Chapter 75
On the desolate and almost forgotten beach, the ruins of a huge temple seem like a monster crawling out of the deep sea. Its partially collapsed structure is covered with slippery and damp algae, emitting a fishy and decayed smell.
Turbid waves crashed against the coastline, washing over rocks engraved with symbols of unknown meaning. The sky was leaden gray. Although the rain had stopped, visibility was still very low, and the stuffy and oppressive feeling in the air had not yet dissipated.
After experiencing this series of complicated events, Ango felt that her brain was like a stuck machine. She was still stuck in the battle between the Phantom God, the Flame Bird and the Nightmare. She didn't expect Xisen to come back at this time, and she didn't expect the person in front of her to cross most of the island and rush to her with the MAA people. How did they find her?
Ango's logic and reasoning systems no longer functioned. She felt like a wave of the times, being washed against this temple. The Interhead Group, the MAA, the shipwreck, the research... all seemed like dust crushed by the will of the gods. Her thoughts and those of everyone here no longer mattered... Perhaps this was a kind of numbness from the depths of her soul.
Ango herself didn't realize that her body was shaking violently. She only felt as if thousands of cold needles were densely piercing her scalp, making her scream silently - that was the signal that her sanity was melting.
She suddenly shook off Xi Sen's hand, took two quick steps, held onto a stone pillar, bent down, and began to vomit violently.
The sea breeze blew over, and her clothes were stained with blood on the wound, and they hurt when the wind pulled them.
Xi Sen stood quietly by, without saying a word.
A few minutes ago, she was tied to the altar, enveloped in the smell of sea and blood, listening to the distorted chanting of pagans, those things would gnaw at people's sanity like hundreds of small insects.
Ango's stomach churned, and she couldn't stop. As she vomited, tears and snot formed a river, washing over her face. She abandoned her disguise as "Ango," removed the Yi Yan mask, and clutched the necklace across her chest, pouring out the tension and pain of the past period as Sangria.
She didn't know how much time had passed until she felt there was nothing left in her stomach to vomit and the tear marks on her face had dried and tightened, then she turned around and looked at Xi Sen.
Xi Sen stood there anxiously, but when Ango looked at him, he forced himself to calm down: "How do you feel now?"
Ango touched his face and said, "It's better now."
Xi Sen clenched his hands, then unclenched them. He stepped forward and tried to hold Ango again… Although she was now standing in front of him, Xi Sen still felt unreal, as if he might lose her at any moment. Moreover, he had just sneaked away from Mo Li and would be going back soon. He felt that he had to get Ango’s guarantee of safety at this moment—even if it wasn’t trust, it was a promise to stay and wait for him temporarily.
But Ango took two steps back, away from him, and shook his head: "I'm feeling better. What do you want to tell me?"
Xisen left suddenly and appointed Dylan to replace him, which means that he must have received an urgent task from the Interhead Group. He suddenly came here at this time, which must mean that he had something important to tell him.
Ango never liked the feeling of losing control of her emotions and reason, but this time both strings in her head suddenly broke. She only allowed herself to lose control for a while, and there was no time for her to collapse.
She panted heavily, leaning gently against the stone pillar, trying to calm the feeling of having survived a catastrophe. The cold, hard touch of the stone sobered her up a little. She looked at Xi Sen, her eyes filled with a complex mix of anxiety, gratitude, doubt, and pain.
Xi Sen glanced around anxiously, then suddenly placed his hands on Ango's shoulders, allowing Ango to face him and lock eyes. His voice was a little hoarse from his urgency: "Sangria, listen to me, don't let Dylan leave you... So many people are staring at you covetously... They won't give up, and this time... we're almost too late!"
Xi Sen choked up, his tone showing an undisguised fear: "Sangria, I can't lose you..."
When Ango saw the scars and fatigue on Xisen's face, a strange feeling came to her mind for a moment, but it was soon replaced by other things. She suddenly felt that a sunken cruise ship appeared on the sea level in the distance.
She closed her eyes in pain, then opened them again, her lips trembling: "Xisen..."
Xi Sen's hand covered Ango's lips, blocking the words she wanted to say: "I know you have a lot of doubts about me... But I want to tell you that I really don't remember anything about Lue Garfield. It was Jiang Mianyan who deleted my memory. I don't know why, but I will remember it later, if you are willing to tell me..."
Ango also covered Xisen's mouth and shook her head: "Xisen, I want to ask you, are you related to the shipwreck?"
Xi Sen was stunned for a moment.
Ango let go of his hand. "I never understood why you looked at me with such an apologetic look. I also don't understand why the Interhead Group let you join..."
Her eyes were filled with tears. “Can you tell me why?”
Xi Sen's tone was filled with urgency: "I already knew the truth about your parents' death. It was Li Qiye who did it. He raised you and stayed by your side every day. I knew it but couldn't tell you. Of course I feel guilty..."
This was an answer Ango hadn't expected—Mo Li?
