Chapter 141 A Branch in the Nest Forest (4)
All uncirculated test samples are subject to monitoring; Shu Changyan had told her that every bullet in the gun has a traceability system.
She understood the implication in his words.
Compared to those with superpowers, guns are far less useful than real swords and knives. He gave her the gun, but its real purpose was elsewhere.
Facing Wei Shengqianheng, she fired all her bullets in one go.
This action was enough to cause the monitoring system to shudder and issue a level one alarm.
As long as abnormal behavior can be detected and attention is drawn, even if the signal here is interfered with, rescuers will arrive soon.
The fire was still burning, and the green specks of light dancing in the air gradually dissipated, but they had already isolated the boiling flames in another world.
She knelt beside Shi Yu for a long, long time, her fingertips sliding down to touch his wrist, which was beginning to lose its warmth.
His face was pale, his long eyelashes fell down, casting faint shadows under his eyes, and he curled up like a child, nestled against her, as if asleep.
She gathered her light blonde hair, dripping with blood, around his shoulder, strands pressing against her knees. The loose hair clinging to her face fell down, drying into several blood clots.
Shu Ningmiao had seen many dead people. The faces of people when they died had subtle commonalities, whether it was resentment or pain. Only Shi Yu's expression was calm and expressionless.
She tilted her head back, slowly calmed her breathing, and tried to control the chaotic thoughts that kept popping into her mind.
My ribs are broken, and even breathing is painful. I am exhausted both mentally and physically, and I feel extremely uncomfortable.
Everything is over, but is it really over?
She still didn't understand why Wei Shengqianheng disguised himself as the Holy Son of the Church of Praise, why he created Achini, a monster just like himself, and why he repeatedly attacked the Council.
Dominate the world, incite war... or simply want to destroy the world?
Neither of them seem like it.
He was secretly plotting, but each time he let things unfold as they would, standing idly by. He even followed her to the abandoned church and watched helplessly as she killed Achini.
If she hadn't accepted Shi Yu's invitation this time, the banquet would have been just a one-man show for Shi Yu, and he could have stayed out of it and continued to pretend to be that gentle and kind church saint.
What exactly is Wei Sheng Qian Heng's purpose? Or perhaps he has no purpose at all, and the former savior has lived for too long, becoming a complete madman over the long years.
After waking from her past dream, she repeatedly calculated countless possibilities before deciding on the method of laying stones.
If even this cannot make Wei Sheng Qian Heng disappear completely, then what else in this world can kill him?
She closed her eyes wearily, when suddenly a loud crash erupted outside, and the heavy door slammed down, shaking the ground like thunder.
The smoke in the lobby had not yet dissipated, but the fire had shrunk considerably.
People outside forced their way in to put out the fire, spraying large streams of water that created billowing white steam. The room was a mess, and the smell of burning mixed with white smoke filled the nostrils.
The wailing of sirens echoed through the sky. Shu Ningmiao looked up and saw helicopters hovering in the distance, while fully armed rescue workers poured into the entrance.
Only a few minutes have passed since the fire started, and several staff members on duty in the responsible departments have already received numerous inquiries from higher-ups.
Before he could even finish dealing with that, the parliament launched into a tirade of criticism and demands for accountability, and then the matter was quickly taken over by the leaders who rushed over.
The information was transferred from the research center to the military headquarters and then to the police department. Tonight, almost everyone in Pinhe knew that the Shi family's house had been burned to the ground.
Just as the fire was brought under control, the trembling figure of the woman upstairs leaped down and stumbled to her feet.
The woman collapsed before her son's body, her long, platinum-gold hair cascading down, swaying gently.
Her sobs momentarily drowned out all other sounds around her.
Tears distorted Madame Grana's once pale and beautiful face. The woman's features were contorted, and she stared at her with wide, desperate eyes, her expression one of despair and pain.
She stared at the gun in the girl's hand, crying and screaming like a madwoman, and pounced like a lioness, trying to grab her hand, her expression almost dazed.
Shu Ningmiao held the gun in her hand, remained silent, her gaze unwavering, coldly fixed on the scene.
Rescuers in protective suits pulled Grana away from her collapsed body and helped her onto a stretcher. The woman cried and struggled to run away, but was quickly pushed back down.
Rescue workers evacuated the scene in an orderly manner. Fortunately, they arrived in time, and there was still room for recovery.
There are irrefutable facts and survivor testimonies.
There were arsonists and saviors.
The gun was in her hand; she killed Shi Yu.
Shi Yu committed the crime first, and she fired the gun afterward. Although she took action, she absolved herself of all responsibility and was not guilty at all.
He meticulously planned his own death.
The once bright dome above was now charred and shiny from the fire, and the Shi family home had been reduced to ruins.
