This villain is too popular.

Chapter 56 has the taste of a 'knife'.
Caroline has been in a bad mood lately.

Since Chen Kong was attacked, the relationship between Tian Dao and her has inexplicably become somewhat 'distant'.

This is not only because Tiandao hasn't actively sought her out in the past two days.

At the same time, it was because Caroline discovered that there seemed to be some secret between the Heavenly Dao and the Dust Star that she was unaware of.

She had seen Tiandao and Chenxing secretly meeting behind her back more than once.

Although I don't think the two of them would harm me, nor do I think there's really anything between them.

But this feeling of being isolated and ostracized was really unpleasant for her.

However, due to some inexplicable emotion, Caroline, despite knowing that there was a secret between Tiandao and Chenxing that was being kept from her, did not act.

She was just being stubborn and didn't want to ask.

You must wait until Heaven tells you on its own.

To her disappointment, two full days had passed since the day Chen Kong was attacked.

But Heaven showed no sign of wanting to tell her anything.

This made Caroline start to overthink.

She believed that this was Heaven's way of getting angry at her for not telling him about Instructor Yunmeng's arrangements, which led her to distance herself from him in a fit of pique, allowing Chenxing to take advantage of the situation.

Caroline, however, believed herself to be completely innocent.

She wanted to tell Tiandao in advance, but Instructor Yunmeng specifically instructed her not to.

It has nothing to do with her.

Therefore, she tried several times to find Tiandao in private and explain the matter to him.

But for some reason, Tiandao would always run away with a very lame excuse before she could even speak.

This left her feeling frustrated because, despite her desire to explain, she couldn't find an opportunity to do so.

On Sunday, on the balcony of the second floor of the villa.

Caroline looked at the villa's main entrance, and under the pretext of visiting Chen Kong in the hospital, she once again shook off Tiandao and Chenxing, feeling a tightness in her chest.

So, what exactly are Tiandao and Chenxing hiding from me?
Inside the private hospital of Tianhai Group in the deep blue metropolis.

"Sister, Brother Tiandao, could you please stop using seeing me as an excuse to hold a war tournament here every time? I feel like Sister Caroline is already suspicious of you."

Lying on the hospital bed, Chen Kong looked at Tian Dao and Chen Xing not far away, who were finalizing the details of the 'battle plan' on a tablet computer, and said with a mix of amusement and exasperation.

Although he had no idea how Caroline felt, being left alone in the villa right now.

But he felt that Caroline must have discovered something.

Otherwise, there's no reason why only Tiandao and Chenxing would have come to see him these past two days.

Upon hearing Chen Kong's words, Tian Dao said with great dissatisfaction, "Comrade Xiao Kong, I don't like what you're saying."

"What do you mean we came here to hold a war tournament under the pretext of seeing you? We clearly came here specifically to see you, okay?"

"As for holding a war conference here, that's just a side effect. Please don't put the cart before the horse."

"Besides, aren't you here for this battle meeting? You still have two days before you're discharged from the hospital. Where else would we hold it if not here?"

Faced with Tiandao's blatant lies, which were clearly a distortion of the truth, Chenxing, who was usually very serious, actually chimed in, "Kong, Tiandao is right."

"..."

Looking at Tiandao and Chenxing, who were launching a combined doubles attack on him.

Chen Kong wisely chose to remain silent.

There's nothing we can do, let alone the fact that he's just a patient now.

Even at the height of his career, he wouldn't dare disobey either of them.

Not to mention the two of them together.

Just thinking about Caroline, who was left alone in the villa as a left-behind child, makes me feel...

Chen Kong couldn't help but say, "Sister, Brother Tiandao, I don't think you need to be so mysterious. It's just celebrating Sister Caroline's birthday. I feel you can just tell her openly."

"Otherwise, it would be a bit too pitiful for Caroline, who has been kept in the dark by you all these past few days."

Upon hearing this, Tiandao put down the tactical tablet in his hand and said to Chen Kong with a serious expression, "Kong, what you said is wrong."

"Others may not know Caroline's personality, but don't I know it too?"

"Given her efficient and profit-driven personality, if she knew that we were actually spending time and energy celebrating her birthday during the mission, what would happen?"

"Not only would she not agree, she would even actively ask us not to waste time and to put all our energy into the task."

"So, we really can't tell her about this."

"Besides, for a surprise to be a surprise, there must first be shock before there can be joy."

