The Woman Behind the Curtains (Six Thousand Words)

"So, that's why they want to stop me from carrying out the Noah Project?"

"Having carried out the Noah Project, in essence, I can only be considered..."

"...accomplice?"

"..."

Silently sitting in his seat, Xiao Xiao thought about many things, and gradually, more and more mysteries began to become clear in his mind.

Yes, according to what Old Man An gleaned from his memories, Black Forest actually wanted to get rid of the woman who caused all the mystery. However, Black Forest's attempt to eliminate her failed, which led to the current situation.

Perhaps, if the Black Forest had truly eliminated her back then, the world would have indeed undergone its upgrade as the Black Forest predicted, and everything about that woman would have been buried by the world, as if it had never happened at all...

From this perspective, isn't Noah Project, which aims to reach the mysterious end and shut down the singularity, in line with the Black Forest's purpose?

Perhaps this is why the Shepherds is so willing to help him now?

Or perhaps...

Xiao Xiao recalled the concerns that the two important figures from the Dante Organization and the Hell Organization had when they discussed the Noah Project with him.

They may not even think they can complete the Noah Project now. After all, shutting down the singularity seems easy, but in reality, it would involve facing unimaginable horrors from hell.

However, they still tried to stop themselves, because they feared that they would awaken the woman in hell.

They feared that this woman's awakening would once again bring unexpected changes to the world...

Silently pondering these thoughts, Xiao Xiao's mind was filled with complex emotions. He wanted to contact Yang Jia several times to say something, but because he had glimpsed too many secrets yet still harbored many uncertainties, he held back. He simply rewatched the scene of the world-shaking upheaval that Old Man An witnessed during the drug trials, memorizing every detail, before slowly rising and pacing back and forth in the empty high-speed train...

"Xiao-gege..."

Ruan Ruan was torn about whether to take the computer back, but Xiao Xiao seemed to be thinking about something important, she didn't dare to disturb him.

After a long while, she tentatively called out to him, "Shall we wait here?"

Xiao Xiao then realized that Gao Lie had been here for a long time. Originally, his will was connected to both City of Rest and Black Gate City, and Gao Lie should have taken him directly back to Black Gate City. But now, he had lingered for so long to understand these things, which meant that Black Gate City should have noticed something amiss long ago. However, Ruan Ruan was worried beside him, constantly glancing at him, but dared not speak. And the will of Black Gate City had not tried to influence him at all, remaining silent...

Xiao Xiao suddenly burst into laughter.

Why bother with all this overthinking and getting caught up in indecision?

Black Gate City is right there, wouldn't it be better to just go and ask?

People are always thinking things through, preferring to ponder on their own rather than using the most efficient way to communicate. This is because some people can't bear the consequences of directly asking questions, and also because some people like to package their crude ideas with a little bit of a beautiful facade, which creates the ridiculous rule that some things can only be understood intuitively. But I don't need to consider these things at all. I am an observer, I can distinguish between truth and falsehood, and I can get straight to the heart of the matter. So, what method is better than asking directly?

Of course, the most crucial point is that Miss Black Gate City has consistently refused to actually show herself to meet him.

Even during their last conversation, she was separated by a curtain.

But things are different now. Xiao Xiao is confident that he is now qualified to visit this young lady directly.

Let's go!

He let out a slow sigh, a smile returning to his face, and said to Ruan Ruan, "Go back!"

As she spoke, she turned around and picked up her laptop. On the way back, she felt it was necessary to review Old Man An's other memories. The more she understood, the better she could grasp the world.

Ruan Ruan, on the other hand, seemed quite happy when she heard that she was going back.

Seeing Xiao Xiao pick up the computer, he breathed a sigh of relief and excitedly reached out his hand.

Unexpectedly, Xiao Xiao turned around and sat back down, continuing to read. His expression suddenly became somewhat blank, and he awkwardly didn't know what to say.

As soon as Xiao Xiao decided to return to Black Gate City, Gao Lie's speed naturally increased. Soon, Gao Lie arrived at the Black Gate City station. The carriage, seats, and handrails around Xiao Xiao vanished like flesh and blood at that moment, merging with the surrounding ground and buildings. He had already appeared in the city center of Black Gate City. Looking up, night had fallen, and the surrounding pedestrians were crowded and busy. No one noticed that a person from the depths of the spiritual ocean had appeared at the intersection.

