"That's...a living thing?"

Annan was a little stunned.

This mechanical hand, which has no flesh and blood structure at all, gained life out of thin air.

It is not a clockwork puppet with a purely mechanical structure... or a "hand puppet". It can move on its own, not because of the gears and clockwork, nor because of the magic's remote operation, nor because Yaweng put it in

A simulated soul.

But simply... the moment Yaweng "completed" it, it gained a new life of its own. Although it is still a little immature, like a newly born pure white child, it does already exist in the world.

.

"Can you move even if you don't have a soul?"

Annan couldn't help but ask.

Ya Weng just glanced at him sideways.

While packing up the carving knife in his hand, he said slowly: "Who stipulated that you must have a soul to be considered alive? Or, does it have to be a humanoid soul as you understand it to be called a soul?

"Among the thousands of worlds connected by the river of dreams, is it possible that only our world has 'living things'?"

...and that seems to be the case.

Annan nodded slowly.

Yaweng is right.

Mortal souls are as light and empty as nothing, but they can still survive normally. They don't even realize that they don't have a formed soul that can be observed.

So on the other hand - why is it required that an object must have a soul in order to be regarded as a "living thing"?

In other words, what is the difference between living creatures and not?

——Does it have flesh and blood? Does it have a soul? Does it need to breathe? Can it remember? Can it think? Can it die?

Thinking of this, Annan paused.

He seemed to understand - what kind of posture "Paper Princess" existed when it was still a painting.

At first, Annan thought it was some kind of automatic answering program that Yaweng had set in advance. It was like a desktop pet. It would respond to certain words when it heard something. Perhaps it was a simulated grandmother's character.

Or maybe it represents the old grandmother that Yaweng understands.

But now...according to Annan's new understanding of Yaweng, he is probably not the type to do that kind of thing.

In fact, this is a superfluous addition to Yaweng's works, which will actually add to the craftsmanship.

If nothing else, the "Paper Princess" should have gained a life of her own the moment the painting was completed. It was a life that was extremely ignorant and as pure as white paper.

At that time, countless people were moved by the love between Zhiji and the dragon that spanned the real and the false. Some people also laughed at the illusory love of the dragon. But everyone - including the former Annan, believed that the truth was used in Zhiji.

Before the power of the book completely transformed into a god, she "did not really exist".

After all, before that painting fell into the hands of that giant dragon, it had already been handled by many people. Gods, dragons, elves...

Among them there are many gold-level extraordinary beings or priests above the bishop level, and even righteous gods other than the old grandmother. Of course they can see that this painting "can move, roar, and can attack people outside the painting"

There is indeed no soul sealed in the "magic painting", let alone any sanity.

Whatever actions you make, how the silver dragon in the painting will respond, the "scripts" it can respond to are fixed and limited. And these rules correspond one to one, as if they were all set by Ya Weng in advance.

At that time, everyone thought it was just a magical object that could be called a "magic painting".

However, for two hundred years, the giant dragon named "Pygmalion Gradini" barely left his cave. He just watched the silver dragon flying in the painting obsessively and chatted with him in dragon language.

.

In order to make a living, as a dragon, he no longer collects money, but sells the treasures he has collected - but he is worried that this painting will be "lonely".

He even preached that he would spend the rest of his life with this painting.

Even Sir Silver felt that Pygmalion was obsessed to the point of going crazy. Not to mention his fellow dragons... Many of them came to persuade him, but Pygmalion drove them all out.

Others asked Yaweng whether he had created a magic painting that could confuse people's hearts, but Yaweng did not respond to this.

Now it seems...

Maybe everyone, including Sir Silver, is wrong.

Only "Pygmalion Gradini" is correct.

Even though the original Paper Princess had no soul or sanity, it was indeed alive. The extremely careful and thoughtful dragon was different from its previous holders... It truly realized the confusion and confusion of the magic painting.

Loneliness is not viewed as a painting, but as a friend.

During this process, they had already fallen in love.

Even if there is no body, no soul, no mind...maybe even no memory, love can be born from it.

All it takes is the distance between the two hearts to get closer and closer.

Since Paper Princess cannot change her behavior, the dragon will try its best to transform its soul.

It's just that no matter how the dragon confesses and expresses his love, he can only get a predetermined response; and no matter how high the love in Zhiji's heart is, he can only say the lines he "should say".

In this dialogue that is full of mechanical feeling, but in fact has never really happened at all; in this dialogue that is full of loving gazes, but always answers the wrong questions... Hidden are two hearts that can never meet, but are equally hot.

heart of.

At that moment, Annan seemed to see the two people inside and outside the screen, with their fingertips facing each other, as if they were in contact through a mirror.

No matter which side is real, which side is a mirror image.

——In the end, only one person can leave the mirror.

In the end, Pygmalion did not use the power of "False and Real" to turn the non-existent Paper Princess from "illusion" into reality.

Although when faced with inquiries from other gods later, Paper Princess always wore a gentle and nostalgic smile, admitting that this was Pygmalion's sacrifice... but it was also her love for the dragon.

In fact, she already existed long before that!

"……I see."

Annan blurted out: "So Pygmalion..."

Only then would he be angered by his own Book of Truth!

"False and Real" tells the dragon, "Paper Princess is false and does not exist." And the power of the Book of Truth can allow him to distort the absolute boundary between fiction and reality, turning Paper Princess into "infinitely close"

The falsehood of reality”.

but……

Another doubt appeared in Annan's mind.

Yaweng seemed to have guessed what Annan was thinking.
Chapter completed!