Chapter 87 World E:5 (10,000-word chapter, now available for purchase)
As dawn broke, the air was filled with the fresh scent of rain, mixed with the earthy smell and the faint chirping of insects—a tranquility unique to the post-rain world.
The muddy road was difficult to walk on, and Ethan couldn't support Turnas all the time, nor could Turnas rely on his strong will to hop on one leg.
So Ethan used what he had on hand, broke off some thicker branches, and used some thin but strong vines to fix them in place, making a pair of walking sticks.
Although the speed is still not as fast as normal walking, it is much better than before. If Turnas were to hop on one foot, Ethan would believe that he had fallen into these mud pits.
If Ethan saw any familiar wild berries along the way, he would pick them and use his cloak as a makeshift bag to fill them up.
Although the fruit was sweet, the wild fruit couldn't keep him from starving for long, and Ethan was worried that Turner would starve to death.
Turner: ...Not really.
Thanks to their efforts, they successfully left the forest before noon.
Then came some steep mountain paths. Ethan and his companions found a water source, and Tenas replenished his water supply. Unfortunately, they had nothing to store water and relied on juicy wild berries to stay hydrated.
Even wild fruits have to be eaten sparingly. Hunger is manageable, but without water, we're really doomed.
How much further? Ethan wondered as he stared at a skinny old wolf.
The adrenaline surge during a crisis is terrifying. Ethan actually managed to lift Ternas up. He wasn't very strong to begin with, but he carried a grown man who weighed much more than him and started running.
Help--
Ethan felt like he was about to burst into tears.
Parallel worlds are indeed very dangerous.
The old wolf continued its relentless pursuit, maintaining a distance of several meters. Several times it nearly bit them, and Ethan screamed in terror. Each time he was about to be bitten, he would unleash a burst of strength.
Knowing he couldn't just be carried along like that, Turner took his simple cane and, as the wolf drew ever closer, struck at its vital points.
What a joke! He can't carry it while running, and he can't get off and run either. Getting off would only take 0.1 seconds before he'd be bitten to death by the wolf. He might as well have checked if he could kill it while running.
Sensing the unusual activity of the person in his arms and hearing strange noises behind him, Ethan managed to glance back while still trying to speed up. He saw that Turner was attacking a wolf, specifically targeting its vulnerable spots: the eyes and the temples.
Woohoo, Turnas—
Ethan couldn't help but feel a little relieved. Was this what made his senior so reassuring? He hadn't even thought about fighting back; he just wanted to run away. Knowing that he had lost his magic, his chances of defeating a wolf were slim. Perhaps a fight would result in mutual destruction, but Turnas was there, and Ethan was afraid the wolf would eat Turnas first.
Feeling relieved, Ethan adjusted his position slightly, allowing Turner to better strike the old wolf. He figured it would be easier to land the blows...?
Starfall and Selene watched helplessly as Ethan carried Tenas, making a racket and rambling incoherently, telling the wolves not to chase them. He would also scream in fright when the wolves suddenly approached, until Tenas adjusted his angle and began to attack.
Then, with a touched expression, he urged Turner to get closer to the wolf, saying something like, "It's all up to you now."
I don't know if Ethan could see it, but Turner was in real danger several times, and he managed to escape unscathed each time, though his eyes showed a hint of helplessness.
Through his tireless efforts, the disabled but determined man successfully blinded the old wolf. When the wolf was disoriented and running around aimlessly, a heavy blow struck him on the head.
The old wolf, who was running at high speed, collapsed. Ethan ran quite a distance before realizing that no one was chasing him. He carefully pushed the wolf to a relatively safe area. Just in case the old wolf was faking death, Turner gave him several more blows before confirming that he was really dead.
Both of them breathed a sigh of relief. After Ethan put Tenas down, he collapsed to the ground, feeling weak and sore all over after the adrenaline wore off. He felt like he was going to pull a muscle, and his arms were trembling slightly.
"Are you injured?" Turner relaxed his muscles, checking for wounds as he did so. "You must relax your muscles. If you don't, you won't be able to walk properly, let alone your hands."
"I'm fine..." Ethan was still catching his breath, and he was also pounding his limbs to relax them: "We've had a bit of bad luck."
More than a little.
First, Ternas twists his ankle at the beginning. After finally getting out of the intricate and dense forest, he encounters a wolf not long after they start walking, and the two of them flee in a sorry state.
