Chapter 114 The Hunchbacked Shadow (1)
Her intertwined hands seemed to be some kind of proof that she was still alive.
Her consciousness, separated by his still body, stared at his trembling eyelashes. The dim light only made his brow bones appear even more deep, and when he wasn't smiling, his coldness was chilling.
Shu Ningmiao sighed softly.
She didn't know what Shu Changyan was doing. After all, although he treated her like a living person, he had also inherited her bad habit of never confiding anything except kind words.
It has been about a year or two since her death; her perspective is now limited, and she can no longer discern the passage of time.
At this moment, she began to recall the various doubts she had previously suspected. The story flow chart of the game "Secret Love" showed that she died in Chapter 5, but there were still more than a dozen chapters of story after Chapter 5.
What happened in the blank period of the story after her death? What was the trigger for the world to reset?
No matter how she questioned her, the game's answer was always vague—"Don't dwell on looking back."
Shu Ningmiao frowned, wondering how her body had really become during this time. If she had also become like this, half-dead, would Weston have taken her for an autopsy?
...It's alright, he shouldn't be that stupid.
Furthermore, although the state of 'stillness' trapped her, she was also slowly mastering the method of controlling this world within her body.
Compared to when she was completely confined by her body and couldn't even open her eyes, she can now, although she still can't escape, control her vision to some extent, as if her soul has left her body.
After some time, she should be able to take control of this involuntary "memory".
She just needs time to learn, and she will absolutely—absolutely not be controlled by that shadow man forever.
The morning light shone through the misty window, gradually brightening the room.
The nights in New Town are already short, and the sounds of vandalism often last until the early hours of the morning. Even now, with the sky still bright, all sorts of noisy and chaotic sounds surge through the streets like waves, combining the unrestrained nature of a metropolis at night with the mundane liveliness of the morning laborers.
Shu Ningmiao never expected that someone would come knocking on her door in this kind of place.
She wouldn't be surprised if it were the fully armed Pinheid army coming to her door, but through the door, she could tell from the footsteps that there was only one person outside.
Slightly underweight and not very tall.
Shu Changyan was still sitting beside her, holding her hand and applying lotion to her, oblivious to the commotion outside. Light slanted across the floor through the open door, and he looked up, revealing a slightly indifferent expression.
A figure wearing a black and red cloak stood at the door. He was about the same height as she had guessed from his footsteps, and his figure looked somewhat familiar.
As Shu Ningmiao's gaze drifted over, a familiar-looking fruit knife had somehow disappeared half a foot into the wall behind the newcomer, its handle swaying gently.
The blade was only a hair's breadth away from the man's shoulder, silently conveying the homeowner's disillusionment.
Shu Changyan gently placed her hand down and calmly said, "I have no interest in your childish games."
He clearly knew who this person was, but he didn't care who the person was or what the other person wanted to do.
The man's hand trembled slightly as he slowly lifted the cloak. The soft fur of the cloak trembled slightly, revealing long, curly, pinkish-brown hair and a face dotted with light freckles.
"Please let me finish."
This version of Erice seemed more mature, and although her voice trembled, she spoke fairly clearly: "On the question of Pinne, we share the same goal..."
Arrighi wore Prometheus's iconic cloak, but was all alone.
Shu Ningmiao sat listlessly in her wheelchair. She had thought that in this timeline, Eric and Su Ni had achieved an HtE ending, but she didn't expect it to end like this.
Regardless, Arrighi's dissatisfaction with the status quo destined her to stand on the opposite side of Pinheis.
Shu Changyan's eyes and brows remained unmoved, his indifference utterly unwavering: "Get out."
“A deal!” Erice hurriedly raised his voice: “We just want to make a deal with you. Since you’re inquiring about the whereabouts of the Omniscient, it doesn’t matter who you deal with, right? As long as you help us kill someone, in exchange, I will tell you the location of the Omniscient. The council has already changed the Omniscient’s recuperation location eleven times this year with formal resolutions. They are definitely keeping an eye on you—you know that, right?”
