Witch, Fireball and Steam Evil God

Chapter 372 Beyond the Story
"You, yes, I'm talking about you, come with me."

The amusing white-haired girl spoke to Ethan, then ran barefoot into one of the cubicles. When Ethan entered, she had already put on a white lab coat like the researchers, found a pair of black-rimmed glasses without lenses from somewhere, and then took out a notebook and a pointer, and began to teach Ethan in a very professional manner.

The course content focuses on the aesthetic advantages of white hair and red eyes in humans:
I. Visual impact: The aesthetic tension of color conflict.

II. Metaphorical superposition of cultural symbols.

III. Alienated Aesthetics in Cognitive Psychology.

IV. Gene Evolution and Divine Factors.

The handwriting in the notebook was neat and tidy. Ethan never expected that he would be so impressed by a girl who looked twenty years younger than him. He just thought that white hair and red eyes suited his aesthetic, but he didn't expect that this girl had elevated it to a theoretical level.

Especially when she solemnly concluded that "white hair and red eyes are essentially the ultimate projection of humanity's contradictory aesthetics—seeing eternity in destruction and touching divinity in taboo," Ethan almost blurted out the word "teacher."

Speaking of teachers...

He inevitably saw another familiar shadow in this interesting little white-haired girl.

"Have you learned it?"

The little girl took a deep breath and slowly closed the notebook. Her voice sounded authoritative, which contrasted sharply with her height of less than 1.4 meters.

"...White hair and red eyes, the best in the world?"

Ethan said tentatively.

The girl finally showed a satisfied expression. Her lips curled up slightly, her arms crossed, and she nodded repeatedly. "Yes, that's it. You can get full marks in this course, but as the saying goes, there is no end to learning. Let me test you again."

"Ok?"

What's your girlfriend's hair color?

"White."

"Is it natural or highlighted?"

"It should be natural."

"And what about the eye color?"

"Red eyes."

"You're not wearing colored contact lenses, are you?"

"No."

"Very good, excellent! It seems you have completely mastered the content of this course."

This left Ethan somewhat dazed. For a moment, he couldn't tell whether his fondness for white hair and red eyes was innate or a product of theoretical learning. Judging from the attitude of this interesting white-haired girl towards him, it wasn't hard to tell that this wasn't their first meeting.

The fact that the researchers in the lab couldn't see her might also suggest that she wasn't actually there at all.

This may just be one of the fragments of memory existing in his subconscious.

"What's your name?"

After a moment, Ethan asked.

"A question you already know the answer to will be deducted 2 points."

The little girl with white hair puffed up her chubby cheeks.

Ethan leaned back comfortably in a chair in the room, a cozy little house somewhat similar in layout to a single hospital room, but it was clear that the owner had carefully decorated it. Two bobbleheads sat on the chair near the window, and a handmade pendant hung from the bedside lamp.

When he came to his senses, the little girl was already standing in front of him, staring at him with her bright red eyes like a curious kitten. "You really can't remember?"

"Ah."

"congratulations."

She smiled genuinely. "You have indeed changed a lot."

This was the second time Ethan had heard the same thing recently. He had seen Little Dark say the same thing when he met her in the contaminated area of ​​Darkforge City. But this was not a good sign, because it was not hard to tell from the limited information that he did not seem to be a good person in the past, and was getting closer and closer to the title of "psychopathic killer".

The white-haired girl seemed to have been opened up. She moved a chair to sit next to Ethan, used her pointer as a makeshift microphone, and began the interview, "Please answer, what does it feel like to be with your girlfriend?"

The question seemed mundane, yet it struck a chord deep within Ethan, leaving him lost in thought.

What's it like to be with the winter?
This dates back to a year ago when they reunited in Riverwood. Their relationship progressed faster than he expected, so fast it felt almost unreal.

Countless memories from the past year flooded his mind, those images surfacing in Ethan's head, yet he couldn't give a precise answer.

The little girl with white hair swung her legs leisurely, her smile growing wider.

She has already received the best answer.

If Ethan were to pull out a notebook like she did and launch into a well-structured explanation of emotional theories, she would be greatly disappointed.

As those fragments of memory faded, Ethan almost immediately recalled that he had informed Winter that he would be working overtime at the company and would be going home late. He could easily imagine Winter muttering on the other end of the phone, but sometimes he also needed to give himself a break. Perhaps with Winter's intelligence, he would come up with a countermeasure next time.

However, Ethan is not opposed to this kind of backstabbing and scheming interaction in life.

"See, I told you, humans are not hard to understand."

Hey! How can you talk like that?
Ethan was surprised that this seemingly harmless girl was secretly implying that he wasn't human.

First, he must clarify that he has never had a 0-19 record in any match.

But deep down, Ethan knew this wasn't an investigation into his battle record or DPS, but rather a statement of fact. The fact was already obvious: it was unlikely that humans could create contaminated zones using dreams. In people's minds, this was the power of the Old Gods.

Only the Old Gods could tear a gap in the world they lived in.

The little girl with white hair is an honest child; she has already hinted at enough.

She smiled and extended her left hand to herself.

The moment his hand touched his palm, countless fragments of the laboratory flashed before his eyes, like a movie sped up a thousand times.

These are not his memories.

Everything that happened in the laboratory overturned the story of the company boss and his comatose daughter in "Crimson's" memory. He watched from the perspective of the test subjects as batches of children were sent into the laboratory, as they were taken into the operating room, as their condition grew weaker day by day until they disappeared completely.

According to the researchers' lies, the missing children were all sent out of the lab, raised by good families, and lived affluent lives.

