Chapter 45 The End 1: Life and Death
In the boundless, pure white space, you stand alone, and everything around you seems to melt into the dazzling light.
There was no temperature, no sound, even breathing felt oppressive. Only you remained, facing off against the serpentine shadows coiling around you.
It swims silently, its body enormous, its tail holding its mouth in a continuous circle.
Continuation. Eggshell.
—The night I was consumed by myself on the first day I boarded the ship.
You suddenly raise your hands and plunge your fingertips into your abdomen.
A warm current surged forth instantly, but it wasn't scarlet; instead, it was a dazzling white light, cascading down like liquid radiance.
There was no pain, probably because the body was just an illusion—no wonder the snake had tried to burn it.
Your hand goes deep into your abdomen and you feel a soft, cold touch, like some kind of curled-up creature.
You used all your strength to pull the thing out of your abdomen—a figure emerged from your body.
That's Xiaoming.
Her body was curled up in the shape of a fetus, covered by a thin layer of snakeskin, beneath which the skin appeared a deathly grayish-white. Her eyes were tightly closed, and her lips were purple, as if she were sealed in a state between death and sleep.
You gently placed her on the ground, panting as you whispered to yourself, "I'm sorry, I've taken advantage of everyone so many times."
—Those moments that flash back countless times to ensure everything goes perfectly.
Where are the others?
Your gaze fell on Xiaoming, and her body trembled slightly.
You gritted your teeth, knelt in front of Xiaoming, and raised your hands again.
This time, you did the same thing to Xiaoming that you did to yourself.
Her body jolted suddenly, a gurgling sound emanating from deep in her throat, which quickly subsided. You've got it! Pull hard, yanking the thing out of her abdomen.
You took Xiao Fang out.
Xiao Fang was stiffer than Xiao Ming, but her expression was serene and peaceful. Her fingertips were curled, yet she maintained her dancing posture.
You lay her flat next to Xiaoming, and the flash of light she emitted was even brighter than the white light of the environment, dazzling to the eye.
"I must continue," you tell yourself, your hands never stopping.
He walked towards Xiao Fang, knelt beside her, and for the third time reached his companion's soft abdomen with both hands.
It's Xiao La.
Xiao La's body was almost transparent; it was nearly impossible to tell who she was in the white substance. Move Xiao La and Xiao Ming together, and take inventory.
Is everyone here?
You looked at your hands. Yes, this is not the end.
You turn towards Little La's abdomen and raise your hands one last time.
Your hands are trembling uncontrollably. You're not crazy; you've already recovered. How can you not be afraid? But you know that only by removing the last thing from Xiao La's body can this cycle end.
"This is the last time," you murmured, closing your eyes and ceasing your thoughts.
You can't help but miss the state you were in when you were bewitched and controlled, at least you didn't feel any hesitation or fear when faced with these outrageous events—stop, danger! Okay, you have to admit, the aftereffects of that incident are still quite significant.
Focus on the present moment.
This time, the texture felt all too familiar—it was your own body. You could feel your own heartbeat, your own breath, even your own consciousness flowing out. You used all your strength to pull yourself out of Xiao La's body.
You stand up, hug your body, and soon you find yourself nestled in a thick, white substance.
You kneel down on the ground, unconsciously rubbing your five fingers together, trying to feel what it is.
Those were the white, luminous liquid that had been torn from her own abdomen, which had once covered her hands.
The figures of Xiaoming, Xiaofang, and Xiaola lie quietly before you, like newborns or like spirits awaiting release.
As you look at them, each of their bodies is covered in a thick layer of waxy substance, which is translucent and gleams with an eerie, cold light.
"It's these...it's these things that's trapping us," you murmured, wiping the lump of stuff off your body, then reaching out and gently scraping away the wax from Xiaoming's body with your fingernail.
Wax for the body.
You don't know where you learned this word, but anyway, it appeared in your consciousness.
The wax peeled off like a thin film, revealing the sunless skin beneath. The wax flakes cracked on the ground with a soft sound, like ice cracking.
As the wax peeled away, Xiaoming's body trembled slightly. Her eyes remained closed, but her chest rose and fell slowly, as if she could finally breathe. Your hands moved even faster, peeling away the layers of wax from her entire body until she was completely exposed to the light.