The ash on the ground mixed with the burnt Pandora into a sticky black mass, clinging to the broken tiles and rubble like a spider web.
She sat wearily on the ground, as if sitting in the damp stomach of a corpse.
One hand grabbed her arm and lifted her up with extra care.
She turned her head and recognized the familiar figure behind the large gas mask, then silently looked away.
It wasn't that she didn't want to talk; her body was in so much pain, it felt like it was going to explode, and her eyes were so tired she could barely keep them open.
But she dared not relax at this moment, so she could only shut her mouth and stand up with her last breath.
The person who came helped her walk forward silently for a while, and stopped at the door. The medical rescue team was waiting outside the Shi family's house. When they saw that there were still people trapped inside, they rushed over in a chaotic manner, pushing wheelchairs.
Shu Ningmiao immediately pulled her arm away and sat down, pretending to be dead.
The person who had helped her stood still, let go, and removed the gas mask, revealing Yu Lu's stern face.
The man stood firmly beside her like a pine tree; she could tell with her eyes closed what expression the secretary to the head of the public security bureau was wearing.
His gaze shifted from her haggard face to her bloodstained chest. Yu Lu became serious and let out a barely audible sigh, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he remained silent and said nothing.
This incident was unusual. Although he really wanted to ask her what had happened, he knew very well that he should avoid her in front of so many eyes to prevent her from getting into deeper suspicion and entanglement.
Knowing she couldn't escape repeated questioning from various departments, Shu Ningmiao didn't want to say another word and lay in her wheelchair with her eyes tightly closed.
The Dian-05 missile, which had no bullets in hand, was carefully sealed in a vacuum bag by the inspector and preserved as evidence.
She could hear the hushed conversations of the medical staff as she was carefully moved to the medical station. The doctors around her dealt with the blood-soaked clothes and stains stuck to her skin, secured her chest with elastic bandages, and then went to treat other patients.
Her injuries were not too serious. With proper treatment, the broken bones from the impact did not pierce her internal organs, and because the direct contact with the flames was short, her skin only suffered some minor burns.
Once the ward was completely quiet, she opened her eyes and turned her head to look out the window.
The sky remained as dark as it had been at the banquet, still not bright.
It's only been a few hours, but it feels like it's been so long.
She couldn't help but wonder again, was Wei Sheng Qianheng really dead?
He kept pressuring her to go back in time, which made her vaguely suspicious.
Why doesn't he go back in time himself? No matter how many methods she comes up with, he can keep reloading and starting over until he gets a satisfactory ending. Anyway, he's a madman, so he probably doesn't care about the consequences anymore.
She seems to have overlooked a fact.
Setting a pocket watch forward by one second is a completely different concept from setting all the pocket watches in the world forward by one second at the same time.
Using strings on a small scale is like setting a pocket watch forward by one second, while going back in time is like folding a section of a line up, using the past timeline to completely cover the present.
They now possess the same power, but the world's current timeline is unique, akin to a pair of parents planning a divorce fighting for custody of their child.
In this respect, Weisheng Qianheng is not as competitive as her.
The world has been reborn for her, and time flows naturally because of her.
The string must be biased between the two.
So that's it. Perhaps what he lacks is—
"Dominance"
It's not that he doesn't want to, but that he can't.
No wonder Arcia thought this was the only possibility; in all the timelines, only her current moment caused Wei Shengqianheng to lose his long-standing home-field advantage.
Although he has completely merged with Pandora, he may have been unintentionally limited by her consciousness in terms of the strings, and in terms of time, he is not as flawless as she thought.
However, even though he possessed Shi Yu's body, he would still be limited by Shi Yu's physical limitations. If his body were still intact and he were to unleash his full power, she might not be able to defeat the original user.
There must have been people with superpowers stronger than her over the past few hundred years, but surprisingly, no one stopped him, allowing him to live to this day.
This time, he intends to replicate the horrific events of the parliamentary purge. What will the Pinheid government's stance be upon learning of this? Will they continue to push forward with the Cherubim Plan?
My head hurts so much.
She adjusted her ability to the [Lazy] state, which doubled her recovery effect, but she could not engage in any offensive actions or use other states.
Shu Ningmiao lowered her eyelashes, deciding to stop thinking about things that hadn't happened yet and take a nap.
But once she closed her eyes, she would suddenly recall Shi Yu's pale face, the strange and dark light and shadow in the depths of his seemingly calm eyes, as if she could feel his abyss-like light gray pupils traversing her face. The smile on his lips was still there, and whenever she guessed what he was thinking, she felt completely unable to figure out what he was thinking.
The image shifted, and those eyes became dark and deep again, unfathomable.
Outside the ward, things were still bustling about. She couldn't sleep soundly. A nurse came in and helped her draw the curtains in the ward, covering her completely so that not a single ray of light could be seen. The outside lights flickered on and off. After some time, her fingertips twitched, and she opened her eyes again, turning her head sharply.
