Chapter 108 The old campus, only she remained unchanged.
...Xue Chao...Helena...BOSS?
He examined his own mind and body, but didn't find any of the boss's sinister traits. In the previous instance, his consciousness shattered into countless pieces, which was far more sinister than this.
Moreover, he remembered that the newly unlocked host rule stated that his role in the dungeon was similar to that of an "NPC". He had pretended to be an NPC for so long in the previous dungeon, but he still couldn't unlock this rule, which meant that it wasn't something he could just pretend to be; his identity had to be deeply involved in the plot.
"Yotner" is just an AI that manages the machinery in Zuogang. Its fancy origins are all made up by him. But "Xue Chao" is different. Although this character is outside the main storyline, he is "outside" because he connects all the main storylines. The identity of "important NPC" is very suitable.
Setting aside his role as the host, he's an NPC, and he and the boss share an "alias." He's the boss's last source of nourishment.
Jiang Ming must know that all that wasted talk was probably just waiting for him to get impatient and go straight for the heart of the matter, which would actually be walking into a trap.
Morpho butterfly, right, how is a morpho butterfly born? It is born from death, and what else?
The boss is named Helena, and is most likely a Morpho butterfly. He is needed as nourishment to complete the metamorphosis. Do the other Morpho butterflies need him?
If every morpho butterfly needs another morpho butterfly to emerge from its cocoon, then he is not nourishment, but a guide.
Where did the first morpho butterfly come from?
...The timeline is chaotic, and what he sees may not be the product of the current main timeline. Biological laboratory, ward, butterfly bone nest...were these all created by "Xue Chao"?
Was it built by "him" during his lifetime?
Or was it at the moment of "his" death that he became the first Morpho butterfly?
Every morpho butterfly that followed was created by him in his dreams, and he would then pull other souls with obsessions into the dreams created by their wishes, thus fulfilling them.
"He" is not a guide, "he" is a creator, the source of the birth of the Morpho butterfly.
The person guiding them was Jiang Ming. The ghost's goal was the same as in the previous instance: the instance boss.
He wanted to kill the boss, so he had to awaken the boss first, so he led him step by step into the cocoon that was nurturing the boss... What a bastard.
Entering the ward again, Xue Chao lay on the hospital bed. The light from the operating room lamp was still so dazzling. He barely opened his eyes, raised his head slightly, and saw his butterfly head among the row of iron surgical instruments next to him.
The metallic blue stood out so much in the white operating room that its brilliance even surpassed that of the operating lights. His eyes and head ached, his heartbeat slowed, and his upper body slumped back onto the iron bed, only to sink into the soft, cool mattress.
Once his heartbeat calmed down, Xue Chao left the ward again. The changes were even more obvious. Everyone he remembered had become a different person. The information and photos on the student IDs had all been changed, and the teachers who assigned homework had also changed.
The unfamiliar boy with the soccer ball head put his arm around his shoulder: "This humble one is here to keep Your Majesty company. Convenience store or toilet?"
Xue Chao: "..."
He turned his head to the side, and in the glass, his reflection was topped with the head of a morpho butterfly, its wings fluttering gently, sometimes showing a brownish-red back with eye spots, and sometimes a dreamy metallic sheen on the front.
Even if he doesn't speak, the other party can still recite the same lines on his own. The two teams on the green field have changed into black and red jerseys, and they are all unfamiliar faces.
He brushed it off and left the football field. Following the stone path, he saw no one feeding the swans or koi by the lake. There was only one swan left in the lake, and the red koi had turned into red and white koi. A classmate with a pen-shaped face sat leisurely by the lake, seemingly writing poetry. There was no one painting in the pavilion, but a new young couple was kissing.
Xue Chao stopped by the lake, looking down at his reflection in the water. The butterfly's head was outstretched, its tip extending slightly beyond his shoulder.
Iron, glass, water... all reflect light.
He initially only glimpsed the fantastical colors of the alien head in the scalpel the doctor held up, but now it's just a reflection, his "true form."
The boss's transformation continues, like the receding tide, irreversibly revealing his true self.
The moment Helena successfully breaks free from her cocoon will be the moment he fully transforms into an alien.
There wasn't a single familiar face on the basketball court, but these "newcomers" seemed to always know him. This time, the swings were a scene of a couple arguing from the male perspective. Xue Chao thought about the girl's lines and could basically match them, because the boys just gave perfunctory "um," "ah," and "I can't help it if that's how you think."
He sat on the flagpole platform, waiting for the girl whose head he had photographed; this time she came alone.
He looked at her closely, and she was the only one who hadn't changed.
After she mentioned the Morpho butterflies in the lab, Xue Chao asked, "Since you like them, you must have observed them. What did you discover?"
He thought she would say "chasing the stench" or "flying fast," but after the girl nodded, she said, "flapping their wings is their language."
Xue Chao became interested: "How so?"
"The branches and leaves of flowers and plants are language, the wagging of cats and dogs' tails is language, and the rising and falling of fish is language."
"Just like humans have human language?"
The girl shook her head: "Just like humans have expressions of joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, desire, and wants, even if you hide your expressions, it is still a kind of language, a 'lie'."
"But we don't speak the same language, so how can you understand it?"
“There are always some expressions that can transcend all differences, just like when you shout, most animals will be startled, run away or fight back.” The girl’s tone was like the thin tail of a cloud in the sky, elusive, coming and going with ease. “Besides, I like it. I can read the language of everything that can fly.”
