Raiden Mei clutched her chest. Her heart, which she had so painstakingly sealed away, was once again flooded with warmth. It suddenly revived, thumping rhythmically, bringing with it a burgeoning, albeit minuscule, desire to live.
I want to live, but living will only cause him more unnecessary pain.
"Little Li, don't... Give up on me."
Raiden Mei sat straddling Li Wu. She raised her hand, wanting to touch the wound on his left shoulder, but stopped mid-air, afraid of hurting him. Her hand hovered there, unable to advance or retreat.
In her daze, Raiden Mei noticed countless ethereal "threads" extending from her fingers, tightly binding her to Li Wu—uncuttable and untangleable.
But these "threads" were constantly devouring Li Wu's blood. With every few new threads that appeared, several more blurry wounds would manifest on Li Wu's body.
If this goes on...
I will definitely kill Little Li.
I will definitely kill the only boy in this world who genuinely wants me to live.
To prevent such a thing from happening, Raiden Mei lowered her head and proactively made this difficult request.
"Holding on is hard, but giving up isn't that easy either," Li Wu repeated the words he had said to the system at noon.
He tilted his head back, trying to see the kitchen ceiling clearly. Unfortunately, it remained a blur.
If there was a reason to give up, he probably would have done so long ago.
But here was the problem.
He had always had a reason.
"Because I can give up at any time, I've kept holding on. Don't worry, Mei. I won't 'die' that easily. Don't think of me as being so fragile... Look, didn't I protect you perfectly this time too? You gave me a black card, so I don't even have to worry about money anymore. If I didn't repay you properly, my conscience wouldn't let me spend that money in peace."
Li Wu forced out what he thought was a gentle smile.
In Raiden Mei's eyes, that smile was incredibly desolate. He was clearly so weak he could barely focus his eyes, yet he was still putting on a brave face, forcing himself to say such pretty words.
Nothing had changed. He was exactly the same as when they first met...
Raiden Mei sniffled and nodded repeatedly like a chick pecking at rice.
He hadn't changed since their first meeting. Li Wu was still Li Wu. He was always Li Wu.
"I was afraid... I was afraid..."
"What's there to be afraid of? I told you, I won't 'die' that easily. I'm very strong, you don't need to worry about affecting... Ah, ah, ah! It hurts, it hurts! Stop poking it! I was wrong!"
Before he could finish acting cool, Raiden Mei lightly poked the bullet hole in his left shoulder with her finger, instantly "knocking him back to his original form."
"Little Li, do you know?"
"Know what?"
With the help of the special medicine, his vision cleared slightly. Raiden Mei cupped his jaw with both hands and gently lifted his head. Her eyes shimmered with a faint light as bright as day.
"My boy is made of lies, but sometimes he's made of blood..."
"He bleeds when blocking knives. He bleeds when he gets shot. When he comes back from the rainstorms and the night, his whole body is stained with blood."
"If he's always covered in wounds like this, what would he do if I wasn't here to bandage him..."
Caught off guard, Li Wu was pulled into Raiden Mei's embrace, his face buried in her chest. Just as he awkwardly tried to say something, Raiden Mei's voice drifted into his ears, rising gently amidst the "ruins" of devastation.
"So."
"I probably have to learn how to wrap bandages faster and tighter."
"So that less blood stains my school uniform. So that fewer tears flow from my eyes."
[Raiden Mei's affection for you is approaching dangerous levels.]
[Raiden Mei considers you her only family.]
[Please do not get injured in front of her.]
[Repeat: Please do not get injured in front of her.]
"I will protect you."
Under the warm orange light, a tendril of crimson bloomed from the center of her pupil, rapidly filling the white of her eye.
It was late at night. The torrential rain showed no signs of stopping. A few claps of thunder rolled past the broken window at just the right moment, deafeningly loud, completely drowning out Raiden Mei's final words.
Li Wu didn't hear them clearly, nor did he respond. He simply leaned against the cabinet, quietly waiting for his wound to heal while calling the police.
Unlike a manga protagonist, his constitution could even be considered weak. He lacked powerful regenerative abilities, and his mental fortitude was incredibly fragile; he needed rest after every period of high-intensity focus.
When he eliminated the Blood Wolf Mercenary Group, his personal will had gradually blurred amidst the deaths. Without realizing it, he had entered a state of "dissociation."
