Chapter 211 : Chapter 211 Smile
Crack, crack—
The world of pure white shattered, and a sense of weightlessness enveloped Herta as she plummeted rapidly into the darkness below.
Her hands instinctively reached out to grab something, but there was nothing to grasp.
As far as her eyes could see, there was only a dim mist.
"Qi Zhimu?"
Herta called out his name.
Or... had she been eaten by him?
The moment the thought surfaced, the weightlessness vanished. The tactile feedback told her she was now sitting on the ground.
Her vision gradually cleared.
A somewhat familiar scenery came into view. A piece of paper drifted on the wind from somewhere and landed on her face.
Herta took it off and glanced at it; it was a calendar.
"azure calendar, Year 2136..."
Herta froze. She looked around and then up at the sky.
Fine white snow continued to fall, and snow had accumulated everywhere.
How could a calendar from several hundred years ago be so perfectly preserved?
...Hadn't the Azure Star successfully jumped and reached its new home?
Where was Qi Zhimu?
Even stranger was that, in such an environment, she didn't feel cold at all.
Suddenly, intense spatial fluctuations rippled not far away.
Herta, sensitive to spatial coordinate fluctuations, immediately turned to look.
A figure in the form of a young boy emerged from it, collapsing weakly onto the snow.
"Spatial teleportation..."
Herta recognized the method at a glance, for it was a spatial jump device developed jointly by her parents for use in emergencies.
However, it was extremely difficult to manufacture and could not be mass-produced. They were almost exclusively used for life-saving in critical situations, and were hard to come by for anyone not part of the United Government's core personnel.
Herta observed cautiously for a moment, then walked over quickly. After confirming he was unconscious, she carefully reached out, wanting to help flip him over.
To her surprise, her hand passed right through the boy's body.
"..."
What was going on?
A sudden sharp pain hit her brain. Herta couldn't help but cover her forehead as fragmented memories flashed through her mind.
A few seconds later, her gaze slowly fixed.
This scene... she seemed to suddenly have a vague impression of it...
The sound of hurried footsteps approached. Herta looked toward the source and stood frozen in place.
The person running this way was none other than herself.
With a tender face, she looked only a few years old. That calendar from before should match the timeline here.
Her younger self acted as if she couldn't see her, jogging along with a shoulder bag, completely failing to notice a boy lying face down on the snow.
As she passed, she not only moved through Herta's body but also tripped over the boy, losing her balance and falling forward.
Fortunately, the snow on the ground was thick enough that she wasn't hurt.
Little Herta turned back with a scowl, only to be startled when she found someone lying on the ground.
The sky was too dim, and she was in a hurry to get home, so she hadn't seen him for a moment.
Recovering her senses, Little Herta immediately contacted her parents.
Seeing this, the blurred memories in Herta's mind became clearer and clearer.
The boy on the ground seemed to be named... named... Mu!
Recalling her childhood experiences, Herta's body trembled.
Qi Zhimu's appearance shared several similarities with Mu.
Could it be... could it be...
"No, impossible!!"
Seeing her parents from her memory arrive and carry the boy away with her younger self, Herta took two steps back in disbelief.
Qi Zhimu was a Virtual Substance Lifeform; he could use magic and was powerful.
But Mu was a genuine Original Human, without any special abilities.
The name 'Mu' hadn't been on the list for the space-time coordinate mission back then either. How could they be the same person?
Furthermore, Mu, at the end of 2140...
Recalling the past she couldn't let go of, Herta shut her eyes and shook her head vigorously. When she opened them again, the scene before her had changed once more.
She was standing in a familiar-looking entryway.
A calendar hung on the wall: January, 2137.
Fragmented, blurred memories crashed into her mind again, corresponding one-to-one with the images before her eyes.
Little Herta pushed the door open and entered. She took off her thermal boots and passed the calendar; seeing the date was wrong, she stood on her tiptoes and peeled off a page.
It was February now.
Then, she carried an insulated box containing pudding upstairs.
The upstairs balcony.
Mu sat there quietly, gazing at the snowy scenery, motionless like a statue.
Little Herta was used to this. She walked straight to his side, opened the insulated box, and took out the snack.
"Brother Mu, my mom made pudding. Let's eat together."
"Thank you, Herta. I'm not hungry. You eat."
"Not hungry, not hungry, not hungry—that's all you ever say. Mama told me I have to make sure you eat it no matter what."
Ignoring Mu's refusal, Little Herta decisively took out one portion and held up a spoon in front of him.
"Open up, ahhh~~"
The pudding offered to his lips was smooth, and the syrup was a bright color.
Mu raised his dull eyes, and the girl, as exquisite as a porcelain doll, came into view.
She had a sweet smile, and her rosy cheeks were filled with earnestness.
"I'll do it myself..."
"No need, no need. Mama often feeds me snacks like this. Little Ta also wants to try what it feels like to feed someone else."
"...Really, no need..."
"Oh, just take it as me begging you, okay? Please, please."
"...Alright."
Mu opened his mouth and took the pudding.
The texture was delicate, and the sweetness was just right.
Seeing the boy taste the snack, his cheeks moving slightly but with no expression, Little Herta tilted her head.
"Hmm... it doesn't seem like anything special."
"That's why I can just eat it myself. Thank you for the kindness."
"No, and no need to thank me. Whenever I'm so tired I feel bad, Mama feeds me my favorite snacks, and I don't feel bad anymore after eating them."
Little Herta filled another spoonful of pudding, her smile pure.
"Even though Little Ta doesn't know why Brother Mu is in a bad mood, and Mama and Papa won't say, maybe doing this will make you feel better?"
Mu's gaze met the smiling face before him, and something in his heart was inadvertently touched.
"Thank you..."
"Look at you, doing it again. Be good, open wide~~"
Behind them, Herta was also staring blankly at all of this.
The scene of the girl feeding the boy was heartwarming, but why did she only remember these things after seeing the images of the past with her own eyes?
Why had she forgotten?
Without realizing it, Little Herta had fed Mu the pudding bite by bite until it was finished, and she promptly shut his mouth.
"Instead of saying thank you so much, why don't you thank me with action?"
"What can I do for you?"
"First, give us a smile. It's such a waste to keep a straight face when you're clearly so good-looking."
The boy struggled to pull the corners of his mouth, revealing a seemingly gentle smile.
However, Little Herta rested her chin in her hand, looking left and right as she pondered, shaking her head repeatedly.
"You clearly look good when you smile, but Little Ta feels like you're not smiling happily. Sigh, did your mood still not get better..."
"..." The boy remained silent.
"Brother Mu, we've known each other for almost three months. Where exactly did your mom and dad go? Why haven't they come back to get you yet?"
As soon as she finished speaking, Mu's body trembled imperceptibly.
The atmosphere suddenly became somewhat sorrowful.
At that moment, two snow-white shadows flew in from outside the balcony, landing on Mu's lap and shoulder respectively.
They were two snowy owls.
Mu was very well-liked by animals in nature. Little Herta was used to this and naturally reached out to stroke the head of a snowy owl.
The way the snowy owl squinted its eyes looked exactly like it was smiling happily.
But Mu released a depressing aura that made one's heart ache.
"...They're dead."
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