Chapter 303

Chapter 303: Tang Liuli’s Entanglement, Tartarus, the Goal

Salzburg, Monk Mountain.

In the castle restaurant, the morning golden light shone through the glass, brightening the surroundings.

Chu Wang Shu sat at the table, eating bacon and eggs, looking around at her teammates with suspicion, and glancing at the unfamiliar idols at the next table, she quietly asked:

"You guys didn’t do anything bad in front of Xiaoxiao and the others yesterday, did you?"

Xie Qingxuan licked the icing from her lips after eating a croissant, her expression calm and certain, looking curiously at her lovely daughter’s face, she said seriously:

"No, why would Little Shu think so? Is it because she doesn’t trust us?"

Charlotte pretended to be sad, looking down with a heavy heart, she sighed:

"It seems that in Little Shu’s heart, we are not like seniors at all; she subconsciously thinks we won’t keep our promise."

Kirimi Miyuki initially felt guilty.

But then she realized that she hadn’t acted recklessly in front of Liang Xiaoxiao’s team.

Little Sakura immediately became confident; her expression was calm, and with a confident smile after taking a sip of her coffee with three sugar cubes, she said:

"It’s reasonable for Little Shu to suspect Little Xuan and Charlotte, but I won’t cause trouble for the team in this regard. Everyone really didn’t do anything wrong yesterday, so Little Shu can rest easy."

What bad things? Is sharing a bed with your girlfriend considered a bad thing?

Even if there are a few of Honey Qing’s little wives in bed, it’s Honey Qing’s fault for being there, not hers.

Well, without realizing it, the purest Miyuki has started to get used to group activities.

Of course, this has a lot to do with the fact that she has only talked about it so far.

Chu Wang Shu faced a triple blow, and the air of authority from the discipline committee faded quickly. Her serious yet adorable little face showed signs of wavering and a hint of regret. She began to reflect on herself and said earnestly:

"Sister Miyuki is right, even if everyone has countless past mistakes, we shouldn’t look at people with colored glasses. This alone affects discipline and fairness."

While the girl was halfway through her reflection, she noticed an empty seat and curiously asked:

"By the way, why haven’t we seen Liuli? We need to leave after we finish eating."

Chu Yuanqing glanced at the WeChat interface and explained:

"It seems Liuli treats the hotel like her old home. She hasn’t put many things in the room and has instead spread them out in various areas. She’s still organizing her luggage now."

Chu Wang Shu remarked:

"Liuli really is like one of those rich girls from a TV drama, even though you can’t really see it in her everyday life."

Charlotte, very interested, joined the discussion. She poked the golden retriever’s face with her delicate finger and said seriously:

"Little Xuan is also a young lady, but they belong to a type that comes from a wealthy family and doesn’t have overly strong traits. In comparison, the red-haired girl next door really gives off the vibe of a true young lady."

Xie Qingxuan glanced at someone at the next table, nodded slightly in confusion, and looked completely unconcerned as she analyzed seriously.

"Is it Chen Yining? Because she looks prouder, brighter, and more free."

Tang Liuli has been in the entertainment industry since she was young, with a full schedule. The wealth she enjoys and the education she receives are very different from a normal rich family.

Xie Qingxuan is similar; she and Tang Liuli are alike in this respect. Their future paths are naturally restricted, and they can only follow the few paths chosen by their parents.

So, both of them are not free, and the education they receive is very extreme, which leads to their individual psychological flaws.

Chen Yining is different; she is among the top wealthy third-generation individuals in Daxia, with older siblings. Her parents love her normally and don’t have twisted expectations. She is genuinely a person raised in a bowl of honey.

In a way, she will enter the realm of [Heart Flow] more slowly than they will, firstly due to her talent, and secondly because her environment is too good. Only Ji Shuzhu can give her desires and dreams.

Xie Qingxuan looked up at the Pure White Witch and posed a very serious question:

"Does Little Qing like this type?"

Chu Yuanqing’s eyes lifted at the corners as she gently touched Xie Qingxuan’s hair and said seriously:

"I don’t dislike it, because only in peaceful soil can such children grow, right? But I definitely prefer Little Xuan."

