Icarus / Star Gate

"Spasi, what I'm about to say and what I'm asking you to do will contradict the Fire Moth, so if you don't want to get involved, you can stop watching."

"This is really a bombshell right from the start," Spasi said with a helpless shake of his head and a wry smile. "Don't say things like that to someone who's about to retire."

But it was Lin's words that piqued Spasi's great interest. Could what Lin was going to do contradict the idea of chasing the moth? This didn't seem like something he would say.

Lin waited for thirty seconds in the video, then said, "Since you've decided to keep watching, it means you intend to participate in my plan."

"This plan originated from a mutation in my consciousness. After the Sixth Honkai War ended, my consciousness underwent an irreversible change, and I would often travel to Parallel World to observe information about the near future."

"And the support for implementing this plan is another video I gave you."

"That's the original of the pollution video that I kept."

"Legend has it that there was a couple, a rich young master and a commoner girl, who met by chance and quickly fell in love. The handsome man and beautiful woman got together."

"However, the young master's family opposed their relationship, so the two of them eloped away from the young master's home and moved to a small city to live..."

"However, after leaving their families, their lives became increasingly difficult, and the difficulties they encountered were as numerous as the wrinkles on their faces. Especially after the teenage girl became pregnant, the hardships of life directly overwhelmed the two of them."

"They started arguing. The girl felt that the young master was no longer as good as before, while the young master felt that the girl had made him leave his originally comfortable life."

"The girl's belly grew bigger and bigger, but their conflicts also intensified until one day, when the girl couldn't help but throw a pillow at the young master's face, the young master lost his temper."

"He couldn't remember how he did it or where he got the strength. He only regained his senses when he lifted the pregnant woman, who was eight months along, over his head and threw her out of the fourth-floor window. But it was too late."

"He watched helplessly as his lover, her face filled with disbelief and despair, fell from the sky with his unborn child. Below her, there was an electrical cable. Her neck touched the cable and was severed alive by the force of the impact."

"The last thing to fall to the ground was the headless body of a pregnant woman, her flesh and blood torn apart, a truly gruesome sight."

"The young master didn't dare to look at the body. He fled and returned to his family, where he used the family's resources to settle the matter."

"He is still the heir to a large family, while that pregnant woman? She's just an ordinary toy in his life."

"Everyone said that, and he gradually accepted it, whether to comfort himself or to agree with others."

"Until one day, he heard a baby crying and 'thump thump thump' sounds coming from the first floor of his villa."

"But he lives alone in his villa, so where did the baby come from? The young master suddenly realized that it was that girl who came to find him. It was definitely her, there was no mistake, with the unborn child that he had killed with his own hands."

"The young master wanted to escape, but the girl he had found was downstairs. He wanted to hide in the closet, but that would be discovered. He thought that since her head had been cut off, she shouldn't be able to find the person hiding under the bed. So the young master hid under the bed, trembling as he listened to the thumping sound as he climbed the stairs one step at a time to the second floor."

Finally, the sound stopped in front of his bedroom, and then... the door opened. The next day, the others found the young master dead under the bed.

"Because..."

With a sinister smile, Vill-V shone a flashlight into her face and said chillingly, "Because the young master is sleeping in a hammock!"

"..."

The dark room was silent, and everyone stared at her, as if they had reached a consensus at that moment.

"Um... wasn't it because the girl's head was stepped on under her body at the end that the young master was discovered?" Hua asked curiously.

"That's so boring. Magicians are meant to surprise people. Wouldn't it be a great twist if the magician died because he was stupid?"

"... But isn't this a ghost story? Besides, it's too strange to just have a twist for the sake of a twist."

Lin shook his head. This was their last night here. Elysia said she wanted to organize a ghost story contest, but Vill-V started by telling a ghost story that was almost a lame joke...?

"Let me tell you one."

Chapter 161 Icarus

"Long, long ago, in a world without light, there lived a little bird in this dark world. It lived a carefree and happy life."

Lin's tone was perfect for telling ghost stories. His deep, monotone voice, even with the lights off, was enough to send chills down your spine. Combined with the howling sea breeze, it created an atmosphere of eeriness.

He sat under the window with the curtains drawn, a sliver of moonlight shining through the gap in the curtains illuminating half of his face.

"It is simple and lovely. Even though it cannot see anything in the darkness, it loves this world. It will fly over and circle around every tiny sound that comes into view."

"It lived among the other inhabitants of this world, who were all despairing over the eternal night, while it joyfully fluttered its wings and chirped to every friend."

"Until one day, a ray of light fell from the sky."

"It had never seen anything so beautiful, allowing it to see everything it couldn't see before: transparent, magnificent, and splendid... The moment the Tyndall effect occurred, light took shape."

"It chased the light with fascination, yearning for the daylight it had never experienced before, like a kite being tethered by that beam of light."

"It happily told the news to all its friends in the dark world, but they did not believe everything the bird saw. They pessimistically believed that the world was only darkness, and no matter what the bird said, they would not believe it."

"The little bird thought for a long time, and it wanted others to see that beautiful miracle as well."

"So it decided to fly toward the source of that light, toward the endless night."

"It soars upward, flapping its thin wings like a bullet shooting into the sky."

"The temperature rose higher and higher, its feathers burned, its flesh was roasted, but it still stubbornly flew towards the sky where no light could be seen. Finally, it pierced through something, and a fierce and magnificent daylight appeared before it."

"It turns out that there was a layer of dark clouds in the dome of this world, which always blocked the light. But it pierced through the dark clouds, and with the hole that its body tore open, it brought a small but visible light to this world. Thus, hope was ignited in this world."

