Chapter 96: Protection
The sky churned, the planet roared, people across the globe witnessed a multitude of strange and terrifying phenomena, a wave of madness sweeping across the earth, the universe seemingly peeling back a layer of protection, exposing its fragile inhabitants to the harsh realities of existence.
But at the epicenter of this chaos…
In the old residential building, the focus of all those in the know…
There was only silence, a deathly silence, a silence that could turn a person to dust.
Xiang Er stood frozen by her bed.
A few grains of sand remained in her palm, pale and translucent, almost invisible.
She was like a statue, a fragile glass figurine, about to shatter in the slightest breeze.
She looked at the grains of sand, the remnants of Akhe’s heart, the heart she had given her so readily.
The heart that represented Akhe’s life…
So…
The possibility hung heavy in the air, but Xiang Er couldn’t bring herself to think it, to even form the words in her mind.
She seemed to be standing there, but her soul was already running, lost in a boundless fog, a soul shattered, crushed, burned… twisted into something grotesque and unfamiliar.
She turned her hand over.
The remaining grains of sand fell to the floor, a small pile of dust.
A tiny grave.
Xiang Er climbed into bed, exhausted, too tired to do anything, to even think.
She lay there quietly, then reached under her pillow and pulled out a rusty piece of metal.
The familiar piece of metal, stained with dark, dried blood, and Xiang Er stared at it, a bitter, ironic smile touching her lips.
She had hated that creature, once.
But now… she didn’t even know, without it…
How could she even live?
Humans… were truly ridiculous creatures.
But Xiang Er understood now, the most intense hatred was often born from the deepest love. Even now, remembering the times she had hated Akhe, she could still sense the underlying affection.
She had loved Akhe, and that’s why she had hated her lies, her manipulations, her imprisonment, her well-intentioned, sincere confessions, her lavish gifts, her sudden departure.
And most of all, she hated that Akhe’s heart had shattered!
She hated her so much… and yet, she also loved her.
But perhaps… there was still hope… perhaps there was an afterlife, reincarnation, those comforting human inventions, she hoped they were real.
She wanted to see Akhe again, that so-called Evil God, and tell her: I hate you.
I will always hate you for what you did to me.
I will always hate you…
Xiang Er smiled, lifted the rusty piece of metal, and with a swift, determined motion, plunged it towards her neck!
But the metal stopped, millimeters from her skin, a layer of black slime appearing, its darkness spreading across her neck.
Xiang Er pressed harder, the metal sinking into something soft and viscous. She couldn’t see her neck, she thought she had pierced her skin, and she twisted the metal, wanting to sever the flesh, the blood vessels beneath.
But the metal, after a moment, lost its sharpness.
It vanished, absorbed by the black slime.
Xiang Er frowned, and her fingers, the metal gone, touched her neck.
A sticky, viscous substance, like a swamp, clinging to her skin… she lifted her fingers, their tips coated in black slime.
She knew this substance too well.
She had seen this black slime countless times, on this very bed, she hated it more than the tentacles, and after their reconciliation, Akhe had been careful to keep it away from her.
But now…
Xiang Er stared at her fingers, her eyes widening, a sudden rush of emotions, and tears streamed down her face.
This was a part of Akhe!
Akhe had left a part of herself behind!
Akhe was still here… with her!
Xiang Er quickly wiped away her tears, grabbed her blanket, climbed out of bed, and, stumbling slightly, ran to the bathroom, to look at her neck in the mirror.
The woman in the mirror was a stranger. She couldn’t remember the last time she had looked at herself, and she stared at her reflection for a long time, before realizing it was her.
Her face was gaunt, her cheekbones and jawline sharp, almost piercing her skin, her features harsh, her amber eyes unusually large, dark circles beneath them.
Her lips were pale, almost blue, and yet, the lips Akhe had loved so much, Xiang Er touched them, her fingers tracing their dry, chapped surface.
When… had she become like this?
Xiang Er looked down again, the black slime on her fingertips gone, no trace of it on her neck either.
But she knew it was there.
She knew… she looked at her reflection, its eyes strangely bright in its gaunt, haggard face, and she started to cry again.
Tears traced paths down her dry, cracked skin, along the deep lines of her dark circles, across her cheekbones and hollow cheeks, a shimmering, wet sheen, like a fragile shell.
A tear fell to the floor, and Xiang Er wiped her eyes, turned, and walked towards the door.