Chu Wang Shu watched Sister Xie being cuddled with caution, afraid that she might suddenly kiss her.

After Little Sakura added some milk to her coffee, she waited for a moment. When Honey Qing did not respond, she finally couldn’t help but cough softly, successfully getting a pat and a nod of approval in return.

Charlotte pointedly criticized:

"Honey Qing, you are acting like a playboy. If you don’t kiss me, I won’t forgive you."

Chu Wang Shu immediately disagreed, trying to stop her parents from kissing in public.

Just when Charlotte was about to reveal her true feelings, she was interrupted by her daughter, puffing her cheeks in frustration and calling it a black-hearted act.

At that moment, the little idol at the next table did not notice the commotion over here.

Chen Yining was contemplating the proposal from over there and said:

"What does everyone think of Chu Yuanqing’s suggestion?"

Lin Baor thought for a moment and replied:

"There’s no reason to disagree; we have to go to Sankt Wolfgang anyway."

"Looking at it from another angle, getting another chance to be on stage would really benefit us."

Ji Shuzhu took a sip of her bitter coffee, her expression was cold, with a sun-protective silk scarf tied around her neck, and casually suggested:

"Just like Baor said, it’s a good thing."

"Everyone in the team really needs the chance to perform."

"We need to face a reality: every stage from now on will determine our fate. This is not about the show’s cameras or popularity, nor about love and dreams, but because of the disaster beast."

Ruan Wutong thought for a long time and said:

"Indeed, becoming a magical girl would make things much safer."

Liang Xiaoxiao gently touched the little idol’s purple hair and earnestly reminded her:

"On the contrary, becoming a witch is very dangerous."

"If an ordinary person, who has nothing to do with it, encounters a disaster beast, that is bad luck; but a witch is a profession that will fight against disaster beasts whether they want to or not."

"A skilled rider can fall from their horse, and a good swimmer can drown."

"What Little Shuzhu means is that if we can’t seize the opportunity and reach new heights and shine with miracles on every stage, we won’t be strong enough to escape those risks."

Chen Yining’s beautiful face, radiant and proud, showed a smiling expression as she clapped her hands and encouragingly said in a manner befitting a team leader:

"No matter what, we have to show the same spirit we had at the martial arts hall and give it our all."

"Even though we are far behind their team in the magical girl field, the competition in the idol field is still undecided, isn’t it?"

"This time, let’s see how much they have improved. If they don’t train hard, they shouldn’t be surprised if someone else takes the spotlight at their performance."

Ji Shuzhu looked at her friend with a cute smile on her lips. She had experienced the brilliance of Xie Qingxuan and Chu Yuanqing yesterday and knew they had both changed, so she didn’t feel much confidence in winning.

But at the same time, she didn’t feel like she would lose completely.

Moreover…

The girl felt her heart race. She liked the way her friend never gave up, proudly and confidently expressing herself.

"Okay, let’s all work hard together, and we can’t let our training slip."

Everyone listened to Miss Choreographer’s rare encouragement and began thinking about where they could practice their dance in Sankt Wolfgang.

On the other side, it was different from the joyful atmosphere of the two teams.

The bedroom on the second floor, the balcony.

Tang Liuli stood in the mountain breeze, her white Roman dress swaying gently, illuminated by soft light that gave it golden folds. When she calmed down, her features looked harmonious, with a hint of lonely sadness.

"Tell Sister Charlotte that this is my matter, and I will solve it myself."

After her words ended, the blue tit quietly hiding on the third-floor railing looked a bit confused.

The little one blinked its round, shiny black eyes, tried to move its claws, and pretended to flutter its wings for a while.

Then, like a snowball, it very strategically rolled down to the ground, even holding its breath, pretending to have already left, which was quite cute.

It seemed that during the week spent with the violets, this little Lantern Elf, as clueless as a baby, had indeed become much smarter, getting closer to helping Charlotte with her Holy Maiden duties.

