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Part 10. Tulip
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Toosb's Room:
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Toosb tightly grasped the corner of the blanket with his right hand, held his breath, and lifted the blanket, revealing his father's emaciated body. At this moment, the sound of a heartbeat from the monitor intensified, and his father on the hospital bed burst into mad laughter once again. Toosb clenched his nose, preparing himself: "Alright, get ready..."
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As he released his hand, the stench of a decaying corpse mixed with the smell of heroin assaulted his senses. Toosb endured the foul odor and tried to smell the other end of the bed: "Hold on... Dad is fragrant, it's the fragrance, yes, Dad smells really nice... is there actually a scent?"
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Toosb noticed that his father's hair was emitting a scent of a certain brand of shampoo: "This is... the tulip shampoo that my mother's hair salon often uses."
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In his memories, his parents had met at the hair salon where his mother worked. His father, who used to be a drummer in a band, had a great sense of humor and would often drum and dance with a tambourine, at least before he fell into drug addiction. The atmosphere in the salon was always filled with laughter when he was around.
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Toosb gently touched his father's head, and the man's manic laughter stopped, replaced by tears streaming down his emaciated face. Perhaps his father still hoped for the return of his family.
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"It turns out... you've been using it all along." Tulips might not only refer to visible flowers; they could also represent intangible scents. The scent of tulip shampoo emanating from his father's hair gradually condensed from intangible to visible, forming a key. A door appeared not far away. Toosb picked up the key, tears of gratitude in his wet eyes: "Thank you for remembering us, Dad."
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Jasky's Room:
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Two fragrances of perfume wafted in. His mother's silhouette was still there, in the midst of a collapsing and chaotic scene of fighting over his father's magic props. The argument between his parents grew more intense.
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In Jasky 's recollection, his father had never used violence against his mother. Yet, the shadow of his father in this scene had his hand raised, poised to slap his mother. That slap was the trigger for their divorce, even though he knew it was just a projection of his mind, he didn't want it to happen. Just as he was about to rush out from behind the wall to stop it, he caught a whiff of a familiar fragrance coming from the kitchen.
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"This scent is..." Walking over, he saw a cake and a freshly brewed latte on the counter. He realized that his mother had just prepared them in the kitchen.
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"Though she isn't good at expressing herself, my mother actually supported my father. She always prepared snacks and coffee for him while he was studying magic..." Jasky completed the unfinished actions of his mother as he placed the latte into two mugs, ready to serve the coffee and cake on a tray. As he walked toward the living room, he was struck by an idea: "Could it be that the tulip is..."
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When his father couldn't bear to raise his hand, the familiar scent of desserts and coffee reached him. His parents both turned their heads toward the coffee and cake on the table, where the foam of the latte had been formed into a tulip pattern. With the scent of tulips filling the air, they both sat down and began to enjoy the snacks and coffee, successfully preventing the violence from unfolding.
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"Indeed." The moment he placed the tray on the table, another key materialized silently in the corner. Jasky picked up the key and silently left the living room. His intuition led him to the front door, the exit from the house. He couldn't help but think: 'If I had managed to stop that slap, would they have not gotten divorced?'
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Amisa's Room:
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Perhaps due to the conversations in the topsy-turvy house, when Amisa saw the crumpled paper and the chaotic desk and blackboard again, she didn't feel the same fear as when she had first entered the room. She endured the smell and carefully searched for the key. However, time dragged on, and with only 7 minutes remaining, the stench of garbage intensified, yet there was no sign of any keys.
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"This is strange. I've searched everywhere, and I've even smelled around, but where could it be?"
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The classroom began to shake more vigorously, and only 3 minutes were left on the water-clock timer.
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"Oh no, time is running out, but where haven't I looked for it..."
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"Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp!"
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"Mochi?" Amisa turned her gaze towards Mochi, realizing that she had completely forgotten about the teacher's desk. She ran over and was drawn to the familiar floral scent emanating from a vase filled with various flowers.
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"This is from our family's flower shop..." She remembered the time when the Dreams of Alice Fire incident erupted. Everyone, including her agency, classmates, and friends, had abandoned her due to the scandal. Only one person stood by her side, even though she was being berated endlessly, even when her reputation was in tatters.
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"Grandma..." As Amisa approached, the flowers in the vase blossomed one by one, and among them was a white tulip. As the tulip's bud fully bloomed, a key that had been hidden inside it became visible. Amisa picked up the key, her eyes filled with a mixture of emotions and longing for her grandmother: "Thank you, Grandma, for protecting me when I was still so naive..."
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Boom!
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However, not long after, the classroom began to shake violently again, and there was only 1 minute left on the timer.
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"Oh no, now is not the time for sentiment... Where's the door?"
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"Chirp chirp!"
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Hearing Mochi's chirping, Amisa saw a door finally appearing in the back corner of the classroom. However, the ceiling above her started collapsing intensely, and she was delayed in her movements. She noticed something else in the front corner of the classroom: "Why are there two doors now!"
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Indeed, Taiwan classrooms typically have two doors, one in the front and one in the back. But for Amisa's current situation, this was like adding insult to injury.
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"No, I need to stay calm now..." The floor began to crack, and with only 10 seconds remaining, Amisa struggled to think about the connection between the classroom and her psyche: "If... the psyche is about exploring downwards, then maybe the front door is the entrance, and the back door is the exit. But if I want to leave, I shouldn't be going downwards, but... Aaaahhhh!"
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With only 5 seconds left, the floor tilted even more, the classroom splitting in two, and desks and chairs fell into the abyss one by one. Amisa desperately rushed towards the front door, inserting the key: "I don't care, I'm taking a chance! Open, open, open, open, open, open───"
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Click!
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Boom!
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The floor had tilted to almost 90 degrees, and Amisa was left hanging onto the door handle in mid-air. She watched as everything in the classroom fell into the abyss one by one, while Mochi circled frantically nearby.
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"Give me your hand!" At that moment, a hand appeared on the other side of the door. Amisa swung the door handle like a pivot, trying to create enough momentum to reach out and grab it. However, she missed her mark: "Huh?"
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"Hey!"
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As she watched Jasky's figure getting farther away, Amisa began to fall straight into the abyss: "Wait, I don't want to dieeee!"
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Thud!
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A pair of black cake shoes emitting a faint light stepped on the fragments of the floor still floating in the air. With one push, Amisa was propelled 10 meters into the air, successfully grabbing onto Jasky 's arm.
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"Now's the time, pull!"
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"Yaaaahhhhh!"
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As Jasky directed Toosb, who was holding his other hand, Amisa was pulled up. The door closed automatically behind her, and their visual perspective suddenly rotated by 90 degrees. All three of them were left panting on the floor.
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"Ha... it actually... ha... created two doors for me all of a sudden... trying to get rid of me!"
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"Ha... you just... ha... used psychokinesis, right?" Jasky lay on the ground and turned to look at Amisa.
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"Ha... what psychokinesis?"
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"Oh, nothing."
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"Hahahaha, as long as you're okay! Congratulations to all of us for passing~~~" Toosb cheerfully gave a thumbs-up.
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Amisa lay back on the floor with relief: "Let's take a break. Can you tell me what the next level is?"
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"The sign above you reads 'Between Tastes'." Jasky pointed in the direction indicated, and they saw a water-clock timer appear under the sign.
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