Chapter 250: [My Mother] Stirring Up Some Excitement
The art teacher and homeroom teacher had long since frozen on the spot.
The world seemed to have plunged into absolute standstill.
Yet an electronic tune floated over.
It was the electronic melody of Happy Birthday—the sound emitted by one of those lotus candle devices that played music automatically once lit.
With blood-red eyes, Han Hongmei turned her gaze toward the rear.
Bai Cha stood at the exact spot where the gifts had initially been placed, a tiny cake resting before her.
The flames atop the candles flickered erratically, buffeted by an icy, malevolent wind blowing through the air.
Clutching the final gift in her hands, Han Hongmei walked step-by-step toward Bai Cha, her entire frame radiating intent to kill.
With every step she took, her human guise peeled away another layer.
“Does Mom want to kill me?”
Bai Cha raised her head to look at her.
“You are not my child! I am going to find my child!”
“Yet she is resting right in your hands. If you don’t believe it, throw her away.”
Han Hongmei naturally wouldn’t throw it away, yet she refused to admit it either. The bone wings behind her back snapped open with a sharp whoosh, their tips lined with razor-sharp barbs that lunged toward Bai Cha almost instantaneously.
Bai Cha neither dodged nor moved a muscle, staring at Han Hongmei with profound sorrow.
The barbs halted right before her body, yet sliced through her skin nonetheless, fresh blood welling out instantly.
“Mom, make a wish.”
Appearing entirely oblivious to the pain of her wounds, Bai Cha pushed the cake forward toward her.
“Don’t call me Mom!” Han Hongmei roared in a raspy voice.
“Yet Mom, you ought to take a look forward now.”
Bai Cha let out a soft sigh.
“Do you know? After I told the homeroom teacher, she was willing to help me, the art teacher was willing to help me, and plenty of people were willing.”
Looking at Han Hongmei, she said, “They helped me because they wanted to help you as well.”
“For no other reason than that you are worth it—because this world isn’t devoid of others who love you, even if they are merely strangers.”
“Yet what about yourself?”
Upon finishing her words, a fleeting wave of dazed distraction washed over Bai Cha.
She was often aided by others as well; she knew those individuals acted out of pure goodwill, yet she constantly felt a sense of pain.
Perhaps there was no need for things to be this way either.
Snapping back to her senses, she reached out her hand to pull Han Hongmei.
Han Hongmei flung her off with a violent sweep.
“I don’t need you standing here preaching grand principles to me! I only want my child! Since you aren’t her, then go die!”
“Very well.” Bai Cha let out a sigh. “I’ve done everything I ought to do. Han Hongmei, what are you holding resentment over here? Shouldn’t the person you ought to blame most be yourself?”
Dropping her role as Han Yingying, she drew the butcher knife directly from her backpack.
“Everything I did for you was solely for the sake of your daughter. Back then, she told me her single wish was for her mother to be well—and for that, she was willing to sacrifice her power to me!”
Bai Cha cast a glance of sorrowful regret at the daisy in her hands.
“I originally intended to bring her to reality, yet upon learning that your instance hadn’t ended, I waited all the way until today. Han Hongmei, I owe neither of you a single thing, because if I wanted to deal with you the easy way, all I had to do was plant that flower, and your daughter would appear, serving for my use!”
“Or, you can plant her yourself.”
Bai Cha flashed a half-smile, looking at her with mockery.
Just like her ridiculous fate, as she saw it, which always played ruthless jokes on her.
Yet it wasn’t as if no one tried to save her.
Han Yingying had been trying desperately to save her all along, wanting her mother to go live a good life with her instead of having her mother shoulder every single hardship alone.
It was she herself who let go time and time again, willingly remaining in the darkness, only to suffer in the darkness afterward.
She claimed it was willingness, claimed she was incapable of changing, claimed she had long grown accustomed to it.
Yet life was by no means unchangeable—the only unchangeable things were the past, and one’s obsessions!
No matter how many times she started over, if she held no desire to change the future, she would only ever be left struggling endlessly!
Han Hongmei’s body trembled as she looked at the flower resting inside the box in her hands.
“All you have to do is place her on the ground, and you will be able to see your daughter. Don’t you want to see her?”
Bai Cha spoke in a soft, gentle voice, resembling a demon coaxing someone into corruption.
“Although she might perish once she emerges, with your power, as long as you bind yourself to her and use that umbilical-cord-like thing of yours to transfuse power into her, I imagine she should be able to live for quite some time.”
“Plant her, Han Hongmei. Weren’t you desperately craving to see your daughter? This is your true daughter!”
[Can’t really tell that thing is her daughter… when did she get that instance prop? Weren’t they just buying things earlier?]
[That seems to be from the “Passing with Flying Colors” instance… holy shit wait… did the streamer say her skill can bring people back to reality?]
[That’s likely impossible. Most things brought into reality turn into useless junk.]
[Which means if brought into reality, it might just be an ordinary flower.]
[Honestly I don’t care much about that, I just want to know if this thing works on players! If I die, can she bring me back to reality? Even if I’m just a flower.]
[I don’t want to be forgotten! I feel so miserable… I hide in the Game Town every single day, terrified of spending too much time with my family, only for them to forget me one day…]
[…The streamer already turned off the bullet chat, so saying anything is useless.]
[Can we go to the Game Hall to wait for people?]
[I remember after the incident previously, the game implemented a protection measure, right? Those watching the live stream can’t see the player of this live stream in the Game Hall.]
[Ahhh! Then I’ll send tips! Streamer, you MUST remember my name, I want to be friends with you!]
Bai Cha indeed held zero awareness regarding the lively bullet chat.
Watching Han Hongmei remain motionless for a long time, she let out a sneer.
“Han Hongmei, stop standing there in a daze. Make your choice quickly! Or could it be that deep down, you know full well that your power will only bring agony to your daughter?”
Han Hongmei turned her gaze over, her eyes brimming with intent to kill.
Bai Cha looked back at her with a fake, hollow smile.
“Do you know why it brings your daughter such agony?”
“Not a single child could stand by and watch their parents struggle and fight desperately in a quagmire, sprouting fruit from their own flesh and blood, doing all of it merely to let the child live well on the shore—and remain utterly indifferent!”
“You suffer in the quagmire, while your child suffers on the shore. She shares every bit of your pain, because she is your child! You constantly claim she is a piece of flesh born of your body, hoping she will be well, feeling distress for her—does she not feel the exact same way?”
“Would you watch your daughter fall into a quagmire without going to save her? You went to save her, so why do you stop your daughter from saving you, forcing her to watch with her own eyes on the shore as you drown day after day in the water?!”
“Your heart aches terribly—and hers does the exact same!”
Han Hongmei’s lips twitched, blood-red teardrops spilling continuously into the box.
“How cruel your heart is! How could you be so cruel to yourself and so ruthless to your own child? Is this what you call love? No wonder it hurts so much!”
A low, raspy roar escaped Han Hongmei’s throat, her breathing growing steadily heavy, until those roars ultimately morphed into a piercing, agonizing screech.
Simultaneously, the other players who had entered the instance discovered that the suffocating NPC vanished out of nowhere.
They received a unified clearance prompt, securing an unearned victory while completely baffled.
Though their ratings proved exceedingly low—either an E or an F.
Bai Cha held zero awareness of any of these developments either.
Because she hadn’t cleared the instance at all.
The entire instance was undergoing a dramatic shift.
