Chapter 199: Loyal to the Enemy (End)
The sky was as blue as a canvas, the brilliant sunshine shone on the deck, several birds were perched on the mast, and the black sails were blown by the strong wind, guiding the pirate ship towards the other side of the horizon.
A pirate ship is an ancient three-masted sailing vessel, a relic long since lost to history, and in the 21st century, it can only be seen in museums. However, this place was not part of Chu Hengkong's memory. He had never boarded such a ship before, even when he went on missions to hunt pirates, he took the speedboat provided by his family.
A sail rope was lowered from the mast, and the girl in silver hair and silver robes jumped onto the deck, pulling the rope. This time she appeared wearing a pirate hat with an angry Vander painted on it.
"Looks good, buddy." The girl waved her tentacles. Both of her arms were squid-like tentacles. "But this level won't be that easy."
Chu Hengkong was both amused and annoyed. He leaned on the railing and asked, "Why did you become a woman?"
The tentacle girl was leaning against the other side of the deck, doing exactly the same thing as him.
"That's an interesting question. Why do some races have gender distinctions? Let me give you a premise: the older the race, the less likely it is to have gender distinctions. Conversely, younger races consider it the norm."
"I don't know. I was born this way."
"The answer is revealed. This is because the later lives are born, the further they are from the original spirit. The original information is lost and degraded over the long course of time, causing contradictions to appear in the harmonious and integrated life, and perfection becomes imperfect. Young lives didn't catch up with the good times, and they couldn't inherit all the information. They had to make choices, discarding a little here, filling in a piece there, and then revising the method of information inheritance..."
The tentacle girl separated her two tentacles. "The information was inherited separately, and the contradiction was alleviated, and thus the opposing genders were born. I'm not talking about male and female rights, I'm talking about the conceptual opposition. There is a contradiction, so there is separation."
Chu Hengkong felt an inexplicable sense of disharmony. Despite the different personalities of his first three opponents, he had a good grasp of each one's characteristics. The Fallen Girl lacked love, the Red Lady was devoted to desire, and the True Machine Lady was single-mindedly focused on killing everyone. He naturally understood their characteristics because those traits stemmed from a distorted version of himself.
But the tentacle girl was different. Chu Hengkong was certain that no matter how much he twisted himself, he would never be able to achieve such intelligence. Moreover, the other party had set up a stage of her own and was talking about theories that he did not understand at all.
She is more like an independent individual.
The tentacle girl conjured up a bottle of juice and slurped, "Now, back to the first question. Your faces and I were originally genderless. Why did we become women when the Yixin ritual began?"
"There is a contradiction." Chu Hengkong guessed.
"It's a huge, huge contradiction. So huge that it's irreconcilable," the tentacle girl corrected. "Even those first few people with broken hearts saw people of the same sex during the One Heart Ceremony. They basically died when they saw the opposite sex. God have mercy on me. I was supposed to be a handsome, silver-haired genius in a white coat, arm in arm with you, giving you advice on the world. But now I'm a silver-robed tentacle girl. It's so lame. It's all your fault. Please."
Chu Hengkong laughed so hard at his misfortune that he couldn't stop. The tentacle girl threw another bottle of juice over to him: "Damn it, you're still laughing? I'm a woman now, and you're still laughing!"
He cleared his throat and said, "That's really lame."
"If you know it, get out of here, you motherfucker."
"I don't know how to put it." Chu Hengkong unscrewed the juice and took a sip, "I always thought we got along quite well."
"You just dipped me in shit two days ago," the tentacle girl pointed out, "and I'm still wrapped in iron shit."
"That was your idea, and I don't believe you were angry about such a small thing."
"Of course I have a few more complaints, ahaha, but the real fun is yet to come." The tentacle girl raised her hand and produced her travel guide. "Let's see what the original contract says."
She flipped to the title page of the large book and read, word by word, with cadence and intonation: "Full of knowledge, sufficient wisdom! The learned and talented Finder is seeking a travel partner. I decline all combat, but will gladly assist you with my eyes and tentacles—what the hell did I write back then? Shit."
Chu Hengkong almost choked with laughter.
"That's how it goes. I, as a non-combatant, provide knowledge and wisdom. You, as a bodyguard, handle combat. We're traveling together to see the vast world and have a pleasant journey. That's all, okay?"
"No problem." Chu Hengkong said.
