The elegant piano music flowed like water, gently soaking into the cool night. This famed old café was one of the best places to relax in all of Britain, but tonight, Sophia and Adam weren’t sitting in one of its luxurious rooms as usual. Instead, they were standing by the bank of a murmuring stream, listening to the music and chatter drifting from the café not far away, alone at the quiet riverside.
They didn’t go to that kind of place, partly because the girl had no intention of entering. On the other hand, Adam—the young noble who’d never worried about money—was genuinely strapped for cash these days. His wealth and family status weren’t what they used to be; gone were the days of spending money like water.
Sophia didn't say a word; she just stared at the river, deep in thought. Adam quietly watched her profile, the nearby streetlamp casting a soft glow on her gentle features. Since Sophia wouldn’t speak up, he decided to start the conversation himself.
"Sophia, today I want to really talk to you about myself." Adam looked at the river too, his tone gentle. "Where should I start… Let’s start with my family. The family I was born into—it’s complicated."
"Since the Age of Colonization, my family was among the first to take root and pioneer in the Americas. My family traded slaves, killed natives, exploited gold miners—we inherited the essence of the colonial era deep in our bones." Adam’s gaze was somber as he laid himself bare: "If you look up the history of the colonial age, you’ll get a sense of what my family was like inside: cunning, greedy, ruthless, and brutal. All that savage violence made us bad at cooperation—great at plundering, terrible at working together."
Adam shook his head lightly. "I think that kind of ignorant, shortsighted behavior might bring some short-term gain, but it’s the real reason our family’s been stuck in mediocrity for so long. If you don’t respect others, don’t know how to get along, who’s going to support you? But even if I dislike this way of life, years of education and environment made me used to this well-dressed, primal jungle. I know I look like an idiot in front of you sometimes, Sophia, but honestly, compared to the other Zade idiots, I’m the real predator in this jungle. I’ve always known how to survive here, ever since I was a kid."
"Whether it’s playing nice to someone’s face or stabbing them in the back, whether it’s wearing a suit or wielding a knife in the shadows—none of my peers can compete with me. Only the old guys, the ones who survived and learned from all the bloodshed, are worth watching out for. I’m like a carnivore stalking the dark jungle, always able to tear a chunk of flesh off some other beast. Money, power, sex, deals, blood, violence—a whole lot of darkness filled my life. Even if I hate it, I’m used to it. Sometimes I think this is just my fate, that I was born to be a king of darkness, never destined for the light."
"Until one day, a ‘miracle’ fell from the sky." Adam turned, looking deeply at Sophia before him, at those eyes clearer than water. "Suddenly, I didn’t know what to do anymore. Suddenly, I didn’t know how to choose. Suddenly, I was conflicted. I couldn’t tell if my whole life had been wrong, or if…"
Adam didn’t finish his sentence. He just shook his head and suddenly smiled. "But none of that matters now. Maybe it’s fate—I don’t have to feel conflicted anymore. I get it, I…"
Just as Adam was about to finish, Sophia, who’d been silent all this time, suddenly looked up. "How strange."
"Strange?" Adam was instantly confused. "What’s so strange?"
"My heartbeat. It feels strange." Sophia pressed her pale hand to her chest, face full of confusion. "Why is it so fast?" Then she touched her cheek. "My face feels hot. Why is it burning up?" She raised her hand to her forehead. "My forehead’s damp. Why am I sweating? Am I sick? But I don’t feel weak. Everything is just... weird."
Adam’s pupils contracted, and he felt a little breathless. "Sophia, you…"
"But that’s not important. I figured it out—Professor Orlando was right." Suddenly, Sophia turned to Adam, staring at him with an unwavering gaze. "Adam, tell me: what do you think about witches?"
"Witches?" That was a wild leap. Where did that come from?
"The king hunts witches. What do you think about that?"
"Huh? I was about to finish my big speech, can you let me get it out?" Adam wanted to protest, but Sophia’s expression was so serious, so earnest, he could tell this was a huge deal for her. Adam rubbed his temples and tried to answer, "The king hunting witches… hmm… in the end, it’s all about interests."
Sophia didn’t reply, just stared at him. Adam’s mind stalled, so he just blurted out, "The king needs to maintain his rule, so he has to get rid of dissenters. To vent social tensions, you need a scapegoat. Sacrificing a few powerless women doesn’t threaten the regime and kills two birds with one stone. Religion keeps its authority by suppressing heresy. So, for all sorts of political reasons, it ends up—"
"Adam." For once, Sophia interrupted him again and again. "That’s not what I want to know."
Adam was really stumped. "What do you want to know, then?"
"I want to know, can a king and a witch be friends?" Sophia seemed to summon all her courage, pointing at Adam and then herself. "You’re the king. I’m the witch. Can we be friends?"
Adam’s mind spun, and suddenly he got it. "What kind of weird thoughts are running around in that head of yours?"
Sophia pressed on, "Tell me, can we be friends?"
Adam Zade burst out laughing, just like he used to, his face practically glowing with sunlight. "Sophia, I don’t know what’s bothering you, but if it’s just because you’re a bit different, you don’t need to worry. I know you’re not like everyone else—your quirky brain, your strange way of talking, your maddening habits, your super-genius IQ—believe me, Sophia, I really, really get how unusual you are. Otherwise I wouldn’t keep making that ‘Type II Unknown’ face. If this were the Middle Ages, and they picked a witch out of ten million women, you’d definitely be the one they grabbed."
