Surprisingly, the hug was actually useless. The two looked at each other for a while, and soon let go of their hands, tacitly pretending that this thing had never happened. For some reason, Gloria's face was red in the moonlight, as if she was drunk. After waving her hand and saying goodbye to Linge, she turned around and ran away without waiting for the young man to reply. Because she ran too fast, she almost tripped by the stone. Fortunately, the gray-feathered Falcon Xiaobai flew over from the forest in time, grabbed the owner's collar with her claws, and helped her maintain her balance.
The scene looked a bit funny, which reminded people of the birds who were still living in their hometown. They seemed to use this posture to catch fish under the sea. However, this time the fish they caught were not only big, but also had bad heads. The girl turned her head and smiled foolishly at Linge, then grabbed the gray-feathered falcon, pushed it on her head, and ran away. Seeing her energetic appearance, Linge was a little doubtful whether she could fall asleep after returning to the hotel.
Having said that.
Bai Ye’s matter has been resolved, but Alice is still there.
And Alice... seems to be in the hotel, right?
The gray-haired girl's back became smaller and smaller in her sight until she became a speck of dust at the end of the forest. The young man thought about it and should not catch up with her. That was too embarrassing. He decided to take a break before setting off. On the one hand, he wanted to avoid that embarrassing situation, and on the other hand, he had to think carefully about what method to use to comfort and relieve Alice.
Her situation is different from Bai Ye, and her mental state is very different. If she still uses such a tough method, it will probably be counterproductive.
Is it a step-by-step or a one-time solution?
Going indirectly or straight to the point?
Should I find an excuse to cheer her up first? Or should I take this opportunity to face reality?
Direct or tactful, harsh or gentle, serious or relaxed.
There are many ways, but Ringer is not sure which one is the most effective. After all, he is not a psychologist, but he is just a normal person who is more sensitive to other people's emotions and can occasionally say some comforting words, but sometimes even he feels confused. If you have to say something abnormal about him, it is probably that young people never show their confusion on their faces. He is different from most people and is better at restraining themselves.
Alice is obviously a counterexample. She never had the word "restraint" in her dictionary. What she thought in her heart and how she expressed her face. She used to be like this when she was cheerful, and now she is like this when she is autistic and melancholy. From this point of view, she and Linge are simply two extremes. According to normal development, these two completely opposite people will not have any intersection, there will not be any in-depth after the intersection, and there will not be any stories after the depth.
But the story started with their encounter and has been going to this day.
In this way, fate is indeed the most magical thing. Saint Charlie created this story with his own hands, but maybe even she herself couldn't tell how the story began, right? It seemed as if she had let it go, and it seemed that she was being guided by someone.
My thoughts are a little distant.
Linger came to her senses and thought to herself that I was thinking about ways to comfort and relieve Alice, how could I think of such an illusory place? But when he looked up, the moonlight that had just floated was gone, and only the wind blew through the dense canopy like smoke. The night swept across the earth again, and the forest became quieter than before, and even the sound of insects could not be heard. He realized that it was already very late. If he didn't go back at this point, he might even fall asleep.
Since that's the case, I don't think too much, so I'll go back first.
This may also be a revelation in the dark, telling Linger that it is useless to think too much. There is only one way you can master in this matter, that is, adapt to changes.
...
You can already see a corner of the eaves of the hotel. It poked its head out of the shadow of the sycamore and pointed to the dim lights on the street. The young man under the street light stopped and looked up. There was only a dim light left in the hall. Perhaps even the bartender who likes to stay up late had gone back to his room to rest. The second floor was even more dark, and the windows in the corridor reflected a piece of solidified dew on the glass. The whole hotel was quiet, as if he was asleep.
Am I late?
With this idea, Linger pushed open the door and walked into the hall. When passing the rabbit hole, she deliberately let her pace down to avoid disturbing the residents' sleep. However, the old wooden floor slab obviously could not keep quiet like him. She made a creaking moan when the young man went upstairs, faint and low, but in such a quiet night, it made people feel noisy.
When he walked up the second floor, Linge seemed to have a premonition of something, gradually slowed down and stopped at the entrance of the stairs. He turned around and looked into the corridor, and indeed saw a familiar thin figure at the end of the dimness.
The man stood in front of the window, raised his head, stared at the night sky in a daze, not knowing what he was thinking. She was so obsessed that she didn't notice the appearance of Linger. Perhaps, she noticed it, but didn't want to pay attention to it?
Linger approached a little and asked, "What are you looking at, Alice?"
The girl still turned her back to the young man, and just shook her head gently: "It's nothing, I just... can't sleep."
After saying this, she focused on the scenery outside the window, as if there was some incredible secret hidden in the deep darkness, making people want to find out. But Linge had just returned from outside, and he was sure that there was nothing worth paying attention to in this quiet night. When the stars and moon disappeared, and the birds and beasts were hiding in their nests, what did the girl in front of him want to see?
Linger got closer again, and this distance was almost parallel to Alice. Fortunately, the window at the end of the corridor was quite large enough to accommodate two people standing side by side. He lowered his head and saw the night breeze blowing in from outside the window whispering the girl's blonde hair, like plucking the shining strings. The side face seemed a bit quiet and gentle at this time. In the past, Linger felt that this was a temperament that could not be seen in Alice at all, but the world was unpredictable and mortals were unpredictable.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content later! He looked out the window as Alice looked. The forest was quiet and fog faintly appeared. The fog would condense in the early morning and turn into dew on the branches and grass leaves. Except for those who can't sleep late at night, no one would notice their existence.
