Superhumans of the Dome City-Chapter 1277 - 130: Diverging Paths, Former Roads (Part 3)

Kerky spoke with great aplomb, while Gongsun Ce pouted beside her: "Oh, come on, spare me."

At this moment, Jane Della was no longer angry. She hung her head, her voice low: "Hyde was right...we are indeed the most meaningless people in this city, holding positions but doing inconsequential work. The big shots are too capable, aren’t they? What crucial task would need us?"

Gongsun Ce also sat on a bench, silent for a while. He again recalled the looks everyone gave as his elder brother repaired armor, remembered the feeling of embarrassment under the spotlight with nowhere to hide, and recalled the awkward scene of being rejected when he tried to strike up a conversation with the Dawn Knight for the first time...

Come to think of it, he was just a clown for entertainment, and those farces were where he belonged. The failure girls were quite right; what’s the point of feeling so good about himself? What task did he really have?

"Alright, cheer up!" Kerky clapped her hands loudly, "I’ll take you to watch something fun tonight. Have you ever seen a play before?"

"What kind of play?" Gongsun Ce asked casually, "If nothing, I’d rather continue hanging out at the bar."

"More interesting than a bar, it’s a classic play performed in a tent." Kerky hooked her finger, "The ambiance is amazing...you’ll definitely like that troupe!"

As she spoke, she blew air into Gongsun Ce’s ear, her breath warm and comforting, carrying the same melancholic and decadent familiarity as herself. Gongsun Ce couldn’t help but squint his eyes; it was clearly still morning, yet he already felt somewhat tired.

"Alright, why not."

The day passed swiftly, like every other melancholic day. The useless people wandered around the capital, using their official identities to grab food and drink from the canteen, throwing stones at doves in front of the church like the most uninteresting tourists. Gongsun Ce followed his own body numbly, putting on a facade of enjoying himself, though truly there was little pleasure.

After nightfall, they went to a lawn in the eastern district to watch a simple play introduced enthusiastically by Kerky. Initially, he looked up just to be polite, but after a while, he found himself unknowingly drawn in. The actors’ performances were clumsy, the props on stage were crude, yet the dialogues and chanting carried a mysterious kind of magic. He unwittingly widened his eyes, focused as if under a spell, the indescribable enthusiasm— decadent, numb, a fallen sense of beauty— held him tightly like invisible tendrils.

"Do you like theater?" the man asked.

A man in white clothes with a tall hat quietly appeared in the back row, striking up a conversation with this new audience member. "Very interesting," Gongsun Ce said. They conversed passionately about art, life, and many topics, engrossed to the point of not even noticing when the play ended and the audience left. It should’ve been this way, Gongsun Ce thought, I should’ve met him long ago. He followed the man in white into the center of the troupe’s large tent, where the troupe members were gathering, faint candlelight casting flickering shadows on their faces.

He shivered, a secret and intense excitement rising somewhere deep within his heart. The man in white smiled and extended his hand to him. "Why not give acting a try? You could become an outstanding actor!"

Gongsun Ce stared at the man’s pale hand, unable to find a reason to refuse; he raised his hand.

His hand stopped in mid-air. That vague sense of alienation suddenly surged at this moment, a boy’s voice within him frantically screaming. He shouted madly that this was wrong, it shouldn’t be this way!

This isn’t my life!

Gongsun Ce abruptly withdrew his hand, pushing away the actors around him, turning to run out of the tent. The man in white didn’t follow but smiled behind Gongsun Ce. The laughter was sharp, the actors chimed in one by one, as if demons were wailing in the night. No light could be seen outside the tent, boundless darkness enveloping the terrified boy, he didn’t know where he should go, but he couldn’t stay here, this wasn’t his place!

Inky black letters the same color as the night flashed by, the path in front of Gongsun Ce splitting into countless streams like lines, each road ahead showing his own image. He saw himself brushing past a black-haired girl on the street, the decadent youth never meeting a new friend; some days ago, he refused to travel with the Hunter, quietly living a stable life at home; countless times passing by singing girls but never stopping, lacking the eyes to discern truth...

The voice in his heart grew weaker, he instinctively felt something wrong was happening. Gongsun Ce suddenly realized that was his "future," he didn’t exist at the "node" in his past, so his future changed with it! He was becoming another person, a cold, incompetent, mediocre young man, and that wasn’t what he should be!

"Get lost!" the youth shouted hoarsely, "Go away!!"

He turned his back on the sealed future, running towards his own past. He had to find the previous "node," to protect the self that had not yet been changed. The last node was seven years ago, he had to return to the capital of the skies!

Unnoticed, the sound of loathed rain began, large raindrops tapping on Gongsun Ce’s body, shattering into transparent stardust upon hitting the ground. He ran from one darkness into another, a narrow and gloomy alley. A black-haired boy sat alone at the end of the alley, as silent as if lifeless.

Gongsun Ce sighed with relief, leaning against the wall, catching his breath before saying: "It’s alright. Big brother will come to save you."

"Really?" the boy whispered, "You mean that person?"

Gongsun Ce was taken aback; he turned to find a stranger lying at the alley’s entrance. The man’s complexion was pallid, his body bloated, a dodging glance devoid of spirit, trembling weakly in the rain like a discarded animal.

"Ah Ce..." the man slurred, "Be careful..."

"...Big brother?" Gongsun Ce couldn’t believe it.

Footsteps sounded from outside the alley, splashes of rainwater stirred by dragging steps. The man in white clothes and a tall hat stood not far away, holding a black umbrella, a smile inscrutable in his eyes.

He walked slowly into the alley as if a ghost, passing through the frail Mo Yuankai, through Gongsun Ce’s furious fists, all the shouts and struggles unable to touch this formless existence. He approached the former boy, bending down to hand him the umbrella.

"Come with me," Situ Yi smiled.