Chapter 29 The Gray Dome Tower 29 Climbing out of hell...
"So that's how it is," Nanmen Jue said calmly.
After a few seconds of silence, Nanmen Jue spoke again: "So you didn't faint just now, but just hoped that I and that monster would be electrocuted together?"
Zhang Chuxi tacitly agreed.
Nanmen Jue chuckled; she suddenly wanted a cigarette.
Of course there's no smoke here. In the nuclear winter apocalypse, there are so many things that can kill people, but there's no lung cancer caused by smoking.
"Then why haven't you fired yet?" Nanmen Jue said. "Are you hoping I'll be understanding and kill myself willingly?"
Zhang Chuxi remained silent; she was simply crying.
Nanmen Jue clicked her tongue in annoyance, but this annoyance wasn't directed at Zhang Chuxi, but at herself.
"Just asking for your information. If you sense that I'm treating you like a fool, please pretend you don't know," Nanmen Jue said. "How can you be so sure that Xu Yang, that old weasel, won't kill you after he kills me?"
This time, Zhang Chuxi answered her question, "I have a prop, one of my few props, that can guarantee that both parties can complete the contract."
"Oh~"
"Then I'll ask you one last question." Nanmen Jue looked directly into her broken eyes, "When I was about to hand over the chip to you, you said, 'I can't let you get out by stepping on your life,' were you sincere?"
“I’m older than you, I’m the older sister. Even if I’m useless, I can’t step on your life to get out!”
Zhang Chuxi was so resolute when she said those words, like an angry calf, as if Nanmen Jue's actions had deeply hurt her self-esteem and personality. So what was the person pointing a gun at her doing now?
Upon hearing this question, Zhang Chuxi's hands trembled so much that she could barely hold the gun. She closed her eyes and spoke in a hoarse voice.
“Back then, I wasn’t about to die yet, so it was easy to talk big… Who can be so noble when they know they’re really going to die? I can’t, Nanmen, I can only sacrifice you.”
Nanmen Jue chuckled. She looked up, and the sky, reddened by the firelight, began to fall again, the snowflakes icy cold on her face.
Having experienced so many life-or-death moments, only now did she finally feel a trace of weariness emanating from the depths of her heart.
"You are the first person I want to protect besides my sister," Nanmen Jue said softly.
"I'm sorry." Zhang Chuxi slowly knelt down, the gun still pointed at Nanmen Jue. "I'm sorry."
“Have I mentioned my sister? I don’t think so. I don’t really want to talk about tender things in a place like this. Originally, I thought that after we pass through this world and return to that cycle of reincarnation, I would slowly tell you these things, and I would listen to you tell more stories, your family, your upbringing, your divorced parents… gradually deepening our understanding of each other.” Nanmen Jue looked at her. “I thought we would become tacit partners in this dangerous space. Although you are a bit weak, it doesn’t matter. I can train you. We will train together, and I will definitely be able to train us to be strong and survive one apocalypse after another.”
"Stop talking, please, stop talking." Zhang Chuxi trembled even more violently.
“If you don’t want to listen, you can shoot right now.” Nanmen Jue’s expression was icy cold. “Look at your marksmanship, it’s even better than mine. With just one bang, Nanmen Jue will disappear from your life as if he had never existed.”
Zhang Chuxi seemed to be in great pain. She gasped for air, trying to get more air in her mouth. In that instant, she thought Nanmen Jue would suddenly attack, snatch her gun, and kill her. She believed she could do it. Zhang Chuxi trusted Nanmen Jue so much, and with that trust came her fear.
But Nanmen Jue didn't; she just sat there, watching Zhang Chuxi.
They were all waiting, but no one moved.
Nanmen Jue did not retaliate, and Zhang Chuxi did not fire a shot.
They stood frozen amidst the ruins and flames, frozen under the snow and the night, silent yet seemingly prompting profound questions from the soul.
Nanmen Jue continued speaking as if nothing had happened: "My family is very similar to that bastard Zhu Wenjie's. If he didn't lie to gain sympathy, I only have one relative, my sister. She raised me, and just a few days ago, she was dragged into this damned cycle of reincarnation."
Zhang Chuxi opened her eyes wide in astonishment. Through her blurry, tear-filled eyes, she saw that Nanmen Jue's handsome face was covered with a layer of frost.
