Chapter 116 The Hunchbacked Shadow (3)
In the quiet and peaceful world, a sharp and long tinnitus suddenly entered my brain, buzzing continuously.
In the midst of a dizzying spin, she seemed to hear the clicking sound of the hands trembling.
Everything around her instantly transformed into a soft light, like a waterfall, slipping through her fingertips and becoming an unrecoverable phantom.
Shu Ningmiao subconsciously reached out, her fingertips piercing through the light screen, shattering into starlight and disappearing.
The shattered light curtain suddenly made her realize that she had left Shu Changyan there forever.
Shu Changyan, at the age of twenty-seven, was frozen in time, never to move forward again.
The continuous buzzing in my head stopped at that moment.
Shu Ningmiao opened her eyes; there was no blood on her face, and no snow in front of her.
Her outstretched hand was grasped by another pair of transparent, misty hands.
The shadow stood right in front of her, as if through a veil, making it impossible to see anything clearly, yet it conveyed a sense of pity: "How pathetic."
The ethereal and dreamlike voices lingered in her ears, impossible to shake off. Countless voices, like poppies, tempted her and led her back.
A voice floated past his ear: "You left his remains there forever. He's lying in the snow; he must be cold."
She knew perfectly well that the dead couldn't feel the cold, yet the image of those icy snowflakes falling on his eye sockets grew ever clearer in her mind, making her eyes ache with an unbearable, agonizing pain.
There is still a chance.
The soft shadow fell over her tightly clenched hands, and the voice carried an extremely unhealthy allure: "The reality you are in has not yet reached the reality of his death. You can still go back to him. He is there, covered in snow."
"You can go back."
"—Change the time." Another voice nestled on her shoulder, its breath sweet and fragrant: "You know how to bring him home with you."
"It's so simple, look, time is right in your hands!"
As if bewitched, she couldn't help but look down at her hands, time flowing through her fingers like a long river and rushing behind her.
Click, click, click, click, click.
The pointers overlapped as frequently as her heartbeat.
An unprecedented sense of control over time and space swelled from her heartbeat, almost drowning her in the power.
She can change things, she can start over, she can make the world revolve around her ideas.
She could turn back, she could go back to any timeline she wanted, and take another look at Shu Changyan at twenty-seven.
But she knew more clearly than ever that the voice came from the depths of her heart, from that slight desire that was shaking her mind.
—It was exactly the same feeling she had when she received the Crimson Palace Stone that day, completely bewitched.
Shu Ningmiao lowered her eyes, heeding the ever-present temptation, and dazedly grasped the string in her hand, passively being pulled back a step by time.
A slight feeling of weightlessness swept over her from below, pulling her down into the void. She heard that thing's faint laughter spreading in her ears.
“Yes, that’s it, we are the same kind.” The misty, translucent hands suddenly released their grip on her wrists: “Having overturned the Flow of Strings with the power of the Omniscient and the Foundation Stone, you stand before me, yet you can do nothing…”
—Its final note abruptly stopped with a soft "pfft".
The change came unexpectedly.
Time seemed to stretch out infinitely around her. Shu Ningmiao raised her hands, and the sharp cones formed by the flowing strings pierced through the shadow's chest with enough force to penetrate it.
The illusory shadow, as if ignited, scorched through an almost transparent hole.
"How... is this possible!"
She pulled out the string, and pierced its translucent body again and again, a second, third, and fourth time.
“I know who you are.” The girl’s long, jet-black hair cascaded down, flowing like a silken curtain through its semi-transparent body, like layers of rope: “You will live forever in the past, becoming a tombstone for the dead.”
She raised her eyes and looked at it with disgust. The dazzling pupils were like two sharp knives, and in the depths of the eyes were two intense flames that seemed to burn everything to ashes, emitting a breathtakingly bright light.
"How could I possibly lose because of memories!"
The battered figure stared intently at her, then slowly began to emit a hollow laugh.
The shadow she was tightly holding began to gradually disappear, and with her movements, the surrounding space shattered and scattered into countless fragments.
She sat up straight from the sofa.
Weston sat across from her with his arms crossed, looking gloomy. The first thing he said to her was, "You've been unconscious for two hours."
Shu Ningmiao hummed in response, then absentmindedly pressed her head down: "Thank you for not throwing me out."
Weston abruptly stood up, the chair scraping against the floor with a screeching sound. The pale blue veins beneath the skin of his neck bulged, and his voice was laced with barely suppressed trembling: "Is it funny?"
He stared at her, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down, and threw the silk handkerchief in her face.
