The sun is warm but not hot, and white clouds are floating in the blue sky.
The girl opened her eyes amidst soft calls one after another, and what she saw was a familiar worried face.
"What, are you having nightmares again?"
Looking at the girl who woke up in front of him, Xing looked worried.
"Why don't we go find a doctor? You've been having nightmares these days and your mental state has deteriorated. In a few days we will board the car and set off. You can't do this."
"I always feel... I seem to have forgotten something... "
He sat up from the bamboo bed under the forest and looked at Xing who looked worried in front of him. He reached out and pressed his forehead. The girl looked slightly confused.
"Xing, are you real...?"
"What are you talking about? I think you must have been affected by that nightmare. Now you can't even tell the difference between reality and fiction?"
Slightly annoyed, he grabbed the girl's hand that was reaching for his neck, and tapped the girl's forehead with his finger.
"At least you know how to distinguish between dreams and reality. The world has always been beautiful. How could such a miserable and desperate world exist?"
"but… "
"Okay, okay, it's lunch time now. I guessed that you came here to sleep again. I made a lot of delicious food today, and they are all things you like to eat, right?"
Waving his hand to interrupt the other party's words, Xing reached out and took out a food box next to the bamboo bed.
Sunlight shines into the bamboo forest through the gaps between the bamboo leaves, forming fragmented light spots of different sizes cut by the bamboo leaves on the ground.
"I think you just need to replenish your body. There is something wrong with your brain. Isn't this beautiful world better than the nightmare world in your dreams? You can't tell the difference between reality and dreams?"
"But...well..."
"You can't taste the food you eat in a dream. It's nothing compared to reality."
After stuffing a piece of soft butter bread into the other person's mouth and gagging the other person's mouth, Xing asked with a smile.
"How is it? My skills have improved again, right?"
"Well... I want more!!"
Licking the cream on her lips, the girl nodded happily.
"Okay, okay, I made them all for you, little Greedy Cat... Well, there are plenty of them here."
Spreading a clean blue cloth on the ground, Xing took out all the food in the food box and spread it out, then he put his hands on his hips and spoke with a proud look on his face.
“Let’s eat together, we will definitely satisfy you!!”
"oh… "
When the girl stretched out her hand, her eyes accidentally caught sight of her little finger.
In a daze, a trace of unfounded doubt swept through her mind... and then disappeared in an instant.
… … … … … … … … … … …
"As long as you go in, you can't come out?"
Looking at the book spirit in front of him, Bai Zhi looked suspicious.
"Is this thing as mysterious as you say? Where did you get this information?"
"It appeared automatically in my mind."
Shu Ling spoke calmly.
"I signed a contract with her. Once she falls into the [Garden of Eden], I will also be pulled into that horrible place. Rather than end up with a fate that is more terrifying than death, it is better to choose to end myself. This It's her choice."
"[The Garden of Eden] should be very nice in there. After all, you can get whatever you want. Why is it said to be more terrifying than death?"
After thinking about it for a while, Bai Zhi asked with some confusion. This was what he had always wondered about.
After all, both the staff member in the underground base who chose to commit suicide and the book spirit in front of him were very secretive about the [Garden of Eden]. But just listening to the other party's description, it was clearly a paradise where you can get whatever you want. What is it? Let them rather die than go there
"Heaven is just an illusion, and the reality beneath the illusion will make people despair."
After shaking his head, Shu Ling spoke.
"Every once in a while, the reality they see will completely defeat their mental and rational minds, but their spirits will never collapse, and they can only endure eternal torture again and again... That is the real hell. .”
"… What's the meaning?"
Listening to the other party's words, Bai Zhi frowned slightly.
"Let me explain it to you in a more intuitive way."
Shaking his head slightly, Shu Ling stretched out his hand and opened a light screen in front of him.
In the picture displayed on the light screen, in the bamboo forest under the blue sky and white clouds, Hitomi and Hoshi were sitting together happily eating lunch, creating a peaceful and harmonious scene.
"Now Hitomi has not completely fallen into the [Garden of Eden], so I can still observe her current situation. In this scene, it is the perfect world she wants. In this world, it is completely real to her. In this world, she will always live happily. But, pay attention."
As he spoke, Shu Ling reached out and opened a light screen in front of him.
"This is an illusion I simulated using existing resources. The horror level is less than one ten thousandth of the true face of [Garden of Eden]. Can you understand it now?"
"..."
Without speaking, Bai Zhi frowned fiercely as he looked at the light screen that Xin La opened in front of him.
In this scene simulated by the book spirit, the sky is blood red. Hitomi is sitting alone on a lonely cemetery, talking and laughing to a skeleton in front of her. One of her legs has been cut off and placed in front of her. On top of the loess, he was eating the meat he cut off his own feet bit by bit...
…Less than one ten thousandth
"...This is an illusion."