"Then let's see the reality." The tentacle girl swung her tentacles up and down. "I welded your spine. I assembled your prosthetic arm. If you need control in a fight, I'll use hypnosis to help you. My manual also marked those difficult relics to prevent you from dying suddenly. I can say that I've exceeded my own quota. To be fair, haven't I done enough?"
"This journey is all thanks to you." Chu Hengkong admitted.
"But what about you, buddy? Where's your share?" Tentacle Girl sneered. "We just agreed when we met. You and I are going to have a joyous trip around the world. Look at the itinerary you planned."
Huilong City, ambition. That foolish thing that bounces back and forth from fantasy to delusion.
Yingshi Town, Immortal Machine. Thankfully, there was only one True Machine that had awakened itself, an Imperial elite.
Golden Leaf City, ah! The Stone Monster, your old friend from Earth, and finally even that old thing Olek came! "
Chu Hengkong glanced sideways in silence, while the tentacle girl smirked sinisterly. "So far, we're at our fourth stop, the Despair Wilderness! As soon as we landed, we ran into a heavyweight like Shanshi Weng, and behind us, there's also the eager-to-fight Fansalar! Looking at your experiences over the past six months, you're practically a Hall of Fame member of the Shendong Realm! An all-star villain!"
"Don't blame me for this..." Chu Hengkong sighed.
"I'm just asking about the relaxing and enjoyable trip around the world you promised me?" The tentacle girl pounded on the railing. "Where's the adventure? Where's the trip? Where's the trip around the world? It's nothing but fighting and killing all the way. It looks like we're about to break into the Heavenly Prison, defeat Ronghua Xian, and liberate the Discipline Emperor!
I'm telling you, I'm done with this shit. I've had enough. I'm breaking my contract with you. You join your allies, and I'm going on my adventure. Let's go our separate ways!
"I have to say that this shit can't all be blamed on me."
"Of course, buddy, the cause of the incident has nothing to do with your subjective wishes." The tentacle girl smiled wryly, "But the process and the outcome are not necessarily certain. Who is charging towards the Immortal Machine with all his might? Who is immersed in a life-and-death duel with his nemesis? And who just came here two days ago and said he wanted to kill the Nightmare King?"
"You have no objection," Chu Hengkong pointed out, "and what would you say if I were a coward who turned and ran?"
The tentacle girl didn't even think twice: "Get lost, you wimp."
"Look."
"I don't want to see it. Of course, we'd be on the same page subjectively if we were in that situation, but the problem is, I don't want to go to this kind of shitty place again. I don't want to fight to the death with outsiders anymore, I don't want to get up every day and risk my life. I just want to find a like-minded idiot to travel with." The tentacle girl pointed outside the boat, "But now? Look at this ocean!"
Her gesture caused the water to recede in all directions, like a receding tide centered around the pirate ship. In the blink of an eye, the sea level dropped to the very bottom, revealing a terrifying seabed. There was no soil at the bottom of this ocean, only ashen bones. The remains of humans, beasts, and heretics lay around the ship like a forgotten graveyard.
"This ocean is my imagination, the future I long for." The tentacle girl turned and pointed at him, "But because of what you've done, my fantasy is about to be shattered. I can't imagine a beautiful and joyful adventure anymore, because with you, wherever we go is a battlefield!"
Chu Hengkong observed the cemetery beneath the sea and, unsurprisingly, discovered the enemies he had slain. From Huilong City to the Despairing Wilderness, every life he had slain was buried beneath the sea. Along the way, his tentacles recorded the relics he had obtained and the lives he had bid farewell.
The tentacle girl walked into the captain's cabin and steered the ship with her tentacles. The three-masted sailboat stumbled through the graveyard like an off-road vehicle. Her voice was cold: "Our contract ends here. We have shared laughter and tears along the way, but the mountains remain unchanged and the waters flow forever. We part ways amicably."
A white mechanical bird flew across the sky. Chu Hengkong looked at the bird's steel wings, feeling extremely confused.
What else could he say? You're not the one to pass the buck, bro? You were the one who caused us to go to that hellhole of Yingshi Town. Ji Huaisu is responsible for half of Jinye City's misfortune, not me. Once we entered the Desperate Wilderness, we had to fight. We had no choice. It's really mean of you to put all the blame on me. Do you really think you're that innocent?