Shu Ningmiao removed the handkerchief and found it stained with dark red spots. She wiped it with her hand and realized it was blood from her own nose.
It was indeed a bit too much of a stretch.
She absentmindedly pressed the silk handkerchief to her face.
Weston watched as she carefully wiped the blood from her face, pressed one hand to her brow, and suddenly spoke quickly and softly, "I'm sorry."
Shu Ningmiao was taken aback for a moment, then said, "Sorry, I didn't hear you."
"Don't push your luck."
He glared at her, coldly tossed out a sentence, walked to the bookshelf, leaving her with only his back, and remained silent for a long time before speaking again: "...I won't use you as an experiment anymore."
Shu Ningmiao sat cross-legged on the sofa and picked up the instrument next to her and fiddled with it for a bit.
All the wires on the device had been deliberately pulled off, and the screen was no longer responding. In the past two hours, Riverton had probably tried many ways to wake her up.
She stared at Weston's neatly combed black hair at the back of his head, her almond-shaped eyes showing a hint of surprise, but quickly curving into a smile: "I made my own choice, why are you apologizing?"
"Also, there's nothing wrong with what you made." She jumped off the sofa, supporting herself with her hands, and calmly stretched her body: "I'm fine."
She has roughly figured out where the problem lies.
It wasn't that Weston's equipment was faulty, but rather that without the game system to stop her, she absorbed both Crimson Palace Stones in one go.
If these two Crimson Palace Stones were converted into Pandora equivalents, she would already be the richest person on the planet. With such a massive amount of Pandora stored in her body, she feels incredibly light and light, as if she could punch ten Westons. Unfortunately, he is the only support ability user here, so she can't use him to test her skills.
She raised her hand and waved: "Then I'm leaving."
He turned his head to the side, his gaze sweeping over her healthy, radiant skin: "Where are you going?"
She casually tapped on her device; the lock screen displayed several missed calls: "Back home."
Upon hearing this, Weston turned around, his hands in his coat pockets, his smooth black hair tucked behind his ears, revealing his full forehead and green eyes.
He removed the glasses that were stuck to his ear, a thin layer of gas clinging to the lenses, and his lips tightened in displeasure: "...your brother."
"Never mind." An unreadable emotion flickered in his eyes. "You can go."
Weston stood there, the setting sun lazily streaming in through the French windows, casting a desolate golden-red glow behind him, but his face was obscured by the backlight.
Shu Ningmiao turned to look at him: "Before school starts, could you come with me to see Arsia one more time?"
His gaze swept over indifferently, still with that aloof demeanor, remaining silent as if revealing no emotion whatsoever.
Shu Ningmiao closed the door and left, and the room fell silent again, as quiet as a tomb.
Weston's office was on the 72nd floor, while the Executive's lounge was on the top floor. She didn't choose either place, but walked around the elevator into the emergency exit, leaned against a blind spot in the surveillance, and closed the door behind her.
Picking up the terminal again, she opened the familiar game software on the screen. The blackness that had been severely eroded before vanished in an instant, as if illuminated, without leaving a trace.
A bright and warm game interface pops up on the screen, with the cursive title slowly appearing and then fading away.
Through the small glass of the terminal, a hand reached out and touched her fingertips across the screen.
Behind the screen, a familiar yet unfamiliar face was vaguely revealed.
Her vibrant green eyes were filled with tenderness and worry, and her dazzling sandy gold hair accentuated her fair and delicate face.
On the screen was Arsia's face.
To be precise, it was Arsia's face two years later. This face was completely different from the Arsia she knew, and it already possessed the mature and composed demeanor of an adult.
"Should I say that when we first meet?"
She smiled gently: "My name is Arcia. At this time, you may already know me, or you may not, but for both of us, this is the first time we've met."
Shu Ningmiao thought she was calm enough, but when she stared at the terminal, she still felt her fingers gripping it spasming uncontrollably.
"The fact that you can see this video means that the string current I am attached to the chip is about to dissipate."
“To protect your rebirth, I merged my consciousness into the String Stream.” Arcia smiled slightly: “Sorry, the String Stream has no ability to think, it must have annoyed you.”
Shu Ningmiao silently observed the face behind the screen, as if it were a video call that transcended time and space, with the girl's every word and action incredibly vivid.
"You still saw the past."
“Now you should know why I don’t want you to go back to the past. He wants you to go back to the past only so that you can’t let go of it and he can lure you into becoming like him.” Arcia was also looking her over at the same time: “Darling, no matter what it says, don’t believe it.”
"Humans are so insignificant in the face of the machine of time; it is hard not to get lost when standing in front of such a behemoth."
