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Chapter 1321: One Thousand Three Hundred and Sixteen · Devil's Line · "Have I ever had a true heart? (Part )"

The sky is like a cover.

This year you are seventeen years old. A red sun suddenly descends and burns everyone to death.

The houses in the village were empty, with only piles of black and gray body parts silently piled up at the doorsteps.

You are shocked to find that you have no sadness.

It turns out you are a heartless person.

Even though he was the only survivor, he felt no regret.

——Then, you saw the girl again.

She stood quietly in the wheat field, like an eternal observer.

You said: "Xiaobai, you are here again."

Xiaobai said: "There are only two-digit survivors left in this world, and you are one of them."

You said: "I am just an ordinary person who should have died under the red sun. It was you who protected me."

Xiao Bai said, "Yes. A man named 'Sique Olivers' led the advent of the Red Sun. He wants to reset the world. Most people have died. The world will be reset in a few months."

You don’t care why this person reset the world, you only care about yourself: “Will I still exist?”

Xiaobai nodded: "Yes. But after the reset, you will lose your memory like most people and be reborn as a baby."

She turned and left.

“Wait a minute.” You caught up with me: “I want to go with you, no matter where you go, please take me with you.

You don't want to die here, you want to follow her.

……

In the last few months of your life, you and Xiaobai traveled around the world together.

She calls it "observation," although you have no idea what she's observing.

That day, you came to a small villa with blue roses and lavender planted at the door and a windmill standing next to it.

When you enter the villa, the first thing that catches your eye is a piano, followed by a game cabinet, several comic books, a model of an aircraft carrier, a brown bear doll, a recipe book for skewering coriander, a travelogue of Mount Taihua... These very different elements are placed together, making you think that this is a family living together with several people.

But you only saw the owner of the villa.

It was a black-haired girl, she sat quietly on the sofa, playing the video game slowly. She looked very young, yet seemed old. Her fingers could not keep up with the movements, and the little people on the screen died again and again.

You saw the record on the game console - the highest score was very high, achieved by her, but her condition had declined so much at this time that she couldn't even keep up with the end of the score.

...Is she sick?
You see her - playing the boring and monotonous game again and again. It should be a two-player game, but she plays it alone from beginning to end, which results in her never being able to complete it.

Seeing you and Xiaobai, the black-haired girl slowly raised her head, as slow as an old man.

At this moment, her eyes lit up slightly and she stared at Xiaobai, as if expecting something.

"...They haven't come yet. You can't wait any longer." Xiaobai said to her.

The girl was silent for a long time before she nodded.

"I understand." She said softly, "Thank you for telling me..."

Xiaobai pulled you away.

You still remember the last glance before leaving the villa - after getting the answer, the light in the girl's eyes dimmed, she took out a plate of chocolate, ate it slowly, and didn't know what she was thinking. Then, she stood in front of those comics, aircraft carrier models, brown bear dolls... and stroked them one by one.

"Yamada, Lu, Luna, Lin Yin..." She whispered the names of these friends and said goodbye to them one by one, as if they were distant calls.

Finally, her eyes fell on the piano.

"...Su Mingan."

She said this farewell so softly, like a soul floating lightly in the air.

Wow, wow.

It was as if the sound of a river flooded over her head. The girl's expression was as if she was drowning in the water. She fell completely into silence, and the light in her eyes also became silent.

She seemed to be gritting her teeth and trying not to cry out.

The moment you stepped out of the villa, you heard the sound of piano.

——Claude Debussy’s “Moonlight”

It was like a masterpiece by a master, the best piano sound you have ever heard. The girl seemed to have been playing the piano for thousands of years, and the music she played was breathtaking.

She must have practiced alone for a long, long time...

However, the music intentionally leaves some beats blank, as if waiting for someone else to play these notes.

You touched your face and found that you were crying. It turns out that music can really touch people. The sadness in this song just hit your heart.

Is this a farewell song? The girl looks so young, so it must not be her who is bidding farewell.

“Who can’t she wait for?” you asked.

"...a lot of people." Xiaobai said.

"How long did she wait?" you ask.

"A long time." Xiaobai said.

“Are they all her friends?” you asked.

"Yeah." Xiaobai said.

