Chapter 1121. Sparkle

When Nene heard that, her excitement faded away and disappeared. "To a place where there is no return? Does that mean we'll never see each other again?"

The old lady, Sparkle, nodded gently. Her wrinkled, withered hand held Nene's smooth hand, and their hands clasped together, just like when they first met at World's Crown.

Back then, they were just innocent children. Under Anna's urging, Sparkle decided to interact with humans, and Nene was the first person to make contact with her.

From then on, they became best friends.

"Nene, you told me back then that you wanted your father to come back and that you wanted to eat meat every day. Your wishes have already come true. Are you happy?" Sparkle asked, her aged voice carried a certain emotion.

Nene nodded forcefully, and her eyes were filled with reluctance as she stared at Sparkle while gripping the latter's hand tightly. "Sparkle, can you stay? I can't bear to see you leave. Didn't we promise to be best friends for life?"

Sparkle cast a gentle gaze at Nene. "We are best friends for life, but sometimes, even best friends have to part. Besides, it's too late to say that now. I'm already there."

Sparkle reached out to caress Nene's smooth face with her other hand. "Thank you, Nene. Your existence told me that everything Daddy had done was all worth it."

"Sparkle, don't go, please! Stay with me on Hope Island!" Nene didn't give up and tried her best to make Sparkle stay.

Nene really wanted to hold back her tears in the face of her best friend's farewell, but when she thought that she would never see her again, she burst into tears.

"Nene, do you know? I'm really jealous of you. I'm jealous that you have enough time to grow up slowly, unlike me, who grew up too fast," Sparkle said, "I used to imitate humans, but I was never human.

"I remember complaining to Mommy about why she even made me learn human emotions, but now, I think she did the right thing."

"Human emotions are expansive and multifaceted; despair is one of those emotions, and it makes people feel bad, but there are other positive emotions like familiar love, romance, and friendship. One would never know the beauty of those emotions without experiencing them."

"Nene, as your best friend forever, I've decided to protect your hope," Sparkle replied. Then, her figure began to emanate beams of white light. Having bade farewell to her one and only best friend, Sparkle was finally going to leave.

"Sparkle! Don't go!" Nene exclaimed and tried to hug her, but she phased through Sparkle. The last sight she saw of Sparkle—one she would never forget—was Sparkle waving goodbye to her.

There was a flash of white light, and Sparkle finally returned to her father's side two thousand years later.

The flesh island had disappeared, and there was only a beating heart covered in blood vessels that proliferated across the sea. The beating heart was none other than Charles, who had merged with Lily.

Sparkle could feel that her father was at a critical juncture. It seemed that she had arrived just in time.

Just then, one of Charles' fleshly bodies was casually thrown onto the pulsating blood vessels on the surface of the sea.

Sparkle flew toward it.

"Daddy, I'm back. I'm ugly now. You're not going to find me disgusting, are you?"

Upon hearing the familiar voice, Charles raised his head. His eyes were dull as he stared at his daughter, but his gaze spoke more than a thousand words.

"Why... did you... come back...?" The Charles of the past would be thrilled to see Sparkle's return, but a huge chunk of Charles' humanity had been eroded away, so his face showed barely any emotions upon seeing Sparkle.

"Daddy, I'm here to help. I've been in the past for a very long time. However, the past is useless and is only a means of escape. Only the future can be changed. You were right. The only thing we can do is confront it head-on," Sparkle said, smiling.

She reached into the pockets at her waist and took out what was inside, revealing a dozen or so white balls. There was no mistaking it; those white balls were 005's wishes, and a dozen or so wishes were in Sparkle's hands.

Charles had made use of those wishes before, so he knew the price one had to pay to obtain so many wishes.

"What did you sacrifice for them?"

Instead of answering, the old lady, Sparkle, just stood there with a smile. Although his daughter hadn't said anything, Charles saw a few fragmented scenes from her afterimages.

Charles almost keeled over upon seeing those fragmented scenes. It turned out that the old lady in front of him was just an empty shell delivering a message to Charles from two thousand years ago. His real daughter had long become a god.

Sparkle's worshippers called her Eye of Truth, but Charles knew that the real Eye of Truth had died a long time ago. In other words, his daughter was long dead.

Charles' mouth fluttered open. His face twisted and distorted as he let out a sonorous wail of extreme sorrow. Sparkle's sacrifice was far—far greater than his own.

Just then, the white balls in Sparkle's hands took to the skies and turned red, one after another.

Sparkle's face beneath the radiant red light revealed a brilliant smile. Like a baby, she raised both her arms and reached out toward Charles. "Daddy, can you hug me? You haven't hugged me for a really, really long time."

Charles obliged. He sat on a chair made out of his flesh and held his daughter on his lap, rocking her gently.

Charles tried hard to remember something. Then, his mouth opened slightly, and he began to hum a lullaby that he had never heard before.

𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Thank you, Daddy. I'm feeling much better now," Sparkle said, closing her eyes in satisfaction.

A middle-aged man with a scarred face was gently rocking an old lady as if she were a baby against a backdrop of a colossal, beating heart.

It was a bizarre yet heartwarming scene.

The wish balls in the air vanished and were replaced by black dandelions that pervaded the skies in an instant. The black dandelions covered everything that Charles and everyone else could see.

The black dandelions were 005's true form. In response to the dozen or so wishes that Sparkle had accumulated and activated, 005 had descended to help Charles.

Sparkle's wrinkled face nestled against Charles' time-worn Captain's uniform.

"I'm sorry, Daddy. Even two thousand years couldn't stop me from coming back here. You were right. Running away will never solve our problems. Living in the past is like living in a pre-recorded film. It will never solve our problems."

Charles gnashed his teeth, and his face twisted as he hugged the old lady in his arms, but the old lady melted into countless light fragments that scattered into the air.

"Daddy, none of this is your fault. My fate was probably decided the moment I was born, but despite that, I really am happy... I'm really happy that I was your daughter."

With that, Sparkle faded away and disappeared.