Chapter 10 A Butterfly's Love and Courage "Passenger, with you..."
"Passenger, your package is here!"
Hearing the train conductor calling you from the observation car, you quickly get up. It should be the mushroom soup souvenirs you made with Xiaobai and Xilian last time.
To be honest, you seem quite curious about how that mushroom soup was sent... Was it a semi-finished product that you had to heat up yourself? Instant mushroom soup? Convenient mushroom soup?
Inside the observation car, Pam was sitting amidst a pile of delivery boxes, almost completely submerged by the mountain of boxes, with only her small black head and tall hat showing.
It glanced at the names on the delivery slip and sorted them out one by one.
"Let me see who bought these... March 7th passengers, Trailblazer passengers, March 7th passengers, Himeko passengers, March 7th passengers, March 7th passengers, Walter passengers, March 7th passengers... Why are they all March 7th passengers?!"
March 7th rushed in, "Oh dear, girls just have more stuff! And it's all because the Interstellar Peace Company's shopping website is too tempting, they even try to guess what users are thinking. Every time I refresh the homepage, I can't stop browsing, sob sob sob—thank you, conductor!"
You successfully retrieved your package from the clutches of the Pam Delivery Box Demon King, bent down to pick it up, and shook it; water dripped out.
...Let's not spill it, shall we?
I went back to my room and opened the box. It was a styrofoam box, a little bigger than the palm of my hand, and it was packed quite sturdily, with layers upon layers of foam and tape wrapped inside. I don't know what kind of technology they used, but it was still warm when I took it out.
The wooden bowl containing the soup was also covered with a lid, sealed quite tightly. You sniffed, and you could already smell the delicious aroma of the soup filling the room.
You carefully open the lid—and what you see is a bright orange-red broth, without any fancy steps like adding cream. There are only various mushrooms of different shapes huddled together in the bowl. There are common brown and white mushrooms, and even some uniquely blue mushrooms from the Lost Realm, with plump and cute caps and strange rings around them as decoration.
Although the bright blue mushroom looked strange, the universe is vast and full of wonders. Perhaps there really is such a magical thing on some remote planet?
Without thinking much of it, you shrugged, picked up a spoon, and took a sip of the soup.
Mmm... Rich, savory, and sweet, it felt like a subtle happiness spreading from the tip of my tongue to the depths of my esophagus. Although there weren't many other seasonings in the Lost Realm, it actually enhanced the natural flavor of the food. Combined with Bai E and Xi Lian's excellent cooking skills, even if it couldn't compare to the cosmic-level delicacies made by top chefs that you once tasted on that luxurious airship in Pinocchio, it still had its own unique flavor.
...This is a warm bowl of magical mushroom soup, infused with love and trust, that makes you smile.
Without tasting it any more, you stuffed the bowl of soup into your dimensional backpack—just kidding, it's 998 Star Jade stuff, it would be too much of a waste to drink it all in one go. Anyway, your magical backpack doesn't have an expiration date, you can keep it in there for a hundred years or so without any problem.
You sent a message to Sand Gold and sighed:
[Your company's express delivery system is really good.]
Not a drop of soup was spilled on such a long journey.
Although Sand Gold is very busy, he always replies to your messages instantly. However, this time he seems a little puzzled:
[?]
[What courier system?]
[Oh, you mean those transportation companies we invested in? Actually, they're not really under our control; we just have a cooperative relationship. The company headquarters' transportation-related department is the building materials logistics department, but it's only responsible for transporting building materials to Amber King and isn't linked to our commercial operations, nor does it participate in civilian transportation.]
He explained patiently.
Open your eyes wide. What did the game say back then—"handled over to a courier service under the Interstellar Peace Corporation"? Were they kidding you?
You quickly sat up and pulled out the styrofoam box you had carelessly tossed aside. The delivery slip was somewhat damaged, but even pieced together, the writing was still faintly legible:
From: [Raise a White Evil Simulator] Development Team Recipient: Galaxy Baseball Man
Shipping location: Grimia Star
Delivery location: Starry Sky Train
At the very bottom of the form, there was a cheeky smiley face and a heart drawn on it, which was really annoying.
[...Gremia Star?]
Sand Gold remained silent for a while.
[...That planet perished a long time ago due to some kind of catastrophe. Topa even went there to clean up the bad debts and confirmed that no species could survive there anymore; the company withdrew its investment long ago. You're saying someone sent you a package, and the origin was Grimia? Impossible.]
He was somewhat worried.
[Miss Starcore, are you in some kind of trouble...? It hasn't been long since the Pinocchio incident, and you really seem to attract trouble.]
You hold your head, feeling like your brain is overloaded.
—This unscrupulous game company! Did their design team come from Punk Lords? They're treating the real world like a game?!
You replied through gritted teeth:
[I'm fine.]
When Silver Wolf comes back, you'll eventually have to check where all your in-game purchases went!
Interstellar Peace Corporation, Strategic Investment Department, [Gold Rush] Director's Office.
Seeing that you didn't seem to be in any trouble, Sand Gold finally felt relieved and tossed the chip in his hand high into the air—the golden chip reflected a dazzling light under the lamp, tumbled once in the air, and then obediently landed back in his palm.
He smiled, his eyes narrowed.
[Don't be angry. How about I treat you to dinner? I've already made a reservation at the restaurant you mentioned you wanted to go to.]
[Just come with me, okay? I've been working overtime at the company for ages, it's rare for me to relax.]
It was followed by a few pitiful, aggrieved emojis.
[Okay.]
Anyway, you haven't had anything to do lately besides playing games.
