Mynovel Chapter 709 - 621: Much Ado About Nothing (6)
Chapter 709 - 621: Much Ado About Nothing (6)
The Silent Hand wrapped in from behind, seized Tang Xin’s body, space began to twist, rippling like a mirror, until the blue-haired girl was kneaded to pieces within the watery moon.
Lu Shuhang’s slash fell into empty air; the Silent Hand surfaced from another patch of ground, and Tang Xin stepped out from it.
"Mirror Flower Water Moon." Having missed his strike, Lu Shuhang frowned. "Since when?"
Tang Xin started stroking the Silent Hand; it shook its head and let out a low, rumbling purr.
She knew very well how elusive Assassin’s Creed could be. Once Lu Shuhang and Four-leaf Phoenix Tree linked up their skills, the five of them could even blink multiple times in the same instant, like shadows you could never catch.
To be safe, she had just now cast Mirror Flower Water Moon on everyone.
Including Angelina.
With Lu Shuhang’s razor-sharp perception, it wouldn’t be hard for him to infer her real position from the direction Angelina was watching, but as long as her teammates didn’t know where she actually was, the Assassin’s Creed players would have no way to tell whether they themselves had fallen for Mirror Flower Water Moon.
As for whether Mirror Flower Water Moon could successfully register?
Having shared Xu Xiaoyou’s Charm Attribute via Life Resonance, Tang Xin had absolutely no concerns on that front.
The only shortcoming was Mirror Flower Water Moon’s duration. She wasn’t Bai Youyou, and lacked a deep enough resonance with the Mind Domain, so she could only maintain the illusion for a very short time.
As for Bai Youyou, who was immune to Mind Skills—
Given how well Tang Xin knew Bai Youyou, she had no worries at all about the other girl blowing her cover.
The facts bore this out. The instant Mirror Flower Water Moon was triggered, Bai Youyou guessed Tang Xin’s intention and focused entirely on resistance.
"So that’s how it is." Lu Shuhang pondered for a moment.
Back in that bounty match between the Light Chasing Garden and the Heterogeneous Front, Tang Xin had already displayed similar capabilities. He had been deliberately guarding against Mirror Flower Water Moon; he hadn’t expected to fall for it anyway.
Having missed the best assassination window, Lu Shuhang decisively chose to back off, abandoning any further offense.
A heavy thrumming sounded; time ticked forward; shadows surged and spread rapidly. Lu Shuhang overlapped with the shadow behind him and vanished from where he stood, simultaneously swapping positions with Four-leaf Phoenix Tree once again.
After a full round of exchanges, neither side had gained an advantage.
Following a brief standoff, Tang Xin and Four-leaf Phoenix Tree’s attention once more settled on that black box.
...
Amid a field of ruins, Qi ran forward in a numb daze. She tripped on a protruding slope, the sharp edge of broken stone tearing open her knees and palms; the sting pressed her lips into a tight line.
Under the effect of the Word Spirit, she quickly got up and kept running toward the outskirts.
The scene from just now slowly replayed before her eyes.
As that bladed vehicle rolled and broke apart, she had watched with her own eyes as a steel bar pierced the young man’s abdomen. He kept repeating that she had to run, that as long as she ran fast enough, they could escape this city, the past would never catch up again, and everything they had done up to this point would be worth it, the mediocre would become the geniuses...
Why did it end up like this?
Qi gasped for breath, struggling to her feet as she walked among shattered walls and broken tiles, her gaze unfocused.
The girl walked step by step, her pace gradually quickening, from a brisk walk to a jog, then to a desperate sprint, running as if to fling all the gloom and oppression behind her.
Run... just run...
Someone whispered in her ear. She couldn’t make out the figure; it was a composite of countless people, not just the young man, but her classmates, teachers, parents, the professionally desolate full-time mother, the street youth who turned away under a barrage of accusations, the flawless pop star she had seen on screen—every kind of person was gathered in that amalgam.
Scenes she had witnessed firsthand, the suffering and suppression people endured, the way the people of this city went from kneeling on the ground to slowly rising—those figures seemed to be running with her in the same direction. Along that run, some broke free of their shackles, some were consumed by flames, some chose without hesitation to charge against the current.
