I've already said this isn't a life simulator!

However, just as the two men reached the edge of town, where Celine lived, they found that the door had already been opened.

This is obviously not normal, because at this time, Xilin should still be catching up on sleep, and the door should be locked!

So... something happened!

The two reacted immediately, almost simultaneously rushing forward, bursting open the half-closed door, and rushing into the inner room.

Then they saw a strangely dressed man with a fierce expression and eerie purple markings spreading across his neck, choking Sirin by the neck, as if he wanted to kill her.

"Stay away from my daughter!" (swearing)

The man went up and delivered a flying kick, but surprisingly, the strange man didn't budge at all; instead, the man himself was thrown to the ground by the recoil.

However, this action also attracted the man's attention. He quickly turned over and roughly grabbed Xilin by the neck, throwing her towards the two of them. The boss was so frightened that he quickly withdrew his intention to beat him and hurriedly caught Xilin as she was thrown.

The enormous impact still slammed him against the wall, the intense pain jolting his nerves. But he couldn't care less about that; he quickly checked on Xilin in his arms. He could hear her violent coughing and, after confirming that she hadn't fainted, he finally felt a little relieved.

Looking up, she saw the man already wrestling with the strange fellow. The boss, not even bothering to answer Celine's question, "Is he my father?", quickly led her to the living room, away from the dangerous man. He then dragged a chair and a thermos filled with hot water back, poured the hot water over the strange man's head, and then seized the opportunity to pick up the chair and hit the man, trying to knock him down.

But none of these methods worked on the strange man; instead, they further enraged him, who reached out to grab the boss. Caught off guard, the boss was scratched five times on his arm by the man's fingernails. If it weren't for the man's help, the boss would probably have suffered several more wounds.

"Let's go! Let's go first! Take Sirin with us and get out of here! Something's wrong with this guy! Let's find someone to help!"

The man seized the opportunity and shouted immediately, while simultaneously exerting all his strength to fight against the strangely powerful and extremely irritable man, trying his best to drag him away from the door, away from the boss, away from Sirin, away from... his daughter.

"But you..."

"Let's go! Take Sirin and get out of here first! Then call the police!"

"Okay! I'll be right back!"

The boss realized this wasn't the time to be sentimental, so he immediately turned around, grabbed Xilin who was cautiously peeking out of the living room and witnessing everything, wrapped her in a cotton coat, and carried her out. Before leaving, Xilin and he heard a crisp sound of glass shattering.

Ignoring the noise coming from inside the house, the shopkeeper could only wad through the snow as quickly as possible towards the town center, shouting all the way in the hope that someone nearby would hear him and come to his aid.

"........."

Meanwhile, Xilin stared blankly at her home, which was now receding into the distance.

A few minutes later, people who heard the cries for help rushed over. Even the proprietress hurriedly came to the boss's side and took the somewhat bewildered Xilin from him. Then the boss quickly led everyone back to the house, and after some effort, they managed to subdue the strange man.

only……

"Hey...bro, are you alright...don't scare me like that, don't die..."

While supporting the man, the boss spoke nervously, trying to touch the glass piercing the man's chest, but because he didn't know what to do, his hand kept reaching out and then pulling back, appearing extremely flustered.

"You finally made it back, and you haven't even officially acknowledged yourself as Sirin yet, so please don't die... please don't die!"

"It's okay... I'm... I'm okay."

The man took the strips of cloth handed to him by others and used them to stop the warm blood gushing from his neck. His face was pale, and he weakly replied that the wound on his neck was caused by that strange guy who bit him. That guy was very strong, like a zombie, and almost bit him to death.

"Cirin...are you alright?"

"It's alright, it's alright... The child is fine, you protected him... You did a great job this time..."

"That's good...that's good..."

"Stop talking! Blood! Blood is gushing out again! Where's the doctor?! Hasn't he arrived yet?!"

"it's okay no problem……"

The man's eyelids drooped slightly, then he forced them back up.

"Please help me, please, I need your help..."

His voice was weak, as weak as a candle flame that might dissipate at any moment, yet refused to be extinguished.

"Giving that... to Sirin... was promised by that... that [bard] to... bring a... gift for Sirin."

"To be honest, I have to thank him... otherwise... I wouldn't have had any excuse... to come back and find her..."

"What nonsense are you talking about? What excuse do you have for coming back to see your daughter?!"

"Is...is that so? That's good...that's good..."

"Don't close your eyes! Don't close your eyes! Wake up! Didn't you say you were going to personally deliver that thing to Sirin? Don't fall asleep! Hold on, the doctor will be here soon..."

"It's okay...don't be afraid...Cirin...don't be afraid...Daddy's back...don't be afraid..."

My eyelids are drooping uncontrollably, my head is bowing uncontrollably, my thoughts are becoming sluggish, my vision is becoming blurred, and my perception of my surroundings is becoming weaker and weaker.

Through the haze, I could see that magnificent purple hair and those dazzling golden eyes coming into my sight.

Her lovely face showed a hint of confusion and timidity, but more so, worry and anticipation.

She looked at herself and softly, slowly, uttered that name.

"……dad?"

He heard it—the name that both Xilin and he himself had been waiting for and longing for.

So he raised his head, and even though his vision was already blurred, he still smiled in the direction the voice came from and responded softly.

