The audience was silent, and the team leader watched anxiously in the backstage. Was the scene just messed up?

Antonio took a big gulp of wine, put down the bottle, and began to applaud. The crisp applause echoed in the audience, and the audience seemed to be awakened from some kind of dream. As if infected, more and more people joined the applause, and in the end, the applause became one and lasted for a long time.

In the box, Belodis stared at the bright red curtain, as if she wanted to see Cecil and his lover through the curtain.

Together forever...that's a terrible joke.

Belodis reached into her pocket with trembling hands, trying to take out her pocket watch, but there was nothing in her pocket.

***

"Thank you for your hard work!" The leader smiled until his eyes narrowed into a line. "The performance was a great success!"

"Oh yeah!"

“Raise your salary!”

…

Everyone was laughing happily. Du Ze took back his glasses and put them on. While Xiu went to the dressing room to change clothes, he found Enoch in a corner. When Enoch saw Du Ze, he made a "yeah" gesture and said excitedly, "Thanks to you, the thief finally succeeded!"

Du Ze knew that Enoch was talking about his mission, and now that Enoch had completed his mission, he could finally get his doujinshi back.

"Where's my book?"

"I'll give it back to you tomorrow." Enoch said, "I left it with my friend last time in order to remove the seal on it." He still didn't give up and asked, "Hey, can you tell me what's inside?"

Young man, if you don’t seek death, you won’t die.

Du Ze was just about to tell Enoch not to let Xiu find out when he returned the book, when he saw the thief opposite him with wide eyes showing surprise. Du Ze was just about to turn around when he was hugged tightly from behind and a frivolous voice rang in his ears.

"Come, let me see how beautiful someone more beautiful than Cecil is."

Du Ze's first reaction was "embarrassment", "Plot God, are you so dedicated!" The plot of the Star Empire in "Half-Blood" is divided into three stages. The first stage is Enoch's departure, and the second stage is the second-generation official's trouble: Erwin, the son of the Prime Minister of the Star Empire, is famous for his philandering and lust for women. When "Cecil" was over, the second-generation official rushed to the backstage and flirted with the heroine who played Cecil's lover. Xiu, who had just changed his clothes, came out of the dressing room and stopped the second-generation official's evil deeds. The second-generation official was so angry that he looked at Xiu, who only had the badge of a junior warrior, and proposed a life-and-death duel.

Du Ze said that he really likes to watch this kind of plot where a fool is playing a pig to eat a tiger, but... why did the heroine become him! ? A stupid and cute guy looked at the real heroine not far away, and then looked at his own female clothes that he had not had time to change out of, and was speechless.

Enoch finally responded: "Let my brother go!"

"So what if I don't let go?" Irwin snorted. He gave a look, and two guards walked out to surround Enoch. Irwin nuzzled Du Ze's shoulder and took a deep breath: "Baby, you smell so good."

Du Ze got goosebumps all over his body.

"I am a man."

Irvine probably thought this was Duze's excuse, and he laughed obscenely: "Then take off your clothes and let me see where you are a man..."

Just as Enoch was about to bypass the guards and rescue Du Ze, he saw a green shadow passing by and hitting the dandy boy right between the eyebrows.

The strong impact made Irwin let go of Du Ze and staggered back a few steps. He touched his forehead with his hand, and a small bulge appeared there. Under the gaze of everyone, Xiu Han appeared with a cold face. He walked to Du Ze and stretched out his hand to smooth out the wrinkles caused by Irwin, as if wiping away the disgusting dirt.

"How dare you do this to me—"

Irwin stopped talking halfway through. There was a dead silence, a dead silence, the whole space seemed to be frozen. The silver-haired elf was just quietly arranging the clothes for the black-haired young man, and his expression didn't even show any evil, but Irwin felt that he was actually dead, he had been killed by the other party.

As if to verify Irvin's idea, Xiu's voice, without a trace of warmth, struck the prelude to death in the dead silence.

“Germinate.”

A sharp pain came from Irvin's brow, and he covered his forehead and screamed. Everyone looked at in horror as thin branches and green leaves grew out from between Irvin's fingers. The tender green color was so bright that it was frightening.

"Growth."

Not only his forehead, but also his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears, all had branches growing out. He rolled on the ground in agony, his sharp nails scratching his skin, with thin strands sticking out of his flesh. Two guards tried to rescue their master in a panic. One of them tried to take Erwin away, but as soon as he got close, the branches would attack him. When he cut off the branches, Erwin would let out a terrible cry, as if a piece of his flesh was cut off alive. The other guard tried to capture Xiu, but when he saw Xiu's eyes, he suddenly felt that if he took another step forward at this time, he would definitely die without a burial place.

Hearing the scream that sounded like being tortured, Du Ze wanted to turn around to look, but Xiu held his neck and he couldn't move.

"Don't look at it." Xiu's voice was unusually cold: "It's very dirty."

