Chapter 15 : Her disappeared mother

Outside the window it was snowing again, and the sky became high and distant in the misty snow, as if it was going away from the earth. The world outside was gray and dull, like a certain echo of Merry's mind.

The snow got heavier and heavier, as if beyond the distant canopy, a war of destruction was breaking out, and the snowflakes that fell to earth were the embers of the burning war.

Merry couldn't help but think of the airship swarm outside of Avalon that was instantly destroyed, the fierce flames that burned across thousands of miles of the city seemed to lick Merry's skin, making her restless.

Merry thought of the encounters and changes these days, thought of the team that was just formed and forced to separate, thought of Dao's situation... All things difficult seemed to come together, and for a while, it made this young girl, who was originally smart and decisive, become worried and sad.

Ding. The faint beep of the Attic's login device sounded, it was Dao who had logged out of the Attic World.

"How was it? Did you get anything?" Merry saw Dao exit and asked anxiously while quickly adjusting the AR glasses, the login device in her hand.

"No Merry, I have been waiting for a long time at the square you said, and I never saw Jason or anyone else." Dao replied.

Merry and Dao have been taking turns to log into the Attic World since yesterday, without stopping, for fear that they would miss it when Jason or Cici log into the Attic World. But it has been more than 20 hours since they got the devices, and neither of them has run into Jason or anyone else.

There were one or two moments when Merry doubted herself, but after repeated struggles, Merry still chose to trust her teammates. She believed that Cici would not easily give up on herself and Dao, and she also trusted the teenager who had gone out of his way to reveal his location in order to befriend himself...

"Merry, take a break and eat something..." Looking at Merry to log in the Attic World again, Dao persuaded with worries.

"I've rested, I gotta run, they are outside the city, there are many uncertainties, and their time to be able to log in must be very short, I'm afraid to miss it." Merry said.

"Merry... actually, you don't have to work so hard for me." Self-blame or sad, Dao sounded a little choked.

"Dao." Merry stopped and said incomparably serious: "You are my best friend, the person who accompanied me through those dark years, I will not give up on you, and you need to quit all this remorse talk. Besides, as I said, I'm not doing this just for you."

Dao, with eyes red, nodded and said nothing more.

Merry logged into the Attic, and the landing point was still set at the square where the rewards were collected before.

Perhaps because the Mystery Man had issued a task, there were more people in the square today than the last time, and everyone was concentrating on discussing the clues about the ultimate treasure the Mystery Man had mentioned.

While listening to the discussions, Merry looked around.

The ordinary-looking old man she met when she collected her reward last time was passing by the square again. Merry looked at the time and it was about the same as last time, which gave her an inexplicable sense of familiarity. This guy was really strange, Merry wanted to go up and ask him, suddenly, a hand pulled her arm from behind.

Merry looked back and it was Jason.

The two were speechless for a few seconds, as if the ten days of separation had once again pushed them back to being strangers.

"How are you guys doing?" Merry asked first.

"We're good." Jason replied in a rare calm and steady manner and asked, "Tell me where you are, and we'll figure out how to get to you."

Merry didn't say anything and took one of Jason's hands, a gesture that made Jason a bit nervous. Merry wrote down "Shirley Technologies" on Jason's palm and the exact floor she was on.

Merry looked to Jason, her eyes seemed to ask him if he understood what she meant, Jason nodded, and Merry nodded too.

Merry's caution might seem a bit nerve-wracking, but when taking a closer look, it was indeed very necessary.

Since someone was able to send 2,500 airships for Dao, there must be someone who can find a way to get Merry and Dao's location from the Attic World, so maybe, when the time comes, something may go wrong.

"Where's Dao? Is he okay?" Jason asked.

"For now, he's fine, we've been together, he just went offline to rest." Merry said.

"Does he also look like a Treeman in the Attic World? Would it be too noticeable after logging in?" Jason asked.

"... Yes, but I don't think it would." Merry said casting her eyes to the crowd.

Jason followed suit and looked into the crowd, and for a moment, he seemed to understand what Merry meant when she said "I don't think it would" - there were many Treemen of all shapes and sizes in the crowd, some of them were exaggerated, and some were very close to Dao's real appearance. Jason had never seen Dao's image in the Attic World, but in the midst of all these strange Treemen, it should not be that outstanding.

Merry and Jason agreed on a time. It would take at least a day for the Newton to enter the city and get close to the "Shirley Technologies", so the two agreed to meet in the morning of the 16th in the same place, and the team would then try to rescue Merry and Dao.

After they roughly agreed on the plan, Jason quit thee Attic first and went to find others to discuss what to be later.

Merry simply finished some trivial game tasks, and when she was about to go offline, she suddenly saw an incredibly familiar figure from the crowd.

"Mom," Merry murmured while chasing after her.

But Merry was squeezed in the crowd and it was difficult to move, and by the time she broke through the crowd, the familiar figure had disappeared.

Merry stopped where she was, momentarily somewhat unable to react - that person was certainly not her long-dead mother, then who could it be? Who would portray an image so much like her mother in the game world. Of course the possibility of coincidence cannot be ruled out, as the figure just now, both in shape and dress, was much more exaggerated than in the real world, or possibly, it was some player who happened to have shaped an image very similar to her mother. But what surprised Merry was that she was so sure at a glance and called out "mother", as there was no way she could have been mistaken for her mother.

What the hell is going on here?

Merry logged out the Attic World, but the figure in the white robe lingered in her mind.

At that night, Merry had a number of overlapping bizarre dreams, she dreamed that the woman in a white robe, being supported with hand, walked to herself. Not until she was closer to be in front of Merry did Merry see clearly her face, it should be the oriental woman who had sold Dao to her. The woman did not cover her face, and her eyes no longer looked panic and reluctant, but clear, pure and determined. The person who supported her became her father for a while, and then Jason, and then the of mask of the Mystery Man... Then a huge net fell from the sky, the whole world, except the woman's face and her eyes, everything else was twisted and entwined together, into a chaotic chaos of color ...

Merry was woken up by the sound of robot outside the room, and when she opened her eyes, it was already dawn.

Merry looked at her watch, it was almost time to meet with Jason. Merry was about to log in the Attic World while pondering in her mind, and before finally having to log in the game, Merry put down the devices in her hand again. She walked to the door, knocked on the door, and a robot came over in response.

"Tell my Dad I want to see him." Merry said calmly.

The robot's face seemed to instantly appear a relaxed smile, given the fact that he could not smile at all...

To know about her mother, perhaps, the only way was to have a good talk with her father.

That hazy figure prompted Merry to make this decision.