At that moment, Xue Chao realized that she didn't like things that could fly or fly fast; she liked freedom.
"What, were you one of those people with wings in your past life? Either a butterfly or a swan? Did you dilute the Meng Po soup with water to make you remember this trick?"
The girl laughed: "Then you should invite me to be an expert."
Xue Chao slowly moved closer, breaking through the boundaries of polite and safe distance. His face was almost completely inside the camera lens, as if he wanted to see inside her from behind the lens.
In the reflection of the lens, his butterfly-shaped head flapped its wings, visible only to the two of them.
After a silent standoff, the shutter of the girl's Polaroid camera suddenly clicked, and Xue Chao took the opportunity to step back.
The girl took out the photo, but because it was too close, she couldn't focus. All she could see was a blurry blue in the darkness, and she couldn't tell if it was his head or a blue eye embedded in a human head.
"Here you go. The video club is having an event; the first prize photography entry can be exchanged for a video camera."
Xue Chao flicked the photo: "It's so blurry, is this a consolation prize?"
Her friend contacted her, but it turned out to be a different friend. She smiled, waved goodbye, and said, "Here's the inside story!"
She was the only one who hadn't changed.
It wasn't just any ordinary student ID card with an unusual designation; it was just a few students who kept appearing on campus. When Xue Chao was browsing the campus, he searched their identities, but this girl's name didn't seem like her real name—she was called "Bai Bai."
The swan that couldn't be found was also named "Bai Bai," so he said that she also had wings in her past life. He even thought in a very "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio" style, "Could she really be a swan in disguise?"
However, apart from her name, all other information was normal; she was the president of the video club.
They weren't originally in the same class, or even the same grade. It wasn't because of her, but because "Xue Chao" had taken a year off due to illness and was demoted to Bai Bai's class, where the two became friends.
He found her ID photo in the student council's system. He remembered her; she was in the missing person notice for the organ transplant incident, and she was the first to disappear—she was the first victim, the beginning of the nightmare in the main storyline.
The video club's door wasn't locked, and upon entering, there was a whole wall of photos. It was the video club during Unit 3. The photo wall featured content from the club's monthly activities, and every photo was lively, showing crowds, stalls, ribbons, each club's signature skills, and their prized possessions.
The current content is a "photography competition," featuring photos on various themes, including lively photos from club month events.
But there are only two columns, each featuring a person or an object, with no more than three colors, and the angles are also peculiar—a sunflower head shot from below, reaching towards a cloudless sky; black printed words resembling small squares on white book pages; an empty, off-white easel standing in a dusty, abandoned art studio; a red rose sunk into the soil; headphones clipped to a dormitory pillow; and a butterfly seemingly already flying in the sky behind a laboratory glass window…
The contrasting colors were so vivid, as if they possessed a soul, rushing towards you with a single glance.
She wasn't transformed from a swan; she was an unfinished boss who was about to transform into a morpho butterfly.
Back in the ward, seeing the operating lights again, Xue Chao controlled his body and didn't try to regulate his weakening heartbeat. His heartbeat slowed down, his consciousness became increasingly blurred, and his eyes closed.
Just as he could no longer feel his own heartbeat and sank into the distant darkness, a slightly sticky, drawn-out sound pulled him back from the distance: "Hmm... it's time for the prince to kiss the sleeping princess. Get ready to wake up—mmm!"
Xue Chao covered the mouth that was leaning closer, got up and pushed him away. Jiang Ming leaned weakly on his lap, her long black hair spread out on the white sheets, and gently wrapped her arms around his waist: "You've turned your back on me. This isn't the time for you to fool me and lure me out!"
Xue Chao scoffed and pulled his head away in disgust: "Then you'd better not take the bait."
"The air is fresh above the water, I'm happy." Jiang Ming's head struggled desperately, squeezing through the gap in his palm, his cold face pressed against his abs, and he laughed, "Without you, the boss couldn't have finished."
“But if the boss breaks free from his cocoon, I’ll die.” Xue Chao looked down at him. “Although I am the source of the morpho butterfly, this is my dream.”
Unlike before, when it was someone else's dream—whenever a butterfly brought a lost soul back to the dream, it would perish along with the dream when it collapsed—now Xue Chao's dream and the cocoon that conceived the boss are inseparable; her success means his death.
Jiang Ming rested his chin on Xue Chao's abs, slightly raising his eyes. His eyes were a normal black, but without a smile, making his inhumanity all the more apparent. There was no need for crimson or wild, awn-like pupils; this was his cruel and unpredictable nature.
It says "So what?".
His target is the boss; he only cares about successfully breaking free from his cocoon. The fate of other people and things is none of his concern.
But Xue Chao's eyes could also speak. Jiang Ming could see the raging waves beneath the calm surface of the sea almost as soon as they met. If he dared to ask, he would rather die together than let him have his way.
With Xue Chao's past record as a reference, Jiang Ming weighed the pros and cons and concluded that the resistance to Xue Chao's calm madness was greater. So he withdrew his heartless eyes and rubbed against him obsequiously.
"Just kill her the moment she emerges from her cocoon before her dream completely collapses. Aren't you the best at timing things? The way to kill her... the butterfly's wings are beautiful, but without the central body, it can't fly. The wings aren't actually important. The secret to killing her is to kill her as a whole."
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