Interlude 9 of Chapter 119: You are the human anchor I chose.
As he uttered the name, Nanmen Jue's face still held a smile, but his eyes suddenly turned sharp.
When she realized who the person might be, countless guesses flashed through her mind.
Her relationship with Ying Yao was special. Because of her friendship with Nanmen Yu, the mysterious powerhouse in this reincarnation space showed her extraordinary kindness as soon as he appeared. He helped her a lot and even saved her life at the risk of danger, but in the end, Nanmen Jue betrayed him.
Nanmen Jue bet that he would protect the others, and sure enough, the others survived.
She didn't completely disregard their lives; there were always parasites secretly protecting them. But without Ying Yao's help, even if they had survived, their fate would probably have been far worse than it is now.
Nanmen Jue was unsure what Ying Yao thought of her now.
Enemies? Foes? They've all come to the real world. It's impossible for him to have no ulterior motives. Now we'll see what he wants from finding Nanmen Jue.
The handsome man opposite did not deny it and admitted his identity.
He was looking at Nanmen Jue, and Nanmen Jue was looking at him.
Ying Yao's appearance was never revealed in the previous world. Nanmen Jue was not the only one who was curious about him. Now that he had seen his true appearance, it was quite different from what Nanmen Jue had imagined.
When fully armed, Ying Yao appeared very tall and strong, especially when he extended his lightsaber, he looked like a cyberpunk medieval knight, with a presence comparable to Star Wars, which stunned Nanmen Jue.
However, when he took off that cloak, the real Ying Yao was a tall and slender man, exuding an intellectual and refined air, completely different from the cloaked, cold-spoken, and lightsaber-wielding interstellar warrior who would pull out a lightsaber at the slightest provocation. He even looked like someone who missed the bus.
The two looked at each other with a strange gaze for a moment, and Ying Yao nodded slightly.
“Nanmen Jue,” he said softly.
"I wasn't disguised, I didn't wear a mask, so confirming my identity shouldn't be difficult." Nanmen Jue, a question lingering in his mind, deliberately probed, "How did you find me?"
“Tools.” Ying Yao spoke more concisely in reality than in the cycle of reincarnation. “That tracking tool can also be used here.”
Nanmen Jue's tense nerves relaxed slightly.
To ensure that reincarnators are willing to serve Him, the main god keeps their real-life identities secret. Unless the reincarnator reveals them themselves, not everyone has the ability to see and investigate the true identities of others in the real world.
However, Nanmen Jue did indeed encounter someone with such extraordinary abilities.
Because Xu Yang knew Zhang Chuxi's true identity, he was able to threaten her and lead her to her death, something she would never forget.
If even a mid-to-high-level manager like Ouroboros has this kind of power, what more could Ying Yao do?
Even though she has added another layer of insurance to her real identity this time, she still cannot guarantee that no one can uncover her true identity. As a high-level female reincarnator, she does not have the support of an entire guild like Terra. It is easy to imagine what she will face.
Fortunately, it seems that Ying Yao didn't forcefully uncover her identity; rather, it was the props that were revealing her true identity.
Nanmen Jue's heart was in turmoil, but her face showed no sign of it. She casually leaned against the wall and crossed her arms. "Do you hate me that much that you'll chase after me and kill me even after I return to reality?"
This was said with a mix of truth and falsehood. Nanmen Jue appeared nonchalant, but in reality, he was staring intently into Ying Yao's eyes.
Ying Yao frowned slightly. He was very quick; if Nanmen Jue hadn't been watching him closely, he wouldn't have noticed this detail.
“I don’t hate you.” Ying Yao paused for a moment. “Nanmen Jue, I want to talk to you.”
“If you want to settle accounts with me, that’s fine. If you want to collect debts from me, that’s fine too. There’s no need to discuss these things,” Nanmen Jue said. “Don’t be shy. I can settle accounts and pay off debts at the same time.”
Ying Yao pursed his lips. His lips were thin, and paired with his pale face, they looked somewhat harsh and unapproachable, but the words he spoke were not harsh at all.
“I don’t hate you, and I have no score to settle with you,” Ying Yao said. “I told you, you don’t need to return the props I gave you.”
Nanmen Jue was truly baffled. She straightened up from the wall and gave Ying Yao a serious look.
"Since you don't hate me, and you're not chasing me for debts, why bother looking for me?" she habitually made up. "Don't tell me you've fallen in love with me, okay?"
Ying Yao did not answer.
Nanmen Jue's face stiffened, and he turned around abruptly, repeating uncertainly, "You've fallen in love with me?"
She felt a chill run down her spine, and was even more eager to find an answer than before. Yet, she actually saw a hint of... a smile in Ying Yao's eyes?
Ying Yao smiled!
Although it was very faint, he did smile.
Nanmen Jue stood there dumbfounded, feeling that he had never shown such a foolish expression since entering the reincarnation space.
“Look closely, I’m a man,” she said dryly. “A murderer, and I almost killed you.”
Ying Yao neither said yes nor no. He looked up at Nanmen Jue, and only then did Nanmen Jue realize that he had a pair of very clean eyes.
