Chapter 3084

The doctor didn't have the same feelings as Xia De. He, who came here for the first time, was trying hard to perceive the traces of the devil:

"Yes, there are indeed traces of demonic power, let's look for it."

He ordered and walked towards the bookshelf on the left side of the office.

Xia De then walked towards the desk, seeing student papers waiting for review piled on the desk, the newly opened retirement notice from the University Teacher Affairs Office, the "Vista Woodland Folklore Examination" written by Professor Wood himself that had not yet been completed, and a promotional flyer for the "Palm Tree Dessert Shop" one street away.

A fountain pen with a cap was placed on the pen holder, and the ink in the ink bottle with a blurred label was only a shallow layer left at the bottom. The corners of the blank manuscript paper had lightning-shaped marks drawn in blue-black ink, probably the owner of the pen testing whether the pen could still be used.

The smooth wood grain of the desktop had been gently rubbed by the fingertips of time, forming a thick patina with a deep luster. Every subtle bump and scratch was telling the story it had experienced.

It could be seen that the owner of this desk was usually very busy curled up in this small office. The placement of all papers, books, and furniture showed that the owner of the office had just gone out for a while and would soon return to complete his work. Maybe he would go to the dessert shop to buy some raspberry fruit tarts that were on sale after work.

In this era, Xia De was probably the person who knew Professor York Wood best, but he didn't sigh about the old professor's fate. Everything here was left behind by the other party on purpose, maybe it was to guide Xia De to produce some special emotions.

He was just thinking about how many things time could change. The evil object that was regarded as the greatest harm to the material world in the early Second Era, the "legacy" left after exiting the stage was so ordinary:

"Will anyone miss this old professor who was identified as a 'hero'?"

【Of course, aren't you one?】

"No, I don't miss him, I just... nothing."

The drawers under and on both sides of the desk were not locked, and they were all personal items. Xia De put them back in place after checking. The traces of the devil were not here, it was the doctor who found the target:

"Found it, it's a book."

Xia De had already sat down in that armchair to facilitate taking things when he was flipping through the desk drawers just now. He wanted to get up to check, but the doctor had already walked over with that book.

That was a book of normal size with a black cover, and the book title "Soul Story Collection" was written in red ink on the leather cover.

When the doctor buckled the ring on his finger onto the book cover, black smoke with a foul smell immediately emerged. After taking the ring away, the book cover looked like it had been scorched by fire, but soon returned to normal:

"There is also a letter, it seems to be for you, the envelope says 'To the Chosen One or God Caller'."

The doctor handed the envelope to Xia De again. The letter after being opened was quite simple:

"【Someone hid information about the 'Great Devil' in this book. In the first year of the Fourth Era, this book fell into the forest. Please handle it with caution. Note: Any mortal who opens it will irreversibly transform into an evil spirit demon; any mortal who knows its content will become an anchor for a certain existence to return.】"

"Looks like another dangerous item the professor contained in the forest. He left so gracefully, leaving behind so much trouble."

Xia De sat and finished reading the letter and looked up to ask the doctor:

"What is the Great Devil?"

"It's the one we know. Under normal circumstances, people will not write titles like Demon King, Primordial Demon, etc., directly on paper. Even if this is just the other party's title rather than a true name, this title itself is dangerous enough."

The doctor explained, frowning and holding the book in his hand to check. He tried to lift a corner of the cover, but found that all the pages of the book seemed to be stuck together with super glue:

"Can't open it, but it doesn't look like the seal of the Ancient One, but rather... the work of a demon hunter. This thing is too dangerous, I'll take it back to deal with it. Detective, you take a few more things and leave in a while, don't let the church lock on what is missing here."

This was the safest solution, and Xia De didn't want to take this kind of thing home:

"The Ancient One shouldn't lie, the explanation on the letter is true. Didn't expect that just after the Battle of the Woodland ended, such a dangerous thing appeared again."

He sighed and sat behind the desk and folded the letter and put it away. The doctor reached out and turned on the old brass metal gas desk lamp on the desk. When the light fell on Xia De's face, the doctor supported the desk and said:

"I think this is a good thing instead. Chasing that thing for so many years, the information I found about it is almost none. Now that I have completed the transformation, obtained the third core spiritual rune, and mastered the power of the hunter, the key information naturally appeared in front of me."

He shook the book in his hand at Xia De sitting in the armchair:

"This is no longer a coincidence of fate, I even want to say it should have been like this."

