[Comprehensive Classics] Killing the Classics

The inauguration of the new Governor-General was a grand affair.Anya had a premonition that everything was about to end here, and seeing Hester's face, her heart softened.She went up to Hester, and asked, "Mother, will you kiss me?"

Hester kissed her forehead.Anya looked at the priest again and asked, "Is he the one who wanted to kiss me by the stream? Can I go and let him kiss me now?"

"Keep quiet, Pearl—this is no place for him to kiss you. Don't talk to him, my dear boy, and go and play aside!"

Anya walked away.Mrs. Hibbins, the Governor's sister, came up and spoke nonsense to Hester.Hester felt like falling into an ice cellar, fearing that she had really discovered something.

The council hall quickly prepared prayers before the venue and invited Dimmesdale to begin the sermon for everyone.Hester began to push forward involuntarily, and took a place close to the scaffold.She listened to the pastor's distinctive deep voice sounding slowly, and began to speak in cadence.Even if you don't understand what he wants to express when he preaches, just the deep emotion contained in that voice is enough to empathize and educate.This is the charm of Dimmesdale. The deep and continuous tone of voice gave him just the right strength.

But Hester stood there like a puppet sculpture in clay, as if she had an ominous premonition in her heart.The cloud had completely covered her body and mind, but she couldn't tell where these misfortunes came from.

Anya stood at the outermost edge of the crowd, watching the man who was preaching.Not far away, an old man is also watching there - he is Roger Chillingworth.

A wide and cold palm took Anya's hand.She looked up and saw a familiar face in front of her eyes.

"You already expected this, didn't you?" She asked, "Even if I don't intervene, they will get what they deserve..."

"Isn't every world the same?" He asked rhetorically, "But it is because of your existence that the world can truly become a 'world'."

"What if I'm gone?"

"My abilities are 'time' and 'space'." He said flatly.Almost instantly, Anya grew taller.This small body suddenly became as slim and graceful as a young girl, but the red robe still fit her body so well, reflecting her whole body like a flame.

She raised her hands and stared at the smooth palms: "So...in all worlds, there is an 'I' at the same time?"

Claude nodded.

"What about the system? Is that me too?"

"It was you." Claude took her hand and stroked her fingers, "It has always been you—it has always been you."

Anya sneered: "Then what about me now? What me? Let me guess—you discovered the source of my soul, and you knew that it was no accident that I could come to the world of famous books, so you gave me this special privilege." Function, let me use it as instinct... Then you can harvest thousands of mature worlds, they no longer only exist in the story, and there will be more and more beliefs in you-you will It's the real Creator God, right?"

"You are the one who brings these worlds to life," he said.

The noise seemed to gradually fade away.On the high platform not far away, the pastor had already stood in that shameful position, calling for Hester to stand here with him.Roger Chillingworth rushed to stop him.However, what he usually used to grasp the pastor was useless at this moment.At last Arthur Dimmesdale cast aside all cowardice and pretense, and stood where he should have stood seven years ago!

He announced his crimes to the public, and opened his clothes to reveal his left chest.Branded upon that bosom was a red A as bright as the one Hester had pinned--all the sufferings and torments he had endured the past seven years!

He closed his eyes and collapsed to the ground.No matter how others call, he no longer has breath.He bid farewell to Hester with his last strength and ended his last life.

Anya closed her eyes and murmured, "Is everything I did wrong?"

"No, you're right," Claude said.

Anya understood, and a sneer appeared on her lips again: "Is she me too?"

"She is you, and even more your mother." Claude put his hand on her shoulder, stared at her deeply and said, "Do you remember what I once said? I am the collection of all the good and evil in the world , and you are the same existence——I have spent countless hours to find you, and I have tried my best to make you the same existence as me."

"To put it bluntly, in fact, I'm just a toy in the hands of a god like you?" Anya broke away from his hand and said coldly.

"I am also a toy in your hands, Anya." Claude said calmly, "My Esmeralda—from the first sin, our fate has been intertwined. You are in all the worlds Met me, and I have met you in all the worlds. I have never been far from you, my emerald—and you have always been by my side. I atone for my sins, And you also used your actions to retaliate against me. Every world—every time and space—is the same. Otherwise, why do you think, every time, you can find the 'scumbag' so smoothly?"

Anya laughed slowly: "You want to say, that's all you?"

"It's all me—always has been."

"And those women—the stupid, the smart, the kind, the despicable women, are all me?"

"From now on, it's not anymore." Claude also showed a smile on his lips.

"What about the world of the Count of Monte Cristo? I feel very familiar with that world, but when I woke up, I was in Benedetto's body—according to what you said, it should be you?" Anya stared at him, asked slowly, "In that case, who am I? Haidee?"

"No, in fact I am Monte Cristo, and you are Mercedes." Claude showed a slightly helpless expression, "I didn't expect that kind of mistake, maybe because I was in Paris at that time In the world of Notre Dame, no time?"

"You spy on me?"

"I just can't stop paying attention to you... Anya."

"I won't forgive you, Claude." Anya put away her smile and said coldly, "Cheat me, hide me, play me in the palm of your hand, does this make you happy?"

"If you think all this is not enough, we can start all over again."

Anya sneered: "Start again? Seal my memory, even tamper with my memory, let me relive the story of being parasitized by the 'system', defeating the 'enemy', and torturing the 'scumbag' to death?"

Claude looked at her and said seriously: "It can also be me—seal my memory and let me go to those worlds... Anyway, no matter which world I am in, scum girls will always exist."

"Those are also me?"

"If you don't admit it, they don't exist."

Anya had to admit that she couldn't speak against Claude at all.

The surrounding environment has gradually turned into a void, and countless stars are shining around him.Anya looked into the distance and murmured, "Are these stars the embodiment of the world?"

"It's all your credit." Claude said softly.

Anya said: "I want to go to many worlds... I want to know the things I have forgotten. I want to go back to the world of the Count of Monte Cristo, I want to see Lorena's situation, I want to know whether Sarah is happy now, I want to know Look at my mother... I still want to know what their original fate is. Take me to see those worlds where the fate has not been changed."

Claude took her hand, put it on his lips and pressed a kiss, his eyes filled with the affection Anya was familiar with: "Okay."

What she despised and despised before now seemed so beautiful at this moment.

A smile curled up on her lips.Whether it was true or not, at least at this moment she wanted to believe it.

Believe... the love that can be hand in hand really exists.

——the end——

postscript:

But in the world that Anya left, the wheel of fate is still turning quietly.A whole new Pearl appeared in that world—lively, wild, with an innocent affection for her mother and a childlike malice.She would scream at her mother too, and caress the scarlet letter of shame.Although relying on her daughter's instinct, Hester can perceive her daughter's abnormality, but she can't tell where this abnormality comes from.

Roger Chillingworth had completed his plan of vengeance, and all his vitality was gone.Before he died, he left all his property, including those in America and England, to little Pearl.Pearl and her mother also left this continent after that.It wasn't until a long time later, when Pearl got married and had her own happy life, that no one saw a woman in gray robe reopen the door of that hut and walk in.

She returned to the place where her sins had been committed, and here she made a lifelong penance.She has a firm belief and a pure heart, and she will never change herself because of anything.She uses her personal experience to warn and advise other women, thinking of a more reliable way to obtain happiness for their sake.

She was later buried next to Arthur Dimmesdale's grave. The two cemeteries are separated by a distance, but they share the same tombstone-on that simple stone slab, a line of inscriptions is deeply engraved.

"A piece of pitch-black land, a blood-red letter A."

The author has something to say:

So the whole article ends here... It feels very complicated.