Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
A light rail train on Sardinia was heading north. It passed by Oristano, a beautiful city. Its final destination was Olbia, a city in northern Sardinia.
Lu Shu and Coral sat in the train and looked out. Coral looked at everything that they traveled past, as if she was trying to remember all these beautiful memories.
She was very clear that Lu Shu’s feelings towards her were not that of a fiery love. It seemed more that he wanted to save her and help her, or reciprocate her feelings.
But she did not care. They had left together just like that. Anywhere was fine.
The sound of the Gungnir breaking within her body sounded like a glacier breaking off and falling from a cliff. Coral decided that she would no longer deceive herself and others by imagining whether there was a World Tree on Sardinia or not. She had even brought all the members of the Deities to take the risk with her. She decided to silently pass on.
But Coral was selfish as well. She wanted to spend her last moments with Lu Shu.
Although this would bring a lot of trouble to Lu Shu in the future, Coral thought… let her be selfish for this once. This way, Lu Shu would not forget about her.
The path on the two sides of the train was filled with grass. The fine grass waved in all directions due to the wind. They suddenly passed by a stone inscription that said, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.”
They were approaching the hinterlands of Sardinia. They were indeed drawing further from the sea. This sentence came from the Bible. There seemed to be a mysterious meaning behind putting the inscription here.
Coral turned and smiled. “Lu Shu, do you like poems?”
Lu Shu, an academic genius, felt awkward. “In the past, I didn’t have the time to notice this sort of thing. After the magically-rich era, I have even less time.”
In the past, he had thought about whether he wanted to become a novelist. He would be able to earn a steady stream of distress points if he played around with the ending. After all, Jin Yong 1 did such a thing as well. Lu Shu guessed that when Xiaolongnü 2 lost her body, Jin Yong was invincible.
But his life experiences had limited Lu Shu’s abilities. He was very smart, but he did not have time to deal with other affairs either.
Coral said joyfully, “When I was young, I was alone at home. I could only read books and find friends inside. Or I would see what the world is like through the author. Back then, my world was very distorted. My family made me see the world through rose-tinted glasses. Everyone was very polite to me. When I ate at the canteen, the bosses were all very friendly to me. But I know that everyone has their own sufferings in life. I can only see the good sides of them, but I have no way of sharing their worries. Thus, I feel somewhat regretful.”
“You don’t know just how lucky you are…” Lu Shu sighed with emotion. “I wish I could experience a world like yours, where everything is happy. Did you know, back then when I was selling eggs by the road, I received a counterfeit 50 yuan note. I was not even certain whether I would be able to get food for Lu Xiaoyu at night. I was so panicky that I almost cried. I wanted to secretly use the 50 yuan note. Since the world has treated me this way, I should treat the world in the same way. But after much hesitation, I tore it.”
Lu Shu suddenly realized that Coral did have some understanding of this world. She would also have her own thoughts. But there were very few opportunities to experience all these for herself. This was why she used the word “distorted”.
Coral could understand the pain when Lu Shu tore the counterfeit note back then. But it was these little details that built up this young man. She felt happy.
Coral said, “My favorite quote back then was by Caun Derre. ‘The best time to plant a tree was 10 years go. The second best time is now.” I also like what Ernest Hemingway said. ‘Courage is grace under pressure’. What about you? Do you have any favorite quotes?”
Lu Shu was dumbfounded. He felt like a Diaosi 3 young man who had met a literary genius and felt very awkward. A young man’s honor came from presenting their best in front of someone of the opposite gender. But now, Lu Shu did not know what to say.
“Not even a sentence?” Coral tilted her head and smiled.
The mugger Lu Shu was silent for a long time. “Change if it’s an odd number, but keep if it’s an even number. Plus or minus depends on the quadrant… 4 how about this?”
“Ha ha ha ha!” This was probably the happiest moment in Coral’s life. She did not understand how Lu Shu’s mind worked. Why would such a quote surface during a serious talk?
Her laughter caused the lady sitting in front of them to turn around and look at them kindly. Coral quickly covered her mouth and whispered an apology, but there were no distress points generated.
Lu Shu looked blankly at Coral, who was sitting by the window with amusement in her eyes. The afternoon sun shone into the train and moved about among the ends of her hair.
Coral could listen to Lu Shu’s ridiculously lame jokes without complaint and without generating any distress points. On the other hand, Lu Shu, the king of ruining the atmosphere, finally found a girl who would not produce any distress points while listening to his jokes.
Because… Coral was very happy now.
The word “fate” was a far-off concept to Lu Shu, who seemed to have been cursed. But it had finally returned to him.
But Lu Shu was still unclear about some things. This was his first time sitting beside a pretty girl on a train headed to somewhere far away.
Lu Shu suddenly got up and walked behind them. He stopped in front of a middle-aged man, who was calmly reading a newspaper. Lu Shu said, “I’m in a good mood now, so I will give you one chance to get out of here by yourself. How about it?”
The middle-aged man took a deep breath and put down his newspaper. He did not defend himself nor hesitate. He opened the door of the train and jumped onto the grass outside the train.
Metahumans did not have to care much about inertia, but this reminded Lu Shu that the path ahead of them was dangerous.
But… what else could he do?
Coral saw how the sun was blocked by dark clouds from the north. “It’s going to rain again.”
After the Bishop was forced back into the city in southern Sardinia, the members of the Department of Faith Theory from all over Europe started to flock towards where Lu Shu and Coral were heading towards.
They seemed to follow the scent of blood, just like the thick grey clouds in the sky. Lu Shu was beside Coral, ready to face anyone who came.
He did not realize that when he was near Coral, the white tree mark in his palm started to appear and vanish continuously. It seemed to be on the verge of emerging out into the open.
