Volume 3

181 Face-off

I remained silent. There was no need for me to say anything.

Li Wen flashed a brilliant smile. “Ah Shen, I’m sure someone as intelligent as you would have realized by now how well I know you. You should be regretting that you didn’t choose to go on the same path with me.”

Hah, to you, I’m always abandoning others. You Ji blamed me for being District Commander, you blame me too, for not choosing to go on the path you went on. But did any of you tell me this?

Your monster didn’t choose to go on the same path as you, but when have you ever told me you were going to walk on this path?

I was the one who was abandoned, so why am I being blamed now? Why should I take responsibility for your twisted hearts? I treated the both of you like sisters. Who’s going to make up for that?

Li Wen lifted her rapier and started chopping Yuan Shen’s body into pieces.

A fresh corpse would still bleed.

She did it slowly, as if she was enjoying it. “Ah Shen, they’re still being humiliated by me even when they’re dead. You must be angry at this. I’ll really test you this time.”

I remained absolutely still.

“I know you can’t bear this. I’ll leave him with a complete body if you stop me now.”

I did not move an inch. I simply let her chop Yuan Shen’s body into pieces while I watched.

Some of the blood splattered onto Li Wen’s clothes, leaving red speckles on the ends of her pale yellow dress, looking like tiny red flowers that were in bloom. Some of the blood splattered onto my dress as well, but it was lost in the bright red.

My dress seemed to be able to absorb and devour all that blood.

She continued cutting Yuan Shen up into tiny pieces, until she began to find it boring. Looking a little frustrated, she kicked the pieces of Yuan Shen back into the gunny sack.

What’s left on the ground were bloodstains and what looked like tiny bits and pieces of flesh. I knew that Li Wen did everything depending on her mood, but I didn’t know she would become this cruel.

She shot a cold look at me, as if unhappy with my non reaction. Dragging a corner of the gunny sack in one hand and taking her rapier in the other, she left the cave.

The gunny sack left a long trail of blood as it was dragged roughly against the ground.

Tears rolled down my cheeks as Li Wen left.

Taking a deep breath, I focused my MF on my eyes, heating them as I tried to make my tears dry quickly.

Li Wen was back very soon. She walked over and looked me in the eyes. “Do you know how long you’ve been here?”

She asked even when she knew I wouldn’t answer.

“You’ve been here for three hours.”

My eyes widened in surprise.

“Surprised? Feels much longer, right? But in reality, it has only been three hours. Two hours passed when I brought Yuan Shen back. Time always passes so slowly when you’re still, and that’s what’s difficult to endure.

“I won’t do anything else. I’d like to see just how you can endure this.”

After speaking, she grabbed a pile of grass and placed it a short distance away from me. She then sat down on it and continued looking at me.

I decided to close my eyes since I didn’t want to look at her.

“Ah Shen, why are you being controlled by me? I know you well. I know that as long as it was something you were not willing to do, there’s no way you’d do it even if I threatened you with Jiao S’s life. So just why exactly are you listening to me now?”

Li Wen finally asked a question that could be considered typical.

Why? Because I want to meet her too. I want to know how I can control her power.

I want to obtain and use that power of hers.

I’ll never admit that she is me, but I need her strength. And I know that Li Wen’s method will work.

I’ve never thought of giving this power to anyone else, and I’ve never thought of letting anyone else use this power as a weapon.

Li Wen, you’ve belittled me. No one understands her as well as I do. Do you think you can really take control of her, Li Wen, if even I cannot do it?

I didn’t want to admit it in the past, but I knew she had great power. I always knew that.

No one can take her away from me, no one.

“Sometimes I wonder why you’re so special, Ah Shen. Do you remember the first day you arrived in the Western District, when Mr Blond handed you over to Li Qing personally? I’ve never seen him do that in such a long time. Do you still remember Li Qing’s reaction when she first saw you?

“Ah Shen, I’m really jealous of you. This is why I could understand how You Ji must have felt. She’s in love with Mr Blond, and I knew that from the beginning. But you’ve never learnt to observe these things. You’ve never really seen You Ji’s eyes when she looks at Mr Blond.

“Ah Shen, even though I was jealous of you, everyone had that same thought – what a unique individual she was. At that time, how should I put this? You had no fear and you didn’t seem to care about anything here, but I could still see that fiery soul in your eyes. It was completely different to the dead atmosphere here in the Split Zone.

“At that time I was thinking of how to get your attention. Just what did you care about?

“I thought you probably wouldn’t care about anything ever, but I realized I was wrong. It turns out that you actually cared about everything. You probably thought that you didn’t care about anything yourself, but in reality, you cared about everything.”

I didn’t know why Li Wen was saying this, but this was something new to me and it was something I didn’t think she would say. I kept my eyes on her.

She had on a poker face and I couldn’t make out her mood. Nothing but her lips moved.

“With time, I realized that your MF was pretty high, just that you were lazy and didn’t want to do or learn anything. But when you set your mind to something, that sudden perseverance really shocked me. I always thought I was the most extraordinary in Li Qing’s eyes, since I was a fast learner with high MF.

“You still remember the value of my MF, right? It’s 62.”

I thought inwardly to myself, Why are you pretending to be some heir here? Have you forgotten that you’re a soul splitter?

“Do you still remember that time when there was this heir who wanted to drag somebody else to hell with her? She was on the rooftop on the 30th floor. You had just received your bow and you’ve never used it, but you were able to pierce her hand with your arrow just when she was about to insert her splitting key into the split symbol of an innocent resident.

“You were so lost after that. You didn’t know where that power came from. But I knew from then on, I knew that you had a far greater potential.

“I really hate that you exist. You made me look so dumb.”

If I could move, I would have heaved a sigh at this moment.

Li Wen, you’re wrong.

I didn’t hide my power. Maybe you’re right, and I do believe I have some hidden power in me as well. But the truth is I’m not interested in all this. That laziness isn’t faked. I just want to spend my life quietly and calmly, wherever I may be.

You guys are jealous of me being unique, but do you know what’re the words I hate to hear the most? Unique, special.

I don’t want to be that unique one. I’ve been the unique one for too long. I’m tired of being that unique one.

I just want to be someone extremely ordinary.

Just when I thought I could continue spending my days peacefully after saving my friends, I’m being embroiled into another battle again.

What does all of this have to do with me? Like what Mr Blond said, be it heirs or soul splitters, none of them have anything to do with me.

The only thing I have to do is to leave this place, but I don’t have the ability to do so just yet.

Because I would have nowhere else to go if I leave.

“Ah Shen, I’ve hated myself so many times. I felt that I shouldn’t have treated you that way. But I’m not kind like you are, and I slowly felt that there was nothing wrong in the way I treated you.

“Remember that basiliscampus? I could’ve saved you that time, but I didn’t. It’s not that I wished for your death, I just wanted to see that you were weaker than me.

“You must think that I’m weird. I’m sharing my feelings with you when I was so bloodthirsty just seconds before. You know, you make people hate you like this. You make everyone close to you so weird. Mr Blond, You Ji, and Li Qing too.

“Li Qing said this to me once. She said we had to protect Ah Shen, because she was worth protecting.

“I found it funny. Why was it only you who was worth protecting?”

A funny feeling overcame me. I suddenly realized something. From when Li Wen starting talking, no matter what she said, even when she was talking about how she was jealous of me, Li Qing was always mentioned.

Maybe Jiao S had misunderstood her. Her relationship with Li Qing definitely isn’t as simple as we thought it was.

I observed Li Wen’s expressions, trying to obtain as much information as I could. I had to stay calm in this war. I had to win.

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