You know Orlek, you know Shanshiong, and your nightmare is even the vast void of the Sea of Illusions. Fate's tide is unwavering, so who dares to say you're incapable of the troubles along the way? I have no problem with breaking the contract or parting ways. I'm waiting to see you walk out the door and into the mouth of some great demon. It's best not to burst into tears when you're about to be consumed. Anyone who regrets this will be a scoundrel.
But he couldn't say that. That wasn't the way to say it to a brother.
Chu Hengkong pinched his brows hard and walked to the door of the captain's room.
"After we leave the Wilderness of Despair," he said, "we'll find some interesting place to travel."
"Oh I hear your nonsense." Tentacle Girl said coldly.
"You choose the location." Chu Hengkong paused. "Of course I will continue to practice, and I will continue to pursue my goals. But I promise that at least on the next Dust Island, we won't go out of our way to cause trouble. This will be a pure vacation. When we have rested enough, we will go out for adventure."
The tentacle girl leaned on the rudder, smiling.
"Look, buddy, you still don't understand the key. Even if you want to take a vacation, it will inevitably end up in a chaotic fight with demons and monsters. Your hated fate is sealed. The conflict is already there, and it has nothing to do with our goals or personalities. The only way to resolve it is to break up. That's it."
There was really nothing to say now. The tentacle girl drove the pirate ship to the dry shore and slammed the anchor. "That's it." She turned her back to Chu Hengkong. "If you don't have anything to say, then goodbye. Don't worry about me in real life. We will go together."
"besides."
"What? Hurry up and tell me."
Chu Hengkong took a few deep breaths. The next sentence, especially for him, seemed very difficult.
"Please, buddy. Stay." Chu Hengkong said, "Give me a hand."
The tentacle girl began to sigh, just like Chu Hengkong always sighed deeply when he encountered a situation that he didn't know how to deal with.
"Chu Hengkong, you're such a complete jerk." She said, "How dare you say that to me? I really fucked you, and we're already broken up, and you're saying this. What do you want me to do?"
"But I really don't want you to leave." Chu Hengkong smiled, "Don't mind it, it's pointless sentimentality. Have a nice trip."
The tentacle girl took off her pirate hat and threw it into the sky. Her eyes narrowed into crescents due to her smile, just like Vander's.
"What the hell, how can I not help you?" she said, "We are such close friends!"
It's true that some people part ways over profit, leaving because they prioritize profit over friendship. But people with genuine friendships won't be like that. They might lash out at you because a project fell through, or break your phone and throw it in the water because a deal went bust. But the next time you ask for help, they'll drop whatever they're doing and rush to help. Because you're buddies, and buddies helping buddies doesn't need a reason.
Would someone like that give you a lengthy explanation of why they're leaving? No way. If they truly wanted to leave, they'd find a quiet time, grab their bag, and leave a note saying they were going out to buy cigarettes. They're just saying all this to express their frustration, wanting to have a good conversation so they can figure out the next steps.
"Seriously, where do you want to go next time?"
"Dustless Land is actually worth a visit, but its history is too shallow." Tentacle Girl counted them one by one. "Seeking Fun Paradise is relaxing enough... but it's too stupid and not suitable for me."
"It suits you very well." Chu Hengkong said.
"I want to find an ideal destination." The tentacle girl began to ponder, "It's a place with a long history, friendly, mysterious, full of academic atmosphere, and safe. It has to be safe. Well, it's not easy to find such a place in the Shendong world. Let me think about which tag to delete..."
"Shenshu City-State?" Chu Hengkong said casually, "Jingsha is also in Senluo Secret Realm. I think the route should be open by the time I get back."
"You're amazing! This is it!" Tentacle Girl said excitedly, "Next time we'll go to Jingsha City-State to conduct a historical and cultural investigation!"
"Then it's a deal, after we escape the wilderness of despair."
"Try to leave tomorrow."
"It would be nice if I could just run away that easily."
The sky outside the captain's room was perfectly clear, and the colorless sea had unknowingly filled the world again, carrying the pirate ship as it sailed under the sunny sky. They leaned against the mast, feeling the exceptionally fresh breeze.
It is because there are expectations beyond goals that people have the motivation to live a happy life.
The tentacle girl waved her tentacles at him, then transformed back into silver tentacles to replace his left arm. The fantasy world began to fade, and Chu Hengkong closed his eyes in the gentle sea breeze, returning to reality.
(End of this chapter)
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