Chapter 70 Making Ice from Boiled Water (8)
As soon as he finished speaking, Shu Ningmiao immediately got up, reopened the chat window with You An, and asked him where he had just seen Eric.
You An was confused: [The nearest teaching building is the sixth teaching building, located near the dormitory entrance.]
"What are the characteristics of that thing?" Shu Ningmiao turned around and glanced at Lian Nagi, her gaze sweeping over them indifferently.
“It’s a round white stone…it looks like a stone, nothing special.” Rennagi couldn’t have predicted her sudden change in mood. Her eyelids drooped, as if an invisible barrier had suddenly separated them.
If his description matched Yelü Qi's, then at least he wasn't lying. Shu Ningmiao put her hands in her pockets and walked towards the sixth teaching building, ignoring him completely.
After answering truthfully, he coughed lightly as if to cover up his mistake, and caught up with her: "Are you going to find Erice? Do you want that stone?"
Shu Ningmiao didn't speak, but he followed behind her quietly: "I can help you get that stone from Eric."
He knew that Eric and Shu Ningmiao weren't on very good terms, so if Shu Ningmiao went to Eric to ask for something, she probably wouldn't succeed.
She glanced at Rennagi with some surprise. Rennagi looked listless with her eyes downcast, and her lips, which were already pale, had lost all color. "Aren't we friends? If you have something to say... you can just tell me directly."
For Rennagi, she was the only person in the world who knew everything about her past, someone she could talk to and confide in without any reservations, and was special in every way.
But for Shu Ningmiao, it was not like that at all.
When did they become friends? Shu Ningmiao pondered, deciding it was best not to correct him: "That thing can kill people."
Rennagi paused for a moment, looking at her in shock: "Impossible, I carried it with me for months, and it was just like an ordinary stone. Only people with Manla disease have a special reaction to it..."
“That’s exactly what I mean,” Shu Ningmiao answered clearly. “What you call a reaction isn’t an illness, but rather an acceleration of death.”
"How could this be?" Rennagi froze.
Because of the contract, she couldn't talk about Yelüqi's worsening condition: "You say you're doing this for the world, trying to eliminate the effects of Pandora and Manra diseases, but in the end, aren't you just playing with people's lives like the Pinheid government?"
Unable to refute her words, Renna walked quickly to her side, her lips pressed tightly together: "I'm going to find Eric to get that thing back."
"Why would Achini give it to her?" Shu Ningmiao felt something was wrong. Both of them were students, so there was not much difference whether the item was in Lian Nagi's hands or in Eric's hands.
“I don’t know,” Rennagi said softly. “Archini seems to think she’s very important.”
Achini used to care a lot about Shu Ningmiao, but later it seemed that he shifted his attention to Ai Riji and began to focus on nurturing her.
Rennagi knows about Erici's special abilities and thinks she has great potential. With Archini's help, she might one day be able to truly purify the Manla disease.
This was the ending he truly desired.
Although Pingyi was destroyed, his main purpose was not revenge, but to hope that no land like Pingyi would ever appear in the world again.
This must be why Achini values Arrighi.
Rennagi thought innocently.
"Really?" Shu Ningmiao noted his words down and stopped talking. The two of them walked to the sixth teaching building. There were no elective classes today, and the lobby of the teaching building was eerily quiet.
Shu Ningmiao had never been to the sixth teaching building before, but she was very familiar with it because it was where music elective courses were held.
Shi Yu spent most of her time in the music classroom on the second floor. Ai Ruiji had an elective course called Modern Music Appreciation, and according to the game's plot, that's how the two met.
Shu Ningmiao guessed where she was and headed straight for the music classroom on the second floor.
As soon as you step onto the stairs to the second floor, you can feel the lingering, delicate piano melodies in your ears.
The soft, soothing piano music was relaxing. Renna looked around curiously and asked, "School's already over, why is there still piano music?"
But one must admit that the beautiful melody lingered in the empty classroom, as clear as water, possessing an indescribable beauty.
Shu Ningmiao turned her head to the side, her earring swaying slightly, a sign that someone was using supernatural abilities. She opened her terminal and saw that the status suffix "Arrogance" was in use.
The music being played is continuously imbuing each listener with a certain state of being.
Shu Ningmiao didn't know what this state was, but judging from the rhythm of the song, it shouldn't be a negative state.
Besides, she knew who the person playing the music was.
Rennagi looked over obliviously and saw Eric sitting in the corridor outside the music classroom on the second floor, his legs curled up and his hands tightly hugging his knees.
Inside the classroom, the melodious music continued to flow. Erice didn't make a sound, simply listening to the piano music. Her fingers, clenched together, were red from being twisted. The sunlight disappeared into the dark clouds, making her look very lonely.
Shu Ningmiao stood quietly a few meters away from her, thinking that she seemed to really enjoy listening to others play the piano.
