He Turned into Mist, but Encore Was Still Waiting for Him!

After the handheld game console displayed abnormal text, two passages in the underground core area were temporarily closed, and the data towers along the coast were switched to low-light operation.

Encore the observation room would be busy for a long time, Anke grabbed her sheep doll and slipped into the restaurant, filled a thermos with the leftover purple coral porridge from the kitchen, and then took Dania to the beach.

The purple coral reef is just a stone staircase away from the restaurant. Its light purple veins shimmer softly in the night, and the surface of the reef is smoothed by the seawater.

The two sat side by side on a higher spot, with the tide slowly seeping into the cracks in the rocks beneath their feet. A sheep doll was placed in the middle, and they were holding two wooden spoons in their arms.

Encore unscrewed the lid of the thermos, and purplish-red steam billowed out from the spout. Inside were chopped coral fruit and soft glutinous rice grains.

She added two more spoonfuls of honey to her own bowl, then filled Dania's bowl to the brim, the wooden spoon making a soft sound as it stirred.

"We agreed that we'd talk about the Moon-Chasing Festival while having porridge today. What happened to that person wearing the lion hat?"

Dania blew away the steam from the bowl of noodles, thought carefully for a moment, and then began her story from the moment Lingyang threw away the Light-Treading Bell.

The platform was built in three tiers, and the area below was crowded with spectators holding moon rabbit lanterns. When Lingyang stepped onto the first wooden stake, Encore had already stopped drinking her porridge.

"He couldn't even find his lucky charm, and his feet kept slipping. Sigelica almost made marks on her shield from gripping it."

"Then why climb so high? Performing on the ground would be just as good."

He said everyone had been waiting for a long time and wanted to finish the performance they had prepared.

Recalling the gasps from the audience when Lingyang missed his step, Dania lowered her head, biting her wooden spoon, and softened her voice.

"He almost fell off the post, with half his foot off the edge, and the bell on the lion's head flew off."

Encore suddenly grabbed her wrist, causing the porridge in the wooden bowl to slosh around to the edge, and a few purplish-red fruit pieces slid down the side of the bowl.

The sheep doll was sandwiched between the two, its ears tilted towards Dania.

"Falling from such tall wooden stakes would be dangerous; didn't you put any soft padding underneath?"

"It wasn't laid out in time, but Xiao Yu said he wouldn't let Lingyang fall."

Dania mimicked Zhou Yu's lazy tone, explaining that the area had been designated as a safe zone for the performance, and any unauthorized fall would be considered a violation.

Encore's eyes widened.

Dania only loosened her grip on the wooden stake after Lingyang had firmly planted himself on it again.

She wiped up the spilled porridge, sat down with her back against the purple coral reef, the sea breeze ruffling her pink hair, and the smile on her face faded slightly.

"Someone else has said something similar to me before."

"That person said that no matter what happens, he will catch me down below."

Dania didn't continue talking about the Moon-Chasing Festival. She placed the wooden bowl beside her knees and turned to face Encore.

"Where did that person go after that? Can you still see him now?"

Encore a wooden spoon to stir the coral fruit in the porridge, tracing half a circle along the bottom of the bowl with the tip of the spoon.

"He later turned into a wisp of mist, sometimes drifting in from the sea, sometimes hiding behind distant reefs."

"The fog is nice, though. I can still sense him staying nearby, but I can never have porridge with him again."

The tide crashed against the rocks from below, and a few water droplets fell between the two wooden bowls.

Dania looked at Encore's lowered head, reached into her cloak pocket, and pulled out a crumpled candy wrapper.

That was the last piece of osmanthus candy she brought from Jinzhou.

Fine sugar crumbs landed on the sheep doll's ears, and the round sugar cubes warmed slightly in her palm. She slowly broke them apart with her two thumbs, dividing them into two similar-sized halves.

"I'll give you half of this; the osmanthus fragrance is still very strong."

Encore looked up at the half candy handed to her, then at the other half remaining in Dania's palm.

"This is the last one; you could have saved it for tomorrow."

"Xiao Yu said, 'Even if someone changes their appearance, there's nothing to be afraid of. As long as you can still recognize them, you can find them.'"

Dania placed the candy in Encore's palm, then popped the remaining half into her mouth.

She remembered the small boat that guided her through the sea fog, and the light that had never been turned off in the observation room; the sweetness slowly melted on her tongue.

"I used to think that once I left, I would have nothing left."

"Every time Xiao Yu hears this, he puts a piece of food in my mouth to stop me from thinking too much. He says that if I recognize the taste and the person, I'm not completely lost."

Encore put the osmanthus candy in her mouth, her cheeks puffing up slightly from the candy.

She picked up the wooden bowl again, her muffled voice mingling with the waves.

"Aalto has said these things to me before."

The game console screen between her fingers lit up with black characters again. In the distance, behind the window of the abandoned observation room, Aalto looked at two pink heads side by side on the reef.

He stuffed the game console back into his pocket, turned, and disappeared at the end of the corridor.