Chapter 46 The Last Night in Luofu: Smiling as He Embraces Death.
The white light from the screen shone on Shen Mi's face, and Jing Yuan's attention was drawn to a yellow speck near the corner of her mouth.
A smile unconsciously spread across his face. He reached out and his fingers lingered briefly on her face.
Shen Mi felt a tickle on her face. Turning her head, she saw Jing Yuan's hand close to hers. She asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"
“There’s a little bit stuck on it.” Jing Yuan didn’t pick up the crumbs to show her. He silently placed his hand on his knee. The area was hidden by the seat in front of him, just a shadow.
Shen Mi glanced at Jing Yuan's hand. From her angle and given the ambient light, she couldn't actually see anything. So she just glanced at it briefly, judged its general shape, and then focused her attention back on the big screen in front of her.
The item wasn't big or important; her attention was entirely focused on what was in front of her, so she naturally didn't see the sudden glint in Jing Yuan's eyes.
Shen Mi stared intently as the illusion began.
...
The camera slowly zooms in, revealing an old man on the verge of falling under the influence of a demon. Pain, numbness, blankness… his ears droop on either side of his hair; every word describing sluggishness perfectly describes him. At this moment, he is like a rusty screw, like a wrecked ship tossed about by the waves on the sea…
Two years ago, he received a message from the Earthly Balance Division, instructing him to have regular medical checkups, pay attention to his emotions, and call the Ten Kings Division if necessary... Actually, when he saw this, he knew his time was coming, but he was unwilling to accept it...
He hated the effects of the plague on him, he hated endless life, yet he was also grateful for this long lifespan...
The Immortal Ship Alliance is a large ship sailing in the universe, while he is a small boat traversing the vast world. Selling goods is his means of making a living, and contacting people from different parts of the world is his innate interest.
He liked to use synesthetic beacons to listen to different stories from different places and collect items from each place, even those that no longer existed. But civilization needs time to be preserved, and his lifespan was coming to an end. There were still places he wanted to go, but he could no longer travel there...
think?
Haiyuan felt like he hadn't used that word in a long time. How long? He couldn't remember. Thinking of this, he chuckled, but when he heard the sound he made, he instinctively covered his mouth. Where did that monstrous, mocking laugh just now come from?
He looked around warily. The dark room was silent, and in the shadowy corner, it felt as if something might pounce on him at any moment.
He hid in bed in fear, waiting for the dawn to arrive... To the audience, this was his last dawn, but for Haiyuan, it was a time of peace and clarity.
Up to this point, Shen Mi believed that this was just a simple but substantial film, and that the director's storytelling ability was not a problem.
However, the plot takes a sharp turn later on. The chaotic fragments of memory are like a multi-segment story, connected by the vast wilderness in Haiyuan's dream. Over the past 1,100 years, the people he has met and the things he has experienced seem like firsthand experiences, drawing everyone in the theater into the story.
It's as if I'm collecting everyone's memories, as if I'm having a conversation with Haiyuan. I am both the person Haiyuan has met over the past thousand years and Haiyuan himself.
—Sometimes I feel that life is three parts bewilderment, three parts anxiety, three parts sudden death, plus half a part suffering and half a part love.
If you were given another chance, would you want to live again?
--certainly.
At this moment, Haiyuan awoke at dawn and walked into the Ten Kings' Court with a smile. The illusion ended, and the long dream began to fade.
Memories are not fragile; what is fragile is the person who is trapped in them and cannot extricate themselves.
This was the first thing Shen Mi said after the viewing.
"Haiyuan was trapped in his memories, but in the end, it was his memories that saved him. On the last night of his life, he did not greet the dawn in a demonic state."
Jing Yuan listened thoughtfully, a faint smile playing on his lips, as if he had heard something truly remarkable.
Perhaps because it was her first time experiencing the Butterfly Illusion, she felt a little dizzy, unsure whether she was dizzy from the illusion or something else.
This feeling is no different from being drunk.
Shen Mi felt as if she had lived a lifetime in a short time. The two sentences she had just spoken were her last brain cells. Her only thought now was to go back to sleep.
On the way back, Jingyuan slipped her a business card and whispered something about Xingcha and a driving school.
Shen Mi was drowsy at the time, and even when he returned to his room, he was half asleep.
I only remember replying "okay" and then falling asleep.
The next day, Shen Mi slowly woke up, feeling dizzy. She closed her eyes and lay there for a while before reluctantly getting up.
The midday sun was so intense that it pierced through the curtains and into the room, bathing the entire space in a soft light. Shen Mi opened her phone, and the first message was from Jing Yuan.
[No need to deliver lunch today. I have fieldwork to do, so don't make a wasted trip. I've already explained everything to you last night, so you can go without worry.]
Last night? Shen Mi's thoughts returned to the night before. She remembered that after leaving the Butterfly Theater, she boarded the Starship. She was dizzy the whole way, with her head drooping and her eyes closed. Even if someone said something to her, it went in one ear and out the other. She just remembered that she seemed to have agreed.
What did you promise? Oh!
Shen Mi slapped her forehead, remembering. She had agreed... agreed to learn how to pilot a starship.
My God, just thinking about this made Shen Mi break out in a cold sweat and feel lingering fear. You really dare to agree to anything!