Ruan Ruan glanced around, took a deep breath, and said, "Then what do we do now..."

"You go back first."

Xiao Xiao said, "I still have some things to do."

Ruan Ruan's eyes suddenly turned somewhat strange as she stared silently at the computer in Xiao Xiao's hand.

Xiao Xiao suddenly realized and laughed, "I'll use it first, and return it to you later..."

"...May I?"

"..."

Ruan Ruan held her breath for a long time before finally saying, "... Okay!"

It's just a laptop. Why is she so worried? I Mingming saw that she had a working desktop computer when I went to her bedroom before.

Although Xiao Xiao was an observer, ever since he accidentally saw Yang Jia's beautiful internal organs, he began to try not to look at the people around him. Not only did he not look, but he almost completely blocked them out. So he didn't pay attention to Ruan Ruan's conflicted little face. He simply parted ways at the intersection and didn't tell Mister Ye when the meeting was. Instead, in a flash of consciousness, he appeared at the entrance of his own alley. He took a deep breath and slowly walked into the alley.

In the neighbor's yard, three vicious dogs were initially quite happy to see Xiao Xiao coming, but then, as if they had suddenly remembered something, two of them lowered their heads in shame.

Only Erha saw Xiao Xiao coming did it immediately raise its head and give Xiao Xiao a meaningful smile.

It seemed that it felt no shame, and even seemed somewhat eager to discuss it with Xiao Xiao.

"You need to be moderate..."

Xiao Xiao gave them a deep look, but said nothing, only helplessly adding, "You've all lost weight..."

Normally, I would definitely give the three of them a lecture, but I had something to do today, so I just gave them a brief reminder and turned away.

The white curtains on the second-floor window were still fluttering. Xiao Xiao could feel that there was a gaze watching him from behind the curtains. He turned slightly to look behind the curtains but did not speak. Instead, he suddenly turned around and walked towards the path by the building. He picked a few flowers from the flower bed next to him and arranged them into a bunch as he walked. Then he went up the steps and came straight to the door of the window. He stopped slowly and then gently and gracefully knocked on the door a few times.

The knocking echoed emptyly in the room, as if no one was inside.

But Xiao Xiao persisted, knocking lightly three times every seven seconds to show his determination to visit.

It seemed like a standoff, with both sides sticking to their guns.

Finally, after Xiao Xiao knocked on the door three times, he could faintly hear a woman's soft sigh coming from inside, and then the door was slowly opened.

Xiao Xiao's three Eye of the Seer appeared silently the moment the door opened, instantly taking in the entire room. He saw that the room was cold and lonely. Every piece of furniture and decoration was placed in just the right place, but because each item was placed so precisely, it had a lifeless and cold feeling. A table and a chair flashed through his field of vision, including the old-fashioned record player that was placed against the wall. It was brass in color and seemed very old, but it was also exquisite.

After regaining his composure, Xiao Xiao looked at the woman who had opened the door for him.

She had an exquisitely applied makeup look, wore a long white dress, her hair fell straight down to her waist, and she was barefoot.

She stood right in front of him, but he couldn't see through her at all, as if she didn't belong to this world and could blend into it at any time.

Then Xiao Xiao was slightly surprised, and a hint of hesitation flashed deep in his pupils.

Because this woman's temperament and appearance were exactly as he had imagined, except for her looks...

... She was exactly the same as the Patient Zero he had seen in Old Man An's memories when he entered the Insightful Path.

You could even say that she was Patient Zero herself, appearing right in front of him.

The woman who opened the door for Xiao Xiao seemed somewhat languid and helpless. She ignored the surprised and suspicious look on Xiao Xiao's face and turned away indifferently.

"Come in!"

"Remember to change into slippers."

"..."

Xiao Xiao suppressed the urge to ask immediately, lowered his head to change into slippers, and went into her room. He placed the bouquet he had brought as a gift into the vase on her coffee table, adding a touch of life to the cold and lonely room. Then he slowly sat down on the sofa, quietly looking at the woman sitting on the beanbag chair opposite him. His mind was filled with countless questions, but when he finally spoke, he chose the simplest and most direct one:

Who exactly are you?

"..."

The woman in the white dress smiled faintly and asked, "You don't know who I am?"

Xiao Xiao remained silent for a moment.

He certainly knew who this woman was, but her identity seemed to be far too complex...

