Chapter 233

Chapter 233: Fairy Tale

It was a dead embryo.

Yu Sheng could not explain how he knew. He had no knowledge or experience to judge whether this misshapen “lump” was alive or dead, and no one knew what an “Angel’s Fetus” should look like as a living thing. But the answer had popped into his mind the instant he saw it.

He knew it was dead. No breath. No blood. No thought. No soul. From the start there was no chance it would be born and grow as a living being.

But it was getting bigger. You could barely see it with your eyes, yet it was growing. Yu Sheng even felt he could hear it, a tiny sound like small bubbles popping-the sound of growth. This dead Angel’s Fetus grew a little every minute, getting ready to be born.

He watched both the dead state and the growth at the same time, and the clash made his head ache. He could not tell if the flood of information crowding his mind was the truth he had perceived, or knowledge Anka Aila was force feeding into him. He stood there for a long time, trying to sort out those contradictions, until Anka Aila’s voice entered his mind again.

“I can’t see them clearly. This has gone on for a very long time.”

He lifted his head and looked at the broken Umbilical Cord floating over the dead fetus.

The voice went on, calm and gentle, without any rage or malice: “The link between us is very weak. It is an old fault. Long ago, in the days of wandering, the fault appeared. I am not sure what their state is now, but I have been trying my best to send them nutrients. My Creators said this is my most important task.

“You are there. You have your eyes. You can see them, right? Can you tell me if my child is all right? Have they… grown?”

Yu Sheng opened his mouth, took two steps closer to the lifeless “fetus,” and then shut it again.

He did not know what his answer might cause. He did know the gentle friendly voice belonged to a Dark Angel.

So he kept a cautious silence and tried to feel back along the link between him and Anka Aila, hoping to gain a little control.

The even voice broke the quiet: “They are already dead, aren’t they?”

Yu Sheng’s heart missed half a beat. He drew a sharp breath and stood there, every muscle tight.

After that, Anka Aila fell into a long silence.

No one could know what this ancient, strange, beyond reason mind was thinking.

After a time that might have been long or short, Yu Sheng finally moved. He reached his hand toward the dead Angel’s Fetus.

A dead Angel’s Fetus was also a “dead person.”

But a being that had never lived or thought, dead before birth-what could they tell him? This hollow shell held no mind and no soul. What could appear in a “talk” with them? Yu Sheng did not know, but he wanted to try to talk to this “child,” if that was truly possible.

Darkness descended.

Unlike any Conversation With The Dead before, the twisted mass made no move. It did not open eyes or part lips. Only darkness and emptiness rushed in.

Yet at the center of that endless void, something faintly glowed.

Yu Sheng walked toward the glow and saw what it was.

His eyes changed, though his heart felt little surprise. It was a book.

A very old, very worn Fairy Tale book, the kind many children had flipped through again and again: “Squirrel Knight Reads With You.”

He looked around. In this absolute void, the Fairy Tale book was the only thing besides himself.

After a moment’s hesitation, he bent, picked it up with care, and opened it.

The pages were filled to the brim.

Just as Squirrel had said, the book was packed with the wild stories of Cursed Children. Places where bad printing had left gaps and blank pages were covered with childish handwriting, pinyin notes, doodles, and abstract lines. Many “stories” were only two or three sentences long. They didn’t read smoothly or make sense. Even the children who wrote them probably would not understand their odd thoughts if they looked again later.

Yu Sheng turned the pages slowly and then felt something.

He looked up. There was still only darkness. In this empty space, there was just him and the Fairy Tale book in his hands.

He frowned. The vague feeling lingered. He listened for it, then stared ahead in thought.

There was a “listener” here.

He could not see them or hear them. He knew they were not even born into this world yet. By all logic, nothing should exist in this dark space-yet a listener was here.

The little listener was ready. It was time for a story.

Holding the Fairy Tale book, Yu Sheng sat cross legged in the dark.

He knew what to do.

He carefully turned to the first page, cleared his throat, and began: “A long, long time ago…”

…

Far away, the Dark Spire that kept spewing Demons crashed down again. It was the third collapse that night. The Titan used Summoning to call Thunder and burned the demons to ash in a blink.

Little Red Riding Hood panted. One hand braced on the wreck of an armored car, the other clutched the wound on her arm. She peered through the gap in her bangs at the field.

The Red Dragon dove again, falling straight toward the Prince’s air defense lines. Farther off, the King’s Knight Order traded a high ridge back and forth with the Red Queen’s soldiers.

The Wolf Pack slipped through gun smoke and shadow, stabbing Witches that broke into the trenches, or sprinting messages back to Dorothy’s field command post.

The Black Forest had been burned into a scorched wasteland. Every inch of soil had been destroyed at least twice.

The Mermaid kept playing background music.

Maybe the dream had twisted everyone’s sense of time, because Little Red Riding Hood now felt like this war had lasted for months, even years.

Then she noticed something: the fallen Dark Spire did not regenerate like before.

On the distant lines, the Witches they had destroyed did not appear in the air again.

As time passed, everyone on the field saw the change.

King came first. It sprang onto the wrecked armored car of Dorothy’s corps, reared up, and scanned the distance. After a long look, it glanced down at Little Red Riding Hood and said: “The enemy really is thinning out. My Knight Order is finishing the last soldiers.”

Little Red Riding Hood blinked. She didn’t know what had happened either. Then a memory like something old snapped into the present. She jerked her head toward the silent shape standing in the center of the Black Forest, the Great Rift now visible to everyone.

Above the Black Forest, the vast shadow of Anka Aila was slowly shrinking back into the Rift.

…

“Later, they all lived happy, peaceful lives,” Yu Sheng finished softly, and he closed the book.

The dark did not answer.

[Is there really a listener here? Did they exist? Did these stories do anything?]

He wasn’t sure. He had only wanted to try. Now he had tried.

He stood again and waited in the dark for something to change.

He waited for a long time, almost losing patience, and then he heard a sound that could have been a hallucination-a tiny laugh, like a baby’s gurgling giggle.

He wasn’t even sure he’d really heard it. He had no time to check. The instant that laugh rose, the darkness collapsed without a trace.

In a blink, he was back inside the pale, foggy Illusion Arts. The strange, lifeless “Angel’s Fetus” still lay in front of him. His hand was still resting on its surface.

In the next second, countless fine lines spread across the “fetus.” They branched and raced, then the whole surface gave way.

No sound. It simply broke apart into fragments, then sand, then dust, then particles smaller than dust, until it vanished into the air.

Yu Sheng’s eyes went wide. He had no idea what had happened. For a moment his hands hung uselessly. Then Anka Aila sighed in his mind and said: “So my task is finished.”

Yu Sheng frowned. He started to speak, but the pale mist suddenly heaved and boiled.

Color returned. The fog scattered like the end of a dream. Colors and lights rushed across his vision. He felt himself dropping fast through a long passage. He kept falling and falling, long enough to feel like years, then in a haze he came down on something. It should have been a deadly impact, but something held him up, and he touched the ground as light as a feather.

Dizziness and noise filled his head. He could not open his eyes for a while. Then he heard a ringing hum, and someone shouting his name. Something furry brushed his face with a slightly wet touch.

Yu Sheng opened his eyes and saw a big red brown tail filling his view.