If he hadn't truly resonated with the music, Erici wouldn't have taken the initiative to talk to someone like Shi Yu.
Shu Ningmiao neither likes nor dislikes music, but she doesn't rely on other people's music to relieve anxiety when she's feeling lost.
She could see that Erice's anxiety was even greater than before.
Erici stared blankly at the smooth floor beneath her feet. After hearing Shi Yu play the piano for the first time, she found that hearing Shi Yu's music made her feel a little better.
Although she didn't know the principle behind it, it was like a free painkiller without side effects. Whenever she didn't have any classes, she would sneak over to the music room door and listen to him play the piano for a while.
Shi Yu didn't seem to care. He would occasionally look up and see her, and he would just give her a slight smile.
She was grateful, but recently she has been coming more frequently.
When Su Ni first took her to Xindi, she was greeted by a gentle woman named Sister Liang.
Although she grew up in New Earth, she almost never stepped outside the orphanage. New Earth was dangerous everywhere, and they were warned from childhood that they couldn't run around.
Sister Liang told her a lot about Prometheus.
The woman knew every member she encountered perfectly, a far cry from the image of a madwoman in the eyes of the world. In Prometheus, there were ordinary people suffering from the disease of Manra, people who had lost their families, and people persecuted by Pine.
Sister Liang said that she was once Cornunus's teacher, and Pigne's inaction caused her to lose her child forever.
To seek justice for her daughter, she gave up her former identity and preferred to hide in a place like New Town, living a life where she could not see tomorrow.
“This is the price of resistance.” The woman laughed, not shying away from bringing up the past, and seemingly not regretting choosing a path that might have no future: “But someone always has to resist.”
Being a teacher in Cornunos is a profession that Erie can only look up to; not only must one's grades be excellent, but one must also pass three teacher qualification exams.
Erice thought it was amazing that she could give up her status, fame, and money so easily; she was the kind of mature and determined woman she wanted to be.
Erigie knew she didn't have much to give up, and if she could become Cornunos's teacher, she might just settle for this ordinary but carefree life.
Sister Liang took her to meet Achini.
I heard he is the strongest ability user in Prometheus, and can even fight against the wielders.
The man with long, dark red hair, leaning against a large cat as if he had no bones, spoke a few words to Sister Liang in a low voice, but neither looked at Sister Liang nor at the person at the center of the conversation.
It sounded more like a command than a speech.
He said to Sister Liang, "Give this to her."
She took a palm-sized golden tree branch from Sister Liang's hand.
“This is…” Erice picked up the golden branch and looked up timidly.
“This is for ‘burning’.” Archini finally looked at her. Erice looked into his eyes and felt a chill for some reason: “If you want to see me, light it.”
She felt she probably wouldn't reach out to him first.
Achini was a handsome yet enigmatic man. Whenever she saw him, she instinctively wanted to stay far away. After returning home, she inexplicably began having nightmares all night long.
Her dreams were filled with the black liquid she had seen that night in her childhood, and the man she had seen through a hole in the corner of the wall. The man's smile before he died haunted her like a ghost.
She kept having the same dream over and over again, and she began to fear dreaming, fear sleeping, and couldn't eat anything.
Memories that were almost forgotten became clearer in detail in the recurring dreams.
Her fear of death strengthened her trust in Prometheus, but also intensified her anxiety.
She felt a bit resentful towards the man who haunted her dreams, wondering why he kept pestering her.
After tormenting her for many days, one day, a member named "Lotus" coldly sent her a message.
Achini wants to see her.
Lian left nothing behind except those words. Just as she was wondering what was going on, she discovered that the golden branch she always carried with her had started to burn on its own.
The flames weren't scorching, but they grew larger and larger until they completely enveloped her.
She stepped out of the flames and found herself in a place she had never seen before, having left the girls' restroom in the teaching building.
This is an abandoned church, seemingly severely damaged, with only a few broken walls and some seats crushed by stones remaining.
Weeds grew rampant among the rubble, and the gray, broken walls looked utterly desolate.
Among all the ruins, only the central pool stands out. The circular pool is built about half a person's height from the inside, with half of it outside and half inside. Even without maintenance or care, the water inside remains clean, with a faint blue hue, as if it is glowing.
She circled the pool, wondering where Achini, who had said he was looking for her, was. Suddenly, she heard a soft splashing sound from the pool. Achini lay down by the pool and looked at her; his eyes were fixed on her like a ghost.
Eric was so frightened that he gasped and took two steps back.
Archini propped his chin on his hand and looked at her: "Do you want to know?"
"Know what?" Eric answered hesitantly. He had already talked to Sister Liang and she knew most of it. What else did Achini want to tell her?
Her wet hair, flowing down the water, clung to the man's face. He smiled at her, and Erice couldn't quite put her finger on what his smile meant—it seemed like malice, yet also like pity—and for a moment, it suffocated her.