It's that same expression again, the expression when firing a gun.
Nanmen Jue's next words startled Zhang Chuxi so much that she almost dropped her gun.
"I came in on my own initiative."
"This is impossible!" Zhang Chuxi almost screamed. "How could you know..."
"Do you know how to get in? It's actually very simple. Just think about the whole logic a little and you'll know." Nanmen Jue said, "Remember what I said? Humans can be illogical, but the main god disguises itself as a supercomputer, so its way of doing things will definitely follow some kind of logic."
Zhang Chuxi stared at her, trembling, her eyes filled with terror.
Nanmen Jue smiled at her, just as he had when there was no animosity between them, and said in a gentle but slightly teasing tone, "It wants our despair."
"Despair." Zhang Chuxi repeated blankly.
"Although I don't know why, its purpose has always been quite clear: the fear and despair of the reincarnators, the fear and despair within the reincarnation world... Everything it does is for this," Nanmen Jue said. "Do you remember the circumstances under which you entered?"
Zhang Chuxi subconsciously followed her lead and recalled, "That day was my birthday, but I had a fight with my mother. She wanted to have another child with my stepfather. I said she was too old and it wouldn't be safe for her to give birth. She felt that I was worried about my future younger sibling taking away her and my stepfather's assets... I wasn't. I just didn't want to lose her..."
Nanmen Jue nodded, encouragingly as if they weren't calculating how to kill each other at any moment, "And then?"
"Then I rushed out of the restaurant and accidentally knocked over the cake that was next to the table," Zhang Chuxi said in a low voice. "It was my favorite Black Forest cake. My dress was covered in chocolate crumbs as I ran into the street."
"At that moment, did you feel incredibly lonely and desperate, as if even your closest relatives couldn't understand you? You wandered the streets, feeling like a hopeless, lost soul?" Nanmen Jue stared into Zhang Chuxi's eyes. "And then you received that invitation."
Zhang Chuxi shuddered violently.
Nanmen Jue was absolutely right. She was wearing a new dress that she had specially changed into for the meal, and at the happiest moment, her true feelings were suddenly shattered. The dress was stained with the dirty color of chocolate, and she felt that her love for her mother could never be the same again.
Then, the invitation suddenly appeared in her hand. It was called an invitation, but it was actually just a simple envelope with nothing on it. When she opened it, she found herself in a high-temperature apocalypse. Starlight, dresses, Black Forest cake... everything was far away from her.
"Every reincarnator... gets in this way?" Zhang Chuxi said in confusion. "I don't know, I've never asked..."
"Yes, all reincarnators are pulled in when some kind of intense negative emotion erupts. Once they realize this, it's incredibly easy to get in. And we all know that anything that's easy to get in but hard to get out of is definitely... a scam!"
Nanmen Jue spoke gently, but his body suddenly sprang up. However, instead of standing up, he lowered his body to an incredible arc, just like when facing a high-voltage cable, and attacked Zhang Chuxi's lower body directly!
Zhang Chuxi was startled. The gunshot in her hand shattered the night. Whether it was intentional or accidental, the shot fired from this angle due to inertia missed the prone Nanmen Jue. Nanmen Jue, like a nimble eel, slid through the snow around him, grabbed Zhang Chuxi's wrist from below, and in the next second, pulled her into his arms from behind, choking her throat.
Zhang Chuxi was locked in her arms.
"You lost, Chu Xi."
Nanmen Jue easily took the gun from Zhang Chuxi's hand and pointed it at her temple. She lowered her head, her messy hair obscuring her eyes, and her beautiful lips approached Zhang Chuxi's trembling ear.
"Next time, don't let the enemy talk so much nonsense."
Zhang Chuxi's body suddenly stiffened. Death was already gripping her throat. She was in utter despair, but her expression relaxed.
"I'm sorry, Nanmen Jue," she said softly, her hand groping towards Nanmen Jue's hand holding the gun. "I've set a bad precedent for your cycle of reincarnation, haven't I?"
Nanmen Jue didn't move. "It's quite a surprise. I didn't manage to find a single good person in this first world."
