"Today is to celebrate your birthday, there's no need to overshadow it." Su Mingan shook his head.
"But, Mr. Detective, do you know what my birthday wish is?" Alice's mouth curved.
"What is it?"
"My birthday wish is-" Alice came closer, stood on tiptoes, leaned into his ear and whispered softly: "[I hope the detective can have a happy birthday.]"
Her voice was light and airy, but every word was pronounced clearly, just like when she was twelve years old, she held his hand and walked forward step by step in the heavy snow.
Su Mingan's eyes flickered slightly.
At this moment, it was like a flock of birds flying into the room from the wide open window and crashing into his heart. There were faint illusory clouds intertwining and colliding, filling his chest.
He didn't know how he felt. All the warmth of the tenth world seems to be gathered here, colliding with the cries of the world, the cruelty of human nature, and the heavy snow floating in the city.
People always say that fairy tales are always beautiful, but reality is always cruel. And in this game called "Girls' Dream Project", is this warmth limited to "fairy tales"?
No.
Hope this isn't a fairy tale.
People gave gifts to Su Mingan in turn.
The red-haired boy is Wild Child Pat. He had a somewhat awkward personality in his pocket and handed Su Mingan a Sunny Day doll: "Here, detective, thank you for giving the children 39 grams two years ago and saving their lives. This is the Sunny Day doll that the children made for you together. baby."
The blond-haired young man is the knight Wendell. He is wearing a white shirt and looks reserved and clean. He carefully handed a stack of postcards to Su Mingan: "Mr. Detective, these are scenic postcards of all the lakes in Baoting City. I wish you a happy birthday."
The brown-haired man was hunter Dave. He looked a little cold and handed a few bullets to Su Mingan: "These are the bullets I made. They can be loaded into the gun in the future to protect Alice."
The blue-haired boy was Issy, the only son of the Baron family. He smiled softly and gave Su Mingan a golden pocket watch: "Sir Detective, this is a collection of antiques that I bought at the auction. I heard that you like antiques very much. , maybe this can help you."
The one with short brown hair is the fighter Josh. She patted Su Mingan on the shoulder carelessly: "Brother Detective, if you encounter bad guys in the future, put on this boxing glove I gave you and hit him. It's so powerful!"
Finally, there was Mei Mi, the neighbor's gardener sister. She blushed and gave Su Mingan a beautiful bouquet of white lilies. She said timidly: "Sir Detective, I wish you peace and happiness in the future and a smooth life."
Facing such enthusiastic people, Su Mingan thanked them all.
His pupils were filled with warm light little by little, and the loneliness, depression, and pain of being treated as a foreign species during the day were gradually suppressed.
"Sir Detective." Alice tilted her head: "It's my turn, guess what gift I have prepared for you?"
"... Spring cake?" Su Mingan thought for a while.
Alice laughed: "Spring Heart Cake, Spring Heart Cake again? Am I just a Spring Heart Cake in your eyes?"
"No, because I have never eaten anything so delicious..." Su Mingan shook his head: "Some people I have met are really not good at cooking. But the Chunxin Pancake you made is delicious."
He guessed a few more answers, but Alice shook her head and said they were wrong. Just when Su Mingan really couldn't guess,
Alice smiled slightly and suddenly stretched out her hands——
"Crash-"
Su Mingan seemed to hear the sound of white doves flapping their wings.
He lowered his head and seemed to see snow-white wings. They were clustered together, as white as fine snow. Alice held them up to him.
It's Chaoyan flower.
——White morning flower.
"Sir Detective, I heard that the white morning flower means the birth of a miracle, and the blessings in the world will be engraved in your soul forever." Alice said loudly: "I give you the white morning flower, and I wish you - —Life is bright, healthy and smooth, life after life, and eternal life. I wish you all the happiness in the world, and everyone will give you goodwill. May the good things follow you forever."
Su Mingan's eyes were trembling violently.
...Wait, that sounds familiar.
If it sounds familiar, there is also this familiar flower name——
"Chaoyan..." Su Mingan said.
"Huh?" Alice tilted her head.
"No, Alice." Su Mingan took the flower, and the white petals were soft, gently brushing his chin: "Sorry, I just called someone else's name. Thank you, Alice."