It wasn't that he suddenly lost himself in a single moment, but rather that short-term, high-frequency deaths impacted his personality, making him extreme.
Seriously...
How exactly does one cultivate a superhuman will?
With a superhuman will, plus the ability of infinite regression, I should be able to turn the plot into... what I hope for, right?
Forget it. Now isn't the time to think about that.
The police will be here soon. I still have to figure out how to fudge this.
Before that... let me just nap for a bit... just a little bit...
Li Wu completely failed to notice the strangeness in Raiden Mei. After the crisis was resolved, his taut nerves instantly relaxed, and he lost all vitality.
Even thinking felt exhausting.
Perhaps due to the anesthetic properties of Arga's special medicine, the pain and his consciousness sank together into a dreamless abyss.
Falling, falling, with no end.
Meanwhile, in the underground district of Nagazora City.
A gray zone known to few.
Anna had once carried out a mission issued by Schicksal in Nagazora City: eliminate several black market bosses who were illegally researching the Honkai.
Although she didn't know how Schicksal obtained such secret information, as a Valkyrie, her duty—aside from protecting civilians—was to strictly execute orders from her superiors.
So those illegal labs were wiped out by her squad in a single night. As for all the data in the labs, as well as the "slaves," they were sent back to Schicksal.
Those with talent became Valkyries; those without still couldn't escape the fate of being "test subjects," though their treatment was much better than here.
"This place really brings bad luck every time I come. Let's get this over with quickly." Anna took a vial of Holy Blood out of her bag. She had just drawn it from her own body.
Schicksal conducted regular psychological audits. There were many questions, such as: Have you injected Holy Blood into anyone else?
No matter what she said, she had to use some seemingly "superfluous" operations to achieve her goal.
That guy just had to get hit in a special area. Without Holy Blood, he probably wouldn't even be able to lift his arm for months.
After confirming everything was correct, she walked quickly toward her destination.
The paths in the underground district were narrow, filled with flickering, dim neon lights caused by bad connections. The gloomy light barely illuminated the way forward.
Soon, following her memory, Anna arrived at her destination—
A black market shop that dared to buy anything.
The sign read "Vienna Clinic," with half the paint peeled off.
She pushed open the door. It was darker inside than out. A mix of strange, peculiar smells instantly rushed at her, fitting the scent profile of a clinic perfectly.
Anna covered her nose and walked in.
Behind the counter sat a woman. She was Northern European, with emerald eyes that looked like two green gems in the dim light, or perhaps like a venomous snake lying in wait in the grass. Her pupils seemed to glow.
She was wiping down a pristine white men's trench coat. Judging by the style, it wasn't a modern product.
Anna walked up to the counter, her shadow stretching long against the medicine cabinet on the wall.
Skipping the pleasantries, she asked straightforwardly, "You buy anything here, right?"
The woman looked up. Her gaze lingered for a split second on Anna's student uniform stained with dark red blood. A flicker of calculation flashed deep in her emerald eyes.
"Honored guest, I don't quite understand what you mean. This small shop is a clinic, not an exchange."
"Cut the act. I met you once during my last mission. It's impossible for you not to remember me. I'll ask you one last time: do you buy or not?" Anna's tone was flat. She adopted the cold, detached state she used during missions. Facing a black market merchant, this composure was necessary.
"Haha... I didn't expect you to remember. Of course. As long as you can produce the goods, this humble shop will certainly not disappoint." The woman smiled, stood up, and hung the men's trench coat on a rack.
Anna took the vial from her inner pocket and placed it gently on the counter.
The bright red liquid was clearly visible.
"Even Holy Blood?"
"Of course w..."
The woman's smile froze on her face. She leaned forward abruptly, her emerald eyes fixed on the vial of liquid, her pupils constricting slightly.
"Wait, what did you say? H-Holy... Holy Blood?!" The woman lost her composure. Her lowered voice suddenly pitched up, then quickly dropped back down. But this time, her tone trembled with disbelief, her eyes glued unmoving to the vial of Holy Blood on the counter.
"My dear God... Honored guest, do you know what Holy Blood means? If that person up in Schicksal finds out about this... even ten heads wouldn't be enough to chop off for you or me!"
The woman covertly pointed a finger upward, alluding to the big shot whose name could not be spoken directly.
