——The so-called sense of departure, its endpoint is controlled death.
Once people anticipate their own death and calmly accept it, they experience a profound sense of stability.
Because they know, before this point, every action has aning. They would know their end with absolute clarity, and their path of action will remain unchanged, from life to death.
Nailuo had experienced this sense of departure for more than four days.
Like picking up a backpack to start a distant journey, her mind beca incomparably calm.
In those days, she rembered a lot of things.
Such as the incessant instructions from her family when she was a child.
The gun skills she practiced diligently every day as she grew up.
The gloom in her heart when she embarked on that ship with a mission.
And when she was captured by the princess, the pain of losing her life force and having her soul sucked away.
And also...
In her most desperate mont, she saw a hand reaching out through the dense clouds of darkness.
A hand extended towards her.
The owner of that hand still stood in front of her, just as she had seen him every ti before.
She gazed at him for a long ti, through a thin layer of morning mist and moisture. The morning light, like cutting through the water’s surface, fell on his face like the petals of milk-white flowers.
She was about to leave.
Even though she had just learned his real na.
"Su Ming’an," she said, "I want to go ho."
"After this... I will have soone send you ho," Su Mingan said.
Nailuo smiled:
"While I was alive, it felt like I would never die... but when death ca, it felt like I had never truly lived."
"..."
"Will you look after the world’s tomorrow for ?" Nailuo asked, "If you can co back from Yun Shang City, could you... take care of Duoya for ? I have no acquaintances here, and she was the kindest to ."
"..."
"Thinking about it now, the happiest mont of my life was actually when I saw you coming to rescue ," Nailuo murmured:
"You are the prince, and I am the princess under a curse."
Having said that, she suddenly noticed that her vision was blurring again.
A strong sense of weakness climbed up, giving her a very clear premonition.
She lowered her eyes and saw a pale color begin to climb bit by bit into her fiery red hair.
Under the symbolic young and flamboyant red hair, her particularly long eyes were gradually showing blood vessels.
Under the warmth of the breeze, her hair started to turn white and wither, her beautiful eyes gradually beca cloudy, the whites of her eyes turned yellowish, and her originally fair skin even began to show wrinkles as if cracking.
It was as if the waterfall of ti completely plumted at that mont. Her life force was rapidly drawn away within just a few seconds.
The mont of returning light had passed.
The morning light shimred on her increasingly aged face, and a slight moisture began to swirl in her eyes.
The unstoppable ebbing of life unfolded in front of Su Mingan and millions of viewers, a solemn process of aging and life silently marching towards its end that no human effort could stop.
In the final monts of her life, Nailuo saw that the person in front of her finally showed subtle emotions, the overly calm expression finally changed slightly.
As a child, she, like her peers, wrote lancholic poems.
She said, if one day she were to leave, she hoped, like a deep engraving or a blazing bonfire, that her na would leave an imprint in people’s hearts.
She hoped not for cremation or burial, but rather for soone to hold her tightly with all their strength and build her a fiercely hot tombstone.
But obviously, that was just "poetry."
Just like her,
she was just an "npc" who couldn’t leave this world.
She clutched the fresh flowers in her hands.
The warm wind blew her increasingly pale red hair, and her once fiery-red, beautiful face akin to a red rose blooming in the midst of a fire, began to show the marks of years.
The once young and spirited lady suddenly showed a smile.
"I’m not following you to Yun Shang City."
Facing the vast, azure sky, facing the peaceful and tranquil Pulaya, she smiled softly.
"You must..." she said, "always rember Missy here, always."
The next mont,
Her hair turned completely pale, she closed her eyes, and in an instant, rged with the gentle wind.
"Su Ming’an."
"You must rember..." her eyelashes trembled, "... my na is Nailuo."
...
The bright red fla faded away.
...
[You, I’m telling you—I won’t be foolish anymore, I won’t love you anymore!]
[Rember, there won’t be another woman in this world who loves you like I do!]
[Use this lifeti to regret it!]
...
[Do you like it? Should I give it to you? But mother said this thing will beco my dowry, it’s very precious...]
[—Rin, look, look, do I look good now?]
