As Hoffa stood up.
Finally, the movie in the theater paused.
Then, a dark figure stood up from the chair in the front row of the theater. When did someone sit there? Hoffa asked himself. He didn't know at all. That guy didn't make a sound the whole time.
But when the man turned around, Hoffa was still shocked and took a step back.
With the help of the light from the movie screen, he saw the man's face. He had a half-bald head, wrinkled skin, golden eyes, and was in his sixties. It was the old Hoffa who had shot him in the head. At this moment, he was standing quietly in front of him.
When Mille saw the guy, he was more surprised than when he saw Buddy Jr kill his father a dozen times. His legs moved, and the coke spilled all over the floor.
"It's you!" Hoffa said in horror. "You're not dead?"
The old man shook his head. "You've got the wrong person."
"But you …" Huo Fa pointed at him, dumbfounded. He couldn't figure it out.
"Ah."
The old man smiled and shook his head. "Don't get me wrong. This is the Grim Reaper's trick to play with life. I'm not the person you think I am. I'm just a clone of the Grim Reaper. Like the two guys before me, they're all fakes. Only you are the real Hoffa Bach. "
Mille, who was sitting next to Hoffa, looked relieved.
Hoffa didn't dare to relax. He looked at the old man in front of him and said warily, "You look much more clear-headed than the other two."
"Yes, sometimes gods can't control their own creations, especially at my level," Sui Xiong said.
The old man looked at his palm and said with appreciation, "He gave me too much power, so I have a certain degree of freedom."
With that, the dark cinema opened like a cardboard box. Bright sunlight fell from the dome, and the streets rose from the ground. Colorful umbrellas opened, and a beautiful beach appeared under Hoffa's feet. A breeze blew, and he found himself and Mille standing on a beach full of coconut trees and bikini beauties wearing Hawaiian tropical shirts.
On the beach, the old man handed two glasses of smoothies to Hoffa and Buddy Jr.. There were lemons and small umbrellas on the smoothies.
Hoffa received the old man's gift in a daze. He had no idea what the old man was up to.
The old man wore sunglasses and sat lazily near the mobile ice cream stand. He looked at the waves in the distance and asked casually, "You watched the movie for a long time just now, so tell me, Hoffa, why is Buddy Jr so determined to kill his father?"
Hoffa didn't know why the old man asked him this question, but he still thought about it for a long time before answering.
"It's very complicated. Old Barty seems to be a workaholic, and he looks down on his son. And Buddy Jr can't make his father take him seriously through proper means. That's why … tragedies happen again and again. "
"Is it that simple?"
"Is there another reason?"
Hoffa was puzzled.
"Fate," Mille said.
Hoffa asked, "What?"
"Children will always subconsciously imitate the personality of the person closest to them, whether they want to or not."
Mille took a bite of the smoothie. "The father and son are too alike. The only difference is that Buddy Jr was unlucky and followed Lord Voldemort. If Lord Voldemort hadn't fallen, he would have become someone like his father. "
"That's not right." Hoffa frowned. "I think almost all of Buddy Jr's hobbies are the opposite of his father's."
"I've heard that only doctors who understand a man's body to the extreme are qualified to perform gender reassignment surgery on men.
He must have understood his father to the extreme to be able to make a completely opposite choice. But he doesn't know that the opposite of extremes is still extreme. The reason for their tragic fate might be because of this extreme personality. "
Mille sighed. "Poor guy."
"Is he right?" Hoffa asked the old man in confusion.
The old man shook his head. "I don't know, I'm just asking out of curiosity. What you said makes sense, but unfortunately, there's something missing. "
Hoffa asked, "Then can I ask a question out of curiosity?"
"Go ahead."
"What kind of game is this? Did you win, or did I win? "
Hoffa asked the question he was most eager to know. This was his last opponent. According to Avada, as long as he won, he could take Aglaia and leave Hörheim.
But the old man shook his head with a bitter smile. "If you believe that this is a game played by the Grim Reaper, you can't win, just like how a gambler can never win against the banker."
Hoffa shivered from the top of his head to the soles of his feet.
The old man closed his eyes and took a sip of his juice. He murmured, "Can you do me a favor? Hoffa Bach. "
"Wh … What?"
"Come here." The old man waved at him.
Hoffa turned his head.
The old man put his head close to his ear and whispered.
"I can help you leave Hörheim, but under the power of the Grim Reaper, I can only buy you three minutes. In these three minutes, everything that is disadvantageous to you will be turned into a dream. But in these three minutes, you must rush to the exit of the Path of Thorns in Hörheim and leave this place."
Hoffa's heart skipped a beat. He wanted to move his head away.
But the God of Nightmares grabbed his arm and said in an inaudible voice, "Help me, don't follow that man's path."
With that, the gray-haired, golden-eyed old man in front of him collapsed into pieces of broken glass. Even the surrounding tropical beach scene shattered.
.....