She quickly sized up Anna's familiar face, flipping through her memories rapidly. "After that meeting, I saw you on the Schicksal Valkyrie official website... Anna Schariac. A genuine A-Rank Valkyrie of Schicksal with a limitless future."
"As the Saintess of the Schariac family for this generation, this vial... is your own, isn't it?"
"I don't understand. Risking ruining your future, or even losing your life, to bring 'Holy Blood'—something Schicksal regards as taboo—to a place like mine... What do you want in exchange? Or rather, what matter is worth taking such a risk?"
The woman crossed her arms, leaning her elbows on the counter, and looked at Anna meaningfully.
"That's not something you should ask." Anna raised her eyes. Her pink pupils were like two ice picks, stabbing straight at the woman. "You just need to answer me: buy, or don't buy."
The air solidified for a few seconds.
The woman's emerald eyes shifted back and forth between Anna and the vial of Holy Blood, assessing the risks and rewards.
"Of course. Even in the black market, Holy Blood is something you can only dream of finding. If I released it through channels, the price would skyrocket to hundreds of millions of euros, and there would still be plenty of death-fearing tycoons fighting for it. However, your storage method is too crude. I'll have to charge extra for better preservation. And the bigger problem is..."
"I'm running a small business here. Forget hundreds of millions—even tens of millions in liquid cash isn't something I can produce on short notice. I'm afraid this treasure of yours..."
"I don't want money," Anna interrupted her.
The woman froze, her emerald eyes wavering. "You don't want money? Then you want..."
"I'm giving you three days. During these three days, I will be monitoring you to ensure you don't pull any tricks."
"The effective period for Holy Blood after leaving a living body is at most half a month. Within half a month, a student named Li Wu will come to find you. Sell this vial of Holy Blood to him for twenty million euros. Remember, don't say anything unnecessary. I don't want him to know where this blood came from."
"Twenty million... as hush money?" the woman asked tentatively.
"Exactly. A third person is not allowed to know about this. Once the transaction is complete, you take the money. I don't care what you do with it. But if word leaks out..."
Anna leaned forward slightly. She pinched a piece of paper on the counter, then picked it up. Five deep, small holes were instantly left in the hard counter surface.
"I will find you personally and help you stay silent 'forever.' A black market merchant like you has blood on her hands too, doesn't she?"
Hearing Anna's threat, the woman didn't feel afraid. Instead, she kept her professional fake smile. "In our line of work, people die for money like birds die for food. Reputation is the most important thing! Rest assured, I understand the rules!"
She carefully put away the vial of Holy Blood and the note, but her eyes couldn't help but look at Anna again. Curiosity drove her to ask one more question, almost as if possessed: "Just... if I may ask boldly, who is this student named 'Li Wu' to you? Is he worth going to such lengths? A lover? Or..."
"Don't ask what you shouldn't ask."
"Yes, yes, yes! My apologies! I spoke out of turn, I overstepped!" The woman quickly lowered her head and pretended to organize the counter, no longer looking Anna in the eye.
The door was closed by Anna once again. Only after the stiff, iron-like silhouette vanished from the doorway did the woman slowly stand up.
The mercenary, cautious, and slightly fearful merchant expression on her face peeled off like a cheap mask.
No, it wasn't like a mask.
Under the dim light where no one could see, Otto raised his hand and gently peeled from behind his ear, tearing off that exquisite, custom-made bionic female skin. It revealed dazzling blond hair and the appearance of a sickly handsome man underneath.
His emerald eyes held a playful and scrutinizing glint as he carefully examined the vial of Holy Blood Anna had handed him.
He locked the door and walked toward the basement. After ensuring no one would disturb him, he took out his phone, his fingertips unconsciously tapping the screen.
"Should I... tell Kallen?"
"If I speak of this matter, even if she is the Saintess of the Schariac family for this generation, Kallen would kill her without hesitation. I remember Anna Schariac's parents were sacrificed to this tragedy long ago. Back then, they didn't even ask questions when their own daughter was nearly killed on the battlefield, nor did they feel any resentment for killing a bestowed hindrance."
Otto knew all too well that given Kallen's obsessive, bordering on manic, attitude toward the Schariac and Kaslana bloodlines, Anna's fate would likely be far worse than just having her "future ruined."
No, no, no. The point isn't Anna. It's the name she mentioned.
"This is getting more and more interesting."