Back to the Future 1999: Raining at the Same Time

On a dusky afternoon, perhaps because of the gloomy weather, the prosperous and bustling streets of London lost their usual bustle and hustle and bustle. All that was left were newsboys shouting their wares in the sweltering heat.

The boy's efforts paid off, and he received enough tips for a newspaper to support himself for a week. Of course, this was also because Chen Xi didn't check the denomination of the banknote he handed over.

With the newspaper in his pocket, he found the target of his trip in the open-air lounge area of ​​a cafe - a blind female writer with a slightly frown on her face.

She tapped gently on the typewriter in front of her, letting it spit out her experiences and insights in the world page by page, sometimes fast and sometimes slow.

Maybe he was too involved, or maybe Chen Xi's movements were too light.

Until Chen Xi dragged the chair out from under the table, unfolded the newspaper in front of her and read it quietly, she didn't pay any attention to this.

The sunlight gradually moved from the first line of the newspaper to the last line, but the owner of the newspaper seemed to have no intention of reading it at all.

Looking up, he saw a gentle smile flowing warmly from Chen Xi's eyes, quietly fixed on Wuld who was across the table.

He said nothing, made no movement, and just quietly observed this mysterious, intellectual, and gentle woman.

Chen Xi just watched as the typewriter spit out more and more papers, watched as the afterglow of the setting sun dyed her face golden, and saw her rubbing her brows as if she felt tired.

"coffee."

"Thank you."

As if possessed by some mysterious force, Wuld somehow managed to accurately pick up the cup of coffee that seemed to have appeared out of thin air on the table. It was not until the aroma of warm milk mixed with a hint of bitterness washed over her taste buds that she raised her eyes as if waking from a dream.

Even though she couldn't see it, she could still feel a vague figure appear in her mind, sitting opposite the table.

Unlike the objects he usually constructed in his mind, the young man in front of him seemed to have broken into his consciousness. The blurry silhouette was constantly moving, struggling to become clear.

"Chenxi."

"Uld."

Reaching out his hand, Uld felt it being gently grasped, then quickly released.

After retracting her hand, she gently clenched her fist and slowly released it - she didn't know whether she extended her hand because she felt the other person extending his hand, or the other person responded to her in this way after she extended her hand.

However, the man in my mind gradually became clearer: white hair, suit and unclear face.

"Thank you for the coffee."

"Can I call you mom?"

The unexpected words made the expression on Wuld's face freeze. She wondered if she had heard it wrong, but when she wanted to confirm it again, the boy opposite had already gently passed on the words.

"Do you know Verdin?"

"Velting..."

As if recalling or thinking, Wood chewed on the name, and his hands unconsciously typed the word on the typewriter.

"Vertin"

The typewriter clicked and arranged the six letters again and again. After the last letter of the name written in black and white was typed, there was no sound, as if it also wanted to imprint it in Wood's heart.

After a long time, the afterglow of the setting sun faded away, and the deepening shadows enveloped the two of them, but they did not move.

Until, Wuld shook his head slightly, and said slowly with a bit of bitterness on his face:

"No, I don't remember that name."

The boy in my mind smiled. Although I couldn't see his face clearly, I had a strange feeling - he smiled after hearing my answer...

An inexplicable strange feeling climbed up his spine. Wuld packed up the manuscripts and tools in front of him and planned to leave.

But the boy in my mind can never be shaken off - just like a drop of ink dropped into clear water, no matter how hard I try, it will eventually spread out in the water, and the harder I try, the easier it is for the two to mix together.

"What did you... do to this coffee?"

I swear to God, if Wuld could see, she would definitely see how innocent the expression on Chen Xi's face was.

"I didn't do anything to you, Lady Woodard. Whether it was simple drugging or hallucinogenic occult practices, that's unbecoming of a gentleman."

"I just wanted to chat with you, that's all."

It was completely dark, but this had no effect on Wuld. However, Chen Xi still raised a lamp of mysterious light, and the soft light made Wuld's face look even more beautiful and more... maternal in the night.

Facing Wuld who was sitting in front of him again, Chen Xi stretched out his right hand, squeezed the nail of his middle finger into a sharp blade, hooked it back and cut open the palm of his hand.

He extended his hand again, but did not change his nails back.

The handshake that marked the beginning of the second conversation made Wuld feel a stinging pain in his palm from the very beginning.

The blood of the two briefly intersected at this moment. However... nothing earth-shattering happened as Chen Xi had imagined. The same scene and the same people remained before him.

However, in a place he didn't notice, Urd's body was trembling slightly.

At that moment, she accepted the flood of memories of Chen Xi during the long-ago experiment before he came into the world.

Endless regret, pain, and hatred washed over her emotions, forcing open her memories and power in a harsh and brutal way.

A tear broke through the shackles of the blindfold and slowly slid down the cheek.