.....
When he opened his eyes again, Hoffa was back in the Grim Reaper's Secret Realm, standing in Aglaia's crypt.
Not much time had passed. It could have been a few minutes, or it could have been less than a few seconds.
Aglaia was still in front of the stone cabinet, picking and choosing with an expressionless face.
Buddy Jr got up from Hoffa's side in a daze. He rubbed his eyes and looked at him sleepily. "What happened, Bach first, I … I think I fell asleep."
Three minutes!
Hoffa thought of what the old man said to him in the dream. His heart thumped, and adrenaline surged. He immediately rushed in front of Aglaia and spoke quickly.
"Is the flying big-eared rabbit still there? Lend it to me. I want to take you to the Path of Thorns."
When he said this, he was so excited that his whole body trembled.
But Aglaia looked at him. For the first time, other emotions appeared in her blue eyes. It was sympathy and sadness, like looking at a baby beast in the rain.
"Let's go!"
Hoffa tried to grab her hand, but it passed through her body.
"Where do you want to take me?" she asked calmly. "Are you going to revive me again? Don't even think about it. Without a vessel to carry my soul, I can't leave the Underworld. "
"Damn it! Don't you know how to refine bodies? "
Hoffa pointed at the big crucible. "How many bodies have you made for? Why don't you make one for yourself?"
More than ten seconds had passed from three minutes to three minutes, but Aglaea said unhurriedly, "Don't worry about it.
"The body I refine can only last for a day. It will rot after a day. When the time is up, I'll be back here. It's meaningless, Hoffa. Go wherever you want to go. Don't worry about me. I'm already dead. "
"That's not your fate!" Hoffa said agitatedly. "That's Grindelwald's scheme!"
"Colleagues, that's also your past. Accept it."
Hoffa: "No."
"No?"
Aglaia's tone had a rare hint of agitation. "Do you still remember Sisyphus who pushed the rock? Do you still remember Prometheus whose heart was eaten by vultures? Do you still remember Pévlier who kept jumping!?
These are all heroic spirits among humans. Just like you, they wanted to go against Death. Think about what happened to them. Don't you understand? "
Time flew by quickly as they talked. Hoffa was burning with anxiety. At this juncture, this girl was not willing to leave at all. He stomped his feet anxiously.
"I'm sorry. I can give up everything else, but not this.
They lost the game, but I didn't. The three opponents didn't destroy me. I won't be hung on the path of thorns. "
"You didn't lose?"
Aglaia's cold expression finally loosened. She knelt down without warning and said in a trembling voice, "You always think you didn't lose, but you won again? Hoffa, don't you understand? You're the same as them. You're repeating the endless cycle of fate! "
"What?" Hoffa opened his mouth in shock.
"Death took away my ability to lose my memory. He didn't let me pass through the Underworld Hörheim and enter the cycle of reincarnation. His purpose was to stay here and watch you die again and again.
This is my punishment for saving you. It's also your punishment for saving the Hogwarts. We've both done things that shouldn't have happened. We've both done things that shouldn't have been done.
Think about it carefully. Don't you have the illusion that all of this has happened before? Don't you have a lifeless life? Is everything just going according to the script? "
Hoffa's face turned even paler.
Aglaia closed her eyes in despair and leaned against the wall. "Your cycle is scarier than Sisyphus, scarier than Prometheus, scarier than Pévlier.
In your eyes, everything is new. Everything is the first time. But in my eyes, you've already entered the Hörheim more than six thousand times. You've told me more than five thousand bad jokes, knelt down on one knee more than five hundred times, participated in Death's Game more than six thousand times, killed Davis more than four hundred times, was helped by your so-called self more than three thousand times, and left this place more than six thousand times. "
Hoffa stood still as if he was struck by lightning. At this moment, the sense of deja vu that had lasted until now was extremely strong. It was as if countless fragments of Aglaia's image were combining in his mind, forming an almost physical illusion. Some of them were laughing, some were crying, some were full of hope, some were in despair, some were indifferent …
Hearing Aglaia's words, Mille, who was lodging in Hoffa's right arm, opened her mouth. Her tongue hung out like a hanged ghost. Buddy Jr was completely dumbfounded. "Six thousand times … six thousand times what …"
Aglaia looked at Hoffa, trembling and crying. "Do you know how happy I was when I first saw you? It's been three hundred thousand years, and I can't forget it. I saw you with hope, accompanied you to defeat one enemy after another, and sent you out of the Underworld with anticipation. But what I waited for was one you after another.
"Again and again, again and again, again and again. There's no time in the Underworld, so I use the human body to measure time. It takes a day for a body to be born and decay. Do you know how many bodies I've refined here? Do you know? "
Hoffa couldn't help but retreat continuously until he fell to the ground. Countless fragments of Aglaia's crying image combined layer by layer at this moment, tearing his heart apart.