After forty-two days, she finally left the apartment, leaving the empty, silent rooms behind, without looking back.
She carried Akhe’s gift, a protective shell.
Ready to conquer the universe.
That morning, a rare, global catastrophe struck, a simultaneous occurrence of countless, inexplicable natural disasters and anomalies, humans and animals mutating, rampaging through cities, chaos and destruction everywhere.
All anomaly detection devices, at the same moment, registered a massive energy surge, overloading their systems, rendering them useless.
Humanity, in the face of such power, was helpless.
The Western world’s order crumbled, other regions, already unstable, descending further into chaos. Only Hua Guo maintained a semblance of order, its military and police forces organizing evacuations, the Special Investigations Bureau abandoning all secrecy protocols, its investigators openly using their abilities to fight the mutated monsters.
But even among the investigators, many had succumbed to the mutations, turning into monsters themselves! The remaining investigators, outnumbered and overwhelmed, fought on, on the verge of collapse.
But they all knew, deep down, that the planet’s destruction… was only a matter of time.
And judging by the current situation, the deity who had gone to fight for the planet… was most likely dead.
The investigators were filled with sorrow, especially those in Hua Guo who had fought alongside her, they had considered her a comrade, a friend.
But no matter the chaos, no matter how overwhelmed they were, the moment Xiang Er opened her apartment door…
An Yue appeared, racing up the stairs, meeting Xiang Er on the fifth floor.
An Yue’s eyes were filled with a suppressed grief, and seeing Xiang Er, she quickly prepared some comforting words, but…
Xiang Er, her gaze intense, suddenly lashed out!
An Yue, caught off guard, felt the steel dagger at her waist being snatched away!
“What are you doing?!”
An Yue shouted, reaching for the dagger, but Xiang Er just smiled, her eyes, in the dim light of the stairwell, like blood-red azaleas, a dangerous glint, a hint of… madness.
Xiang Er lifted the dagger and plunged it towards her own neck!
An Yue, unable to bear the sight, closed her eyes, her heart sinking: It’s over, it’s all over, the planet is doomed, humanity is doomed!
She waited for the blood to splatter, but after a moment, she heard Xiang Er’s laughter, a broken, halting sound.
“Hehe… hehehe…”
The eerie laughter echoed through the dim stairwell.
An Yue opened her eyes and saw…
A layer of black substance, swirling and coiling, covering Xiang Er’s slender neck, a familiar sight… like…
Xiang Er laughed, a wild, unrestrained laugh, and she lifted the dagger again, aiming for other vital points, her neck, her wrists, her heart, her stomach… black slime appearing wherever the blade touched.
An Yue, stunned, whispered:
“Is that…”
Xiang Er smiled, a sweet, almost girlish smile, her arms wrapped around herself:
“It’s her.”
An Yue’s eyes lit up. She didn’t know what it meant yet, but she felt… a flicker of hope for humanity.
As expected… the fate of humanity, the fate of the planet, rested on Xiang Er’s shoulders!
She was the Evil God’s lover, and humanity’s last hope!
Soon.
At the site of a Class S+ monster attack, the investigators, exhausted and on the verge of collapse, suddenly saw a helicopter approaching, its doors opening.
Inside the helicopter, a small, slender girl in a white dress calmly extended her hand.
The Class S+ monster, about to swat the helicopter away, its massive claw reaching out, suddenly vanished, as if absorbed by the girl’s touch!
In the blink of an eye, the monster, which had been impervious to the attacks of dozens of investigators, was completely devoured, gone!
Inside the helicopter, more black slime appeared on the girl’s arm, and she gently caressed the writhing mass, her gaze filled with a tender affection.
The scene was so powerful, so surreal, that the investigators on the ground could only stare, a sudden urge to kneel, to worship, overcoming them.
The girl, of course, was Xiang Er.
An Yue, beside her, breathed a sigh of relief and asked Xiang Er:
“Do you need to rest?”
Xiang Er, her gaze fixed on the slime on her arm, whispered:
“Continue, it needs more, I can feel it…”
The helicopter immediately flew towards another monster attack site, and Xiang Er sat down, gently stroking the slime on her arm, the wind whipping through her hair.
She didn’t know what would happen, but she had a feeling, a strange premonition.
A smile played on her lips, her eyes filled with hope and love.
That love, a beacon in the chaotic universe, the brightest light in the darkest sea.
She loved her, and so…
She would return!
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