Chapter 2350: Stories, Characters, and Audience

Although this was indeed a good idea, Xia De thought there were also problems:

"Miss Sander's soul is only petrified, but it still exists; this is indeed feasible. But we don't know what will trigger the illusion targeting Miss Sander, and is the power of this illusion really strong enough to reverse the divine art of an ancient god?"

That lady laughed:

"When Granny Xinnuode and Miss Knight encountered illusions, both of us were present. I saw some traces from that illusion; I can use the secret method unique to our tribe to summon a mist, actively summoning illusions like the demon last time."

Xia De listened very seriously; he knew this was the lady about to use the power of a deity:

"Are there any conditions required?"

"Of course, to structure a real illusion, some actors are also needed. Granny Xinnuode, Miss Knight, you need to play the characters in the illusion."

"No problem."

The old elf and the female knight nodded immediately; of course, they also wanted to save Miss Sander.

"And you, you of course also need to play a role in the illusion."

The saint with golden eyes said to Xia De again, but smiled and added after Xia De nodded:

"Of course, you have an even more important task—since it is an illusion, there must be a background story. Since the purpose of weaving the illusion is to let Lia Sander return, then in the illusion, you need to complete such a task: let the soul of this mermaid princess bloom like gold in the misty and chaotic fog of consciousness."

This was clearly some kind of description; Xia De thought carefully and continued to nod:

"I understand, let the soul of stone have temperature, let the fixed soul form become active again because of the quality of will."

He already had his own plan, and even thought that if it still didn't work, he would try to use "Soul Lash" on that mermaid girl in the illusion... Xia De thought it was better not to do so.

The fire crackled and burned, and the wind in the desert had almost no sound. The sand grains with a silver shimmer rolled with the wind under the swaying shadows of the group. The cat head poking out from the outsider's chest yawned, then lazily curled back into Xia De's clothes.

And in this tranquility that made people almost want to sleep forever, the group surrounding the firelight listened to Xia De finish telling the story he had woven.

"How does it feel?"

Xia De asked the others in the small camp after finishing his thoughts.

Granny Xinnuode nodded:

"A good story, but what roles do we need to play?"

Miss Mester's smile remained mysterious and serene:

"Any characters appearing in the story are fine; you have experienced illusions and need to support the new illusion."

"Then I will play that deep-sea witch."

Granny Xinnuode said, not caring that this was a "negative character," while the female knight thought for a while before speaking:

"Can I play a character of a different gender? Can I play the prince?"

Her temperament was indeed not suitable for any other major female character in the story; fortunately, this was the Fifth Era, and the "prince" in the story Xia De was about to tell could of course be a woman.

"No problem, then I will play that human princess who is very lucky and eventually marries the prince."

The saint also chose a role for herself, then looked at Xia De:

"And you?"

"Among the main characters, it seems there's nothing left?"

This story was not complicated, and Xia De happened to have participated in an opera written by Dorothea:

"I don't want to play other mermaid princesses, and as for the mermaid king... hmm, it doesn't feel suitable for me either."

The lady with light brown skin then asked softly:

"Think carefully, what is this 'drama' about to be staged still missing?"

Xia De thought of this question immediately:

"Narrator? Audience?"

Thus, the saint extended her right hand toward the front, and with just a light wipe, the white mist filling the sky surged in from all directions, wrapping everything except Xia De and the pile of campfire in it.

The elf, the female knight, and the saint also disappeared into the fog. Xia De did not try to see through the mist of the "God of Mist"; he sat in front of the fire with his left leg horizontal on the sand and his right leg stepping on the sand, staring at the flames.

After waiting for a moment, the outsider's steady voice told the story that was not old:

"A long, long time ago, deep in the ocean, there was an ancient mermaid kingdom. The king and queen of the kingdom gave birth to seven princesses, and the youngest princess was the most beautiful. The innocent and beautiful little mermaid played with schools of fish in the sea all day, accompanied by dolphins and whales, and wove the most beautiful silk with octopuses and sea crabs."

Gurgling water sounds came from the fog, and the thick fog dispersed a part. Xia De looked up and saw that he seemed to be sitting on the seabed, and in the almost completely transparent water area above, Miss Sander appeared in the posture of a human body and fish tail, smiling and swimming with a group of red and white striped minnows.

Water plants swayed on the ground beside Xia De, and sea crabs and crawling shrimp moved slowly on the seabed, but they all avoided the campfire and Xia De beside it.

Looking at Miss Sander's expression again, that smile was clearly a bit stiff and unnatural. Not to mention compared to professional opera actors, even the forced smiles of ordinary people were more normal than this.

