.

This is heaven, a paradise controlled by darkness. In the darkness as far as the eye can see, everything is the property of heaven, and everything is dominated by darkness. It rested above the gray, cool sky of Barblair, overlooking the ground below, the blood-stained steel and stone, the scarlet sparkle of the great waves, like a great merciless eye, nothing escaped its gaze.

The winter was cold, the snow and ice were cold, and the whining north wind was cold. But they are all outside, they are all below, they cannot break through the gates of heaven, they cannot touch the deep darkness. They are not allowed, but they are constantly attracted and lingering. They want to go in, they want to see, they want to cheer and dance around the cluster.

What is that? They don't know, but they know it's inside—in the deepest depths of the dark heavens, a restless presence that is colder than ice, more permanent than winter, like an eternal block of ice, standing silently at the end of time, emitting a faint blue light. Just a glance from afar is enough to freeze one's soul.

Luckily, that's not inevitable, otherwise there would be an elegant and comfortable ice sculpture of a handsome guy sitting on a soft chair drinking coffee.

Safatina held her hand on the cold edge of the countertop, motionless, without saying a word, her body exuded a strong, unusual aura, staring at it for a long time, and even had the illusion that the space around her was fluctuating and distorted. She was like this, or this state, Rhodes hadn't seen it for a long, long time, as if he had only seen it once in his memory, and that time was really not a good memory, even for him, let alone for others, of course.

He sighed and looked out of the garden.

The open-air garden on the top floor of the hotel is their kingdom. It is closed to outsiders, and only insiders are allowed to enter. And now this place is just the two of them, and it exists only for the two of them.

Thanks to the hotel's own environmental control system, the air in the garden is still warm even though the sky outside is full of snow. But on the other hand, even if the air in the garden is warm like spring, the sky outside is still drifting with snow, and it doesn't seem to stop at all.

All the snowflakes couldn't get close to here, even if they fell slowly from the top of the head, and after approaching a certain point, they would be gently and irresistibly tossed aside like some invisible barrier, sliding down the edge of the building. They wanted to come in, Rhodes was sure of that, but alas, they weren't allowed, they weren't qualified.

Everything you do depends on qualifications and capital. If you don't have any capital, then you can't do anything.

Looking up at the sky in silence for a while, Rhodes' eyes gradually regained focus. No one knew what he was looking at or thinking. He just closed his lips and played with the empty coffee cup in his hand with his fingers, and finally gently put it back on the table. He stood up and strolled over to Safatina's side. Because of the size of this large terrace, the whole process took a little more time than expected.

"Do you mind?"

As he spoke, he leaned his back against the edge of the stone platform facing in the opposite direction from Safatina, and then jumped and moved his ass up. He supported his body with both hands, dangled his legs slightly in front of him, tilted his head and closed his eyes, and exhaled a long breath. To be honest, his position was dangerous, and if one of his arms slipped unsteadily, he would fall straight backwards down the edge of the building. And at the height they are at now, he should basically be flat after the end.

Safatina glanced at him, not knowing whether it was because of his greeting or because of his dangerous movements, but at last she pursed her lips and withdrew her gaze. "Whatever you want." "It's a free world," she said...... At least it used to be. ”

"Ever......" Rhodes' eyes were half-open, meeting the gray-white sky, his mouth slightly open, "it doesn't feel any different." ”

"What?"

"Snow."

Rhodes stretched out a hand upward, his fingers spread out, as if to catch a small flower under the ethereal clouds. But of course, the independent environmental control system that protects the hotel has dutifully completed the perfect filtering of Stuttgar's own environmental simulation under a special algorithm, and what Rhodes can see, nothing will fall into it.

He held that motion for a few seconds, and finally withdrew his hand. But his eyes were still upward, staring at the oppressive sky.

"The snow is the same every winter." He said that it was like having some kind of amateur academic discussion with his research partner, "fragile, cold, and only a little body temperature will lose his original appearance and become a completely different form." I don't know if it counts as it, but I'm sure it won't go back...... I can't go back to the silly and cute, pure white and immaculate moment that once belonged to it. ”

"So why is that?"

