Chapter 139 A Branch in the Nest Forest (2)
The "Forgiveness" domain, which was several times wider than before, gradually unfolded, and all the superpowered individuals in the area lost their ability to use their powers.
The Pandora that adhered to the skin to keep the flames away gradually dissipated, and the flames fell on the person like whips, frantically trying to tear the skin off.
From then on, all possibilities of escape were artificially blocked.
The despairing reality is staring us in the face, leaving no room for wishful thinking.
—This was not an accident in the first place.
The water residue left on the damp floor before the banquet was not from careless servants, but rather diluted Pandora.
Every entrance and exit of the vast manor was blocked in advance by Shi Yu's arrangements, and no ordinary person could break through it with their strength.
Once they lose their power and status, and their special abilities, they have no way to save themselves. This place has become a veritable hell.
Lin Chuxu had been secretly planning and scheming for so many days, but she never expected to encounter such a situation where her superpowers failed, let alone on such a large scale. This was simply unreasonable! With all communication cut off inside and outside the manor, she knew that she might die here today.
Ignoring the pain in her body, she struggled to rush towards the man standing in the center and fight to the death.
The legs, scalded and bleeding profusely, were in such extraordinary pain that time stretched on endlessly, each step forward feeling like an eternity.
In the blazing firelight, Shu Ningmiao and he restrained each other, creating a strange stalemate.
As she took her last few steps closer, the two people facing each other opened their eyes at the same time.
The area where the supernatural power of "forgiveness" is nullified has been fully formed.
Pandora fueled the massive fire, which would reduce the entire manor to ashes in just two or three minutes. Without rescue, they would all die here.
Shu Ningmiao kept her head slightly lowered and remained motionless, as if she had just come back to her senses from an out-of-body experience, completely unaware of the fiery tongue licking her skin.
Seeing the man's fingers trembling slightly in the distance, Lin Chuxu disregarded everything else and used all her strength to call out her name with all her might.
"—Shu Ningmiao!!!!"
The girl's shrill voice was hoarse, as if it had been crushed by a knife.
What came into Lin Chuxu's view was a pair of gloomy eyes. Shu Ningmiao raised her eyes, but her gaze was not on her. Instead, it was as cruel as a sharp sword, as if it wanted to tear the man in front of her apart.
The smoke was pungent, and Shu Ningmiao forced out a voice through her throat, unable to control her volume: "You..."
Wei Sheng Qianheng broke free from her grasp, spread his arms, and met her gaze with composure. The bright light from the flames behind him made his eyes appear exceptionally dark in the backlight, like deep, somber ink, making them impossible to see clearly.
Like an abyss with no end in sight, it threatens to drag everyone here down to hell.
Never to be reborn.
His smiling face was young and handsome, extremely kind, yet it sent chills down one's spine.
No one would absurdly conclude that this person is the No. 01 agent who lives in a three-hundred-year-old sealed archive, whose name and all traces of existence have been erased.
The one who died after suffering from Manla disease for ten years, a mutual friend of Edvina and Lanxi.
A dead man from three hundred years ago who should never exist in this world.
Microscopic organisms can generate thousands of units.
Why can only people who have "come back to life" open Edwina's office?
The things kept in the office weren't meant for any one person to see, but were meant for this person who had come back from the dead.
The entire office of Edwina was covered in dust, except for the portrait on the wall behind the curtain, which was spotless and had been carefully wiped clean.
Edwina's portrait hangs on the far left of the wall, but there are two nail marks on the right. No one would deliberately hang their portrait in a corner unless there were other portraits hanging next to it.
Edvina's elegant handwriting came to mind—"You painted me too young, and him too ugly, but you yourself will always look the same."
Lanxi gave her two paintings.
It was Wei Shengqianheng who took away another portrait hanging in the office... his own portrait.
She should have thought of that, but she simply couldn't imagine how someone whose death was being observed and witnessed by everyone could survive for so many years after their body had completely decomposed.
He donned a handsome exterior, posing as the Son of God who revered the Church, and presented himself as harmless, using his Manla disease to lower her guard.
When she first saw his injured hands, she did hesitate for a moment.
But the inexplicable malice towards Erigi, the reappearance of the decapitated corpse in Xindi, and the two executioner's swords simultaneously in the hands of Shu Changyan and the murderer.