Zhang Chuxi gave a bitter smile. Her fingers were icy cold as she gently covered Nanmen Jue's fingers. "You came in here on purpose for your sister, Nanmen. No wonder I felt you were different from the others from the beginning. I really envy your sister. Surviving in this space is too difficult. You can't win. Don't go to the Gray Tower anymore. Wait for time to pass... After you get out, go find Iron Drill. Let them protect you. Believe me, they are really, really good. You are the kind of person they want—strong, brave, and loyal..."
She suddenly exerted force, covering Nanmenjue's finger and pulling the trigger.
Vibrant blood burst open before her eyes, and Nanmen Jue's pupils contracted sharply. She felt as if she had returned to the Gray Tower. The bloodstains spreading across Zhao Huai Ren's chest were just as turbulent as they were now. Just like before, she instinctively covered their wounds, but she only felt life rapidly slipping away, and the warm body temperature gradually turning into ice.
Zhang Chuxi died in Nanmen Jue's arms. The bullet had blown half of her head off. Nanmen Jue knelt on the ground, covered in the blood of both of them.
She stared blankly at the half-head in her arms. After a long while, she looked up at the sky. Large snowflakes were still falling from the hazy night sky. Her shoulders trembled, and she let out a hoarse howl.
Zhang Chuxi, Zhang Chuxi.
She hated that she had drawn her gun on her, but how could she be completely heartless when people are so close?
Scenes of their time together were forced to surface in her mind. Zhang Chuxi was timid, but she resolutely stood between her and Zhu Wenjie when they first met. She remembered this girl then. Her later approach was partly deliberate and partly genuine. When she escaped, she tested her one last time and confirmed that she was the companion she was looking for.
"You're a good person too, just like Terra."
"If we can survive and make it through this world, would you be willing to come to Iron Drill?"
"You are my pledge of loyalty to Iron Drill."
...
I never imagined that the word "companion" would become a luxury in this space.
Nanmen Jue didn't know how long she had been kneeling. It was as if she had released all the emotions she had felt since entering this world, no, since learning of her sister's disappearance. When she re-examined her situation, she couldn't help but smile bitterly.
The situation is terrible.
Zhang Chuxi is dead, but she still wants to live. None of her injuries are fatal, but the most dangerous thing is that her radiation levels are too high. After dealing with Zhang Chuxi for so long, she feels herself losing control of her limbs. Numbness, coldness, pain, itching... She looks down and sees that the skin on her hands, which were holding Zhang Chuxi, has peeled off halfway, and the throbbing muscles are exposed, making them look almost identical to those radiation monsters.
No, she can't die here, she has to live! She hasn't found her sister yet, how can she die in the first world!
An amazing willpower surged through her mind, and she tried to stand up, but failed. So she used her hands and feet, slowly and stubbornly climbing toward the ice wall.
She wanted to go back, back to... the Gray Tower, where the antiretroviral agent was.
The thought occupied her entire mind, and she struggled to climb, leaving long trails of blood and shed flesh winding across the snow.
It's so long, this road is so long, it seems to have no end. Her vision was dark and she couldn't tell which way to go, but she remembered that there were ice walls all around her. As long as she climbed to the bottom of them, she could find her way out!
She could no longer see clearly, and her brain seemed to have stopped functioning. Even the pain signals in her body could not be accurately transmitted. One moment she felt that she was seriously injured, and the next she felt that she was full of energy. She looked up blankly and around, but both the sky and the ice wall were as black as the sea, threatening to drown her.
Save her... Anyone, please, is there anyone who can save her? The thought of death had never been so clear. Despair pierced her chest, turning into vomited blood clots. The cold was sharper than the pain. She was so cold, so cold that it seeped into her bones. As she crawled, she thought of the gods she had never believed in, but now she should believe in hell.
This is hell. What she is experiencing is hell.
Hell devoured her, stripping her flesh and breaking her bones, throwing her soul into a frying pan. On the road to survival, she had nothing but the ordinary will of a human being.
When she finally reached the bottom of the ice cliff, she discovered that the steel cable had been lost in the previous fall.
Impossible! She can't have died here!
Climb up...climb up...how do I climb up?
Nanmen Jue tried to climb it with her bare hands, but how could that be possible? She couldn't even climb it when she was healthy, let alone now. She climbed a few steps and fell down again. Blood seeped from her chest. She looked down at her blood and suddenly a solution came to her mind.