It seemed that only a tear was shed in the dark night, but when I looked up, a large area of ​​the white wrapping cloth was already wet.

"So...what do you want from me?"

Wuld sniffed, seemingly still immersed in the sudden emotion just now, but the tone of her voice was mixed with a hint of hostility and resistance, and people could not hear even a trace of closeness.

She wiped the tears from her cheeks and dropped them to the ground. Her whole demeanor suddenly became sacred and distant in the night. It was as if she could pull the moonlight behind her, giving people a sense of detachment and oppression.

In an instant, Chen Xi had the same feeling as when he first met Arcana, the feeling that the other party was controlling everything.

"No, I'm not asking anything from you."

Faced with Wuld's change, Chen Xi withdrew his hand with a guilty conscience. He hadn't considered the impact of his actions just now. He simply took a risk out of a strong desire to solve his own problems.

He didn't even know what was wrong with Urd now, but Chen Xi knew that this change must be due to himself, or to be more precise, it came from his blood.

"I just……"

After looking at Wuld's scrutinizing face for a while, Chen Xi shifted his gaze and focused on his hand on the table.

"I can't control... my impulses and desires..."

As he spoke, he withdrew his control over his right hand. The originally smooth and delicate skin suddenly became covered with a layer of scarlet mucus, which melted and produced blood-colored bubbles.

Soon, white joints protruded from the gradually decaying flesh and blood, trembling strangely without the support of nerves and muscles.

With this hand as its center, the decaying flesh and blood burned and melted everything it touched. Soon, a hole was burned through the exquisite round wooden table. The limp bones fell towards the empty space, swaying back and forth under the influence of inertia, making a rattling sound as they rubbed against each other.

“Hmm… Yeah.”

Wuld, who was sitting across the table, didn't say anything, but just sighed solemnly and snorted.

She seemed not to feel the burning pain brought by the decaying flesh and blood, and held Chen Xi's right hand, which had turned into bones.

"It's all right, it's all right, my child."

The tip of his finger gently rubbed Chen Xi's wrist, which was guarded as the bottom line, caressing the metacarpal bones, finger bones... pulling out layer after layer of new skin.

This was the first time she mobilized her own powers and also the first time she accessed her own memories.

In the process of reshaping Chen Xi's right hand, she finally digested all the memories that Chen Xi passed on to her, and finally freed her heart from those negative emotions.

As the incarnation of the World Tree, Urd, one of the three goddesses of Norn, developed an almost natural tolerance and love for the little guy in front of her who was once conceived by the World Tree and relied on the World Tree.

After repairing Chen Xi's right hand, she wanted to hold it gently and make some insignificant compensation for what happened that year.

However, when the last glimmer of hope faded, Chen Xi had already slipped away from her wings. His left hand grasped in vain, and a barely perceptible look of desolation crossed Wuld's face.

But, at this moment, she heard a soft, sweet voice: "Thank you."

Just because of this sound, the previous gloom seemed to be swept away, and was replaced by a smile full of doting.

However, Chen Xi, who was sitting opposite, was moving the limb that was repaired by someone else for the first time, but there was no relaxation on his face.

"A strange sense of estrangement and alienation, and... a higher level of confusion and unbearableness in other parts of the body..."

The brokenness and disorder of body, mind and soul were not resolved, but became more turbulent due to the reduction of containers.

The pure "heretic" also appears to be incompatible with the flesh, showing disharmony and resistance.

"Ugh."

With a light sigh, Chen Xi opened a space wave in front of him and put his hand in. When he took it out, only his bloody wrist was left.

The flesh and blood grew again in an disorderly manner, filling the gap, and finally covered with a layer of normal skin, disguising itself as normal again.

The solemn atmosphere spread out uncontrollably, dragging a deep sorrow over Wuld's face.

----

Well, I still have some baggage. I don't want to write it too ooc. I try my best to write the stylish mother feeling of Uld. I worked hard for a long time... and here's the result. I hope you like it.

Then there is the problem with Chen Xi. To be honest, I don’t really know how to solve it. After all, even the problem he had just happened inexplicably while I was writing.

I said at the beginning that it would be resolved within ten chapters, which should be about right. Although this chapter is just a transition and does not write anything or develop any plot, it can be regarded as the beginning of the arrival of "Mom".

Two more chapters or so? I'll write about Anya and the others' perspectives, their attitudes during the rainstorm, and their involvement in the main storyline. After all, Chen Xi has already left the main plot, right?

As for the ending, well, I plan to explore Vienna and Digital Island later, and after finishing Song of Loneliness, that'll be pretty much it. It depends on when Deep Blue can reveal the reason why Arcana had to die and then be resurrected. Then, I'll incorporate that into the story and reshape the story there, and the book will be finished.

Finally, thank you to all the young readers who have read this far. Love you~