“I really know where the Omniscient One is.” She groped inside her cloak as if eager to prove it: “She said you would believe it if you saw this.”
After rummaging around for a while, Erici pulled out a withered, yellow dried flower from her cloak. The petals clung to the stem, seemingly about to fall off. She awkwardly tried to fix it, her gaze sliding down to the quiet face in the wheelchair as her voice grew softer: "...This flower was given to her by Shu Ningmiao two years ago."
Shu Ningmiao never expected to hear the word "omniscient" again from Eric's mouth in such a setting, but she still remembered who she had given that withered yellow rose to.
Arsia is the "omniscient one" that Yu Lu mentioned. No wonder Erigee was able to find this place; it turns out that it was at Arsia's behest.
Dried flower petals drifted in the wind and landed on the girl's sleeve.
From the moment he entered, Erice tried to avoid making eye contact with the girl in the wheelchair who appeared to be asleep, but his gaze eventually couldn't help but fall on her face.
Shu Ningmiao closed her eyes lightly, her face pale but still had some color in it, as if she was just trapped in a long dream and would open her eyes in the next second.
Even though Eric was still apprehensive about the fact that the person in front of him had kept the body and refused to release the dead, he couldn't help but feel that no one could bring themselves to give up when they saw such a living family member.
Shu Changyan stood up, his hand resting on the edge of the chair back: "Who do you want to kill?"
Eric looked up in surprise, but was stopped in his tracks by the man's calm and indifferent gaze. He took a deep breath and said, "Lucicolai, the current council representative, has an agent protecting him, but the previous generation of agents are all dead. These people are no match for you!"
Shu Changyan's calm expression remained unchanged as he gazed out the window, a hint of a smile playing on his lips: "Kill him, and then what?"
Erici is no longer the child who just left the orphanage two years ago. She went from being troubled by bullying at school all day long, to developing feelings for people she shouldn't have, to losing an arm to survive at the hands of Su Ni, to the death of Achini, and the disbandment of Prometheus.
She made many mistakes and was immature, but she gradually began to understand that others didn't seem to be much better than her.
Finally, she began to act as a member of Prometheus again on her own, gradually gathering some teammates who shared the same aspirations.
Shu Ningmiao's death was like a key that opened Pandora's box. She thought she would be back to a peaceful campus life, but instead it was the declaration of war between Pinheis and Intori.
The kingdom of Tuoli was destroyed at the cost of the lives of many of its leaders.
What followed was the brutal and indiscriminate retaliation of the Intori superhumans against Pine. Superhumans who had fled from Intori to all parts of the world severely damaged the planet and brought about huge aftereffects.
The dangers displayed by those with superpowers have fueled anti-superpower riots in every country. No one, whether they have superpowers or ordinary people, is having an easy time. The only ones who are truly doing well are the upper-class people who have countless guards around them.
Ultimately, no matter how many excuses are made, it's all about possessing Pandora, and such a war is inherently unjust.
All the chaos began in Pine, and Erigge thought, so should all the chaos end in Pine as well.
Two years ago, she might not have understood the meaning behind Shu Changyan's calm tone.
“Do you think I’m naive?” Eric’s lips moved a few times before he spoke: “I know that no one on this planet can leave Pandora. I can’t stop the mining of Pandora, but if Lucico is assassinated, it means someone else will take the throne. At least the pro-war faction will be reshuffled. I… I don’t want to see anyone else die for Pandora.”
Shu Changyan understood: "Whatever."
When Eric saw his eyes, he was slightly taken aback, realizing that his thoughts had been seen through at a glance.
That expression had no hint of haziness or despair; it was clear-cut and bright as the stars. It was not the kind of look that showed ignorance of everything except Shu Ningmiao; on the contrary, it showed an extremely clear understanding of all aspects of life.
Miss Arcia told her that this man had been an agent and was one of the people most familiar with Pinheis.
It's not that he doesn't understand; on the contrary, he understands it all too well. A person who has seen the truth is neither optimistic nor pessimistic, but simply indifferent.