The deep green in the girl’s eyes was quiet as she looked at the text message on her phone, breaking the foolish fairy’s act of playing dead.

"Don’t forget me. Pretending to leave won’t help. The essence of the Lantern Elf is soul and magic, as clear to me as the lights in the night."

After listening, the blue tit tried several more times, but sadly failed at hide-and-seek each time, perfectly restrained, and had to fly away reluctantly.

Tang Liuli scrolled through the messages, all filled with Gloria’s words, sent from her dad who had hung up on her days ago.

"The art exhibition failed due to various unexpected events. Did we spend all the money we got from Mom and me? It sounds like Sister Charlotte wanted to escape from her dreams."

"But…"

The girl pressed her lips together, looking at the second half of the message, feeling lost.

[Liuli, my daughter.]

[I know you hate me and I do not expect your forgiveness, but before I leave, I want to tell you some secrets buried in the past that are about your mother’s true cause of death.]

That cruel and vile man who used her as a tool, having shown no warmth since her mother died, after his lifelong pursuit shattered, did not show any signs of despair but instead spoke of past stories in a relieved tone.

Tang Liuli suddenly remembered what the person looked like.

The man’s eye sockets were deep, and his pupils were as clear as emeralds. He always wore a finely tailored suit and carried the scent of paint and canvas. Until that nightmare happened, his smile was warm and showed noble elegance.

"Mom, what was the real cause of death?"

Tang Liuli curled her lips, holding back the bitterness in her chest, and scoffed as she continued to read the text message. She was curious to see what kind of believable excuse he could come up with to cheat for money.

Eiwas spoke slowly, saying that before meeting her mom, he had little passion for art. Selling paintings on the street or wandering around was a way to rebel against his family. It wasn’t until he met her mom that he thought about leaving this country.

Tang Liuli had some memory of that.

Gloria is a country that is both retro and contradictory. There are still titles and nobles, with a clear class system. She had never met her grandparents but remembered that they indeed had titles and belonged to a significant noble class.

However, Eiwas seldom mentioned these things and rarely took her to Gloria.

After her mom died, it was truly hard for her to imagine that Eiwas once disregarded wealth and power for his beliefs and did not want to inherit the noble title.

[But now, this might be the decision I regret the most.]

[Because, when you were born not long ago, I intended to use this to mend relationships with my family, but when I returned to Gloria, the family castle was nothing but a ruin.]

[No one knows what happened back then—was it a fire? An earthquake? A typhoon? But the outcome was that my parents, sister, and elders were all buried there.]

Eiwas’s messages became more and more jumbled; his thoughts drifted back to childhood, occasionally mentioning her early years, as if he were an elderly person with Alzheimer’s, talking about his romance with his wife and the past.

He said his wife had a gentle personality, longed for freedom, loved to travel the world, and was a strong and curious woman.

He said the moment he truly fell in love with painting was not when he was selling paintings in Gloria, but when he traveled with his wife, experiencing the vastness and beauty of the world, and captured those feelings on canvas.

He said the paintings in the exhibition were mostly from his earlier travels, and only among them could he sleep peacefully.

Finally, after skimming through some unreadable sentences, he returned to the main topic, mentioning that after that day, their family of three all came down with a high fever.

Eiwas believed that the force that destroyed the family castle came from something both elusive and undeniably real—ghosts.

The man doubts whether his daughter’s natural talent, his wife’s growing fears, or his own unbreakable pursuit of art all come from the same source.

This sounds like a way of blaming all his bad behavior on supernatural forces.

After the text message, there was a photo, which showed their pre-marital health check-up report, and at that time, science could already tell through gene testing if someone inherited mental illness.

Eiwas has his reasons for doing this; even though he goes against the norm, he does not want to bring home a partner who is destined to have mental illness, completely severing ties with his parents.

The report’s result clearly showed that there was no inheritance, which is why they married later on.

Tang Liuli looked at the report in the photo and fell silent.

It is very simple to verify the truth of this information; just let Dream Weaver Rabbit scan it.

