Chapter 40: Sketching a World Part 1

Sophia and Morning Star tried hard to bring the shattered toys home. They also stole a plastic bag from a child, dragging the toys the entire way.

Sophia dragged the toys in front of Tao Fangyi and asked him if he could save them.

Tao Fangyi was shocked by the toys’ miserable state. After learning the whole story, he attempted to restore them.

But although the toys’ bodies were restored, their consciousness did not return.

Only Little Puzzle Piece’s consciousness was still blurry.

When the puzzle piece was restored, she moved slightly and yawned: “I’m a bit sleepy.”

No one answered her, because they all knew this puzzle piece didn’t want to sleep; she was about to dissipate.

“Teacher Suo, how did I do?” the puzzle piece asked Sophia.

Sophia choked up and stroked the puzzle piece: “You did very well… very well.”

Puzzle piece: “Then I want a huge, huge butt!”

Sophia: …

The child’s request was too comical, and in this situation, the demand for a butt sounded strange no matter how you heard it.

Yet the puzzle piece kept asking: “Can you give me one?”

Sophia covered her face and nodded.

Puzzle piece continued: “Then, then I want a butt bigger than a sports field!”

“Pfft.” Some fantasy creature couldn’t hold it in and laughed amidst the sadness.

“Alright, I’ll give it to you.” Sophia’s lips were trembling; she was deeply saddened, but this little puzzle piece’s train of thought was just too bizarre.

Little Puzzle Piece laughed out loud, but her laughter grew softer and softer, until she finally fell asleep quietly.

Leaving Sophia crying and laughing at the same time.

Tao Fangyi stepped forward to caress Little Puzzle Piece. He was so remorseful that he became flustered: “Sorry, I didn’t give you a life-preserving spell. This… this was my mistake.”

“It has nothing to do with you.” Blade Spirit stepped up at the right moment. He looked especially sad, after all, he possessed all of Liu Xuanyong’s memories, and these toys once belonged to him. “They never had life to begin with. You restored their bodies, but they didn’t wake up. This means they’ve already made their choice.”

“Toys don’t feel pain.” Blade Spirit reached out to pat Tao Fangyi’s head, only to find that Wang’s hand was already there.

“They originally came from Liu Xuanyong. You can see them as extensions of Liu Xuanyong’s consciousness.” Blade Spirit withdrew his hand and continued to explain, “A three-year-old child can give himself more pure love. Around six, they start exploring outward, and that pure, somewhat selfish love has to yield to socialization.”

“It’s the same for everyone,” Blade Spirit continued. “They just returned themselves to Liu Xuanyong ahead of time.”

Tao Fangyi looked at Blade Spirit: “Has your figure become a bit fainter?”

“Mhm, their obsessions are all fading.” Blade Spirit pointed to the surrounding toys and fantasy creatures.

“Why?” Tao Fangyi asked.

“Don’t you understand?” Blade Spirit asked back.

Tao Fangyi shook his head in confusion.

He could understand that three-year-old toys’ affection for him was purer, but he didn’t understand why the other toys were affected by the three-year-old toys.

After all, the other toys were older; wouldn’t they find the three-year-old toys’ behavior silly?

“Maybe because they are all variations of the initial love,” Blade Spirit smiled.

Tao Fangyi unconsciously raised his hand to shield his chest. This time, his short little arms could reach: “Do I have it too?”

“I believe you do, but your situation seems a bit special,” Blade Spirit said.

Tao Fangyi looked at Wang, who was comforting him: “Do you have toys from your childhood?”

Wang shook his head.

Blade Spirit thought it was very likely Wang simply didn’t remember.

But Wang knew he truly had no toys, or rather, all of his toys had eventually been killed by him.

Wang couldn’t quite tell the difference between affection and destructive urges. Many times, he couldn’t restrain his desire to kill like a normal person, and if he held it in too long, his reason would easily have problems.

Wang had asked Tao Fangyi before if he was worried that Wang would suddenly attack him.

Tao Fangyi very restrainedly looked at him with the eyes of looking at an idiot.

Wang knew he had asked the wrong person, but Tao Fangyi’s reaction truly gave him a sense of reassurance.

“I want to look for my old toys, but I probably won’t find them.” Tao Fangyi had been buried in the ground for a very long time, let alone the twigs, fallen leaves, and small stones he had picked up?

The little stones might still be around, but they were too small, and Tao Fangyi had forgotten exactly during which dynasty’s change they had disappeared.

After all, they didn’t all leave together. Tao Fangyi had selectively let go of some, and in the end, all the little stones were gone.

Tao Fangyi began to observe those toys and fantasy creatures.

After Blazing Flame sacrificed himself, Morning Star and the others held a memorial service for him, solemnly burying Blazing Flame in a small box that hadn’t been opened for a long time.

Perhaps one day, on a whim, Liu Xuanyong would open the box while searching for something, and unexpectedly find a toy inside that still belonged to him.

