After leaving the world of all NPCs

"You...what are you?"

"Me?" Alicia stood up and spun lightly in place, her skirt fluttering. "I am a human, a real human."

"Although the birth was a bit dreamy."

"The long winds transform into chariots, the four seas become gardens, birds bear seeds of kindness, and flowers weave songs of love."

"But it can't be helped, Alicia is just such a lovable girl~?"

"I was born into the world, walked on the earth, grew up with humans, and sprouted with the world."

"So I'm a genuine human~?"

Alicia held out her hand, palm up, a smile on her face.

"And you can trust Alicia completely."

Miku was completely stunned.

The girl before him possessed inhuman elf ears, yet she firmly declared herself human.

"...Liar."

She murmured subconsciously, but her voice had lost its sharpness and hostility, and she seemed a little confused.

"Don't look like that~" Alicia said, still smiling brightly. "I'm really looking forward to it. I want to hear... the most authentic voice that belongs only to Miku-chan. It must be as beautiful as Eden's voice, enough to captivate the whole world, right?"

"You really want to hear me sing?"

Miku's voice was soft, carrying a fragile anticipation that she wasn't even aware of.

"Of course."

Alicia's smile is like warm sunshine.

Miku's lips moved slightly.

She wanted to sing, like the girl in the past who was good for nothing but singing, and sing out the melody in her heart.

But her throat seemed to be blocked by a heavy piece of ice, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't squeeze out even a faint syllable.

The panic of losing her voice instantly gripped her and her face turned slightly pale.

At this moment, a warm hand gently covered the back of her cold hand.

Alicia stood before her, looking up. "When you're scared, just close your eyes and think of Alicia. Just thinking about me being here, doesn't it make you feel a little... a little hopeful?"

A warm current flowed into the body from the palms of the hands pressed together, which seemed to really dispel the coldness in the throat.

Miku subconsciously closed her eyes, and in the darkness emerged Alicia's smile that seemed to contain the entire starry sky.

That unreserved trust and expectation is like a stone thrown into the lake of the heart, creating ripples.

A faint breath finally broke through the confinement in the throat.

The first note was gentle and trembling tentatively, like a young bud breaking through the ground in spring.

Then came the second, the third...

It is no longer the deliberately crafted, magical and seductive voice on the stage.

This is a voice that is uniquely its own, stripped of all artifice and pretense.

Clean and ethereal, with a hint of innocence, yet containing pure emotions buried deep in the heart.

Like the night-blooming jasmine blooming alone under the moonlight, it quietly tells of the loneliness and longing that no one knows about.

The song is over.

The night wind seemed to have calmed down.

Meijiu slowly opened her eyes, her cheeks felt cold, and she didn't even realize when she started crying.

Snapped……

Crisp applause sounded.

Alicia stood in the moonlight. "Wonderful! Miku! That's the voice! It's ten thousand times more beautiful than a nightingale!"

With incredible tenderness, his fingertips gently brushed across Meijiu's wet cheek, wiping away her tears, his smile still bright and warm.

That warmth and affirmation, like a trickle of water, soaked into Mijiu's dry and cracked heart.

Mijiu stared blankly at the pink-haired girl in front of her with a sweet smile. An unfamiliar bitter warmth spread in her heart, making her want to blurt out something.

Jingle Bell--!

A series of crisp and abrupt cell phone ringtones suddenly broke this rare tranquility.

"Oh my," Alicia sighed regretfully and waved her phone at Miku, "It's already this late. I still have so much to talk about with Miku!"

“What a pity…”

She pouted playfully, "My husband is a super stingy person."

"husband?"

Mijiu was still immersed in the strange emotions brought about by the song just now and didn't react for a while.

Alicia didn't answer, but just winked at her, took a step back lightly, and moved to the huge floor-to-ceiling window in the living room leading to the open-air balcony.

"Let's talk about this tomorrow, Miku. Also, don't worry if my husband plays a little prank on you. It might be a little scary, but everything will be fine..."

Before she finished speaking, she leaned back, like a nimble fish sliding into the deep sea, and floated down the balcony railing, blending into the deep shadow of the night sky above the courtyard, disappearing without a trace.

Before Meijiu could even exclaim, she rushed to the edge of the balcony, holding onto the cold carved railing and looking down.

The moonlight in the courtyard was like water, and the rose bushes were swaying in the night breeze. Where was there any trace of the pink-haired elf girl?

……

Silent all night.

The early morning light weakly penetrated the layers of heavy curtains, as if the curtains were still asleep.

In the middle of the living room, three people sat around a round mahogany table that was intricately carved but looked quite old.

The tabletop was polished very brightly, barely reflecting a little bit of the faint sunlight.

Tokisaki Kurumi leaned back in a high-back velvet armchair, her thick black hair like a pouring night curtain, cleverly covering her left eye completely behind the drooping hair, leaving only her right eye exposed.

As her eyes moved, she naturally revealed an indescribable charm, which formed a dangerous attraction with her slender figure.

Two slender fingers pinched the handle of a white porcelain teacup with a gold rim.

Yamada Sawa, who was sitting opposite her, seemed like a bright spot of life that suddenly broke into this gloomy picture.

The girl looked to be sixteen years old, wearing a neat Laichan High School uniform, a white sailor-style blouse and a dark blue pleated skirt, looking fresh and neat.

Her long, smooth chestnut hair was carefully braided into three loose braids, hanging down on her shoulders.

The figure is also slender, but the skeleton lines are softer.

As she picked up the teacup and took a sip, the corners of her lips curled up, a small and cute dimple appeared on her cheek, and the tip of a playful canine tooth also peeked out, instantly dispelling the dull atmosphere of the house.

