I was raised in the simulator, and I’m really not a bad woman in Ark!

[Ji hopes that you will go find Shu in the end, and has made a piece of clothing for you with the national destiny of Da Yan to help you fight against the years.]

[Fourth Brother told you to take care of your body, and left you some poisonous recipes that could harm you, which you then swallowed.]

[Sixth Brother cooked a good meal for you, then silently dies in the kitchen.]

[At this moment, your tears have already dried up. ]

[So even though you feel sad about Nian's death, you can no longer shed tears.]

[You are not numb, you just keep telling yourself in your heart that everything is worth it, no one is dead, you will die, you will win, and everyone will definitely come back.]

[So after burying Nian's dagger, you went to where Xi was.]

[And returned to the hut that he had been away from for many years. ]

[As you walked into the painting arranged by Xi, the familiar figure sensed your presence and rushed into your arms and hugged you. ]

[You, who have been going crazy because you killed your own relatives time and time again, can't help but be stunned for a moment, and in a trance, you seem to recall the day of separation many years ago. ]

[On that day, the person in your arms also held you like this. ]

[Only this time, she hugged you even tighter, tears welled up in the corners of her eyes, and her body trembled slightly, as if she was afraid that you would disappear without a word again...]

……

Chapter 56: The only viable path left is the path of sin

The soft body crashed into his arms, bringing with it a familiar yet somewhat unfamiliar fragrance.

The unprepared Taole was stunned for a moment.

"evening……"

Looking at the beautiful girl in his arms who hadn't changed at all as she did back then, Tao slowly hugged her. To be honest, Xi's sudden "attack" on her surprised her a little.

After all, she heard from Ling Henian that Xi had locked herself in the painting for a long, long time.

Tao originally thought that he might need to take the initiative to tear open Xi's painting in order to see this sister who had closed herself off.

Unexpectedly, Xi rushed into his arms the moment he arrived.

"Tao..., you still remember to come back. Do you know... do you know how scared I have been all these years?"

Wrapped in the familiar embrace, Xi felt the breath that made her feel at ease, even though Tao had changed and even though Tao had grown a lot compared to before.

But Xi Yi still recognized at the first sight that this was the youngest sister whom he had missed for years.

After rushing into this familiar and warm embrace, Yuimoto thought he would scold his sister for breaking the appointment with an dissatisfied and resentful tone, but after the words came out of his mouth, the voice became tearful.

Yeah...Xi is really scared.

Jie died, Tao disappeared, and recently the eldest brother died, and the second sister, Ling, Nian, the youngest brother, Ji, the fourth brother, and the fifth brother are all dead...

The only fragments left were Xi himself, Tao, Shu, and that annoying second brother.

The once huge Sui family compound now has only four people left.

Even though Xi had walked out of the shadow brought by Sui with the help of Tao, the bad news that followed reawakened Xi's past nightmares.

Despite the influence of Tao, Xi was not immediately shrouded in the shadow of the past.

But after Xi's search for Tao was fruitless, the fear in her heart and the shadow of the past made her finally lock herself in the scroll again...

Over the years, Xi, who has been shutting herself off from others, is really scared.

She was not only afraid that she might die like Jie, but she was also afraid that Tao, who tried to help Jie, would also encounter accidents and mistakes like Jie.

In the past few years, the continuous deaths of the fragments made Xi, who was hiding in the scroll, feel suffocating pressure and fear.

It was as if the Grim Reaper's scythe would be against his neck at any time.

Rang Xi's heart seemed to be constantly pulled by a whirlpool of death and fear. Even if he placed the scales given by Tao on his heart, he could not feel at ease.

If Tao had not returned here immediately, Xi felt that he would probably gradually go to extremes or even go crazy in the anxiety of painting?

After all, everyone is dead, if even Tao disappears.

Then Xi felt that it was time to wake up from this great dream of the human world.

As a master of painting, Xi's pride and inner fear made her prefer to commit suicide rather than let others kill her.

Fortunately, the appearance of Tao gave Xi, who was on the verge of collapse in the darkness, a glimmer of hope.

Otherwise, Xi felt that it would not be long before he would go crazy and would not want to face the reality and would disappear on his own.

"Xi." Tao looked at the fragile look of his sister in his arms. The collar of his shirt was now wet with Xi's tears, which made him feel a little overwhelmed. He could only stroke Xi's back and hair gently as he had done before. He spoke slowly with a bit of guilt and complexity.

"I'm sorry I didn't come back in time and made you worry."

"I'm sorry about what happened to everyone. You must have suffered a lot over the years, right?"

Tao knew very well that Xi's current fragile appearance was closely related to his plan.

Even though Xi doesn't interact or hang out with everyone much on weekdays, he actually cares about his brothers and sisters silently.

She would silently note down their preferences, and on their birthdays, pretending not to care, send them an exquisite scroll of paintings. But in fact, Xi had often started preparing this "inadvertent" scroll a long time ago.

Tao and Xi had witnessed all that during the years they lived together.

Although every time Tao asked Xi whether these scrolls were gifts she prepared, Xi's answer looked clueless and indifferent, but Tao also knew that these behaviors were just Xi's tsundere disguise.

How could it be possible that the fragments that disappeared one after another would not affect Xi?

