Chapter 69 Making Ice from Boiled Water (7)
A few months ago, Shu Changyan started having a recurring dream.
He had never looked at his sister's appearance so closely as he had in his dream.
She seemed to be asleep, her eyes closed peacefully.
His world cannot hear her voice.
Crimson blood continued to flow from his fingertips. He stretched out his arms and slowly, carefully embraced her body.
The blood that trickled down her chest soaked his chest, making it cold and wet. Blood flowed from her fingertips into his palm.
In Shu Changyan's clear pupils, her unusually quiet face was still reflected. Her eyes gradually turned red, and the azure sea was stained a shocking red by the blood.
He had a faint smell of rust about him, and his overly aggressive aura made her uncomfortable, but because he was Shu Changyan, the intimidating feeling softened.
Shu Ningmiao struggled to lift her head, and when she touched his face, she found it was slightly damp.
She remained silent for a while before covering his face with her hands and saying irritably, "What kind of dream was that?!"
"It was just... an ordinary dream, in which you were injured."
Shu Changyan avoided mentioning the word "death" and said gently, "I'm very scared."
In just two short sentences, he had calmed the redness in his eyes, and his gaze became steady and calm again, showing no signs of anything unusual.
Feeling he had overreacted, Shu Changyan turned his face away, letting her rub his cheeks: "Stop playing around, I'll go cook."
Shu Changyan isn't a three-year-old child, how could he be frightened by a dream?
Shu Ningmiao placed her hand on his shoulder and gently pressed it, feeling increasingly uneasy: "What injury did I sustain?"
"I can't see clearly."
In dreams, vision is always blurry and indistinct. Shu Changyan had intended to avoid the topic, but he didn't lie to her: "It was dark around us, you had blood on you, and your eyes were closed..."
As soon as he said those words, he felt as if he were back in the dream he had just experienced.
It was clearly just a vague dream.
Dreams are always the opposite of reality.
The constant thoughts of self-comfort that kept popping up were inexplicably replaced by the throbbing pain in his heart. He opened the terminal and woke up from his dream in the early hours of the morning.
The clock struck twelve, and that day was Shu Ningmiao's birthday.
He got up, changed his clothes, drove home, and sat on the sofa all night.
When he saw Shu Ningmiao walk out of the room unharmed in the early morning, he thought the dream was over.
A dream is just a dream.
But the dream continued to repeat itself intermittently in the days that followed. He often dreamed of Shu Ningmiao's face at night, and his agitation was mixed with shame. He knew that this was not normal.
Each repetition is clearer than the last.
The first time he dreamed of her, he could only see faint traces of blood; the most recent time, he was able to touch the dampness.
It's as if...it really happened.
His vague description gave Shu Ningmiao a strange sense of familiarity.
Although dreams are illogical and anything can happen, how could Shu Changyan dream of her bleeding in a dark place for no reason?
She suddenly grabbed Shu Changyan's arm: "Did you dream that I died?!"
Isn't this dimly lit place the little attic from the game's cutscene?
How could there be such a coincidence in the world?
Shu Changyan's tone was ambiguous: "You are not dead."
Where did it happen?
Shu Ningmiao didn't care why he was inexplicably concerned about this point, and grabbed his arms and shook them back and forth: "What do you remember? What details are there around you?"
Shu Changyan lowered his voice: "Your body is very cold, and there is a layer of light white frost on your eyelashes. I can't see anything else."
Shu Ningmiao looked at him quietly, her grip suddenly loosening.
If she could obtain game chips, it doesn't seem so far-fetched that Shu Changyan could dream of her death.
This also explains his inexplicable anxiety and tension during this period.
Was Shu Changyan's dream related to the game? Could the system that always made typos know something? She felt a pang of hesitation—
"It's my fault." Shu Changyan pinched a strand of her hair that was hanging down and shook it gently: "Pretend I didn't say anything, it was all nonsense, forget about it quickly."
After he finished speaking, he was about to stand up in front of her when he saw Shu Ningmiao raise her head, wrap her arms around his neck, and suddenly lean forward, rushing over to give him a tight hug.
Shu Changyan was completely stunned.
Shu Ningmiao has grown taller and developed muscles through training. Her aura has also become more refined. However, when he hugs her, she is still as soft and fluffy as when she was a child, leaving him feeling helpless.
He was tall from a young age, and could easily lift Shu Ningmiao up no matter what.
Only in that instant did he suddenly realize that Shu Ningmiao was no longer the same as she was when she was a child.
Lately, she seems to have stopped wearing those beautifully packaged perfumes in her bedroom and rarely wears those tiring high heels anymore. Shu Changyan was a little lost in thought; even though he was so close, he could only smell the faint orange blossom scent on her hair.
She didn't say anything, she just hugged him, making his tall and slender figure freeze in place.
After a long pause, Shu Ningmiao turned her head and asked, "If I really died, what would you think?"
The game's plot never mentions Shu Changyan's name, and her death was quickly erased from all traces on campus.
Her father quickly transferred all her belongings.
It was as if no one mourned her death, and no one remembered her existence; it was impossible not to feel ashamed.
At least Shu Changyan will feel sad for her, right?
Shu Changyan pressed her head into his chest and gently patted her back: "It won't happen."
He repeated, "No."
Shu Ningmiao sighed, truly baffled by his certainty. She stopped dwelling on the matter and said, "I have to go back to school."
"There are no more classes." Shu Changyan knew her schedule very well. "Why don't you go back tomorrow?"