"--Why didn't they come earlier? Why did they make her wait so long?" You feel indignant. If it were you, you would definitely not let your friend wait in the house so lonely.

Besides, the girl collected so many of her friends' things, they must be lifelong friends. Why didn't those friends come?
Xiaobai shook his head silently and said nothing.

“Then why didn’t she continue to wait?” You said: “Although the world is about to reset, she can continue to wait next time.”

Xiaobai lowered his eyelids.

At this moment, you realize that she also has emotions, she is sad, even if this emotion is as thin as a thread.

Then she spoke:

“…But some things will come to an end sooner or later.”

The sigh was as light as a gust of wind.

Like some painful, destined-to-fall blades, you feel your eye sockets inexplicably become sore.

You heard a crash, as if the villa behind you collapsed.

But you look back, the villa is the same as before, the blue roses and lavender are so bright, but there is no piano music anymore. Through the window, you see a girl sitting on the sofa, holding something in her arms, which seems to be a photo.

"Look, isn't she still waiting?" You pointed at the figure on the sofa, as if to prove that you were right - the girl was clearly still sitting on the sofa, waiting for her friend to come back.

Xiao Bai took a look and shook his head: "It's over..."

The figure no longer rose and fell with breathing.

Black hair silently draped over the girl's shoulders. Her hair had grown long, almost past her waist. She was wearing a comfortable loose-fitting dress with a pair of cat ears on her hat. She seemed determined to wear the clothes she had just seen for the first time as the last one.

The chocolate bars fell all over the floor in a mess, and before she finished eating the last one...her hands dropped.

On the sofa, the game console was stuck in the [Pause] interface, the “tick-tick” music was still playing, reverberating in the empty space…

There were no flowers around her.

The blue roses sway silently outside the window, fresh and vigorous.

This night,

It is snowing.

Frost and snow covered the girl's home.

……

During this last period of time, you always followed Xiaobai.

Xiaobai will never feel hungry or thirsty. You can always find delicious food to feed her. If she is cold, you can put clothes on her. If she is tired, you can spread a blanket over her.

You don’t know who she is, maybe she is a god.

On the last day, you suddenly feel weak all over, your skin starts to dry up, your legs and feet become sore, your voice becomes hoarse, and your hair turns completely white in an instant...

You know, the day when the world resets has arrived.

When you open your eyes again, you will turn into a baby who has forgotten everything, and be reborn in the reset world, remembering nothing and leaving nothing behind.

Therefore, this day is equivalent to your death. Even if you reset, you may no longer be you.

"...Xiaobai." You lay in the golden wheat field and pulled her hand.

She still had a calm expression, like a god looking down on all living things. But when you grabbed her, she bent down for you.

Those glass-like eyes look at you all year round.

From the age of ten to eighteen, you grew from a child to a young adult, but she remained unchanged, like an immortal witch.

With trembling hands, you took out...the last rice cake candy from your arms and placed it in her palm.

"...It's the last one, I've been hiding it for a long time." You said.

Her expression became complicated.

She once thought that you bribed her with candy in order to get her protection. But today, it seems that you have never begged her for anything. It has always been you who took care of her on the road.

Even you felt speechless. Perhaps you should have asked her to save you out of gratitude...but in the end you just said, "Have something sweet."

She breaks the candy in half, eats half, and puts the other half in your mouth.

You can no longer swallow or taste anything, and your breathing is as heavy as a bellows, but when she asks you, "Is it sweet?", you smile and answer with a trembling old voice:

"Sweet."

“…Sweet.”

Just like at the beginning, in the wheat field at the age of ten, she answered you like this.

The sunshine is so nice.

You are the embers of the old world, it's time to disappear.

It's as if a boiling hot stream is falling, your eyes are sore, and in the misty vision, you realize that she is walking towards you.

Then, give you an awkward and restrained hug.

She felt cold to the touch, and there was no human warmth in her body.

"... Thank you, traveler. I have been traveling alone, but you are the only one who came to my side." Her voice became very soft: "I don't understand what this feeling is, but I am very sad to see you die... I don't want to experience this feeling of loss a second time, so, in the future, I will no longer contact others. Human life is too short."

"Xiaobai, do you dare to make a bet with me?" You said with a smile.