He seemed to be able to read her mind: "The truth about yourself, the truth that's been obscured."
Erice grew increasingly uneasy: "My...what?"
“Have you ever wondered about your parents?” Achini looked up. “How did you end up in an orphanage?”
"This is such a boring question," Erice clenched her fist. She had been in the orphanage ever since she was conscious.
It's perfectly normal for parents to abandon their children in New Zealand; nobody cares about their reasons for doing so, since these people themselves might not even live to see tomorrow.
Even some people in the main urban area would abandon their unwanted children in the new land.
Lucky children are found by religious believers or nuns and taken to orphanages.
But many more children simply starve to death in garbage dumps.
Eric was never curious about his parents, nor did he ever think about finding them.
She had been abandoned, and the nun was her only mother.
"Didn't the nun who raised you tell you about your parents?" Achini's smile revealed sharp teeth, and a strange malice flickered in his eyes: "Is this also a kind of mercy?"
Eric raised his voice: "These are all irrelevant!"
"Are you really not bothered?" Achini asked. "Haven't you met your biological parents?"
She had never seen it before.
Eric looked somewhat embarrassed and annoyed, feeling that he was just teasing him.
Achini spoke softly, as if in a seductive, enchanting voice: "You know, you've seen that man—your father—with his terminally ill wife, entrusted his child to a nun he knew well, because they didn't have long to live."
Eric listened to him speak as if he were listening to another person's story.
The nun's mother had never told her such a thing.
“This couple, both suffering from serious illnesses, saw the wife die a week after their daughter passed away, but the husband survived for several years.” Achini smiled, brushing his fingertips across the water beneath him, and slightly raised his hand towards her: “The husband, taking advantage of his ability to walk, did some low-paying jobs, and gave all the money he earned to the nun, hoping that she could use the money to send their daughter to school.”
"He dared not see his daughter as she grew up, afraid of leaving a shadow on her heart. And so it went until his death. But ironically, he still left a shadow on his daughter in the end, and in the most terrifying way."
Eric clenched his hands tightly: "Are you telling a story?"
Achini walked forward on his own, as if talking to himself: "Until I die, he said, I will secretly... take one last look at her, just one look, the last look."
“In the corner of the orphanage, there was a dilapidated little corner,” Achini continued, “—I just wanted to see my child, and God granted his wish.”
Eric couldn't help but shiver.
The black liquid in the corner seemed to have spread to her feet again, and the stench of sewers filled her nostrils. There was a man's corpse, a smile, and tired bloodshot eyes.
She shuddered and instinctively looked down, only to find herself standing on broken stones with nothing beneath her feet.
Her underwear was soaked with sweat, and a cold wind blew by, making her shiver.
She always thought that this disease happened to someone else.
She never imagined that her biological parents would die because of this. It wasn't that they didn't love her or abandoned her; on the contrary, all this suffering stemmed from Pandora.
Without Pandora, she would have loving parents and a normal, happy family.
A tear fell from Erice's eye.
"Do you know what the most important condition is for 'ignition'?" Achini said unhurriedly.
She no longer knew what Achini's expression was like; she clutched the golden branch in her hand as if fleeing for her life.
“Yes, that’s it.” Achini was not surprised by her actions at all, and said in a low voice, “Some people are born to ignite themselves, while others need nourishment.”
She couldn't understand what he was saying.
"Oh, right." Achini seemed to have thought of something: "Remember to keep the things I gave you safe."
His last words melted into the fire, and Jinzhi seemed to be ignited by her emotions, bursting into flames. Her world spun around her, and she collapsed onto the washbasin in the women's restroom, finally escaping that place.
She was like a bird suddenly falling from its flight, suddenly learning about her parents.
Not long ago, she was still resentful that the man in her dream kept bothering her. She felt that she had neither explored Pandora nor dumped garbage into New Land. Even if he was sick, he had no reason to bother her!
The nun's mother never mentioned that she had parents; she thought she was able to attend preparatory school outside because she was the best student.
She stumbled out the door, not knowing where to go, and could only instinctively head towards the music classroom.
Even such painful emotions seem to find some peace in Shi Yu's music.
She was lost in thought when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She was still thinking about her parents, which was the most sensitive time of her life. When she was tapped, she immediately wanted to jump up and scream, but the person quickly covered her mouth.
"It's me," Rennagi said in a low voice, not wanting the person inside to hear.
Shu Ningmiao followed behind, watching Lian Naqi crouch down and move from under the window to Ai Ruiji's side without even lowering her head.
Inside the window, Shi Yu sat in front of the white grand piano, having stopped playing sometime earlier. His fingers rested on the piano lid as he looked at her and smiled.
Shu Ningmiao glanced at Lian Nagi and Ai Ruiji, who were whispering, and then at Shi Yu, whose gaze seemed indifferent.
Rennagi lowered her voice as much as possible to Erici: "Could you give me that thing first?"
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