vrcanaries Chapter 115 Life is like a dream
Chapter 115 Life is like a dream
"Hmph~ Hmph~?"
"Hmph~ Hmph~"
"What a joyous reunion!"
"Don't you think so too?"
"Unfortunately, the laughable blunder has already occurred?"
"But darling, you should know~?"
"Even if he's the biggest idiot in the world?"
"Wouldn't someone make such a reckless choice so easily?"
"I think privileges shouldn't be used like this."
A humming melody, like a midsummer night's serenade, overflowed from the smoke, like the light, milky foam of beer.
The broadcast demon? The unique voice that followed was like a pebble splashing in the waves.
His voice was so high-pitched, forever filled with absurd and mocking passion.
The broadcast demon? The unique tone of voice propelled the entire piece to its climax, reaching a magnificent peak.
...But perhaps the climax of a song should indeed be performed by that scarlet-clad foreign gentleman, after all, he certainly prefers to be "the center of the world" more than Shirley does.
The Alastor he played? He appeared like an opera star, with all the spotlights seemingly converging on him.
The Wendigo, whose imitation of Him was so perfect, simply waved his cane to dispel the red smoke.
He seemed to have a pensive squinting habit, like the real Alastor, his red eyes revealing a cunning danger.
A broadcasting demon? The smile on his face was eerie and terrifying.
Perhaps it's because the roles He plays are always incredibly exaggerated, Alastor? His already exaggeratedly upturned lips now seemed to stretch all the way to his temples.
"You want to be a good person like you were when you were alive?"
"But do you really care about those pathetic creatures in hell?"
"Don't get this wrong, let's figure this out!"
"Now, aren't you someone who can't be a good person, or a bad person?"
As the song reached this point, Alastor appeared as a shadow, seemingly with a tail, and came to your side.
He swiftly and darkly coils around your swollen, ugly body, like a venomous snake from hell.
The broadcaster's singing was full of his loud and upright tune, but with an astonishingly strong sense of sarcasm.
"But why are you so silent? My lovely little pumpkin?"
"When you finally achieve your long-held wish, will your mother and other family members still be around?"
"When everything comes to an end, will everything you deeply love, everything that sustained you, still be there?"
"Who exactly sent you to hell?"
"How surprising!"
"How could you love this vile world that betrayed you so much?!"
The Broadcast Demon? A beautiful high-pitched voice soars through the darkness around you, its voice like a black nightingale taking flight towards the boundless, false sky.
The song's climax melts into Wendigo's voice.
An old gentleman from the old days strolls past you with an air of nonchalance, a sharp, eerie laugh escaping from his slightly trembling chest.
"Why are you unwilling to turn your gaze..."
"Why not allocate more resources to those who want it?"
He circled around you once, then suddenly stopped in front of you. Alastor? He reached out and gently traced the outline of your cheek with his sharp fingers before stopping.
He seems to have done this intentionally in the form of Alastor, but you don't understand the meaning behind it.
...Perhaps He also hopes...or wants to conspire with that clever fellow to do something against you?
You gaze at Him with the last vestiges of your vision.
The male demon who was looking directly at you first narrowed his eyes in an ambiguous way before bowing to you in a gentlemanly manner.
After a brief interlude, Alastor? The slender figure in the red striped suit quickly dissipated into red smoke. This actor, who seemed to have put a lot of effort into the role, finally made an elegant exit.
"...I know you actually like everything about hell too!?"
Suddenly, the playful yet elegant jazz melody was replaced by a lively and energetic rhythm, and the petite Nefertti leaped out of the red smoke like a wildcat.
"Killing without consequences, inhumane sex, endless deception, unbridled drug use...?"
Neilette's figure was quickly stretched out, the little girl ending like a period at the end of a musical piece.
Amidst the swirling red smoke, she gradually transformed into the likeness of Sir Pantheon?
"War, anger, chaos, despair!?"
"Hell is a paradise of suffering!"
As marching music plays, a serpentine sinner glides past you.
He put his arm around your shoulder like a true general, and stretches out his hand forward as if looking towards the future.
Red smoke, like spreading tentacles, wrapped around his arm, then blurred His face for a moment.
The eyes of the serpentine sinner meet yours through the smoke and dust.