When branches began to grow even in his shoes, Irwin was almost dead, and the last two words uttered by Xiu marked the end of his death.

"Bloom."

In an instant, the blood-stained branches bloomed with small white flowers. The pure white color was incompatible with the bloody scene, which was the most ironic contrast.

Finally, Xiu let go of Du Ze's neck. He looked back and could only see the small white flowers in full bloom. Under the intertwined branches, he could barely see a pool of red liquid. Even though he didn't see the whole process, Du Ze knew the ending from the faces of others - the script is wrong, the plot master! Didn't Xiu just stop the evil deeds of the second-generation official? Why did he kill the second-generation official right away? ? Although Xiu also killed the second-generation official in the duel, at that time they had signed a life and death agreement, and the Prime Minister was furious and couldn't openly attack Xiu, but now...

A certain stupid and cute person deeply felt that this was a prelude to being wanted.

Everyone was watching all this in a daze. Just as Irwin's two guards were about to sneak away, they were knocked unconscious by Enoch. The leader looked at the little white flower that turned corpses into nutrients, then looked at the expressionless silver-haired elf, gritted his teeth and asked someone to quickly close the door. Now everyone present is family, and if it is handled quickly, no one will notice what has happened. Just as the leader was thinking this, he saw a stranger appear on the scene. It was a female alchemist sitting in a wheelchair. She was wearing a veil and gloves, and her whole body was covered tightly, so her appearance could not be seen at all. On her knees, a little chimera was sleeping.

The female alchemist spoke: "I am Belodis."

After hearing the identity of the alchemist, the team leader was stunned. Why would the famous alchemist suddenly appear here, and at this critical moment? He had no idea when Belodis came and how long she had been watching here.

Fortunately or unfortunately, Belodis ignored the blood-stained white flowers on the ground. Even through her veil, it was still clear that she was staring at Enoch.

"Young man, didn't your parents teach you not to take other people's things?"

"I'm sorry." Enoch laughed stiffly, "I don't have any parents, only an old and disrespectful mentor."

"Who is your mentor?"

"Jack, Jack the Thief."

The reason why Enoch answered so honestly was that when he looked up information about Belodis, he found out that this famous female alchemist was said to be very good friends with the thief king Jack when they were young. They had adventured to many places together, but they finally parted ways after an adventure. Enoch had never heard the thief king talk about this matter, and thinking about this mission, he was sure that his teacher must have done it on purpose.

Belodic did react as Enoch had guessed, but what Enoch hadn't expected was that Belodic's reaction was too dramatic. When she heard the name, Belodic began to tremble as if she couldn't bear it: "...Give me back my pocket watch."

Enoch was about to say something when he heard Belodis' voice suddenly rise, almost screaming: "Give me the pocket watch!"

The little chimera in Belodis's arms suddenly woke up, and it jumped out of the alchemist's arms. Its body suddenly expanded and grew larger as if it was blown up, and finally turned into a giant monster four meters tall, with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a snake's tail. The chimera stared at Enoch with a fierce look, and saliva dripped from the corners of its mouth, making a corrosive sound when it fell on the stone ground.

"Senior, let's talk, let's talk—"

The Chimera rushed forward, and Enoch dodged its attack by jumping up and down. It must be said that the short-haired thief is very experienced in escaping and dodging, and he can even hold on for several rounds under Xiu's attack. Enoch tried to communicate with Vilodis while dodging the Chimera's attack. When he found that Vilodis had completely lost her mind, Enoch could only choose the worst plan.

The Chimera bit Enoch, but it was just an afterimage. The real Enoch was already behind Belodis, holding the master of the alien.

"I'm sorry." The thief's voice was full of bitterness. "Senior, please calm down."

Belodis had no idea she was being captured. She murmured almost to herself, "Displacement, displacement... Oh, it really is him..."

"I don't mean to offend you, senior, my teacher gave me a task, he probably wants to meet you, so -"

"I don't want to see him." Belodis' voice was calm now, but full of the serenity before the storm: "Let me go, and give me back my watch."

Seeing Enoch hesitate, the alchemist took out a small bottle from his arms.

"As long as I open this bottle, everyone here will die. Do you want to give it a try?"

The atmosphere in the room suddenly became tense, and even Xiu couldn't just stand by and watch. He grabbed Du Ze and was ready to leave at any time. Just when the tense atmosphere reached its peak, a sigh came from the ceiling: "Di Si, don't embarrass the young man."

A figure jumped down. It was a boy with freckles on his face, about ten years old. When Enoch saw the boy, he let go of Belodis and came to the boy in an instant: "Teacher!"

Almost everyone suspected that they had heard it wrongly, but what happened next told them that what had just happened was not a collective hallucination.

"You are so useless, you little brat." The little boy said with disgust, "Don't say you are my apprentice when you go out."

"I don't want you, thief!" Enoch said angrily. He took out his pocket watch and handed it to the boy.