Xiaoming took a deep breath and opened her eyes. Her gaze was hazy, yet it carried a shock akin to returning from the abyss. She looked down at her naked body, her eyes filled with pain and confusion.
"I... I can't see anything. Was it you? You saved us, right?" Xiaoming bit her lip, speaking softly and haltingly, but you could see her hand hidden under her coat, fumbling for a small knife in her inner pocket.
As expected of Xiaoming. You figured it out.
When you looked closer, you realized that her eyes were covered by a layer of white film.
I see.
You're good at deducing causes from conclusions: this layer of white waxy substance is probably what misled Xiaoming and the others. As for you… ha. You rub your eyes, and sure enough, you rub out the same wax.
It seems that normal people become abnormal when they are "blindfolded," while you, who are abnormal, do the opposite.
"What...is this?" Finally able to see things, Xiaoming froze upon seeing you, then wiped his eyes and asked calmly, his voice hoarse.
“Your restraint,” you whispered, ignoring Xiaoming’s feigned indifference, and pounced on him passionately, “That’s wonderful, thank you for not giving up on me, now we can see each other again.”
Xiao Ming still didn't understand what was going on, but he still hugged you back, and the two heads rested together, embracing in silence for a long time.
"Okay, there are still the other two." You patted Xiaoming's shoulder, turned to Xiaofang and Xiaola, and continued to peel off the wax from their bodies.
As the last piece of tire wax peeled off Xiao La's body, the entire white space began to shake violently. The ground beneath their feet emitted a low hum, and the surrounding light distorted like fluid.
The roars of the drowned corpses could still be heard nearby; it turned out they had been on the perimeter all along.
Xiao Fang stood up, not having time to say much to you, and immediately became anxious: "Now that we're all safe, what about these damn things? Can we still use those props?"
“The Selenium Kingdom Town is parallel to the previous ports. If I were designing the game, I would put these levels on an equal footing. In other words, the items from before might not work in this level. We need to find the items here.” After your analysis, Xiao Fang is now very accommodating to you. She exclaims “Wow, that’s great!” whenever you say something.
Helplessly, I nudged her head. You looked around and saw the drowned corpses slowly approaching. Their movements were so natural that at first glance they seemed like normal people.
What's different from before?
By the way, the townspeople each carried a candle until they finished walking and the candles burned out, at which point they became drowned!
Later, when they danced, their hands were empty, unlike now, where each drowned corpse holds a candle in its hand. The candle flame is weak, but it emits a faint blue light, which is very conspicuous in this small world.
Feel the substances on your body, and you might boldly guess: these candles are exactly the same as the ones the townspeople placed during the parade—symbolizing sacrifice and offering, perhaps a prayer for resurrection. And the wax covering your body is a product of these candles.
“These candles…they connect this world,” you murmured, your gaze fixed on them. “If we destroy them, perhaps we can break free from this shackle.”
"Give it a try!" Xiao Fang wholeheartedly supported.
Xiao Ming hands you a seashell and asks uncertainly, "Aren't you afraid of another trap this time?"
"No, we won't." You took Xiaoming's hand. "Besides, we still have you guys here. We'll always find a way."
You smile, lift the seashell, and place it in front of the candle flame.
The seashell emitted a soft light once more, which collided with the candle's deep blue glow, instantly bursting into a dazzling brilliance.
The drowned corpses stopped moving, and their bodies began to tremble, as if they were under immense pressure.
"Keep going! Use the light of the seashell to scatter them!" Xiao Fang shouted, grabbing your hand as she reached out and made the seashell shine even brighter.
"Hey? Come on over." Xiao Fang hurriedly called Xiao Ming and the slightly shy Xiao to come over together. "Oh my, at a time like this, you should just be more outgoing."
Four hands come together, and you walk forward side by side, using the light of the seashells to approach the drowned corpses step by step. Their bodies gradually disintegrate, and the flames of the candles go out.
With each candle that goes out, the white space gradually fades, revealing the real world. You see the outline of the ocean, the distant cave, the wreckage of the floats, and the corpses of the townspeople.
As the last candle went out, the whole world let out a mournful cry from the depths of the abyss.
The white light completely dissipated, replaced by endless darkness. Moments later, the ground began to shake violently.
