chsdbacks Page 92
Page 92
I decided to skip the rest period altogether.
Anyway, my body has fully recovered.
Perhaps because he was truly confronting his inner self, Jiang Cheng's voice at this moment was neither gentle nor forceful.
"I'm going to catch up on my sleep. You go talk to Gray Serpent and explain that we need to resolve everything by the day after tomorrow at the latest. The A-rank Valkyrie Durandal is not in Schicksal for the time being, which is our best chance. The rest are just chickens and dogs."
……
……
I've begun my cultivation.
After greeting Mei, I went to the training ground exclusively for World Serpent executives with Gray Serpent and asked it to prepare the mechanism for the combat power test.
Developing potential is always useful. Gray Serpent wanted to choose the most suitable time, when there were the fewest people in the Destiny group, when Otto was most relaxed, and when it would take time to prepare identities for them to get close to Otto. This free time was perfect for getting familiar with the body's rapidly increasing power.
In any case, Otto is extremely arrogant now, believing that the world has become a plaything in his hands, and he also has extremely limited information—he is completely unaware of the existence of the World Serpent. Even if time drags on a little longer, he probably won't be wary at all.
The only thing that Otto found strange, or rather, that could make him feel strange, was the disappearance of the Herrscher of Thunder. However, due to Schicksal's intervention, there wouldn't be any problems as long as the time didn't drag on for years.
Therefore, it is essential to make good use of time and diligently cultivate oneself. Otherwise, one might end up being killed when Gray Serpent and the others attempt to assassinate him after they have prepared everything.
Although it's possible to ask someone else to do this, as Yuto's fighting strength is definitely sufficient, killing Otto is just too important, so important that it's best not to entrust it to someone else.
Those who do not have a clear understanding of him might alert Otto if they cannot guarantee that he will be killed.
He is no longer the Frankenstein's monster he once was.
He is a theoretically complete holder of the Stigmata.
Its potential can be developed anytime, anywhere. It is so vast that if its power could be fully unleashed, it would be a match even for a Herrscher. It would be a great pity not to cultivate it.
——This is how it should be.
If I hadn't fainted the moment I grasped the Jizo's Soul—
In fact, Jiang Cheng had experienced this kind of sudden darkness and arrival in a mental space more than once, so when he opened his eyes again and felt that unique feeling of being in another place, he already knew where he was.
Incomprehensible.
Communication with the erosion doesn't need to be this complicated at all.
If needed, information can be projected through erosion or spoken directly at any time.
There was no time for doubt.
There was no time to think.
The questions that had arisen in my mind could not last even a second.
The moment the dizziness that had been lingering in his head subsided, and the boy opened his eyes without hesitation, witnessing once again the scenery of the old Yae Village, what appeared before him was not the alluring pink fox, but a shy girl with beautiful blue eyes and her head bowed.
"Good...good morning?" Yae Sakura cautiously extended her hand, hesitantly greeting him.
"Are you... free?"
……
……
I don't know why I was pulled into the Sacred Mark Space.
I don't know why I met Yae Sakura again.
Reflecting on your mistakes without fully understanding them, and then offering a vague apology as an opening statement, is definitely the right thing to do.
After all, the person in front of him was no longer the Sakura he remembered, the one he had disciplined.
It will be five hundred years from now.
It is Sakura, who was killed by Mei and turned into a stigma.
To some extent, he was also indirectly responsible for Yae Sakura's death. Even if he seemed a bit pathetic, it was not unnecessary for him to grovel before a stronger person when he was not strong enough. Besides, he would be spending a long time with her in the future.
There's no need to treat them like students of the academy, trampling them to death at will, and not caring if they die, not even giving them a second glance.
—You still have to apologize if you do something wrong.
"Anyway... I must apologize for killing you. It was my fault. But I wouldn't regret it if I had to do it all over again. I really needed your help back then. Without the Stigmata, I probably wouldn't have lasted even a minute. In fact, if Mei hadn't saved my life, I might have died right then and there."
"As someone we're likely to meet again in the future, and since Jizo's Soul can preserve consciousness... if there's anything I want to say, I hope we can make things clear now." His voice was more naive than ever before; he used to be able to threaten others with coldness, but now it was hesitant and stammering.
"No need..." The girl lowered her head, her voice as soft and delicate as if she were looking through a veil. "It would be wonderful if my abilities could help you."
"Really? You shouldn't suppress your feelings anymore."
For the first time, Jiang Cheng seemed determined to persist.
They could even be described as somewhat obsessive, both of them lowering their heads and crouching down, trying to gaze at the girl who was still in an embracing posture.
It's impossible to do it no matter what—even though it seems to be staying in the same place, you can only see its back or side when you look over it.
Yaezakura...
It seems like it doesn't want to look at itself.
Although he did perform very poorly this time—he was completely lacking the gentleness he showed when dealing with Mei, and instead was overly harsh.
From the very beginning, he slashed and injured Yae Sakura with his sword, and in every subsequent interaction, he adopted the most stringent attitude, showing no regard for her true feelings.
Jiang Cheng only recalled what he had done before—his merciless rejection of the girl, his refusal of good intentions, his tearing apart of her delicate and fragile heart that needed to be cared for, and even his forceful slapping away the girl's hand that was extended entirely out of goodwill.
Ahhh...
Is it really all over?