"And that little bird, it was too close to the sun, it burned, it fell, burning with its own body, giving light and heat to the world."

After Lin finished telling the story, the room fell silent.

They all thought of the name "Moth of Fire" and the famous "Icarus".

This is a story that's hard to define as either despair or hope, but after listening to it, it will leave you with a lingering sense of unease.

After Lin finished speaking, he left the room and went back to his own room to sleep.

"Wait a minute, aren't we supposed to be telling ghost stories?" Pardo noticed something was wrong.

Ghost stories? Lin believes that any story that can evoke fear can be considered a ghost story. After all, many ghost stories don't actually involve ghosts, and he is not afraid of "ghosts."

This doesn't mean he had a particularly strong belief in materialism, but rather that the existence of "ghosts" was actually a blessing.

The idea that people exist in another form after death is perhaps a kind of gentleness.

But that's impossible. This world may allow a person's consciousness to change its vessel, but it will not allow a consciousness that has disappeared to return to this world.

After death, there is "emptiness," "nothingness," and "the end."

He lay calmly in bed, pondering many things. He thought of a plan, the elusive Gray Serpent, and his own unusually white hair.

A little bird flying into the sky...

Lin closed his eyes and began his rest for the day.

"..."

"..."

A man entered the room, stood in the shadows of the moonlight, his face grim, and stared at the sleeping Lin.

She was pondering something, or perhaps waiting for something, until Lin's breathing had become steady for another half hour before she quietly leaned down.

"——"

She suddenly raised her head and then hid under the bed.

A person walked into the room.

She seemed to be hesitating about something, looking around at the unsettling environment, feeling as if a gaze was watching her, even though Lin should have been completely asleep.

After observing for a long time, she still found nothing unusual, so she prepared...

A person walked into the room, sniffed, and frowned.

Although the room was empty except for Lin, the scent of at least four people lingered there.

Could it be...?

A person walked into the room.

Lin opened his eyes and glanced out the window. The bright moon was still hanging in the sky. He had only slept for less than two hours before waking up, which was a bit strange. Unless he deliberately set a time for himself, he usually got a fixed eight hours of quality sleep.

Or perhaps someone disturbed his sleep, but he didn't sense anyone...

Wait a moment.

Lin Huansan's pupils narrowed. He rolled over and landed on the ground, squatting beside the bed to examine the marks on the floor.

People have been here, and more than one person.

Could it be another prank on the ship?

Lin found no strange hickeys or graffiti on her body, so she breathed a sigh of relief and slowly got up...

He suddenly lowered his head, his eyes piercing under the bed!

"..."

There was nothing under the bed. His sharp eyes narrowed, and it seemed that it was just his imagination.

So he prepared to go back to bed...

Turning around like the wind, he yanked open the wardrobe!

"..."

Only his wardrobe, where he regularly changes his clothes, seems to mock his paranoia.

It seems there really are no problems this time.

Lin lay back on the bed, closed her eyes, and fell asleep again.

Half an hour later...

Lin opened his eyes wide, stood up briskly, pushed open the window, and seriously examined the wall outside.

Not a single bird or spider was hanging; it was so clean it looked like someone had cleaned it.

It seems he was just being paranoid. It's so quiet around him now that he could hear a pin drop, let alone someone moving quickly. So he's probably just being overly sensitive in his mind.

He breathed a sigh of relief and was about to go back to sleep when he suddenly remembered something unusual.

He frowned, went to the wardrobe, and opened it again. The layout inside was the same as before, but he noticed a problem.

Lin is missing two pieces of clothing.

Moreover, they were all close-fitting shirts. Since Lin rarely changed styles, he didn't notice that two shirts were missing at first.

This kept Lin sitting on his bed all night, alert to any movement around him, while some people suffered terribly, hiding where he couldn't see them, waiting until dawn...

Chapter 162 Stargate

The ship sailed steadily back to its starting point. Lin ate some simple coarse grains for breakfast, then leaned against the railing, gazing at the boundless sea.

He chewed on the dry bread, which had no taste, but he didn't care. He just continued eating while glancing at the people around him.

I don't know if it's just my imagination, but it seems like more than half of the people gave him the feeling that he hadn't slept well.

The boundless sunlight fell on Lin's arm. He first looked at Elysia, who was sitting listlessly in the dining chair eating breakfast, unlike her usual self. Then he looked suspiciously at Aponia, who was sitting at the table in a daze. Finally, he glanced at Su, who was silently leaning back in her chair and resting with her eyes closed.

Besides, the other people were also more or less different from yesterday.

"Sizzle—"

Lin finished the soy milk in one go and threw the empty box into the trash can.

So, who stole the clothes? And what did they do with them after they were stolen?

"Chrono Brother..."

"Ha?"

Chrono turned his head impatiently to look at Griseo had called him, his hands and feet trembling involuntarily, and he let out a harsh breath.

Meanwhile, Immer, who had been watching him closely from behind, was getting nervous, wary that he might suddenly make a move against Griseo.

Immer has tried countless ways to kill Chrono these past few days, but no matter what method he uses, even if Chrono deliberately lets him carry out the assassination, he can't kill Chrono at all.

At this moment, Griseo was here, Immer did not want Griseo to see the moment he plunged the knife into Chrono's back.

Why are you wearing a mask?

"None of your business," Chrono Jie said gruffly.

"Can't you be a little gentler with children?" Immer frowned. Chrono and Lin's ways of treating children were completely opposite. He couldn't stand Chrono's impolite and ungentle attitude.