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

144: The Reveal

"I need three pieces," Li Tao replied.

Lin Sanjiu froze momentarily, feeling as if she almost sensed something but failed to understand anything. She tore off two more pieces of toilet paper and changed the roll into a card. After that, she packed and prepared to store her cards. Suddenly, she noticed her Diary Card.

"Ah, isn't that my super-cute girl!" A single line appeared on the card.

Before Li Tao noticed the disgraceful card, Lin Sanjiu quickly stored it in her body. Next, she watched Li Tao as if nothing had happened. Li Tao held two pieces of toilet paper thoughtfully in her left hand and used her right hand to place the final piece beneath both.

The three toilet papers have created a model with a top, middle, and bottom level.

"Each of these pieces of paper represents a story." Li Tao cleared her throat and spoke excitedly as though she enjoyed revealing this mystery, "They are supposed to be on parallel planes so they can't interfere with each other, and they each have their individual time streams."

"The story which covers the longest time frame, and also the story with the fastest flow of time, is Bluebeard's story," as she said this, she took the top-most piece of paper and embossed a short line on the paper followed by a dot using her fingernails, she then repeated this a few more times." Bluebeard met the fairy when he was seven and married Lila when he was almost 40, almost 30 years in between.

Lin Sanjiu nodded her head to show that she understood that point.

"Next, it is Red Riding Hood's story," Li Tao drew slightly long lines and added fewer dots. "It is about twenty years from Emma's past when Red Riding Hood appears."

"So, the story with the slowest flow of time must be Cinderella's story?" Lin Sanjiu couldn't help adding.

"That's right. When the two stories... Um, you can just look at these two toilet papers. Move forward about ten over the years. Only a few months would have passed in Cinderella's timeline." After she said that, Li Tao drew a very long line, a dot, and another long line. The length of the paper only allowed two long lines to be drawn.

She stacked the three pieces of paper together once again. But this time around, she took a hairpin from her hair and aimed at the paper using the sharp end of her hairpin.

"Now, I am the Old Man Fairy. I deceived Cinderella and got her approval to create a few holes in her layer of paper."

Lin Sanjiu faintly grasped the concept that Li Tao was trying to show her and felt the hair on her back standing.

"This dot represents the segment of time when the prince was looking for Cinderella," Li Tao used her hairpin and perforated the dot on the bottom piece of paper. She reached the second layer and moved it towards another dot, "It coincides with the time when Red Riding Hood meets the werewolf.

"Now, the microorganisms on the surface of the toilet paper leak into the second layer when the holes are created. You could say that the werewolf germ had now contaminated the Cinderella paper, or the prince germ is now on the Little Red Riding Hood paper. Thus, the characters and scenarios on two timelines are blended at these points."

"So, I am also a... germ that can travel between the three pieces of paper." Lin Sanjiu stared at the toilet paper and laughed wryly as the holes created were not aligned, and the papers were slightly twisted. Under the dim silver light, they seemed to possess their own little lives.

Li Tao nodded with a serious expression, "As shown, you saw the weird occurrences due to the multiple holes within the layers. For example, Bluebeard of the past and future can exist in the palace at the same time."

Li Tao pulled a single strand of hair from her head and poked her hair through two dots that were far apart. She then pulled the two ends of her hair together through the single hole in Cinderella's paper. When she pulled her hair together, Bluebeard's paper immediately crumpled together to converge at a single point.

"That was why the old man told Bluebeard that eighteen years are much shorter than you think!" Lin Sanjiu muttered, half-stunned and half in awe.

Li Tao smiled faintly, "That's right. Once you realize that the stories exist on three different layers, you will know that there is a single action that can guarantee the survival of all main characters. You cannot create holes in each layer like the Old Man Fairy as an outsider. On top of that, some of the 'intersections,' let's call it that, might not connect all three layers.

"You mean the pocket dimension lied?"

"No, that stone tablet didn't lie." Li Tao waved her hand. She squished the three pieces of paper into a ball and threw it aside. "You could say that there was a red herring."

"A red herring?" Lin Sanjiu parroted as she followed behind Li Tao, climbing up the steps slowly.

"It's simple. If Red Riding Hood is the main character of the Red Riding Hood story and Cinderella is the main character in Cinderella, then what makes you think Lila is the main character in Bluebeard's story?"

Li Tao's gentle, subtle voice rang out softly in the darkness like a gentle tide upon the tower walls— ironically, the meaning of the words was like explosives to Lin Sanjiu.

"Because..." Lin Sanjiu wanted to say something, but she was stuck because she didn't know why she assumed Lila was the main character.

"Shouldn't Bluebeard be the main character in the story of Bluebeard?" Li Tao chuckled.

"But the stone tablet mentioned that all three characters were in grave danger, so I had to save them. At that point, when Lila saw Bluebeard, she was in danger—"

"So, what did you plan to do then?" Li Tao turned to look at her, with the dim silver light around them.

"I decided to kill Bluebeard." Lin Sanjiu replied mindlessly. She understood now.

Things were now very clear for Lin Sanjiu. If Lin Sanjiu didn't kill Bluebeard, it automatically counted as her saving him. However, no one directly involved in that moment would have thought of that.

"You can say that the entire pocket dimension is a trap, but it is useless against you," Li Tao laughed quietly. "Other people wouldn't leave Bluebeard to his own devices if they considered the situation. After all, he seems like the most suspicious person. Once a person decides on this, it would be difficult to make a different choice. However, for a person like you who is brawn over brains, it is easier for you to solve the puzzle efficiently."

Lin Sanjiu couldn't decide if Li Tao was praising or mocking her. After a while, she commented softly, "No, if it was you, you would quickly see through the trick. You are good. You managed to analyze the situation by just hearing what I said."

Li Tao quickly felt a little embarrassed and answered, "Huh? Nah, it is just that I can see it a little clearer as an observer. If I entered that pocket dimension, I might not be able to escape."

"I have another two questions for you." Lin Sanjiu suddenly said.

"What are they?"

"Firstly, when you first escaped the pocket dimension in this black tower, what was it like?" Lin Sanjiu didn't use a demanding attitude but said that casually.

Li Tao, who was ahead of her, suddenly stopped. She stood still in the darkness and did not turn around.

"For my second question... Your name is not Li Tao. Who are you?"