Chapter 288: Chapter 286: The Bitter Fog Buries the Noble Bones
The little girl appeared once more within the dense fog.
Sometimes she stood to his left, other times to his right. Sometimes she reached out as if to hold him back, other times as if to block his path, all while muttering words Mo Ling couldn’t understand.
Eternal life, eternal death, future, past...
She said she was one of Bai Zhou’s clansmen, that a long, long time ago, she had fallen from the Memory World into reality. She had returned from death, transforming into this indistinct, dense fog.
But she was forced to forever maintain the appearance she had in Bai Zhou’s memories.
Though they lived on forever, Bai Zhou’s subconscious still knew they were long dead. And so, they remained in this bizarre state.
Figures began to emerge from the fog.
Old men, young men, women... They were all dressed in those familiar cloth garments.
There was even the young child who had attended "class" with Mo Ling. He stood by Mo Ling’s side, looking up and timidly trying to persuade him.
But Mo Ling didn’t look back, continuing to charge forward.
"You’re saying you’ve been in this fog the whole time?" Mo Ling demanded loudly.
"Yes," the little girl answered with a nod.
"Then where have you been? Couldn’t you see what was happening on this island?"
Mo Ling’s question plunged the figures into silence.
The dense fog remained quiet for a long time before the little girl’s voice was heard again.
"This is all caused by eternal life. Eternal life is the source of everything."
She had sidestepped Mo Ling’s question and resumed her attempts to persuade him.
"Once the Chali Race leaves this island and the method for eternal life spreads, the tragedy will only continue to grow..."
"This is just one small island. Compared to the spread of eternal life, it’s nothing..."
At the same time, the shimmering figures around them also began to chime in.
"If the emperor hadn’t desired eternal life, we never would have set sail to seek immortals and their secrets, chasing after that illusory hope."
"If not for eternal life, this ordinary island would never have drawn the covetous eyes of the Fishmen, and there wouldn’t have been two thousand two hundred years of tragedy."
"If not for eternal life, this island wouldn’t have been shrouded in fog for so long, wreathed in decay and corruption."
"If not for eternal life, Bai Zhou would never have sought revenge. He would have simply died with his hatred. There would be no Memory World, no us, none of those wandering Old-Eaters, and none of those ignorant newborn Fishmen."
"Eternal life brought all of this about. You’ve seen everything that has happened on this island. Surely you don’t want to see such a tragedy repeated elsewhere."
The figures spoke with anguish, articulating their deep-seated hatred for eternal life.
"If it weren’t for eternal life, I would have died of old age long ago, not become this thing that’s neither human nor ghost! Do you think we wanted this?"
"It was the emperor who wanted eternal life, not me! Now the emperor is long dead, but we’re still like this. This isn’t eternal life, it’s a disease! A disease that can never be cured!"
"Always in a daze, always trapped between life and death, always in a dense fog where we can’t see what’s ahead... When will we ever wake up from this dream of eternal life?"
Even the innocent young child began to voice his own suffering.
"It’s so boring... There’s nothing here... So boring..."
The little girl’s voice then rang out as well.
"Eternal life brings nothing but emptiness and tragedy. It can do nothing else..."
"Our eternal life is being trapped between life and death. The Chali Race’s eternal life is becoming wandering Old-Eaters. Bai Zhou’s eternal life is being caught in a regressive loop. The school of fish’s eternal life is a recurring two-hundred-year dream. Eternal life is just a curse."
"Are you going to spread this curse?"
The little girl’s figure appeared once more directly in front of Mo Ling. She raised her hand, pointing at the unresponsive, small root-carved figure in his hand.
At that moment, she was like a solemn judge, passing sentence on Mo Ling’s actions.
The air instantly froze. The whistling wind seemed to halt in that same instant.
The surrounding fog grew terrifyingly thick.
In the sky, underfoot, all around him... countless figures flickered in and out of view.
Their appearance turned the dense fog into a quagmire, and an invisible pressure bore down hard on Mo Ling.
Mo Ling stopped.
The bored young child walked to his side and looked up at him.
But Mo Ling paid him no mind, his gaze scanning the figures around them.
The figures stared intently back at him, their faces twisted with expressions of pain and struggle.
Mo Ling’s gaze swept over their faces as he asked calmly,
"Who was it just now that said they wanted to die of old age?"
No one answered.
But Mo Ling had already found him.
The man was cowering to Mo Ling’s lower right, his face filled with indignation. It seemed his earlier words had indeed come from the bottom of his heart.
Mo Ling didn’t waste any more words on him.
Mo Ling aimed the teleportation frame and activated the ability. For a moment, a mass of black fog appeared within the Block, then slowly dissipated.
And the figure who had wanted to "die of old age" had vanished without a trace.
Mo Ling had never acted so decisively before.
Knowing how terrifying his teleportation ability was, he was always cautious when using it, trying to activate it as little as possible.
Every time, he would first do his best to understand the situation before making a move.
But this time, Mo Ling couldn’t hold back.
"And who was it that said they were always in a daze, always dreaming?"
Again, no one answered, but Mo Ling still located the figure.
He was currently staring blankly at Mo Ling, not understanding what had just happened.
The teleportation activated once more, and this dazed figure also vanished.
Within the thick fog, a square-shaped void appeared for an instant, only to be immediately filled in again.
"What about the one who was terminally ill and beyond cure?"
Mo Ling still found him quickly.
"Let’s see if this can cure you."
A square-shaped void appeared in an instant, and the "terminally ill" figure also vanished without a trace.
"Cured."
Mo Ling said flatly, then turned his gaze back to the other figures.
"Do you need to be cured, too? Or are you also in a daze and wish to wake up?"
The figures no longer spoke, merely watching Mo Ling in silence.
Their gazes were incredibly complex, a mixture of shock and helplessness.
Facing their complex stares, Mo Ling lowered his head and looked at the small root-carved figure, which had gone rigid. He, too, said nothing more...
「For a long time.」
Until Mo Ling’s trembling voice finally broke the silence.
"You are all the great Kunpeng of the heavens, with eyes only for the Southern Sea ninety thousand leagues away, for that illusory dream of eternal life..."
"But did you know? On the ground, there are cicadas and turtledoves. Their goals are the small tree right in front of them, the dewdrop on a leaf."
Mo Ling’s hand, holding the small root-carved figure, involuntarily tightened its grip.
"They just want to go outside and see..."
"They haven’t seen the sun in two thousand two hundred years."
Mo Ling shook his head.
"Sorry. After all that you’ve said, I still don’t understand eternal life."
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