"...Aren't these what you truly like right now?"
Seeing that you didn't move, Pantheon? He leaned close to your ear, flicking his tongue as he sang softly in his hoarse voice.
"The true constraints that restrained your dullness and kindness have already left you, so why don't you just indulge yourself?"
"What's holding you back?"
The spotlight now only had one beam left.
His figure eventually transforms into the form of Vicky? He walks towards you as if in a monologue, but before touching you, he pulls away from you again.
"Is it the trust of an exorcist angel walking on thin ice?"
"Is it the hidden, fragile true feelings and sincerity of a porn star?"
Is it the penniless gambler's repentant concern?
"Is it the ambiguous favor of a sinful lord who treats everything as a plaything in his palm?"
"Is it the strange little girl's closeness?"
"Is it an emotional dependency stemming from a commander's lack of security?"
"...Or perhaps, it's all the trust that the Princess of Hell gave you?"
The lyrics, which sounded like interrogations, were sung by Him in different forms.
You watch helplessly as the demons you know are transformed one by one before you.
He seems to enjoy the humiliation of being mocked by people you care about, leaving you with no choice but to remain silent.
Although you are unable to speak due to your own limitations, you know that His singing must have some kind of bewitching power.
Every word He sings, imbued with a strange feeling, pierces your mind, disturbing your already chaotic consciousness, like an evil and mean siren.
And just as He transformed back into Shirley's form, He, who had been resting his arm around your shoulder, suddenly whispered in your ear and moved behind you.
"...Tch, uh..."
You squeezed out a strange, hissing sound from the sticky, rotten flesh covered in what looked like saliva or seawater.
You're trying so hard to say something, and you really want to know what he's up to... but right now, even turning around is a luxury for you.
……
……
"Why let them hold you back?"
"Why don't you just make them disappear?"
"You know perfectly well that you can pay with the lives of the entire hell?"
"You know perfectly well that you don't need these cheap sentiments?"
"But you chose...?"
……
……
"……Do not."
Before He finished speaking, you, who had been unable to speak from beginning to end, finally managed to utter that word with all your might and with unwavering determination using your broken vocal cords.
And after hearing your rejection, Shirley's singing stopped abruptly.
He glanced at you with some surprise, as if astonished that you could still make a sound even in this state.
But soon, He touched his forehead and burst into uncontrollable laughter.
Harsh and unrestrained laughter echoed in the "whole world" that He had specially prepared for you.
His shoulders trembled with laughter, as if he had witnessed the most absurd and hilarious thing in the universe.
"Oh ho ho ho... my dear..."
"Don't you understand why you're here?"
"Have you forgotten that you're in hell?"
"Have you forgotten that I will be your eternal nightmare?"
"Have you forgotten under what circumstances... you'll see me?"
"My dearest, innocent, foolish human friend?"
……
"?mine……?"
"Ji Xinglan?"
……
Ji Xinglan.
……
"Boom."
"Boom."
"Boom."
Three words.
Three heartbeats.
Upon hearing what was taken away, the organs that no longer belong to you suddenly begin to throb somewhere.
Your eyes widened.
It was as if the limp flesh was trying to pry open the hard barnacle that had usurped the nest.
It's as if I want to deeply engrave those three words that belong to you into my heart.
The world He created for you is like a piece of glass that has been suddenly shattered, with a huge hole in it, and fragments falling in front of you like a torrential downpour.
Blood and muffled screams, like scalding poison, seeped into the pot of memory through the cracks.
The heavy breathing from deep within your swollen body blocked your eardrums, and for a moment, only that familiar yet distant name could enter your empty heart.
—And that was exactly at that moment.
A sharp knife suddenly pierced through your chest without any chance of escape.
The cold iron object, like some hungry beast, rips through your flesh, pierces your bones, and bursts through your organs.
And you can only stare at Shirley in front of you with your ugly body that cannot move an inch.
She held a seemingly ordinary short knife in her hand.
The blood from your heart flows down from the blade of that knife, like the weak roots of a dying weed.
Countless weak and sorrowful red hues crawled across Shirley's tiger's mouth, seeping into her palm where she gripped the knife hilt.
……
—'Shirley, if one day I really go crazy…'
—'Then you may kill me.'