Chapter 73: Doomsday Carnival

Her face was frozen red, and the wound on the hand holding the reins cracked again, blood staining the rope.

An illusion of being about to faint flashed by. She steadied her mind, raised her hand to wipe the blood from her palm, and tore off a corner of her skirt to bandage her palm.

She remembered those insignificant markers.

Dead shrubs, rocks weathered into the shape of knife blades, and hills in the distance lying on the horizon like broken spines.

Memory became the only reliable guide at this moment.

The chill drilled into her bones from her collar. Su Mian gritted her teeth; the pain actually made her sober.

Horse hooves trampled one sand dune after another. Inappropriate thoughts gradually appeared in her mind.

If... if she died in the wilderness before arriving, it would be quite funny.

People always think of some strange things when they are frozen to numbness.

"Mian Mian, I've told you, don't always anticipate the development of things. Why don't you just commute?"

"I'm not that fragile, Mom."

"That's true. Mian Mian has been sick so many times since she was a child; isn't she living well now?"

"You are a child that the devil of illness can never defeat."

She was a child that the devil of illness could never defeat, a person that the Grim Reaper could never take away.

That sentence was once like a blessing, and also like an invisible shackle.

She lived on it, sat up from the hospital bed time and time again on it, and also convinced herself on it that she was not a defective product discarded by fate.

She indeed no longer felt that she was a person living a stolen life.

Even if she was world-weary, even if she had thought countless times in the night that it wouldn't matter if some illness took her away, that was just a retreat, a compromise when exhausted.

But when true death arrived, dragging everyone into the same probability line, she felt the weight of her heart so clearly for the first time.

A kind of forced desire to be awake.

She wanted to live.

Not to prove anything, nor to fight anyone, just because she was still breathing, could still feel cold, feel pain, feel the blood jumping at her fingertips.

She wanted to live until the game ended, wanted to experience the taste of victory again, wanted the lavender covering the mountains not to be dyed into a piece of blood, wanted to watch this medieval flourishing age in the void usher in peace.

Oh people, why are you getting greedier and greedier.

But she was learning to love herself more and more courageously.

——

On this side, Adrian and the other arrived at the pier without stopping. The sky had completely darkened.

The sea was quiet as usual, and the rising moon cast pale frost, swallowed by one wave after another.

Returning fishermen dragged their nets off the deck.

"Hello, I'd like to ask how many ships pass through here every day?"

"Ships?"

The fisherman seemed to have heard something funny, "We're about to go to war with Talen, what ships? All routes have been notified by the city defense army to be withdrawn."

He waved his hand and dragged his exhausted body toward the bridge. Adele grabbed his hand, "Adrian, ordinary fishermen probably don't know about smuggling or anything. We have to go to the Weibens Merchant Guild to ask."

Adrian nodded, "You're right."

So the two stayed on the second floor of a nearby tavern, planning to set off early tomorrow morning.

But they seemed to have underestimated this group of people's desire for a "Doomsday Carnival."

People always indulge in pleasure before a destructive threat arrives; people of every era are no exception.

This tavern, which was open all night, gave a group of suppressed and desperate people a place to vent.

They laughed, toasted, drank, and danced the Branle. Sailors, deserters, and citizens gathered together, not caring if they knew each other; as long as they raised their wine glasses, they were temporary partners.

Someone roared while stabbing cheese with a chipped dagger; someone buried their face in the greasy neck of a waitress and sobbed; more people just poured wine, pouring wine aimlessly, attempting to forget the coming smoke and nightmares.

Adele, lying on the coarse linen sheets on the second floor, couldn't bear it anymore and opened her eyes. She stepped barefoot across the cold floor, wanting to find the landlady to ask for some soothing herbs.

The torches in the corridor had long since gone out. She relied on the memory of when she came, and finally, after wandering around, she didn't know where she went, and pushed open a door she thought led to the stairs.

A smell of old, cold, acidic rot wrapped around her.

This was a storage room, piled with the wreckage of the tavern.

Crooked oak wine barrels, chipped pottery cups, and tin pots lay crookedly in spider webs. The only light came from a small, dirty air window high up. Moonlight squeezed in, casting eerie shadows on the uneven ground.

She swallowed her saliva, suddenly hoping to hear the sounds of those revelries, but at this moment, everything was silent, magnifying her fear infinitely.

Maybe... it's better to go back to sleep.

Just as she was about to turn around, her peripheral vision caught a moving figure, and her whole body's hair stood on end.

"Who?"

"Who's there?!"

Responding to her was a gust of wind. She hunched her waist and hurriedly came out of the storage room, closing the door behind her, stumbling and running toward the corridor she came from, not daring to look back for a moment.

Fortunately, she found the spiral staircase leading to the first floor.

Adele rushed down. The noise was bustling. She felt cold sweat on her back and finally calmed down.

This strange feeling reminded her of the night she first arrived at the church and saw the dead Cecily.

The more she thought about it, the more creepy she felt. She shuddered all over and saw Adrian beside the bar.

"It's your turn! I have six 'Zhuge Crossbows'! Just ask if you're afraid!"

"You have six Zhuge Liangs? I don't believe it... Open!"

The person confronting Adrian cursed, holding his fists indignantly.

Adele:...?

Noticing Adele who was stunned on the side, Adrian coughed twice awkwardly.

"It was too noisy and I couldn't sleep, so... I couldn't beat them, so I joined them."

"Amazing! Brother, which Eastern traveling merchant did you get this game from? It's more exciting than dice! Come on, show your cards!"

The oarsman didn't notice anything unusual at all, laughing and patting Adrian's shoulder heavily.

Adrian waved his hand. The oarsman looked disappointed, turned around, and went to play this new game with others, as if he had discovered a new continent.

"What's wrong with you? Your face is so pale."

"Nothing... just got lost."

Adele shook her head, but was held by Adrian by the face. She was startled and looked up at the person in front of her.

"Did you drink?"

"Yeah."

The topic ended, and the two were silent for a while. The handsome man and beautiful woman standing at the bar attracted many gazes.

It seemed that apart from clues and tasks, the two had never discussed anything else. Now, it was a bit over the line.

The atmosphere froze for a moment, and Adele suddenly spoke without warning.

"Do you... like Evelyn?" ===== CHAPTER 74 =====

The atmosphere froze for a moment, and Adele suddenly spoke without warning.

"Do you... like Evelyn?"