Her smile was like the appearance artificially shaped by a sculptor, and the posture of her swimming was also manipulated like a marionette. And thinking this way, looking at Miss Sander's state at this time, one would even feel a bit eerie.

However, Xia De learned one thing from this, which was that mermaids active in the deep sea would not only use shells and water plants to cover their upper bodies. Fairy tales were indeed all lies; mermaids also wore decent clothing woven from special materials in the deep sea.

The familiar ocean life scene did not seem to cause any response from the petrified soul, so the story by the campfire continued:

"Father and mother always said that the world above the sea surface was dangerous for the little mermaid. But those adult sisters always excitedly told the little mermaid that the world above the water was so bright and colorful, and how magical the ships built by humans who walked with two feet were.

The intelligent little mermaid princess could always imagine those scenes she had never seen before from these stories. So every night when she went to sleep, the world above the sea would quietly slip into her dreams. Thinking and hoping, finally, the little mermaid princess could not resist the temptation and quietly went to the water surface alone one day."

The water area in the fog appeared with richer scenes; first, the seven beautiful mermaids gathered together to talk, and after a quick scene transition, Miss Sander, with a fish tail and human body, swam upward with all her might.

But in fact, the height she was at did not change; it was just that the ocean scene in the fog kept moving downward.

Xia De looked up at this scene, watching the light that was exaggeratedly bright gradually appear above Miss Sander, who was like a marionette.

And when she touched that light, the scene was completely filled with sunlight in an instant, and then turned into mist again.

But the surrounding sounds did not disappear; it was just that the original gurgling water sounds were gone, replaced by the clear sounds of seagulls and cruise ship whistles.

The white mist dispersed again, allowing the sunny sea surface scene to appear before Xia De's eyes.

Miss Sander "surprisedly" poked her head out of the water, "excitedly" looking at the sky, the sun, and everything on the sea surface.

The whistle in the distance became louder; she was first "frightened" by the huge cruise ship, then quickly hid under the water surface.

It was just that she did not swim away or retreat to the deep sea. After cautiously discovering that the ship had no malice toward her and did not even discover her, she slowly swam to the bottom of the cruise ship on the seabed.

Following the cruise ship for a while, she poked her head out against the side of the ship, then smiled and watched the human creation, which was as tall as a hill on the seabed, moving slowly forward on the water surface.

All her expressions and postures were so weird that this sunny scene looked like a ghost story performance, and as the fog dispersed a bit more, Miss Knight dressed in men's clothing appeared on the deck of the tall cruise ship.

This gray-haired female knight was originally capable and heroic; at this time, wearing a black formal suit with her gray-white short hair draped, although it could still be seen that she was a woman, it... was clearly different from her appearance when wearing armor.

She was holding a glass in her hand, standing behind the railing on the deck, looking into the distance in a daze. Suddenly, accidentally, the wine glass in her hand fell into the sea.

Thus, the "prince" grabbed the railing with one hand, leaned half of her body out of the deck to look down, and then saw the mermaid in the sea, who was holding her forehead with one hand and holding the wine glass with the other, looking up half-puzzled and half-angry.

Originally a bit angry, but when seeing the sunlight spreading downward from above the "prince," so that the edges of that already handsome face seemed to be glowing, Miss Sander blushed immediately. Of course, this expression was also very weird, almost as if she had applied excessive blush directly to her cheeks.

And after she looked at the "prince" who was looking at her with a shy smile for a moment, she placed the glass wine cup in the water. The water sphere wrapped it and flew upward until it was grabbed by the "prince" again.

When the "prince" looked at the sea surface below again, the blue-haired girl from just now was no longer there.

The "prince" scratched her head in confusion, then turned and walked toward the cabin again.

The picture froze, and Xia De, sitting alone by the campfire watching this scene, continued:

"Returning to the mermaid kingdom in the deep sea from the sea surface, no one knew that the little mermaid had briefly touched the sunlight and the human world just now. She hid what had just happened in her heart, but the prince quietly slipped into her dreams at night, driving away the familiar ocean fantasy dreams.

She inquired about the news of that ship from her sisters, and thus learned the identity of the 'prince'. So the little mermaid longed, longed, longed to be able to go to the sea surface again to see the prince from just now.

The sunlight deeply attracted the girl under the sea surface; finally, she made up her mind and followed the route in the horror stories told in her mother's stories in her childhood memories, heading toward the most terrifying submarine abyss in the deep sea." ===== CHAPTER 2351 =====