Nuwa's face flushed crimson. "No! Go die, you scumbag Mingyue!"
Seeing Nuwa flustered and angry, Li Mo just smiled, then quietly took out his phone and started recording.
Consumed by her anger, Nuwa didn't even notice Li Mo filming her. She just kept pounding on his shoulder.
"I will," he said softly.
"That day won't come too soon, but it will come..."
Li Mo reached down, scooped up a handful of scorched yellow earth, and slowly opened his fingers, letting it trickle through them like sand, returning to the ground.
Under the pull of gravity, soil naturally falls to the earth.
So why does time always move forward? Could there be one, or perhaps several, unknown external forces, which humanity cannot yet observe, pulling time along, causing it to flow in a linear, ever-increasing fashion?
If I could find that force and distort it, could I reverse time?
The surface of the sea was as calm as a mirror, and the sunlight sprinkled across it, forming a golden ribbon of light.
The tides ebbed and flowed, the currents surged.
"Why so sentimental all of a sudden?" Nuwa grumbled, still annoyed.
"Because it's cool."
Li Mo closed his eyes and nonchalantly drew a smiley face on the ground with his finger. The smile was strained; its mouth curved upwards, but its eyes showed no trace of happiness.
For some reason, Nuwa found herself asking:
"Mingyue? Have you... ever been in love with someone?"
"..."
"I mean, since you were born, have you ever had feelings for a girl? What did she look like? Was she nice? What were her hobbies and talents?"
Li Mo's gaze met Nuwa's. "I don't know. Maybe. I'm not sure if you could call it love. But even if I did, I'd only fall for pretty girls."
"Kiddo, that's a dangerous question you're asking."
"So, now, can you tell me the progress on my affection meter with you? That way I can get started on Fuxi."
Li Mo placed his hand on Nuwa's head and gestured, drawing something like a progress bar from a gal-game in the air.
Nuwa clenched her fists, her body trembling slightly. She threw a haymaker straight at Li Mo's jaw.
"You're better off staying single for the rest of your life!"
With that, she stormed away from the scene of the crime, leaving Li Mo lying on the ground in a man-shaped crater.
The future was long. He had plenty of time to chat and mess around with Nuwa and Fuxi.
As for the problem of aging, Li Mo wasn't worried at all.
If even the dead could be restored to their former selves, then so could the living.
Without Mobius to restrain him, and with no high-ranking officials coveting his power, Li Mo saw no problem with simply feeding his blood to those important to him.
"I'm really looking forward to the days ahead. Nuwa is such a clueless otaku; I'll have fun teasing her. Fuxi is a little money-grubber; I'll find her some gold to make her happy."
Li Mo smiled, making no mention of the fourth person.
Behind a reef by the shore, a girl with white hair and red eyes huddled in a corner, hugging her trembling body. She was completely enveloped in shadow, unable to feel a shred of the sun's warmth.
---||---
Several hundred years later—
Times had changed, and so had people.
The same coast, the same person, but a different appearance.
Fine lines and deep grooves, like the pages of a storybook of time, fluttered across her face, filling it with wrinkles.
Her withered, gaunt hands were covered in crooked, earthworm-like veins, and brown and black spots of various sizes dotted her skin.
Nuwa, her hair now white, sat on the shore, gazing out at the boundless azure ocean, just as Li Mo had once done.
Her hunched, fragile frame couldn't withstand the cold wind. Nuwa pulled her robe tightly around herself, but even so, her aged body couldn't bear staying out in such frigid weather for long.
Time flew by in a flash. In the blink of an eye, the sweet, naive girl had become a stooped old woman.
"Nuwa."
A quiet voice came from behind her.
Nuwa didn't turn around. She fought against the cold, forcing her body to stop trembling.
"What are you doing out here so late at night? Come back with me."
Li Mo reached out to take her hand, but she slapped it away.
"..."
Not another word passed between them. After a long moment, Nuwa couldn't hold back a shiver and pulled her robe even tighter.
"Come back with me," Li Mo repeated. This time, Nuwa gave her answer.
However, she wasn't responding to the Li Mo of the present, but seemingly to the words he had spoken to her centuries ago.
