Ye Cang gazed into those deep, dark eyes, as if he could see an entire inverted galaxy within them.
“I…
don’t know.” The youth hesitated slightly.
In the end, he was just an unlucky guy who had been dragged into this world for no reason.
Whether this world lived or died had nothing to do with him.
He had not even gotten to play the beta.
He could not claim any deep feelings for the characters in this game world.
Even the only two familiar faces, Uncle Yang and Himeko, were merely vessels for his memories as an old captain.
Loving the house for the crow on its roof.
That was probably what it was.
Now, an Aeon calling himself “Mr.
Moon” stood before him, tossing the question back at him.
He was asking whether Ye Cang was willing to become an unknown hero to save a world that had nothing to do with him.
Damn it!
If I say no, can he really send me back to my original world?
“Of course.”
As if seeing through Ye Cang’s thoughts, Mr.
Moon slowly turned his head.
On his beautiful, delicate face, a pair of eyes flickered with lava-like light.
What kind of eyes were those, so high above, so full of divinity!
Mysterious, powerful, confident, sharp, omnipotent!
“I will send you back to your original world, then try to find a solution on my own.”
“If I ultimately fail, I will restart the world again!”
The man clenched one fist and spoke with firm, resounding conviction.
His tone was as calm as if he were stating an obvious answer, or as if his words were the only truth in this world.
Ye Cang stared at him blankly, momentarily seeming to be infected by the emotions of the person before him.
“Why?
Aren’t you also an outsider?
What does this world’s life or death have to do with you?”
Mr.
Moon smiled slightly.
“Of course it has to do with me.
My wife and children are here.
What do you think it has to do with me?”
Then, he wiped the smile from his face, reached out and rolled up his right sleeve, revealing his right arm covered in dense black cracks to Ye Cang, and said in a low voice, “Moreover, as you can see, I have also been infected by the eldritch calamity.
If I returned to my original world now, the entire world, my loved ones, my children, my friends…
everything I cherish would be destroyed by the contamination I carry.”
“So, do you understand?
I am not noble.
I simply have no choice.”
“Before becoming this world’s so-called Aeon, I was first a father, a husband, a guardian of a world, a king of a nation.”
“But you are different from me, Ye Cang.”
Mr.
Moon lowered his hands, the sleeve once again covering the cracks on his arm.
The divine light in his eyes dimmed slightly.
“You still have a chance to choose.
And I should return that right of choice to you.”
“Stay, or leave…
Make your choice, child.”
Ye Cang opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but felt a heaviness in his chest, as if something was stuck in his throat.
All his thoughts became distant and untraceable under the weight of this atmosphere pushed to its extreme.
After a long while, he finally squeezed out a sentence: “If I stay here, what about my parents in the real world?
I also have a younger sister twelve years younger than me…”
Mr.
Moon looked at him deeply upon hearing this, then slowly spoke: “As long as you want, you can actually go back at any time…
Of course, that will be after you understand what the ‘eldritch calamity’ is.”
“Saving this world and supporting your parents are not in conflict.
It is just that the form may exceed your expectations.”
Ye Cang’s eyes widened.
“What do you mean?”
“You will know.
Now, I should go.” Mr.
Moon slowly turned around, hands behind his back, and said softly, “Prolonged contact with Aeon-level Path concepts will cause indelible effects on you.
Before you are assimilated by my Path, I need to hear your answer.”
Ye Cang took a deep breath, no longer hesitating, and nodded heavily.
“I will stay.”
“Very good.
I hope you will not regret your choice.” Mr.
Moon still did not turn back.
He only raised a hand and snapped his fingers.
A dark green mailbox appeared out of thin air in the corner of the observation car.
Its shape was somewhat like a silent tin frog with its lips slightly parted.
“What is this?” Ye Cang was puzzled, not knowing what the man before him was up to.
“Your exclusive space-time mailbox.
It has only one function: to receive letters I send you from the past.
I will share some intelligence with you from time to time, but do not get your hopes up.”
“Of course, you can also use it to contact me.
But sending letters backward through time requires consuming a large amount of time energy.
You can only send one per month.
Remember this!”
After saying that, Mr.
Moon raised his arm and waved lightly behind him without turning around, as a farewell.
“I will go ahead.
See you tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow.” Ye Cang also waved.
Before he could finish, the white-clad figure had already completely vanished, as if hidden in the void.
The bloody, eldritch scene in the car, with that person’s departure, seemed to have been wiped away by an eraser, once again returning to its original clean, tidy, and elegant appearance.
And in the starry sky outside the window, the eldritch train running parallel to the Astral Express had also disappeared, along with the contaminated body of the Aeon of Elation in the car.
Aha had also left, without even saying goodbye, or leaving behind a prank-like joke.
Everything seemed so unreal, as if it had never happened in reality.
Ye Cang’s body felt slightly weak.
He heavily collapsed onto the sofa beside him.
And beside him, the pink-haired girl in the blue-and-white sailor-style outfit slowly opened her eyes, looking around with a blank expression.
“Good morning, Sleeping Beauty.”
Ye Cang crossed his legs, rested the Death Diary on his knee, and began recording everything that had happened.
As he wrote, he did not forget to tease the little beauty beside him who had given him such a severe fright.
Especially that scene of Aha serving March 7th’s head on a plate.
It had nearly scared him to death on the spot.
It was only because Ye Cang’s mental fortitude was strong and his tolerance for pain was nearly numb that he had not completely broken down in the previous loop before reaching the end.
“Sleeping Beauty?
What’s that?” March 7th blinked, pursed her lips, and said with slight dissatisfaction, “Ha!
I know!
You must be teasing me for liking to sleep in!”
Ye Cang stopped writing, looked up at the cute girl before him, and said softly, “You…
don’t remember anything?”
March 7th was slightly stunned.
“You mean…
I forgot something important?”
“No, nothing.” Ye Cang smiled, withdrew his gaze, and continued writing.
She lowered her head, frowning in thought, then looked at her slightly disheveled clothes and suddenly widened her eyes.
“Ye Cang, you didn’t do something weird while I was asleep, did you?”
“How could I?
Do I look like the kind of person who would take advantage of someone in a vulnerable state?” As Ye Cang spoke, the smile on his face suddenly froze, and his writing hand paused as well.
The ink drew a long stroke across the page of the Death Diary.
He suddenly raised his head, breathing heavily, staring fixedly at the puffed-up March 7th, and said word by word, “You…
what did you just call me?”
“Ye…
Ye Cang?
Wh-what’s wrong?” Little March was clearly startled by Ye Cang’s sudden intense reaction.
Her petite body staggered back into the sofa, her small hand patting her chest.
Ye Cang took a deep breath.
That chilling feeling at the base of his spine rose again.
March 7th should not know this name.
In the train crew’s memory, his name should be Cang!
What is going on?
Have I not escaped that eldritch loop?
Then what was Mr.
Moon’s existence about?
And the four Aeons in the interstice of Paths?
He clutched his head with both hands, veins bulging on his forehead, eyes full of bloodshot lines.