Chapter 125: Standing for the past two days, Johnny was almost driven crazy by worry, the bad news...
Johnny was almost driven crazy these past two days. Bad news came one after another like it was free.
First, when he woke up, he found that almost all the saints' remains on his body had been stolen. More importantly, he had no idea who did it.
This incident alone was enough to make Johnny exhausted, and what was even more devastating was that no one woke them up.
The organizers couldn't remind them, and the contestants around them didn't care. By the time he and Jero woke up, it was already evening. They had been delayed for a full eight hours, a huge loss that was simply irreparable!
Although he saved his life, Johnny couldn't be happy at all.
If Jero hadn't ignited his fighting spirit and rode his horse towards the finish line without saying a word, Johnny might have been sad for a while.
By the time they finally reached the finish line, they were barely at the bottom of the leaderboard. This gap was truly enormous.
Looking at Diego, who was still at the top of the leaderboard, Johnny gritted his teeth.
The enemy's success is more difficult to accept than one's own failure, and today he has both.
Just when Johnny had finished grooming the horse's fur and was about to head to the next stage, the organizer's daughter, Lucy Steele, suddenly came to him and cried and said something that Johnny couldn't believe.
"Mr. Joestar, Mary is in trouble! Please go and save her quickly!"
"You... mean something happened to Mary?"
Lucy Steele sobbed, "Mary must be in danger. I wanted to ask the Wicca Bibble siblings for help, but by the time I went downstairs, they had already left for the next stage. Most of the staff had also gone off work. I searched hard for a long time but couldn't find anyone suitable. They were too short and couldn't even ride a horse... Fortunately, you're back!"
She sobbed loudly and spoke rapidly, "It was only a few hours ago that I learned from the referee in the hot air balloon that a tightly wrapped man suddenly attacked Mary today. Then they disappeared into the forest and never came out again. I was a little worried, so I sent out a carrier pigeon. I didn't expect that when it came back, its belly feathers were stained with blood that didn't belong to it, and there was no letter from Mary in the bucket. It means that Mary must have been injured!"
She wiped away her tears. Although her voice was trembling, it was still clear and coherent. Johnny did not doubt it and said, "Then I will go back and look for it!"
He immediately grabbed the reins and steered the horse back, ignoring Jello Zeppelin's surprised shout: "Johnny, what are you doing?! Why are you suddenly going back?"
How could Mary be in trouble? Johnny's face drained of all color just by listening to Lucy's description.
Maybe... Mary is not as indestructible as she thinks. She is also flesh and blood and can suffer great trauma.
So...will Mary die?
He didn't dare to think about this possibility. Just recalling Lucy's description, Johnny thought of how the snow-white dove landed on Mary's shoulder, and after finding that Mary was silent, how it jumped to Mary's abdomen, trying to wake up the seriously injured woman.
The blood soaked the pigeon's belly feathers, and the panicked pigeon flapped its wings and flew back.
His chest was so tight that he could barely breathe, and Johnny felt a sour feeling in his throat. The more he tried to stop himself from thinking, the more he would think about it.
Mary's blue eyes looked at the dark sky, and she thought of the half-coagulated blood clot after oxidation for no reason.
The twinkling stars are the tears of despair, falling continuously.
He was thinking, what would he do if Mary really died?
Maybe... he will go with it.
When this thought came to his mind, his desire to survive did not even raise any ripples of objection.
Living alone is too lonely and desolate.
A world without Mary would have no meaning.
Mary, if you really left, could you please wait for me a little longer so that I can come to find you?
At that time, will you forgive me for never stopping for you in order to win the championship and the remains?
I'm sorry, Mary, I never protected you.
In my life, I always seem to be making wrong choices and wrong decisions.
The tears seemed to have turned into stars in the sky, cold and distant. Johnny mechanically steered his horse, searching for Mary along the path trampled by countless horses.
No one would have thought that this nineteen-year-old boy could possess such determination. Perhaps fate favored Mary, and also favored the ever-evolving Johnny Joestar, for good luck finally arrived.
After running for several hours, Johnny saw a familiar figure.
The other party came against the moonlight, and seemed to be walking on a thin snowy veil.
Johnny felt his throat choked. He tried to catch his breath, but the next second, his mouth started yelling, "Mary, is that you?"
From afar, a familiar and reassuring voice called out, "Johnny! It's me!"
Mary is alive!
Mary is alive!!