She had never forgotten a single word Li Mo had said that day.
"Mingyue, you like pretty girls."
"I'm ugly now, aren't I?"
Nuwa turned around, revealing her time-ravaged face to Li Mo. Her brow was furrowed, her expression filled with sorrow.
Is she ugly?
Yes, very.
There was no denying it.
No matter how beautiful one was in their youth, after severe aging, a withered face could only appear grotesque. It was a law of nature, irreversible.
Neither Nuwa nor Fuxi were MANTISes. Aging and death were inevitable for them.
Li Mo had thought of feeding them his blood to maintain their perfect forms.
In fact, at the very beginning, Nuwa and Fuxi had accepted. Blessed with endless life, they, along with Jingwei and Li Mo, witnessed the rise of the tribe and the revival of humanity.
They personally arranged Ji Lin's funeral, and they watched as child after child in the tribe was born, grew up, aged, and died.
Gradually, the smiles on their faces became fewer and fewer.
Until one night, when Li Mo was about to feed them his blood, they refused.
No longer consuming Li Mo's blood, Nuwa and Fuxi's bodies aged at a normal rate, eventually becoming the ugly, withered husks they were now.
"I can make you look like you used to. Your strength, appearance, and mind will all be restored," Li Mo said flatly.
"But that's not me, Mingyue. That's not who I'm supposed to be."
"I don't understand what you mean."
"It's only right that you don't understand. After all, you and Jingwei are both MANTISes; you don't have to worry about the years or your lifespan. But endless life can make a person terrifying. You know, in Dr. MEI's and Dr. Mobius's original plans, Fuxi and I were never supposed to live this long. We only stayed because we were worried you and Jingwei would be lonely, so we kept trying to find ways to remain in this world."
Nuwa looked at Li Mo earnestly, her voice hoarse. If one didn't listen carefully, it was impossible to understand what she was saying.
"Fuxi is dead. Before she died, she told me to think carefully about what more I could do for you and Jingwei..."
Fuxi had died of natural causes not long ago. Her body was cremated, and her ashes were scattered into the sea. It was said that this way, she could drift to every corner of the world and witness the rebirth of human civilization.
To an outsider, it might have seemed romantic, but for those involved—Li Mo, Nuwa, and Jingwei—it only felt like a piece of their hearts had been carved out.
The four of them had survived the catastrophe of the Previous Era and had walked together until this day. Losing one of them inevitably left a void in the hearts of the other three.
"There's still so much you can do. If you're willing, you can come back to us. Jingwei needs you, and so do I."
"You can keep making your figures. When we finally make it to the modern era, you can be a hikikomori, watch manga and anime, and pursue the things you love."
Li Mo shared his thoughts.
But after hearing him, Nuwa coughed heavily four or five times. After one particularly loud cough, she collapsed to the ground.
Li Mo rushed forward to help her up, but she pushed him away.
Nuwa wheezed, "The modern era... How long will it be until it arrives?"
"Mingyue, you and Jingwei have already felt it. The pain that comes with a mind cluttered with too many memories."
Li Mo replied, "You can have Jingwei use Fenghuang Down to store your unnecessary memories."
Nuwa sighed, "But I'm tired. I'm really, really tired."
"How long has it been... a hundred years, maybe? A hundred years ago, I was so excited for the modern era to arrive. Before that day came, I thought I could live with you all, witnessing all the strange and wonderful things in the world, and never grow tired of it."
"But I've discovered... that's not what I'm supposed to do. Just like Fuxi, there's only one thing I can do."
Li Mo asked, "What's that?"
Nuwa replied, "To die."
Li Mo: "..."
"Why?"
Nuwa answered, "I've forgotten."
Nuwa turned around. In her hand was a match from the ruins of the Previous Era. A circle of gasoline surrounded her. All it would take was a single spark to ignite it.
Li Mo saw her intent, but he didn't stop her.
He had no right to change another person's thoughts and will.
As for the reason Nuwa wanted to leave, it was definitely not just because of her cluttered memories; that was something Jingwei could easily solve.
Nor was it because she found life boring or not worth living.