The executioner, as Lin Chuxu described him, was the "executor".
Countless clues pieced together an impossible conclusion, but the guess was correct.
At that time, she asked him when he had contracted Manla disease.
He said it was a long time ago, so long ago that he couldn't remember anymore.
This is not a lie.
With the signal cut off, entrances and exits blocked, and all the superpowered individuals in the manor having their abilities shielded, the Shi family's location in a secluded area meant that even the fastest rescue couldn't arrive within a few minutes.
Her superpower also falls within the scope of 'forgiveness'.
However, she is not weak in physical skills.
Shu Ningmiao did not act rashly. She calmed down and looked him over. The heat made her hair disheveled, but her eyes were bright.
Wei Shengqianheng participated in the resistance war and carried out a large-scale massacre in the most heavily guarded United Council in Pinne, and no one was able to capture him for three consecutive years.
Her keen intuition honed through battle allowed her to sense his power; setting aside his special abilities, his physical strength was probably on par with Shu Changyan's.
Within the area, he could use Pandora to avoid the flames, but since her powers had failed, she couldn't afford to be injured again, putting her at a natural disadvantage.
"You shouldn't have come." His figure was shrouded in a crimson halo amidst the leaping flames, his white robes fluttering in the wind: "Tonight, everyone here will die."
"Didn't you invite me?" Shu Ningmiao said sarcastically.
“I did not invite you. All I need is a death that terrifies Parliament to the point of lucidity, and you are not on the list.”
Wei Shengqianheng tapped his brow with his fingertip: "He acted on his own initiative."
"Are you two really that close?" He lowered his gaze meaningfully. "What did you see just now? Did you see him... or me?"
Shu Ningmiao's voice was stuck in her throat, and a huge chill ran up her spine.
The images flashed by, thick black liquid was slowly injected into blue veins, and a cloyingly sweet and foul-smelling incense spread with an undying stench of decay. Blood mingled, and memories were shattered and blurred in an instant.
Wei Shengqianheng in front of me gently furrowed his brows, his gentleness sending chills down my spine: "At first, he resisted my control over his body and tried to kill several priests, which gave me a lot of headaches... Later, every time I had his mother watch over him, he gradually stopped struggling."
"Don't look at me like that." Wei Shengqianheng lowered his head and looked at her with that familiar gaze again: "I know you better than you think. Not counting the last time, we've known each other for ten years now."
He put his index finger to his lips and casually said, "You secretly stepped on my foot thirty-two times before when we danced this dance, but you dance much better now."
"Shu Ningmiao," he called softly.
Can you tell the difference between me and him?
A fishy taste suddenly rose in Shu Ningmiao's throat.
"You should have died three hundred years ago... So what are you now?"
"I am indeed dead."
Wei Shengqianheng met her gaze and finally spoke: "During those years lying in the hospital bed, I had thousands of thoughts of suicide every day, every second, to end this endless pain, but I still lived until the very last moment when even my organs were rotting."
"Humanity has reached its limit by taking this final step." His gaze was calm. "So I gave up."
“I have given up my existence as a human being,” said Wei Shengqianheng. “Through the special connection of chords, I have completely become a part of Pandora.”
“The bodies of superhumans are filled with more Pandora than water.” Wei Shengqianheng’s eyes held a familiar smile: “As long as a little bit of my blood sample is injected, a connection can be easily established, just like the ‘divine incarnation’ in those legends.”
Wei Shengqianheng's lips curled into a mocking smile, as if he found it somewhat amusing: "They seem to regard me as a god who can grant wishes."
Madame Grana was just one of these faithful followers, neither special nor rare.
His voice paused for a moment, and he reached up to cover his cracked neck. Shu Ningmiao's concern for the cause and effect was fake; her real intention was to find an opportunity to launch a sneak attack. She suddenly grabbed his neck and pinned him down in one swift motion.
With explosive force, she pressed down on him, tightly gripping his neck with one hand. She picked up a bloodstained dagger from the ground, plunged it into his throat, and then pulled it out, stabbing him repeatedly.
She gripped the dagger tightly, the emerald veins on the back of her hand bulging, the blade tip piercing her neck, making a piercing, sharp sound as it scraped across the floor.