The ocean recedes slowly before you, the giant waves retreat into the abyss, and the distant coastline is replaced by endless yellow sand. The desert reappears, boundless and stretching to the horizon.
The storm whipped up sandstorms, and you covered your faces, struggling to stand.
Half a day passed.
Woo-woo-woo
The sound of a ship's horn. Lower your arms that are blocking your view.
Deep in the desert, a blurry outline gradually emerged—it was a cruise ship.
It shouldn't be here, yet it is. The massive ship seems to have burst forth from the depths of the desert, its iron hull covered in rust and cracks, like a behemoth abandoned by time. It stands silently in the desolation, the surrounding sand swirling slowly, like ghosts dancing around it.
You stand on the sand dunes, feeling the air around you gradually become scorching and dry. The sun hangs high in the sky, casting waves of heat across the ground.
“That’s our cruise ship,” Little La said, her eyes wide with disbelief. “How did it get here?”
"Let's go, we still have to complete the voyage before we can leave," Xiaoming said. The four of you then walked along the sand dunes and peaks of the endless desert toward the huge cruise ship.
Its pier, like a rusty tongue, stretches out in the desert, silently waiting for you to step onto it.
As you climb onto the pier, you discover that the metal plates beneath your feet are riddled with cracks, and you can hear the metallic groans with every step. Little La can't help but mutter a complaint: "It looks like it could collapse at any moment."
“It won’t,” Xiaoming responded quickly, but his tone lacked confidence. “It’s waiting for us. It won’t collapse until the very end.”
The moment you boarded the cruise ship, your hearts skipped a beat almost simultaneously.
Everything here is out of place: the once luxurious hall is now dilapidated, chandeliers hang to the ground, and carpets have rotted into black fragments, but most horrifyingly, everything here is covered by mirrors.
The four walls of the hall were inlaid with huge mirrors, reflecting your figures, but not your true appearance. In the mirrors, you were dressed in crew uniforms, nodding in unison to the figures outside the mirrors.
Xiao Fang walked at the front, staring at her reflection in the mirror, observing carefully: "These mirrors, their reflections seem a bit off?"
These words sounded an alarm, and Xiao La followed suit, lightly tapping the mirror with her fingertips. The crisp sound echoed in the room, sending chills down everyone's spines: "Although this kind of mirror is definitely eerie, the material is a bit strange."
"Don't touch it randomly." Xiaoming sighed, feeling extremely worried. But since you've already touched it, Xiaoming and you will also go over and tap and bang on it.
“This is not a mirror,” you said.
This texture and scent feel very familiar.
The smooth surface is icy cold, but the touch is not entirely hard; rather, it has a soft resilience, like touching some kind of liquid covered with a thin film.
Press the mirror surface harder, and the thin film seems to dent slightly.
"Xiaoming, can I borrow your knife?" You reached out and took the knife, gently placed the tip against the mirror, and with a flick of your wrist, pierced the thin film.
With a slight hissing sound, the membrane ruptured, and a foul stench burst out.
A pool of pale yellow pus slowly oozed from the wound, and within the pus, a blurry shadow rapidly dissolved—it was "your" reflection. Its limbs gradually turned into liquid, but its eyes remained fixed on you before dissolving completely.
"This..." Xiao Fang jumped back a step, looking disgusted, "It's not a mirror! It's... an egg?"
"By the way, can you hear me now?" You interrupted Xiao Fang's next guess and told him the whole story of the Ouroboros.
Fortunately, after successfully escaping its clutches, everyone was no longer affected by it.
After explaining the cause and effect clearly, look at the eggs in front of you—or rather, the follicles.
“The ouroboros represents an endless cycle of rebirth, without distinction between past and future. And the fact that we, as outsiders, can break in must be because we are an integral part of it.” You combine your experiences of the past few days and the intentions of those events, analyzing them one by one. “These are some vague and trivial things, but they have been unifying all opposing forces into one.”
"For example, seashells and fire poker, evil and purification, rebirth and infinite death?" Xiao Ming pondered, "—mother and child."
—That initial glimpse in the spa room, you were like someone who crawled out of your own stomach and took the sculpture.
You gave birth to yourself. It must have been in a bloody way.
You nodded: "So it needs us. It chose me as its vessel, wanting to hatch from within me, and at the same time, I will be born from it."
