They Had Just Made a Pinky Promise When the Electronic Watch Pointed at Encore's Little Pouch!

Dania had already finished the hot sweet soup sent from the kitchen, and Zhou Yu had been in the closed archives area for more than half an hour. Only a few softened purple coral pieces remained at the bottom of the porcelain bowl.

She sat by the main passageway, holding an empty bowl, her gaze occasionally drifting to the indicator lights on the elevator platform. Not far away, Chisa leaned against the wall, her sword resting horizontally on her lap, the bell at her waist swaying gently in the sea breeze.

A head popped out of the kitchen doorway. It was Encore, with a sheep doll on her head and two crooked little baskets in her hands.

"Dania, we promised last week we'd go pick purple coral again, do you remember?"

Dania placed the empty bowl back on the tray and nodded seriously.

"I remember, the ones we picked last time were cooked into porridge, and they even tasted a little sweet."

Encore handed her one of the baskets and pulled her toward the riverside passage.

Chisa got up and followed behind the two, keeping a distance just enough to see them clearly without disturbing their research on which type of coral was best for making porridge.

After the tide recedes, large areas of dark reefs are exposed on the tidal flats. Shallow water flows slowly between the rocks, and low-brightness navigation lights along the shore fall on the water's surface. Purple corals grow close to the reefs, their colors reflected brightly.

Encore ran ahead, splashing through puddles, a sheep plush toy tucked under her arm, its two drooping ears nearly brushing into the seawater.

Dania followed beside her, carrying a basket. She bent down, picked a small piece of purple coral, smelled it before putting it in the basket.

"This part smells sweeter; the Xiao Yu should like it in the soup."

"Does Zhou Yu like to eat purple coral? Encore thinks he prefers watching you eat it."

Encore squatted down next to a rock, carefully selecting corals that were free of fine sand.

Dania thought for a moment, and a smile slowly appeared on her face.

"Xiao Yu always says she'll just eat whatever, but every time the last piece of meat ends up in my bowl."

The two walked a long way along the island's shore, and the bottom of their basket was soon covered with purple branches.

A black stone was pushed up to the tide line by the seawater. Its surface was covered with fine patterns. It looked very similar to the memory stone that Encore had dug up earlier, except that its luster had dimmed.

Encore stopped beside the black stone, but did not immediately reach out to pick it up.

She turned to look at Dania, her usually cheerful voice lowering slightly.

"Dania, will you stay by Zhou Yu's side forever from now on?"

Dania bent down to arrange the purple coral in the basket, answering without the slightest hesitation.

"Of course! My name is always on his schedule, and he even writes down exactly what I eat every day."

Encore the tip of her shoe to brush away the fine sand around the black stone, and the sheep doll lay quietly in her arm.

"What if one day someone wants to remove your name from the schedule?"

Dania's fingers, which were resting on the edge of the basket, stopped.

The tide washed over the tips of her shoes, and a small piece of purple debris was swept away into the distance. She remained silent for a long time before looking up at Encore.

Who wants to cross out my name?

Encore squatted down, picked up the black stone, wiped away the wet sand along the texture with her fingertips, and then put it back where the seawater could cover it.

"Aalto once said that some people feel that writing their names on paper isn't safe enough; they want to hide their names in data."

Dania gazed at the stone that was gradually being submerged by the tide, her voice becoming very soft.

What happens after a name is turned into data?

"That way, someone else can just delete it."

Encore stood up, brushed the fine sand off her skirt, and smiled as usual, but she hugged the sheep doll a little tighter.

"When others try to find you again, they'll say everywhere that there was never such a person."

"But it doesn't matter, as long as people remember you, you won't really disappear."

"I will remember Dania, and you must remember Encore."

Dania didn't answer immediately. She looked down and rummaged through her basket, picking out the brightest piece of purple coral.

The coral was perfectly intact, with a transparent water droplet still hanging from its tip. She had originally planned to take it back to make soup for Zhou Yu.

She handed the purple coral to Encore, her hand remaining there.

"This is for you. If you miss me in the future, just use it to cook a bowl of porridge."

Encore looked down at the piece of coral, then solemnly held it in both hands.

"This is the most beautiful purple coral in the world, Encore will put it in her little bag."

She opened the small pouch with a ram's horn pattern sewn on it from her waist, wrapped Purple Coral in a handkerchief, and put it in the innermost compartment.

After tightening the rope, Encore extended her little finger.

"I will always remember you. It doesn't matter if the whole world forgets you, Encore will never forget."

You must always remember me; it's a promise we made.

Dania also extended her little finger and gently hooked it around Encore's finger.

"I'll remember you. Next time you cook purple coral porridge, let's drink it together again."

The elevator leading to the underground area made a sound from afar, and just as it opened, Zhou Yu and Aalto emerged from the shadows.

The canvas bag was stuck to Zhou Yu's waist, and the electronic watch inside was still beeping intermittently; the underground location displayed on the screen had not disappeared.

Zhou Yu stopped at the end of the coastal passage and saw Dania hand the purple coral to Encore, and also saw their two little fingers hooked together.

He didn't approach the tidal flats, but instead took out a schedule from his pocket and added a new arrangement next to Dania's name.

At dinner, the kitchen brought out a pot of whitish seafood soup.

Dania was sitting next to Zhou Yu, looking down at the purple coral in the soup, when suddenly a piece of stewed meat appeared in her bowl.

She looked up at Zhou Yu chopsticks back to the edge of her bowl.

"We walked such a long way today, so having an extra piece of meat is a normal bonus."

Dania bit off half of the meat, and put the other half back into Zhou Yu's bowl.

"Xiao Yu need to eat too, because your name is on my schedule."

Zhou Yu's chopsticks stopped at the rim of the bowl.

The digital watch in the canvas bag lit up again, and the positioning arrow, which had been pointing to the underground of the closed archive area, slowly turned and finally pointed to the small bag on Encore's waist.

[Number of Unknown Memory Carriers Updated: Part 2.]