She took off her coat, pressed it against her body, and sucked her own blood.
Her skin and flesh were peeling off, and blood was flowing out like it was free, quickly soaking her clothes. Nanmen Jue pressed the clothes hard against the ice wall. The hot blood and the cold ice came into contact and quickly stuck together in the extreme cold.
Using this as friction and leverage, Nanmenjue slowly climbed upwards.
If clothes are torn, just take turns; if they get stuck and can't be torn off, just take off another piece... If someone were standing on the cliff top looking down right now, they would probably be terrified to see a bloodied man with exposed muscles throbbing upwards!
She climbed very slowly, but resolutely and tirelessly.
This was something that should have been impossible, but Nanmen Jue actually did it. Although she didn't even know that she had climbed to the top, her consciousness was already blurred, and she was acting entirely on her body's instincts. In the end, she couldn't even perceive her body's instincts anymore. She only felt that the scene in front of her seemed to have changed from a long and boundless ice wall to the sky.
She lay on her back on the edge of the cliff, blinked her lifeless eyes, and then closed them silently.
Large snowflakes fell upon her, obscuring her disfigured body, and her consciousness entered into eternal peace...
“Nanmen Jue”.
“Nanmen Jue”.
"Nanmen Jue, if you don't wake up soon, then it proves that you are nothing special."
"..."
"I'll call you one last time, South Gate—"
Nanmen Jue suddenly opened her eyes, as if she had been suffocating for a long time. She gasped for air, but the feeling of suffocation did not subside.
"Don't breathe. This isn't the real world. Even if you exhale, there's no air."
"But... wait?" Nanmen Jue touched his throat in surprise. "There was no air, yet I didn't suffocate?"
"I told you, this isn't the real world. Aren't you pretty smart? Don't be silly."
Against a pitch-black backdrop, with stars and the Milky Way shimmering within, Nanmen Jue felt as if she were in a vast and dazzling universe. She slowly lowered her head and looked at a crow standing proudly before her...
"Wow," Nanmenjue said.
The crow's posture is reminiscent of nobles in medieval castles, but since it is just a crow after all, the scene looks rather comical.
But Nanmen Jue wouldn't say that. In this situation, even a fool would know that the crow saved her life. She wouldn't provoke it in this unknown place. What if it became petty and killed her again?
The man and the bird stared at each other, each waiting for the other to say something, but neither of them did.
The crow stared wide-eyed at the others. "Why didn't you ask me who I am? Why didn't you ask me where I am? Why didn't you ask me what happened? Why are you different from everyone else?!"
"If you don't want to tell me these things, then there's no point in me asking. If you really have the ability to save my life, and you really do save me, then I only have one thing to say."
Nanmen Jue looked at the crow intently and said, "Thank you."
The crow seemed to have its neck choked; the haughty look in its eyes vanished, and it merely glared at Nanmen Jue, appearing somewhat annoyed, but not truly angry.
"Now you've made it impossible for me to put on any show!" it yelled, flapping its wings in frustration. "Honestly, how can there be humans like you?"
Nanmen Jue was unusually good-tempered at this moment, even with a smile on her face. She looked down at her hands and found that they were fine, as if the terrifying memory from before was just a dream.
That memory of my body being torn apart by blood and flesh, crawling like a walking corpse.
“No need to look anymore. I already said this isn’t the real world. You can think of it as, well, my consciousness space. What’s appearing here is your soul.” The crow patted her hand with its wing. “If I hadn’t pulled your soul in in time, you would really be dead.”
"I see." Nanmen Jue clasped his hands together and asked calmly, "Then can I return to my own body?"
The crow raised its head and looked at her with its small eyes. "No, it shouldn't have been possible. What do I care about the lives of you humans? But since you helped me once, I owe you a debt of karma, and I have to repay it."
Nanmen Jue narrowed his eyes, but did not speak.
“What do you want to say?” the crow asked.
“You shouldn’t be a being from this world,” Nanmen Jue said. “This should be a world without supernatural beings. You are not a human, so you are not a reincarnator. Therefore, you either came from another reincarnation world, or you are directly related to the reincarnation space.”
The crow watched her silently. Nanmen Jue tilted his head. "Did my speculation upset you? Then I'm sorry."
