The night deepened, the thick black clouds like layers of freshly painted latex paint, gradually darkening the colors to a deeper black.
Even the stars adorning the night sky were dimming, until the last ray of natural light vanished completely, and everything was swallowed by the dense night.
The bonfire built around the beach continued to give off light and heat, its orange-red flames casting flickering shadows of the Shrek Nine monsters asleep around it.
Everything that had happened during the day in the Twin Spirits Domain, although their soul power had recovered, the mental exhaustion remained unshakeable.
A fluorescent blue triangular cube flowed with ripples of light not far from them, forming a boundary and protection, safely enclosing them within this area, separated from the outside world.
Sensing that the breathing of everyone else besides herself had also calmed, Tang Sui's closed eyelids suddenly opened. After quietly listening to her companions' breathing for a while, she slowly closed her eyes again, letting her consciousness sink into that dark, seemingly living black sea.
Sinking and floating, she fell to the deepest part.
Tang Sui opened her eyes and stared intently into the profound darkness ahead for several seconds before speaking slowly, "I know you are here. Let's talk frankly."
"......"
There was no response from the darkness.
Tang Sui's dark blue pupils were calm. "Our hearts are already connected. Even if I don't say it, you should know that I have let go of my brother's matter and have no intention of blaming you. What I want to know is about another 'me'."
In the darkness, as deep as the sea, ripples spread.
Pale white masks appeared conspicuously in the darkness, also silently watching Tang Sui.
"We are very sorry... little master, on this matter, we cannot speak."
The Fox Mask said slowly.
Tang Sui paused slightly.
They couldn't speak, but they knew.
She lowered her head and spread her hands.
Her fair palms were almost devoid of the usual lines of a human hand. The low temperature and delicate features made her seem more like a meticulously crafted doll.
"Actually... from a very young age, I've been wondering why I was the one who transmigrated."
"Is the life I'm living now real or fake?"
Tang Sui's voice gradually lowered.
"It wasn't until I was dragged into Shi Nian's nightmare and dreamt of the past that the memories, which had faded with this life's experiences, gradually became clear."
A faint black and red light covered her fingertips, and a cluster of flames, black on the outside and red on the inside, flared up. The murky firelight illuminated Tang Sui's delicate face, as if stealing light from a wall. Within the deep red core of the flame, a miniature version of Tang Sui appeared.
She tucked her knees close, floating in the flame's core in a semi-curled posture, her face buried deep in her long hair and arms, her features obscured.
Tang Sui was all too familiar with this posture.
It was the idle stance of Menreiki in her previous life in the game.
She raised the flame higher, gently lifting her palm. The dancing black and red flame floated up like a released sky lantern.
"The nightmares woven by Shi Nian are all about my true, unbearable past."
She gazed at the shrunken, indistinguishable Menreiki and said, "The kidnapping was real, and I killed the kidnapper, but I truly don't remember how I killed him then. Because the moment I came to my senses, I saw the man's head had already rolled aside, and I was standing facing a headless corpse."
"The masks were also real. Just like in the nightmare, after becoming the undisputed new head of the Tang family, I attended a charity auction. And at the auction, I did indeed bid on seven masks that were identical to the ones Menreiki wears."
"The ominous curse rumors about the masks are also true."
She paused here and smiled faintly.
"But strangely, I, as the new owner of the masks, did not become mad like the previous owners, nor did I meet a tragic death through various accidents."
"Although in the end, I still couldn't escape death, I died of overwork while playing games late into the night. However, compared to the deaths of the previous owners, my death was the most gentle and painless."
"I even unexpectedly gained you all, and this second life of mine."
Tang Sui raised her eyes and looked at the masks floating in the darkness. Her dark blue pupils seemed to have become a mirror, clearly reflecting the dim depths hidden beneath the pale white of the masks.
"These most real memories, whenever I wanted to delve deeper, would be forgotten unconsciously. It's only recently that they have become clearer."
"I don't think it's that you couldn't keep it a secret anymore and decided not to. I think it's because the time is almost here, so you're no longer making me deliberately forget."
"My death in my previous life, was it an accident, or..." your premeditated plan?
The last few words died on Tang Sui's lips.
Even though she didn't say them out loud, the masks, whose hearts were connected with hers, heard Tang Sui's unspoken words.
Then, the lights in the masks' eye sockets flickered. Their voices, whether aged, elegant, delicate, or deep, mingled together, like a devil's whisper, murmuring in the ears of a lost traveler, overlapping in unison—
"Your death was the inevitable result after the dice of fate rolled."
As expected...
"Why did you choose me?"
Her voice was calm.
Even though she now knew her previous life's death was caused by the masks, she felt no anger or sense of betrayal at this moment, only a strange, indescribable feeling.
It was a preconceived notion that inexplicably appeared in her mind.
—The owner they were waiting for was her.
The reason the previous wealthy owners died was because they were not the person they were waiting for.
But since they had already been bought by the current wealthy owner, they couldn't move. What could they do?
Of course, they could only continue to search for a new owner after the current owner died, until they found the owner they had chosen.
From the very beginning, Tang Sui knew very clearly that the masks were not benevolent.
They would stop at nothing to achieve their goals.
In a way, she was similar.
The masks, sharing the same thoughts, watched her, their eyes filled with a multitude of complex emotions.
Greed, sighs, pity, hatred, indulgence, pampering...
Contradictory and complex, it was unbelievable that their stance was still to protect her. Tang Sui herself had no doubts about this, holding an inexplicable trust, and listened to the masks narrate the expected answer:
—"Because it was you."
The masks' voices rose and fell, a mixture of sighs and a statement of fact.
—That's why they were waiting for their encounter with her, and... her death.
A vague answer surfaced in her mind, but like a student facing A/B options in an exam, she couldn't finalize her choice.
As if sensing Tang Sui's hesitation, the Fox Mask chuckled, its gentle voice filled with temptation:
"Since you are not sure of the answer in your heart, how about experiencing it yourself once more?"
Tang Sui frowned slightly. "You mean for me to enter the illusion of the domain?" Soudan Novel Network
The Ape Mask said sarcastically, "How could that be? We wouldn't dare harm you."
The Fortune God's smiling old man's face flickered in the light and shadow. "On Sea God Island, isn't there a master of illusions readily available?"
Tang Sui's gaze shifted, and a name surfaced in her mind.
Sea Ghost Douluo.
—Aside—
PS: The telepathy is actually one-way. Sui Sui cannot know the masks' thoughts, but the masks can know each other's thoughts and can also capture Sui Sui's thoughts. They are very cunning.
Only one day left until the big update, mwah!