Mysterious Guidepost, fragments of the World Will, the ruler of Black Gate City, and...

... His gaze fell on the old-fashioned record player in the corner, and he sensed a trembling soul hidden within it, letting out a soft sigh.

And, the true owner of the Record Player Miss.

For a long time, Xiao Xiao had always thought of the woman behind the curtain as the Record Player Miss, and even suspected that she might be the Mysterious Guidepost Record Player Miss. But now he realized that this was far from the truth.

Before seeing the real Record Player Miss, Xiao Xiao had no way of guessing, but after seeing it, there was no need to guess anymore; everything became clear in an instant.

The Record Player Miss is just the Record Player Miss, or rather, she is the Mysterious Source of Black Gate City.

Before the Old Chairman of Black Gate City passed away, he activated the Mysterious Guidepost, City Will into a puppet.

The one who controlled the will of Black Gate City became this woman, who was the embodiment of one of the twelve fragments of the World Will, or rather, the Mysterious Guidepost. It was she who, through Record Player Miss, influenced every move of Black Gate City and guided herself...

Perhaps, this was the reason why Record Player Miss was so eager to move into City of Rest?

Although he understood a lot from this, Xiao Xiao was still somewhat surprised. He looked at the woman in the white dress and asked, "Why do you look like her?"

"In fact, we all resemble her."

Seeing Xiao Xiao's direct question, the woman in the white dress chuckled softly and said calmly, "Because we were all born from her contamination, the closer we are to the source, the more we resemble her."

"However, not everyone looks like this. Some people look like she did when she was a child, and some look like she does when she is old."

"I am her greatest enemy, and of course, the one most like her."

"..."

"The greatest enemy..."

Xiao Xiao pondered for a moment, then quickly digested the information.

Upon hearing her mention it, Xiao Xiao suddenly vaguely recalled the girl he had seen in Night's End City. She did indeed seem to resemble Patient Zero, only much younger.

Looking at the woman in the white dress, Xiao Xiao knew that she must have known something before he returned to Black Gate City. Her willingness to open the door meant that she was willing to talk to him about these things.

However, you need to carefully consider each question you ask to make the conversation more efficient.

Therefore, after a moment's thought, he stared directly into her eyes and asked, "Are those Mysterious Source external, or what?"

The woman in the white dress glanced sideways and smiled, "Didn't you already see how they appeared?"

This question made Xiao Xiao slightly embarrassed.

He did indeed obtain and see Old Man An's memories, but unfortunately, Old Man An was a bit of a character...

He was poorly educated and didn't understand many things when he participated in the drug trials. Even though he later became a big shot in City of Rest by leveraging his initial advantages, he also entered another blind spot, only knowing to worship the mysterious will hidden in the city and learning to survive in this chaotic world. So, although he experienced many things, he didn't understand many things. Of course, it's also possible that this old man deliberately didn't try to understand these things because he knew they were dangerous...

In short, those who understand what happened back then are those who, in Old Man An's fantasy, stood at the forefront and watched that woman go to hell.

The two leaders of the Dante Organization and the Hell Organization belong to this type.

"No wonder..."

The woman in the white dress saw Xiao Xiao's expression and suddenly realized, sighing softly, "Humans are just too good at forgetting, and too good at deceiving themselves..."

As she spoke, she suddenly pulled a remote control from under the coffee table and pointed it at the television.

"Laugh!"

Suddenly, countless snowflakes appeared on the television screen.

No, it's not a snowflake.

Xiao Xiao glanced at it and suddenly realized that each of the flashing static dots on the screen was actually a picture, a person's perspective as they looked at something, and the chaotic sounds were the interweaving of the sounds of countless pictures.

Without hesitation, he immediately entered a state of Mind Burst, maximizing his insightful abilities.

He entered the scene and saw what was happening in the world at that time, beyond Old Man An's limits as a human being.

He witnessed the collapse of countless buildings across the world at the moment the spiritual resonance occurred, and saw countless normal people suddenly break down, crouching on the ground with their heads in their hands. Looking at the countless warriors from the extraordinary special forces that had been successfully built by the Black Forest, his pupils suddenly went blank. He also saw in various places that some people who had previously seemed normal suddenly stop in their tracks. They slowly raised their heads and looked at the world anew with a strange gaze...

When Xiao Xiao saw their expressions, he couldn't help but be startled.

He was very familiar with that expression.