Chaoyan is an orphan from a small village in "Louyue Kingdom", and Alice is a girl from "Girls' Dream Project". They have an ancient Eastern background and a Western steam background. They cannot be the same person.
"Alice is Alice." Alice smiled and took Su Ming'an's hand: "Okay, Mr. Detective, let's cut the cake."
She took Su Mingan's hand and led him to the candlelight.
The two closed their eyes and made a wish, then blew out the candles. Sister Rita helped them cut the cake. The quality of sugar and salt in this era was not good, and the cakes were not very tasty, but everyone ate them happily.
Wendell specially chose the part with strawberries for Su Mingan. Before Difu could take a few bites, Pat hit him in the face with a piece of cake, and the two got into a fight. Sister Rita and Josh quickly went to break up the fight, while Meimi sat aside and watched with a smile.
The room was lively, Su Mingan was biting the cake, and Alice was sitting next to him, smiling and watching the scene in the candlelight, keeping everyone in mind.
Issy quietly sat next to Alice and asked her in a low voice: "Alice, can I continue to teach you the violin in the future?"
"Forget it, I'm a violent woman and I break the strings easily. I'd better continue to learn fighting from Sister Josh." Alice said with a smile.
Issy listened, feeling a little sad.
He didn't know why Alice always pushed herself so hard. She basically practiced swordsmanship from morning to night. As for the musical instruments and paintings that she really liked, she didn't dare to touch them, as if there was a savage beast chasing her behind her, asking her to become stronger quickly.
Isi had seen her when she was learning the violin. At that time, her eyes were very bright and she really loved the instrument. But when she broke the strings, the light in her eyes quickly dimmed. Many people said she was a muscular woman, but she just listened calmly and continued to practice without giving herself any rest.
"Alice..." Issy said.
"I think this is good." Alice said calmly.
She sat on the chair, her eyes lingering on Su Ming'an: "I want to become stronger, I want to protect the detective, this is my wish. It's difficult to have both ends. If you want to be strong, you have to give up your dreams. I don't think I can do it at the same time. It’s shameful to be good at force.”
After hearing this, Issy could only respect her thoughts.
The birthday party didn't end until nearly two o'clock in the morning. Su Mingan and Alice returned home.
Alice lay on the bed and covered herself with the quilt. At her request, Su Mingan read her a bedtime story for the first and last time.
Because - when she opens her eyes again, the detective will disappear, and then she will experience a long and lonely half a year, living alone, going to school alone, after school alone, and cooking alone, until he appears again. By then, she was already fifteen, no longer a child's age and could no longer ask for bedtime stories.
——Time is just a short moment for him.
——It was a long half year for her.
Su Mingan sat beside her bed, reading fairy tales to her under the crackle of the fireplace:
"A long time ago, there was a beautiful Princess Rapunzel. Suddenly a tsunami struck her kingdom, and her kingdom and friends were drowned by the tsunami."
"As a survivor, she boarded a lighthouse and waited, hoping to wait for her friends. She used the lighthouse to guide the passing ships and asked the sailors to search for her friends along the way."
"She waited, waited, and waited for a long, long time. Her kingdom was still flooded, and there was no news from her friends. How she hoped that there would be survivors among her friends, and that even one of her friends would be gone. Get in front of her and tell her, 'I survived.'"
"Time passed year after year. Rapunzel looked at the sky and said to herself: 'Please, don't leave me waiting alone. I am most afraid of loneliness. Please take me with you, or... Come to me alive'."
"Until one day, a white dove flew from the distance and told her - 'Princess, you don't have to wait any longer. Winter is coming, the winter snow has buried everything, your kingdom has turned into a frozen country, and all the corpses sleep in it. Beneath the ice, all your friends are dead and no one will ever come back'."
"Such desperate news impacted Rapunzel's heart. Finally, Rapunzel chose..."
After Su Ming'an read this, he raised his head and found that Alice had fallen asleep.
"Good night, Alice." Su Mingan closed the book. He was about to quit the game when he suddenly saw someone standing in front of the door.
