Chapter 729: I Am Very Happy
I forced myself to hold back my tears, standing right where I was, and then nodded heavily.
"Promise me you'll be a kind child." She reached out and hugged me, whispering in my ear, "Go do whatever you want. Do what an eight-year-old should do. Love this world with all your heart."
Her tears fell on my shoulder, and I finally couldn't hold it back any longer—I broke down sobbing.
Until the very end, it was my sister who spoke to me... I never said a single word to her...
"Yingxiong, I'm leaving. You have to be happy, okay?" She stood up, her eyes red, her lips tightly pressed together as if she was trying desperately not to let her tears fall.
But I couldn't stop at all. I felt like all my tears were pouring out at once, gathering into the most heartbreaking waterfall I had ever known.
My sister lay back down on the table, and the "Divine Dragon" slowly raised the knife.
"I can feel it—your power has faded quite a bit," the "Divine Dragon" said. "After all this torment, you finally don't have to suffer anymore."
"I've caused you trouble..." My sister smiled bitterly through her tears. "Kill me..."
"Yeah. Sorry for the intrusion," the "Divine Dragon" said.
Amid my cries, the "Divine Dragon" thrust the knife down.
That blade took away my flesh and blood, the light in my heart, the swallow at my side.
Sister Thought's wound showed no sign of healing. She had given up.
She left this world of endless pain and despair. She finally gained her own freedom.
She went to a place where no one would hit her, curse her, or control her.
But I would never see her again.
All strength drained from my body, and I fell to my knees, wailing.
A few minutes later, the "Divine Dragon" walked over to me and said softly, "Crying is useless."
My sobbing gradually quieted, and I looked up at her.
Her face was like a gecko's, covered in dark green scales, but I felt no fear at all.
"What did you say...?"
"Go do what she wanted you to do," the "Divine Dragon" said. "She brought over a thousand people here today to gamble their lives at my 'Jealous Mandarin Ducks.' I thought this city was doomed. But she left you behind. Maybe there's still a sliver of hope."
The "Divine Dragon" pulled a remote control from her pocket and pressed it lightly. The exhaust fans all around the swimming complex started spinning, and the moisture in the air quickly dissipated. In just a few minutes, the entire game arena was shockingly revealed before my eyes.
This was no "swimming pool"—it was clearly an enormous "cauldron."
In the middle of the cauldron was a curved partition, splitting it into left and right halves like a Taiji symbol. One side was filled with red liquid, the other with white liquid, both bubbling furiously.
And inside the cauldron... vast numbers of corpses were stewing.
Those bodies bobbed up and down with the gurgling bubbles; if not for their torn and burst skin, I might have thought they were still alive.
"I couldn't bear to hear her screaming in the red soup the whole time, so I pulled her out to give her a quick end. But I didn't expect you to come," the "Divine Dragon" said with a sad tone. "It seems you really were her only worry in this world. Now that she's let go of that worry, she can leave."
So that's how it was. This must be the "cause and effect" of this world.
I wasn't sure whether "cause and effect" had truly given me those ten minutes, but I knew that Sister Thought's subconscious had always wanted to live. She kept activating her "Healing" until I arrived here.
I don't remember how I walked out of the "Divine Dragon's" game arena.
All I know is that I clutched tightly the bedsheet my sister had draped over me, returned to my little room, and then lay down on the floor. I was so exhausted.
I held the bedsheet in my arms. Only when the blood on it was no longer cold did I realize that the coldest thing was my own heart.
The people in the building were still cheering everyone's successful "ascension," loudly fantasizing about how they would ascend tomorrow. I finally understood what Sister Thought had been thinking.
This was already the best outcome, wasn't it?
Those so-called subjects were even more dangerous than the "Wanderers." The "Wanderers" weren't aggressive—but these people were.
The next day, before anyone else woke up, I took everything my sister had given me and left that building.
I got on my bicycle and rode off with the wind.
I didn't have to care about those people anymore...
I let the wind blow across my face, my mind replaying my sister's words.
"Go do whatever you want to do."
"Do what an eight-year-old should do."
"Be happy. Love this world."
What I wanted to do... I wanted to race down the streets on my bike. I wanted to shout and scream.
Yes, I wanted to shout and scream.
"Ah!!!!"
Tears streaming down my face, I screamed in the streets.
"Ah!!!!"
I didn't even know why I was screaming, but I just really wanted to.
I gripped the handlebars tightly, screaming into the foul-smelling wind. I had nothing left. I could only scream.
"Sister!! I am very happy!!" I looked up and cried out. "Do you see that, Sister? I'm especially happy!!"
How I wished I could be happy, but my tears wouldn't stop.
I stopped the bike, rushed into a nearby building, climbed onto a table, stood up, and started jumping violently.
"Ah!!!!" I jumped and cried, shouted and screamed, as if I wanted to stomp the table through the floor. "Sister! Do you see? I'm doing what I want to do!!"
I am very happy... I am...
My shouts echoed through the empty city, but no one could hear them anymore.
So this is what it came down to. After all this time, I finally realized how powerless the things I wanted to do really were.
It was just an obsession—not something I truly wanted to do.
And what I truly wanted to do had been decided long ago: I wanted to become a real "hero."
(Three updates today to finish Zheng Yingxiong's story. Taking a leave of absence tomorrow, only one chapter. Apologies.)