Chapter 273: Chapter 271: Higher
"You should lead the school of fish higher."
Lingyi said to Little Fish, then looked up at the sky.
’What’s up higher?’
Little Fish looked up and saw a reflective membrane, just like the one it had seen before.
"Should we keep going up?"
Little Fish knew its idle daydreams were pointless. Lingyi was right.
Looking at the school of fish behind it, Little Fish shook its head to cast off its useless anxiety and led them upward.
Reaching the membrane, it once again controlled the school, forming a giant dragon that passed through.
When the dragon passed through the membrane and looked back down, it discovered the membrane was now just a trench-like horizontal line.
"Still text..."
The dragon looked up at the sky. There was still another reflective membrane.
"Keep going."
Layer after layer, the dragon would look back each time it passed through a membrane.
Sure enough, all these membranes transformed into horizontal trenches.
"Still not enough."
The dragon’s speed increased, rushing through the stacked membranes, crossing one boundary after another until something different appeared before it.
It was another membrane, but this one wasn’t reflective. It seemed transparent. Through it, everything outside could be seen constantly changing. Scenes from Little Fish’s dreams appeared on its surface.
"That might be the real world. It wouldn’t be as pure as the world of text, so everything is combined together," Lingyi speculated.
Little Fish stared blankly at the composite scenes.
’Have my dreams come true?’
It controlled the dragon, gently touching the membrane between worlds.
However, the moment it touched the membrane, Little Fish froze.
"What’s wrong?" Lingyi asked, confused.
"It’s nothing." Little Fish was suddenly acting a little strange.
"Lingyi, do you think there’s a moon out there, too?" it asked suddenly.
"I don’t know." Of course, Lingyi didn’t know either.
Little Fish was silent for a moment before speaking again.
"Can I just watch from here for a while?"
"You don’t need to ask me," Lingyi replied as always.
Every time Little Fish asked for its opinion, it would give the same answer.
"Okay."
The dragon just floated there, watching everything beyond the membrane.
Compared to the world of text, the outside world was much more vibrant. Before long, many creatures Little Fish had never seen before, all bizarre and wondrous in appearance, flashed past the membrane.
The combination of things was also far richer than in Little Fish’s dreams, and naturally, more beautiful.
As Little Fish watched, it noticed a ball of light floating in the sky.
"Is that the sun, Lingyi?"
"It should be."
"But it doesn’t look as red as the one we’ve seen."
"It seems to be slowly turning red, though."
Hearing Lingyi’s words, Little Fish immediately began to observe it carefully. It discovered the sun really was slowly turning red as it descended.
’Could it be just like in my dreams? When the sun sets, the moon will rise?’
Sure enough, not long after the crimson sun had set, a faint moonlight scattered across the sky.
’It’s the moon!’
’There’s a moon outside, too!’
Little Fish was ecstatic.
The moonlight passed through the membrane and shone upon the dragon’s body, feeling incredibly real.
"This time, it’s finally not the moonlight of text!"
Little Fish felt it had found a new goal.
Gazing at the familiar yet strange moon in the sky, an infinite yearning burst forth.
Under Little Fish’s control, the dragon unconsciously touched the membrane again. But after touching it, Little Fish froze once more.
A long time passed.
Then, Little Fish slowly spoke.
"Lingyi, can I ask you a question?"
"Of course."
"This time, you can’t answer from the school’s perspective. I want to hear your own opinion, one that belongs only to you." Little Fish suddenly made a special request.
But Lingyi still agreed. "Go ahead and ask."
Little Fish thought for a moment, then began its inquiry:
"If you had a choice, would you want to become a giant dragon, soaring through the sky and conquering everything, or be a carefree little fish, living without any worries?"
Hearing Little Fish’s question, Lingyi fell into a rare, long silence.
"The school, of course, must become a giant dragon, soaring through the sky..."
"Don’t answer from the school’s perspective. I’m asking you." Little Fish cut Lingyi off.
Lingyi fell silent again.
Little Fish had never seen Lingyi so hesitant.
In its memory, Lingyi never hesitated. It was always decisive about everything. Every time Little Fish asked Lingyi a question, it always had a quick answer.
It had also never expressed its own personal wishes, but unexpectedly, this question plunged it into such a long silence.
However, even without Lingyi’s answer, Little Fish roughly understood what it was thinking.
Just then, Lingyi slowly began to speak, "I am your duplicate. All my choices are the same as yours."
It still hadn’t answered directly.
But Little Fish already understood everything.
"I always thought... you were different from me..."
’How were they any different?’
The foundation of the "school" was Little Fish. These duplicates were all the same as it; there was no difference at all.
It wanted to be free and carefree, and the other duplicates wanted to be free and carefree too.
It loved the moon, and the other duplicates loved the moon too.
There had never been any difference.
But it had always thought it was the one that didn’t fit in.
Little Fish was filled with regret. For so long, it had never once had a serious conversation with any of its duplicates. Not until now.
"Lingyi, I’m sorry."
"Why are you apologizing?" Lingyi asked, confused.
"As the leader of the school, I haven’t done as much as you." Little Fish thought back on everything that had happened and realized it truly hadn’t measured up to Lingyi.
"You’re overthinking it."
"No, I’m not. I’ve only just realized that being free and carefree comes at a price," Little Fish murmured.
"You did the things I was unwilling to do for me, creating the conditions that allowed me to be free."
"You bore the price for me, shouldered the responsibility for me. The entire school has been striving toward our common goal. Only I was still lost in those useless fantasies."
"The truth is... all of you want to be free and carefree, don’t you?"
Little Fish’s voice grew quieter as it spoke.
Only now did it realize that, without it even noticing, the school had already done so much for it...
"You’re overthinking it."
Lingyi gave the same reply, but this time, its tone seemed much lighter.
"Look outside. It’s beautiful."
Lingyi looked out beyond the membrane with a sense of longing.
A bright moon hung in the sky, its familiar light blanketing the dragon’s body.
The duplicates, all of them, gazed in unison at that dreamlike, bright moon.
Little Fish was stunned.
The moonlight shimmering in their eyes looked so familiar.