"Sadness, regret, despair—everyone has had the desire to change the past."
Arcia closed her eyes in front of the screen: "But what kind of terrifying thing would a person become if they kept turning back time and refused to face reality?"
"It will become him." Shu Ningmiao paused, a subtle change occurring in her heart: "The 'fate' you've been fighting against is him, his name—"
"I can't say it." Arcia raised her hand to cover her mouth and gently shook her head. Shu Ningmiao saw many of the string-like currents she had seen in her dreams, which wrapped around Arcia and prevented her from speaking. Countless black messages flooded the screen, turning into distorted and jumping words.
Fate has always watched your death.
The system that constantly converses with her in "Secret Love" is the String Flow that embodies Arsia's consciousness.
Shu Ningmiao belatedly realized that Arcia had a peculiar little habit: the girl used to call Weston "the Raven" and herself "the Pearl."
There is not only Arsia in the String Stream, but also someone who can truly control it.
Arcia's consciousness can reside in the game, and so can another person's.
The "Secret Love" chip she obtained revealed that all the information she saw was not solely due to Arcia's influence.
—And the person she referred to as "fate".
The name that couldn't be spoken directly, Arcia always referred to as 'fate' because this person was indeed watching her from within the String Flow, vying for dominance with the String Flow in the game system, and attempting to control her destiny.
...After obtaining the game, prompts about left and right brain conflict would appear from time to time, and the identity of the "villain" was full of incongruity and malice.
The recurring, mind-altering dreams she had were all traps set by that person to erode her consciousness.
Arcia left behind the consciousness of the string that protected her and that person, who have been battling each other in this so-called "Secret Love" game, with neither able to gain the upper hand.
Not long ago, in order to resist that person's corruption, the entire game system was on the verge of collapse.
Now, because she shattered the shadow in her consciousness, Arcia's consciousness was able to have a brief resurgence.
Now it will eventually disappear.
Shu Ningmiao asked instinctively, "Why, why are you helping me?"
Her voice was a little tired and hoarse: "Your consciousness has merged into the string flow, which means that the you two years from now... is no longer here, right?"
"You're quite perceptive. Why should I help you? Of course, it's because we're friends." Arcia smiled at her without any guard up: "—Just kidding. It's not that I helped you, it's a mutual choice. There just happened to be someone willing to rebuild your body, and I just happened to believe that you would never be deceived by others. The world just happened to need another person to fight against him. The true 'time reversal' controlled by the string means that from the moment you returned to reality, the time two years later has completely ceased to exist, including me two years later. It's impossible for two of me to exist at the same point in time. I was supposed to disappear anyway, and now I have to go back to where I belong."
"From now on, it's just an ordinary gaming chip, and all the restrictions previously set to protect you will be lifted."
"I can no longer accompany you on this journey." After a long silence, Arcia reached out and touched the screen, whispering, "From now on, just do what you want to do."
"The one I truly believe in is you." Her voice gradually faded: "At the crossroads of fate, one choice is enough to change everything. What I believe is that with you in the world, it will surely lead to a different future."
Shu Ningmiao also extended a finger and gently tapped the screen until the image on the screen gradually faded away.
The pop-up windows on the interface kept refreshing.
[Activated State [Rage]: While in this state, all abilities are increased by 100%. When emotions exceed the threshold, a berserk state is activated.]
'Activated state [Jealousy]: Steals the abilities of those who meet the jealousy criteria, up to 75% of their power. Only one ability can be stolen at a time, and once overwritten, it cannot be reversed. Cooldown time is 48 hours. (Currently stealing the ability 'Neural Connection')'
'Activated state [Greed]: Sacrifice a specified portion of perception, abilities, or status, and concentrate them on another specified part of the body.'
'Activated state [Lust]: By touching any part of your body, you can "transfer" any state of yourself to a designated object. During the "transfer," the object will remain in a [Submissive] state.'
[Activated State: Laziness]: Healing, recovery, and purification abilities are twice as effective on those in this state, but they cannot launch any attacks.
『Activated state [Gluttony]: Consumes any part of tissue, temporarily mimicking the shape of the original tissue, and randomly inheriting some abilities』
—This is the complete form of her superpower.
Shu Ningmiao stood there for a long time, looking at her outstretched hand, the winding lines on her palm being tightly clenched in her hand by her fingertips.
Her hands and feet were cold, but her heart was beating strongly, so powerfully that she could feel its rhythm without even lifting her hand to touch it.
The loud, rapid heartbeat in her ears told her with unmistakable clarity that she was still alive.
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