Despite his injuries, Wei Shengqianheng was still able to look up at her. Not a drop of blood seeped from his throat. His pale neck, pierced by the knife tip, was cracked open, like the cracks spreading on burnt porcelain, which were healing at a visible speed.
"It's no use." The bones made a strange squeezing sound and clicked back into place.
He looked at her quietly, his neck turned, the scene beyond bizarre: "I am essentially just Pandora, even if I am chopped up, I can be reformed."
A person with superpowers typically has about 80% Pandora inside their body. If they can control this 80% Pandora, they can completely cover their body with that of a real person.
“I said this a long time ago.” She didn’t show any despair, but simply threw away the dagger in her hand and said in a hoarse voice, “Those who are already dead should remain in yesterday forever and become tombstones.”
She ripped off her cumbersome skirt, revealing her close-fitting protective suit. The hem of the skirt fell to the ground and was instantly engulfed by the flames.
Wei Shengqianheng's thin lips moved up and down as if he wanted to say something, when he suddenly felt a cold gun pressed against his forehead.
The gun was pure black, its weight pressing heavily on his forehead, and its muzzle gleamed with a bluish light.
“So ever since then, I’ve been thinking about a question.” Shu Ningmiao pulled a gun from the straps on her leg and pointed it at Wei Shengqianheng’s head: “How exactly do you kill a dead person?”
To subdue the person beneath her, she used almost all her strength at this moment. There was a reason why the Dian-05 that Shu Changyan gave her was still an internal test product. Even though it used precious Dian stone as the bullet material and the shooting trajectory was no longer affected by the ability user Pandora, for an ability user with keen agility, dodging bullets was still as easy as drinking water.
She could only wait, wait for an opportunity when he couldn't immediately escape.
In that instant, she didn't hesitate for even the slightest moment.
As he pulled the trigger, the gun trembled violently and made a deafening noise, almost slipping from his hand.
The gun barrel was driven into the blood-red mole between his eyebrows, and the bullet in the chamber, with its blue primer, pierced through his brow. Without pausing, Shu Ningmiao fired four more shots at his heart and throat, only stopping when all the bullets in the magazine were emptied.
Every finger and arm was trembling and numb from the impact. Shu Ningmiao lowered her head as the translucent blue bullet pierced her body, still emitting a faint blue light, like a seed taking root and sprouting in her skin, preventing the cracked area from healing.
His pale skin began to show signs of wear from the bullet holes, and Wei Shengqianheng's eyes, like those of a lychee, were calmly and blankly staring at her with a white film covering his black pupils.
The blue light in the wound began to expand gradually, his body trembled slightly, and a viscous black liquid began to ooze from the crack, flowing out through the bullet hole.
it works.
An ordinary person wouldn't react so violently to the Insulating Crystal. Since he has completely merged his existence with Pandora, his rejection of the Insulating Crystal will be stronger than that of a typical superhuman.
The moment that thought crossed her mind, she felt her body being thrown off balance by a terrifying force. She barely managed to steady herself in mid-air before crashing to the ground and sliding several meters before finally coming to a stop.
A burning pain shot through her chest, and she gagged, feeling a salty, fishy, and rusty taste rise in her mouth.
She couldn't help but slightly open her mouth, and blood trickled down the corner of her mouth, landing in her raised hand.
A sharp pain in her chest made her dizzy, and everything seemed blurry.
The person who was thought to be dead not far away, dragging his body in the boundless flames, swayed slightly twice, and then quickly stood up again.
Wei Shengqianheng smiled at her, a smile tinged with a hint of mockery amidst the bright flames. He reached out, two fingers plunging into her chest, and forcefully dug out one of the bullets through the flesh, then threw it on the ground.
The hole dug into his chest twitched for a moment, then healed rapidly in an instant.
-----------------------
Author's Note: As Arcia mentioned before, after death, a person becomes part of the string (unconscious), which is essentially returning to become part of nature. Wei Sheng Qian Heng's story is a journey of sensing the string—having only a superficial understanding of it—falling ill and dying—not wanting to die—his willpower was so strong that he unexpectedly discovered that returning to the string after death could maintain consciousness—attempting to become a part of it and live in Pandora—no longer human, directly usurping its place and taking over.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