In reality, late at night, researchers would pile up the bodies covered in white sheets and take them to a place unknown to them for disposal. The researchers constantly told them that this was an experiment concerning the future of humanity, that each of them was a vital national treasure. This swayed many with a sense of mission, gradually leading them astray. In this near-brainwashing process, they stopped asking about the specifics of the experiment, and the pain inflicted by the equipment was simply a necessary step in creating a better future.

However, the experiment never progressed smoothly.

No matter what the researchers tried, what drugs they injected, or how they cut open their bodies with scalpels, they could not get the results they wanted.

Even if the top scholars in the field of genetics gathered together, they would not be able to explain the "racial differences" theory.

This kind of life continued day after day, until one day, after a powerful earthquake, people from outside brought terrible news.

Their city was destroyed.

Most residents perished in the earthquake, with only a few escaping unharmed by taking refuge in shelters.

This means that everyone in the lab has failed.

As the city's "hope," they were unable to prevent it from happening before the city was destroyed.

However, the experiment did not stop there. After despair, the survivors found a new spark in the destroyed city. The search and rescue team found a jet-black lotus flower in the destroyed city, which contained some kind of energy beyond comprehension. The researchers believed that this would be the key to changing everything.

A new study is urgently needed.

They need to do more.

Some people glimpsed a new path at the end of science, which gave them an even more insane idea.

Maybe……

They can create a "god".

Ethan witnessed the fall of the City of Truth from another perspective, but because he stayed in the shelter's laboratory the whole time, he still had no way of knowing the truth about the "earthquake." However, the snippets of conversation between the researchers had already revealed enough information. In fact, he had a strange premonition from the first day he returned to the dream world.

The democratic parliament seemed to have known all along that the city was destined for destruction.

They not only foresaw the city's fate but also precisely grasped the countdown to its destruction, giving them ample time to construct a large shelter beneath the city's surface and even select those to enter.

"This time, perhaps you will witness the end of the story."

The white-haired girl gripped his hand tightly. "But be careful of the enemies outside the story."

Ethan was somewhat dazed. The sensation from his palm turned into a hallucination. He watched as the other person's body became fainter and fainter until it was completely transparent.

The people in the laboratory are still busy.

Now, he must choose between two different versions of the story.

"Yo."

As I left the lab, a familiar figure was already waiting at the corner of the corridor.

"Section Chief Lin."

"It seems you've found out quite a bit of inside information, but before that, there's something else I want to tell you."

Merlin lit a cigarette for himself, the smell of nicotine spreading through the corridor, much better than the secondhand smoke in the shelter.

Not long ago, he made a decision.

"Forget about Pioneer Corporation and that large-scale live-action holographic game; those are ideas we planted in your mind."

This time, there were no beating around the bush, no jokes or banter, but rather an open and honest conversation.

This is clearly a serious violation of the shelter's confidentiality agreement. He could ruin the efforts of countless people. Just that one sentence is enough to warrant his immediate execution.

But a series of recent events have led Merlin to suspect that the committee never intended to rebuild their city in the first place, fulfilling their promise to bring sunshine to everyone.

Rather than waiting to die in ignorance, he decided to take action.

Moreover, he was running out of time; today might be his only chance to meet Ethan.

"If you have a way to prevent the rest of the conversation from being overheard by others, I would be extremely grateful."

His request was immediately fulfilled.

The cigarette smoke trail froze in mid-air, all the noise vanished in that instant, as if the flow of time had stopped, and it was as if the whole world consisted only of him and Ethan.

This gave Merlin goosebumps.

He began his introduction, saying, "Perhaps you are more familiar with the name 'Merlin'."

"Go on."

“Mr. Ethan, you are a capable man, so powerful that you might be able to bring new life to a destroyed world. Therefore, many people in our area place their hopes on you. This is our Plan A, which is to try to implant an idea in your mind and make you one of us. If all goes well, we will focus on conveying the truth about the destruction of the world to you in the future.”

The story of the boss and his daughter will continue. In fact, when the dream experiment just began, Chen Qi still intended to carry out the plan they had previously made.

Find a way to convince Ethan that life in the "other world" is a real game that has lasted for two years, and that he has actually been in a deep sleep in a cryo-chamber. He will wake up in his sleep and face the destroyed world with them.

Merlin frankly stated, "Personally, I still really like this low-risk, happy ending."

A world where no one gets hurt—that's what everyone in the shelter wants.

"But things didn't go smoothly."

Ethan raised an eyebrow.

This is not surprising, as whenever someone mentions the "original plan," it usually means that the original plan did not go very smoothly.

"Unfortunately, I discovered that the committee has been hiding many things from us. You might not believe it, but by our generation, very few people remember how the world was destroyed. From the moment we were born, we stayed in the shelter, told by adults that we must never return to the surface, as it would bring disaster."

Merlin paused briefly, "I believe the committee is just as eager as everyone else to have you by our side, but perhaps they have different reasons."

What he had to do now was to eliminate as many distracting options as possible for Ethan and tell him everything he knew.

Merlin heard many stories about Ethan.

Ethan believes that sincere communication can solve many problems, and this time, he decided to place his faith in Ethan.

“Actually, the section chief you met yesterday was one of our minister’s men. I admit I lied to you about his case,” Merlin said. “At 4:12 a.m. this morning, he was found dead in his home by his neighbor. The police believe it was a suicide, which is why I had to find you—maybe by this time tomorrow, the police will also find my body in the apartment, but before that, I have done everything I could.”

(End of this chapter)