The toys laid down bunches of flowers. Then, day by day, the toys looked more and more exhausted.

First were the dinosaur and the fire truck, who fell silent after three days.

Then some of the early robots.

The toys that Tao Fangyi had first met all fell into slumber. It turned out that only Morning Star and the others remained to communicate with Tao Fangyi.

Tao Fangyi had asked Morning Star whether he still wanted to trap Liu Xuanyong in a world of only happiness.

Morning Star shook his head: “The same happiness makes people tired. There will be new toys in the future, and perhaps one day he will prefer those fantasy creatures.”

Those fantasy creatures hadn’t dissipated yet, but they also looked listless.

“Don’t you feel regret for exiting the stage?” Tao Fangyi asked.

“… He’s growing up,” Morning Star said. “His happiness will turn into many kinds of things, but I think all of them are us.”

Tao Fangyi was somewhat surprised.

“Maybe I’m just another Blazing Flame.”

Morning Star pressed the switch on his back, and the lights on his body lit up, while his body echoed his character’s signature line: “I will never give up light and hope; I stand forever on the side of justice.”

Tao Fangyi was very surprised: “Your lines are so similar!”

Morning Star hugged his knees and smiled.

After the surprise, Tao Fangyi fell silent again.

“In a sense, perhaps you are Blazing Flame,” Tao Fangyi said.

Morning Star looked up at him.

“This is a game of oneself with oneself,” Tao Fangyi lowered his head.

It was a one-person game of role-playing, constructing a dazzling and colorful story through self-dialogue.

All the toys were parts of Liu Xuanyong.

All the little stones were parts of Tao Fangyi.

Tao Fangyi seemed to understand something, yet it still felt separated by a thin layer.

His emotions developed very slowly. He had always thought there was a sudden burst when the last generation of puppet masters died.

He had only possessed emotions for over five hundred years.

But was it possible that, a very, very long time ago, he had already possessed abstract emotions, and those emotions accompanied him as he touched the world?

It was just that his growth was far too long, so long that he thought he had always stayed in the same place.

Tao Fangyi wanted to recall that distant past, but the stories too far back always seemed to be behind a layer.

“I really want to try being human for just one lifetime,” Tao Fangyi said. “Perhaps with a reference, I’ll know what this current confusion is.”

“I think being human is boring. I don’t want to be one,” Wang found humans utterly boring. Unable to fly into the sky or burrow into the earth with his body, trapped in a mere hundred-year life, helplessly struggling in a small world.

“But I want to… try a real life.” Tao Fangyi occasionally envied humans’ intense emotions. He wanted that kind of passionate love or hate, but he couldn’t do it.

Tao Fangyi had originally thought these fantasy creatures would slowly dissipate, and he would have to wait a little longer.

Then, on an ordinary Saturday, the older boy cousin and the older girl cousin came to visit again.

They suddenly remembered a certain absurd dream they had once had here.

The two went to the Toy Room.

From their respective boxes, they dug out that homework notebook filled with stories. Then the two exchanged glances, asked nothing, said nothing, and each took their own story back to their room.

Tao Fangyi and Wang each led two groups of fantasy creatures to their owners’ sides, helping conceal their forms along the way.

Tao Fangyi went to Liu Wen’s side. At that time, Liu Wen was on the phone.

“Yes! The one I wrote in junior high, hahaha!” Liu Wen flipped through her story-filled notebook while laughing.

Sophia glanced at the name on the phone: “Oh! Zhao Jia? I remember her! Are they still friends?”

“Were they friends in junior high?” Tao Fangyi asked.

“Yes…” Sophia’s expression suddenly changed. “But I remember they had a huge fight.”

“Over what?”

“Over two idols. I thought they were going to break up, they fought so fiercely.” Sophia paused and looked at Liu Wen. “But it seems that didn’t affect their relationship.”

“Then it was probably a very, very small issue,” Tao Fangyi smiled.

“Believe me, for the old them, it was definitely a huge conflict.” Sophia crossed her arms and quickly walked to Liu Wen’s side. The other fantasy creatures followed suit.

Liu Wen stroked her arm: “Hahaha! So exaggerated. Have you ever read those overbearing CEO novels from back then? That’s exactly what I wrote. Yes, yes! There’s even a super mean fiancée.”

“Oh my god, what kind of taste did I even have back then?”

The person on the other end laughed and asked her: “Do you still remember how you used to like passing around what you wrote to other classmates to read?”

“Ah!! Save me!” Liu Wen was cringing hard at her own work.

Tao Fangyi thought these fantasy creatures would become corrupted, but he found that they just kept looking up at their creator.

Tao Fangyi: “Aren’t you angry?”

Sophia looked up and pointed at Liu Wen: “Look, she’s laughing.”

Tao Fangyi looked up and observed carefully.

Indeed, she was laughing.

She was mocking her past stories, saying she didn’t understand her past self, as if she wanted to cut off everything from the past.