"Mmm…" Sophia drooped her head like a dejected cat.
"But no matter how weird you are, no matter how different, no matter how much you drive me crazy—none of that changes one thing: you’re one of a kind. All those strange quirks, those random thoughts, that super-genius brain—it doesn’t matter. If you want an answer, here it is: of course we can be friends." Adam replied without hesitation, absolutely certain. "Even if I were really a king, my answer would be the same: we can totally be friends, Sophia. I’m honored to be your friend."
Sophia kept her head down, frozen, her expression unreadable.
"Besides, don’t fill your head with all that nonsense. Witch hunts? That’s ancient history. Honestly, gods and magic don’t exist—they’re made up. That’s why the church goes to such lengths to protect its fragile balloon of lies… you know what, let’s drop it. By the way, Sophia, is this your way of saying you want to be friends?"
Sophia still kept her head down, just barely nodding—so faintly it was almost impossible to notice.
"That’s great!" Adam clapped his hands, reaching into his pocket, his voice gentle. "To celebrate our friendship, I’ve got a gift for you. If you accept it, we’re officially friends. This gift… let’s just say, it wasn’t easy to get." Half the reason he’d risked his life was for this very gift.
"No, not yet." Sophia’s voice was soft but firm. "God exists."
"There you go again, talking to yourself." Adam pulled out a small box. "Look…"
Suddenly, Sophia looked up, her voice ringing out for the first time: "God exists!"
Adam was completely baffled. "Sophia, what are you…"
"If you only accept me because you don’t believe in the supernatural, what’s the point of that acceptance? If you trust me just because you don’t understand me, what’s the point of that trust? Once you’ve made a decision, you shouldn’t hesitate or hold back. Like the professor said, you should lay everything out in front of you." Sophia spoke more than ever before, taking a deep breath, her face showing a seriousness Adam had never seen: "Adam, God really does exist."
Staring into those eyes—so stubborn, so pure—Adam Zade felt like his soul was burning under the midday sun. For a moment, the die-hard atheist Adam almost wanted to believe.
He muttered, "Exists? Then… where?"
"Everywhere."
"Any evidence?"
"Yes."
"What evidence?"
"I’ll show you myself," Sophia raised her hand. "The world of God."
[Huh?!] The two spirits, Yang Qi and Qi Meng, suddenly went pale. They sensed a vast, indescribable presence as Sophia’s pale hand swept out, changing the entire world.
"Wha—" Adam didn’t even finish his word before something incredible happened right beside him.
Adam was totally stunned. His mouth hung open, his eyes wide, eyebrows twisted, tongue stretched out—his handsome features scrunched up like a comic strip, and his heartbeat froze.
Right in front of them, above the river, a perfect circle appeared in midair. It radiated a strange aura, flawless and pure, floating a meter away. No color, no lines, no visible edge, no distortion of light—a circle you couldn’t detect by any normal means. But Adam would bet his entire soul and life that there was absolutely a circle there!
A circle about three meters in diameter!
For a moment, time seemed to freeze. Adam’s mouth started to form a big "FU—" but before he could finish, a beam of white light shot out from the circle. The light was dazzling but not blinding, like the radiance of a god, filling the circle from crescent to full, slowly opening like a pure white heavenly gate.
[Whoa!!] The three spirits were just as shocked, staring at the scene. The sacred white light behind the gate surged from the depths of the void’s memory, leaving all three witnesses utterly speechless.
If just watching was shocking, facing it head-on was something else. At this moment, Adam Zade’s jaw nearly hit the riverbank, and the second half of his "CK!!" was stuck in slow motion, refusing to come out.
"This is the evidence. This is the real me." Sophia’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Adam. "Are you scared?"
Adam’s mind was blank, his mouth still hanging open as he stared at the white light, dumb as a post. "I… I don’t even know how to describe what I’m feeling… Give me a minute…"
But Sophia wasn’t waiting. "Do you still want to give me your gift?"
Bathed in that white light, with a majestic, awe-inspiring aura washing over him, Adam could only answer instinctively: "Yes…"
In the next moment, his hand was empty, and Adam snapped back to reality. He turned to see Sophia already holding the gift box, quickly tearing off the wrapping. With a rustle, like stardust falling from heaven, a necklace appeared in Sophia’s hand. The centerpiece was a huge, heart-shaped blue diamond—so big it covered most of Sophia’s palm, absolutely priceless. But for Sophia, the necklace meant much more than just its value.
"Just a bunch of useless carbon atoms, but it means more than anything. I get it now." Sophia gazed at the necklace. "Does it have a name?"
Bathed in divine light, Adam could only think Sophia looked less like a witch and more like a real angel. He answered in a daze, "It’s called the Heart of Tiberius…"
"Heart of Tiberius? I’ll take it. I love it. Starting today, we’re—friends!" Sophia suddenly grabbed Adam’s hand and dashed toward the white light. "Come on, follow me! I’ll take you inside!"
At that moment, Sophia smiled—a smile more pure, more radiant, more beautiful, more joyful than anyone could imagine.
The pure white circle slowly took over their entire field of vision, finally blotting out everything between heaven and earth.
Together, they melted into the white light of the void.
Memory came to an abrupt end.