Shu Changyan smiled unexpectedly, looking at her without any emotion: "As a tip for delivering the message, I will kill Lucicolai. You can leave now."
Eric breathed a sigh of relief from the man's domineering pressure.
She wanted to turn around and glance at Shu Ningmiao's face, but for some reason, she mustered up her courage, took a few steps forward, and couldn't help but squat down and lean over to look at the girl in the wheelchair.
Upon closer inspection, Shu Ningmiao was exactly the same as she remembered.
In this rapidly changing and turbulent world, Shu Ningmiao seems to be the only memory that remains intact in her heart. For some reason, the corners of Ai Ruiji's mouth trembled, and she suddenly wanted to laugh.
A chill spread from between her brows, bringing a slight pain. She looked up.
A tall man stood in the shadow of the wheelchair, his eyes slightly lowered, a faint shadow reflected in his clear blue pupils. The pen between his fingers was pressed against her forehead, as if he were about to pierce her head at any moment.
Eric closed his eyes and clenched his fists.
Memories swirled in her mind like shadows, leaving her face pale: "Actually, that day... two years ago, I saw her at school."
"I'm sorry." She closed her eyes tightly. "No one mentioned it again after that, and I thought it probably didn't matter, so I didn't tell anyone."
She couldn't bring herself to say it because she still harbored a vague affection for that person. When she learned of Shu Ningmiao's death, she took a chance and deliberately forgot about it since no one had asked her. However, when she actually saw Shu Ningmiao, her wishful thinking instantly turned into immense, inexplicable sorrow.
“That day, I saw Shi Yu go to the Zhunti Pagoda with her.”
The Cundi Tower of Cornunus, where she died.
-
Taking advantage of the invisible cover of the rain, Shu Changyan led her to the address left by Eric. The sanatorium was very new, and Shu Ningmiao guessed that it was built specifically for Arsia, the omniscient one.
The guards fell silently at his feet, and Shu Changyan formed a black silhouette against the backlight, which grew longer and longer.
She looked at his eyelashes, lightly covering his eyelids, with transparent raindrops clinging to the tips. Even though she knew he couldn't hear her, she couldn't help but whisper, "What exactly do you want to do?"
As expected, there was no response.
If it weren't for Erici's confession, she wouldn't have known that Shi Yu had already disappeared in this timeline—if Shi Yu hadn't disappeared, Shu Changyan would definitely not have come to find Arsia first.
In the only ward where the patient was admitted, the surveillance cameras had been turned off beforehand, and there was no one else there except the patient.
The blonde girl lying on the hospital bed seemed to be asleep, with only the monitoring equipment by the bedside still making noise.
Shu Changyan walked to the bedside in a few steps. Rainwater streamed down his soaked hair, but the girl he held in his arms with a thermal blanket didn't get wet at all.
He said calmly, "I don't think this Don Quixote-like action will change any of Pinheis's plans."
Although in the end he did end Lucicolay's life as promised.
The girl in the hospital bed, with her eyes closed, said, "If I didn't help her, why would she risk coming to you?"
Arsia was probably the person Shu Ningmiao had seen change the most. Perhaps it was because two years ago she didn't look like a fifteen-year-old either, and was as thin as a child. So in the two years, she seemed to have been reborn, and quickly grew from a child into a young woman.
The girl with long, sand-gold hair turned her head and looked sadly at the rain outside the window: "...They're so noisy."
After watching the rain for a while, Arcia propped herself up, looked at the girl he was holding tightly, and said softly, "Let her go. I can hear that she's in a lot of pain."
Shu Changyan only listened to what he wanted to hear: "You can hear her speaking."
“Miaomiao is gone. All I can hear is the sound of strings.” Arcia put her hand to her ear: “Since I was born, I have been able to hear many, many things, things I want to know, things I don’t want to know, things about the past, things about the future.”
Arcia turned her head, her clear eyes looking at you: "I had Erice pass on a message to you, to tell you to let her go."
