Chapter 177: Awakening
"It's so noisy," the young girl mumbled weakly, her words barely audible to the middle-aged woman nearby.
The woman's body trembled violently, but she dared not make a sound, fearing she might startle the girl on the hospital bed. She carefully straightened up, her eyes brimming with tears as she looked towards the middle-aged man standing at the doorway.
...
"Huanhuan" had awakened.
She remembered floating in a long, shimmering river for an unknown length of time. When she regained consciousness, an excited couple was watching her, surrounded by people in white coats.
They called her "Huanhuan" and "Shen Yinghuan." She learned that her full name was Shen Yinghuan, with Huanhuan as her nickname.
"Huanhuan?" When alone, she repeated the name instinctively. It wasn't entirely unfamiliar, but it felt mostly foreign to her.
She couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't her real name. But what should she be called?
Huanhuan didn't know, so she tried to gather more information from the conversations around her.
It seemed she had suffered from a severe and unusual illness. Despite not being in water, she had exhibited various symptoms of drowning.
After repeated resuscitation efforts by the doctors, her drowning symptoms disappeared, but she remained in a coma, unresponsive to external stimuli.
Including the time it took to wake her, Huanhuan had been unconscious for over two months before regaining consciousness.
Her "father" and "mother" were loving parents who had kept a constant vigil during her coma. After she woke up, they wanted her to rest at home due to concerns about her health.
But Huanhuan refused.
She needed more information to recover her forgotten name. She needed to interact with more people and experience more things.
...
Huanhuan made a breakthrough while organizing children's picture books in her room.
An odd-looking rabbit, a mysterious man wearing a hat and exaggerated makeup, a woman with an enormous head, and glimpses of a wonderland in the background—this bizarre cover immediately caught Huanhuan's attention. She opened the book and found the lost name.
"Alice Kingsley?" She read the phonetically annotated name in confusion as memories began to surface in her mind.
The "lucky one" who collapsed before her when she first opened her eyes.
The name Alice Kingsley that she blurted out during questioning at the Nighthawks' headquarters.
Maygold's firm hand on her shoulder when she suddenly appeared.
Inry Zangwill, who appeared and killed Maygold after she fell to her death on her own weapon.
Charles Kane, who told her everything was a gift of fate, only to be gifted death by fate himself.
Evelyn, innocently dragged into the situation by Charles Kane.
Dr. Aaron, anxious but genuinely caring for his wife.
Will Auceptin, with his strange attitude towards her.
The Eternal Blazing Sun, looking for amusement everywhere out of boredom.
Mr. Hanged Man, always making wild guesses.
Mr. Sun, never quite grasping the situation.
The unfamiliar Miss Magician.
The wealthy Miss Justice.
Oh, and Miss Justice's dog... how she wanted to steal it.
The excellent counselor, the great detective James Holmes... no, Klein.
Alice shook her head and looked around longingly.
She realized she was in the midst of a long dream, or rather, she was in Shen Yinghuan's memories.
Those brief seventeen years... no, not that long. She didn't have Shen Yinghuan's memories from before her illness.
Alice closed her eyes, feeling the memories unfold like blooming flowers, and realized there was a blank space hidden within them.
A blank space she might know the reason for.
— That unfinished ice cream cone, the surging waves, and the inexplicable feeling of suffocation.
Alice sighed, struggling out of the memories, taking one last look at the room belonging to young Shen Yinghuan.
As Shen Yinghuan's memories gradually merged with her own, Alice found herself becoming calmer.
The real Shen Yinghuan was quieter, gentler, and more sensitive than her—not a boisterous child.
She wasn't Shen Yinghuan, at least not entirely. But Shen Yinghuan was at least a part of her, and so far, the dominant part.
Alice sighed again, trying to force herself to wake up.
This dream woven from memories was warm and beautiful. Alice almost wanted to just sleep on, but she knew that was impossible.
After all, before losing consciousness, she had encountered a demigod-level witch... Although she had probably been asleep for quite some time, Alice was still confused about what exactly had happened.
Had someone saved her?
Alice pinched the bridge of her nose. As the dream shattered under her determined struggle, the first thing Alice saw was still not the real world.
That familiar shimmering river was before her eyes. She seemed to be in it, or perhaps a part of it.
Surging waves rushed towards her, instinctively arousing a hint of terror. She felt she would be swept away.
But to her surprise, despite being violently shaken by the illusory waves, as her spirituality spread, she managed to slowly stabilize herself.
Alice was stunned for a moment, an inexplicable joy welling up inside her.
Moreover, it seemed she could do even more than this...
Alice thought for a moment, tentatively pushing with her spirituality. A tiny, almost imperceptible splash was created.
At the same time, at a "dog chasing mouse" game venue somewhere, a gambler who had lost several rounds jumped up excitedly, watching the dog he had bet on narrowly achieve victory.
Such scenes were happening constantly, of course, without anyone noticing.
Alice watched the faint splash quickly fall back, and a flash of understanding crossed her mind—she was now truly at Sequence 5.
Recalling what had happened before she swallowed the extraordinary characteristic, Alice fell into deep thought.
"The Winner," huh... Alice was dazed for a moment, realizing now was not the time to ponder. Her first priority was to go back and see what had happened to her body.
Sinking her spirituality, returning to her body, Alice realized she seemed to still be dreaming.
... Hey!
Sensing a familiar power, a name instinctively escaped her lips: "Amanises?"
After a moment of silence, a female figure appeared: "How much do you remember?"
This was the goddess's true name... the goddess seemed to know her...
A vague recognition entered Alice's mind, and she hesitantly replied, "...Almost nothing."
After another moment of silence, the dream shattered, and Alice truly woke up.