Overturned Tower

"...Is this really okay?"

Standing in front of the emperor's house, Dailan was still a little cautious: "I remember... your wife doesn't want to have anything to do with your work. Is it okay if I take the liberty of coming here? It would be too intrusive..."

After Dai Lan said those words openly on the show, she knew that she had "no home" from now on.

Whether it was Tian'en Daily, the house she rented, or the place where her parents lived, she could no longer go back. Those "psionic assassins" who were used as expendable items by the elf directors must have been eyeing her.

At this time, the emperor extended an invitation to her.

After all, Dai Lan is also Bing Shui's friend - because Dai Lan is relatively young, she is completely unaware of Bing Shui's special attitude towards her. Unlike Xi Xia, who has fully understood Bing Shui's special preferences in emotion and aesthetics, and accepted part of it with some hesitation.

But the emperor is Bing Shui's father after all. Now that Dai Lan was about to be in trouble, he still had to save her to some extent.

——Especially, he actually knows that ice water is fine. But if left unchecked, something will really happen to Dailan.

If he really left it alone, his daughter would really beat him up when she came back.

So even though it would attract people's attention, he still took Dailan home directly.

What Dailan said can certainly arouse great discussion, and may even directly shake the position of Tianen Group.

But public opinion is wine.

Even if the public opinion is as fierce as a tiger, it will take enough time to fully ferment. But now Happy Island has fallen into chaos... At this time, no one can care about the life and death of a small person like Dai Lan. People themselves are too busy to take care of themselves.

So, Dailan was ready to die for the third time——

The first time was when she decided to speak, the second time was when she decided to tell all her secrets... and the third time she had become calm. When it became clear that death was imminent, all she could feel was the calmness of facing the horror between life and death and fighting it off. For Dai Lan at this moment, the threat of death could no longer shake her in the slightest.

To put it simply - even if she died immediately, Dailan felt that her mediocre life was already worth it.

Only an hour has passed since the talk show started. But she felt that the person she was now was completely different from the person she was an hour ago.

If she were asked to make such a decision now, she would definitely not waver at all... let alone be so frightened that she would urinate.

But from Dailan's point of view, the emperor only saved her once and already exposed his position - when the board of directors' revenge comes later, he will also be unlucky because of his own reasons, and now he still needs the emperor to continue to protect her. Own……

And when she considers this matter from the perspective of a wife, although she may not say anything... after all, the emperor is indeed such an upright and hard-core hero, so she must have expected it rationally. But emotionally speaking, she would probably blame herself for causing trouble to the emperor.

After all, she is an outsider, and the emperor is her lover.

"Nothing like that."

After hearing what Dailan was worried about, the emperor sighed and opened the door through personal authentication: "My wife has died long ago."

"……Huh?"

Dailan was stunned for a moment when she suddenly heard the news.

She walked in hesitantly, hesitated for a moment and then cautiously asked, "When did this happen?"

As the chief reporter, I don’t know such important information?

"Because this is nothing new."

He sighed: "She has been dead for more than ten years, of course you will not hear it. And Bing Shui will not talk to you about such things."

"……Over ten years?"

She was a little surprised: "But I remember you said that you and your wife are very affectionate..."

"That's just a personality."

The emperor gave a cold sneer: "What kind of 'hero' doesn't have his own personality?"

After that, he walked in minding his own business.

Dai Lan quickly followed him in, her big black tail hanging timidly.

There seems to be the smell of ice water in this room...

Dai Lan sniffed and vaguely smelled the scent of Bing Shui's usual perfume...the scent hadn't dissipated for too long.

At this moment, Dailan saw the emperor's photo. That was not a photo taken more than ten years ago, but a recent photo - the emperor's hair had turned gray. And his wife also showed a kind smile, holding his hand like a young couple. The emperor, as if he couldn't see her, just raised his chest and looked forward. You can tell at a glance that he is a stubborn old man.

"This is a photo synthesized using artificial intelligence."

The emperor's voice sounded behind her, frightening Dailan's black fox ears to stand up.