He helped Shu Ningmiao sit down on the armchair by the bedside, then knelt in front of her, brushing the black hair from her cheek: "I didn't come to you for this reason."
“It’s alright, I can tell you some things about you.” Arcia seemed not surprised at all: “More than twenty years ago, when the Pandora research at the National Research Center of T was making a major breakthrough, the director of the research center at the time destroyed all the data and defected from Pine with her husband.”
"They are my parents."
Shu Changyan stood up and spoke slowly: "In their research, they discovered that Pandora, Manra disease, and superpowers are like different leaves on the same flower, inseparable and inescapable. However, the crystals mined in the Arctic are substances that exist like positive and negative poles to Pandora, and are the only things in the world that can isolate Pandora."
"Because of the Manra disease, they were terrified of superpowers and Pandora, and then a brilliant idea came to them regarding their unborn child—"
Shu Ningmiao's pupils gradually contracted in response to his calm voice.
“Two powerful superhumans will most likely have a child who is also a superhuman. But by modifying that child’s genes and fusing them with the active crystal,” Shu Changyan said without any emotion, “we might be able to create a ‘hero’ who will never awaken superhuman abilities and is completely human.”
"You don't need to tell me," Shu Changyan said calmly. "I've known everything from beginning to end."
“You shouldn’t selfishly trap her.” Arcia closed her eyes, as if listening to something else speaking, and after a long while said, “All souls should return to Pandora after death. Only when she becomes a string can I feel her appearance.”
“She should live.” Shu Changyan lowered his gaze, as if he hadn’t heard, and stared at Shu Ningmiao in a daze: “She likes to live. The grave is not suitable for her. It’s so cold and so small. For so many years to come, she will have to curl up in emptiness and endure pain that she shouldn’t have to endure.”
“Death is irreversible.” Arcia stared intently at Shu Ningmiao’s face, as if she too was gradually enveloped by something sorrowful: “Life will inevitably come at the cost of life.”
“But time is reversible.” Shu Changyan closed his eyes silently, his voice calm and serene: “If you can hear the strings, can’t you also hear the past and the future?”
...completely seen through by this person.
Arcia frowned, her voice trembling almost imperceptibly: "You need to understand this: even if you reverse time for her, her body has already died in that time period. No matter what, she will only be trapped in that time period—the dead can never have a future!"
“After returning to Pines, I have been investigating Achini, the key figure in Prometheus, because I wanted to figure out how a person who did not exist could come into being. One year and three months ago, I finally killed him.”
Shu Changyan calmly said, "As far as I can see, he is a created life form, composed only of Pandora and the combined flesh and blood. In other words, Pandora and flesh and blood can give birth to new life under certain conditions. As the omniscient one, you know how to complete this rebirth. The dead have no future, but new life will definitely have a new future."
“But that’s wrong.” Arcia abruptly turned her head: “Do you know how many innocent lives were lost behind his birth?”
"The agents are sacrificed, the superhumans are held hostage, and the unrestrained war begins to backfire. Since the conflict caused by Pandora, this planet is also heading towards an irreversible end." He stood in front of her, his cold voice like a chilling snake: "As the spokesperson for the planet's will 'string,' you have no choice."
"You defected on purpose."
She remained silent for a long time before suddenly speaking.
“You let Pinne’s credibility collapse and the planet descend into chaos, waiting for this moment… just to force me to help you turn back time.” Arcia shuddered, suddenly understanding something, feeling a chill creep from her fingertips into her heart: “You’re a madman.”
“He was right at that time.”
Shu Changyan did not deny it, his eyelashes drooping slightly, as if he was thinking of something: "The one who loves must share the fate with the one he loves. I don't need anyone's life to fulfill her new life, so it doesn't matter what you do with me. I just want her life to be able to... start over."
“I will share her fate, with my blood and my life.”
He used his cold fingers to lock Shu Ningmiao's hands one by one, palms touching: "I will use my flesh and blood to give her new life."
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Author's Note: Double updates will be released.
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