Vol. 1 Chapter 13: Casting into the Fire
### Chapter 13: Casting into the Fire
"The King in Yellow?" Lu Li was momentarily confused, but upon reflection, he found that interpreting the Yellow Emperor as the King in Yellow, though odd, was not entirely unreasonable. As he whispered this name, a faint sense of dread brushed his heart, too subtle for Lu Li's keen control to notice.
"The time has come for you to return. Take good care of the master!" The marionette's wooden face smiled, shedding her long-held worries. Her demeanor became serene, almost deathly still. "I'm truly sorry for deceiving you and using despicable means. However you see me, I don't mind. Just promise you'll take care of my master."
The world started to warp and fragment, becoming dreamlike. When Lu Li regained consciousness, he was back in the ruined temple. His nose felt stiff, and as he instinctively touched it, he realized it was covered in dried blood. Then he noticed he could move his hand again.
Across from him, the old man awoke groggily. Lu Li moved, carefully assessing himself. He found that all the injuries he had sustained in the dreamlike world had healed. The only real wound was the nosebleed from overclocking his brain. Reaching into his pockets, he found the three rule modules and the cinnabar talisman.
"Only..." Lu Li flexed his left hand, noting it was less nimble than his right. Upon closer inspection, everything seemed fine—muscles, nerves, blood vessels—but the dexterity was halved.
"Is this a side effect of the mystical forces?" Lu Li had no solution for this. He continued to sense his condition and found that his previously injured areas felt a dull ache. An odd intuition told him these discomforts would fade with time, unlike the permanent loss of agility in his left hand.
"Judging by the sky, there's less than an hour until dawn." The old man checked the door before sighing deeply. "It's all my fault for being lazy. The firewood won't last until morning. It's not safe outside at night. What should we do?"
"Don't blame yourself too much, old man. We can't predict what might happen until the very end. There's always a way." Lu Li reassured him, though his eyes sparkled with understanding. He had deciphered the marionette's plan. He remembered her words: "The monsters make the best fuel."
The marionette's red tear released an eerie wave, subtly manipulating emotions. A bit of guilt could become overwhelming shame, a bit of self-blame could turn into raging regret, and a bit of resentment could become pure hatred.
"I'm just a useless old man! Lived all these years and accomplished nothing, now a burden in my old age." The old man involuntarily recalled his past, his lifetime of hardships yielding nothing, leaving him alone. Facing this harsh winter, he couldn't even prepare proper clothing, without a home, sheltering in a dilapidated temple, waiting to die in the cold night.
"I ended up like this all because of you!" As the fire dwindled with no more wood to add, his emotions churned. Reflecting on his life, a surge of anger overwhelmed him. Staring at the marionette in his arms, fury clouded his mind. "Wasted my whole life on you, and now I have nothing to show for it. Facing the end of this winter night, what use are you? Might as well burn you—to keep warm!!"
With that, the old man tossed the marionette into the fire. Flames engulfed her, sparking and seemingly raising the temperature. Lu Li watched silently, understanding what was happening through the information the notification had provided. The marionette was using hypnotism to sacrifice herself, providing warmth for others.
As the marionette burned, the flames grew, and the old man's eyes turned red. He sat by the fire, anger rising, his hands unconsciously trying to hold something. Suddenly, he froze, realizing there was nothing to hold. The most precious thing to him had just been thrown into the fire.
Staring at the blazing fire, the old man was dumbfounded. "What... what have I done?"
As his emotions settled and reason returned, he realized he might have just done the stupidest thing in his life. He prepared to leap into the fire to retrieve her, but the marionette's charred body suddenly moved. Amid the flames, she turned over, the fire making the air shimmer, making her seem distant.
The marionette's attire ignited, making her even more radiant. She smiled warmly, bowing deeply to the old man, gracefully and charmingly. The red tear on her face did not burn away; instead, it shone brightly against the fire.
Her face was filled with joy, perhaps the happiest moment of her life. For once, they had broken free from the fate of the mandrake flower. Though it meant death, turning to ashes, it didn't matter.
I have performed countless dances under your hands, but this time, I'll perform for you myself. To save you and truly be with you, to present you with a dance, how wonderful it is. Burning myself to ashes is worth it!
The marionette danced in the fire, her beauty beyond words. Tears filled the old man's eyes as he sat on the ground, crying out loud like the child who was once stopped from seeing a puppet show by his parents. He understood now that what he threw into the fire was not just a marionette but a lifetime of dedication and love. To him, she was not a mere object but family, his child.
The fire, fueled by the marionette, burned bright, warming not just their bodies but their souls.
After a long while, the old man sighed, "Warmth, yet loneliness."
End of the chapter.