Nuwa was a carefree girl who could laugh heartily every day. Although she didn't show it, Li Mo knew she cared deeply about the feelings of those around her.
She was often the life of the party, lifting the mood and stirring up emotions.
She didn't mind looking silly sometimes; she loved to laugh, and she loved it even more when the people around her laughed happily with her.
But now, standing on the shore, Nuwa's eyes were dim, their once bright, clear color gone, as if shrouded by some shadow, the invisible wings on her back shackled by chains.
Li Mo had no way of knowing the real reason. Nuwa definitely hadn't forgotten; she just wasn't willing to say it.
"If this is your choice, then I will respect it."
"It's just... is living really so tiring? You know you can come to me with anything, and I'll always be by your side to solve it with you."
Li Mo took half a step forward, his head bowed.
"You can't help me with this, Mingyue. Fuxi understood that, which is why she refused to live on."
"If you really want to help me, then tomorrow, after I've burned to ashes, blow what's left on the shore into the sea. Maybe then, I can see Fuxi again."
With that, Nuwa struck the match. In an instant, crimson flames engulfed her. The bright fire illuminated the surrounding darkness, and also revealed the cold, female figure behind the reef, watching from the shadows as another person burned to death.
"Ngh..."
The tongues of fire licked at Nuwa's feet and began to climb, the searing pain forcing a whimper from her lips.
"It's not too late to change your mind. I can save you," Li Mo said, taking another step forward.
"You... go..." Lying prone in the flames, Nuwa weakly urged him away.
Li Mo fell into a silent stillness.
He looked up at the vast, dark night, then turned and left without looking back. He returned to the tribe and shut himself in his room. He picked up the figure Nuwa had made for him and wiped it, caressed it, over and over again.
Nuwa's work was meticulous. Her small hands had controlled every detail with such precision that even though it was made of red clay, not a single flaw could be seen.
Li Mo's requests had been demanding, but Nuwa had always managed to perfectly meet his expectations, fulfilling even the most difficult of them.
An idiot is an idiot, he thought. She'd lock herself in a dark little room, focused on polishing her work, skipping meals for a day or two.
"..."
She wasn't coming back. Just like Fuxi, the dead would not return.
In a moment of carelessness, Li Mo twisted off the limbs of the figure modeled after himself.
He didn't pick them up to reassemble it. He placed the broken figure back on the table and sat with his head bowed in silence for a long time.
Finally, Li Mo walked to the ruins left by the Previous Era.
With the passage of time, the phone he'd used to record the video had long since broken. All the data was stored in the Previous Era's system.
"Go die, you scumbag Mingyue!"
In the video, Nuwa's voice was full of life, vibrant and youthful, charming and cute.
In a daze, Li Mo felt as if he had returned to that day, just a few years after he had awakened.
"What is past is past, the living must go on..."
The dead were dead, and the living had to go on as before.
For most people, this was true.
But for Li Mo, he had spent these hundreds of years almost inseparable from Nuwa and Fuxi. Even when they were occasionally apart, it was never for more than a day or two.
Now that they were both gone, Li Mo didn't know how he was supposed to continue on the path ahead.
Li Mo felt he had become much more silent. He was also well aware that his personality had changed, becoming like Fuxi and Nuwa, his heart shrouded in a hazy sorrow whose source he couldn't identify.
After witnessing Nuwa and Fuxi die for reasons they couldn't articulate, a new principle formed in Li Mo's consciousness.
"Life... what a fragile thing it is."
"So what am I living for? Project EMBER? But I don't give a damn about the continuation of civilization..."
---||---
On the shore, the flames consumed Nuwa. She was like a wounded animal, curled up and collapsed on the ground.
As her consciousness faded, Nuwa lifted her head, her gaze extending to Jingwei, who was walking out from behind the reef.
With her last ounce of strength, she tremblingly uttered:
"Jingwei... is this the ending you wished for?"
After a long moment, Nuwa showed no more signs of life. Her consciousness completely dissipated between heaven and earth.
At that moment, a strange, twisted change appeared on Jingwei's expression.
"Yes." "No!"
"This is exactly what I wished for." "I did not wish for this ending!"