Because he fled in such a hurry, he lost the wild fruit along the way and threw it at the wolves. Now he has nothing on him except the clothes he is wearing.
They had no water, no water container, and no idea if there was a water source nearby.
Turnas crushed a leaf with his fingers and felt it: "It's moist; there might be a water source nearby."
"I'll go find it." Ethan rested for a while and felt a little better. He stood up and walked out. "I'll try to come back as soon as possible. If anything happens, you go first."
They had no choice but to go. There was no food or water left. Turner would really starve to death. He wouldn't, but Turner would, because Turner was a living person.
If danger comes, they probably won't be able to run fast enough and will be killed before they get very far. Their legs are weak, so it's really dangerous here.
Ethan spent some time finding the wild fruit, feeling grateful for nature's bounty; at least he found some wild fruit, something he could actually find here.
He found some water and some larger leaves, and painstakingly made a leaf bowl that wouldn't leak easily, filled it with water, and took it back.
When Ethan returned to where he had been, the sky was already bathed in a warm light, and the white clouds looked as if they were burning with flames—it was absolutely beautiful.
There was no sign of it, but Tenas had started a campfire. The wood crackled and popped as he held a branch with a piece of meat on it and patiently roasted it.
It was the wolf's meat. I don't know how he did it. There shouldn't be a knife on him, but he still managed to get the meat off and then cut open the wolf skin.
"How did you do that?" Ethan handed him the water. Although he tried to stay as far away as possible, Turnas, whose mouth was still parched from the fire, took the water and drank a big gulp.
“I found a stone and sharpened it.” Turnas wiped away some water that had spilled in his haste. “It took a while; I’ve only been baking for a short time.”
Then he picked up a stone from the ground and handed it to Ethan. It was indeed sharp, with the sharp edges worn down to just white, while the bottom was gray. It must have taken a lot of time to make it sharp.
Then the two hesitated whether to stay here tonight. The fire was already lit, but Ethan couldn't see any caves nearby; they were all equally dangerous.
Looking at the sky now, it's probably around six or seven in the evening. It's not too late, but it's already late. The darkness will soon swallow up the last bit of light.
In the end, they decided to stay where they were and roast the wolf to feed Tenas.
The wolf was very thin, probably because it hadn't been hungry for long; there wasn't much meat on it, just a thin layer.
Ternas optimistically thought that if he conserved his energy, he might be able to last two days. He could eat wild berries as a source of water when necessary, and eating them would also help him get some food.
Ethan looked at him, a sense of sorrow rising in his heart, thinking that Turner was really going to starve to death.
During his most difficult times, he ate more in one meal than this.
With a heavy heart, he changed the dressing for him and found that the swelling in his ankle had gone down a lot. Strange, could it be that the medicine is more effective in this world?
Turner also said that he felt less pain and was recovering quite quickly, which is at least a good thing.
Then Ethan told Turner to go to sleep, and he would keep watch. If anything seemed amiss, he would carry Turner away and help him roast all the meat.
Turner told Ethan to go to sleep, feeling that she couldn't stay awake any longer.
Ethan had no choice but to tell him that he usually didn't sleep. At most, he would be a little mentally exhausted. After not sleeping for several days in a row, he would usually drink a stimulant or take a short nap and quickly regain his energy. So he could sleep again now.
Don't worry, Turner, he'll grill your meat perfectly for you.
The night passed quickly, and when Tenas woke up the next day, he found that all the meat had been made into jerky, and there were also several extra bowls of water in the leaves. There seemed to be a few more wild fruits, and Ethan had somehow found some more.
After packing their things, the two continued on their way.
Starfall felt she was about to fall asleep; the two of them were so boring that she was getting drowsy. Only Selene was beside her, intently watching the image of the two of them in the crystal ball.
Starfall couldn't understand why Selene wasn't bored. She was getting sleepy watching. Was it really interesting to see these two struggling to survive in the wild?
Or is it that blood ties are a strange thing, and even if she wasn't Selene's biological daughter in this world, she still had inexplicable maternal love?
Starfall narrowed its eyes dangerously.
It's best if she's just overthinking things. If that's the case, then this Selene child who claims to be from another world can't be kept.
She will erase everything about him completely, alter the saintess's memories, and ensure she never remembers his existence.
Even though she's lost her uterus, as long as Selene doesn't secretly put it back in sometime, get involved with some random man, and have a child, everything will be fine.
