"whale?"

Irwin felt that he heard wrongly, but looking at the serious expression on the girl's face, she was not joking.

But... a whale?

From the chance encounter on the train platform, to the fight with the devil, to the crazy feast on the Paradise, the world of common sense gradually collapses, and disorderly chaos is eternal.

In order to step into such a world, everyone needs to have strong courage and will, as well as a reason that cannot be refused.

Irwin went into danger for the sake of immortality, but the girl in front of him did it just... just to see the whales.

"Oh my god..."

For a moment, Irwin felt that all the pain in his body disappeared, leaving only a kind of absurd joy. He leaned his head on the cabinet behind him, laughing so hard that he couldn't breathe.

The dangerous and depressing atmosphere was no longer there, and Irwin felt like he was back in Daisy Castle, sitting in front of the fireplace with a friend and telling jokes.

"Are you serious?" Irwin doubted, "Are you lying to me again?"

Cinderella's eyes were serious. This time she was not lying. In her life built of deceit and disguise, this was a rare reality.

"why?"

Irwin didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "It's so weird to risk your own life for such a reason."

It feels so wonderful, like a group of desperadoes who are ready to die and are armed to the teeth, and suddenly there is a girl next door.

You are here for deep hatred, for that dirty, unspeakable desire, for the power and power filled with blood, but this girl is just here to see whales. This reason is as absurd as looking for a lost cat.

"Do you have the habit of reading newspapers?"

There were constant vibrations from the outside world, as if there were a group of monsters dancing above their heads. Cinderella's voice was very low, as if she was telling ghost stories under the quilt, for fear of attracting the attention of those monsters.

"some."

Irwin nodded. Life in Daisy Castle can be said to be isolated from the world. Newspapers and radios are Irwin's only ways to communicate with the outside world.

His body stretched out. Even though he was in such a dangerous situation, Irwin didn't panic much. On the contrary, he enjoyed the moment of peace in this crisis environment.

Cinderella asked again, "Do you know that whale called Char?"

Irwin tried hard to recall and remembered that he had read reports about it in the newspaper before.

"That's a strange whale. It broke away from the whale group and wandered near the free port without fear of the threat of whalers."

Cinderella told the story of Char.

"One day, Char took advantage of the high tide and washed ashore. This was not a mistake, but a long-planned plan. It washed very far, almost crossing the beach and touching the dense forest...

People wanted to save it, water it, and try to drag it back into the sea, but it stubbornly moved forward, its soft skin rubbing against the sand, and blood flowing like a river.

Charles is dead.

The whale was not supposed to be on land, and the whalers dismantled its carcass, leaving nothing behind it in the world except the words in the newspaper."

Cinderella's voice became lower and lower as she spoke, and finally fell silent.

Irwin said, "Because of Char, do you want to come and see the whales?"

Cinderella nodded, "After learning about Char's story, there is always a whale in my mind that repeatedly hits the coast."

"I have read a lot of books about whales. The books say that whales actually have a certain amount of intelligence and know what they are doing."

It is always not easy to tell the inner story. Cinderella took a deep breath. For her, she and Irwin only knew each other for a few days. Due to a series of unexpected events, they ended up like this.

Cinderella said innocently, "I started to wonder, what was Charl thinking at that time?"

"When it is stranded on the beach, when the sun gradually dries up the moisture in its body, when its huge body crushes its bones, when its internal organs burst into blood, when people walk around it, when it hunts whales

When people cut open its body with a sharp knife...

What is Char thinking?"

Cinderella felt suffocated, and suddenly she felt like she had become Char, falling on the hot beach, feeling the pain of being stabbed all over her body.

"Char is intelligent. He knew that he would die if he did this, but he still did it."

Cinderella asked Irwin in confusion, "Is it committing suicide? Can it understand 'life' and 'death'?"

Cinderella is neither a whale nor a char, all this is an unsolvable puzzle to her.

Irwin murmured, "You became curious about Char, you wanted to know Char's story, you wanted to know what the whale was thinking, and then you came all the way to Freeport..."

"Hmm... I want to see whales with my own eyes and see Char's kind. Maybe in this way, I can understand the mystery in my heart."

"Then you've come to the wrong place, Cinderella," Irwin smiled. "Whales usually live in distant seas. Only idiots like Char will come to dangerous offshore waters. In Freeport, you can see

The only ones left are whale carcasses brought back by whaling ships.”

"Is it stupid?" Cinderella's voice was very soft and she laughed self-deprecatingly. "This reason is really stupid, right? Irving."

"It's stupid," Irwin nodded in agreement, "but I don't hate it."