In fact, with Honey Qing and Sister Charlotte’s personalities, they might have already had this super AI monitor her phone, and if it weren’t for respecting herself, she might not even see this text from Eiwas.

So, if the information in the report is false, Dream Weaver would directly intercept it during the checking process, preventing her from being deceived by Eiwas.

In other words, this is most likely a true report.

But…

If Mom didn’t inherit the family’s mental illness, then why did she end up like that? Could it really be what Eiwas said, that it was because of that high fever?

Tang Liuli’s thoughts were in chaos, her eyes were empty, and she whispered:

"The disaster aura is eroding."

The destruction of the family castle, the strange high fever, and the tragedies that followed can all be explained by it.

This was so common in the memories from the first playthrough; being slightly affected by the disaster aura won’t kill you, but it will slowly weaken your body and, little by little, twist your mind, alienate yourself, and make you extremely paranoid.

But if this is the truth, then what do her disgust, her dissatisfaction, her anger, her loneliness, and her hatred mean? These feelings, piling up inside, growing and intensifying, form a barrier in her heart.

[The doctor said my organs are gradually failing, and I have at most two months left. I returned to Gloria, rented a room by the sea, and filled it with those paintings that couldn’t be displayed at the exhibition.]

[Liuli, I do not expect your forgiveness, and I admit that I am hopeless and do not deserve to be called your father, but if possible, after I die… please take those paintings away.]

The aura of disaster made the dark past even more complicated, and it gave weight to the messages she could have ignored.

The girl stood in the gentle sunlight, her skirt blowing in the strong wind. Her heart felt squeezed by mixed emotions, and she suddenly found it hard to breathe, not knowing what to do.

Should I forgive?

Should I believe?

Should I go… see him?

These thoughts tangled in her mind, overwhelmed by years of repressed grievances, turning into a magic that burned in the sea of divine sense, creating powerful tides.

Esther stood behind the curtain, watching Liuli’s slender figure. In her crimson eyes, data flowed, completely handing the information to some "lighthouse" before disappearing.

…

…

Sacred United Country, a remote city’s outskirts.

In the dark, deep sewer, there was a ticking sound, filled with black silk like a giant spider’s nest. Calamity Seeds sparkled like gems displayed in a shop window, resting on the silk.

As I walked deeper, the space seemed to expand, revealing cultivation chambers stretching to the horizon, each containing unknown corpses, all showing different levels of distortion.

Some had human shapes, some were clumps of flesh stacked like eyeballs, others had many hands and feet, bones growing unnaturally, and heads covered in sores with tentacles rooted in their eye sockets.

Black-robed worshippers moved silently here, their steps quiet and their movements subtly coordinated, like an army led by some will.

But more terrifying than these external sights was the deep darkness that swallowed the disaster aura, condensing all waves into a black whirlpool.

The black-robed worshipper stepped in, stained with blood, offering a dim and murky gem, wearing a devout smile, bowing and whispering:

"I offer the heart of the witch to the messenger of the divine."

The voice faded away.

This gem, which looked like a lantern, was swallowed by a dark whirlpool, traveling through layers of space, and under the cover of shadows, it arrived at the dome of another world, like a coin tossed in the air, flipping and falling.

From its perspective, beneath the dome was a labyrinth shrouded in gloom, vast and endless, where a thick aura of disaster formed tides, made entirely of shadows, and various shapes of disaster beasts crawled toward the center.

Splash, splash.

Countless chains moved like a rising tide, and the source of this commotion was the Giant God, enveloped by shadows, covering its original shell, connecting its upper half to the whole Shadow Maze. It was so huge that it filled the entire view of the dome, exuding a breath of death, radiating a fierce sense of otherness; each breath stirred up a storm of disaster aura that shook the labyrinth.

"Lord Tartarus, the time is not yet right."

The man’s face was hidden by a black robe, and he sat in a seat beneath the Giant God, using the staff in his hand to part the tides of disaster aura, catching the Lantern Gem, he said softly:

"We need you to regain enough power to turn the world upside down."

"For that, please be a little more patient; the injured Dragon Witch, who is about to retire, will be even better and more excellent nourishment than this."