Su Ming’an approached the two people and suddenly noticed that one of the figures was extrely unusual.
It was the sowhat hunched silhouette of a silver-haired old lady, her hair slightly swaying in the wind, wearing a black cloth garnt that seed very thin.
By her side stood a tall figure, like a young woman.
The sound of Su Ming’an’s footsteps, which he hadn’t deliberately softened, caught their attention, and they turned their heads.
The silver-haired old lady was none other than Gerald; apparently, she hadn’t left yet.
"..." Gerald’s gaze was sowhat blurry, and the corridor where Su Ming’an was located was unlit and very dim, so she couldn’t see clearly who was inside.
But she vaguely made out a silhouette.
"...Kaya? Have you returned?" she called softly, her voice tinged with a hint of anticipation.
Su Ming’an stepped out of the corridor.
"It’s ," he said.
He didn’t know who the old lady was calling for.
Thinking of her past... she must have mistaken him for the old man of her household.
Perhaps at night, people grew nostalgic and sentint turned tender; on such a seemingly quiet night, Gerald might have been reminded of the lover who had once left a deep imprint on her heart.
More than sixty years before, when the airship departed among the clouds, Su Rin caught a fleeting glimpse of the young and beautiful Gerald and took a liking to her.
But it was just a glimpse.
Su Rin threw the bottle of maiden’s blessings and adoration, a chenpi wine, into the water, abandoning the forbidden affection that should not have taken root in his heart, carrying a sense of sacrifice and a readiness to die, and thus he left Pulaya, never to appear in the public eye again.
Even when Su Ming’an returned to Pulaya sixty years later, Gerald only mistook him for Su Rin’s grandson.
Ti, like a carving knife, could easily transform a young and beautiful girl into a weathered old lady.
Life swiftly slipped away in the ordinariness of life, and in the process sculpted by the carving knife, it seed that Gerald had t a new partner, and had a son and a daughter.
...It turned out that this new partner of hers, the husband who had ascended to Yun Shang City over thirty years ago for his ritorious service to find dicine, was nad Kaya.
Seeing Su Ming’an erge from the dark corridor covered in blood, Lele, the granddaughter standing beside Gerald, imdiately grew wary. She quickly drew the knife she had hidden behind her, pointing the tip at him.
After all, Su Ming’an had just killed several people, and now he was still covered in blood; Lele was afraid this man would hurt her grandmother.
"Lele, put the knife down," Gerald imdiately reprimanded her granddaughter. "He saved ; he is our family’s benefactor."
Lele had no choice but to withdraw the knife.
Gerald looked up.
Su Ming’an could see the vicissitudes in her eyes.
Snow fell onto her silver hair.
In her eyes, a ring of dull whiteness condensed, devoid of the joy of youth that had once shone from the mory Stone in Su Rin’s mories.
Looking at Lele, now grown up beside her, her eyes held only the affection for her child... and the approval for the "grandson of the Su Rin family" before her.
Su Rin, still young, stood before her, but she had aged without knowing it.
The emotions in her eyes were reduced to reassurance for the younger generation.
"Sorry, just now I thought... I saw my old man Kaya," Gerald said with a smile. "You kid from the Su Rin family, what brings you onto the ship? The Mariti Banquet should have already started, shouldn’t it?"
"I ca to patrol the ship," Su Ming’an said. "You haven’t left?"
He had thought the old lady had long gone when he saw the Gerald Family house empty earlier, even the clothes rack at the door was left behind.
"Not yet, the banquet has started, and there aren’t any ships available to leave." Gerald smiled, "Actually, whether we leave or not doesn’t really matter. The Pope has made a promise, saying that once the banquet ends, he will send Jiajia to Yun Shang City with the winning team. That way, her disease can be cured, and perhaps, we might even see her ascend during the ceremony..."
Su Ming’an furrowed his brow deeply.
"What’s wrong? Young man." Gerald asked.
"...It’s nothing."
Su Ming’an turned around, "Then I’ll be going."
He knew that what the Pope had said was nothing but lies.
In the previous cycle, he had seen what Yun Shang City looked like; it was not a city filled with life and fireworks, but a dead and silent church.
There was no one alive inside.
The Deities might exist, but from over sixty years ago... probably, apart from Su Rin, not a single person had survived.
But to not give Gerald a hope would be to kill this old woman, who had lost her loved ones, all over again.
She had already watched her husband go, witnessed her son’s sacrifice; did she also have to see her daughter die in her sickbed?
After all, he was not Su Rin himself, and in truth, Su Rin didn’t owe Gerald any responsibility.
rely a passerby.
Eternal life had beco shackles restraining him; it also diluted and reduced the shadows of people who passed by him.
In the Long River of Ti, these people were simply destined to flow past him.
Su Ming’an quickly disembarked from the ship.
The shore was still crowded with people.
He even saw so holding glow sticks and custom light signs with his na on them, not knowing where this crowd had gotten these things.
...They were like crazed fans.
Seeing his figure erge from the deck, the crowd below began to shout wildly:
"He’s coming down, he’s coming down—"
"Holy shit, he’s alive. Hurry up and take pictures, record videos!"
"How co the people on the ship look like they are dead; don’t they find this alarming?"
"No one dares to board the ship, nor can anyone contact those on board... Isn’t it said that competitors aren’t allowed on board, or they will be punished by the Deities? Only Su Ming’an dares to go up."
"Number One Player, don’t go! Talk to us, we want to hear you speak about the Lighthouse—"
In the midst of the crowd, a girl suddenly jumped up, releasing the fireworks she was holding in her hands.
The fireworks rose into the sky, blooming into a row of fiery red English letters, atop which was an unapologetically big "LOVE".
Her face flushed with excitent as she looked at Su Ming’an, seemingly having fulfilled a great wish.
Su Ming’an watched this scene indifferently, feeling unmoved, as if utterly separate from the enthusiasm of the people below.
Back in high school, when he worked as a part-ti video uploader, he too had dread of being adored and being able to sign autographs at major exhibitions.
To be liked, supported, and chased after—many young kids might have fantasized about such thrilling notions.
But ever since the World ga began and his fantasies had truly beco reality, seeing these people who were madly fond of him, his emotions had gradually beco filled with nothing but indifference.
Sohow, even the most exciting events could no longer bring him joy.
Even standing on the podium giving a speech felt more like acting and working to him.
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