Why it never ends

Chapter 1256 Wonderful
Eucalyptus still didn't quite understand Hazel's meaning, and simply went along with the assumption, saying, "But what if my stock-picking skills are simply—"

Halfway through her sentence, Eucalyptus suddenly realized that leaving her homeland, leaving her mother and familiar relatives, and throwing her life into an unknown territory... was probably no different from gambling in her mother's eyes.

Before arriving in District 12, she had been told that there were deadly diseases, the shadow of war, and complex power struggles among local forces... However, from the moment she landed in District 12 until that bloody night, those days were as wonderful as a dream. Those risks seemed to exist only in "theory," and she almost forgot that she was in a place known for its chaos and danger.

She certainly understood that such a meteoric rise in life couldn't last forever, but... when it actually happened, it was often a different story altogether.

Hazel is picking a stock, while she is choosing a destiny.

"...What?" Hazel asked, noticing Eucalyptus's sudden absent-mindedness. "You just said your stock-picking skills are basically what?"

Eucalyptus shook her head—yes, she probably didn't have a knack for picking stocks, but she had never questioned the value of coming to District 12, learning to fly, making a lot of friends, or participating in farm teaching. Even though she had wasted almost the last few months in pain, she had never regretted embarking on this path.

The only thing that made her waver and feel uneasy was probably just one question:
Look at the kind of people living on this farm! Does an ordinary person like her, who is mediocre and has no background, have the qualifications and strength to withstand the blows of fate?

Did she accidentally enter a game that wasn't meant for her?
Seeing the atmosphere freeze again, Hazel awkwardly licked his dry lips. The old man picked up the iron cup, took a big gulp, and decided he would never take on this kind of spiritual mentorship again.

"Anyway, if you're interested, I can let you play around with it, open an account, and dabble in it with a little money," Hazel said in a relaxed tone. "When you don't have money in your account, you always think people who 'buy high and sell low' are stupid, but when you're in the account, you're prone to doing silly things—you'll get used to it after a few times, it's nothing, it's all tuition."

Eucalyptus burst into laughter, and she reached out to press her already slightly moist eyes.

"Then... under normal circumstances... how many times does a person have to go through this before they no longer need to pay tuition?"

Hazel was amused by this childish question.

"Once you've learned it, you won't need to pay attention."

Tiexi raised his cup to the two of them, and the three cups clinked together. Tiexi said jokingly, "A toast to tuition fees!"

Eucalyptus drank the entire cup of milk tea in one gulp, and a warm feeling rose from his stomach, as if something that had been blocking his stomach was melting away.

“Then I have another question,” Eucalyptus said, turning to Hazel, “Is there a scenario where the entire stock market crashes, everyone loses everything, and no one—once they step into this exchange—is spared?”

"Yes, but I've never encountered one."

"What if we encounter that?"

Hazel spread his hands: "I don't know, I hope we don't run into it."

"Just don't put all your money in," Tie Xi said. "These kinds of things are a gamble where you have to accept the consequences."

"...But what if I want to put all my assets into it, or what if I've already put all my assets into it?"

Tiexi let out a hearty laugh: "I can't give you advice, I don't know how to avoid it, or how to get out... but I think that moment might be wonderful." "Ah," Eucalyptus's eyes widened slightly, "wonderful?"

"Yes, it's like watching a carefully designed model being toppled, collapsing completely, quickly, and devastatingly like dominoes, and all you can do is stand by and watch, making sure you don't miss any detail of the death process."

Tiexi winked lightly at Eucalyptus with his right eye: "Trust me, before the last domino falls, you might still have the leisure to make yourself a cup of coffee—"

Hazel chimed in at the opportune moment: "Or take a picture before the fire goes out."

The two clinked glasses again in perfect unison. Eucalyptus belatedly realized that Hazel was referring to the night the main house was set on fire. Her laughter came a beat late, but it was still light.

……

As midnight approached, Sire and Clara headed toward the corner tower at the top of the castle.

They spent the first half of the night talking with almost all the guests, and the information they collected was sometimes mutually corroborating and sometimes contradictory. They could tell that some people had seen through their identities from the very beginning—although neither of them knew how that person did it, the fact that "someone could see through a non-existent identity at a glance" was itself a kind of information.

That person is the actress who plays old Eileen. Neither Sire nor Clara know her name, but they might find the answer when they meet Ximoya and the others later.

"Damn it, why can't we use the elevator?" Clara's voice was tinged with annoyance. "And the restrooms aren't even open on every floor..."

"Maybe that's what happened that night? I remember the files mentioned that some areas inside the castle were under construction and maintenance at the time, right? And—"

"Ah, now is not the time to talk about these things!"

Si Lei suppressed a laugh: "Don't rush, don't rush, we're almost there, I remember it's around here..."

The two ran side by side up the stone steps and soon reached the fifth floor. The waiter downstairs said that this was the only public restroom open that night.

"We're here!" Si Lei pointed to the gate not far away. "Is it there?"

Clara practically sprinted toward the place that looked exactly like a toilet, only to bump into a figure inside the moment she opened the door.

At the moment of impact, Clara felt that the other person was very weak and fell backward with almost no power to resist. Clara instinctively reached out and grabbed her, and the two rolled together in an awkward position before crashing heavily into the tiled wall of the toilet—but Clara herself became the human cushion.

"...Are you alright?" Clara asked, concerned, but knowing she had reached her limit, she ignored the pain in her body and hurriedly stood up to leave. "Si Lei, come and see how this person is—hurry!"

Si Lei quickly reached the man's side and helped him up with both hands.

"Ah, it's you," Si Lei immediately recognized the face—it was the old man who played old Eileen tonight. "Are you alright?"