Starfall coldly watched the two of them as they finally reached the mountaintop she had mentioned on the fourth day of the trial and obtained the herb she had requested.
Too lazy to wait for them to return at a snail's pace, they used a portal to teleport them back shortly after they got the item.
Two dirty people fell onto the spotless floor, causing Xingyun to frown imperceptibly.
These two haven't showered in days, have they?
Alas, how awful.
Starfall couldn't stand the two vagrants dirtying her palace, so she cast several cleaning spells, and the two men below, like her palace, were spotless before she withdrew her hand in satisfaction.
“Lord Starfall.” Ethan opened his palm, revealing the herbs he had been tightly guarding, and looked at her expectantly and cautiously: “We found the herbs, for…you.”
Selene blinked, and Starfall, as if something sensitive had been touched, narrowed his eyes and looked at her with a fierce expression: "What are you doing?"
“As you can see, my lord,” Selene said in a flat tone, “I’m blinking.”
"Why are you blinking?" Starfall questioned her.
“...Because I am human.” Selene paused, seemingly taken aback by her unreasonable tantrum. “It’s a normal physiological reaction; my eyelids are constantly moving rhythmically.”
"You'd better be." Starfall sneered.
The ignored Turnas: "???"
Ethan, who didn't understand what was going on: Oo
What happened? Why is there a sudden argument upstairs?
Why would Lord Starfall from this world suddenly ask such a question? People blink, you know.
The two people on the stage stared at each other for a long time before Xingyun turned her head expressionlessly, looking down at them with a condescending gaze, and said in a flat tone: "Hmm."
"Craft a potion." She didn't accept it, but instead issued a second request: "I'll give you the recipe for that potion in a bit, but the materials are limited, and I don't have that many of those precious herbs. I'll give you ten portions, and you must craft it before you use up all the materials. If you fail, well..."
Starfall didn't specify the consequences of failure, only letting out a final scoff, his contempt evident. Ethan knew that anyone who couldn't even do this would be considered a fool by the current Starfall master, who would think he hadn't learned anything from the Starfall master of his world, let alone prove his worthiness to be a mother.
A fool can't be a mother's child.
"Alright!" Ethan's fighting spirit was reignited. He clenched his fist, as if an invisible flame was burning behind him: "Lord Starfall, tell me, what kind of potion is it?!"
Xingyun gave a faint, mocking smile and uttered a name.
Ethan's fighting spirit vanished, his flames extinguished, and he froze completely, even his voice trembling as he asked, "Lord Starfall, what was that potion you were talking about...?"
Starfall raised a smug smile and uttered the name again, the cold name shattering Ethan's high morale.
Selene: "..."
Ethan: ...QAQ
Oh no, he really doesn't know how to make this potion.
It wasn't that Lord Starfall hadn't taught him, but it was a potion researched by ancient magicians. The materials required were not only incredibly precious, but their value was immeasurable, not to mention how precious it was to be made into a potion.
After destroying three of Lord Starfall's materials, Ethan looked pitiful and refused to try again, leaving Starfall helpless.
He could work for ten thousand years, no, a hundred thousand years and still not achieve this.
When he realized its value, he was extremely careful. Before each refining, he would try his best to treat that batch of materials as if it were the last, allowing himself to succeed and not to fail. But every time, the pot would explode, and the splashed failed potion would cover him.
But there's a reason why it's precious; his skin has been quite good ever since, proving it's a treasure passed down from his ancestors.
Even if he had good skin, it wouldn't make a difference; the scar on his throat would still be the same.
He had been terrified and resistant when he saw the recipe before. He never expected that in this other world, Lord Starfall would still want him to create it.
What a coincidence! Why this particular potion? Is this fate? He's not even qualified to be a mother, let alone know how to make a potion.
If it were a mother in this world, she would probably practice it too, right?
Ethan looked at Selene with a disappointed expression, but his eyes were gleaming.
QAQ
Mom—oh no, his grades are so bad, boohoo!
As if seeing what he was thinking, Starfall pointed at Selene: "Are you wondering if Selene can make potions? You guessed right, Selene can. If you want to prove you're qualified to be her child, you can't even make potions, so what qualifications do you have? She can do it with ease."
Selene, standing innocently caught in the crossfire, was speechless.
You're joking, sir. When you say that, why don't you mention that you demonstrated it to her hundreds of times? She also scrapped almost ten sets of materials before she could make it perfectly.