Alice didn't say a word, and Linger didn't say anything. He knew that it was useless to say anything at this time. Unless Alice took the initiative to raise the topic, the conversation could continue. As for whether Alice would speak, he was not worried. Although the girl had always looked autistic and silent recently, the young man was sure that her nature had not changed much, and competing for patience has never been her strength.
The corridor was so quiet that only the two people were breathing. There was no clock, but Linge seemed to hear the sound of the second hand ticking, like a timer, silently recording the time of the game. But the facts proved that Linge had never lost in seeing through people's hearts, so the person who couldn't hold back in the end was naturally Alice.
"Don't you go to bed?"
She glanced at Linger: "Gloria is going to sleep."
"Oh?" Linge asked curiously, "Did you see her?"
"Of course, I'm not blind." Alice said casually: "When she came back, she seemed very happy and apologized to me on behalf of Bai Ye."
"Then how did you answer?"
"I said it's okay, I didn't take it to heart, and—" the girl's voice was a little low: "What Bai Ye said actually makes sense, I must have disappointed everyone, right?"
The young man was slightly surprised, but he didn't expect that she would say such words. Self-reflection is often the first step to get out of the knot. Could it be that Alice doesn't need others' guidance at all, and can she wake up by relying on herself alone?
"Don't think of me too stupid."
Alice saw through the young man’s thoughts at a glance and curled the corner of her lips: “I just don’t bother to think about many things, but it doesn’t mean I can’t imagine them.”
"I don't deny that you are lazy." Linger thought, "So you are becoming diligent now?"
But Alice ignored his little joke and sighed on her own: "When I was in the Holy Temple of Heaven, I was unwilling to accept those memories of the past, and I said a lot of big talks with self-righteousness. It must have disappointed the Heavenly Realm Termis, right? When Shino wanted to go to war, I stopped her with ridiculous reasons. She should have been disappointed at that time, right? After returning to Mirror Star, I locked myself in the room for so long, and ignored Xiaoxia and everyone's concern. They must have been disappointed with me. There are many more examples, and it was not until now that I realized that I had been doing disappointing things..."
She leaned forward slightly, leaned her hands against the window frame, looked up and quietly at the night sky without stars and moon. Should the expression on her face be relieved or regretful?
"But it doesn't matter. From today on, they will not be disappointed." The girl suddenly said.
Ringer asked, "Because you decided to cheer up?"
"I don't know how to cheer up, but that's probably the case." She smiled, but it made people feel a little bitter: "I will no longer be attached to those disappointing things. Themis in the heavens are gone, but life is so impermanent, and I can't always be immersed in sadness; if the game console is broken, there is no way. Maybe it's better to put it there without any care. Anyway, even if it is repaired, it doesn't make much sense."
After saying that, she straightened up and stretched, as if she had put down a huge stone in her heart, and she relaxed: "Oh, when I thought about it, I suddenly felt much more relaxed. Sure enough, I used to like being too stubborn, no wonder I have always disappointed everyone."
Linger looked at the girl with a complicated look, and he finally realized that this was not a cheering up, it was obvious that she was self-destructive. Did she feel that she was too addicted to the sadness of the departure of the Heavenly Realm and too obsessed with the obsession of trying to repair the game console, which made everyone disappointed her? As long as she let go of this sadness and admits openly that the game console was broken and it was impossible to repair it, she could turn back to her past self and make everyone no longer disappointed?
I kept saying that I used to like being too stubborn, but I didn’t know that this was the real way to get stuck. Just like Bai Ye, I kept saying that I was not being stubborn. In fact, every sentence, every action, and even every thing I did interpret the meaning of these words. Perhaps these two people were surprisingly similar?
"I don't think so."
After a little pondering, the young man had to point out her mistake: "If you do this, I think Saint Charlie and others will not be happy. On the contrary, they will be even more disappointed."
"Why?" Alice looked at Linger strangely. She really didn't understand: "Didn't I do what everyone expected? Why are they still disappointed in me?"
"Maybe it's because you understand the words expectation and disappointment too shallowly." The young man said: "You should think carefully about their true expectations and real disappointment, and then understand them with emotion."
"That's so complicated, or are humans just such complex creatures?"
As a queen, at least once, Alice is qualified to express such feelings. In that old world called Eden, she tried to understand the emotions of mortals, but ultimately led to a defeat and failed to fulfill the great and sacred mission given by the goddess. Linger was sure that it was not Alice's fault, even if she seemed to be repeating the same mistake.
"I don't understand, Linger." The girl lowered her head and said in disappointment: "I really don't understand..."
Linge looked at her quietly, for some reason, but he might have empathized with this feeling. Many years ago, young people were also alienated from the world and could not understand human emotions. Happiness and happiness were false. Even pain and sorrow were abandoned, following an invisible army to conquer the stubborn loneliness on the spiritual high ground. But at a certain moment, they all returned, allowing the boy who had first entered the human world to learn the power of smile and crying, as if their smiles also appeared on the boy's face at the same time, and tears flowed into his eyes.
At that time, how did Mr. Yang Ke and Metien do it?
The young man thought for a moment, suddenly reached out and grabbed Alice's wrist. When she looked at her in astonishment, she said in an unquestionable tone: "Okay, come with me."