Oh no! I'm surrounded by female ghosts!

Yu City.

The Ovation of the Deep, covered in blood and flesh, resurfaced.

Su Ming stood in the ocean-view suite, resting his chin on his hand, admiring the oil paintings in the room.

The old gods in the oil paintings have disappeared.

What emerges now is the true appearance of the oil painting.

In this future timeline, this oil painting is just an ordinary oil painting.

The painting depicts Shen Wanyu, rendered stroke by stroke with color.

His brushstrokes are delicate and meticulous, with every strand of hair and every fold of fabric carefully depicted.

Su Ming initially believed that this painting should not have appeared in the future timeline.

Its appearance was Shen Wanyu telling him, "I remember you."

However, this information is too one-sided.

With his current knowledge and understanding of Shen Wanyu, Su Ming was certain that the painting must have another meaning.

In the oil painting, she stands quietly in front of a floor-to-ceiling window, with the surging night and the dark sea behind her.

What is she looking at?

Su Ming took a step closer.

His gaze was fixed on the eyes of the person in the painting.

Sure enough, those eyes reflected a certain pattern.

This is a mirror image.

If you flip this pattern over...

Su Ming's pupils contracted slightly.

It is a tombstone.

Shen Wanyu's eyes hold a tombstone.

Whose tombstone is that?

Su Ming frowned and pondered for a long time before finally arriving at a terrifying guess.

That is Shen Wanyu's own tombstone.

Take a step back and re-examine the composition of the entire painting.

The night was churning, the sea was pitch black, there were no stars or moon, no lighthouse, and not even a clear horizon.

The sky and the sea merged into a thick, impenetrable black mass.

Isn't this a metaphor for the environment inside the tombstone?

There was no distinction between heaven and earth; all that could be seen was darkness.

I can't see anything.

Because I was already buried deep inside that little box by the tombstone.

See here.

Su Ming understood something.

His previous thinking was flawed.

Ever since he saw the six coffins behind the StarNet, he subconsciously believed that Wen Qi and the others had always been together.

In reality, they were not together, and even had disagreements and conflicts.

They are likely fighting their own battles and waiting for their own opportunities.

Su Ming stared intently at the oil painting in front of him.

He was already familiar with the painting, but when he realized that it was a metaphor for a coffin, the sense of familiarity became even stronger.

It was so intense that it seemed to become a part of my body.

He took a few more steps closer, almost pressing his face against the canvas.

Smell it, touch it.

Beneath the layers of brushstrokes, Su Ming could smell an extremely faint scent of blood.

The smell was suppressed at the bottom by the chemical odor of the pigment, like a needle hidden in cotton wool, which could not be detected at all without careful observation.

Only then did he realize it.

The background color of this oil painting was formed using a layer of diluted blood.

That was Shen Wanyu's blood.

It neutralized the red pigment, giving the darker areas of the painting an eerie warm tone.

If Su Ming didn't understand Shen Wanyu, even he would have ignored this point.

Shen Wanyu can grow from her own body.

That is the ultimate form of symbiosis.

As long as Su Ming doesn't die, she won't die.

Even if she dies, she can grow back from Su Ming's body.

So, in that case...

After escaping the gaze of the old gods, Shen Wanyu chose a unique waiting route.

She chose death.

But she left herself a sliver of hope for death.

The bloodstains in the painting are the seeds of her resurrection.

However, she could not be resurrected in the painting.

She needs to wait for Su Ming to appear before she can regrow inside Su Ming's body.

Because she believed that Su Ming would definitely come.

This painting is all the proof.

Without further hesitation, Su Ming took the oil painting down, crumpled it into a ball, and swallowed it whole.

Sure enough, the bloodstains deepest in the oil painting showed signs of resurgence.

A bloodline belonging to Shen Wanyu quietly grew out of Su Ming's body.

It starts from the stomach area, like a red earthworm, winding its way up along blood vessels and meridians.

It eventually stopped next to his heart, keeping the same frequency as Su Ming's heartbeat.

"Headless sister, can you hear my voice?"

Su Ming asked in a low voice.

But Shen Wanyu was only beginning to recover at this time.

She couldn't answer Su Ming's question.

But the line of blood trembled slightly, signifying her response.

Su Ming touched his chest.

It's been a long time since I fused with my headless sister.

At that moment, he felt incredibly at ease, as if his wandering heart had finally found a place to rest.

Suppress your inner excitement, so that the Old Gods will not notice anything unusual.

The starry eye in the sky that was gazing at it did not disturb Su Ming.

It is still waiting for Su Ming's response.

After leaving the Deep Sea Ode to the Ocean, Su Ming returned to his courtyard house in Dream City.

After the disappearance of the Lanyue residential area.

This courtyard house became his home.

At this moment, he placed three items on the table.

The teddy bear left behind by Xu Qinghe.

The love letter left by Tangtang.

There was also the pocket watch that Bai Xinglan left behind.

He picked up Tang Tang's love letter first.

Love letters are written on very ordinary paper, and the content is very simple.

Su Ming unfolded the letter and read it line by line.

I don't know your name, but I know you will come.

When I passed by the school today, I saw some boys playing basketball, and the sunlight cast long shadows on them.

I stood there watching for a while, and suddenly I wondered, do you do this when you play basketball?

After making a three-pointer, I'll secretly smile and pretend to be cool as I run back.

But actually, I don't even know what you look like.

I'm such an idiot, I've never even met you and I'm already thinking so much.

Sometimes I wonder, where are you?

Is she somewhere, living a life similar to mine?

He would secretly daydream in class, dawdle on the way home from school, and sleep in until noon on weekends.

My mother said that if you like someone, you should be brave enough to tell them.

But I think some feelings are like candy hidden in a schoolbag; you don't need to take it out to show others, just thinking about it makes you feel sweet.

I'm not in a hurry; I can wait.

When you finally appear in front of me, I'll probably be too nervous to speak.

But it's okay, I'll slip this letter to you secretly and then run away.

You'll find out then.

There was a girl who liked you even before she met you.

The love letter wasn't long, but Su Ming read it over and over again.

This love letter must have been written when Tangtang was still human.

Her yearning for love was the purest she had ever seen.

There was no scheming, no probing, no tacit power struggle between adults.

She was just a girl who, before even meeting that person, had already laid her whole heart out and placed it there safely, waiting for him to come and take it.

Based on Su Ming's understanding of Tangtang.

Even if she returns to the stars, she will definitely notice him once he appears.

After all, she's the kind of person who can't hide her emotions. If she likes someone, she likes them; if she misses someone, she misses them. She's like a glass of clear water, you can see right to the bottom.

But even now, he hasn't seen Tang Tang.

The only time I saw it was when I was retracing Yu Mengnian's steps.

"Could it just be a simple love letter?"

Su Ming muttered to himself, "This is written for my future self."

He believes this is very characteristic of Tangtang (a type of sugar).

She didn't have that many thoughts or plans.

She simply wrote a letter and waited quietly for that person to appear and read it.

Look up at the star network in the sky.

The same question remains: why didn't Tangtang appear?

What's stopping her?

Or…

Su Ming couldn't help but pat his forehead, feeling that the answer might be a bit outrageous.

It's possible that it really is my own fault.

When I appeared in the sight of the Old Gods, billions of meteors tried to fall, and this happened twice.

But they were all kept out of the world by the giant baby of the world.

Could Tangtang be just one of those shooting stars?

She came to see Su Ming.

She had waited so long, and finally he appeared. So she rushed down from the StarNet without hesitation, like a burning meteor.

However, Su Ming was unaware that she was among the stars, so she was treated the same as everyone else by the giant baby of the world and kept out of the world.

Afterwards, Su Ming sent all the Old Gods back to the StarNet.

Tang Tang listens to Su Ming very much.

Even if she doesn't understand, she will blindly obey.

She wouldn't ask why, wouldn't throw a tantrum, would just obediently return to the StarNet and continue waiting.

In other words, at this moment, among the stars, there is an ancient god named Tangtang, who is staring at him with a pitiful expression.

All you need to do is shout to the heavens.

She will definitely rush down regardless of everything.

Should we shout it out?

Su Ming thought for a moment and decided not to rush.

After all, the Eye of the Stars is also waiting; it's waiting to see if it wants to play the game.

I definitely have to play games.

Lin Jiajia was also among the stars.

However, she is not Lin Jiajia yet.

Lin Jiajia will only be born when Su Ming uses forced favorability and ends this future timeline.

I folded the love letter and put it in my backpack.

Su Ming's gaze fell on the small knife that Xu Qinghe had hidden in the doll's belly.

On the surface, this appears to be Xu Qinghe reminding Su Ming that danger lurks beneath the docile exterior.

Xu Qinghe is someone who can hear people's thoughts.

She can hear any thought in other people's minds.

Therefore, she is the one among them who knows the most secrets.

How could someone who knows the most secrets only keep a small knife?

But the knife is really ordinary.

So ordinary that Su Ming held it in his hand and examined it for a long time without finding anything unusual.

Even if he activated a low-level blind spot, he wouldn't notice anything unusual about the knife.

There's nothing wrong with the doll either.

But precisely because there was no problem, Su Ming's spine began to feel cold.

Danger beneath a docile exterior.

It refers to more than just the Old Gods beyond Earth.

It refers to everyone.

Even Xu Qinghe herself.

It's important to know that there's no forced affinity system on this doomsday storyline.

They were not bound by forced favorability ratings.

In other words, what exactly are their feelings for Su Ming?

Apart from Yu Mengnian and Tang Tang, the identities of the others cannot be confirmed.

Just like when Su Ming saw Wen Qi in the flashback in Jintai Community.

Wen Qi called out "King".

This was the first time Wen Qi had called him that.

What about them?

After all, the future timeline is an absurd world where there is no truth.

Everything here is shrouded in layers of lies.

You peel off one layer, and there's another layer underneath. In the end, even the core might be fake.

Xu Qinghe wanted to tell Su Ming that he could believe it or not.

Even the meaning she expresses carries the connotation of being believable or not.

She can hear people's innermost thoughts, so she knows everyone's truest feelings, including her own.

Her choice to leave behind an ordinary knife might be a way of saying that the most dangerous things are often the most ordinary.

"The voice in people's hearts."

Su Ming murmured, "Then what is the voice in the heart of the True God?"

He swallowed involuntarily.

Temporarily shake off this chilling thought from your mind.

His gaze fell on the last item.

That was a pocket watch left behind by Bai Xinglan.

Su Ming took the broken pocket watch in his hand.

The watch cover was broken, revealing the yellowed dial inside.

The minute and second hands are nowhere to be found; only the hour hand stands alone, pointing at the very top.

0 o'clock, or rather 12 o'clock.

These two times are in the same position on the dial, but they represent completely different meanings.

One is an end, the other is a beginning.

Su Ming's first thought was to stop time.

But he rejected the idea as soon as it came to mind.

If only time stops, then why do the minute and second hands disappear, leaving only the hour hand?

Looking at the broken pocket watch, Su Ming suddenly remembered Bai Xinglan's identity.

She is a top-notch psychologist, specializing in the field of mental health.

Pocket watches are a classic hypnotic tool in psychotherapy.

In those old movies, psychiatrists always carry a pocket watch, waving it in front of the patient's eyes to lead them into the depths of their subconscious.

Su Ming paused for a moment.

He brought the pocket watch close to his eyes and carefully examined the lone hour hand.

The clock hand stopped at 0 o'clock.

There is no minute hand, and no second hand.

This means there is no process.

From 0 o'clock to 0 o'clock, there should be a twelve-hour scale in between, with the minute hand going round and round, and the second hand ticking.

But all of them have disappeared.

Only the starting point and the ending point overlap in the same position.

There is no beginning or end to the process.

Su Ming couldn't help but look at the small knife left behind by Xu Qinghe.

He strongly suspected that Xu Qinghe and Bai Xinglan had spoken.

Or, in the future timeline, Xu Qinghe is Bai Xinglan's patient.

A person who can hear everyone's innermost thoughts might need a therapist the most.

Bai Xinglan is a top-notch psychologist.

They had all studied forced favorability.

However, Bai Xinglan's understanding of forced favorability surpassed that of all of them.

There is no forced affinity in this future timeline.

So, based solely on the stories in Yu Mengnian's dreams, what exactly are their feelings for Su Ming?

Perhaps even Xu Qinghe couldn't give a precise answer to this question.

But Bai Xinglan can.

She wasn't looking at the emotion itself, but rather at its structure.

In the original timeline, forced favorability is an irreversible form of emotional manipulation.

How much of their love, their loyalty, and their sacrifices came from their hearts, and how much was shaped by forced goodwill?

Only in this future timeline without forced favorability can Bai Xinglan have the opportunity to make the most impartial diagnosis.

Diagnose them.

Diagnose yourself.

The final conclusion is this broken pocket watch.

The hour hand is stopped at 0 o'clock; there is no minute hand and no second hand.

The starting point is the end point; the beginning is the end.

The process, however, requires Su Ming to fill in the gaps and make repairs.

That was the most primal emotion, untouched by any external force, and perhaps the only truth in this world.