"But it could also be a trap, fate is a double-edged sword."

"A trap is also a clue, at least better than knowing nothing."

The doctor was full of ambition:

"I am looking forward to being able to interpret the content from it, no matter what it is, I can be satisfied. Recently I feel more and more that maybe the goal that was almost impossible to achieve can really be achieved. Even if this book is useless to me, I will continue to investigate. I will chase it until the end of time, until I perish with this world."

"The end of time, this is a very heavy statement."

Xia De sitting in the armchair was a bit hunched. He tried to sit here and feel the feelings of Professor York Wood when he was experiencing mortal life at the end of his long life. But the Outsider was different from the Ancient One after all. All he could feel was deep fatigue—there were too many papers to read.

"Heavy?"

Dense snowflakes were blown by the wind and hit the window glass, making a short and dense sound. The doctor thought of the topic discussed in the corridor just now, so he couldn't help but mock Xia De:

"But didn't you also promise the girls that you would hold their hands until the end of time? I only have one goal to chase, but you promised so many, detective, oh detective, I'm really worried that one day you will be hacked to death by the girls in the apartment."

The Outsider actually didn't exclude that he would face such an ending. He knew what he had done:

"Doctor, do you know what the end of time is like?"

"Compared to you, I have no time talent."

"But I know."

He indeed knew the end of time, he had even reached there in person. And precisely because he knew what the "end of time" really was, he didn't think the promise of the "end of time" could not be realized. What was truly heavy was the story after the end.

This autumn he saw all the stories of time in the Vista Woodland. Even if the love across time gives birth to crystals, it will eventually face death at the end of life; those who escape death try to deceive time, but eventually turn into flying ash and dissipate; those who go to unearth the secret treasures of the past for wealth eventually die in the past in the fire; no matter how touching the friendship between the dragon and the human across time is, they still leave together in the end.

Time rolls forward, and even the World Tree is no longer there.

Those stories that seem long and eternal will eventually become the past. Even if the oath of "the end of time" is made, but when the end of time really arrives, the Outsider also understands that everything he holds may be lost.

"Why do you look suddenly melancholy?"

The doctor stood by the table and asked strangely. Xia De folded his hands and placed them on the table, looking at the light of the old gas lamp:

"Because I know what the future of the world is, and I know what the end of everything is, so I fear the end of time. It seems distant, it seems unreachable. But as long as time continues to flow, one day it will come.

I can talk to you about this topic easily sitting here, but when time really reaches the end, can I really continue to hold their hands?"

The doctor still supported the table with one hand, which was a very relaxed standing posture:

"An ordinary psychologist might say things like 'don't worry about the future, focus on the present, enjoy this moment', but I am not an ordinary psychologist."

After boasting, he entered the topic:

"Your situation is exactly the opposite of mine. You worry about the known future, because you know it, so you fear it; while I worry about the unknown future, because I don't know what will happen, so I fear it.

But whether we know what the end of time is, as you said, it will definitely come. So, shouldn't you be more worried about whether you can really keep your promise until you reach the end of time? Don't underestimate time, detective, and don't overestimate yourself."

Blue eyes looked at Xia De sitting there:

"I am chasing that powerful enemy, and you want not to let go of those hands. Tell me, detective, do you think you can hold their hands forever?"

"I promised, so I must do it."

The Outsider answered softly, but the doctor pointed out:

"Those things that seem unchanging are always very easy to change, especially the human heart.

I wish you can always keep your promise, so let me relieve your anxiety about the future. Obviously you ignored one thing, the promise is relative. When you make an oath, it means not only you have to hold their hands tightly, but they also have to keep their promise and hold your hands tightly."

Xia De felt that he seemed to understand what the doctor wanted to say:

"I am no longer alone?"

"Or rather, don't think that only you have to bear the anxiety. Those girls you provoked are also sharing that heavy oath. Until the end of time, ha, dazzling, eternal, is it really that simple?"

The doctor's eyes looked at the snow outside the window and himself reflected in the window, not knowing what he was thinking.

But his "comfort" indeed made Xia De feel better, because he felt he could answer the doctor's near-sighing question:

"What is dazzling and eternal is my obsession, it is something I can never let go of."

He thought of the story belonging to him recorded on the bark of the World Tree, and thought of the "giving up" and "moderation" he still hadn't learned until the end. At this moment, he couldn't help but reveal a smile. If he had really let go at that time, he wouldn't have won this "bickering" at this moment:

"Doctor, just wait and see. The Crystal Throne will not collapse, and my promise will not change. I will witness your story and your ending, and you will also watch whether I can really do what I promised."