“No, I just think…” The raven pondered for a moment, then suddenly changed the subject, “I am not a god, and I cannot directly interfere with the rules in the reincarnation space. It is impossible for me to directly revive you and heal all your wounds, but I can give you ‘stillness’ to fix your physical state. When you return to the space, you can use points to repair your wounds. You killed that thing, and you have enough points to bring it back to life.”
Nanmen Jue then realized that too many things had happened, and she hadn't had time to check how many points she had gained from killing the high-level radiation monster.
On the contrary, no matter how much, she was not happy.
Seeing that Nanmen Jue's expression was indifferent and he didn't show the excitement he had expected, the crow tilted its head and asked, "Aren't you happy?"
“Human emotions are very complex. I was happy to hear that I could continue to live, but there were many other things weighing on my mind,” Nanmenjue said. “Thank you for saving me this time. We’re even.”
The crow nodded silently.
Nanmen Jue suddenly felt that the crow was actually quite cute.
"Can you take me back now?" Nanmen Jue asked. "I still have a lot to do."
The crow said, "You don't want to ask anything? About who I am, what abilities I have? Maybe if I'm in a good mood, I can help you do what you want to do?"
Its voice was neither male nor female, but carried a slightly immature, youthful quality. It spoke as if it were trying to coax someone rather than to entice them.
Nanmen Jue certainly didn't think that this terrifying being was trying to curry favor with her. Her eyes flashed, and she asked, "So, what do you want?"
“Oh? How cautious,” said the crow. “The help I can give you is beyond your imagination. For example, I can quickly improve your strength so you can go back and take revenge. Of course, time is limited, but it will be enough for you. I will give you the highest combat power in this world, and no one will be better than you.”
Nanmen Jue was truly tempted now. She stared intently at the crow, waiting for it to offer its terms.
“As for what I want…” the raven paused for a moment, “there is only so much that a tiny human can do for me, but there is one thing you can really help me with.”
Nanmen Jue said, "I would like to hear the details."
“You’ll keep me by your side, and I’ll find a way to change my identity to that of your personal prop,” the crow said. “Then you’ll take me to various reincarnation worlds.”
"Is this all?"
"Yes, you can't even take care of yourself, so you can't do anything else."
Nanmen Jue pondered for a moment, while the crow became somewhat anxious. It shifted its weight from its left claw to its right claw and lowered its head to preen the feathers on its chest with its beak.
After pretending to be busy for a while, Nanmen Jue still didn't say anything, so it got impatient, "What's wrong with you? Is it so hard to decide whether to agree or not?"
"Sorry, I just thought you looked cute combing your fur," Nanmen Jue said with a smile.
The crow seemed to have been suddenly choked, and for a moment could only stare at her with its round eyes.
"I brought you into the cycle of reincarnation, and then what do I need to do?" Nanmen Jue said.
"You don't need to do anything else, just bring me in," the crow said irritably. "If you make me happy, I might even make an exception and give you a cheat code once in a while. You'll be rolling in it, you bad guy."
Nanmen Jue laughed, "This sounds like such a great deal, like a windfall, but..."
Her voice suddenly lowered, "I just told a dead man that easy entry and strict exit are all scams. It's easy to invite a god but hard to send him away. If one day I don't want to be bound to you anymore, can I send this great god away?"
"What? You want to send me away? Why would you want to send me away? I'm so gentle and useful, and you actually want to send me away?" the crow said incredulously. "Are you out of your mind? Do you know how much of a cheat code you'll get in the cycle of reincarnation once you get my help? I'm the master! Cough cough... I only chose you because you have good potential!"
All I know is that you're probably a big problem.
Nanmen Jue gradually figured out the attitude she wanted. This crow was definitely not a good thing in the Main God Space, otherwise why would it condescend to pester a human? Unless it wanted to use her, the most likely explanation was that it was hiding itself.
"If you are truly omnipotent and unrestrained in the cycle of reincarnation, why did you freeze yourself into a crow popsicle before? So now it's not me begging you, Comrade Crow. Saving me is not because you are doing me a favor, but because I saved your life before. I don't need to repay you for saving me."
Nanmen Jue said bluntly.
"Now you're begging me, so get the facts straight, or you can go find someone else—but whether they're as suitable as me is another matter."
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