Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 505: Are you always making girls angry?

Ling Ge had never been so shocked as he was now, and for the first time in his life, he felt at a loss. This feeling was distant and unfamiliar to him. Perhaps he had felt similar when he wandered the streets of the city a long time ago, fighting for food with stray cats and dogs, and occasionally looking up at the gray sky. But since a certain moment, in a heavy rain in a certain winter, when Mr. Yang Ke, who had just come to this city, held up an umbrella for this lonely and indifferent boy, this feeling completely disappeared, replaced by a firm awareness and a belief in sacrifice that the young man himself had not yet noticed.

In order to repay this kindness, he vowed to sacrifice everything he had to protect the things left by Mr. Yang Ke.

At first, he thought that his adoptive father valued Tianxin Church the most, so he resolutely ended his short student days and took over the position of pastor amid the sighs of his teachers and the confusion of his classmates. Although his expression when distributing bread and milk during the seven-day ceremony was not as pious as that man, it made the residents on the street feel exactly the same, as if the two faces on the altar were carved out of the same mold.

Later, he realized that the real thoughts left by his adoptive father in the world were actually for himself and Metien. The peaceful life of the brother and sister gradually lost and grew up as time passed, just like a long elegy, which made him feel comforted in the lightless sea in the sky. Therefore, in order to protect this hard-won daily life, he could close the Tianxin Church without hesitation, or he could regard this wonderful and incredible journey as a burden. All he saw in his eyes was the future of himself and his family.

He never hesitated when making every decision. His past experiences as a wanderer made the young man calmly deal with his situation, knowing that panic or anxiety could not solve any problem. However, today, a question from Saint Shalia seemed to turn back time and return to the past.

For a moment, Lingge returned to the cold streets and alleys of Linville City, and saw the towering buildings and cramped houses climbing up, leaving a narrow gap above his head. The boy stood in the sewage, dust and messy garbage, looking up at the only ray of light in the canyon, his expression lonely and confused.

Why is this happening?
Young people think about this question, but they can't get the answer, because they lack the ability to empathize with themselves, so they naturally don't know where this throbbing feeling comes from. If we must seek an answer, perhaps we can say that this feeling comes from the most sincere emotion in the world, and only it can break the barriers of an indifferent heart.

Many years ago, when Mr. Yang Ke held an umbrella for a homeless boy in the rain, it was a subconscious action. He did not imagine that many years later, the boy would become his only heir in the world, shouldering his long-cherished wish and struggling to move forward in the quagmire of the world; similarly, the question that Saint Xia Liya blurted out at this moment was not prepared at all. She just wanted to ask, so she asked it. If emotion is the most essential desire of living beings, then we can also say that impulse is the most primitive emotion of living beings.

The breeze that swept across the hills blew up the grass and dust all over the sky, taking away the pungent smell of sewage and garbage dumps in his memory. When Ling Ge came to his senses, he found that he was not in Linville City, but flying far away on the back of a giant whale; similarly, the time was not fifteen years ago, but now.

He was just trying to divert his attention with other topics. Was that considered escaping? So, Ling Ge also wanted to escape from something? Just like him.

Saint Xia Liya frowned her willow-like eyebrows: "You still haven't answered my question."

After realizing this, Saint Xia Liya's mood suddenly became better, and she stopped pursuing the matter that Lingge refused to answer directly. She slowly moved her face away, sat back in her original position, and said softly: "Thank you for your advice, Lingge, I will try my best and make my own choice as you said."

"That's right. If you want to be that kind of person, then make changes. If not, then stay the same. Others have no reason to interfere with your thoughts. I am just making suggestions."

It sounds like it makes sense, but.

"My own will?"

Saint Chariah still maintained her original posture, staring into Linger's eyes without blinking, waiting for the young man's answer. Their eyes met at a very dangerous distance, and their breathing was faintly audible. Beside them, the lamb was anxiously turning in circles. It wanted to stop it, but it felt that the atmosphere at this time seemed to have no room for it to intervene. After thinking for a while, it began to use its hooves to dig the soil under its feet, trying to dig out edible roots from it.

After a while, Linger looked away. He tried to keep his tone calm, no different from usual, so no one could tell how his mood had changed in just a short moment: "That depends on your own wishes."

"This is good."

Ling Ge breathed a sigh of relief, and then said to Saint Xia Liya: "In this case, why not make your first choice from now on."

"What choice?"

"About Fei'er, and the witch society behind her." Ling Ge looked at her and asked a very sharp question: "What are you going to do?" "..." Saint Xia Liya pursed her lips.

The first time she tried to make a choice by her own will, she had to face such a dilemma. For a girl who always wanted to be a good sister, it seemed too difficult. If a golden-haired maid were here, she would definitely accuse Lingge of being unkind. At this time, she should have changed to a more easy choice, such as salty tofu pudding or sweet tofu pudding, Pepsi or Coca-Cola, Alice or Tifa... and so on.

But Lingge didn't know there were these questions, so he asked directly about the most important thing at the moment. And it was most appropriate for Saint Xia Liya to make the choice. After all, she was the elder sister of the other young girls, so she naturally had to be responsible for what her younger sisters did.

The wind blew over the hills, creating layers of green waves. The lamb got tired of digging in the mud and ran to chase a butterfly. But he would look back from time to time to prevent Lingge from suddenly doing something rude and offending his master. Of course, if his master offended Lingge, it would not matter.

After all, it is Saint Sharia's lamb, not Ling's lamb.

The refreshing wind blew in my face, rustling the grass in the warm sunlight. The beautiful and quiet scene made me feel sleepy. Saint Shallia continued to think until the wind died down. She spoke and slowly gave her answer: "I have thought about it. I want to... stop them."

"Is this the choice you made?" Ling'er didn't look surprised.

"Yes." Saint Xia Liya nodded gently: "Because they are doing something wrong and will continue to do so, so as a sister, I have the obligation to stop them and correct their behavior."

As she spoke, she looked up at the blue sky. "Besides, since my past self, the girl named Shatice, and the earlier self, the girls whose names I don't know, all wanted to stop them. So it should be right for me to make the same choice as them now, right?"

As she was talking, she suddenly realized something and looked at Linge with a guilty look: "Isn't this a bad idea? I seem to be following other people's choices again."

I clearly agreed with Lingge that I would make the decision based on my own will.

But Lingge didn't think so. He shook his head and said, "It doesn't matter. That's the choice you made. Although it's the same you as before, you're still the same person in the end, right?"

Saint Xia Liya blinked: "Will Lingge think we are the same person?"

"..."

"I don't want Lingge to think of us as the same person, and I believe that Aoweila and the others must think so too, so Lingge, please stop saying such things, it will definitely make them very angry."

"..."

"Lingge always seems to make girls angry~"

"..."

The young man stood up and said expressionlessly: "I have something else to do, so I'll leave first."

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)