Ewen is not foolish; he simply doesn’t bother with trivial matters most of the ti, nor does he care to disguise himself as soone calculating. In truth, he knows everything and has long had a premonition of what’s to co.
Is it that he doesn’t want to face it? Or is he deliberately avoiding it? Ewen can’t say for sure, but at this mont, he realizes he’s grown fond of this quirky girl. He feels this sudden journey shouldn’t end in such a manner.
Yet, the end is still inevitable, just like a novel whose pages keep turning, it won’t add a few more out of sheer willingness.
Ti seems to have frozen; everyone hears the deafening whale song, and in this quiet, tranquil world, everything is imbued with a long-standing significance.
Cinderella stands at the open car door, witnessing the boiling sea, followed by massive creatures leaping out of the water one after another. They slap the water vigorously, the splashes shattering into rainbows in mid-air.
This is what Cinderella has always longed for, and now it unfolds before her in this peculiar way. The whales bump into each other playfully, the gigantic shadows pass under the train, then erge on the surface, the splashes hitting her face, providing a refreshing touch.
The deep and distant whale song becos more resonant, the tunes intertwining, the lody growing more magnificent and sacred. Cinderella reaches out her hand, as if every wish would co true. The sea before her surges, a whale surfaces, gently rubbing against Cinderella’s hand before subrging again, the school of whales following the train, accompanied by splashes and rainbows.
Cinderella doesn’t know how to describe her feelings at this mont; an indescribable sense of satisfaction fills her chest, leaving no space.
She turns her head; the blue sky and sea, like wallpaper, set off behind Cinderella, while Ewen gazes at her silently, and Cinderella flashes a sweet smile.
"Ewen, I think I understand Char’s feelings now."
Cinderella takes a deep breath, the strange, unfamiliar emotion crashes around in her mind. She feels as if her shell is now full of cracks, sothing about to break out.
Others are completely unaware of what’s happening. In Ewen’s eyes hides sadness, while Bologue, at so point, tightens his grip on the Flying Knife, ready to strike at the right mont.
Ewen asks, "What was the feeling?"
Cinderella remains silent for a mont, as if recalling the whale that repeatedly charged ashore, injuring itself all over, and finally being dismantled into countless pieces under the fishern’s butcher knives, refined into burning whale oil... perhaps its oil is still quietly burning in so lantern.
"Char might have seen soone at sea, like a drowning wretch?"
Cinderella imagines Char’s story, speaking and laughing, "Yes, a drowning wretch. Char saved him, and man and whale spent a brief and pleasant ti together."
"But the wretch is not a whale; he can’t live in the sea, so he left, returned to the land. Char thought the wretch would co back for it, but he never did after leaving."
The voice pauses, Cinderella sits down along the car door, her feet in the water, stepping on the splashes.
"I guess Char must miss that wretch. It can’t understand concepts like countries, cities, buildings; it rely thinks the wretch is on shore, maybe just past that grass line, it could see him lying under a tree..."
The sea begins to dent, seawater recedes, and then a giant whale breaks through the waves, its enormous body now sohow carries an unimaginable lightness. It crosses the speeding Dawn, soaring over Cinderella’s head, and crashes heavily into the sea on the other side.
Drifting droplets strike them in the wind, like a silent drizzle, elusive to the eye.
"Yes, Char might think this way, repeatedly charging ashore for a sufficiently foolish thought," Cinderella stares directly at Ewen, "just like you, Ewen."
As she speaks, Cinderella stands up. An indescribable strangers fills her, as if in just a few words, Cinderella has transford into an entirely different person.
"For a sufficiently foolish thought, persisting in chasing after the Joyful Garden throughout the long tis..."
Cinderella’s voice gradually turns severe, walking briskly toward Ewen.
"You are that foolish whale, repeatedly treading into the dead zone. What exactly do you want?"
In the face of Cinderella’s rebuke, Ewen remains unmoved. At this mont, Bologue quickly stands up, throwing out all the Flying Knives in his hand, hitting Cinderella’s body precisely, piercing through her chest.
The sudden change catches everyone off guard, except Ewen and Bologue. Both are very clear on what transpired.
"I had thought it would be like this," Ewen shakes his head, "but when faced with the truth, it’s still sowhat intolerable."