"I'm tired, I'm sick of it, I've had enough. But no matter what I say, whether it's good or bad, whether it's scolding you, ignoring you, arguing, or begging, you'll definitely participate in the Game of Death. You'll definitely want to take me out of here! I appreciate your kindness, but you can't do it.
Do you think you can escape fate by leaving Hörheim? You can't change anything, and no one can be resurrected. The self you see in the arena is the future you. "
Aglaia became more and more agitated as she spoke. In the end, she pointed to the sky and sobbed in despair. "The God of Death has placed the future in front of you, but you can't change it no matter what. This is the most terrifying thing, Hoffa. Behind you is an endless cycle of fate. It's even more terrifying than death. It's a meaningless cycle, a cycle that nothing can change. "
The strong sense of deja vu almost shattered Hoffa's vision. The gloomy but empty pain made him bend down uncomfortably. He clutched his hand tightly, unable to speak.
Six thousand times …
Fifty years each time …
Even if the flow of time in the Underworld was faster, how many tens of thousands of years would it be?
If fate had already been arranged no matter how hard he tried, then what was the point of doing what he was doing now?
Aglaea slowly floated to Huo Fa and touched his face with her transparent hand. She begged him in a low voice, "Human beings can't defeat gods. Give up, Huo Fa. I beg you, don't go. Stay here. I really can't watch it anymore. I can't hold on any longer. It's too uncomfortable. For my sake, please don't go out. Just die like this."
Just die. "Time passed by slowly. After a while, Hoffa's shattered consciousness slowly pieced together. He asked hoarsely," Stay … in the Underworld, what … can we do? "
"Stay in the Underworld. Don't do anything. When I can create a perfect body, we can live in the Hörheim peacefully, just like in the real world. Okay? "
Aglaia said in despair but gently.
Hoffa looked at her and felt so uncomfortable that he almost collapsed. He used all his strength to calm himself down. "The six thousand times before, you … how many times did you tell me?"
Aglaia covered her face in despair. "I've told you this conversation more than five hundred times, but not once did you listen to me. Not once …"
Buddy Jr was dumbfounded. The girl's narration alone was shocking enough. Mille stopped struggling. They stared at Hoffa blankly, waiting for his decision.
"No, I don't want to stay here …"
Hoffa clutched his chest. There was no breath, no sunlight, no hope. There was nothing. Everything was nothingness. I want to save you from here. I must … "
"You've said it thousands of times, Hoffa! You can't remember. You don't know! You can't save me. You can't save anyone. You can't even save yourself! "
Grabbing her hair, Aglaea stepped back in desperation. "I can't watch you die, but I can't leave you alone. It's useless for me to say it, and it's useless for me not to say it. Everything can happen by chance, but it can also turn out to be inevitable. It's too hard for me. It's too hard for me. It's too hard for me! "
"Calm down!" Hoffa quickly hugged her, but his arm went through her body again.
"Just leave, just leave. I know your character."
Aglaia looked at his face and turned her head away in despair. "I know you. You won't bow to anything."
She clapped her hands. The tall stone puppet took out a box and opened it in front of him. A flying rabbit fell in front of him.
"Go, hahaha. Go. At most, we'll do it again. Again …"
She smiled weakly as she walked around the crucible in the room and disappeared behind the cabinets. "Let's go … Let's go … I've already said what I wanted to say …"
"Aglaia!"
Hoffa looked at her bleak figure disappearing from the room and called out her name. He had ten thousand thoughts in his mind. He wanted to chase after her, but when he realized that he only had three minutes left, he stopped abruptly.
A strong desire erupted from the bottom of Hoffa's heart. It was the desire to resurrect her. It was the promise he made to Fatir. It was the inertia of more than six thousand cycles.
He raised his head, took a deep breath, and exhaled again, forcibly suppressing the feeling of deja vu that was incomparably gloomy and despairing.
"Just you wait."
He did not look at the place where Aglaia disappeared. He turned his head and walked to Buddy Jr.
Little Barty could not even stand up. He did not know what exactly had happened. All he could sense were fragments of information, but he was already suffocating from the pressure of despair. He pointed at himself incoherently. "I … I … You … You … She … What … What do you mean six thousand times? Six thousand times … Me too? "
"Shut up."
Hoffa's expression was as cold as a statue.
He pulled Buddy Jr up and rode on the rabbit. He said to the rabbit, "Let's go to the Path of Thorns."
The rabbit opened its ears and flew out through the opening torn by the Son of Night.
Outside, all the existences in the Death Realm were temporarily controlled by the God of Nightmares.
Riding on the jackrabbit, Huo Fa flew past Avada, who was sleeping with a smile on his face on a balloon. He flew past countless ghosts in the sky who seemed to be sleepwalking. He flew past the path of thorns, past Sisyphus who was pushing rocks, past Prometheus whose heart was being pecked, past Peveril who was jumping nonstop. He passed through the opened barrier.
He did not say a word along the way.
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