Some labored in obscurity, passing on hope through the fire; some raged in fanaticism, then fell into a silent curtain of snow.
How could a single day be enough to overturn her entire life.
First the war broke out, the city plunged into chaos, then the accusations from her parents, then watching family die in the turmoil, and now, even the young man’s life or death was unknown...
Why was it that they only wanted freedom and dignity, yet someone insisted on forcing them to kneel and die, like camels, bearing senseless blame and oppression.
If they were not to be granted the rights of a "human," then why grant them feelings in the first place?
If not for flying toward the blue sky, why would a bird grow pure white wings?
If not for drawing breath, how would a blue whale end up stranded and keening in this jungle of steel?
The more one yearns for freedom, the more flesh and blood life will grow.
The more dignity is suppressed, the more courage and Unyielding will sprout like seeds, burrowing up through every crack in the rock.
Clearly they didn’t want anything more.
Clearly they were only trying to complete the journey from nothing to something.
Clearly all they wanted was simply to stand straight and tall!
Run boldly! Run in defiance! Run with abandon!
The wind roared in Qi’s ears.
Qi felt the change within herself; her body was growing light. She was slowly growing flesh and wings, undergoing the process of piling up from nothing to something.
Just like life that refuses to cease.
As long as they kept Running, someday they would cast off their shackles.
Someday, the bird in the cage would soar into the sky, the stranded blue whale would return to the sea, and the shoot would burst through the rock.
Someday, they would run out of this city.
Qi gradually came to a stop.
She stared at the brown-haired girl who had appeared ahead at some point; the dust-covered face reflected the flames licking over the ruins, the firelight dancing in her blood-stained pupils.
Xiao Xinzhu took a few steps toward Qi, reached out her hand, and spoke in a cold tone devoid of any feeling.
"You’re the one who just sent us that request, right?"
"Now, you can hand the black box over to me."
"Player Xiao Xinzhu has arrived at the scene first!" the host shouted.
Qi remained unmoved, simply standing where she was. The people running past her collided with a red, grid-like wall, dissolving into shattering phantoms; birds snapped their wings and fell, and a wail rose from the city’s sky.
Xiao Xinzhu shook her head and stopped wasting words on the girl.
She gave the thread a sudden yank.
Qi clenched her lips, a strangled sound of pain escaping her; the sharp thread sank deep into her arm, binding it until blood streamed down.
"The black box is about to be in Player Xiao Xinzhu’s hands!" the host shouted.
In that instant, everyone held their breath.
The rules were written clearly: once the black box reached the Assassin’s Creed camp, the game would immediately declare an end, and the winners would be Assassin’s Creed!
As expected, without any surprises, Xiao Xinzhu took the black box from Qi’s hand.
With the naked eye you could see the heaviness fade from Xiao Xinzhu’s face as she let out a long, deep breath of relief.
This game had finally come to an end after all; the road had been rough and full of mishaps, but in the end the ones who won were still their Assassin’s Creed.
Perhaps from the moment Su Sui lost herself in the Shrine, the scales of victory had already tilted toward them.
Xiao Xinzhu stood silently where she was, waiting for the host to announce the outcome of this match.
No one responded, no one spoke; the arena sank into absolute silence.
Only when a wind laden with ash brushed across her face, the silence circling overhead for a long time, did Xiao Xinzhu sense that something was wrong. Her eyes slowly widened.
She snapped her head up and looked at Qi.
From the pain, the girl’s expression was twisted, yet her gaze grew ever brighter, ever more resolute, igniting a fire called "Unyielding."
"What did you do?" Xiao Xinzhu put down the black box in her hand and took a few steps forward. "This isn’t the real black box. Why did you trick us? Where is the real black box now!?"
Beneath the ruins, as if sensing something, the young man slowly opened his eyes. Looking at the steel bar piercing his abdomen, he lowered his head and murmured:
"Nothing but a mediocre man tormenting himself..."
Qi smiled faintly.
The girl’s eyelids slowly drooped; in the dark sheen of her eyes flickered one last thread of pliant yet steadfast light.
"I made a mediocre man into a genius."
"By now, that Commander of the Revolutionary Army should be just about to get his hands on the real black box, right?"