You mean a shortage of herbs? The lady planted a large patch of them behind the palace long ago. Otherwise, she would have squandered all the good materials. There is no restriction on the materials themselves, only on those she dislikes.
"No way?" Selene covered her mouth in surprise when she saw Starfall in taunt mode for the first time. "You can't even do this? No way? No way? You're just as useless as Helia."
You're out of character, sir...
What's wrong with the adults? They can be so lively? Ever since she started following her, all she's seen are adults who look like teenage girls but have a maturity that doesn't match their appearance. Even when she sees the Goddess of Light, Helia, whom she dislikes, she takes action more often than she talks.
Winter, the guardian of the counterpart of Saint Ternas Helia, gave an awkward yet polite smile.
I'll just pretend I didn't hear it... Both sides seem to be at odds, and his presence is so awkward.
"No, no way!" Ethan clenched his fist, his body trembling, holding his breath and puffing out his cheeks as if he had made up his mind: "I will do it! I will prove that I can do it too! I am my mother's child, and I can do it too! I will prove it to my mother and Lord Starfall!!!"
Starfall smiled noncommittally, not responding to the question, but turning to Selene and saying, "Go get him ten sets of materials. You wouldn't secretly slip him a few extra, would you, Selene?"
“…” Selene replied to the god she served: “Yes, my lord.”
Xingyun glanced at her but didn't say anything.
Selene led Ethan to collect the materials, prepared rooms for him and Tenas, and provided a separate room for him to concoct potions, as well as food for them.
Seeing that Ethan hadn't started eating, Selene stood quietly beside him, her voice cold: "Why aren't you eating?"
She was puzzled as she watched. Why was this person, who claimed to be her child from another world, giving all the food he found to his companions and never drinking a drop of water, and always keeping watch, yet he hadn't starved to death?
"Um, that..." Ethan's eyes darted around, unsure whether to tell Selene, even though she was his mother from a parallel world, she was still his mother. He hesitated, stammering, "It's just... I don't need..."
“Why don’t you need it?” Selene looked at him, and Ethan met her inorganic eyes, his heart pounding with panic.
Will saying this be considered playing the victim? I wonder if the sharp-tongued Starfall Lord in this world will accuse him of feigning distress to gain his mother's sympathy? The Starfall Lord in this world is really sharp-tongued… He doesn't want to be scolded anymore…
“It’s just… not necessary…” Ethan nervously twisted his fingers, somewhat afraid to look at Selene. Selene, who looked exactly like his mother but was slightly younger, often made him hallucinate his mother in his own world, as if he saw his mother questioning him about why he couldn’t eat properly.
What should he say? This isn't being picky at all; he doesn't even need to eat. He doesn't know where he can pretend to eat or where he can teleport food. Can anyone tell him where the trash cans are?
Selene was still looking at him, her eyes calmly fixed on him. Ethan could only see her eyes, which were growing larger and larger, their dark pupils seeming like a whirlpool, about to devour him.
"I...I'm already dead..." Ethan lowered his head, his eyes red-rimmed, his nose stinging with tears, his fingers twisting into knots. "So I can't digest. I don't need to eat. Magic is enough to sustain me..."
I feel like crying. It feels like I'm talking to my mother about this. It's so painful. I'm so afraid that if I look up, I'll see my mother's sad eyes and her tears.
He had erased his mother's memories from his own world, and he had also removed his own traces. There was no trace or proof of Ethan Nix's existence in his world. If nothing unexpected happened, his mother would never know this person, let alone that he was her child.
The mother in front of him is just a mother from another world. She doesn't know him, doesn't understand him, and has no experience of spending time together or raising him.
But he was still very scared. No matter which world his mother was in, he was afraid to see her sad, to see her tears. They were too painful to bear.
He is also afraid of being honest about this, even if the person in front of him is not his mother from his own world. He will have the illusion that he is being honest with his mother, that he is nothing anymore.
In the end, he wasn't even a basic living person anymore; his body was maintained by alchemy. He would sometimes wonder if he was still human.
His vision blurred, and Ethan tried hard not to cry out loud.
It's strange, even though he's been away from his mother for several years, he's gradually reducing the number of times he secretly visits her, afraid that the more he sees her, the more attached he'll become, and the less he'll want to leave her side.
Why did he break down just by seeing his mother from the parallel world? His mental state had clearly improved a lot, thanks to his wonderful colleagues who helped him heal, and he wasn't crying as much as he used to.
