novelsite Chapter 43 The Light Has Been Gone for Too Long
Chapter 43 The Light Has Been Gone for Too Long
Jiang Xingni's words caused the system to fall silent for a moment.
But soon, as if nothing had happened, the little girl calmly and indifferently released her grip on the paper doll.
As the paper doll looked down at her in confusion, Jiang Xingni looked up and gave a somewhat timid smile.
Her eyes were still red, and she looked at the paper doll as if she hadn't noticed anything, her gaze full of trust and affection.
If the system hadn't just overheard Jiang Xingni's words, it would definitely have been fooled by Jiang Xingni and thought that its host had truly been bewitched by this strange realm.
"I'm going back to my room to tidy up!" the little girl said excitedly. "Please, sleep with me tonight!"
Seemingly afraid they wouldn't agree, the little girl nervously gave her reasons: "I'm afraid all of this is just a dream. I'm so afraid that when I open my eyes again, you'll all be gone and disappeared. What will I do then?"
"Now, every time I close my eyes, all I see is you lying in pools of blood." She choked up, and tears streamed down her face again.
Once he had finally gained her trust, Jiang Xingni headed towards her room.
"[Star?]" the system called her name cautiously.
Jiang Xingni's genuine emotions were so real that the system couldn't even tell for a moment whether it was her true thoughts or just an act for the sake of pretense.
Jiang Xing chuckled, noticing the subtle detachment and awkwardness in the system's tone.
"Don't worry," the little girl said calmly. "I know what kind of people my parents are. Two pieces of paper with faces drawn on them? I'm not that stupid that I can't even tell them apart, System."
Stepping into her room, Jiang Xingni was momentarily stunned. Her fingertips unconsciously brushed against the wall, pausing inside a box in the corner.
[So what are you doing now?] The system heard Jiang Xingni's explanation, but it didn't believe that Jiang Xingni was really as nonchalant as she claimed.
Jiang Xingni thought for a moment and then carefully selected the truths of the past to tell the system.
"Because I moved out of this house after my parents died."
While Jiang Xingni's parents were alive, the cost of the entire house was naturally borne by them. Such a large house, located in a rare safe area within the Ash Zone, so it was only natural that the rent was high.
But after their deaths, seven-year-old Jiang Xingni could not afford the rent for her own home. No matter how much she didn't want to leave and wanted to stay in the small room filled with memories of her parents, Jiang Xingni had to adjust herself.
The downtown area has never had much time for children to grow up.
Jiang Xingni did the same. She quickly adjusted her mindset and used the money her parents left her to rent a small house in a dangerous area.
For the next ten years, Jiang Xingni never returned to that house. Until now, due to the influence of the Ghost Domain, Jiang Xingni saw the house again.
Now, Jiang Xingni slowly unearthed his childhood collection, looking at them calmly yet sadly.
"I know it's all fake," Jiang Xing said calmly to the system in his mind. "But sometimes I still miss it all, for..."
The little girl suddenly fell silent. She didn't say anything more, but just stared silently at the object in her hands.
She didn't have a particularly clear memory of what was inside the box, but Jiang Xingni never expected to find a piece of paper inside.
Among a sea of childhood gifts, those made of paper with words like "fourth birthday present" or "present for starting elementary school" seem so out of place and arrogant.
Jiang Xingni suddenly found herself unable to continue reminiscing about these childhood memories.
She was silent for a moment, then calmly closed the suitcase, stood up, and stared at herself in the mirror.
The young child's face still carried a childish innocence. After writing down the disguise, Jiang Xingni in the mirror showed more indifference, an indifference and apathy that did not belong to a child of her age. It was as if an adult's soul had been forcibly stuffed into a child's body.
—That's how it always was.
However, Jiang Xingni's main purpose was not to admire her childhood face, but to use the mirror to let the little girl observe the golden spots on her body.
The golden specks of light were all hidden near Jiang Xingni's neck.
The girl narrowed her eyes, picked up the dagger from her bedside table, and then, almost without hesitation, stabbed it into her own neck.
system:【!!!】
The system screamed in Jiang Xingni's mind: "[No way! This is suicide!]"
But what the blade touched was not actual flesh and blood, but something else entirely.
In that instant, something seemed to shatter in the air.
"Crack!"
The soft, cracking sound reached Jiang Xingni's ears and was naturally heard by the system as well.
Jiang Xingni, who had been confined beneath the facade of a child, straightened up and pushed open the door to her room. The seventeen-year-old girl
Outside the door stood a paper figure with the word "Dad" on its head, who had come to see her.
Seeing that her daughter had suddenly grown bigger, the paper-thin doll's round, beady eyes widened for a moment, then she looked at Jiang Xingni with a puzzled expression, closed the door, and then reopened it.
Jiang Xingni sneered, and as the door was about to close again, he unhesitatingly stretched out his leg and blocked the door from closing.
Then her slender fingertips grasped the door frame, and the door was slowly pushed open. She smiled and stared at the person in front of her.
"Dad?" she chuckled softly. "I'm sorry, but the dead... should stay where the dead belong."
Jiang Xingni said this with a smile. Before she could finish speaking, even the paper figure of "Dad" facing Jiang Xingni couldn't see exactly how Jiang Xingni acted. All he could see was that his chest had been cut open by a knife at some point.
Jiang Xingni raised his head, still holding the dagger in his hand. The dagger pierced the paper figure's chest. The paper figure struggled to twist, but found that the dagger went deeper and deeper, piercing through the chest and exiting from the other side.
"Why did you do this to Daddy?" The paper figure looked very sad. He pleaded silently, his voice swaying in the air before breaking apart.
Just like him as a person.
"I've said it before, the dead should stay where the dead belong," Jiang Xingni said softly. "Goodnight."
Only when the piece of paper was blown by the wind and slowly turned into fragments scattered all over the ground did Jiang Xingni put away his dagger.
"You really don't care?" The system analyzed the entire scene in Jiang Xingni's mind. "You clearly..."
Jiang Xingni shook his head: "It's been too long."
She said.
Ten years have passed.
—The light has been traveling for far too long.