"What?" This time it was Rhodes' turn to question.

"Snow."

Following Rhodes' previous movements, Safatina stretched out a hand, looking up and spreading her fingers wide—but unlike what Rhodes wanted to catch, Safatina's hand was in the opposite direction, as if trying to dig a hole in the clouds in the sky.

"Why is that snow born out of the sky...... What about the wonderful substance that is pure and unblemished, when it comes into contact with any other power, becomes something else? ”

“……”

"Are they destroyed, or are they just adaptations, and one day they will return to the skies again, to their original form?"

“……”

"After all, what are they in their original form, is it snow? Or is it the water that melts behind the palms of our hands? Or is it a combination of both, and all we see is the different forms it takes under different circumstances? ”

Slowly retracting the empty hand in front of her, Safatina looked down at the empty palm and clenched it into a fist.

"Rhodes, tell me," she said, not looking up, her whole face hidden in the shadows, "which side is the real ...... Is it real? Is it snow, water, or the ubiquitous vapour that evaporates? ”

Rhodes looked at Safatina, mouth open, then closed, opened and closed. Finally, he shook his head.

"Probably...... Even it doesn't know about itself. ”

“…… Is it. Safatina slowly raised her head, looked up at the sky, and then suddenly smiled, "But, no matter what, thank you for the beauty it brings to my city." Her eyes were half-closed, tired, sad, and a little inexplicably intoxicated, "and I knew that no matter how it changed, it would eventually return to the way I first met it, and come back from my world again." ”

“…… But when that happens, will it still be the same as it was? Rhodes asked, looking at Safatina.

"It doesn't matter." Safatina shook her head calmly, "For me, it's always been there, it's never changed. ”

“……”

Rhodes blinked, and sat relaxed on the stone platform, two arms. He looked at Safatina as if he had just met her for the first time today—for a moment, he really felt that there was a complete stranger standing in front of him, a completely new woman who made him curious and overwhelmed. I don't know if it's a bad thing to say or not. He had thought he was the closest person to Safatina in the city—and in some ways he was—but it dawned on him that he might never really know Safatina...... Didn't know about the real Safatina.

Perhaps because her gaze was too explicit, Safatina, who sensed something, tilted her head again and glanced at Rhodes.

"What's wrong?"

“…… Hello so beautiful. ”

"What?"

"It's just a sudden feeling."

Rhodes waved his hand and dropped off the platform, his feet on the ground. He turned, and with Safatina, he looked at Babloer, who had begun to be shrouded in a hazy curtain of snow.

"Brought to the beautiful city." He said softly, turning his head to look at Shafatina, "Your city." ”

“…… My city. Safatina once again held the smooth marble platform with both hands, looking down on the world, her eyes indifferent and expressionless, "My cage." ”

“……”

"I hate this place, Rhodes. Like it or not, I was born imprisoned by it, without any choice. This is my destiny, the responsibility I was born with. I convinced myself over and over again that maybe it wasn't as bad as I thought it was, maybe in the depths of that pitch darkness...... Behind that decay and depravity, somewhere I can't see, there is something hidden that I don't know, worth finding, worth excavating, worth saving, maybe not just here, maybe somewhere else. That's what I said to myself. ”

"Maybe you're right." Rhodes said.

"Maybe I'm right." Safatina repeated monotonously, "But if you want to do it, you must first clear all the obstacles in front of you." ”

“…… By the way," Rhodes looked at her, as if something had suddenly occurred to him, "you said you had already thought of a way to bring the war to an end." ”

"No," Safatina shook her head, "I've begun to bring the war to an end. ”

“……”

"Before the sun goes down today, everything will be settled."

Rhodes' brows furrowed completely, "Mind telling me about it?" ”

"Of course," Safatina tilted her head and smiled at him, as always like a lazy kitten, only in front of him, "why not." ”