"No, in the [Garden of Eden], for them, everything is real."
Putting away the light screen again, Shu Ling spoke calmly.
"The greater the hope, the greater the despair. This is the nature of [Garden of Eden]. Every time they will fall into the abyss at the happiest moment and face the truth that can tear away their sanity, but in Under the influence of the power of [Garden of Eden], their spirits and reason will never collapse, and they will endure this forever. No one can escape from there, it is an eternal prison."
"...Compared with these things, death is indeed insignificant..."
Bai Zhi let out a small breath in his mouth.
"You can prevent Hitomi from being pulled into the Garden of Eden, but can't you bring her back?"
"No, I don't have that much power, I'm just a contaminated book."
Shu Ling shook his head and pointed at the light screens around him.
"I'm just delaying the completion of the final rites."
"… Ceremony?"
Turning his head around the densely packed tens of thousands of light screens surrounding the hall, Bai Zhi frowned slightly.
"What are the last rites? What are the functions of things like these?"
"The ritual of entering [the Garden of Eden]."
Shu Ling spoke calmly.
"When she has no regrets, no pain or unhappiness, she will officially and completely enter the [Garden of Eden]. This is the final ceremony."
"So you are using this method to prevent her from completing the ritual?"
Looking at the scenes displayed on the light screens around him, Bai Zhi narrowed his eyes slightly.
"In front of the world created by [Garden of Eden], she can realize any wish, and anything she wants will appear in front of or around her, so there is no possibility of this ritual being destroyed, and it can only be forced through external forces. interference."
Shu Ling answered calmly.
"These bad memories will appear in the form of nightmares in her dreams in that world, so this ritual has never been completed, but this can only delay it for a while."
"Bad memories will appear in her dreams in the form of nightmares, but what about the good memories?"
Bai Zhi turned his head and looked at Shu Ling.
"In this way, can I intervene in the world she is in now?"
"The bad world is presented in the form of nightmares, and the good memories are presented in reality, just like the stars. It is constructed directly from the thoughts deep in her heart, so it is absolutely perfect and there will be no errors. In reality It can also be equivalent to her resurrecting the star."
Lifting his head and looking at Bai Zhi, Shu Ling spoke calmly.
"It is impossible to get involved in that world. Unless you also become a dependent of the [Garden of Eden], there is only a small chance of being able to enter that world."
"How can I become a dependent of [Eden]?"
Bai Zhi raised his eyebrows slightly.
"As I said before, only those who have pure souls and are actively selected by Him can be called true dependents. You have no chance."
"Really? But with your statement, why do I feel like you are criticizing someone else?"
Looking at the book spirit in front of him, Bai Zhi had a suspicious look on his face.
"No."
The expression on Shu Ling's face remained unchanged.
"Just telling the truth."
"...Forget it, I'm too lazy to share your knowledge with you."
Rolling his eyes, Bai Zhi looked again at Hitomi, who was eating happily with Xing on the light screen.
"If you can make the other party have nightmares in this way, can you wake her up in this way?"
After a moment of pondering, Bai Zhi asked again.
"If that's the case, we might be able to remind each other by putting something in the nightmare... like [If you're reading this, you've been in a coma for almost 20 years. We're trying new treatments right now, and we don't know This message will appear somewhere in your dream, but we really hope you can see it. Please wake up quickly.] Something like that?"
"For her, that was the real world."
Shu Ling shook his head.
"A nightmare is just a nightmare. Can you remember every detail of the nightmare?"
"That wonderful memory..."
"She will create an exact world according to her inner thoughts, and that world will perfectly fulfill all her wishes."
Shu Ling spoke calmly.
"There is no cure for those who sink into darkness."
"Isn't she still sinking?"
"The moment you become a dependent is the moment of perdition."
"So you want me to kill her?"
"It's the only way."
Shu Ling raised his head and stared at him.
"Other than that, there is no other way. From the moment we became a dependent, the only way to save ourselves is to die, and that is the best ending."
As her words fell, a door appeared in the corner of the hall.
"If you don't want to see her end up in that tragic ending, go in and kill her. This is how you save her."
"… Yeah?"
Turning his head and looking at the door that suddenly appeared over there, Bai Zhi raised his eyebrows slightly.
"To be honest, I don't trust you, nor do I believe what you said. After all, the information we obtained from beginning to end was given to us by you. It is too easy for you to mislead us. , how do you want me to believe you?"
"How can I convince you?"
Looking up at him, Shu Ling still had no expression on his face.
"It's very simple. Show me that book. I want the original body."
Bai Zhi stretched out his hand towards the other party.
"I believe it's not just me. You also want to know the origin of the library where you were born, right? You probably haven't shown that book to other players before. I can help you find out. This matter is very important. "
"… Can."
After a moment of thinking, Shu Ling nodded.
As she nodded, a pure black book slowly appeared in front of Bai Zhi.