[What are you going to do, take Missy here with you. Since you’ve restored my youthful beauty, I can give you one chance.]
[I think even if I’m old like this, hard of hearing, I can still hear your na clearly.]
[Then, you must take to Yun Shang City, it’s been the fantasy of an adventurer’s nature since I was young! I belong to the Mil Family after all!]
...
[—What happened to your leg?]
[—Um, ah. It’s just not so easy to walk, I’m tired.]
...
[—Nailuo, turning other people’s mories into your own tombstone is the most aningless act.]
[—But, she just... wanted to go ho.]
...
[I give this to you.]
...
[I don’t rember my na anymore.]
[But I rember you.]
...
[Take ... ho, will you?]
...
...
A warm wind swept across the land, ti moved on.
At noon, on a hill in the Central District of Pulaya, a small tombstone was erected.
Duoya collapsed on the tombstone, tears streaming down her face.
Next to her, stood a group of Soul Hunters clad in black, among them, a young lad who had recently fallen for Nailuo and intended to confess.
They closed their eyes and bowed their heads, as if taking part in a very ordinary farewell ceremony.
In this land, the passing of life and death was nothing out of the ordinary.
Only, this ti, the departed was a bit more special.
She left at an inappropriate age and in a manner completely contrary to expectations.
Su Ming’an, holding a chisel, carved the poem from Nailuo’s paper onto her tombstone.
The slanted wooden sculpture of a young man lay beside him, flowers clustered around the small tombstone, with strands of white hair untouched on the ground.
Su Ming’an’s hands were not steady, nor was he skilled at carving on stone, but with the aid of Bright State, a great force helped him etch each tiny character.
He carved with utmost sincerity, as if completing a masterpiece.
After finishing the engraving, he set down the carving knife and wiped the dust off the stele with a cloth.
Buried beneath this stele was actually just a lock of Nailuo’s white hair.
Her remains would be sent on a Pulaya rchant ship, following a caravan back to her hotown, fulfilling her longstanding wish.
...She had always wanted to go ho.
He stood up, then turned around.
"Let’s go, it’s almost noon," Noel, who had just arrived, said, "Today is the last day, we should ascend that city now."
"Here are five Tulip Hearts, ideally one for each person, but our squad’s fifth mber, Mo Wen, still hasn’t shown up." Su Ming’an distributed the Tulip Hearts, capable of defending against the poison gas of Yun Shang City.
Previously, Su Rin had defended against the poison gas of Yun Shang City with the help of Sea Monsters’ souls, but now that she was all but gone, he absolutely needed the Tulip Hearts to protect against the poison gas.
"I failed to bring Mo Wen back; he’s missing," Lv Shu shook his head: "After returning, I will contact him to see, after the instance ends, he should be forcibly teleported back."
"Wasting a squad slot," Noel comnted from the side.
He and Lv Shu’s conflict persisted. This cycle, Noel hadn’t yet pointed a finger at Lv Shu to curse him, so Lv Shu wasn’t as dejected as before.
"I admit, Mo Wen’s presence really wasn’t helpful," Lv Shu said: "It was my decision-making error, I am sorry."
"..." Noel said no more.
"Let’s go," Lin Yin took the initiative to diate: "I see it’s bustling over by the pier, with banners, firecrackers, balloons, and a crowd of well-wishers all packed in. It must be the farewell celebration prepared for you, Su Ming’an."
Su Ming’an rembered the farewell scene from sixty years ago, held in Su Rin’s mory Stone.
This ti’s scene must be similar to the last.
"Let’s go."
Su Ming’an turned back, glancing at Duoya who was wiping away tears.
"Don’t cry," he said: "She wouldn’t want to see that."
"...I know," Duoya wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.
In the face of the group turning to leave, her straight back suddenly bent forward.
At the sa mont, the surrounding Soul Hunters also dropped slightly, they bowed deeply, facing Su Ming’an and his companions.
"Lady Su Rin, thank you... no, thank all of you, for what you’ve done for Pulaya," Duoya bowed deeply.
"Mm," Su Ming’an responded faintly.
As he left with Noel and others, his gaze still lingered on the recently received favorability notification.