He was quite certain that this was the look in his eyes when he almost melted into that ocean in City of Rest.

Because that meant the "throne of gods" had already appeared before him, meaning that he was only one thought away from achieving an evolution in his life level...

"This is the earliest Mysterious Source..."

When Xiao Xiao entered a state of Mind Burst, it was actually difficult for outsiders to communicate with him, because their voices would be stretched out indefinitely, as if time had stopped. But now, the woman in the white dress spoke clearly and calmly into Xiao Xiao's ears, saying lightly, "Some are people, some are just a random thought in a person's mind, and some are a collection born from the intertwining of countless minds. In short, her mental resonance that time brought the ocean of minds to the sight of some people in this world..."

"Some people, whether by choice or by force, have become the Mysterious Source."

"But as they became Mysterious Source, they tore themselves apart, devoured each other, absorbed more emotions and will, and generated more Mysterious Source."

"Later, before the arrival of those outsiders became stable, some untamed, Aberrant Creature grew stronger, escaped, and became the Mysterious Source..."

"Of course, the sources are complicated, but they all come from her."

"You can think of it as her having a nightmare, a nightmare filled with unspeakable mysteries and strangeness. Her nightmare descended upon this world, and so the world has been shrouded in her nightmare ever since, also filled with countless mysteries and strangeness. Unfortunately, these things have been affected by her and have come to believe that they are monsters that fell from the sky... But in reality, it's all just her going crazy. She's really just a patient. It's just a pity that her illness has polluted the entire world."

"That is why she is the starting point of everything, the mother of all spiritual beings, and that is why she is called the Mother."

"..."

Xiao Xiao, enduring the overwhelming information from those scenes, asked the woman in the white dress, "So they also feed on pain?"

"Because it's the most effective way to enhance their strength and traits, and it can also be used as a weapon..."

The woman in the white dress laughed and said, "Besides, before anything happened, weren't those people feeding her with pain?"

As Xiao Xiao listened to these words, it seemed as if even his breathing became much more suppressed.

But he still calmed his mind and watched those people melt into the ocean of spirits. He could clearly see from the television that those spirits that could not withstand ascending to the throne of gods did not actually realize their wishes once they merged into it. In fact, after merging, they were like falling from the real world into the ocean of spirits, becoming another kind of creature. Then they faced a bloody, naked devouring and killing of each other.

Even in this vast ocean, their original memories and will were instantly diluted and distorted, and they had long forgotten themselves, becoming another kind of creature.

This also made him shudder; if he had truly melted into it back then, he would no longer exist now.

In this world, there may simply be a spiritual being that has a causal relationship with itself, yet has no memory of who it is.

This finally made him unable to hold back any longer and ask the most crucial question, "Then why didn't you tell me that parasitizing the city would expose me to this kind of risk?"

The woman quieted down. She looked at Xiao Xiao, and Xiao Xiao looked back at her. Their eyes met, and the atmosphere in the room became tense.

"You think I'm deliberately framing you?"

The woman in the white dress spoke slowly after a long silence, saying softly, "If I wanted to frame you, I wouldn't have left that ring on your girlfriend's finger..."

Xiao Xiao frowned; this was also what he couldn't understand. He slowly said, "But why didn't you tell me beforehand?"

"First of all, even if I tell you in advance, it might not be effective, right?"

The woman in the white dress suddenly smiled and said, "For example, everyone knows that evil is wrong, but crime still happens in this city every day, doesn't it?"

"So even if I told you beforehand and warned you, you, with your weak will, could still fall into it, right?"

"..."

Xiao Xiao was slightly taken aback, realizing that he couldn't refute this reason.

He felt fortunate to have escaped that fate, and he believed that not everyone in the world could escape it; in fact, most people couldn't.

That's the temptation to become a god...

For someone who can't even quit masturbating normally, how can they expect to quit those outrageous things?

While Xiao Xiao was deep in thought, the woman in the white dress suddenly laughed. She seemed to really enjoy seeing Xiao Xiao like this.

He said slowly, "Of course, more importantly, if I had warned you in advance, this wouldn't be considered a test."

Xiao Xiao suddenly looked at her. "What kind of test?"

"A test to see if you can be called a 'human being'."

The woman in the white dress looked into Xiao Xiao's eyes, her smile seemingly playful and mysterious. She said in a low voice, "Only by truly passing this test can you possibly enter hell..."

"My little master..."