"...I'm going to the training ground."
The physical education classes at school no longer offer much improvement for her, and until a solution is found, she can only maintain her fitness by doubling her training volume.
“We’re about to have our second ability practice session, and Teacher Yeluqi isn’t here.” It’s very likely that the physical education teacher won’t be officially replaced until next school year. Most importantly, she wants to go back and ask Rennagi for clarification right now: “I need to go back to training.”
Seeing that she was determined to go back to school, Shu Changyan, who always listened to her, could only drive her there. Suddenly, on the way, he suggested, "I can teach you. What you need is practical experience. There is a small-scale practical simulation system in the United Building."
This system was specially made by the research center a few years ago. Because the system is completely closed, the simulation range is not large, and the enemies are very simple. It is divided into T0 to T6 levels of danger, and at most there is only T4 difficulty. Even students who have not yet graduated from the String Light Academy can fight it back and forth, so it does not serve much training purpose.
The system is placed in the operators' lounge, which is actually somewhat useless, because given the frequency of the operators' missions and training, they simply don't have time to use this thing to kill time.
However, it allows two people to enter at the same time. Shu Changyan has never been a teacher, so the most useful and efficient way is to fight against Shu Ningmiao. He entered the military region when he was a teenager, and all his moves were learned by crawling and rolling in pools of blood. There is no method or fancy skills, just for killing. The corpses under his sword are not pretty.
Ordinary training grounds are prone to injuries, but this is perfect for teaching Shu Ningmiao.
Shu Ningmiao's eyes brightened, and she turned her head to look at him with sparkling eyes: "Teacher."
The way she addressed him as "teacher" in such a serious manner was so childish that Shu Changyan couldn't help but laugh and reached out to tap her forehead.
When Shu Ningmiao arrived at school, she turned on her terminal and discovered that she had received a new message from You An.
Upon opening the message, You An's tone was somewhat cautious: "Do you know what happened to Erice?"
Shu Ningmiao reread his message and found the question strange.
She replied: "What's wrong?"
You An seemed to have finally found someone to confide in, and couldn't wait to type out a whole bunch of messages: "I think she's been acting strange lately. I bumped into her at the bottom of the stairs today, and she seemed distracted. She bumped into my ribs, and I almost broke them. If it were just once in a while, it wouldn't be a big deal... but lately it's happened every time I see her. Has something happened to her? ..."
He offered a whole host of enthusiastic opinions, which Shu Ningmiao skimmed through, then suddenly stopped at one line.
Yu An said that when he bumped into Eric this afternoon, he saw that she looked very haggard and her lips were purple.
Judging from the location, she must have teleported to the new place using some kind of supernatural device.
Has Prometheus already made a move against her?
What exactly are they planning?
She wasn't very concerned about Erici's situation, glanced at it and put it aside, then contacted Rennagi and casually arranged to meet at a random place.
Before the other person could speak, her first question was: "How did you make Yelüqi fall ill?"
Rennagi was used to being called out by her from time to time without any reason, like a dog whistle.
The boy had just leisurely opened the dessert page of the menu when he was caught off guard by her question. He turned pale with fright, glanced around nervously, and only relaxed slightly after confirming that no one was around or that there was no listening device: "Don't say that in a place like this..."
Shu Ningmiao's expression was calm, but her gaze towards him held a sharp edge, and her brows were furrowed.
Seeing her frown, Rennagi panicked and her mind went blank: "...There is something that can affect the condition of patients with Manra disease."
How could the research center not know about something like this? How did Prometheus discover it?
Shu Ningmiao gripped the handle of the coffee cup tightly: "What is this?"
“I don’t know what that is.” Rennagi lowered her head, her eyes seemingly fixed on the table until they would look up. “It was given to me by Archini.”
"Then you know what its effects are, right?" Shu Ningmiao stared at him, "When you use it on Yelü Qi."
“I know it will trigger his illness.”
Rennagi's voice grew softer and softer: "But I only used it once, and it was the only chance. Patients like Manla are not allowed to stay in the capital. Teacher Yelu is the only patient in all these years who has been granted special permission to remain at the Xuan Guang Academy. I had to do this. Only by letting you see with your own eyes what he looks like when he has an attack will you believe the truth."
He seemed completely unaware that this thing was a death warrant. Shu Ningmiao didn't intend to argue with him. If Achini told him to use this on Yelü Qi, he might have intended to kill Yelü Qi from the beginning.
What could be more shocking than seeing your respected teacher die in front of you?
Shu Ningmiao said, "Give me that thing."
Her tone was harsher than when she threatened to kill him last time, carrying an undeniable ruthlessness. Rennagi's throat bobbed slightly, and a look of astonishment appeared on his face.
Several days later, he sensed Shu Ningmiao's murderous intent once again.
She can turn on you in an instant; Shu Ningmiao seems to have two faces, using him and then discarding him.
Even so, Rennagi was still desperately trying to exonerate her and find a reasonable excuse.
She knew he had targeted Yelü Qi, so her anger was understandable.
Teacher Yelü Qi is innocent.
It's just causing him to have this disease once. Once he has this disease, he will suffer from it until he dies and rots away. He will have to endure the pain of many more flare-ups, and each time the pain will be no less than the pain he caused this time.
Even though she tried to justify it to herself, Rennagi knew very well that what she was doing was wrong.
He flinched, wanting to run away, but finally whispered, "It's not with me... Archini told me to give it to Erice."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