It was a young man wearing a mask, wearing minstrel-style robes, and a bagpipe at his waist.
"Are you Xiao Hei?" Su Mingan remembered that Alice once met a bard named Xiao Hei.
"Detective, take Alice away as soon as possible." Xiao Hei said: "Keep her away from anything related to gods. Otherwise you will encounter a big disaster."
"Why do you say that?" Su Mingan asked.
Xiao Hei just repeated: "Please take Alice out of here quickly. The further away the better."
Su Mingan suddenly heard a "ding dong" sound. At this moment, he finally received the long-overdue main mission of this game——
Su Mingan knew early on that this was more than just a training game.
It has a main plot.
In this main plot, Alice, as a child named by the Eye of the Past, will face the coming disaster.
…
[Main mission: Together with Alice, investigate the truth about the frequent occurrence of alien species in this world and kill the alien king. 】
[Task reward: Game cleared. 】
…
"Is a disaster about to happen?" Su Mingan's voice was very soft. Seeing the main mission appear, his heart sank slightly.
At this time, there was only a feeling of "finally here" in his mind.
"Probably." Xiao Hei said.
Su Mingan nodded.
The warm days here are also over.
The heavy darkness was about to sweep into the real world and the game at the same time, and he could only raise the light in his hand, with only a slim hope, and would not retreat even one step until he glimpsed the bottom of the abyss.
"Thank you for the reminder, but not only me, she will not choose to escape. We will not leave here." Su Mingan said: "We are all people who cannot let tragedy happen."
Xiao Hei didn't speak, just turned and left silently.
Su Mingan held the white morning flowers in her arms, stood under the street lamp, and looked up at the heavy snow in the sky. Snowflakes fell freely and brushed against his black hair.
"Dang——dang——dang——"
Under the sound of the bell, he sighed:
"Very big snow."
Suddenly, he noticed that his field of vision began to turn red, and a bright red system prompt popped up:
…
[Someone wants to hurt you in reality, please exit the game immediately! 】
…
Su Ming'an felt nervous and immediately quit the game. As soon as he opened his eyes, a shining cold light appeared in front of him, and someone stood in front of the bed and stabbed him.
"Uh-huh!"
Su Mingan held the opponent's wrist with one hand, making a crisp sound of "clicking" the joints. The opponent's strength was very strong, and the tip of the knife kept moving down, very close to Su Mingan's throat.
The next moment, the white tentacles on Su Mingan's back suddenly popped out, pressing the opponent to the wall, like swatting a fly.
"Was the security of the Holy See so bad in the old days?" Su Mingan slowly got up from the bed. Someone was assassinating him while he slept.
The other party seemed to still want to struggle: "The Order of the Moment - Flower of Thorns!"
In an instant, the bright red branches pierced the white tentacles, and Su Mingan felt a pain in the tentacles. With a pinch of his fingers, he wanted to use space vibration to restrain the opponent.
"Su Wensheng, the Guwu family will kill you sooner or later -" the other party suddenly said.
Su Mingan was startled.
After saying this, black blood suddenly flowed from the corner of the other party's mouth, and he committed suicide by taking poison. But Su Ming'an immediately stepped forward, and before the other person took his last breath, he stabbed the knife into the other person's heart.
In an instant, just like Liu Xuanxuan and Mingluo before, because they were killed by Su Ming'an, the other's memories flooded into Su Ming'an's mind.
…
In front of him is the clear sky, with pavilions and pavilions covered with yellow tiles, and a red-gold hall standing on nine long pillars, glowing with a clear glazed color under the sun. Looking at this ancient scenery, this should be the modern Dragon City.
Two figures were sitting on the high pavilion. One person's appearance is slightly mature, and the other person's appearance is slightly youthful.
Su Mingan took a look and found that one of them turned out to be Yi Zhongyu, and the other was the assassin. It seems that this assassin has a close relationship with Yi Zhongyu.
"Brother, I'm here to say goodbye to you." The assassin said.
"Brother, are you still determined to sneak into the old Holy See?" Yi Zhongyu said.
"Yes. The Lu family of the ancient martial arts family was exterminated. I suspect it was the old Holy See who did it," the assassin said.
(End of chapter)
