Stepping on the rough gravel, walking in the silent gray mist.
Lu Li passed the broken tools and debris scattered along the way and approached the blurry shadow shrouded in deep haze.
It was a pale stone head statue, standing in the desolate gray fog, glowing slightly due to Lu Li's arrival.
He felt the gaze from the lifeless stone statue.
"Lost people, unable to find the answer, come back here again."
A dull low waft spread around the stone statue.
Lu Li was not surprised that Socrates knew about his arrival, because when they first met, he said that he would come back here.
"The truth led me here."
The lord in the cracks of the world did not deny anything, he just said: "Then, as before, accept my test and get the truth you want."
The stone head statue gradually faded and disappeared into the gray mist, leaving a note in its place.
[The confused person who has lost his memory, he wanders in the place in his memory, just to find the answer]
Lu Li picked up the note and embarked on a testing journey again.
The shadow deep in the gray fog gradually became clear, it was a stone statue carved with an expression of compassion.
Socrates' pity asked: "Your companion doesn't want to leave you, but you still insist on leaving. Is there really nothing outside that you miss?"
Lu Li said calmly:
"In the eyes of the dying, nothing is more important than living. In the eyes of those who make money, nothing is more important than money. In the eyes of believers, nothing is more important than faith."
The stone statue gradually faded away, leaving behind a second note.
[In the eyes of the black-haired boy, nothing is as important as his family]
Lu Li continued to move forward, and the gravel beneath his feet gradually leveled off.
The third stone statue of Socrates shows sadness: "The world is sad because of your departure."
Lu Li said: "I have done a lot of things, but I have never done something for myself. Now, I want to do this."
The sad Socrates was swallowed by the gray fog, and the third note left behind read:
[He is like the star that accompanies a lost child in the dark night, so dazzling but out of reach]
It was a wise stone statue with glasses on the bridge of its nose. It didn't ask Lu Li a question, but let Lu Li ask it.
Lu Li thought about the death recollection of the Diary of Sorrow, the symbiosis between the tree of the soul and the plant disaster, and the dark disaster at the bottom of Socra.
Finally, he thought of the scene he saw when he fell into the abyss of the swamp and disappeared: the haunting "door" emerged from the shadows and walked in front of the dying Lu Li.
Lu Li truly saw what the "door" looked like - it was himself.
The scattered thoughts returned to his soul, and Lu Li asked: "Where is she?"
Socrates' wise reply: "Keep going and you will get your answer."
The wise stone statue disappears, revealing the fourth note.
[A person who is lost at night mistakes the stars on the horizon for fireworks. He will not find the answer before dawn]
A broken iron pickaxe lay across the gravel. Lu Li stepped over and approached another stone statue in the deep gray fog.
That's an angry face.
Socrates' anger said: "Everything you value was killed by you with your own hands! What you are doing now is just to pay for your fault!"
Lu Li lowered his eyes slightly and admitted his mistake: "Life is like this...it is made up of countless regrets connected together."
The frozen roar faded away in an instant, leaving a note behind.
[The painful boy tortures himself like an ascetic, just hoping for salvation or liberation]
Continuing forward, the ground mixed with fine gravel turned into pale gravel like a beach. This was the depth of the gray mist that Lu Li had never been to.
A stone statue with a frowning brow sits on top.
Socrates asked: "Are you punishing yourself? Or are you giving up on yourself? You don't value your own life, you live up to your friends' expectations of you, and you play with the life and death of the world."
Lu Li thought and answered seriously: "The last exorcist, the hope of the world, the lord of the land of light, the guardian of order...these labels are just imposed on me. My original belief was never to save the world."
The disappeared stone statue left a new note, which read:
【This world is closely related to you. The worse you are, the worse the world is.】
The rough gravel under the feet became increasingly fine, the edges of the shoes sank into the fine sand, and the fading gray mist revealed the statue staring at Lu Li.
Socrates' musing asks: "But you are like the little boy who returns the stranded fish to the beach. You are homeless, but you don't want others to be like you."
Lu Li fell into silence, unable to answer the Meditator's comment.
Socrates' contemplation did not embarrass Lu Li too much, or silence also represents passage, leaving behind a note stained with fine sand.
[This is a road to redemption. You are saving the world, as well as yourself. When it is your turn, "Never," you said, you did not redeem yourself like you saved the world]
The fine powdery sand sinks into the soles of the feet with every step, leaving a line of deep footprints. And in front, a painful stone statue waits.
"You avoid the deep questions in your soul and refuse to mention them. You bury your head in the sand like an ostrich. But it never disappears."
"This is the way I can think of to alleviate the pain." Lu Li no longer avoided it and faced his heart, "Human beings have three major desires. For me, she is one of them."
The painful stone statue disappeared, leaving behind a sunken sand pit and a note.
[Remorse is an emotion you cannot understand, but it does torture your heart and soul day and night, leaving you inhuman form]
Continuing to leave traces, Lu Li trudged forward step by step.
As if hearing the waves, on the pale sand, another piece of Socrates' wisdom stands.
Before it spoke, Lu Li asked again: "Where is she?"
"Front."
The stone statue that gave the short answer disappeared, leaving behind what might be the last note.
【Time after time, time after time, you are never satisfied looking for something to keep you alive】
Lu Li took one step after another, walking in the silent and pale world. I don't know how long it had passed, but the stone statue of Socrates he first saw stood on the pale beach as if it was standing at the end of the world.
"Have I passed the test?" Lu Li asked it.
"Don't you already know the answer?"
"What's behind the door?"
"It's what you crave."
As Lu Li nodded gently, the stone statue of Socrates faded, and the real last note appeared where the stone statue disappeared.
Lu Li bent down and picked it up.
["Good night, have a sweet dream." She said to you. Then, a sleepy boy will wake up tomorrow]
At this time, Lu Li raised his head.
The shadow deep in the gray fog ahead is no longer Socrates, but a door.
A mottled, faded, and sun-stained wooden door was waiting for him.
The door slowly opened as Lu Li approached, and a hazy light greeted the approaching figure.