He should be grown up by now. If he were alive, he would be almost 18. Why is he still so immature? He was just being honest about his situation. Why is he so upset that he wants to cry?
Ethan couldn't quite understand it. He felt that he had grown up quickly after leaving the terrible environment and becoming a guardian.
Aside from his body not growing any bigger, his experiences, his values, and his thinking should all be quite mature... Damn, I still want to cry.
He sometimes wishes he could be a child again, because the world after growing up is too cruel. But given his terrible situation at home when he was a child, he simply wants to remain a child forever, with only himself and his mother.
He lived a carefree life, only with his beloved mother. In fact, he had never even dreamed of such a thing. He didn't know if it was because he rarely slept.
The mist condensed into tears, and eventually, the eyelids couldn't bear so many tears, which fell under the influence of gravity.
Ethan sobbed, crying pitifully, tears streaming down his face like rain, but without making a sound. He was weeping silently.
"Ethan." A familiar voice called out a strange name. Ethan looked up, his eyes blurry with tears, but he still saw the calm Selene.
"If it were your mother," she said, handing you a folded handkerchief, "she certainly wouldn't want you to be so sad either."
*Smack*
That was the sound of Ethan's last string breaking.
"Waaah—" Ethan burst into tears as his long-suppressed emotions erupted: "I was afraid Mom would be sad too—I was so afraid Mom would be sad because of my death—before her memories were erased, she was alive but dead—"
Turner froze, still holding the utensils as if about to put the food in his mouth.
Excuse me, isn't this a bit of a mood killer here? He's just here eating because he's hungry, while over there, a heartwarming scene of a mother and child from another world is unfolding. The usually lively junior is crying so hard, it looks like he's about to cry snot bubbles out of his nose.
How embarrassing, why is he here? He's just really hungry.
But it's so awkward! If Rena were here, he wouldn't be so embarrassed, right? So why did he come to this world? It feels like he's been ignored throughout the time travel. Was he really time traveling, or was he just here to be a spectator?
Unlike Tenas over there, who was so embarrassed he was practically crawling on his toes, Ethan over here was still howling.
“Mom will be so sad—” Crystal tears streamed down her face like a burst faucet. Selene felt Ethan was crying even harder, tears practically gushing out like water from a kettle: “I don’t want her to be sad… I don’t want her to know how dangerous my job is. I’m afraid she’ll keep worrying about me. I don’t want to erase her memories, but I’m also afraid Mom will be found by other Starfall people, sob sob. Lord Starfall said the last guardian whose family was found had their whole family killed. I don’t want Mom to die—”
Tenas stared at the small piece of steak on his fork, listening to the whining noises in the background, and had been at an impasse for a long time.
"Will Mom hate this job? Or will she be proud of me? No, I probably won't be proud... I can't do anything, I'm incapable of anything, I'm just a complete failure." Ethan directly regarded the Selene in front of him as the Selene of his own world: "After coming out, I realized I can't do anything, and my thoughts are pitifully naive. If it weren't for Lord Starfall patiently teaching me, I would still be a complete idiot in life! Since coming out, I often think of my mother, and my mood gets depressed. I can't handle anything well because my interpersonal relationships were terrible due to years at home. At first, everyone didn't like me and thought I was a weirdo..."
Turner put down his fork, ending the tasteless meal, and covered his face.
He felt even more embarrassed; this colleague, unsurprisingly, was one of their guardians.
Listening to Ethan cry, I inexplicably felt like I deserved to die. Ethan didn't understand anything, but to be fair, his interpersonal relationships were really terrible at the beginning.
"I really want Mom to live in a safe city. I hope Starfall City becomes a better place, like other cities, where Mom can live safely, and where everyone can be safe and not be killed for no reason." Ethan's little mouth kept babbling, expressing his grievances and feelings: "Mom..."
Selene paused for a moment, then stiffly and awkwardly pulled Ethan into her arms, gently patting his head without saying a word, but her gesture was full of comfort.
Suddenly, she saw some reflections in front of her that seemed to show the shadowy figures behind her.
Selene turned her head and saw Starfall standing in the doorway, staring at her expressionlessly.
Starfall: Stare—
Selene: "..."
Selene silently released Ethan, whose sobs gradually subsided and then stopped. He looked at them with swollen eyes.
The three of them looked at each other in silence, while Turner had already left the awkward atmosphere.