Even though he felt sorry for Xi who was sobbing in his arms at the moment, Tao had already come this far and there was no way he would give up as he was only one step away from success.

So I’m sorry...Sister Xi.

A dark blood color flashed across Tao's pale golden eyes.

If it was at the beginning, she naturally wouldn't be able to do it, but now there is no way back.

In addition, she also successfully extracted everyone's "humanity" and "memory" from the power in her body, although everyone's consciousness fell into a chaotic and hazy state again.

But as long as everyone leaves their bodies with authority in the future and answers the question of "Who am I" again.

Whether it is the great people whose authority is well preserved, or Jie whose authority is only partially retained by Tao, they will be resurrected in a true sense.

So she won't hesitate.

At this moment, Xi obviously didn't know Tao's inner thoughts and plans.

Instead, after hearing Tao's words, she could no longer hold back the suppressed emotions brought about by the pent-up fear and anxiety in her heart, and she burst into tears completely. At the same time, she raised her head as if she had thought of something.

A beautiful and exquisite face with tears on it, red eyes looked at Tao, and choked up a little as she spoke:

"Wu, promise... promise, don't forget our promise..."

"You promised that you would never leave me until you have completely helped me. Tao, you can't lie to me."

"Otherwise...otherwise, woo, woo, I will ignore you for the rest of my life."

Xi has never forgotten the promise she made. She used to not care about the so-called lifetime.

But at this moment, Xi, who had lost almost all her relatives, just wanted to use the promise that Tao made to her when he held her in his arms to lock up her sister tightly.

This was true even though she was taller than him.

"A promise... huh?"

Tao looked at Xi who suddenly brought out the original promise. The precious memories buried deep in his heart were like a painting with the dust wiped off, reminding Tao of the night when he and Xi reunited after a long separation.

I remembered the agreements between Xi and myself, the efforts I made to help Xi, and the changes Xi made in response to me.

For Tao at that time, the real joy she felt was not that she had changed Xi.

But Xi was willing to make changes in response to her efforts.

A person's simple efforts cannot bring any good. Only when that effort is responded to, will everything seem meaningful.

And when I heard Xi talk about this promise that belonged to my past self.

If the first fragment I saw was Xi, after seeing Xi's words and her current fragile appearance, I would probably really be soft-hearted and postpone or even give up my plan, right?

However, the first person Tao looked for and saw was not Xi after all...

"Forgive me, sister."

"This is the first time I've broken an appointment, and it will be the last time."

Tao pursed his lips, looking at Xi who was so fragile in front of him that she seemed like she would disappear at any time. He suppressed the heavy sadness in his heart, with unspeakable apology, and finally used up all his strength.

Speak these words word by word.

Reluctantly, he closed his eyes and looked at Xi. For the sake of his own plan, Tao suppressed the last reluctance and hesitation in his heart.

"Eh?" Xi looked at Tao who had his eyes closed, his mind going blank.

She never thought that Tao, who had always agreed with her, tolerated her, and indulged her no matter what she asked for, would reject her at this moment.

Xi felt a sharp pain in her chest at this moment, but it was not because she was sad.

Because at this moment she was more confused about Tao's rejection of her rather than sad.

She believed that Tao had his reasons for saying this.

Xi just wanted Tao to stay with her and not leave her. It was enough for him to stay with her.

But she lowered her head in a daze, looking at the cloth slowly stained with her blood, and the black mist gradually spreading from Tao's body.

And the aura and authority that belong to the other fragments.

At this moment, Xi seemed to realize something, and also realized the reason for the pain, and why Tao closed his eyes after saying those words.

It was also at this moment that Xi understood why everyone disappeared so quickly instead of gathering together to discuss countermeasures.

but……

This is good too. If it were a Tao, it wouldn't be lonely even if it was killed, right?

It's just a pity..., that painting probably can't be delivered to Tao's hands personally...

Really... I'm a little unwilling.

The amber eyes that had gradually lost their color slowly closed weakly, bringing out the last tear of regret, but when it was about to slide down, it was stained by Tao's fingers.

Afterwards, after Xi's figure completely disappeared in the black fog, Tao opened his eyes again, looked at the neat little hut in front of him, and put the drop of Xi's tears into his mouth.

Feeling the bitterness, Tao walked into the house and looked at the tidy cottage that was decorated just as it was when she left, and the bright and beautiful painting placed in the center of the house.

After a long silence, Tao looked at the painting and suddenly smiled for some reason, but this also left a wet mark on the perfect painting that did not belong to it.

Finally, I could not help but murmur bitterly in this room where I was the only one left.

"Although the painting is beautiful, it is nothing but an empty dream..."

"But... it's beautiful, Xi, and congratulations. Without me, you can take good care of yourself..."

Looking at the girl in the painting who looked very similar to himself at the moment and was surrounded by everyone and smiling softly, Tao wished that everything in the painting was the reality at the moment.

But unfortunately, this painting is just a painting after all.

At this moment, Tao can only walk alone on this road full of sins, with no other choice...

Chapter 57: You've grown up, Tao

【You can't stop anymore.】

[After taking care of Xi's room in the end, he used his authority to ensure that it would never be destroyed by the passage of time, and would never be approached by wild beasts or outsiders.]

[You left this place and headed to your last stop - Dahuang City.]

[Your feelings towards the millet you are about to meet are very complicated. ]