Chapter 113: Completing the World (Fifteen)
"I seem to be seeing you kill this many people for the first time." Zhi Le's expression licked his lips, as if inhaling something fragrant, "It's really… an intoxicating scent."
"For a warrior to rescue his princess, he must go through all kinds of difficulties." Lu Wuyi's shoes were already soaked in blood, but he still smiled warmly, "And… people who have been replaced by dolls—if I don't kill them, they'll threaten those who are still alive. I'm doing this for the good of this world."
"Then… that person?" Zhi Le pointed to Tommy on the other side, asking with a half-smile.
Lu Wuyi's gaze swept past the remnants on the ground and followed the direction Zhi Le was pointing. Seeing the abnormal crowd collapsing in waves in the distance, Lu Wuyi's tone cooled, "It's precisely because of him that I set such a completion condition. So… I won't let him have his way."
The girls in the ballroom were becoming fewer and fewer.
Qi An still hadn't once agreed to the guard's proposals, cycling through the same events repeatedly. Even the old king who always appeared at the beginning vanished without a trace. Except for the girl wearing the glass slippers and the guard who kept trying to make Qi An search for girls, everyone else kept disappearing.
"Your Highness the Prince, shall we find that young lady for you?" The guard's tone was like a simple suggestion.
Qi An didn't immediately respond to him. Instead, he looked at a certain girl.
As time passed, the smile on that girl's face grew increasingly rigid. Her originally pinkish cheeks had turned an unnatural pallor, and her elastic skin had become like plastic, losing its luster. Everything about the girl had become mechanical. In a very short time, she had transitioned from a living person into… a doll.
Her body was becoming transparent from bottom to top.
This was a manifestation of the space growing increasingly unstable.
Qi An had witnessed countless moments like this, with all eyes fixed on him whenever the guard posed this question. The guard asked again, his words hanging in the vast, empty ballroom with only a few girls remaining. The tables were still laden with delicacies, but the scene before Qi An now was vastly different from when he'd first arrived. The banquet… was unbearably desolate.
"No need." Qi An's eyes lowered slightly, his tone gentle as he spoke the words. While talking, he kept watching the maid who had already transformed into a doll, staring at how her eyes instantly lost all their radiance.
Just before the scene transformed once more, Qi An happened to see the girl-doll plop down, losing all vitality as she fell to the ground. Then… she vanished completely.
"Do you truly not wish to search for that young lady?" After Qi An rejected the guard's proposal once more, the guard who had been respectfully bowing his head slowly raised it, asking word by word.
Only a few girls remained standing in the hall. The ballroom was still spacious enough to hold a thousand people, and the tables were still filled with exquisite food. Yet the banquet scene now was worlds apart from what Qi An had seen upon his arrival. The gathering… was unbearably desolate.
"I don't intend to." The moment Qi An finished speaking, the guard lowered his head again. Qi An heard a long sigh from him. He also sensed how the girls watching him suddenly had their gazes turn hollow.
[System, why do they keep insisting on making me say those words?]
The familiar girl walked over from the doorway once more. The beautiful and luxurious glass slippers radiated dazzling and brilliant light under the lamps. Qi An looked at the mere three remaining girls and the guard, his tone growing somewhat puzzled.
[I don't know, but we should be getting out of here soon.] The system's voice was noticeably more relaxed.
Qi An danced with Jenny once more, and the girl accidentally left a glass slipper behind as she departed the hall.
"Princess, shall we go search for that young lady?" With a soft plop sound, the other two girls in the hall also vanished. Their final glances before disappearing still fell on Qi An, their gazes like everyone else's before them—lost, utterly dejected.
As he spoke these words, the guard underwent a similar transformation to many before him. His skin stiffened, his body becoming transparent bit by bit. As if reluctant to give up, the guard raised his head.
"Will you go search for that princess?" His voice carried complex emotions—seemingly the resignation and lamentation of someone who already knew the answer, and also… a plea.
The guard's dark pupils held the same complex emotions as all the girls before him. While waiting for this answer, his gaze remained locked on Qi An.
"Why?" Qi An looked straight at him and asked.
The meaning of this constantly cycling illusion seemed to be nothing more than obtaining one answer from him.
"Do you wish to search for that young lady?" The guard didn't answer Qi An's question. Instead, he repeated those words he had spoken countless times.
His figure slowly vanished. Just as he was about to disappear entirely, he sighed as if finally giving up, closed his eyes.
"I will go search for that young lady." Looking around the hall that was about to become completely empty, Qi An finally picked up the glass slipper from the ground once more.