“These things are clearly part of the whole cycle,” Xiaoming said in a deep voice, her gaze falling on the other intact “mirrors.” “We have to find them all and destroy them.”
"I'll go to this room," Xiao Fang said immediately.
“I’m in charge of the lower decks.” Little La gripped the iron bar he’d picked up from the side. “I’m going to puncture them all.”
Just as you were about to say where you were going, Xiaoming grabbed your arm and said, "Forget it, you just stay with me. Don't forget, you've been targeted from the beginning. Who knows if something will go wrong if I don't keep an eye on you now?"
"Ah, you make it sound like I'm weak." You said in a slightly coquettish tone, trying to sound smug.
"Stop fooling around." Xiao Ming gave you a push and laughed.
Everything went incredibly smoothly from then on.
When Xiao Fang later recounted her experience, she said that she walked into a room deep in the corridor, where the "mirrors" were arranged neatly, and the reflection of each mirror was exceptionally perfect.
She stared at the mirrors, and the "she" in them looked at herself pitifully. This reminded her of the dinner party on the first night on the cruise ship.
Disgusting! She pierced the membrane.
The membrane ruptured, pus gushed out, revealing a disheveled, blood-covered figure. In the mirror, "Little Fang" reached out, trying to crawl out through the tear, muttering incoherently, "Nutrients...nutrients..."
Xiao Fang quickly gritted his teeth and rushed forward, piercing the mirror completely. The reflection in the mirror let out a scream and eventually turned into a pool of yellow sewage.
The same thing happened to Xiao La; all the follicles in every corner were destroyed one by one.
You and Xiaoming had an unimpeded journey here, and you eventually met up. The moment the last follicle was shattered, the entire cruise ship seemed to let out a painful groan.
From deep within the ship—or perhaps from beyond the heavens, the sound was so loud you could hardly discern it—came a roar, the ground shook violently, the walls began to crack, and you could even hear the sharp noise of metal being squeezed together.
"It's collapsing! Or—it's folding again!" you yell, your eyes quickly scanning the surroundings, grabbing the hand of the nearest person. "Run! To the sunroom! That's the only safe place!"
"Hurry! Hurry!" Xiaoming almost shouted, taking off forward. The floor beneath his feet began to twist at an angle that defied the laws of physics, as if the entire corridor had been twisted into a coiled snake by an invisible force.
The corridor collapsed rapidly before their eyes; one wall began to press inward, while the other twisted into a strange vortex, like some unknown, swallowing maw. Chandeliers fell from the ceiling, scattering fragments everywhere.
"Don't look back!" Xiao Fang shouted as he ran, "Just keep charging forward!"
Her voice had barely faded when a tremendous crash came from behind her. Even as she spoke, she couldn't help but turn around to see that the corridor had completely collapsed, turning into a bottomless crack.
"Run!" Xiao La pushed Xiao Fang from behind, and the four of them quickly huddled together and ran like madmen.
Your breathing is rapid, your legs are almost numb, but you know that stopping means death. Xiaoming runs ahead of you, her hand gripping yours tightly, repeatedly shouting instructions: "Right! Then left! It's this staircase!"
As you rush up the stairs, the steps beneath your feet disappear one by one, and after running out of the stairwell, you enter a new corridor.
The space here is completely chaotic, with the floor and ceiling intertwined and merged, as if the entire space has been kneaded into a messy lump of mud.
"How do I get there?!" Xiao Fang asked.
"Over there!" Xiaoming pointed first to a passage that seemed the most illogical.
It was a completely upside-down corridor, the ceiling becoming the floor, and the floor cascading down like a waterfall. The lights on the walls were still flickering, but the light was distorted into vortexes.
"Really?" Xiao Fang asked skeptically, but he had already rushed forward.
"It's folding! Those 'unreasonable' places are the path to the sunroom!" Xiaoming explained simply, and you all jumped over them one by one.
After navigating several completely twisting corridors, the sunroom door finally came into view. The light at the entrance was dim yet steady, and the warm sunlight streaming through the frosted glass beckoned you in. It truly was the only space unaffected by the folding design.
"We're here! Hurry up and go in!" Xiaoming was the first to rush over and push the door open.
As you filed in, the moment you crossed the threshold, a loud crash echoed through the corridor outside, and it collapsed completely.
