Chapter 47
In the days that followed, Fang Xiaoyu and the eldest princess returned to their life together.
They will also meet different people, travel together for a while, sometimes for a few hours, sometimes for a month or two, and then part ways again when the time is right.
She encountered a special service area again and changed to a new RV.
However, she never encountered another doctor along the way, which left her with mixed feelings every time she woke up in the middle of the night.
At the beginning of the fourth year, Fang Xiaoyu saw green ground markings on some lanes. Later, she saw a second note left at the new service area. However, half of the note was torn off, but her handwriting was still legible on the remaining half.
She had a sense of certainty, and her mood was calm, unlike the initial turmoil she felt when she first saw the note.
Not long after, she met her new mentor again, who was accompanied by an alpaca.
The couple now have a toddler boy by their side, and they've replaced their SUV with a stylish campervan.
Seeing old friends again was a wonderful surprise.
She shared the electronic entertainment she had traded with others, left a few cans of milk powder for the children, nutritional supplements for Director Li, and some snacks for the alpaca.
The child looked up and said in a childish voice, "Thank you, Auntie!" The couple returned the favor by giving her several buckets of oil—they had an entire garage dedicated to storing oil.
The alpaca seemed to recognize her too. Unlike their first meeting, it didn't try to bump into her. Instead, it sniffed her scent and rubbed against her clothes as a greeting before its attention was drawn to the eldest princess.
In the fifth year, Fang Xiaoyu met Su Ming at a service area.
He became much more composed and overcame his fear of dogs. He took the initiative to rub the little princess's head, apologized to her, and praised her for being smart and capable.
The eldest princess still remembered him and replied with a warm kiss.
A capable-looking woman and her handsome younger brother greeted her with smiles, and the group spent the whole night playing Dou Dizhu (a popular Chinese card game).
In the sixth year, while driving, the eldest princess suddenly barked excitedly. Fang Xiaoyu looked closely and realized it was none other than Yue Yue. There was also someone in the passenger seat—Master Xiao Shi.
Master Xiao seemed to recognize her as well, nodding. Yue Yue winked at her, and just as she smiled, before she could say anything, the person vanished in a flash.
Although Fang Xiaoyu was a little disappointed, she was still very happy to see that her old friend was still healthy. She made sure to prepare a more lavish lunch, and the two of them, with their bellies full, watched cartoons and took a nap to digest.
In the seventh year, she ran into Cheng Yuan and almost didn't recognize her. She had gotten much darker, but looked more energetic. She greeted Cheng Yuan warmly with a hug, and the two had a meal together and chatted about their recent lives all night.
The eldest princess was not feeling well, but she still insisted on moving her nest to their feet and keeping them company in a half-asleep state.
In the eighth year, the survival guide at the cashier was still being updated, but both the content and the handwriting had changed. She glanced at it and saw that it was handwritten, and was about to take it away when she thought about it and put it down again.
In the twelfth year, she carried the eldest princess, who could no longer walk, up the stone steps, and the two of them quietly watched the sunrise.
As dawn broke, the eldest princess, in a final burst of lucidity, nimbly rose and, as usual, rested her head on her lap, whimpering as if bidding her farewell, or perhaps expressing her reluctance to part.
Fang Xiaoyu gently groomed its fur, responding to its every move.
The eldest princess's eyes were filled with her image until the morning glow faded, and the light in her pupils suddenly disappeared as well.
Fang Xiaoyu couldn't hold back any longer, and large, warm tears dripped onto the back of her hand, seeping into the still-warm fur of the eldest princess.
She sobbed as she wiped away the tears from the eldest princess's eyes with a tissue, tidied its wind-blown fur, dressed it in a little outfit with a special snack bag containing its favorite ham, and finally put the most successful little parachute over it and put small protective goggles on it.
"Your Highness, I have a secret hidden in my heart."
"Listen to me, I won't mention it again."
“Wang Le didn’t know that he sometimes talks in his sleep.”
“I also heard the conversation between that father and son that day.”
“He always wanted to destroy the handwritten booklets I had given out, and he was always the first to go to the cashier to hide any notebooks that I might recognize.”
"His friends, having discovered the truth, either suffered unexpected accidents, fell into depravity, went mad, or died. He feared that there would be another tragedy in the world."
“I have seen all these good intentions.”
The eldest princess, wearing protective goggles, looked extremely well-behaved; when the tips of her ears were rustled by the wind, she seemed to be listening intently.
Fang Xiaoyu took a deep breath, struggled to pick it up, and gave it its final farewell.
Watching the small parachute carry it further and further away, sinking into the sea of fog, she finished speaking her last words to herself.
"He didn't take the note, I know. Everything here is in a cycle, I know that too. But I won't give up. As long as I live, there is hope. One day, maybe it will be me, or maybe it will be someone else, to break out of this cycle. Every step we take will have its meaning in the future."
The wind howled high up, as if the eldest princess were responding with gentle whistles.
Yes, you're right.
That night, Fang Xiaoyu had a dream.
In my dream, I arrived at a strange and vast starry sky, where countless interconnected Möbius strips of roads floated.
The stars there have no physical form, only an invisible mass of light of varying intensity. As if summoned or drawn by gravity, they fall onto the highway. The moment they make contact, the corresponding foundation stones ripple, as if a core-like shape flashes by. Then, service areas of all sizes spring up, only to disappear again after the starlight dims, waiting for the next star to illuminate them.
At different times, within the same time period, some roads break in the middle, doubling the distance; others break at one-third of the way, forming two connected loops of different lengths, one of which will slowly disappear...
Around the highway are fragments of other survival worlds projected onto each other. They seem to be in the same world, but in reality, they are not in the same space and do not merge with each other.
As the fog billows and billows, countless new roads are born, and people drive forward unaware, oblivious to the fact that sometimes the sky is the ground and sometimes the ground is the sky.
The roads are densely packed, some long, some short, some wide, some narrow, some bright, some dim, some empty except for ruins, which are eventually swallowed by darkness.
They occasionally intersect, merge, and mutate, resulting in organisms meeting, getting to know each other, killing each other, traveling together, and separating.
She is also part of it.
Fang Xiaoyu saw people laughing, crying, going crazy, and giving up on different roads... Zooming in, some were familiar, some were strangers.
I also saw a parachute that had broken free of its loop, drifting aimlessly like duckweed between roads and between heaven and earth. It finally managed to get close to one of the roads, struggled to cross, but failed, and ended up hanging on a stone pillar.
She saw herself sitting there blankly, and after hearing cries for help, she looked down in surprise.
I also saw a dark figure hanging outside the road as if struggling, before finally letting out a scream and falling into the darkness and disappearing.
Then I saw a road that was originally dark split in two. The dark side was abandoned, and the other side, though gray, was slowly getting brighter. I don't know why, but I felt happy.
Finally, I saw two familiar parachutes leave the road one after the other, enveloped by thick fog and starlight, disappearing into this magnificent yet mysterious world.
While he was asleep, several light screens popped up from the void.
[Backend detection: Game abnormally running... *sizzle*]
[Warning! Unknown error.]
[Data overflow confirmed, information leakage incident... Level S.]
[Error report sent.]
...
The game has detached from the main program.
[No AI integration confirmed; backup plan activated.]
...
[No suitable candidate found, startup failed.]
[Activate the secondary backup plan.]
...
[Sample size and quantity met; startup successful.]
Enjoy the game!
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