"When Bing Shui was six years old, she was already gone... Look. This is a photo of us before."

She subconsciously took the heavy photo sealed in the crystal plate and looked at it.

That was more than ten years ago - the emperor had a daughter in his old age, and now he is an old man in his sixties. In this photo, it seems that the emperor is probably only thirty years old at most.

At that time, the emperor's hair color was still dark brown curly hair, with only a strand of the Emperor Penguin's iconic golden highlights standing stubbornly on end. The strong and resolute young man was wearing a double-breasted stand-collar windbreaker, looking straight ahead with a straight face and chest raised.

Beside him, a petite girl with a pair of white cat ears smiled and put her head on the emperor's shoulder, hugging one of his arms with both hands. The tail behind her gently wrapped around the emperor's other arm, and her mischievous smile reminded Dai Lan of Bing Shui.

The young emperor looked serious, but did not offer any resistance to her. His eyebrows were relaxed and his eyes were bright. He was very careful with his movements so as not to squeeze his lover. He even tilted his shoulders slightly to make her pillow more comfortable.

Dailan subconsciously moved away from the old photo and looked at the new AI-synthesized photo on the table.

In her eyes, the kind old lady became vaguely blurry.

In the emperor's picture, there is only nothingness.

This posture of the old emperor was obviously taken alone.

Because the old lady did not exist in his eyes - it could be seen from every detail that she did not really exist.

Just like being an actor. Assuming there is some kind of special effect here, and then acting wholeheartedly into the air... but he is not a good actor after all.

The old emperor opened the drawer in front of Dai Lan, and then she saw that it was filled with various photos.

The two took many photos every year from their thirties to their sixties.

The postures and locations are different... It's as if the two have been together, growing up and growing old together.

But as a woman, Dailan was keenly aware that there was no love in the old emperor's eyes in those photos - there was no shadow of his wife in his eyes, only a deeply hidden pain and solemnity.

Because he couldn't see her at all.

"For so many years," the emperor said softly, "I make several pictures every year. I often fantasize about her every move and use it to respond to the questioning of reporters like you. Sometimes, I fall asleep... I still Thought my fantasy was real.”

"...Are you being revenged...?"

"No, it was an accident. One night, a gun battle, a stray bullet. But as you can imagine, people will subconsciously suspect that she was killed by my enemies... because I have too many wives. Too many enemies."

The emperor stared at the old photo and murmured softly: "It's ridiculous. The most qualified old hero of Happy Island can't even protect the one he loves most...

"And in order to deceive people into doing righteous deeds and good deeds, I concealed this matter and pretended that she still existed... as if she existed in the air. In order to prevent people from thinking that 'heroes' are nothing. Unable to protect; in order to make people believe that heroes are always monitoring all unjust acts; in order to prevent people from realizing the fact that heroes can be retaliated against...

"The thing I'm most sorry for is the ice water.

"I have taught her to lie since she was a child. Let her behave as if her mother is still alive to her teachers and classmates. She has understood things since she was very young, and has learned to lie since she was a child... As an ignorant child, she is the most powerful person to hide the truth. After all, people believed in Tong Yan Wuji. Since Bing Shui said so, then people believed it.

"But this lie is to maintain the order of the entire empty island. Now think about it, who am I? I, a civilian, must maintain the order of Happy Island? I want a little girl to have to treat everyone from an early age. Do you have to lie to survive?”

The emperor was never clean or great. It's just that people gave him too much expectations.

He doesn't even have psychic powers. It was only recently that the spiritual energy that was once a disaster sent from heaven was awakened.

But what were you doing earlier?

Why didn't it respond to me when I needed my spiritual energy the most?

The old man stared at the photo, his mouth tightening. He seemed about to sneer, but couldn't. There was a kind of pure sadness like bitter coffee flowing in his eyes...it was not tears. Because he has no tears.

"-so ridiculous."

Today’s update is because I want to play Hogwarts Meow!

It took me an hour to finish the prologue, and my evaluation is good! I originally thought it was a defense, but I didn’t expect it to be wine-filled chocolate—that’s about the extent of the surprise.