Cinderella glances at the Flying Knives stuck in her chest; Bologue rushes toward her, the long sword in his hand glinting with a deadly cold light, and in the shocked gazes of others, a hideous wound blooms on Cinderella’s chest, the pouring blood staining the ground and wall.
Bologue turns to swing the sword again, attempting to sever Cinderella’s head with one stroke, but a slender hand easily grips the falling blade. The bloodied face glances sideways at Bologue, and in the next second, she crushes the solid tal with ease.
tal fragnts cut into Bologue’s body. He decisively abandoned the Broken Sword and swiftly retreated. Although Canary didn’t understand what had happened, she chose to follow Bologue’s steps. A series of Crossbow Arrows shot out, piercing Cinderella’s knees, thighs, and the arrowhead sunk into her abdon.
Bologue drew another Blade from the Sword Bag, holding it cautiously in front of him.
Cinderella turned her head in confusion, "Ewen could have guessed, as I expected, but you...I shouldn’t have made any mistakes, right?"
"I’ve seen your room," Bologue drew a Dagger with his other hand, "Why is your room just a blank unfinished space? Is it possible that you are a person without a past?"
Ewen sighed, "Or is all this just a false identity?"
From the start, Ewen was genuinely oblivious to the girl. Ewen never understood this strange girl, not even knowing her real na.
Like an unknowable ghostly presence.
The girl ignored the pain in her body. She looked at Ewen again and, under Ewen’s gaze, pulled out the Flying Knife and Crossbow Arrows one by one from her body.
Underneath the grueso wounds, no blood flowed out, and even within seconds, the wounds on her body autonomically healed.
Ewen recalled what the girl said to him when they first t.
"The so-called ’Cinderella’ is just your Identity Card, isn’t it?"
Ewen had anticipated this for a long ti. He had chased after this for so long that when sothing unusual appeared, how could he not notice it, "Now that the role wishes represented by the Identity Card have been fulfilled, the mission of this Identity Card is now complete."
"You paid such a great price just to bring us together to entertain you in this damned board ga."
Bologue interrupted Ewen’s words at this point. He had already guessed Cinderella’s true identity beneath that guise. This possibility made Bologue both astonished and joyous, furious beyond asure.
"Watching others play gas is the dullest thing."
Bologue continued, "If I were you, I would find a way to join the ga, just like now."
The girl laughed uncontrollably, so invisible cracks multiplied until they collapsed into a pile of powder. She stepped forward, and with each stride, her form transford, her petite body becoming upright, stepping on slender high heels, the fire-red hem spreading like a lotus flower.
The card pinned to Bologue’s chest began to tremble violently, and Gold, hidden within, recognized her identity, unable to suppress its mingled cries of fear and fury.
From the depths of her wine-red eyes, brilliant light blazed. She passed by Ewen with a smiling glance, yet Ewen looked at the spot she just occupied with unfocused eyes.
There Cinderella achieved her wish, and henceforth, Ewen would never see her again.
No...from the start, Cinderella never truly existed. From the beginning, this was a ticulously woven deceit, a ga for amusent.
She walked to the ga board and reached out to remove Bai Ou’s head, accompanied by Bai Ou’s piercing screams. Bai Ou’s head began to distort and transform, flesh and skull unnaturally extending until it beca a square book bound in skin, and Bai Ou’s face beca the cover of the book.
The woman’s smile was captivating. She conjured a card featuring Cinderella, with dense text below narrating Cinderella’s story.
She inserted this Identity Card into the crevice of the book’s pages, and as the page turned, nurous cards were visible within the book’s pages, each representing an identity.
"How should I address you?"
Bologue questioned the woman, "Should I continue to call you Cinderella or...Joyous Desire Witch?"
"Asmodeus."
The woman softly uttered her real na, unable to hide the joy on her face, and continued speaking.
"Let’s make the ga more interesting."
As her words fell, the calm outside the train was no more. It once again transford into that apocalyptic storm-swept scene. The orange-red light burned like flas, touching the sky and the earth, with gray-black thunderclouds dragging howling winds like Death God, closely pursuing Dawn.
They seed to be traveling at the edge of the apocalypse, with each step resulting in vast swathes of the world collapsing and obliterating behind them.
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