with Vil-V.]
[This is a very ordinary thing; you have no right to control the young man's social circle.]
[Although it's a bit uncomfortable, the truth is that the reason they can interact is essentially due to your choices, your actions.]
[After so many times, even the most uncomfortable things must be accepted.]
[It's just...]
[I don't know why.]
[Only this time, you inexplicably felt a more intense, more suffocating sense of suppression, as if something irreversible and regrettable was about to happen.]
[Therefore, you decided to put down what you were doing and hand over the gift recording to someone else.]
Huh... Aili Xiya tilted her head in confusion, her vermilion lower lip unconsciously bitten gently, and a hint of doubt arose in her pink-blue eyes.
Why did she feel this way?
Weren't the regrets she had always tried to mend more about the town's residents and those Scholars who would cause future regrets, forced to leave before they could showcase their talents, or those affected by the Honkai energy who suffered undeserved disasters?
Although it might not be good to say so.
- Why did she feel so sad and suppressed?
Her encounter with Jiang Cheng didn't seem that long, did it?
The young woman, somewhat overwhelmed by the current disaster with tens of millions of casualties, indeed treated this as an ordinary simulation, a simple game.
Since it wouldn't affect reality, she used this game to make up for past regrets and explore other possibilities.
Compared to a second life, perhaps this was closer to a player's way of playing.
Aili Xiya, with some bias, stood from her own perspective.
Her dreamlike blue eyes looked at the young man in the distance.
Understanding between people is difficult.
Even with complete immersion, even if they show convergence and even merge into one in the future, initially, due to different experiences, they will exhibit slightly different views and ideas for a period of time.
[At this point in time, one thing is more important, far more important, than communicating with those around you.]
[You can no longer suppress your inner thoughts and communicate with others, or with those you don't actually most want to communicate with.]
[Option one, go see Jiang Cheng immediately!]
[Option two, go see Jiang Cheng immediately!!]
[Option three, go see Jiang Cheng immediately!!!!]
Why... why?
The options appeared, yet it was as if they hadn't.
Because all three options were uniformly to go see Jiang Cheng, the only difference being the number of exclamation marks representing different tenses.
This situation was not entirely unforeseen.
Because the options that can be generated by world development and emotional changes cannot possibly override the entire world and the entire psyche.
If there were a period when, due to irresistible external enemies or disasters, all thoughts converged, leaving no room for choice, then it's not impossible for the three options to be very similar.
Why were they exactly the same?
Why precisely at this moment?
Her thoughts were chaotic, like a storm tearing through a library; even the flawless young woman was unable to process the information before her.
Perhaps stemming from a fundamental difference, the young woman's current experience was, on the contrary, unusually strange.
Even with a certain degree of empathy, such shared emotions would be diluted or diverge due to different experiences and different emotional impacts.
The joy of changing the world and potentially solving the first two disasters, the happiness of saving lives, and the satisfaction of making up for past regrets.
Richer experiences would lead to different preferential treatment for simultaneously felt emotions.
- What if there's a difference?