The Imaginary Tree Offers an Erasure Service, and Otto Becomes Its First VIP Customer

On the screen, the new shoot finally stopped growing. It rested just beyond the bark, like a tiny drop of dew that refused to fall. Otto was nowhere to be seen. The phantom of Honkai itself slowly faded, like mist retreating from beneath the branch. The projection drew back little by little, as though it had fulfilled some almost imperceptible purpose.

"It's over," Huo Yuhao said.

The Light Screen went dark.

Yet everyone remained seated, as if that new shoot had drained all their strength. Xiao Xiao buried her face in her knees, her shoulders trembling. Bei Bei tipped his head back, his eyes terribly red. Even Rong Nianbing, the coldest among them, murmured, "In the end, he never let Kallen know. That was probably the one thing he did right."

"No," Tang San said. "It was the one thing he did that was human."

"But was the price enough?" A'Dai asked.

"No," Gu Yuena said softly. "That's why the Tree kept him. Not as a god, or as a ghost, but as the soil beneath that new branch. From then on, whenever Kallen ran through that alley, the wind would be warm. And Otto would be in that wind. No face, no name, no past. Just that one moment: she smiled, and he scattered. They would never meet again."

When the Light Screen lit up again, it no longer showed the new shoot or the branch. It showed a river flowing slowly onward.

The river was so wide that neither bank was visible. Its color was strange—not blue or green, but the faintest gold. Countless flecks of light bobbed on its surface like names ground to dust. Wherever the water passed, new blades of grass sprouted along the banks, then swiftly withered and sank beneath it. Farther away, the