The man leaned down to look at her, his blue eyes calm and serene. Their eyes met, and she exchanged a glance before slowly turning her head away under his imposing gaze, staring at the ceiling.
No wonder she always felt like there was a gaze watching her in her dreams.
The dim light from the corridor outside the ward fell on Shu Changyan, his tall figure half-shrouded in darkness. He hadn't changed out of his uniform, and his figure still seemed to carry a bit of the chill from outside.
She was wrapped in thick bandages, and he felt a pang of heartache looking at her, his eyes slightly lowered.
"It's okay, go to sleep first."
Shu Changshen reached out and slowly approached her, parting her slightly messy hair from sleeping. He soothingly touched her face, then gently took two of her fingers and placed them on her forehead. His voice was gentle, without any hint of anger: "The representative will come to visit you in a little while."
She opened her eyes and saw Shu Changyan, and then wanted to close them again, but the gentle voice that reached her ears instantly woke her up: "...How long have I been asleep?"
"The matter concerning the Shi family has been resolved in sixteen hours."
Shu Changyan propped his arm up to check the electrocardiogram monitor. Due to years of habit, even sitting in this cramped space, his back showed a sharp and upright posture: "The survivors with minor injuries have already finished their questioning. I told them not to bother you. You need to rest."
It was probably something he had threatened the police; Shu Changyan spoke of it so naturally that she felt ashamed of herself.
"...Why did the parliamentary representative come to visit me?" She frowned, her eyes filled with wariness and confusion.
"Because you saved thirty-four people." Shu Changyan stared intently at her, his long, slender fingers tracing her shoulder. He seemed to want to hug her, but was also careful because of her injuries. In the end, he just played with the ends of her hair with his fingers: "Isn't that amazing?"
He looked down into her eyes and praised her, saying, "You're so amazing."
If he weren't held in place by bandages, she would have loved to pull out the pillow and smother him.
After being glared at by her, Shu Changyan rested his chin on his knuckles and just smiled, but there was no hint of a smile in his eyes.
For those who wield war machines, breaking two bones is a trivial matter, but when it happens to Shu Ningmiao, it still makes his heart ache.
If she hadn't been allowed to attend the banquet, she wouldn't have gotten hurt, nor would she have had to kill her playmate.
He could secretly cancel all the banquets, or find an excuse to let her stay in a safe place for a while, as long as he kept it from her... he could keep it from her.
But he couldn't bring himself to show her this abnormal thought. Call it indulgence or blind faith, Shu Ningmiao had always been like this since she was a child. She would never change her mind about what she wanted to do because of anyone.
Now she is a strong-winged hawk, and should not be bound by anything. All he can do is help her soar high.
He stroked her hair: "You saved them, and you deserve all the honor and praise."
Shu Ning thought for a moment and then asked him, "Has the National Security Bureau given you any trouble?"
Although she had a legitimate reason for her actions, firing shots in the city would still cause some trouble. The military couldn't reach her superiors, and half of the parliament's families had been saved by her. It seemed that only the National Security Bureau could cause her trouble.
Shu Changyan glanced at her, and taking advantage of her inability to move, reached out and pinched the tip of her nose: "It's none of your business."
After saying that, he suppressed his smile, a cold glint flashing in his eyes, and then a cold voice came from the door of the ward.
"Excuse me, could you please move aside?"
Shu Ningmiao turned her head to the side. The black-haired man leaning against the door with his arms crossed looked straight past the person by the bed and scrutinized her on the hospital bed with a grim expression.
Weston hastily threw on an orange-green coat, his face stern and gloomy as always, as if a storm was brewing. He probably thought she had once again lost her mind and risked her life, and since she was sent to the infirmary every few days, she really had no reason to argue.
Shu Changyan pressed his hand against his forehead, his expression extremely indifferent, and said without turning his head: "If you can't walk normally, there are wheelchairs at the door."
“I need space to use my powers.” His voice was hoarse, and the corners of his thin lips turned down slightly.
Shu Ningmiao had never heard of having to choose a place to use one's special abilities, so she ignored his words and said, "Teacher, you can sit on the other side."
Weston discovered that she really liked to use polite titles to cover up her blatant disrespect.
She herself didn't think so at all.
Weston arrived just in time. She is currently in the [Lazy] state, which doubles the effect of treatment. Combined with the effects of Weston's healing ability, her body can basically be fully healed.
She was still worried about the existence of Wei Sheng Qian Heng and was eager to be discharged from the hospital to go to the Yangsong Church to investigate the matter again. Since Wei Sheng Qian Heng, who was attached to Shi Yu, was shattered from the inside out by the stone, does the Holy Son still exist now?