"...Yes, Dad...is here."

Chapter Twenty-Eight, Third Song: A Promise (5542)

"Auntie, is that... Daddy?"

"Ah."

"Oh...Dad...did he leave again?"

"...Yes, we went to a place even farther than before."

"Then... will Daddy... still turn into a star and watch over me and Celine with Mommy?"

Yes, they... have always been watching you, child.

"But, Auntie..."

Xilin slowly turned her head and looked at the landlady who had taken care of her for so long.

Why is Sirin so...sad?

"The tears... just won't stop..."

“I’ve already seen Daddy, Daddy just came back once, I could have waited for Mommy to come back with Daddy… but why… is Celine still so sad…”

"........."

The proprietress opened her mouth, but couldn't say anything. Her usually anxious and irritable nature now seemed helpless and calm. She could only reach out and gently stroke Xilin's head, smoothing her beautiful purple hair and wiping away her tears, hoping to offer Xilin some comfort.

"...I'm sorry, Auntie, I made you worry."

After a while, Xilin wiped away her tears and smiled at the landlady to show that she was alright.

"I...I'll go back now, just in case Mom comes back tonight...If Mom comes back tonight, that would be great, I can tell her Dad came back, Mom will be so happy!"

"Wait, child, don't..."

Goodbye, Auntie! See you tomorrow night!

Before the proprietress could stop her, Xilin quickly ran away, and the proprietress didn't dare to chase after her. She could only sigh and turn back to take care of her husband...

There was nothing she could do. Ever since that incident, her husband had fallen ill. No one knew what was wrong with that strange guy. Her husband, along with the other injured people, had contracted a strange illness. A bizarre purple pattern began to spread from the wounds, and the injured people themselves became easily agitated and irritable.

Since then, she has had to support the entire restaurant on her own, while also taking care of her husband... She doesn't have much energy left to take care of Celine. In fact, she's now much more grateful for Celine's help, which has reduced her stress considerably.

Although her son offered to take them to town for treatment of the strange illness, she and her husband refused.

On the one hand, she felt that she shouldn't add to the family's burden because of this strange disease. She heard from others that this disease was very strange and there was no way to treat it. The only option was to stay in the hospital for a long time. That would be too expensive. Since she would be in the hospital anyway, she and her husband thought it would be better to stay at home and save some money.

On the other hand, if they stayed here, they could take care of Celine. The child had finally met her father, but that first meeting turned into the last... Even if they deceived the child with some lies, she felt that... Celine probably already knew the truth.

As a result, Celine might also become aware of her mother's situation...

"……Ugh."

What a pitiful child—the proprietress sighed, only able to lament in her heart, feeling helpless and heartbroken.

…………

………………

"........."

Back in her renovated home, Celine silently closed and locked the door, then walked straight ahead. With practiced yet somewhat dazed movements, she lit the fireplace. Watching the slowly rising flames, she hesitated for a long while before finally getting up and heading towards her room.

But when she placed her hand on the doorknob, she instinctively recoiled as if she had been electrocuted, as if she were afraid of something... But in the end, she still put her hand on it and pushed the door open.

Everything inside the room was restored to its original state, just as Sirin remembered, but she just couldn't be happy. Even the tears she had barely managed to hold back welled up again and lingered in her eyes.

She moved her body little by little, changing into her home clothes in front of the wardrobe. However, the stinging pain on her neck made her pause as she took off her clothes. She could only endure the strange feeling, quickly change her clothes, and then raise her hand to gently touch the extremely light purple lines that had appeared on her neck at some unknown time.

Yes, I don't know if it's because Celine was choked by that weird guy back then, which caused her to also contract that strange disease, but the marks are not as obvious as others... In addition, Celine didn't want her aunt to worry, so when she went to help out at the restaurant recently, she made a point of wearing high-necked clothes to cover up the marks on her neck.

"........."

She silently turned her head and looked at the photo frame placed by the bed... It was a photo of her and her mother. Even though it had been broken once before, it had now been replaced with a new frame, making everything look the same as before, without any change.

But Celine knew it wasn't like that...

She stepped forward, gently stroked the carefully preserved photograph, then held it in her arms, along with the bedding her mother had left her, and carried it to the living room.

Find a chair, move it to the window, wrap yourself in the bedding your mother left behind, pour a cup of hot water and place it on the windowsill, hug the photo your mother left behind, and slowly sit down.

"........."

It was a little cold... Even though the fireplace was lit, she was wrapped in the blankets her mother left behind as usual, and she drank warm water as usual, Celine still felt a little cold.

She could even faintly smell the blood on the bedding... It was her father's blood, the only thing he left behind to protect her.

Tears welled up again, her eyes almost overflowing... but Celine quickly buried her head in the blankets and gently wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes.

She's a well-behaved child, she's a sensible child, so... we can't let everyone worry too much.

Mom and Dad wouldn't want to see Celine like this, um—Celine thought to herself.

"It seems... Dad brought me something back..."

Xilin tilted her head and thought for a moment, then gently stood up from the chair, wrapped herself in the blankets, and slowly moved to the table. She rummaged through the corner and found a package, then returned to sit down by the window.

"It seems like it's the song that Brother Xiwang gave us..."