Ye Zuochen sat between the two of them. He looked like a teenager of only fifteen or sixteen years old, with soft black hair and pupils as pure and calm as black jade.

He is the kind of person who can make people's hearts beat out of control just by existing, without any words.

"...So, that's pretty much it." Ye Zuochen's gaze fell on Shan Dasha's eyes, which were gleaming with curiosity. "You were supposed to have died in an accident seventeen years ago."

"This death node is the 'anchor' necessary to stabilize this timeline. It is the inevitable outcome."

"Even if Kurumi and I forcibly changed the specific historical events that led to that accident, the corrective power of [Fate] will lead you to other forms of death in the future."

"This is an inevitable fate."

He leaned forward slightly. "So, the most thorough solution is to pull you out directly from before the 'point of death' and jump to the present seventeen years later."

"It's like moving you off a trajectory that's bound to death and onto a completely new path."

"So, do you understand?"

Yamadasa tightened her grip on the teacup, remained silent for a moment, and took a long breath, as if penetrating the fog and blankness of seventeen years.

"Hmm... I understand."

"Sawa..." Kurumi's voice sounded immediately afterwards, "I'm sorry."

"Perhaps this is also cruel to force you to leave behind everything in the past that you are familiar with and to live in this completely unfamiliar present."

Sawa immediately shook her head, leaned forward, and looked carefully at Kurumi's overly beautiful face.

"It's okay, Kurumi. It's just that seventeen years have passed, but you really only look a little bit older!"

Kurumi seemed a little uncomfortable with her blunt scrutiny and tilted her head slightly, "I'm a college student now."

"Really..." Sawa murmured, her eyes a little vague, as if trying to imagine how seventeen years had been compressed into the life of her best friend. "It feels like I've missed a lot of things. It seems like a lot of things have happened, right?"

"Indeed." Ye Zuochen said, "The changes are quite big. For example, there is actually a sixteen-year-old Kurumi. You should be able to meet her if you have the chance. But, to be precise, the number of Kurumis is actually quite considerable."

Sawa opened her eyes wide in surprise: "Huh? What's going on?"

Kurumi sighed helplessly, and seemed to decide to explain herself: "I am a spirit that controls time."

"Although my power... well, it's certainly not particularly strong, I can pull together the 'me' from different timelines to create a large number of clones."

"Simply put, it's about making up for the difference in strength with 'numbers', understand? It's about winning by sheer volume."

"Win?" Ye Zuochen immediately grasped the word. "Although it's always spectacular, it always seems like I beat them to a pulp in the end, right?"

"Puchi..." Sawa couldn't help laughing and burst out laughing, revealing her little fangs.

She looked at Kuang San, whose face had obviously darkened, and then at Ye Zuochen, who had an expression that said, "I'm just stating the facts," and asked curiously, "Really? Every time? Kuang San, you always call on many of yourselves to rush forward together?"

Ye Zuochen nodded immediately. "Of course. It's a big deal, overwhelming, but in the end, as I said, I always manage to deal with it neatly."

"Ah..." Sawa's gaze fell back on Kurumi, examining her like she was getting to know a good friend again, "Kurosami...it seems like you've really been through a lot and become very, very powerful! You can now fight with a group of people you like without batting an eyelid."

"You! What nonsense are you two talking about!" Two clear blushes instantly appeared on Kuang San's fair cheeks, spreading from her cheeks to her ears. Her exposed right eye glared at Shahe in shame and anger, and then glared at Ye Zuochen fiercely.

She suddenly put down the teacup, and the bottom of the cup hit the saucer heavily, making a crisp, loud but somewhat embarrassing sound.

Ye Zuochen and Shahe exchanged a knowing look across the table.

The smile in Ye Zuochen's eyes deepened, while Shahe covered her mouth and shrugged her shoulders slightly, obviously trying hard to hold back her laughter.

After a brief interlude, Ye Zuochen restrained the smile on his face and put down the cup of tea.

"Miss Sawa, since I brought you from the mortal past to the present, I must be responsible for you to the end."

The living room suddenly became quiet.

Kuang San subconsciously sat up straight, her eyes fixed on Ye Zuochen.

Ye Zuochen raised his gaze, his eyes fixed on Shahe's face, his expression focused as if she was the only one left in the world: "Can you leave the rest of your life to me?"

Sawa was stunned.

A huge sense of confusion and a sudden throbbing hit her at the same time.

His chestnut pupils dilated slightly, and his fingers gripping the teacup tightened unconsciously.

Promise him.

Yamada Sayaka agreed almost subconsciously.

However, she held back and turned her gaze to Kurumi who was sitting across from her.

Kuang San's right eye quickly swept across Ye Zuochen, and then made extremely brief eye contact with Shahe.

"Humph, you're not one more anyway."

Seeing Kuang San's tacit agreement, the confusion in Sawa's eyes gradually faded away. She turned to Ye Zuochen and a firm and trusting smile appeared on her face: "Yes! Sure!"

Ye Zuochen raised his right hand, his palm facing Shahe's direction. "Excellent! Miss Shahe, do you have a preference for your future form? Do you prefer an elf, or would you rather have the power of a vampire? Of course, if you want to try the form of an angel, that's also an option."

"Kyousan...is she an elf?"

"Yes."

"I choose to be an elf too!"

"as you wish."

As soon as he finished speaking, a dazzling blood-red light suddenly burst out from the void less than an inch above Ye Zuochen's palm!

Like solidified blood, thick and burning, it twisted rapidly, forming an inverted cross in an instant.