Like the most basic chord in a song, it is peaceful and soothing.

The melody attracted Orson to a wooden house with a half-open door. Orson gently pushed the door open, walked into the room, and noticed the Elafia girl lying on the bed.

The little deer lay motionless on the bed. After the initial panic, Orson immediately realized that the girl in front of him was not sleeping soundly, but in some deeper, unconscious coma.

There are pictures here, which can be viewed after the updated version

Next to the wooden bed hung a simple calendar with notes marking approximately 60 days on it.

Is it time to faint?

Even at such a close distance, Orson still couldn’t sense any “breath of life” from the girl.

But… that [melody] is still flowing slowly.

Like a moth to a flame, Orson was drawn to the melody and slowly walked to the girl.

03. Hang out with Tallulah

It was pitch black.

I didn’t know what happened, but when I came to my senses, I was already enveloped in endless darkness.

Orson tried hard not to let his consciousness be distracted. When his brain concentrated, the chaotic and disordered darkness also underwent some changes.

The pitch-black infinity was gradually arranged and combined, like a musical score, turning into an existence with rhythm and arrangement meaning.

Then, light suddenly burst out and flashed, and the strong light forced Orson to close his eyes.

When he opened his eyes again, Orson found himself sitting in a dandelion garden.

The endless light green dandelion field stretched to the edge of the horizon, and next to Orson sat a girl.

“Xiao Sen, did you go to fight again today?”

The girl was Orson’s childhood sweetheart. She pouted and asked Orson, who had a bandage on his head, angrily.

“Because those bastards said you were a short-lived ghost! If we don’t teach them a lesson, they’ll say anything!”

Orson responded angrily with his fists clenched, while the girl burst out laughing.

“What they said is true. Anyway, Komori, why don’t you try to be kind to the world? If you approach the world with kindness, you may get unexpected good things~”

The girl suggested to Orson with a smile, but the latter still frowned.

“That’s not the case… The world isn’t that simple. Even a gentle person like you who smiles at everyone won’t get anything in return, so I’d rather—”

Before he could finish his words, the girl held Orson’s hand tightly.

“No, I won’t stop your ‘evil’ because that’s the way you chose to survive, but don’t sacrifice your kindness for me, Xiaosen. It’s not worth it.”

The girl smiled at Orson, but for some reason, he couldn’t see her face clearly. Dandelions filled the air with a gentle breeze, as soft and ethereal as a white curtain.

“Go find a better existence, one for whom you are willing to give up everything, even this gentle existence.”

“Wait a moment–“

When I came to my senses, the dandelion garden in my dream had disappeared, and the pure white fluff had turned into cold snowflakes.

“What’s going on… huh?”

Orson’s consciousness returned to the wooden house at the edge of the camp. After a brief moment of loss, Orson suddenly found that he had held the left hand of the unconscious Elafia girl in front of him without knowing when.

“Sorry for the hug!”

Orson tried to let go in a panic, but he suddenly realized that it was not him who was holding the deer’s hand, but the other party who was holding Orson’s palm tightly.

Could it be that……?

Before he had time to think, Orson suddenly felt a warm current on his back – no, it could be called “warmth” at the first moment, but soon this warmth turned into “burning”.

“Boom!!”

The fragile wooden door was slammed open, and Orson only had time to turn around and see the true face of the person rushing in – Tallulah. The next second, he was knocked to the ground by the other party.

Tallulah put her left hand against Orson’s chest, and drew the big sword from her waist with her right hand, with the sharp tip of the sword pointing directly at Orson’s throat.

“The last person I killed with this sword was the culprit of everything. You don’t deserve to be the second one to die, but I don’t mind!”

“Is it unfair?!”

Tallulah roared, Orson also roared, one was furious, the other was cowardly.

“I-I just felt a certain aura… or should I say [melody]? Anyway, it was something like that that brought me here, and I didn’t do anything afterwards! I seemed to see something, um, what did I see? It seemed like I missed it, I missed it very much, but…”

Orson became somewhat incoherent as he spoke. Ever since he was locked up in the barn with the infected and waited to die, and witnessed the passing of countless lives, Orson’s mental state had become somewhat abnormal.

“…”

Seeing Oser being pinned to the ground by her, speaking incoherently as if because of fear of death, Tallulah did not stab with the sword, but was stunned, because the corners of the eyes of the young man in front of her were oozing with transparent liquid.

“…Are you crying because you’re afraid of death? Can you face death honestly like a man or a warrior?”

Tallulah sighed and asked Orson.

“Is there really no option to not die?! And I’m not… Eh? What’s going on… Why am I crying?”

Orson realized it later and only then realized that the liquid was not his cold sweat, but tears flowing from his eyes.

What’s going on… There’s obviously nothing worth being sad about, why is this happening?

Unlike Orson, who was flustered and blushing because he felt so lame for crying in front of a girl, Tallulah just looked at the young man in silence.

This guy had been acting like a complete idiot so far, but for some reason, his actions seemed free of any impurities—in other words, this guy’s clumsiness didn’t seem fake.

“How on earth did you…”

“I heard a strange sound!” “Is the sound coming from here?” “It seems to be nearby, everyone search!”

The voices of the infected people were heard outside the house, which not only interrupted Tallulah’s words, but also made the Drake look “panicked” for a moment.

“–Well!”

Talulah immediately stood up from the ground and put away her sword. She quickly looked around and set her sights on the closet on the other side of the room. She opened the closet door without hesitation, but before Talulah could get in, she turned around and saw Orson lying on the ground in confusion. After hesitating for half a second, she returned to Orson’s side.