Shu Ningmiao withdrew her gaze and fell into deep thought, seemingly oblivious to the stalemate before her.
Weston seemed about to glare at her, but held back.
He sat down on her other side unhappily. Just as he raised his hand, Shu Changyan frowned slightly and stared at him with eyes as sharp as knives.
Shu Ningmiao pondered to herself for a while, cursing Wei Shengqianheng in her heart to be reduced to ashes, when she suddenly noticed that the nonchalant mocking voices in the room had disappeared.
Yu Lu entered with his assistant, and upon seeing the two of them, he showed a surprised expression and nodded slightly.
He pushed a chair over and sat opposite her, opening his notebook. His assistant hurriedly tried to turn on the recorder, but Yu Lu shook her head, indicating, "It's okay, don't be nervous. I'm not here for interrogation, just to inform you of some results."
The black-haired, blue-eyed man sat upright, not looking at them. Although his expression was gentle, he possessed a fearsome and aloof aura. Moreover, he wore a sash and a serpentine insignia symbolizing the military executor's sword and shield on his shoulder. Weston, with his legs crossed, sat more casually, but his face carried an exceptionally gloomy and mocking expression. Everyone knew that he was difficult to get along with.
Facing the two powerful figures, the assistant kept his head down, not daring to look up. He could clearly feel cold sweat dripping down his forehead and felt that he was the most nervous person there.
Yu Lu turned the page without any reaction.
Three dead and thirty-four injured.
The dead were superhumans arranged by the Lin family. They were not burned to death, but died from Wei Sheng Qianheng's casual wave of his hand the moment he broke free from her connection.
His reaction speed is simply unmatched by ordinary people.
Yu Lu seemed to suddenly remember something and asked her, "Do you know any of the Shi family's servants?"
Upon hearing this, Shu Ningmiao's pupils contracted slightly, and it was impossible to tell what she was thinking. After a long while, she shook her head.
Madame Grana was in poor health and extremely sensitive to noise. The Shi family didn't have many servants to begin with, and that night it seemed that the servants had also been locked up in the manor, but she didn't have the energy to pay attention to their whereabouts.
Yu Lu told her that no servants were found in the manor that day. The bodies of the servants were found in the basement of the Shi family manor. The body of a young lady from the Yang family, who was also her former classmate, was also found there.
Since the servants of the Shi family had long since died, what were those servants she saw that night?
The scene from that day seemed to play back in slow motion countless times in her pupils. Shu Ningmiao stood there, suddenly recalling the appearance of one of the maids.
The waiter who opened the car door for her had very dark eyes.
Yu Lu read from the record meticulously: "Shi Yu invited thirty-seven guests under the guise of his mother, corresponding to the thirty-seven seats in the Joint Council. Given the previous case, we believe this is a serious copycat crime. Furthermore, after on-site investigation and simulation, he dumped more than 1.6 tons of liquid Pandora inside the manor, exceeding the maximum limit for the circulation of Pinnepane Pandora. Grana, as an accomplice, is currently receiving treatment for mental health issues and is temporarily fined 900 million CIN."
Where did Shi Yu get such a huge Pandora from...? Could it be one of those Pandora that the Yangsong Church secretly mined?
She suddenly remembered the Pandora's Spring she had found under the abandoned church of the Yangsong Church. There must be more than one such spring, and Wei Shengqianheng should know this better than anyone. No wonder Achini would appear in a church belonging to the Yangsong Church.
Apart from Lady Grana's room, every corner of the Shi family estate was destroyed, and the entire manor was burned to the ground. It was unknown how long Lady Grana's mental and physical health could hold out. The Shi family was quite wealthy, and things could change in an instant. In just two days, it was already on the verge of collapse.
Finally, Yu Lu thoughtfully told her that her classmate lived next door and, although only his leg injury was more serious, he was in low spirits... He seemed to be a little too considerate.
She nodded, struggling to sit up in bed, thinking that even if Weston was dismissed by Parliament next time, he could still become a therapist.
Weston seemed to see what she was thinking and gave her a warning look. Shu Changyan hated any gaze that fell on her and turned his head to look at her coldly. Weston then pretended not to see her and began to look at Yu Lu.
Just then, Yu Lu looked down at the time, and his assistant behind him immediately shrank back, scratching his head under Weston's sharp gaze.
The atmosphere in the ward was already tense enough when there was another knock on the door.
Shu Ningmiao took a deep breath.
"Miaomiao?" A clear female voice rang out as the door opened, and a fluffy brown head peeked in through the slightly ajar door, its plum-colored eyes scanning the room without any politeness.
Xiao Jiang looked around and then casually closed the door. Her straightforward voice could be heard both inside and outside the door: "Representative, there's no room inside."
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Author's Note: There was another person with dark eyes mentioned earlier...
Wonderful: The world is a vast microcosm.
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