Once seated, the entire space completely curled up and contracted, until it was compressed into a complex ruin.
The sunroom door closed automatically, isolating it from the chaos outside.
call.
The sunroom remains exactly as it was originally. The ceiling lights are intact, the picture frames on the walls are spotless, and the carpet is soft and comfortable, creating a stark contrast to the desolate scene outside.
Xiao Fang slumped to the ground, hands on her knees, panting as she said, "What's next? Ugh, I can't take it anymore! Why do I feel like I keep asking what's next??" Xiao Fang bounced around on the spot, a unique way for her to release stress.
Xiao Ming walked to the window on his own and looked out through the glass of the sunroom. She beckoned you over, but your legs felt weak, and you couldn't stand up for a moment.
Staggering forward, the scene outside makes you frown slightly: from a distance, it's a deck under a blue sky, but up close, it's just emptiness.
The external corridors, cabins, and floors melted like liquid, the walls were twisted into arcs, and some places even became transparent, as if they did not exist at all.
“Now a new problem arises,” you say, “how do we leave?”
No one answered, and Xiaoming covered his head, feeling a headache coming on.
"This dungeon is too difficult. We've come this far, how can we be stuck like this?" Xiao Fang kicked a piece of exercise equipment.
"Let's wait and see. The time here is messed up; maybe it's midnight right now," you said, trying to reassure everyone.
The sunroom has clean water and a fruit platter, so it's not a bad place to stay. However, no matter how much time has passed, nothing has changed.
The four of you sit against the wall or around a round table, each lost in your own thoughts.
Xiao Fang rubbed his hands together, glancing every now and then at the corridors outside the window that still stood in strange positions, and said anxiously, "We... are we just going to sit here and wait? It's not going to do anything? Does that mean we don't have to do anything either?"
"Let's wait a little longer, it will return to normal." Xiaoming gently comforted everyone, but her furrowed brows revealed that she was not as calm as she appeared.
"Back to normal?" Little La sneered, kicking the carpet hard. "Normal? What do you mean? We shouldn't be here! These weird rules, mirrors, follicles, none of them are normal! Why are we here? What did we do wrong?!"
Her voice trembled, and the woman who usually followed you around cheerfully finally revealed deep exhaustion and helplessness.
She's a complete novice, how could she possibly be as mentally stable as you guys? Xiao La clenched her fists tightly, her gaze fixed on the ground, and whispered, "Why us? Why are we so unlucky..." She slumped onto the beanbag chair, listlessly raising her legs to the sky.
Xiao Fang echoed in a low voice, "There's no why, that's just how dungeons are."
Xiao Ming was silent for a moment, then said in a low voice, "Perhaps it's not targeted at us, but rather we just happen to be the nourishment for this cycle. This ship already exists within the instance, waiting... for people like us?"
Your gaze shifts from Xiaola to Xiaoming, then sweeps across Xiaofang's face. A sudden, overwhelming sense of dread washes over you.
"Why us?" You silently ask yourself this question, recalling every detail of this cruise trip.
From the dinner at the boarding ceremony, the captain kept looking at you, and afterwards, you were easily bewitched.
Every time you dock, every time a new event occurs, you are the protagonist.
You close your eyes, trying to recall the beginning of this journey. Then, your memory jumps further. Before boarding the ship… before the cruise ship journey, oh dear…
The boy who was eliminated by Xiaoming.
"Wait..." Your breathing suddenly quickened, and a question suddenly popped into your mind.
How come there are only four spots for outsiders on such a huge cruise ship? The male traveler who was with us at the beginning should also be on the boarding list, but there's no trace of him among those follicles.
That's right.
What right do men have to board this ship?
It is a cycle, a recurrence, a rebirth, a death. Only girls can board this ship. Only they can give birth to death and devour the living.
From the very beginning—the very very beginning—that boy's death was already part of the vortex of fate.
It all started not with the cruise, but with the entire Oulland Journey.
It was "you" who posted a call for fellow travelers for a road trip before you even started exploring the Kingdom of Ying!
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Author's Note: I've been reborn, back to the time when I swore to update at least every other day. I was full of ambition, thinking I'd post two chapters today, determined to win over the moms (fans), and then I fell asleep. (The main text has been revised for the third time; please let it pass, Mommy reviewer!)
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