"Heh." Starfall didn't laugh. "Still hiding in 'Mommy's' arms and crying? Are you four years old?"
Ethan: ? _?
This is...this is too much! Lord Starfall of this world! Is your mouth coated with some kind of special poison? How can it be so poisonous?
"Instead of wasting your time crying in your parallel world's mother's arms, you should be focusing on figuring out the formula so you can actually make it." Starfall smiled, but the smile wasn't very friendly. "Now, get out of here and don't come near my saintess again, okay?"
Ethan sadly 'rolled' out, leaving behind Starfall and Selene.
Starfall: Stare—
Selene: "..."
Starfall: "Tell me, what were you just doing?"
“I’m comforting someone, sir,” Selene said calmly. “Just as you just saw.”
“Selene, my dear saint, tell me—why are you embracing him to comfort him?” Starfall asked her almost gently, “Why are you comforting him like this? Do you want a child? Do you want to be a mother?”
“Of course not, sir.” Selene resisted the urge to back away and answered flawlessly, “I was just pitying him.”
"Pity him?" Xingyun burst into laughter as if she had heard the biggest joke in the world. Her laughter instantly turned to a grim expression: "You're starting to pity him? Someone you had absolutely no connection with before? Even if he's your child, he's from a parallel world. You haven't raised him for a single day, haven't spent time with him, haven't watched him grow up, haven't personally cared for him, and you've only met him a few times, yet you feel pity for him? Selene, are you looking for death?"
Starfall thought it wouldn't work.
Selene, to think that this saintess is going to be ruined.
Selene!!! You can't! You like that guy named Ethan!!! She won't allow it!!! Her most beloved and cherished saintess shouldn't do this.
"Don't deny it or say you're not courting death." Xingyun raised her hand to stop her explanation: "Once you pity him, your heart will completely change. People are so cunning. They will take advantage of the slightest difference in you to make you fall into the abyss. You only feel sorry for him now, but later it will turn into more pity, and then you will be directly bewitched by him."
Selene hesitated for a moment: "Isn't that a bit too much? Does he look like someone who would bewitch people?"
Ethan was crying so hard he was practically blowing snot bubbles. What could he possibly bewitch? He has zero attraction to him, okay? At least when he was crying, he was sobbing and screaming like crazy. Even when she was boiling water, the kettle didn't make such a loud noise.
Selene listened to Starfall's conspiracy theories about Ethan with utter exasperation, feeling that Starfall simply hadn't seen how much Ethan had just cried. His eyes were swollen, his nose was red, and there were several tear streaks on his face.
“Look at you, Selene.” Starfall grabbed Selene’s clothes, forcing her to bend over. Their faces were very close, and Starfall’s gloomy face brought a great sense of oppression. “You’ve started to speak up for him. You think he can’t bewitch people. That’s exactly how you react when you’re bewitched. Do you think he’s so innocent? So cute? A good kid? Let me tell you, he’s definitely faking it.”
"I trained you, not so you would be blinded by some inexplicable parallel world bloodline." Xingyun's eyes sharpened, a murderous intent churning within them, seemingly directed at someone: "If you continue like this, I will deem you a failed saintess, understand? And that will be the consequences for you."
Of course I know that failed saintesses/girls will be eliminated, because they have learned so much from being with Starfall, and letting them leave would be a major obstacle. Starfall usually won't let them go.
The most carefully nurtured individuals become her adversaries due to failure, and Starfall doesn't want to see this happen, so she ruthlessly eliminates them. Aside from being assassinated by other forces, many of Starfall's saintesses and saints died at her hands.
Selene knew all too well the consequences of her actions, but she still didn't think that what she had felt was some inexplicable pity for Ethan; she just felt sorry for him.
Seeing a face so similar to her own, a face so very similar, standing trembling before her, clutching her hand and trying to hold back tears, she realized they had only exchanged a few words.
She simply said one sentence, and the miniature version of herself in front of her suddenly looked up, her eyes brimming with tears, pouting, looking pitiful as if she was about to cry. Her eyes quickly filled with tears, and she burst into tears with a loud "waah!"
To be honest, Selene felt an unusual sense of panic at first, because this was the first time in her life that someone had inexplicably started crying in front of her. Unlike when she was dealing with someone, and they would cry and beg for mercy, Ethan let out a "whoosh" like a kettle boiling over.
To be honest, it really feels like rain.
As tears streamed down Ethan's pale cheeks, Selene's mind inexplicably drifted away.
