I'll also work hard to conquer the dungeon today.

Chapter 445, 1.27-26: A Bouquet of Blessings

Life continues peacefully and monotonously, but is it truly peaceful?
Shia thought to herself as she walked the streets of the town of Verlis.

Ever since she discovered the clock tower was strange that day, she would look up at it almost every day at regular intervals, and then she discovered that the clock was not moving clockwise in the traditional sense, but counterclockwise.

The hour hand represents the number of days, and it moves backward by one number each day.

Minutes represent hours, and every two hours a number is reversed.

She just didn't understand why the clock hand started at 10 when she saw it. Even if you counted back one day, it would only start at 11.

But 11...

She tried to recall her past life, but the more she tried, the less she could find the memories she wanted. The only thing she remembered clearly was what happened after noon that day, when the clock was still pointing to 11.

What does this number represent?

The silver eyes gazed thoughtfully at the clock tower's hour hand pointing to 4 o'clock.

Four more days?

Ok?
How strange...

In front of the store, staff dressed as mascots were handing out colorful balloons to children passing by.

"How long are you planning to follow me?" Shia asked suddenly as she sat on a bench in the street.

Having been discovered, Jafar could only step forward, adopting the posture of a child caught doing something wrong, and whispered, "I was just a little worried..."

"Can you tell me what you know?" Shia turned to look at him and asked.

Jafar was slightly taken aback; he thought he would be rejected indefinitely.

"Do you think I'll keep refusing?" Shia asked again.

“No, no…” Jafar quickly shook his head and said.

Shia reached out and patted the bench next to her, then looked up at the black crows in the fountain square not far away.

Jafar hesitated for a moment, then, with a slightly flushed face, slowly sat down beside Shia. However, he sat quite far away, just on the edge of the bench, as if he might fall off at any moment.

She blinked her silver eyes. What a strange person.

Although on the surface one can only tell that he is a young man who has just come of age and still has a touch of naivety, his tough demeanor when we first met gave people a very mature feeling, which is completely different from his current performance.

“You told me last time that this place is dangerous. Can you tell me why you said that?” Shia asked.

Jafar hesitated for a moment, seemingly considering whether he should speak directly.

"Don't you want to talk about it?" Shia slowly stood up and said.

"No!" Jafar reached out to grab Shia, but stopped halfway.

"So you have your reasons? For example, although you showed that you wanted to remind me, you were always following behind me and watching me, except for the first time. Based on your behavior, I can infer that you can't actually do something direct, and can only indirectly remind me through certain behaviors."

As Shia spoke, she walked toward the nearest ice cream shop.

Jafar lowered his head, his sea-blue eyes showing a hint of struggle.

He clearly wanted to tell her, but in the end, he gave up because of his mission. He really wasn't suited for this kind of thing...

"What are you thinking about?" A soft, sweet voice came from above his head, suddenly pulling him back to reality. Before him was a vanilla ice cream cone sprinkled with crushed nuts. She casually shoved it into his hand, while she ate her own strawberry ice cream drizzled with strawberry jam.

"This isn't the real world I live in, is it?" Shia said, taking a bite of her ice cream.

"Cough cough cough cough!" Jafar choked and coughed the moment he heard it. He had always thought she was very smart, but he never expected her to be this smart.

"Judging from your expression, I guessed right," Shia said knowingly.

"Even though she's my best friend, I can't remember her name or even what she looks like. It's the same with everyone else around me; I don't remember what anyone else looks like except for you."

Every time something happens, she always seems to appear by sheer coincidence and disturb me. There's an apple tree in the flowerbed at home, but she only appeared once and then disappeared. The counter-clockwise hands of the clock in the clock tower seem to be counting down time; my memories go up to noon seven days ago, and I can't remember anything before that.

There were only crows here, no other birds. Everything felt so out of place; I'd be a fool not to notice.

And I feel like this isn't actually my name. After all, although I have memories of Shia, they don't feel real. It's like they were forcibly implanted into me..."

She paused, then asked, "You should know my name, right?"

Jafar nodded, but just as he was about to say something, he saw the girl running up to Shia with a happy expression.

A dark glint flashed in his azure eyes, and his expression immediately darkened. Here we go again.

"Shia! Sorry to keep you waiting!" The girl ran over with a big smile on her face, looking very happy.

Shia turned to look at her, and paused for a moment.

"Huh? Was someone just sitting next to me?" The girl looked at the large empty seats next to Shia and asked in confusion.

"Didn't you say you were going to help out at home today?" Shia asked casually, her expression unchanged.

That calm demeanor didn't seem like he was lying at all.

The girl pouted and complained, "Of course it's because I saw Shia talking to someone, so I rushed out. Shia never hides her friendships from me, how mean..."

Her silver eyes were fixed on the girl. Shia's lips curled into a faint smile as she said calmly, "This place seems to be quite far from your home. Where did you see it from?"

"Huh?" The girl opened her mouth, completely surprised that Shia would say that.

"Because you've been observing me, you know exactly who I'm talking to. You haven't been helping the family, and you've been spying on me all along. Are you deceiving me? Why?" Shia slowly stood up and walked towards the girl, her tone calm and not at all like an interrogation, yet the girl kept backing away.

"I..." The girl's expression showed a hint of anxiety.

Her pinkish-gold eyes glistened with tears, as if she were about to cry.

“Crying won’t help. If you can’t give me a satisfactory answer, I think it’s better if we don’t see each other again. After all, my best friend has been deceiving me all along… Rather than something irreversible happening, it’s better to end it now.” The silver eyes looked coldly at the lovely face and spoke slowly.

The girl's demeanor gradually emerged from her words, as if she had faded her color from the darkness.

"Waaah!" She suddenly burst into tears, seemingly hurt by Shia's attitude.

A gentle breeze stirred the gray hair, and her cool, silver eyes coldly watched the sobbing girl. She made no move to comfort her, simply standing there motionless.

"Should I call you Afra or Annie?" she asked.

Please carefully read the description of the appearance.

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(End of this chapter)