"We've all managed to get out of here once in a while, and it just so happens to be Caroline's birthday, so we have to create an unforgettable memory for her." "After all, memories are the best and most precious gift in the world."

Looking at the solemn Heavenly Dao.

At this moment, Chen Kong had a strange feeling for some reason.

That is, at this moment, the Heavenly Dao appears no different from usual.

But he keenly sensed something was amiss.

It was as if Heaven understood that it didn't have much time left, and was afraid that if it didn't do certain things, it would be too late to do them.

It might sound like I'm bragging.

But for Chen Kong, who was ostracized and isolated from others since childhood.

He is indeed very sensitive to the emotional changes of those around him.

His strange feeling about the Heavenly Dao wasn't something he had just developed today; it was something he had been intermittently sensing ever since the Heavenly Dao left the base.

However, Chen Kong did not tell anyone about this.

Because he was not only afraid that he had misunderstood, but also couldn't understand why Heaven was in such a hurry.

Just after Tiandao and Chenkong finished their conversation, the scene in Stellaris: Embers suddenly switched without warning to an unfamiliar memory fragment of Tiandao just before he left the base.

In the scene, just before leaving the base, Tiandao strangely approached Jing Liuli alone in the dead of night.

"Liuli, do you think dreams can ever become reality?"

Faced with this question from the Heavenly Dao, Liuli, who was originally sleepy, instantly woke up.

After thinking for a moment, she gave what she considered a relatively reasonable answer.

"Heavenly Dao, I don't know why you suddenly asked this, but if you're the one dreaming, then I feel your dream might actually become reality."

'Because the Star Eclipse Eye is inherently an eye capable of peeking into destiny and the future, it may indeed, at certain specific times, reveal fragments of the future to you in the form of dreams.'

However, this is just my personal, superficial understanding of dreams, and it doesn't mean it's necessarily correct.

'So, Heavenly Dao, what were you dreaming about?'

Looking at Jing Liuli's concerned expression, Tiandao in the scene pondered for a moment, then suddenly changed his serious expression and returned to his usual unreliable self.

"It's nothing, I just suddenly dreamt that I was standing on top of the world, and the scenery there was so beautiful it made me want to cry."

"And then after that, I couldn't sleep at all. I was thinking I had to brag to someone, 'How about it, Ruri? You didn't expect that, did you? Haha!'"

After Tiandao finished speaking, without waiting for Jing Liuli's response, he walked outside, saying to himself, "It's so late, why am I suddenly a little hungry? Liuli, I'll go to the cafeteria to find something to eat."

'I have to say, this dessert is truly a great invention. What will I do if I can't eat it anymore?'

Jing Liuli frowned as she watched Tiandao's departing figure.

With a laid-back personality, she rarely gets stuck on trivial matters.

But for some reason, she felt that the Heavenly Dao she had just witnessed was a bit strange today.

Just like the questions he had just asked me, it didn't seem like he was just looking for fun out of boredom.

It was as if he had actually dreamt about something.

But what kind of dream could make Heaven stay up all night and suddenly come looking for him?
Jing Liuli couldn't figure it out, no matter how hard she tried.

Just as Jing Liuli was filled with doubt, Tiandao, who had said he was going to the cafeteria, strangely came to the beach outside the base alone and sat quietly.

The salty sea breeze whipped up Tiandao's silvery-white bangs, and the tide repeatedly washed over his ankles before receding again.

After an unknown amount of time, the Heavenly Dao, who had been sitting in deep thought, seemed to have finally figured something out and spoke to itself.

'Is it possible for dreams to become reality? That would be pretty terrible, but...'

Tendou braced himself on his knees with both hands and struggled to stand up from the beach.

Then he looked up at the boundless starry sky above, his azure eyes shining with an unprecedented brilliance.

'Since dreams are terrible, why don't I just make reality less terrible?'

Having said that, Tiandao turned and left the beach, disappearing into the woods at night.
This concludes the flashback sequence of Tiandao's story.

Meanwhile, Tiandao, who was just a moment ago happily making birthday plans for Caroline, was watching.

The next second, this eerie flashback, which clearly carries a special meaning, was suddenly inserted.

After a moment of silence, the audience at all 13 stations went completely wild.

Because they could smell an incredibly obvious, malicious, and infuriating 'knife' in the production team's strange combination of plot elements!

P.S.: Please read on and vote with your monthly tickets!

It will be available for purchase next Wednesday at noon. Fat Tiger will be updating five chapters that day. My amazing perseverance!

(End of this chapter)