My eyes felt like they were raining, a continuous, damp, and sticky rain that made me feel terrible.
Its mouth was mimicking a boiling kettle, making a loud "whoosh" sound, almost identical to the sound of boiling water. It was even howling with its mouth wide open. Selene felt like she had just witnessed something truly remarkable.
While crying, he kept chattering away. The word that appeared most often was "mother." He rambled on about his grievances, his experience of becoming a guardian, his feelings, and how the world had responded to him.
She talked about the terrible city where she came from, where everyone disliked her and only wanted to kill her, and how she often felt powerless during battles.
It wasn't physical exhaustion, but mental exhaustion and powerlessness, because even though he saved the people of that city, he wouldn't receive any gratitude. Instead, people would take it for granted, and some would even try to kill him when he wasn't looking.
These residents frustrated and powerless him. Occasionally, a few thoughts would flash through his mind, questioning whether he really needed to work so hard to protect everyone. They didn't welcome him; they just wanted to kill him. It was like a competition; his head and his corpse were the prizes, and if he got them, everyone would cheer and say he was a tough guy.
It was too painful for him to shelter such a person, and then he talked about his mother, calling out "Mom" over and over again, crying as if his mother had died.
As she got more emotional, she shed even more tears. Selene clearly saw him instinctively reach out to grab her hand, but then suddenly remembered something and restrained himself from doing so.
He wanted to hug her, but then he remembered that Selene was actually the mother of a mother from a parallel world, not the mother of his own world, so he restrained his urge to hug her.
Ethan is really a strange child, Selene thought.
But his experience was truly tragic. To better understand his story, Selene tried to put herself in his mother's shoes, imagining what it would be like if the person in front of her was the child she had raised for many years, suffering so much mistreatment outside without telling her, because she had long since had her memories erased and forgotten everything about the child...
It's a bit uncomfortable to think about. Even if you raise a cat or a dog, you'll develop feelings for it after a long time, let alone a child.
So Selene, who hadn't completely detached herself from the role, chose to hold him close and let him eat the meal while leaning against her chest. She was pleased to feel the trembling body in her arms gradually calm down, and the crying subsided.
By the way, Ethan's personality is just like her pet parrot.
The parrot calls "Mama" like that too, even though she never taught it to, and no one else has ever been in her room. Normally, her parrot shouldn't call "Mama".
But parrots just happen to know how to say "Mama," like a child who's born knowing how to mimic speech. At first, they'd hesitantly call out "Mama?", but it evolved into a joyful cry of "Mama," and "Mama" became their most frequent cry.
She has a lively personality, is very clingy, chatters away, and can entertain herself for half a day. She will sing and dance for her, and bring her shiny things that she doesn't know where she found them from.
For example, gemstones that look like meteorites, crowns that look like meteorite collectibles, and a whole bunch of other random things that look like meteorites.
The parrot was also black, with some upturned feathers around its eyes, which strangely resembled Ethan in her arms. Speaking of which, it cried just as loudly, what a coincidence.
No, it really does look like it.
Come to think of it, her parrot doesn't seem to have a name yet. Although she's had it for a short time, she's never called it a name or nickname.
Usually, when she looks at the parrot, the parrot that has been paying attention to her will fly directly into her hand and start calling for its mother.
It's time to give it a name, Selene thought. Even the parrot had never called to her.
How about calling him Ethan...?
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Author's Note: Because Xingyun in this world doesn't have the same experiences as Xingyun in the main world, and lacks pure hatred, her personality is slightly more lively compared to the main world. However, it's only a little bit, and you can relate to her as a spoiled, villainous young lady. [Xingyun, please don't hit me!]
Turner was extremely embarrassed: I don't want to be here—[Cao Dong Yin]
Selene* just blinked*
Starfall: She wants to have a baby.
Selene: ?
Selene: I've always been afraid to look adults in the eye [this is true in this chapter].
They were mother and daughter [? Initially, maybe] or sisters [? Now they're boss and subordinate [always].
Starfall* and Selene, fingers intertwined*: Selene, you can't have children, you hear me? [Jade Wisdom face]
Selene: Yes [Bonbon face]
Starfall* (fingers tightening): I'll kill you if you give birth, because you'll be useless now and it'll be hard for you to go back to your pre-birth state.
Selene: Yes
Starfall* strained again, and heard a cracking sound from the bone*: Louder!
Selene: ...Yes!
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