No matter how hard it is to believe, everything in front of him has already explained that the little boy of about ten years old is the famous thief king Jack. Apart from the person involved, only Du Ze knows that the reason why the thief king Jack is so "young" is because his time has been reversed - he will get smaller and smaller, from a child to a baby, and finally return to an embryo, which is his "death".

The moment Jack saw the pocket watch, a complex light of nostalgia flashed in his eyes. He held the pocket watch and looked at Belodis, who had been silent since he appeared.

"Dis, long time no see."

Seeing Belodis sitting in the wheelchair like a statue, Jack raised his pocket watch and shook it like a child who was playing a prank to attract the attention of the girl he liked, and smiled wickedly: "If you ignore me, I will smash it."

Belodis still didn't react. The little boy frowned, and he looked like the one being bullied. Enoch looked back and forth between the two of them, and finally couldn't help asking, "Teacher, do you know the senior?"

"Don't call me senior, call me Madam," said Jack.

Enoch was shocked, and so were everyone else. The thief king Jack and Belodi were once a very famous partner in the Chaos Continent. They went on adventures everywhere and created many legends. However, twenty years ago, the pair suddenly broke up. One of them lived in seclusion in the magic tower and hardly stepped out, and the other gradually disappeared from everyone's sight. Regarding the relationship between Jack and Belodi, there were rumors that they were a couple. Now that it has been confirmed by the parties involved, it feels like everyone present is participating in a legendary story.

"Oh……"

At this time, the other party sneered. Belodis finally spoke in a cold voice: "You still like to lie so much."

"I'm not lying, we were originally a couple." Jack glanced at the people around him and said, "Everyone thinks so, right?"

Everyone who was looked at by the thief king nodded reflexively. Belodi was silent for a moment, then she reached out and lifted her veil. When Belodi showed her true face, everyone found that she was an old woman with gray hair.

Even though he had seen all this in the novel, Duze was still shocked. Belodith and Jack were indeed a couple. In their last adventure, they went to the dwarf ruins. In the dwarf ruins, the two opened a building and touched the wheel of time. This was the beginning of a tragedy. After leaving the dwarf ruins, they found that their time was wrong: Belodith was aging faster, while Jack was rejuvenating.

Time separated the lovers. Now Belodis and Jack stood together like a pair of grandparents.

Facing the incredulous looks of the crowd, Belodis smiled and said, "Tell me, how could he and I be a couple?"

She said to herself: You are so old, how can you be with him.

She said to herself: You are so ugly, how can you be with him.

If I could make a potion that could make me younger, could I be with him?

In the memory, the freckled boy gave the wallet watch to the girl: We are a perfect match.

"Why not?" Jack walked up to Belodis and gently placed the watch on her knees. "We are a perfect match."

Because of Jack's approach, Belodis turned her face away subconsciously, but was gently held in the arms. The boy opposite said seriously: "Look, no one wants to date a little kid like me, and no one wants to pursue an old woman like you, so we can only be together."

As Belodis stared in bewilderment, Jack squinted his eyes and said, "Although we grow in different directions, we can still die at the same time."

The transparent liquid slid down the wrinkles, and Belodis closed her eyes: "...It's ugly, so unpresentable."

"Then don't let them see it. Let's go on another adventure, this time to a place where there's no one." Jack kissed the corner of Belodis's eyes: "Dis, don't hide from me anymore. We've already wasted too much time."

Belodis just shed tears and trembled her mouth but said nothing, and Jack's smile was also tinged with bitterness.

"Your lover is obviously him, why do you care about other people's opinions?"

Everyone turned their heads in astonishment and looked at the silver-haired elf who had just said this. Even Belodis couldn't help but open her eyes. Du Ze subconsciously looked at Xiu, but found that Xiu seemed to be staring at him from beginning to end, as if the sentence just now was said to him. When seeing Du Ze's eyes meet his, Xiu's hand trembled, as if he wanted to reach out and touch Du Ze, but he restrained himself.

——I’m the one who likes you, why should I care about what others think?

Accept me...is it so difficult?

Du Ze seemed to be able to read this message from those green eyes, but he finally lowered his head and looked away.

——I never cared what other people thought.

I never said...I don't like it.

This person is the one he cares about the most in this world. Initially, he cared about her out of guilt, but after caring about her for so long, he could no longer tell what kind of feelings he had towards Xiu.

He wants to mend things, he wants to mend things properly, whatever he wants, he will give it to him whatever he can, but he can't because he will regret it.

The person Xiu likes, cares about, and wants can be anyone in this world, but it must not be someone named Du Ze.

He didn't know how long he could stay in this world.

Just as Cecil's story implicitly suggests: when time freezes for one party, separation follows.

He didn't freeze time, but he did have zero point recovery.

This golden finger, which has existed since he came to this world, has been reminding him from beginning to end: You are not from this world.

So sooner or later I will leave.