Chapter 261: A Puppet
Anno didn't know when she fell asleep. Sital's energy enveloped her, soothing her and lulling her to sleep.
The sunlight streamed in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, almost blindingly so.
She was still asleep on the sofa, only now covered with a blanket. She sat up and looked around the room. Brightman was sitting cross-legged in the corner by the window with his back to her, drawing something.
She got up and walked closer, initially thinking he was painting the scenery outside the window, but unexpectedly he was painting her.
Many paintings were scattered on the ground. She bent down and picked up two. One painting depicted a snowy day, with her leaning against a fire in a corner of some ruins, and Brightman, who was also wearing combat gear, beside her.
The two snuggled together, as if relying on each other in the apocalypse.
She looked at another painting, in which she was driving a flying vehicle, speeding across the plains, her smile as bright as the sun, with Brightman sitting in the passenger seat.
Flying vehicles flew over the flower field, stirring up a shower of petals.
Behind them were skyscrapers and railway tracks suspended in mid-air.
The background of the painting is clearly set in this era.
She frowned slightly, somewhat not understanding the meaning of the painting.
Ever since she saw those weapons she used to own yesterday, she'd been wondering why Brightman knew so much about her past, and in such detail.
"You're awake. Are you hungry?"
Brightman put down his paintbrush and turned to look at her.
Remembering her purpose, Anuo stared at his face for a while, her expression gradually hardening.
Why am I here with you?
Instead of saying that she had come with him yesterday on her own, Brightman asked, "Don't you like it here?"
Anno saw him approach and pushed him away forcefully. "I don't like it!"
Brightman bumped into the easel behind him, causing it to fall over. By the time Brightman picked it up, the painting was covered in paint, and the completed Anno painting was a mess of color.
"I can't see your face clearly anymore," Brightman said softly.
The voice was flat and without any inflection, but Anno heard a very soft sigh.
The scorching sun shone on him, yet he remained cold—not in a cold or aloof manner, but rather lifeless.
It's like an empty shell, a stagnant pool.
He stood there, looking down at the destroyed painting, a sense of indescribable loneliness washing over him.
Anno suddenly felt sorry for him.
He seems to have been nothing more than a tool from beginning to end.
In the past, she was the one who guarded the core of her power; even the heir to the governorship was nothing more than a puppet in Dennis's hands.
He is still a puppet in Dennis's hands, a weapon he forged.
He kept asking her if she liked it, but never asked himself if he liked it.
Looking at the scene painted on the ground, a scene she had never experienced, a thing that didn't exist in her memory, she felt strange and reached out to push over Brightman's easel again.
What are you imagining?
She wanted to say something harsh, but then thought it would be too offensive. After a moment's thought, she took the pistol from the shelf and pointed it at him. "These aren't me at all! Where did you get these weapons? How do you know about my past?"
Brightman calmly told her, "I paint you. You smile in my dreams. These... are all things I see in my dreams."
Without hesitation, he told Anno all of this: "I dream about you every day. I remember every weapon you used and every moment we spent together."
Anno pulled the trigger: "Stop talking! You're disgusting me!"
Brightman looked directly into her eyes. "But only in this moment do I feel that you truly exist, even if you don't smile at me or talk to me properly, it doesn't matter."
A gunshot rang out, and Brightman stood still without blinking. A crack appeared in the floor-to-ceiling window behind him.
The bullet got stuck in the glass.
Two seconds after the gunshot, two guards rushed into the room.
Dennis's voice rang out behind Anno: "Brightman, you can't stay with the little queen beetle, it's too dangerous."
Brightman: "I'm fine."
He meant that she couldn't be taken away.
This was exactly the effect Anno wanted. She quickly grabbed the rifle next to her and started firing at Brightman.
The glass behind him shattered completely.
Then, as if venting her anger, she swept around Brightman's room and attacked the people behind her.
She knew that with the limited power of her rifle, she wouldn't even be able to leave a scratch on their armor, but she wanted to show them that as long as she had a weapon, she would attack them without hesitation.
Dennis and the guards activated their defenses; although the rifle was an old relic, it could still cause damage.
Anno stopped firing after he had emptied all the bullets in his rifle.
She threw the gun at Dennis, who caught it with some patience. "Is the little princess done venting?"
Anno snorted and sat down on the sofa.
"I don't want to be with him!"
Dennis raised an eyebrow slightly and looked at Brightman.
Brightman pursed his lips and looked at Anno, then finally lowered his eyes and turned away. "Take her back."
Anno was taken back to her original room.
After her outburst, Anno felt much better.
Back in her room, Anno went into the bathroom, but this time Dain insisted on watching her and followed her into the bathroom.
When she refused, Daisy was about to kneel down and beg her.
Anno couldn't stand this kind of thing, so she didn't make things difficult for Daiyin and let her stay with her if she wanted to.
She was soaking in the bathtub, while Dain stood to one side with her head down, looking like she would never look around.
She closed her eyes, sank into her consciousness, and connected with the energy placed on Dennis.
When she threw the gun at Dennis, she infused it with new energy. She also infused energy into the guards around him through the contact of the bullets.
Now that she has a wider perspective, she can look for Mingxiao and Tanwell.
As long as she can see them, they can sense her energy.
Dennis stayed in Brightman's room for a while and talked to him about her, trying to persuade Brightman to let him control her so that he could have an obedient little queen beetle.
Brightman remained adamant in his refusal.
Dennis couldn't persuade him, so he got up and left, calling someone to clean the room.
Through Dennis, Anno saw Brightman picking up the sheets of paper from the ground one by one. Many of the sheets had been damaged by gunfire, and he patiently pieced them back together.
Anno wondered, what else could someone like him do besides be Dennis's puppet for the rest of his life?
His obsession with himself stemmed entirely from his dreams.
The reason is that he carried her core.
There was neither a genetic bond between them nor a normal emotional connection; it was merely his personal dream of her.
Just like him, she was illusory and empty, and nothing could fill this void, so he desperately wanted to hold onto her.
He was pitiful, but from the moment he was born alongside her core, they were destined to be enemies.
That's how pure the Zerg are; an enemy is an enemy, and they won't change anything because of some illusory feelings he might have for her.
A surge of energy emanated from her core, calming her agitation after her recent madness; it was the energy of Sital.
Anno slowly exhaled and continued to follow Dennis's perspective.
Dennis went into the laboratory to inquire about the progress of the Sital core research, and then went into a conference room to hold a meeting with other people.
The content of the meeting made Anno's heart sink.
Dennis has other means to deal with these civilizations in interstellar space besides the Bloodstone.
He used the Bloodstone gravity field to spread a substance called "Corruption Red," which attached itself to those who came into contact with it. Corruption Red is contagious. Once the Bloodstone main controller is activated, all the Bloodstone gravity fields will have a chain reaction, and Corruption Red will cause all infected people to degenerate. This degeneration is irreversible and will regress them to the most primitive beasts and other creatures.
Bloodstone originates from a planet in the Casa system and is forged using the energy of the entire planet.
It has been quite some time since the Bloodstone appeared on the battlefield, and the Corruption has now infected countless people; almost all the star system races involved in the war have been infected.
After Dennis finished the meeting, Anno also came out of consciousness.
Now, she needs to find a way to contact her mother and the others, and also find the Bloodstone, the main controller.
What she can see, Sitar can also see through her. The two cannot communicate in the disconnected network of consciousness, but they can sense each other through energy.
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