“Don’t say anything”

“Ah? I—ow!?”

Orson was stuffed directly into the closet by Tallulah, and then she also crawled into the closet.

“Is this room—is it the unconscious teacher?” “Let’s not disturb her for now. It’s been so long since Tallulah carried her back, and she still hasn’t woken up?”

Outside the closet, several infected people were talking in the room, and inside the closet, Talulah and Orson were almost pressed together. Orson could see his own reflection in the other’s pupils so close to him, and could even see the hot breath coming out of the nose of this infected person who would become the driving force behind countless disasters in the future and would be responsible for the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.

Putting aside the heat, Orson once again felt a certain [melody]. Unlike the simple yet soothing chord sound before, the melody he felt this time was like some kind of restrained drum beat, mixed with an extremely disharmony, weird and harsh sound.

But Orson had no time to listen to the melody, nor did he have the energy to experience the touch of the “walking disaster” up close.

At this moment, Orson’s only feeling was:

——Hot hot hot hot!!

It wasn’t just hot air; what came out of Tallulah’s nose was simply… dragon’s breath.

Orson felt like he understood what it felt like to be stuffed with microwaved food.

04. Sasha and Ino’s private tutor

Although it was actually only a dozen seconds, it felt like several hours to Orson. After the crisis was over, the cabinet door was pushed open by Tallulah. She forced her expression to make herself look unshaken. Orson walked out behind her and looked like he had just taken a sauna. White smoke from the high temperature was floating all over his body, and he exuded the scent of freshly baked steamed buns in a steamer.

“that……”

“You have no memory or impression of what just happened. I’ve never been here, nor have I met you. Do you understand? Or is the thing on the collar actually a decoration that can be melted?”

Although Orson wanted to say something, Tallulah interrupted him directly and expressed the main idea of “If you dare to tell anyone, you’re dead” in very short and simple words.

“Dang dang dang dang!”

Orson nodded like a chicken pecking at rice, indicating that he would never tell anyone even if he was beaten to death. Only then did Tallulah close her eyes slightly, sigh, and signal the other party to leave quickly.

After leaving the cabin, Orson glanced back. Before the wooden door closed, he saw Tallulah standing beside the unconscious girl with a sad and patient expression.

In the romantic comedy-like situation just now, except that the temperature was a little too high, Orson also felt Tallulah’s [melody] more clearly.

It was a burning pain. Although it seemed to have an unyielding light at first glance, there was a kind of twisted darkness hidden behind it. And then, there was the loneliness that gradually spread and tried to devour everything.

“How is this going……”

Orson rubbed his temples. What did these melodies represent, and what could he do about it? Why did the unconscious Elafia girl have such a strange feeling?

Orson decided not to think about these questions for the time being. When he returned to the center of the settlement, he noticed that White Rabbit seemed to be organizing some action. After asking the infected warriors, he learned that she was going to organize some people to go back tomorrow morning to completely deal with the destroyed village.

“So, the Snow Monster Squad consists of two people, me, the Guerrilla Squad of five, and the Shield Guardian. That’s the rough configuration. Is there anyone else who wants to join the operation?”

“I want, too!”

Orson raised his chained hand and tried to sign up for the event.

“(￣^￣`)…Rejected.”

When Frost Star noticed that it was Orson, she showed an expression of annoyance, but immediately rejected it in a serious tone.

“I’m the only survivor of that village, right? If that’s the case, I feel it’s my duty to witness the end of that village.”

“…”

Orson’s reason made Frost Star frown and ponder. However, before Big Rabbit could make a judgment, Tallulah’s voice came from behind him:

“Don’t let him come into contact with the village yet.”

Tallulah and Orson looked at each other. Orson looked up at the sky somewhat embarrassedly, while Tallulah also looked away unexpectedly.

“Then what should we let him do? Just leave him wandering around the village?”

Froststar asked.

“Um… Froststar, are your handcuffs functioning properly?”

Tallulah asked after thinking for a few seconds.

“That handcuff chain is encrusted with Originium. I can freeze my entire arm off with just a little Originium technique. Where’s your collar, Tallulah?”

“Would melt his head in 3 seconds.”

“Sister, are you treating me like a forest ice and fire man?…”

Orson touched his neck and wrist fearfully.

“In that case, let’s assign him some work. Which position is most in need of people?”

Tallulah looked at the infected warriors beside her, and they looked at each other in confusion.

“Ever since that Elafia fell into a coma, the children have been without a teacher.”

“teacher……”

Tallulah thought of something and glanced at Orson.

—-

—-

“At the end of the story, Simon gave up all the identity rights he once had. He was no longer a hero or a leader, but returned to his original and most fundamental identity – Simon the digger.”

Orson took a sip of water to moisten his throat.

“Well, that’s the whole story. Is there anything else you didn’t understand, Sasha?”

In a corner of the village, Orson sat on a blanket and told a story, while in front of him were several young infected people under the age of 10.

“Why doesn’t Simon use that spiral power to kill all the bad guys in the world?”

The seaweed-haired boy from the snake tribe named Sasha asked in confusion, while Orson knocked on the blackboard to signal the other party to listen carefully.

“Because the core of this story is that even if people have infinite possibilities, they must never let power change their original intentions!”

“Tsk…”

Sasha didn’t feel convinced by Orson’s explanation, but he didn’t know how to refute it.

“What about you, Ino? You’ve been thinking about something just now. Can you tell me about it?”