Garden of Eden || Apocalypse Paradise #2 [Complete]

142: The Messy Timeline

Bluebeard wanted to say something quickly, but the Old Man Fairy raised his hand and stopped him, "Eighteen years pass quicker than you think... I must go to another pitiful little lady's house to make a deal. She lost her biological mother and fell into a sorry state..."

'Cinderella?' This was the first name that came to Lin Sanjiu. 'But the timeline doesn't fit? If Emma and Bluebeard's age made it probable for them to exist at the same time, how could Cinderella, who was only older than Red Riding Hood by ten years or so, be a teenager at this point? Is he talking about someone else?'

Lin Sanjiu had never known herself to be that intelligent, so her mind was just a confused mess. The Old Man Fairy got out from the river, shook his fly-like wings, and stretched them, flying away into the distance. With no time to think, Lin Sanjiu just followed the man.

It was quite strange to chase after a fairy.

No matter how fast she ran, she occasionally lost sight of him. That hunched back often disappeared from mid-air and reappeared in another direction before she could react. His body glowed slightly, but it wasn't that obvious. It was only visible because it would be nighttime soon. Lin Sanjiu was quite afraid that she would lose her way.

Thankfully, after running for a while, the old man who flew carefreely in front of her suddenly stopped. He changed his direction and flew toward the garden at the back of a mansion. Without a second look, Lin Sanjiu was sure it was Cinderella's house. Cinderella was kneeling on the ground with her skinny frame and was grabbing her arms, sobbing. She looked just like the last time Lin Sanjiu saw her, around sixteen, and had a head of golden hair.

For a second, Lin Sanjiu only felt shocked and baffled. She really couldn't make sense of anything. 'Is the timeline in this pocket dimension just a jumbled mess? If that was so, how could she figure out what the "one action" that would change everything was?' She stared mindlessly at the two people in the garden. Though she did not take her eyes off them, her mind was in complete disarray. She only got her focus back when she heard Cinderella's slightly raised voice, "I don't understand what you mean. I don't know what you mean when you say I must pay a price."

The old man gave a helpless expression as if he had a headache, "Ah, ah, ah... Well, it is just something like digging some holes along a road. Come. Just sign here and agree to my conditions. I will send you to the ball right now."

'Digging holes?' That was one more mind-boggling question for Lin Sanjiu. She watched Cinderella, partially numbed by all these but still anxious.

Cinderella bit on the pen with some hesitation. She looked at the sheepskin parchment, which was almost one meter long, and quickly dismissed the thought of reading through the entire thing. When she heard the word "ball," she clenched her teeth and signed her name on the line the old man pointed to. The Old Man Fairy laughed out happily. He shook his hand, and the contract disappeared into countless dots of light that entered his bracelet.

'That sheepskin parchment was a special item!' Lin Sanjiu's mind raced. She was way too familiar with that. Even though she didn't know what magic was supposed to look like, she had seen so many special items, and those small dots of light meant that the parchment was special!

"Hahaha! That's great, dearie!" The old man laughed as he waved his hands, and a wand appeared. There was a flash of golden light, and Cinderella's hair was quickly bundled into a beautiful bun with a gem-studded hair accessory. A beautiful necklace hung from her neck over her dazzling dress.

If Lin Sanjiu launched a sneak attack right now, she might get that sheepskin parchment and even stop Cinderella from going to the ball. If Cinderella couldn't go to the ball, the prince could die a thousand times, and the royal family would not look for her.

However, it seemed impossible to save all three people.

The pumpkin carriage pulled out from the garden, rumbling, and Lin Sanjiu leaped and landed on top of it. In her moment of hesitation, she lost sight of the Old Man Fairy. Cinderella and that horse, which had turned into a footman, were the only people left. The howling wind blew Lin Sanjiu's hair to the back of her ears. She sat atop the carriage, feeling lost in what to do next. She didn't know how much time she had left. The palace ball was a great event as it was opened to the entire kingdom. Many lavish carriages headed in the same direction, converging toward the road to the palace. Cinderella pulled the curtains aside, looked outside, and asked her footman, "Who are the people in those carriages? They look different."

Lin Sanjiu looked up and realized that she could recognize those people.

"That is the dance troupe that would be performing for the king... Miss Cinderella," the footman replied politely. "Other than the dance troupe, do you see those carriages? The best circus in the kingdom would also be performing in the palace!"

Lin Sanjiu was stunned. She looked over and saw a colorful troop of carriages nearby. A sign on one of the carriages even wrote, "Come see the extraordinary man with a natural blue beard! It's magical!" The sign was shaped like a splatter of butter and gradually disappeared from her sight into the darkness, and the carriage pulled further and further away from her.

Like an old computer processor, Lin Sanjiu's brain finally crashed, and she could no longer process anything. 'What should I do next?' Lin Sanjiu laughed wryly. Just then, she suddenly saw something blinking at the corner of her eyes.

She looked down and noticed a line of words that had appeared on the roof of the carriage at some unknown time.

"Countdown: You have only 59 seconds remaining of your 30-minute limit."

She had to execute an action within 59 seconds to save all three people.