Chapter 502
482 Twilight Stairs
Chapter 502, Section 482: Twilight Stairs
Meanwhile, Xie Yan arrived in the world of talent, and she quickly discovered that it was completely different from the world she originally lived in.
Everyone here has special abilities. The online forums are no longer filled with ordinary entertainment gossip or social news; they are filled with bizarre and wonderful stories—some people can listen to the emotions of plants, and some can travel through dreams.
The urban legends and ancient tales that circulated only in the shadows of her original world can almost all find their verifiable origins and explanations here.
This is a strange new world that lies hidden beneath the surface, a world that is real and authentic.
The strangest thing was a section on the forum called "Guide to Entering the World." It was a place where many people shared similar ideas and beliefs with her father.
They talked about their longing for an ordinary life and explored how to return to the mundane life of an ordinary person even after possessing extraordinary abilities.
Those pinned posts, filled with wisdom, teach newcomers how to correct their skewed values caused by power, how to perfectly disappear into the vast sea of people, and how to be a discreet and worldly person.
The first step in all the guides points to the same place: the Rose Group.
The post explains that you need to go to the Rose Bank first to exchange the currency used in the Talent World for external currency at a special exchange rate.
Then, a mysterious organization called Rose Transportation will take over. The latter has a well-established process to legitimize the source of these funds, ensuring that every penny can be used transparently in the ordinary world.
The poster emphasized that this process was tacitly understood by multiple official departments, and there would be absolutely no trouble afterwards.
Each person who successfully "enters the world" will also receive a unique rose-themed transportation contact code, promising that "wherever there is a road, there will be roses to care for you."
Xie Yan recalled the secret phone calls her father made when he was still alive, and the "rose" badges worn on the shoulders of the people who came looking for him.
Countless fragments suddenly came together, outlining the contours of the truth.
Her father was by no means an ordinary middle-aged man who died tragically in an accident.
He came from here, and was once a member of this bizarre world, but spent the rest of his life striving for an ordinary life.
And what about the mother?
Xie Yan's heart clenched.
Those unspoken, tacit glances that occasionally passed between the parents, the mother's knowing smile and tolerance for the father's certain "strange habits"... she probably knew all along, perhaps not all the details, but she must have sensed the different starry sky behind her lover.
She chose to accept it in silence, embracing a soul with a strange past.
One of them gave up all the possibilities of the world of talent, while the other embraced the mystery that transcends common sense.
Based on understanding and respect, they built a small world that belonged only to each other.
That should have been a happy story about love and forbearance.
However, the story ends in a stark crimson, with two cold hands clasped together, a life abruptly cut short.
Xie Yan closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
A breeze from the world of talent brushed against her cheek. She finally stood at the starting point where her father had set out, the path he had resolutely chosen to leave behind now unfolding clearly before her eyes.
This time, however, she was all alone.
Xie Yan was somewhat dazed, because she couldn't get over the shadow of losing her parents, so the little house at Rose Transportation Allocation became her shell.
Xie Yan huddled inside, day after day, letting time flow by in a hazy blur outside the window.
The boundary between wakefulness and sleep is the first to melt away, followed by hunger and satiety, day and night.
She often stares with her eyes open at the patterns on the ceiling that ripple like water, or falls into layers of nightmares she can't escape during brief moments of unconsciousness.
She felt like she was probably going crazy.
—But why is the world of a madman so clear?
Sometimes she could "see" her father's back as he fried eggs in the kitchen, hear the rustling sound of her mother turning the pages of the newspaper, and even smell the familiar scent of soapberry with its sunshine.
They were so real, so real that she reached out to touch them—but her fingertips only brushed against a sheet of cold air.
When people are in extreme pain, they will diverge into different paths.
Some sought revenge, some committed suicide, some fled, and some were powerless, left only to repeatedly relive the pain for the rest of their lives.
But Xie Yan became the fifth type.
She chose to succumb completely, letting herself slide into the abyss of disintegration of consciousness.
If the awakening of the Fool sequence often begins with an explosion of the inner fortress, then Xie Yan actively demolished all the walls and invited nothingness to enter.
She stopped arguing and stopped resisting.
Reality was too painful, but her dreams held everything she longed for.
When the delusions that frantically proliferate begin to bestow upon her the same visions, the distinction loses its meaning.
In her world, dreams and reality finally made peace, weaving together a seamless new "reality".
Mom and Dad are always here.
"Splash—"
The old building entrance door was pushed open with a rough, creaking sound. A little girl with a bright yellow schoolbag on her back, her hair a bit messy, and barefoot, stepped out.
Several small, pale yellow birds, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, landed lightly on her slender shoulders, tilting their heads and gazing quietly ahead with their bean-like eyes.
—A new foolish giant is born in silence.
For other sequences, confusion between dreams and reality is a sign of utter collapse.
But on the path of the fool, this may be a sign of entering the inner sanctum.
This sequence does not believe in traditional accumulation and asceticism; its power comes from the fission of cognition and the "reconstruction" of worldview.
The more a "reality" deviates from the norm, the more it harbors distorted yet powerful possibilities.
Sometimes, the only thing separating the weak from the strong is a thin, crumbling membrane.
Xie Yan exchanged her complete self-exile for a smooth path to the ranks of the fools.
And she had a clear goal in mind when she went out this time.
In those endless, chaotic dreams, amidst the yearning for family that had been screamed a thousand times, her "fool's" spirituality finally offered a vague echo—
A voice, perhaps from the depths of her subconscious, or perhaps a whisper from the sequence itself, guided her:
[Xie Yan, let's go to the beach.]
At the moment the sun sets, at the boundary between yellow and black, look up at the sky.
A staircase will appear there.
Walk up, towards the other side of the clouds.
The person you're looking for is there, in "heaven."
She believed it.
Or rather, she had to believe it.
The sea breeze is salty and damp, carrying a fishy smell.
Xie Yan stood motionless by the reef, waiting from afternoon until the sun began to set, turning the vast expanse of deep blue into golden red, and then into a dull yellow and black.
At the moment when light and darkness intertwine, and the sky is at its most magical—
It appeared.
A semi-transparent staircase, shimmering with a pearly white glow, hangs abruptly against the dim yellow sky.
One end disappears beneath the dark sea surface, while the other rises straight up, extending into the deepening twilight and low-hanging clouds, as if connecting to another unknown world.
time is limited.
The guide once said that the stairs only exist for a brief period of time during the transition between day and night, and will melt away with the setting sun when night falls completely.
Xie Yan hesitated almost without the slightest hesitation.
"pat-"
She threw down her yellow schoolbag, climbed over the railing, and plunged into the icy, bone-chilling seawater, swimming vigorously toward the reflection of the steps in the air.
Seawater filled her mouth and nose, and her clothes, soaked and heavy, clung to her body, but she was completely unaware.
Closer, closer still.
Xie Yan stretched out her trembling hand and reached upwards—
A tangible tactile sensation came from my fingertips.
Solid and stable, not an illusion.
It really exists.
Xie Yan climbed the first step, soaking wet, with seawater dripping from her body.
She raised her head and looked at the long road leading above the clouds, to the so-called "heaven," her eyes burning with a fierce light.
"Dad, Mom."
She gritted her teeth, her voice broken by the sea breeze, yet unusually clear:
"I am coming."
Warning: Do not imitate dangerous behavior. Muggles, please do not climb over the railings. The ocean is dangerous!
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(End of this chapter)