The doctor smiled at Xia De reflected in the glass window:

"Of course, this is more interesting than the stories of my patients."

"Please don't treat me as your patient, the mistakes I made have not been defined as mental illness."

He smiled and looked at the gas desk lamp, suddenly remembering the dream in the early morning today, the long-haired girl hugged his neck and said "It's great to have you in the Sixth Era."

She knew better than himself what "the end of time" meant, but she still took the initiative to hold his hand. She was the first person to make a promise. Companionship is always mutual. Since Luvia is not afraid, since those purple eyes are willing to look at the future with him, he will not be anxious at this moment.

Although the snowy winter night was cold, in this small office, sitting in the old armchair under the dim gas lamp light, Xia De felt that someone was hugging and warming his soul at this moment.

The Outsider's love promise was slightly small compared to the grand doomsday epic of this world, but that didn't matter. Companionship was something that could transcend time for him. Whether it was the girls around him or those girls in the distance of remote time, knowing that they missed him, the future was no longer frightening.

He... who was considered by the girls to be very good at talking, was also a bit at a loss for words at this moment.

The Outsider suddenly reached out and picked up a fountain pen from the pen holder, and put the blank manuscript paper on the table in front of him, preparing to write something. The doctor stood by the table and bent over to watch with great interest.

Outside the glass window, the pitch-black night sky was dotted with silently falling snowflakes, as if the gears of time stopped quietly at this moment. The faint light of the cold moon reflected on the window lattice, intertwined with the warm yellow light of the gas desk lamp inside the glass window, outlining hazy and ambiguous light and shadow.

Books and documents were piled up like mountains. The flame of the old gas desk lamp on the desk flickered slightly in the lampshade, making Xia De sitting in front of the desk and the doctor standing beside the desk look like they were in an old oil painting with dark tones.

The brass nib slid across the paper, making a slight rustling sound. The remains of the ancient World Tree had also written his experiences and many magical stories here, but Xia De felt that these could not be compared with the words he was about to write.

That was a promise of the soul, that was the determination to walk towards the future together. He didn't have the literary talent of Dorothy and Flora, but that rustling sound was indeed the echo of his soul touching time—

【Present World · Sixth Era, General Calendar 1854, Winter, Month of Frost. The cold of winter cannot extinguish the hot soul. The tragedy of love and sin, desire and punishment in the woodland reveals the secret of time. You don't want to lose, so the elves crowned you under the World Tree; you don't want to let go, so the witches offered you purity under the moon. The ancient forest buried the story of the tree. Now that the long staff is in hand, dear Outsider, when you overlook the eternal crystal frozen due to obsession, in the dazzling reflection, what you see, is it the future or the scenery in your heart?】

Xia De didn't answer "She's" rhetorical question. In the rustling sound, he finished writing that paragraph. After gently blowing the ink dry, he looked at the content he wrote with some embarrassment:

"If one day, the mountains and rivers no longer sing,

If one day, the tides lose their way home,

Even if all things are silent and the world returns to nothingness,

I will still hold this promise tightly—

Accompany you through the sky full of yellow sand, until..."

Those figures, those smiles emerged one by one before his eyes, Xia De opened his mouth and read the last sentence, saying his brand new promise:

"No, beyond the end of time."

With a "pop," the pen cap was buckled tightly. The doctor originally wanted to comment on this little poem, but felt that at some moment, rolling yellow sand seemed to rush towards his face. And after he shook off the phantom suspiciously, he just happened to catch a glimpse of the dark golden giant tree phantom flashing past behind Xia De:

"Ha, I knew it would be like this again."

Xia De folded his hands and looked at the text on the desktop under the gas lamp, while the doctor ignored the vision just now and commented:

"This is a love poem, but I noticed that the personal pronoun you used is singular. You want to send this to someone alone, right? This is a very wise decision."

The snow outside the window seemed to be getting heavier. Xia De smiled and responded to the doctor's comments, but at the same time asked the moonlight in his heart:

"Are you also willing to accompany me beyond the end of time?"

The moonlight responded with a light laugh:

【You are me—this is the longest promise.】

The Outsider was very satisfied with this:

"Then what else?"

His fingers tapped lightly on the desktop, seeming a bit impatient, so "She" smiled gently:

【Outsider, you have gained new power.】

(End of this volume)