“Yes.” Siwei Jiejie nodded. “As soon as you mentioned a crown and a sword, the first thing I thought of was ‘The Happy Prince.'”

Although I had heard many stories, I hadn’t heard this one.

“Can you tell it to me?”

Jiejie said that long ago, there was a swallow flying south for the winter, but it accidentally fell behind from the group.

It landed on a statue in the center of the city, and that statue was “The Happy Prince.” This statue had two eyes made of gemstones, and its body was covered in gold leaf.

He stood tall in the city center, watching his suffering subjects every day. The swallow originally wanted to leave for the winter, but the Happy Prince begged the swallow to pluck out his two gemstone eyes and give them to the poor, followed by the gold leaf from his body.

They helped a great many poor people that winter.

When I heard this part, I was very happy. Yes, this was the kind of prince I wanted to be—one who would help everyone and be everyone’s “hero.”

Even if he was just a stone statue, even if he couldn’t do anything, he could give everything he had.

I thought I had finally found my direction, but the ending of this story gradually made my expression turn despondent.

Jiejie said that because time was delayed, the swallow didn’t fly south and instead froze to death in that cold winter.

“The Happy Prince” also became exceptionally ugly after losing all his decorations, and was soon torn down.

In other words, after “The Happy Prince” and the swallow helped all the poor people in the city together, they were personally sent into hell by those very people.

After Siwei Jiejie finished the story, her face showed some sadness as she asked, “Yingxiong Didi… do you want to be ‘The Happy Prince’?”

“Jiejie…” I slowly lowered my head. “I want to be ‘The Happy Prince,’ but I only want to be him by myself.”

“The swallow could have flown away, right?”

“Hm?”

“The swallow could have flown away all along.” I said with tears in my eyes. “She didn’t need to stay with ‘The Happy Prince’ all the time, and there was no need to save those poor people. If the swallow had left that cold winter earlier, she wouldn’t have frozen to death.”

“Ha.” Siwei Jiejie was amused by me. “But without the swallow’s help, ‘The Happy Prince’ alone couldn’t have helped those poor people at all. So wherever ‘The Happy Prince’ is, there is the swallow. They’ve always been together.”

Although Jiejie said this, I was truly afraid.

I wanted to be “The Happy Prince,” but I didn’t need a swallow by my side.

I was very afraid that the ending in the story would happen to me.

“Yingxiong Didi…” Siwei Jiejie said. “You know what? ‘The Happy Prince’ was doing what he loved, and the swallow was too.”

“I…” I nodded, but my expression was very sad.

“The Happy Prince” was just a statue. It couldn’t move at all and couldn’t go to distant places.

Siwei Jiejie smiled and propped up her chin. “How about this… since I’m quite knowledgeable, tomorrow morning you wait for me downstairs, and I’ll tell you where to find a crown and a sword. How about that?”

“Okay.”

The next day, after I had “judged” the scents on everyone’s bodies, I came to the main entrance to wait for Siwei Jiejie. After she finished talking with me yesterday morning, she had disappeared for the whole day. Did she know where to find a crown and a sword?

After I arrived here, only the “Executioner” not far away was staring at me. This was the first time I had observed the “Executioner” at such close range. She had a gaunt, dark brown cow face with two small horns on top of her head.

“Hello…” I smiled.

This “Executioner” Jiejie gave me a very strange feeling… the scent on her body was very complex.

She had both a rather pleasant fragrance and a stench that belonged to the “Zodiacs.”

“Hello.” The “Executioner” Jiejie said coldly.

Seeing that she also greeted me, I suddenly became a bit curious about her.

The “Executioner” stood here motionless every day—where did she come from, and where did she go to rest?

What did she eat and drink?

She was clearly able to communicate directly with us, yet she never initiated conversation with us. What was she thinking?

“‘Executioner’ Jiejie…” I slowly walked toward her.

“What is it?” She looked down at me.

“Do you stand here every day?” I asked.

“Yes.” She nodded. “But I’m not some ‘Executioner,’ I’m a ‘Zodiac.'”

“I’m not some ‘hero’ either, I’m ‘Yingxiong’…” I said quietly.

“What?”

“Nothing…” I smiled. “‘Zodiac’ Jiejie, tell me… the question of ‘who we are’—is it decided by us, or is it decided by others?”

“I don’t understand.”

“I mean… everyone calls you ‘Executioner,’ but you think you’re a ‘Zodiac’… but everyone calls me ‘hero,’ so am I…”

“So are you truly a ‘hero’?” The “Zodiac” Jiejie asked. “Don’t you know who you are yourself?”

“I… I don’t know…” I said quietly. “No one has ever told me who I am. Before, I only knew what I should and shouldn’t do, but I didn’t know who I was. And now… I don’t even know what I should or shouldn’t do anymore.”

The “Zodiac” Jiejie pondered for a moment, then said, “The first thing you should do right now is stay away from me. After all, in others’ eyes, I’m the ‘Executioner’ and you’re the ‘hero.’ Speaking with me privately is not a good thing for you.”

“Ah…?”

“Secondly, you should find a way to kill everyone in the city… at least twice in a row.” She said. “That’s what you should be doing.”

“Why…?” I looked at her with some confusion.

“This way you can actively reshuffle the city. Not only will you be safe, but the ‘disease’ of this city can also be cured.”

Only then did I realize I had made a very serious mistake. Why hadn’t I talked to the “Executioner” earlier?

She was a person of this place—she must understand this place better than we did.

“But if they don’t produce a ‘fragrance’… after they die, they’ll have no memories.”

“Isn’t that exactly the point?” The “Zodiac” Jiejie looked around, and after confirming no one was nearby, said with a serious expression, “Child, what’s destroying them is precisely their ‘memories.’ In this place, even without that man surnamed Wan, not many people can maintain their sanity while preserving their memories for a long time. As the number of cycles increases again and again, you will become more and more dangerous.”

I seemed to understand what the “Zodiac” Jiejie meant.

“Don’t think you’re safe just because you’re the ‘hero’ now.” She continued. “These people were able to kill the man surnamed Wan, so they can kill you too. After all, killing people here has no consequences whatsoever. I don’t recommend you continue testing human nature, or you really will die.”