Continuation

The quill could not be used recklessly, so Chen Miemie began his days inside the storybook.

The world of stories was a wondrous place, where time and space behaved in strange ways.

Take time, for example. Whenever Chen Miemie slept, the story would simply gloss over that period. To Chen Miemie, it was the same: one moment it was nighttime and he had just fallen asleep; the next, it was already noon, and he had gotten up and gone out.

As for space, Chen Miemie could not wander freely around the Book-Sealing Hall. Or, more accurately, it was not that he could not—the places not described in the story simply did not exist.

His map was incomplete. For instance, if Chen Miemie wanted to visit the home where the Logic Pledgor, Luo Lang, had imprisoned Luo Wen, that place did not exist in the storybook world because the original story had never described it.

And so Chen Miemie watched himself go out time and again, welcoming one customer after another.

To protect his precious quill, Chen Miemie generally avoided interfering with the story’s development. But sometimes, he simply could not help himself.

Like now.

No. 50 Nuan Yu Road.

This was the first time Chen Miemie had come to the Yi family villa to search for clues.

Chen Miemie brought a large group of oddities into the house. They searched high and low, turning everything upside down, but after a long while they still had not found a single clue.

[Chen Miemie] watched anxiously.

“This bunch of idiots. Not one of them is capable of putting my mind at ease. I’ll have to do it myself.”

On the second floor, in the bedroom, he pushed a notebook up from deep beneath the bed until a small corner showed.

In the kitchen on the first floor, he lifted the lid of an ordinary-looking glass jar just enough for the lingering scent of honey to escape.

Near the ceiling, on a curtain rod, he nudged a small wooden wand so that part of it became visible.

The oddities had not been making much progress with their search, but now they suddenly found their second wind and began making discoveries.

“Miemie, we found a little notebook in the master bedroom upstairs!” Qinghua called as she came downstairs.

“I found a peculiar glass jar deep inside the cupboard!” Bobo shouted as well.

“There’s a tiny wooden stick on one of the curtain rods,” Red appeared soundlessly by the ceiling above the stairs.

Chen Miemie was very pleased with the results. With a grand wave of his hand, he said, “Pack everything up and bring it back. We’ll study it at our leisure.”

[Chen Miemie] paid them no further attention. He was carefully inspecting his precious quill. When he saw that its glow had not dimmed by much, he finally let out a sigh of relief.

The story continued moving forward.

Some time later, Chunhua came to the shop for the last time.

Watching the man who knew nothing of the witch Chameleon’s true ending rise to see him off, [Chen Miemie] sighed softly. “As the shopkeeper, you ought to know the truth.”

[Chen Miemie] went into the bedroom and nudged the watch beside the pillow until it fell onto the floor with a faint click.

“Hm?” Hearing the noise, Chen Miemie frowned slightly. “Chunhua, wait a moment. I’ll go see what happened.”

Chen Miemie rose from the sofa and walked out. As he turned around, [Chen Miemie] used the tip of the feather to gently hook a five-colored postage stamp from his pocket.

The stamp spun through the air. Each time it was about to fall, the feather lightly caught it and lifted it again. At last, it drifted into a fold of Chunhua’s clothing.

The entire process was silent and unnoticed by both Chen Miemie and Chunhua.

Chen Miemie returned from the bedroom.

“Shopkeeper, what happened?” Chunhua asked.

“Nothing. A small object wasn’t placed securely and fell onto the floor.”

“Very well. Then I’ll be taking my leave.”

[Chen Miemie] followed Chunhua out of the shop. He watched the man weep silently, watched him lie on the ground and finish writing his letter, leaving the signature blank. At last, he watched Chunhua place the letter, together with the postage stamp, into the Radiant-Lights Mailbox.

As Chunhua walked away from the Door’s Gap with faltering steps, [Chen Miemie] let out a silent sigh as well.

Day after day, the sun and moon revolved. Again and again, people’s fates intertwined. At last, the story arrived at its final chapter.

That day was the night of the Eternal Moon.

Chen Miemie sat in the shop, racking his brains over how to bring a stone from the body of the Eternal Moon into the world barrier.

A new customer arrived.

“Where is this?” Persimmon asked.

Loop smiled faintly. “A mysterious shop that accepts all kinds of commissions. Please, come in.”

Persimmon was quite different from the customers who had come before. She was intensely curious and completely unafraid. In fact, she stretched out her neck and tilted her head, trying to peer beneath the hood of [Huangyi].

She was studying Chen Miemie, and [Chen Miemie] was studying her.

[Chen Miemie] examined her face to face, leaving no angle unchecked.

From a certain angle, [Chen Miemie] finally saw that beneath the long bangs covering Persimmon’s left eye was a pitch-black hollow. She had already lost her left eye.

Chen Miemie and Persimmon talked.

Chen Miemie could not fulfill Persimmon’s wish for immortality. Persimmon therefore turned the tables and began using her own power to help Chen Miemie solve his problem.

Persimmon gave him a clear method. “Write your own story into a book. In the book, you take the things you obtained from beyond the barrier. Then, outside the book, you will have a chance of obtaining those things as well.”

Chen Miemie asked, “Then how do I begin my story?”

Persimmon glanced toward the study. “I need a book.”

“What requirements does the book need to meet?”

“The closer your relationship with it, the better.”

Chen Miemie thought for a moment, then waved his hand. “Jinse” and “Spring Flowers and Autumn Reminiscences” floated out of the study.

Compared to “Spring Flowers and Autumn Reminiscences,” “Jinse” was slightly farther behind. Originally, “Spring Flowers and Autumn Reminiscences” should have arrived first.

[Chen Miemie] was not pleased with this. “Granny Qiu clearly wrote ‘Jinse.’ What are you butting in for, ‘Spring Flowers and Autumn Reminiscences’?”

He extended his quill and blocked the flight path of “Spring Flowers and Autumn Reminiscences.”

Because of his interference, “Jinse” overtook it despite setting off later and arrived in front of Persimmon first.

Next, with Chen Miemie’s help, Persimmon completed the transformation into her very own storybook.

Chen Miemie saw Persimmon out and returned to the shop. He opened the book, but the moment he turned to the first page, he fell asleep in an instant. The oddities gathered around him.

At that very moment, the entire story world seemed to freeze in place. Its colors faded, the hands of every clock stopped moving, and every person and oddity became utterly motionless.

“The Second City, the Book-Sealing Hall” had reached its conclusion. The pages turned to a brand-new blank sheet.

The only one who could still move was [Chen Miemie].

“What’s going on? Is this what it looks like when a story reaches its ending? What am I supposed to do next?”

His confusion did not last long.

The quill in his pocket floated out on its own and hovered above the blank page of “The Second City, the Book-Sealing Hall.” Its shaft even swayed toward [Chen Miemie], as though inviting him to pick it up.

[Chen Miemie] smiled. “I see. With the quill in my hand, I’m the one who gets to continue writing the story.”

[Chen Miemie] took hold of the quill and began to write:

“After Chen Miemie fell asleep on the night of the Eternal Moon, he returned to the body of the Eternal Moon.

“The Eternal Moon selected a stone from its own body and sent it toward the Hundred Cities World.

“At the edge of the dimension, the stone encountered the obstruction of the world barrier.”

As [Chen Miemie] wrote, the space around him suddenly transformed.

[Chen Miemie], quill in hand, appeared in an endless void.

Before him, a massive yellow stone hung suspended in the void.