The guard's eyes snapped open. He seemed to stare at Qi An in a daze, then smiled.
A smile of pure, childlike joy.
[An'an, how could you!]
[I don't understand, why they keep insisting on a meaningless answer.] Looking at the hall that had turned into empty space, Qi An's voice became very, very soft, [and I don't understand why they never… tried to harm me.]
Because… they couldn't bear to.
Though they used words to threaten, though they were excessive, they… never once thought to harm you.
As these words finished echoing in his mind, Qi An seemed to see those dolls.
Those adorable dolls didn't reveal the eerie, sinister smiles one might expect. Instead, they smiled with the pure radiance of children who had finally gotten a toy they had wanted for ages.
Though it was most unbelievable, we… never once wanted to harm you.
"Why hasn't this illusion broken yet?" After killing the last person who had been assimilated by the dolls, Lu Wuyi's expression turned ice-cold. He squinted slightly and murmured, "That puppet is actually inside the illusion?"
"Do you want to enter that illusion?" Zhi Le smiled as he looked at the blood-soaked ground.
"Of course." Lu Wuyi nodded. As if sensing something, his gaze turned toward a certain direction. The coldness on his face transformed into gentleness.
A figure appeared in the sky out of nowhere—this person was precisely Qi An.
"An'an, the doll in your hands is?" Lu Wuyi's gentleness hadn't faded, but his eyes immediately locked onto the doll in the young man's hands.
It was a most peculiar doll, both its body and face covered in dust.
"It's… Cinderella." Qi An looked at the familiar features on the doll.
—This was never an answer without meaning, but rather the most beautiful ending in a fairy tale.
The glass slippers were the most beautiful symbol in fairy tales.
Only in fairy tales can Cinderella be together with the prince. I always knew we were impossible to be together. I don't have Master's powerful strength. All my understanding of you comes from memories Master fabricated. Even my emotions… come from Master's creation.
He created that world in his subconscious, and unknowingly created us, granting us the memories he wove.
I'm merely a person from a false world. Even if I was fortunate enough to leave that fictional world, I'm nothing more than a puppet. As a puppet, I dared to seek human emotions, falling in love with someone I could never be with.
Only in fairy tales could such a beautiful romance possibly exist.
Therefore, I kept cycling through this illusion, kept insisting on this question. I only wished that even if false, there would be the tiniest spark of hope that a fairy tale might come true.
I wanted to deceive myself.
Therefore, I hoped all stories would stop at the most beautiful moment in a fairy tale.
The prince would use the fallen glass slipper to search for that girl who should have had no connection to him.
Thank you, for still agreeing to that proposal.
I said I would give a puppet to you.
I wanted to give… myself to you.
The prince and Cinderella would be together. The prince would live a happy life. Cinderella would become a puppet staying by the prince's side.
Though I'm most讨厌, though I'm presumptuous, but… I truly never… wanted to harm you.
I only wished for everything to end like… the ending of a fairy tale.
Even if… it was false.
"An'an, let's go first." His gaze lingering on the doll for a few seconds, Lu Wuyi wore a perfectly appropriate smile, "It's been a long time."
"…Alright." Qi An glanced at Zhi Le standing with Lu Wuyi, looked around at the surroundings. His gaze lingered for a moment on the遍地 of corpses and Lu Wuyi smiling so warmly.
The journey was nearly all corpses. After a long while, Qi An was finally brought by Lu Wuyi to a place filled with many people. The environment here was much better compared to the places they'd passed through. The buildings were at least intact.
"It's Warrior-daxia, it's Warrior-daxia!" People soon began exclaiming.
"Thanks to Warrior-daxia, we were able to survive." The speaker's tone was full of admiration, "Even Prince Tommy lost contact in this disaster. If not for Warrior-daxia, how could we possibly have survived."
Tommy lost contact.
Hearing this, Qi An couldn't help but furrow his brow.
"Who is that beside Warrior-daxia? They are truly… beautiful. I've never seen such a handsome person."
"It seems to be Lu An Princess. Did Warrior-daxia go out this time to rescue Lu An Princess?" Someone quietly lowered their voice, "I heard before that when Lu An Princess went to the Secret Kingdom, Warrior-daxia personally went to escort her. Now going to rescue Princess again—is Warrior-daxia perhaps in love with Princess?"
"They make such a good pair."
Hearing this, Qi An seemed to think of something. Under Lu Wuyi's gentle expression, he opened his mouth to speak, "Did you activate this battle royale mode?"