"I don't have much time. It's not easy to unravel what happened back then with just a few words." Xisen once again took Ango's hands. "I know it's not easy for you to believe me, but I must tell you... I did pay a high price to join the Interhead Group. I assisted them in the assassination of an important person, just like Lin Guang back then... and now..."
Xi Sen didn't say anything else. He turned around and said, "Sangria, you know, they value me because of my abilities. I lurk in the dark, making me the perfect assassin. I've proven myself to them... But your parents are just ordinary people. Why would they go to such lengths to assassinate you?"
Xi Sen's words made Ango feel a little dizzy. She knew rationally that what Xi Sen said made sense, but it was hard for her to accept that her parents were just ordinary victims who were involved in the Ghost Commander's conspiracy. It was even harder for her to accept that the real murderer was Mo Li who accompanied her day and night.
"What about my companion, the female researcher whose head you chopped off! Why didn't you even let me hear her last words!" Ango cried and accused.
That scene kept appearing before her eyes like a nightmare - the female researcher she had let go, Xisen caught them and chopped off her head in front of her, not even allowing her to hear her last words.
"That's because she betrayed you!" Xi Sen said excitedly, "She wants to expose you to Qiqihar and tell him that it was you who let the experimental subjects go! In exchange for a chance to survive!"
Ango was stunned.
She never thought that the truth would be like this. It turned out that the cold-blooded killer in her eyes was actually protecting her silently behind her back?
Ango was silent for a long time. Xisen knew he had to seize this fleeting opportunity. His voice was so urgent it bordered on pleading. "Sangria, these mysteries, which have been lingering for years, can't be solved in just a short conversation like this... If... there's still a chance, I'd like to come back and have a good chat with you. Listen, I'll be leaving soon, so don't try to get rid of Dylan and the others..."
Ango keenly noticed the unusualness in Xisen's words, and she didn't realize she was getting too excited. "What do you mean there's still a chance? What are you going to do?"
Xi Sen smiled bitterly, and his hand touched Ango's head: "I'm going on a mission, an assassination mission."
"Who? Is it dangerous?"
Xi Sen was silent for a moment. "...The danger isn't that person, it's something else. But that's all my business now...I'm still worried about you. Will you wait for me to come back? No matter what questions you have, I'll give you answers. I swear on my life that I'll tell you the truth. As long as you live...I'll try my best to come back. Then, whether you want to leave or stay, whether you hate me or forgive me, wait until then to judge me, okay?"
Xi Sen's face no longer had the pride of the past. His words and expressions were something Ango had never seen before. But for some reason, Ango suddenly felt that this was the true heart of the person in front of him, the real him hidden under that cold and hard appearance.
Ango held her forehead, trying to push away her emotions, but Xisen once again leaned close to her ear and whispered softly and gently, "Wait until then to judge me, okay?"
At that moment, Ango felt that all he could feel was the coldness of the stone pillars, the monotonous repetitive sound of the waves, and his own uncontrollable physical tremors. Xisen's voice, his explanations, his requests... all became distant background noise, drowned out by another roar that came from nowhere.
As if being controlled, she nodded and said, "Okay."
Perhaps it was because all the people from the past were gone, some dead, some betrayed, and she had experienced too many things today. At this moment, Ango instinctively wanted to believe him, the man she had known for many years, the man who had helped her many times, and was unwilling to think about the things behind it.
She was torn between reason and emotion, unable to think again. Thinking meant she would have to touch those fragments of memory that could hurt her soul, and once again had to discern the truth from others' words. This process was like walking on the edge of a knife...
But she was really tired.
"Then can you promise me that you will let Dylan protect you for me?" Xi Sen asked sincerely, "Until I come back."
Ango nodded numbly, his eyes vacant. "When will you be back?"
"I came back before your game was over."
When the spiritual dam completely collapses, in the torrent of fatigue and fear, people always instinctively grab the most familiar things and use them as their anchor.
Xisen's words became Ango's anchor.
She gradually emerged from her empty state, watching the leaden sky turn gray, watching Xi Sen throw a black coat over her, watching his tall figure cast a long shadow in the gradually brightening light, shrouding her. Then Xi Sen leaped forward, merging into the dark world, so fast that it seemed as if he had never appeared, leaving only footprints on the beach, quickly erased by the waves.
"Wait until I come back."
On the sea level, in the direction where Xisen disappeared, there was only an empty, grayish-white fog and sea.
At this moment, a song was heard. The voice was ethereal and pure, with a childlike innocence, like the sigh of a siren. The melody of this folk song was simple, repetitive, and catchy. The fish swayed and gathered to the sound, stirring up waves on the shore.
The song goes:
The waves are rocking, my heart is floating;
The cabin is full of silver scales, and the net bag is full;
The source of life springs from the waves;
Hatred drifts away with the waves;
Desires sink to the bottom, no more troubles;
The soul returns to the blue, quietly...
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