[NPC (Nailuo), Favorability: 90 10 (Love Line)]
[Current Favorability Rating: Eternal Love]
...
Su Ming’an rembered.
During his first cycle, when he deployed the Ruler’s Skill on Nailuo, the system displayed.
[Current Favorability has reached (Highest Friendship Line)]
Back then,
Her regard for Su Rin, was clearly just "Friendship Line."
"..."
He folded the paper with a poem written on it, along with the wood carving left by Nailuo, and placed them together in two adjacent slots of his backpack.
At that mont, he heard a prompt from the system.
"Ding-dong!"
[(Nailuo) HE Ending Progress: 100%]
...
[You have reached (Nailuo) Character Ending: HE·Cicada Rain Shower]
[(Cicada Rain Shower): "You must... forever, forever, rember ."
"Rember my na."
"...My na is Nailuo."]
...
Su Ming’an turned off the system interface, silent, and left the place.
Amidst the bustling celebration and send-offs, he and Noel, along with the others, passed a stream with flowing water, showered with a myriad of petals and colored ribbons.
The warm breeze flowed through the bustling crowd.
A white-haired elderly lady dressed in black was leading her daughter and granddaughter, quietly standing among the people at the street corner waving goodbye, holding a bottle of rice wine tied with daisies in her hands.
Old Mr. Clifford, squinting, led a line of surviving Soul Hunters here to say farewell. In his hands, he held a wooden box containing the dals of Aiske and Karocha from their lifetis.
The female pirate nad Eilina seed to have found a new target for her affections; she leaned on a man’s shoulder with a lazy posture yet her gaze constantly fixed on Su Ming’an’s group.
Sevya, Archilev, and Lucia’s figures disappeared into the darkness, quietly retreating amidst the cheering crowd after watching Su Ming’an and his group leave.
The splendid afternoon sunlight fell on the group, giving them a silky radiant sheen.
They bid farewell to the people of Pulaya and headed towards the church that held the teleportation formation to Yun Shang City.
anwhile, at the dock, steamship horns sounded amidst the bustling crowd. Departing crew mbers and passengers waved at their family and friends from the deck.
This was a ship carrying survivors of a mariti disaster from the Yate Empire, and after the Mariti Banquet had ended, they had the opportunity to return ho.
As the passengers slowly walked into the ship’s cabin, a dark coffin adorned with bright red roses and bound with a fiery red long spear was carefully brought aboard the huge vessel.
It lay quietly inside the cabin.
"Buzz—"
With a sound, the great ship embarked with a long horn blast.
The flag of the Yate Empire fluttered on the ship that would sail across the vast ocean towards the distant horizon.
Its structure was stable, the sturdiest ship model in Pulaya.
Like a pearl that never sinks.
...
The cool sea breeze blew across this land full of sorrow.
It swept over the ergency boats in the Southern District, island city walls, the barbecue shop and small cottages in the Eastern District, and a sewing machine placed in front of a window.
It passed the Royal City in the Northern District, where the newly appointed Head Knight was leading the knights in formation, and nobles were discussing to elect a new king.
It brushed over people’s cheeks marked by the years, lingered in streams scattered with petals, and moved through dark alleys piled with trash...
It reached a common little hill near the Central District.
On the ordinary hill stood a perfectly ordinary stele.
On the stele, a non-professional carver had once used an extrely unprofessional technique to earnestly engrave dense, small characters.
Not the na of the deceased, nor her years of birth and death but a beautiful poem she had heard in her lifeti, from another world.
...
[——Do not stand at my grave and weep.]
[I am not there,]
[I do not sleep.]
[I am the thousand winds that blow,]
[I am the diamond glints on snow,]
[——When you awake in the morning’s hush,]
[You’ll see soaring high.]
[Warm shining stars, illuminating the tranquil long sleep,]
[Singing bird, in all that is lovely.]
[Like the gentle stars in the night sky,]
[Like the free bird spiraling peacefully.]
...
[...Do not stand at my grave and cry,]
[I am not there,]
[I do not sleep.]
...
[If you can, please rember forever, forever.]
[...My na is Nailuo.]
...
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