Chapter 67 Is this really the ending you desire?
Grey had a very long dream.
In the dream, she did not live in the Catastrophic Era.
Instead, she lived before the Catastrophic Era… there were no Iron Crosses, no Evil Gods, no Beast Tides or alien races, and certainly no pollution that could erupt out of control at any moment.
People lived in peace and happiness, not needing to worry whether their homes would be lost by tomorrow, only concerned about their futures, studies, and jobs… it was a prosperous old era that existed only in the descriptions within books.
And Grey’s own parents had not passed away.
On a winter night, the family gathered merrily around the fireplace enjoying dinner.
The aroma of food lingered in her nose, and the warm waves from the fire added some warmth to her originally cold body.
However—
When Grey sipped half a bowl of porridge and softly called for her mother to let her taste the flavor as well,
The figure that turned back in response to her call was not the gentle face she had imagined.
A huge iron-gray cross mark pierced through the originally beautiful face of the woman.
She looked down at Grey, her lips curling into a grotesque arc that no ordinary person could possibly achieve.
No.
Not just her mother.
There were also her father, her brother…
Everyone’s faces displayed a stark, distorted iron cross mark that was clearly visible.
They all turned to Grey at once as she called out, their faces marked with the Iron Cross staring intently at her, their lips twisted into exaggerated, clownish grimaces.
The family she once knew approached her step by step, wearing those eerie smiles.
…
“No!”
“Stop!”
Grey struggled to sit up in bed, waving her hands around as if trying to grab something, but ultimately ended up grasping at nothing.
Her eyes still held fear and confusion, gasping for breath.
After a long while, the confusion in Grey’s eyes slowly faded away.
Here was Frozen Water Town, and she had been taken in by Grandpa Mayor…
She had lived here for over a year, and everyone in the town had been very kind to her, unlike the cities she had previously wandered through, which had rejected her as a vagrant.
If such a life could continue—
Then even if she could not join the Guardians, living in Frozen Water Town should still be a rather beautiful thing.
With this thought, Grey’s mood gradually calmed down.
But soon after.
She noticed some abnormalities in the small room she had lived in for over a year…
White silk threads.
There were bl**d-streaked white silks everywhere, blotting out the light as if she were in a spider’s den.
“What happened?”
She sat up on the bed in confusion, got dressed, and looked around the room filled with silk threads.
And the entire residence, in the hallway, were cocoons woven from silk threads.
Most of the cocoons had already been broken open, leaving them empty.
Only a few cocoons still remained intact, but had inexplicably shriveled.
She gently reached out, brushing aside the silk threads tangled around those shriveled cocoons…
The next moment.
Grey’s pupils dilated in shock.
Inside the shriveled cocoons were actual desiccated corpses.
There were animals like rats and cats…
And there were also small human figures.
Not every creature was qualified to be made a puppet by the bl**d Mist… some weaker lives had exhausted their last bits of energy in the woven dream, their bodies ruthlessly abandoned by the bl**d Mist.
…
From the clothing, Grey recognized the shriveled little figure.
It was a girl taken in by the old Mayor, who had always been a bit sickly and often needed care from other children.
Just a few hours ago, Grey had fed her and spoken with her.
But now she had turned into a shriveled corpse, the last bit of nourishment in her withered body having been drained by that bloody silk, turned into fuel for the unseen puppeteer.
“No…”
“No…”
Grey’s voice trembled.
Her memories began to twinge painfully, forcing her to hold her head and panic as she ran down the entire corridor toward the front door.
Maybe, something just happened at home…
Clinging to such a stroke of luck, Grey stumbled out of the front door.
Then she saw—
All the streets, all the houses…
Before her eyes were all the bl**d-streaked silks, and the dry, broken cocoons revealing their shriveled corpses.
They blotted out the sky, transforming Frozen Water Town into a spider’s lair.
However, what was most crushing was the view in the night sky.
In the fog-shrouded small town, the dim sky where the moon should have been was now replaced by a twisted crimson ball.
The grotesque flesh formed a bizarre bl**d moon, continuously writhing and swelling.
Broken memories flashed back in her mind.
Grey remembered this bl**d-colored distorted moon.
In the towns she had previously wandered through, when half of her strongholds were destroyed by disasters, she had seen this scarlet moon.
And each time this eerie red moon appeared, it indicated that the safe haven she had found with such difficulty would be destroyed, her previous life would be shattered, and Grey would have to begin wandering anew.
She had lived in Frozen Water Town for over a year… a time span longer than any other town she had previously roamed.
In Frozen Water Town, at the home of the kind old Mayor, Grey also felt a warmth she had not experienced in a long time…
Aside from the hometown that had long faded in her memories, Frozen Water Town was the first place that made her feel the warmth of home.
She had thought that this place was different from the other towns she had roamed through.
She had thought she could live here for a long time… even if she couldn’t go to the Guardians’ headquarters, she would still be satisfied living in Frozen Water Town.
But—
That bizarre Zhuyue shattered the girl’s humble dream coldly.
Frozen Water Town was about to vanish.
The affable old Mayor, who treated her like his own daughter, was also to vanish.
And Grey would once again wander in loneliness.
No—
Thinking carefully, why was it that every town she arrived at, the originally peaceful human towns would be destroyed by disasters, whether by the bl**d moon, the Iron Cross, or something else…
Why was it that every time only she could survive unscathed?
This was something she had not considered before, or rather had subconsciously tried to avoid thinking about, something her little girl’s mind wanted to escape.
But at this moment, when her innocent hope and fantasy were shattered once again, she had to start thinking about this question anew.
Could it be that the root of it all—
Was me?
Did I personally, k*ll my own parents.
k*ll the old Mayor, and those kind people in Frozen Water Town…
“Don’t…”
“Don’t…”
“Don’t!”
“I clearly didn’t want this!”
The girl’s wailing echoed in the town covered by bl**d mist and silk threads.
And in that mournful scream—
The things around her.
Whether the ground, the houses, even the flowing breeze and light.
Everything, in an instant, distorted and froze.
On the town’s clock tower, the hand pointing to midnight suddenly trembled.
The tea in the cup transformed from swirling steam to scalding hot, then quickly flowed back into the pot, the flickering candlelight dimming bright then returning to darkness.
On the empty street, shadows suddenly flickered, and the people walking moved stiffly.
As if the film was being rewound, all the scenery and all the things began to slowly flow backward in an incredibly eerie rhythm.
Even the bl**d moon in the sky began to alternately brighten and dim.
It sometimes presented a bright and pure moon disc, and sometimes turned into a twisted writhing mass of flesh, continuously alternating between these states.
However, in the next moment.
“Negate everything happening before you.”
“Negate the disasters you once brought to people, the beauty you once encountered, everything others have sacrificed for you.”
“Also negate…”
“The self named ‘Grey’.”
A clear voice pierced through this distorted time.
In Grey’s ears, it rang clear and distinct.
“Just deceitfully forget everything, forever sinking in the daydream that is only yours.”
“Trapped in past illusions, never able to reach the future.”
“Is this really—”
“The ending you desire?”
(End of Chapter)