They look like college students who have never left the school gates.
It's hard to imagine that he was an old man who had experienced countless apocalypses in the cycle of reincarnation.
Nanmen Jue found it hard to face those eyes, just like Zhang Chuxi, Zhang Zhi, and Mo Gui. Even though she knew Ying Yao was different from them, she couldn't help but feel a tremor in her heart for a moment.
“Nanmen Yu told me that if I were to meet you one day, and we had no blood feud, and you suddenly acted like a bastard, then you must have your reasons.” Ying Yao looked into Nanmen Jue’s eyes, which seemed to freeze her as she tried to look away. “Nanmen Jue, I am very familiar with killing intent. Apart from when I was facing Cheng Xiuye and the others, I have never seen killing intent in your eyes.”
Nanmen Jue listened in silence, and his first words were: "This is the first time I've heard you speak such a long passage."
Ying Yao: ...
Nanmen Jue pulled himself out of those eyes and looked out of the alley through Ying Yao's shoulder. The sun had fully risen, and the place was no longer as quiet as it was at night. Some shops had opened, and the faint sounds of people could be heard. The smell of meat filling wafted in the air, and another pot of thin-skinned, generously filled meat buns was ready.
"To disregard one's own experiences based on a few words from others," Nanmen Jue paused, "is foolish."
“Perhaps you can explain what those high-level parasites that stayed by our side without making a move, and even saved Wei Chongru’s life in a critical moment were all about,” Ying Yao said.
This time, Nanmen Jue remained silent.
She relentlessly pursued Cheng Xiuye in the final moments, but she also kept track of their situation.
After realizing they couldn't stop the collapse of that world, their goal became simply to survive. Finding hiding places was of paramount importance. But even the most capable people can make mistakes when faced with the collapse of the entire world. Even though they were very united and helped each other, Wei Chongru almost fell into a spatial rift once.
At that critical moment, a parasitic dog suddenly appeared, grabbed Wei Chongru by the ankle, and dragged him out. To avoid appearing too abrupt, the dog bit Wei Chongru a couple more times, and then pretended to fall into a spatial rift before the others arrived.
The acting was clumsy and perfunctory, but Wei Chongru was already unconscious at that time and could not possibly know what had happened. Who knew that Ying Yao would actually see it?
Nanmen Jue's heart was in turmoil, but she tried her best to suppress it. She wanted to curse Ying Yao for being so nosy and having such sharp eyes. It was a waste of his talent not to be a paparazzi. But then she thought of how weak he was in the previous world, yet he still rushed over so quickly, all to prevent Wei Chongru from dying. She opened her mouth, but didn't say anything.
"Seeing is not necessarily believing," she said, her voice lacking confidence.
“You just said I was ignoring the facts,” Ying Yao said.
Nanmen Jue: ...
“This is what I see.” Ying Yao took two steps closer. He had been standing in the sunlight, but now he stepped into the shadow where Nanmen Jue was. “Nanmen Jue, I want to help you. Tell me the truth, okay?”
"...What exactly do you want?" Nanmen Jue said. "Forget about truly loving me. If you want to get something from me, at least tell me the truth."
Ying Yao's gaze flickered for a moment, then settled into a clear light. "I want to find myself again."
Nanmen Jue hadn't expected such an artistic and idealistic answer, and subconsciously asked, "What?"
“I am a retired soldier,” Ying Yao said. “I am a very simple person. I do what I should do in whatever position I am in. As a soldier, I will dedicate my life to protecting my country and serving the people. If you check the newspapers from the past few years, you can still see reports about my act of bravery.”
"..." This was a question Nanmen Jue never expected, and she gave a dry "oh".
Ying Yao has an innocent and upright face, making it easy for people to trust his words. Of course, he has no need to lie to Nanmen Jue now.
She glanced at his figure with a slightly strange look. Although he was tall and skilled, he looked too thin. Was he the type who looked thin in clothes but muscular when undressed?
"The existence of the Reincarnation Space shattered some of my preconceived notions," Ying Yao continued, his expression turning cold.
At this moment, Nanmen Jue realized something interesting: Ying Yao was not someone who liked to fake his emotions or act aloof; he was just indifferent to his emotions, but he didn't hide them at all.
“I tried to stick to my beliefs and my stance, and for a long time I maintained it. Every time I came out of the cycle of reincarnation, I would return to reality, feel the real atmosphere of life, and tell myself that this is my world, the human world I want to protect, not those people in the cycle of reincarnation who would do anything to survive and would sacrifice anyone as long as they could live.”
“But they are indeed people in your human world,” Nanmen Jue said mercilessly.
Ying Yao was silent for a moment, then said, "Yes, I am also a human being."
Nanmen Jue's expression hardened.
“I am just an ordinary person, selfish, greedy, and indifferent. I am no different from anyone else in this world. But I can tell who is different.” Ying Yao looked at her. “Nanmen Jue, you are the human anchor I have chosen. I don’t want to become a real beast, so I’m not helping you. I want you to help me.”
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