Toppa knocked on the door and came in, handing him a document on his desk. Seeing his dazed expression, Toppa wrinkled his nose speechlessly.
"I really want to give you a mirror so you can see what you look like now."
Zhang Zhang, with a bow tied on her back, raised her head, and a small question mark appeared on her head.
The master's words are strange... The master's colleagues are strange too.
Why are all humans so strange?
*
Pythius is in class.
As a teacher at the Ai Li Mi Xie School, she bore the heavy responsibility of teaching the children to read. The children in the village were generally very sensible and easy to manage, but when the harvest season was approaching, they had to help their parents with more farm work. Often, they were so tired the day before that they would yawn frequently in class the next day.
She understood the children's difficulties, but even the bright and usually top-performing student, Bai E, was feeling sleepy today, dozing off by the window. He was usually very enthusiastic and articulate, one of the most active students in the class when answering questions.
Bai Er's white hair was truly striking, a clean, snow-white color unlike the more common silver hair, reminiscent of the distant, glorious holy city of Ohm, where the dawn's light reflected off the towering relief pillars in a similar desolate white.
[Sky] Aigle prefers gloomy rainy days and scorching sun, and rarely sees such pure crystals fall. When he was born, half the villagers rushed to see this rare white-haired baby, marveling that he was like a gift from the three Titans of fate, destined for greatness.
"Bai'er, where did you go last night?"
After much deliberation, Pythius decided to wake him up first.
Bai E was startled and let out a short "ah" sound. He had been half asleep, but now he was fully awake.
Yesterday, he went to the Lost Wonderland, crawling through tree holes and farming. By the time he got back it was almost dark. His usually gentle mother grabbed his ear and gave him a good scolding before letting him go. He didn't fall asleep until late at night, and then got up early the next morning to go to school. He was exhausted... Even the strongest warrior can't withstand that kind of torment.
He apologized sheepishly, his voice mingling with the wind chimes swaying in the breeze at the classroom door.
“Then answer this question.” Professor Pythius didn’t press him, casually picking a question from the book to ask, hoping to clear his head. “[Rationality] Cecis and [Romanticism] Meneta are known to the world as the Flower and the Butterfly…”
Bai'er knew his teacher was going to ask him about the long history of the Titans, the ones who were both rational and romantic, accompanying each other. Perhaps it wasn't even history, more like a legend, since no one dared to judge the Titans, and with the erosion of time, its veracity was hard to ascertain.
Unfortunately, Bai Er was a typical fan of unofficial history. He did very well in all his other subjects, including math, but he always liked to treat history as stories, and he would confuse it with official history, so his history grades were the only thing that were truly disappointing.
He scratched his head. "Uh... As for Ceres and Meneta, some people say that Meneta's advances were rejected because Ceres was actually an Antikythera, and had no feelings at all, so no matter how grand the [romance] was, it couldn't move her..."
“…” Pythias fell silent. Her left eye seemed to say, “You’re talking nonsense,” and her right eye seemed to say, “That’s too far-fetched.” Her eyebrows twitched several times. “Sit down and listen to the lesson.”
Professor Pythius began his lesson.
Legend has it that flowers and butterflies are in love, and butterflies are in love with flowers.
Butterflies weave webs of gold to protect their loved ones from calamities, for "this web can filter out all evil and preserve only the truth."
The flower trembled its petals in the biting wind, shook its slender grass stems, and tore through the net. "Reason needs no veil, and chaos itself is a proposition yet to be solved."
The butterfly laughed, "You've already found the answers to all the other questions in this world. Aside from chaos, is there nothing else you want to know?"
The flower is lost in thought.
Calculations, graphs, truth… flashed rapidly through her mind. She was a taciturn flower, oblivious to the meaning of love, and had never uttered any tender words of affection. But faced with the Black Tide, the butterfly's first thought wasn't to escape, but to protect her—this was too abnormal. A creature's instinct is self-interest; why would she do this? What was her purpose in doing so?
...Ah, she understands.
"Perhaps there is also love and courage about a butterfly."
Hua lowered her voice and answered in this unusual way.
The wind chimes at the classroom door swayed gently, their sound faintly echoing the crisp chimes from the Fairy Realm yesterday.
Bai E looked up and saw that the morning sun had already risen, and the first rays of dawn crossed the ridges and meadows, landing on his trembling eyelashes.
He recalled that small, powerful, always gentle and embracing ball of light that had given so much to him and accompanied him on his adventures, its body radiating a similar pale golden glow.
...Perhaps he also understood Meneta a little.
Dawn is indeed very romantic, very, very romantic.
A note from the author:
----------------------
Some readers have commented that the surprising hair color of Bai E in this chapter is logically flawed, as Bai E inherited her white hair from her mother and shouldn't be considered rare. Therefore, I'd like to clarify: [Purple Heart]
I know that Bai'er's hair color is genetic, but I personally think that Bai'er's mother's hair color is a grayish-white, with purple shadows at the ends. Even in sunlight, it's not particularly "white." I prefer gray or silver to pure white. (This is also mentioned in the article as "different from common silver hair.") The models of other random NPCs are also like this. Bai'er's white hair, on the other hand, is a cool-toned white, with blue shadows at the ends. Both the overall color and the shadow color are different from others, leaning more towards the traditional pure white. Before writing this, the author specifically compared Bai'er and her mother side by side, and the difference seems quite significant.
The main point of writing it this way is to depict a pure white, an unadorned white, which is the starting point of the "savior." Subsequent experiences are like painting on a blank canvas, making him come in all sorts of colors. [Starry-eyed]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
