“Hey! I’m talking to you! Are you deaf?!”
“Qi Ying? Dark Horse? Seven Shadow? Jintiannan? Liu Li? Gao Yang?!”
Gao Yang jerked up to find himself lying on a chair, in a strange room with no walls, ceiling, or floor.
The illusion of a room came from old furniture, electric appliances, and posters suspended in nothingness. Under the curtains was a desk, on top of which stood a bulky cube-shaped monitor.
A girl with silver hair and red eyes wore a loose asymmetrical white t-shirt and a pair of gray running pants with black decorative stripes, her bare legs slim and fair. With no shoes or socks on, she scratched her foot with one hand while holding a melting pudding popsicle with her other hand, expression impatient.
“I’m speaking to you. Has your brain turned to mush?”
His forgotten—or displaced—memories returned. Gao Yang realized that this was the room he had seen under the abyss, and the girl wasn’t Fresh Snow, but a higher existence changing faces because they didn’t want to show their true appearance.
“Whoa.” She looked at herself. “Why do I look like this now? You’re a real player, boy. How many girls do you have different feelings for…”
She used the black screen of the monitor as a mirror to check herself, sorting out her hair. “Hm, this girl is pretty though…”
“Gao Yang.” She turned around and cocked her head, batting her eyes. “Please think about me.”“Change it,” Gao Yang demanded icily.
“Who are you to order me? This isn’t a dress-up game.” She cupped her face in a phony manner. “Gao Yang, I’ll be waiting for you on the Fresh Snow Star. You must visit me…”
“I told you to fucking change it!”
Gao Yang shot to his feet and growled furiously.
Intangible black force surged from Gao Yang's body. Suddenly, the power keeping the objects in the “room” in their places vanished, and they flew away before disappearing like a big bang at a micro level.
Gao Yang stood in the now pure darkness. “Fresh Snow” remained on her swivel chair, expression shocked. Her popsicle fell on her t-shirt with a splat.
“What…what did you raise your voice for?!”
“I was just joking, and you lost it. You have no sense of humor.”
The existence turned into Nainai with an intimidated look concealed by bravado—a familiar look on Nainai’s face.
Gao Yang stared at her, silent.
“What’s wrong with you, Gao Yang?”
“I told you to get out earlier and you refused to, standing there like an idiot. But then you became a different person, someone ready to spit fire.”
“I did nothing to you. Why are you angry at me?”
“Nainai” crossed her arms and legs, tilting her head petulantly.
Gao Yang wasn’t going to fall for it. He knew that the existence before him was acting dumb. The fact that she mentioned the name Liu Li meant that she knew he wasn’t the same Gao Yang as a moment ago, but his consciousness from the future. ŖἁΝȯʙĘs
And Gao Yang found the answers to his questions.
He had forgotten about what happened in the abyss because the future Gao Yang had temporarily occupied his body, leading to his loss of memory.
For some reason, Gao Yang felt at ease and clear-minded here. He didn’t need Psychic Armor to control his emotions.
Gao Yang pondered wordlessly for a long time, connecting the dots. Time meant nothing here.
Meanwhile, “Nainai” conjured a popsicle and licked it. Then she conjured the same desk and bulky monitor, clicking on a trackball mouse to play Minesweeper.
Finally, Gao Yang looked up with clear bright eyes.
He snapped his fingers and conjured a high stool. He sat down and leaned in, clasping his hands as he looked down at the existence.
“If you want to play, I’ll play.”
Stopping the game, Nainai turned the chair around with a smirk. “Whoa, are you getting serious now?”
She snapped her fingers to transform the computer desk into an office desk. Leaning back, she lifted her feet to the desk, crossed. She spoke haughty, “Go on. How do you wanna play?”
Gao Yang smiled. “I had been wondering why my Talents wouldn’t reach level 7. Now I got it. I was reluctant to sign the agreement.”
“Deep down, I’ve discovered what I’d most like to do, my conviction.”
“To sign the agreement is to confirm my conviction.”
“I didn’t dare to sign it because I was hesitant and confused. While there was something I wanted to do over everything else, I worried that I wouldn’t be able to do it.”
Gao Yang summoned the agreement he had been given and a fountain pen. He looked at it, and as he thought, the paper was covered in words, but it was the same word repeated many times.
—Hero.
This time, Gao Yang readily signed his real name: Gao Yang.
He twirled the pen and vanished it. Then he raised the contract and whipped it.
It quickly burned into ashes, disappearing into the darkness.
“Nainai” was no longer smirking. The desk was gone, and so was the chair. She sat cross-legged in the void with a hand propping her her chin. Her expression was prideful, but her smile was pleased.
“I’ve got to say, Gao Yang, you’re the worst savior throughout the generations, but also the most interesting one.”
“You brat is as mundane as a walk-on who only got 60 yuan and a free meal as payment. I’ve never seen a more pathetic Divine Scion than you are.”
“Yet I cannot look away from you. You’re something else. I love and hate watching you.”
“How does the song go again? Love and hate are divided by a thin line…”
“Haha, hahahaha…”
“Nainai” suddenly burst out laughing. She tumbled and fell to the ground, rolling and laughing so hard she was hyperventilating.
Gao Yang remained seated, looking down at her antics.
Back straight and head held high, he said calmly, “Yes, I’m pathetic. I can only watch as those I care about die one by one. I can only go down the path by avoiding and numbing myself. What kind of savior is that?”
“Listen to me.”
“My conviction is to comprehend Time-Space Spirit and return to the past—not the fake origin a hundred years ago, but the beginning of all this mess.”
“I don’t care if it’s the Heavenly Way, the Mist, or God blocking my way.”
“I don’t care if you or whatever behind you is planning something or playing a trick. I will stop you.”
“I will rewrite this absurd fate and save those I care about.”
“Mock me and humiliate me all you can.”
“Torture me like you’re better or judge me like you’re entitled to.”
“No matter how much I fall, I’ll stand back up.”
“You cannot stop or eradicate me, or you’d have done it already.”
“You may win ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times, tens of thousands of times, or more.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m lucky. I only have to win once.”
“I’ll take back everything that belongs to me. I’ll restore the world to what it should be.”
“I, Gao Yang, will be a hero.”
“You’ll only be an afterthought.”
…
“Nainai” stopped her hysterical laughter.
Limbs splayed, she lay on the ground with widened eyes, staring into the void as she spoke lazily.
“Gao Yang.”
“You…must honor your words.”
Gao Yang went up to her and knelt down, looking down at her with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
“Let me tell you something before I leave.”
“What?!” She hugged herself, suddenly nervous. “I warn you not to pull anything.”
Gao Yang gave her a disgusted look. “It’s repulsive for you to touch your face after you scratched your foot with the same hand.”
…
Gao Yang opened his eyes, reality settling back around him.
The pod of the Ferris wheel was unusually quiet, like nothing had happened. Gao Yang's expression was still rueful, but no longer despairing.
He calmly cried as he carefully picked up Fresh Snow's treasures from the floor, dusting them and cleaning them with his clothes. Then he put them back into the box.
Clack. Gao Yang closed the lid.
[Congratulations! Your Talents have leveled up.]
[Absolute Defense lv7]
[Teleportation lv7]
[Replicate lv7]
[Fire lv7]
[Double lv7]
[Psychic Armor lv7]
[Lie Detection lv7]
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter