~~~ Blooming Carnations ~~~

At that moment the rat tide had already risen to the first floor, and the entirety of the old residence was now on the verge of collapse. They feared that it wouldn’t be long until they flowed over into the garden, to which it would then be over for everyone.

However, Su Mo once more merely looked towards the sky with an indifferent expression. “Don’t rush, it’s not the time yet.”

As for when that time was, Su Mo didn’t say.

“The timeline is all confused. All we can say for now is that problems have appeared in this time and space. But even if this is a Supernatural scenario, is the time being a little confused justifiable?” Xiao Ya asked feeling uncertain.

However, Su Mo just shook his head in disagreement, “In the beginning I also mistakenly thought this was a supernatural^[1]Lol, my brain just goes to the Winchester brothers; My boy Dean <3 scenario, but thinking about it now, I’m afraid that we’ve all been wrong.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” Mark was also confused.

Thinking back on the large painting of ‘The Scream’ so large that it assaulted everyone’s eyes in the main hall, Su Mo leisurely continued, “When you three were resurrected I had already had my doubts, and now I can almost conclude that, what we’ve been experiencing is definitely not a Supernatural event, but rather Tan Le’s ‘practical joke’!”^[2]TL: I’m sorry, but what?? I am so confused right now…) It’s another practical joke? The already confused crowd found themselves feeling even more confused. All the people … Continue reading

‘Also’ ; Su Mo said those two words^[3]it’s two words in chinese being ‘同样‘ unconciously, but the four muddle-headed people obviously didn’t hear the ambiguity within the sentence. —— They had already been stunned by Su Mo’s rediculous conjecture!

“So, what we entered was not a Supernatural scenario, but was rather Tan Le’s fantasy world!”

Everything here had all been made up by Tan Le, so that he could escape from reality into an imaginary space that he had constructed in his mind!

The first bit of evidence for this was that after the son had been kidnapped, the indifferent and cold attitude of the mother. Tan Qing loved her son deeply, Tan Le also loved his mother deeply, which was clearly reflected within the diary. However, having this love weighed heavily in the wake of his mother’s broken legs, becoming the biggest pain in his heart.

The weak and feeble son could only look on helplessly as his mother’s legs were broken by his step father, absolutely powerless. This feeling of powerlessness, who would be able to bear it for long?’

Tan Le had a lot of love for his mother, but also a lot of remorse that wouldn’t abate with the passage of time. This is the pain of Tan Le’s existence, which will also become the shadow that will follow him through the rest of his life.

So, in the world that he had made up, Tan Le would rather his mother be a little more indifferent and cold, have her love for him be slightly less, so that his feelings of guilt could also lessen a little.

The second bit of evidence is inside the older sister’s diary. That abnormally cruel and ruthless Tan Le is fabricated by him because he is unable to accept his own cowardice and incompetence. In his fantasy world he became the most evil and insane person, and the real evil people, his older sister and step father, became the most kindhearted, most innocent victims.

The only thing Tan Le can do to keep on living, is to escape from reality….

But it’s a pity that his kind heartedness, cowardice and incompetence are still idelible in some details. Su Mo and the four other people’s deaths and revivals can surely testify to this point —— It shows his kind heartedness.

As for his cowardice and incompetence, when they came across actual weirdos and actual murderers, the fake little boy fell apart —— This can be credited to Chu Han. ^[4]TL: Lol. Got to give him something I guess

” The person in ‘Scream’ is actually him. Terror, unwilling, howling, despair…. distorted world. How is it alike this place?”

Su Mo’s eyes became devoid of expression, with a rare display of a depressing emotion on his face, “However, a coward will forever remain a coward, even if they never have to resign themselves to something ever again. But this is a world that was created to escape that. It really is ridiculous!”

The last sentence was really baffling, but the four people that had been shocked to the extreme, still didn’t realise it.

“An illusionary world?”

Chai Gang gulped, his face full of shock, “So, so right now we’re….. in Tan Le’s brain?”

That one sentence brought everyone back to reality.

“Are you retarded!”

Mark gave him a look of disgust, then still feeling confused continued, “Are we really in Tan Le’s imaginary world? This, this it just too, too….”

Xiao Ya anxiously continued, “If that is really the case, how will we escape~a?”

This is the question that everyone was worried about.

“The demon’s cage has already been opened, the key is held within Pandora’s hand; May the most devout follower please step forward into the dark night….” Su Mo spoke out.

“The demon seems to be Tan Le himself, or it’s saying that Tan Le made it up himself. And Pandora is not the sister, but instead the mother.”

The Mother brought along Tan Le when she married He Wanzhou. She opened the evil box and brought the ultimate distater upon Tan Le and herself. In Tan Le’s diary, he makes a clear record of the disaster.

The seed of Athena’s hope is the key that is held within Pandora’s hand, which is also the photograph that is underneath the diary —— Also, what could be greater than a mother’s love?

Also, Tan Le’s greatest desire is to be able to escape;

“The darkness before the dawn, is death and birth.” Su Mo turned his gaze to the sky.

“The darkness before the dawn is bleak, it represents giving up all hope. Similarly…. it also indicates that the light of the morning is coming!”

Bang! ! !

The gigantic old residence finally caved in!

Countless red eyed rats suddenly started surging towards the direction of the flower garden….

At the same time the light outside of the walls gradually began to rise, illuminating the blossoming Carnations, and bathing everyone in a warm light —— just like the boy in the picture who is being cradled in his mother’s arms.

“At first I thought that the “lock” was inside the mother’s room, but then I later realised my mistake. Within the whole residence, from corner to corner it is filled with the energy of deep regret and resentment, even the mother’s room is no exception to this. And the only place that’s a haven from this energy, is by the blooming Carnations in this flower garden!”

In the language of flowers, Carnations mean love, respect; It represents mothers, represents a mother’s unrelinquishing love. The greatest love in this world.

The beautiful flower garden is the only paradise within a fictional world of resentment;

“And now!” Su Mo laughed confidently, “What we need to do is to return to ‘reality’ and find the real Tan Le!”

Then in front of the four people’s dumbstruck expressions, Su Mo lifted the photograph high up in the air!

The rosy clouds of dawn that symbolises hope, was spread all over the surface of the photograph, causing it to be dyed in the warm colour….

The rosy light caused the photo to be ignited. It also caused the Carnations that were bursting into bloom to ignite, illuminating this dismal and lustreless world. —— The darkness before the dawn, is death and is new life.

The five people were immersed within the white flames, their bodies burning, but without the slightest sensation of heat. All they felt was an infinitely relaxed sensation.

The tide of rats receded bit by bit, and with it a blood covered woman staggard her way out —— Lu Lanlan was alive!

“Wait, wait for me! Don’t abandon me here!”

Su Mo raised his eyebrows in surprise, “Hehe, I almost forgot, the cowardly and kindhearted Tan Le wouldn’t be able to kill anybody.”

While everyone was still dumbfounded, Su Mo grabbed the axe from Chai Gang!

“What are you doing?!”

While everyone was crying out in alarm, the axe whizzed past, and with incomparable precision cut into the critically injured, Lu Lanlan’s thigh, causing her to fall to the ground!

“Ahhh!!”

“Su Mo, I hate you!!!”

With Lu Lanlan’s last cry, Su Mo and company disappeared within the vast flame….

Moving within the white light, the five people found themselves arriving at a strange place.

Still in a trance-like state, Chai Gang was astounded, “Did we get out? Did we escape the residence?”

Even up until this point, the muddled headed Chai Gang had yet to understand what was happening. However that didn’t hinder his excited words —— He had survived! He had now passed his third scenario without injury!

“We’re not yet done!”

The voice came from Dai Xingzhang, his line of sight focused on a certain teenage boy, on a single bed not far from them, his expression unusually grave.

Sweeping his eyes around, Su Mo discovered that this was a confined space not dissimilar to a prison. In the room there was even an iron gate and a metal bed. On the simple and crude single bed was sitting a young boy, with a hospital gown on, his complexion wasting away, and his eyes dull.

With the five people’s appearance, the boy seemed to be entirely unsurprised. He didn’t even lift his head to look, he only continued to stare blankly at a photograph in his hands.

With the photograph and the ‘key’ they needed to pass being exactly the same, everyone was able to guess the identity of the boy. —— Tan Le.

The Tan Le that was suffering from a severe case of mythomania^[5]an abnormal or pathological tendency to exaggerate or tell lies, moderate mania and severe mental distortion;

That killed his older sister and his step father, and burned the old residence down;

That was finally put in prison; That Tan Le.

“Hi.”

After a brief moment of silence Su Mo raised a question, “What do we need to do?”

The boy raised his head. There was no madness or mania as imagined, all there was was an unnaturally, deathly stillness, “I want… want to see my mother one last time.”

See Tan Qing?

Su Mo frowned.

To him breaking free from prison wouldn’t be considered a difficult task, but he was surrounded by other older players, just….

“Are you certain?”

His rhetorical question didn’t have the slightest bit of fluctuations in tone, yet it caused Tan Le’s unnaturally stiff expression to reveal an obvious sign of struggle and madness.

“D…… Don’t! I don’t want to see her!”

“Hey, hey….”

Chai Gang quickly tugged at Su Mo and spoke to him in a low and worried tone, “This person is ill, you shouldn’t stimulate him! Doesn’t he just want to see his mother, then let’s help him. Quickly completing this task and leaving this scenario is the main objective!”

This is the last scenario in which Chai Gang will be a reserve player, so there was no one more impatient than him.

Everyone else though was frightened by his mental disorder, everyone felt that it was dangerous to go closer to him due to his mental disease. Even though these players’ bodies were much stronger than the average person’s, they still found it difficult to break away from old misinformations.

However, Su Mo wasn’t scared, because… he was also a mentally ill.

Pushing off Chai Gang, and within the other people’s guarded gazes, Su Mo walked to Tan Le’s side, “What are you running from? Or should I say, what are you afraid of?”

Tan Le ceased his struggling. After looking face to face with Su Mo for a moment, he suddenly smiled, “I remember you, you’re the same as me… we’re both…”

The same as him, a crazy person, an abnormality, a mental case.

“Thank you, thank you for waking me up.”

His gaze fixed on the machete in Su Mo’s hand, “Do you want to go? Could you leave it here?”

Su Mo was stupified, Tan Le wanted to…. commit suicide?

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Author has something to say:

Did any cuties guess it? (#^.^#)

~~~ ~~~~

TL; Smol Aries:
Hi guys, I know I’m dreadful with updates and I’m so sorry. I thought adding on to my list of responsibilities would help me procrastinate less, but it’s just given me more to procrastinate on…
(o・┏ω┓・o) ….. So yah. Enjoy! It’s coming to Spring/Summer now in South Africa so maybe with longer days I’ll actually have time to get to more things. (Though it is currently 00:46 on a school night… whoopsie)