"What are you gambling?"

"I bet...after this reset, we'll still be on the same path, and I'll continue my journey with you."

Her pupils narrowed slightly, as if she had heard an innocent fairy tale, and she looked at you: "What if I win? What if I lose?"

"If you win... I'll give you all the rice cakes. If you lose, then... forget me."

"Are you playing tricks again?"

“Yeah, I’m afraid that I’ll be bullied after I’m reincarnated, so I quickly hugged a thigh and begged you to take care of me... cough, cough, cough..." You started coughing violently, and your vision became increasingly blurred.

She can't tell whether you are sincere or joking.

"This is impossible. After the reset, you are a baby who remembers nothing. There is no way you can catch up with me anymore." Xiaobai shook his head.

"Then let's make a bet. When I'm five years old...you come to see me. If I go with you, you can't abandon me. If I don't go with you, you'll just pretend that I never existed."

Your breathing becomes weaker and weaker.

Xiaobai sighed.

Never mind, just be at peace with yourself.

Even though she knows that the journey with you ends here. You who don't remember anything can't get close to a stranger again.

But she nodded anyway.

The wind was so loud that you slowly closed your eyes.

……

In Maizi Village, a baby's cry was heard, and the Hui family's child was born.

Five years later, that night, a pink-haired girl was standing quietly under the eaves with a red umbrella.

The sacrificial feast in the village was as lively and festive as ever. The high priest danced on the altar. Nothing had changed.

After the sacrifice, everything became quiet, people returned to their homes, and only colorful flowers and cigarette ashes remained on the streets.

The pink-haired girl who had been waiting from dusk till late at night put down her umbrella and slowly turned around. It was time for her to leave.

It seemed that she won the bet after all.

She put up her umbrella and walked out.

"—Can I go with you?"

Suddenly, a childish voice of a five-year-old child came from behind.

Xiaobai opened his eyes wide and turned his head.

You hold a rice cake candy in your hand and raise it high.

"I don't know who you are, nor where you are going, but I want to give you candy... I want to go with you." You said: "I don't have any impression of you, but I can't seem to bear to see you leave like this..."

The wind moves, the rain moves.

The girl stretched out her hand tremblingly.

Her eyes looked at you in surprise, as if she had seen an incredible miracle.

She slowly, slowly took your rice cake candy and put it into her mouth.

"Sweet."

She talked about the taste and wiped the corners of her eyes strangely:
"It's a bit salty and bitter..."

……

Under the moonlight, two figures, one big and one small, walked away holding hands.

"Sister, why did you agree to let me follow you? I'm still a child and would be a burden to you," you said.

"Because..." The girl seemed to pause briefly.

After a moment, she finally found the answer and slowly squeezed out a voice from her throat:

"…Because you have a true heart."

sincere?

You opened your eyes wide in surprise. Even though you were only five years old, you knew very well what kind of person you were - selfish, extremely hypocritical, and definitely not sincere.

But why did the girl say that?

Does she know you very well? But this is the first time you two have met.

"Sincerely." You murmured blankly:
"Do I have... a true heart?"

At that moment, your breathing is paralyzed.

Those glass-like eyes, when looking at you, have warmth for the first time. She didn't say anything, but just nodded.

"Sister, where are we going next?" you said.

"Go...find the World Tree."

"Hmm? Sister isn't going to continue the journey?"

"No more traveling. This time, he's coming... By the way, do you have a name?"

"My parents died very early and didn't give me a name. My last name is Hui. Sister, please give me a name."

At this moment, Xiaobai seemed to be able to hear the sound of his own heartbeat, violent and moving, as if it was in sync with the heaven and earth——

Boom, boom, boom.

Like a ball of warm fire, burning in her cold consciousness.

"Your name is..." Her lips opened and closed gently, as if falling the reverse bell of fate:
clang--

clang--

clang--

"—— Huibai. How about it? Take... my name."

……

……

"Ding dong!"

【"Hui Bai"'s memory lens, viewing completed. 】

……

Su Mingan finished reading Hui Bai's memory and opened his eyes.

What was in front of him was not the laboratory just now, but a dim room.

A man in black robe held a knife against Su Mingan's neck.

Goodnight Miss dances well^^