It would be ridiculous to be disliked for something like this!
Unaware of her already bright red earlobes—just like someone who couldn't distinguish the shade of lipstick—Jiang Cheng froze on the spot.
In the end, he remained frozen in place.
No one could break the awkward atmosphere.
A teenager with zero emotional intelligence—who relies solely on understanding and empathy, and therefore receives as much respect as possible.
A conservative and shy girl—who even witnessed the woman wielding lightning make such a passionate confession.
……
Ahhh...
I'm so sorry—I'm extremely sorry!
I'm so incompetent that I can't even fulfill your last wish.
To be honest, someone like me has never been qualified to be your older sister in the first place!
Woohoo!
Even her tall fox ears drooped down. No matter how much the girl kept saying she didn't want to, that she and Jiang Cheng weren't a good match, when she actually spent time with the boy, she was still unable to even talk to him... Sure enough, sadness still rose in her heart.
——Miss Yae’s big failure!
……
……
"Ah... Miss Yae..."
"Ah... Lord Shiro..."
Even when they were embarrassed but determined not to let things drag on any longer and to at least say hello first, they were almost identical in their thoughts. When Jiang Cheng turned around, he saw the same person, Ying, who was also turning around firmly, suppressing her emotions and forcefully calming Hai Lan's eyes.
—And that's how we ended up bumping into each other.
They looked at each other in the wrong way.
Cherry blossom-colored eyes and lake-like pupils—these are things that only exist in light novels. The comedic scenes, however, completely fail to convey their true feelings to each other.
It cannot be given away or donated.
Unable to open up and rudely reveal one's inner thoughts and what one wants to say to the other person without knowing what they are thinking.
The exchange ended awkwardly in the end.
Neither of them could break the silence.
Yae Sakura, who has never been good at taking initiative and is only good at silently taking care of others, will only become more silent after bearing the burden of destroying a beautiful romance. She cannot hurt others, cannot destroy the perfect and warm romance that she has witnessed, and cannot go against the conflict between her beating heart and Rin's thoughts.
The pressure is so great that it would be impossible for an ordinary person to move an inch. It's like being pushed forward by one force and backward by the other. Even so, it seems relatively better because the force at this moment should be pushing from both sides. On the left is other people's feelings, and on the right is Rin and her emotions, which makes it impossible to even take a step forward.
Ahhh...
This is terrible...
"If there's nothing else, let's talk later."
Jiang Cheng could no longer bear the atmosphere. With all his stamina melted away, he said, "I have an enemy I must defeat. I don't have much time right now. I'm sorry, I need to excuse myself for a moment."
Choosing to find a reason that doesn't embarrass anyone is already a step forward.
Fortunately, Mei warmed my heart all day yesterday.
Madness, alienation... all of these were forcibly shattered.
So I won't be as straightforward as before, or slap someone when they give me something.
Seeing that the girl didn't seem to have any complaints about the excuse he had prepared, and that she was still keeping her head down as always, hiding her face and everything else behind her beautiful, smooth, cherry-blossom-like hair, his voice, unusually human, became a little more human as he left, offering a greeting and a farewell wave before departing.
"Goodbye."
what……
what……
what?
go……
have they gone?
I still feel a sense of loss at this moment—until the boy has already left.
When they met before, he couldn't say the things Rin had prepared that he could definitely do, words he had quoted from a book.
When it was time to part, they echoed each other as they left, not daring to say a word, only daring to extend their hands after it was over.
What can those fingertips, which are already powerless to reach, touch?
What else might we encounter?
Finally, facing the empty Stigmata Space alone, Yae Sakura could only curse herself inwardly for her incompetence, for letting down Rin, and for letting down herself... Knowing this, she could only fall into a spiral of self-denial from which she could not extricate herself.
……
……
……
"Jiangcheng Xian 04973 Life and Death, it's time for your test."
When I opened my eyes again and returned to the real world, I happened to find that Gray Serpent had prepared the testing facility.
Reality isn't like a game where combat power isn't quantifiable; all abilities must be determined manually, especially for someone whose combat power has increased too rapidly.
Looking at those sci-fi-style gadgets that looked like high-tech gadgets, even Jiang Cheng had to admit that the World Serpent was very cooperative with superhumans.
It's clearly not a facility for ordinary people.
The instruments were absolutely insane.
Some of them are more like torture instruments and cannot be called any kind of fitness equipment or testing facilities at all. They are simply two high-tech solid iron blocks with a person sandwiched between them. Presumably, even the top athletes would not be turned into mincemeat in a second.
As for the other miscellaneous things, although it is impossible to distinguish exactly what they are, there is no doubt that if a person who is still at the human level were to try to use them, the best result would probably be that they would be crushed into pieces, at least not turned into a mashed sauce, or even have their muscle tissue broken up into a pile of rotten meat paste.
“No need to worry, Mr. Jiangcheng, in case of danger, the braking device will activate immediately…” Gray Snake’s earnest explanation came to an abrupt halt.
Jiang Cheng still had that deep gaze, those tightly furrowed brows, and that bitten lower lip.
Do not--
Such tediousness is meaningless.
Gray Snake knew immediately how poor his rhetoric was.
Being a prophet doesn't mean participating in everything or experiencing everything firsthand. Knowing and facing things are two different things. On the contrary, sometimes knowing more makes one more cautious.