"Why?"

"People always advocate correct choices and give meaning to everything. It seems that choices or things that are incorrect and have no meaning are wrong and should not exist."

Irwin spoke softly, as if telling a joke that wasn't funny, "But has the world changed for the better? No? Look around us. Damn it, this ship is going to sink."

Cinderella was stunned for a moment, a smile appeared on her lonely face, and she leaned back with a smile.

"Reality is cold and ruthless, full of right choices and important meanings. This is too tiring, so I like some meaningless stupid things. It sounds like a fairy tale written for adults, like a gray and decaying world,

A stunning splash of color.”

Irwin raised his eyebrows and stood up reluctantly, holding on to the cupboard. His strength was almost restored, and it was time to continue their journey of survival.

Cinderella supported Irwin and after hearing what he said, she asked curiously, "Do you often do stupid things?"

"More than that," Irwin said, "my life is just a collection of stupid things."

The two walked out of the room. They had not been attacked yet, but the vibrations around them became more and more intense, as if the monsters were slowly approaching.

Irwin smelled a smell of blood. He didn't know whether it was coming from a corpse behind a corner or his own.

"I think...I think Charles is looking for something."

Irwin said suddenly, lowering his head and looking at Cinderella.

"Just like me, I am looking for eternal life and will not back down even if I venture into dangerous places.

The same is true for Char. It is looking for something, but it has searched all over the seven seas and still found nothing. In despair, it hopes to land on land. Maybe it is behind the hot sand and gravel. For that thing, it would rather be stranded and die."

Looking for and... eternal life.

A gust of cold wind blew across Cinderella's cheek. She raised her head and looked at Irwin, wondering, "Eternal life? You said that was just a horror story."

She realized later and said, "Did you lie to me?"

Eternal life is not a horror story, but what Irwin really pursues, but...how can eternal life exist in this world?

Irwin did not answer Cinderella's question, but asked, "What do you think is true immortality?"

Cinderella was about to say something, but was interrupted by Irwin.

"Shh, think carefully, you only have one chance to make a wish."

Cinderella felt that the Irwin in front of her was strange. It was like this every time. Whenever immortality was mentioned, a sense of madness lingered around him... just like the people he killed on the train.

"Eternal life? Immortal body? Unshakable will?"

Irwin spoke of one possibility after another. There was no envy or desire in his words, but contempt and disdain.

He murmured, "That's not true eternal life."

Irwin suddenly broke away from Cinderella's support and knocked her to the side. Then Irwin accelerated forward, gripped the dagger and stabbed towards the blind spot at the corner of the corridor.

The whimpering and the dripping of blood echoed in the dark corridor. Irwin struggled to lift the dagger, causing it to penetrate further into the demon's body, and even the tip of the sword pierced out from the back.

"Remember to watch the road, my friend."

Irwin drew out his dagger and blood spurted out. As early as when he was chatting with Cinderella, Irwin had keenly heard the approaching pace. The devil wanted to ambush Irwin at the corner, but he didn't know that Irwin was also waiting for him.

The demon's body fell straight down, and Irwin's left hand seemed to be broken. It was in severe pain and temporarily lost its ability to move, but it could at least be used as a shield to block him.

Irwin raised his forearm to protect his chest and ducked out of the corner. At the same time, another demon stepped on the fallen body and collided with Irwin fiercely.

After all, Irwin is only a mortal, not to mention that he is covered in bruises, old and stiff, and the demon can easily knock him down.

The ceiling began to dent and was filled with cracks on the verge of collapse. Irwin saw the end of another corridor, where the elevator door was open, with flames burning inside, and many hideous figures riding cables deep into the Paradise.

This maritime fortress is crumbling bit by bit.

The demon overwhelmed Irvin by virtue of his strength advantage. He punched Irvin in the face one after another, beating him to pieces of flesh and blood. Irwin stabbed the dagger repeatedly, stabbing the demon's abdomen into a bloody mess, but this guy

As if he didn't know the pain, he continued to beat Irwin, and even bit him on Irwin's shoulder.

Before the demon tore off Irwin's flesh, Irwin sent the dagger down the demon's throat and into his brain, completely ending his life.

Pushing away the corpse that was pressing on him, Irwin was truly at the end of his rope at this moment. More demons crawled out of the elevator and strode towards Irwin.

Irwin saw Cinderella in the blood-stained vision. He was glad that the demons were paying attention to him. If Cinderella was smart enough, she should be able to escape.

Irwin stood up holding on to the wall, and he was glad that he had already predicted the outcome of this journey to eternal life.
To be continued...