Johnny cried uncontrollably, tears streaming down his face. His curled-up body twitched, and he let out a heartbreaking sob.
Mary was also frightened by this. Although her legs had not yet fully healed, she still used all her strength, ignored the bleeding wounds on her body, and ran towards Johnny: "Johnny, what's wrong with you? Are you okay?"
Even with tears in his eyes, Johnny could still see how much blood was on Mary's body and how many holes her clothes had in them.
Why is Mary always there for me when I need her? Why am I not there when Mary needs help?
Johnny felt extremely painful about this realization.
His horse noticed something was wrong with its master and immediately lowered itself to try to put Johnny down, but Johnny was so concerned about Mary's injury that he didn't notice the horse's movements immediately.
The two sides had a rare lack of tacit coordination, and Johnny was caught off guard and rolled directly to the ground. If he hadn't fought several times and hadn't been flexible enough to use his hands to support the ground and reduce the impact, he would have been in a very messy state.
Seeing this, Mary breathed a sigh of relief and quickly squatted down, preparing to carry Johnny back onto the horse, but Johnny gently but unquestionably pushed her hand away.
"What's wrong, Johnny?" Mary found that Johnny was looking at her wound seriously, which had not yet healed. She said in a light tone, "Don't worry, it will be healed soon."
"I don't want to be a waste anymore."
Johnny lowered his head, and his facial expression could not be seen clearly. Even his tone could not tell whether he was happy or angry. It seemed that he was stating a fact that had been accepted for a long time.
Hearing Johnny's words, Mary was full of disagreement: "Johnny, why do you suddenly say such discouraging words? You are so outstanding, and you always win the first place in every horse race." She wanted to hold Johnny's face and wipe the sweat and tears off his face, but she didn't expect Johnny to wipe her hand away again.
Now, even Mary didn't know what Johnny was going to do.
She stared blankly at Johnny, who seemed to want to get up but fell down again. For a moment, she didn't know whether to stop him or encourage him.
"Why am I frantically collecting corpses? Because I found my feet moving. Mary, do you know? My legs have lost all feeling a long time ago, but they really moved!" Johnny patted the dust off his pants, and continued to persevere in supporting the ground with his arms, as if trying to stand up.
"Later... after my body was buried in the saint's spine, my legs began to move again." Johnny fell heavily again, and a large piece of skin was scraped off his elbow, but he seemed not to feel the pain and mechanically repeated the previous action again.
"I'm afraid of failure. I'm afraid this is just a dream. I'm afraid I'll still be disabled when I wake up. That's why I never dare to move my legs, even if they seem to have feeling." Johnny said this before he fell hard again. This time, the fall was even harder than the last, leaving a gash on his face from the sharp stone. Mary was horrified, but Johnny didn't care. He avoided Mary's hand and refused to accept her help.
"And then...because of my own fear, I almost lost the most important thing in my life."
The moon was nearly obscured by dark clouds, yet, contrary to its usual form, it shone brighter than before, radiating a radiance comparable to that of the sun. The still childish boy, his face a crisscross of light and shadow, looked surprisingly mature, as if he had truly grown up in an instant.
"I came to the horse race to recover my leg, but the real reason is just to be worthy of you. I don't want to... lose to anyone, and I don't want to accept charity."
Under Mary's incredulous eyes, Johnny's legs actually moved.
It wasn't leverage, nor was it a misalignment, nor was it Mary's illusion.
The leg that had been paralyzed for more than two years was actually trembling as it stood on this land.
"If I can stand up this time, I want to accompany you and run the entire race. If I fail, I will withdraw according to your wishes. We... can go to another place."
Mary felt the tip of her nose turn red and sour.
"Johnny...you don't need to blame yourself. That's my own business."
"But Mary, when I was disabled and nearly persecuted in the black clinic, it had nothing to do with you, right? You've already given so much for me, Mary. You've taken your efforts for granted, but I haven't."
At the last moment, as dark clouds covered the moon, Johnny stood up.
His body was covered in the gray marks of the fall, looking filthy and messy. Blood from his elbow flowed to his wrist as his arm fell, but Johnny seemed oblivious.
He did not have the excitement to stand up again. He just used his hands to wipe away the tears on Mary's face.
"I'm sorry, Mary." Johnny's forehead was against Mary's, and they hugged each other in the darkness.
The tears on both sides were salty and bitter. Johnny whispered, "Mary, don't cry."
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