Fortunately, it was Jingyuan who was with her last night. If it had been someone with ill intentions like Xie who took the opportunity to trick her into signing a contract that violated her personal interests, I wonder where she would have gone to cry.
Shen Mi shivered silently.
However, upon reflection, Shen Mi felt a little excited. When she took her driving test, she passed all four parts on her first try, so learning to ride the Star Chariot shouldn't be too difficult either.
I'm free this afternoon, so why don't we go take a look?
Without further ado, after a quick lunch, Chen Mi grabbed his phone and went to the address listed on it.
Following the navigation, Shen Mi arrived at the location and stood at the door, pleasantly surprised to find that this was the very place where Xiao Sanyue had apprenticed and practiced swordsmanship every day in the game.
During that period, I would go straight to this garden whenever I logged on.
I never imagined that the garden was a place for learning star rafting hundreds of years ago, but how did it end up abandoned?
Shen Mi had only stood at the door for a moment, less than a minute, when the fox-woman girl inside pulled him inside.
Before Shen Mi could even say his opening remarks, he was pulled and invited into the garden.
After regaining his footing, Chen Mi was speechless with astonishment at the scenery in the garden. The artificial hill not far away was washed by the stream and turned as green as jade. A gentle breeze blew by, disturbing a sound that seemed to linger in the air.
Small bridges over flowing water, covered bridges and pavilions, looking up at both sides, flowers are in full bloom, flowers are in full bloom, flowers are in full bloom, flowers are in full bloom, flowers are in full bloom.
And... there's something glittering gold in the courtyard; living here is just too pleasant. That was the only thought in Shen Miman's mind—it's even more beautiful than in the game!
"This guest? This young lady?"
Bai Qi reached out and waved her hand in front of the girl she had "invited" in.
However, judging from her wide-eyed expression, it was clear that she was stunned.
"If you'd like to see, please come with me to the upper floor. It's a high place with a nice environment, and there's free tea and snacks to enjoy."
"Okay, okay."
Shen Mi readily agreed, his eyes fixed on a round gold ingot, about a foot in size, displayed on a wooden frame in the courtyard. No... it couldn't be described as an ingot.
The gold was larger than Shen Mi could have imagined; she had never seen anything like it in the 21st century, yet she found it here.
"Guest, please come this way." Bai Qi took a few steps forward and gestured for them to enter.
Sitting in the small pavilion, looking down at the huge golden lump, Chen Mi wished he could swallow a mouthful of water.
"May I ask your age, height, criminal record, colorblindness, and physical disability?"
Bai Qi took out a piece of paper and began filling in her personal information.
"No, no, no, I am 1.7 meters tall, with 5.2 vision in both eyes, no color blindness, no disability, and an absolutely law-abiding citizen of Xianzhou."
After saying that, Shen Mi suddenly realized why he had come here.
She quickly took out the letter of introduction that Jing Yuan had given her: "Sorry, I forgot to mention earlier that I was introduced here by an acquaintance to learn how to drive a Star Chariot."
Bai Qi frowned and took the letter from Shen Mi with a puzzled look. At the end of the letter was a calm and composed signature.
After Bai Qi saw the signature clearly, her voice rose several octaves in surprise: "You're the friend that General Jingyuan introduced?"
If she had a fan in her hand at this moment, Chen Mi would open the fan with a flourish, just like a romantic scholar in a TV series, then strike a graceful and dashing pose, slowly turn around to the accompaniment of stirring and moving music, and finally say to the girl in front of him who looks only eighteen years old: "It is indeed I."
Ahem, Shen Miqing cleared the useless thoughts from her mind, stood up straight and said to Bai Qi with a serious expression, "Yes."
"My master didn't tell me that it was a woman."
Shen Mi stood opposite her, listening to her mutter something softly; the sound was so faint that only a little bit could be heard.
Bai Qi cleared her throat, put away her enthusiastic attitude when she was soliciting customers, and said to Chen Mi, "Wait a moment, I'll go call the master over."
Thank you.
As Shen Mi watched her departing figure, he vaguely felt that something was off, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
After Bai Qi left, Shen Mi stood alone on the small pavilion, looking around aimlessly. He picked up a piece of pastry from the stone table and ate it. It was soft, sweet, and melted in his mouth, leaving a lingering fragrance of mung beans on his lips and teeth.
Shen Mi took another piece, thinking to herself that it was actually quite delicious.
Master arrived late, accompanied by the fox-girl who had brought Chen Mi in. However, Chen Mi's face was somber, as if she had suffered some injustice.
The fox-man master, on the other hand, had a bright smile on his face.
“Miss Shen Mi, I apologize for keeping you waiting. My name is Bai Xuan, and I am the chief instructor of Luofu Xingcha Driving School.”
"And may I ask what the second and third are...?"
Master Bai Xuan stroked his beard and smiled confidently: "The driving school just opened, and I'm the only one there right now."
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Author's Note: A new character has arrived! Let's give them a round of applause! [fist bump][fist bump][fist bump] I didn't expect to break the 200 favorites mark! Hoping to reach 300 soon! [heart][heart][heart] Thank you to all the lovely readers who gave me so much support, and thank you to my darling who corrected my mistakes! [kiss][kiss][kiss][heart eyes][heart eyes][heart eyes]
I modified a sentence about "The Last Night of Luofu" in the original text of Bengtie (Jinjiang does not allow quotations of more than 15 characters), and then filled in the whole story with my personal understanding.
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