Chapter 285: Myriad Celestia Trailer — Transcendent Ruan Tunes, Blushing Mei Blooms 『 Part One 』
「 "Dear Mother, seeing this letter is like seeing me in person."
The spring sunlight filters through the plum branches, casting dappled, shifting shadows upon the letter paper.
She sits on a stone stool, a figure wrapped in an indigo cheongsam that hugs her porcelain-white form, looking for all the world like a fragment of celestial light cut from an ancient scroll.
Her dark hair is gathered in a low bun; a few petals of red plum blossom drift down silently, landing precisely amidst her locks. She does not brush them away, allowing that touch of vibrant color to adorn her.
As her brush turns and strokes, the silver-white bracelet on her wrist sways gently with the movement, like a pool of emerald water rippled by a spring breeze.
"These plum blossoms bloom and wither; occasionally, I catch the scent of loneliness in their fragrance. I am reminded again of the time in my childhood spent with you, researching in the [No Man's Land]." 」
「 ..... 」
〜Chainsaw Man World〜
"Th-This…!"
The apple in Denji's mouth fell to the ground with a thud.
That feeling… it was like being skewered by the Leech Devil's tentacles, an instant sensation of ice-cold dread sweeping through his entire body, freezing him in place, unable to move.
His pupils contracted violently, his mouth hung slightly open unconsciously, and even his breathing stalled for a few seconds.
His eyes had already capitulated, and his brain was completely conquered by this beautiful silhouette—the image of the woman in the elegant cheongsam writing a letter played on a loop in his mind every second: the lowered gaze as she held the brush, those two long legs under the stone table glowing with a pale luminescence, and that face, devoid of expression…
Denji suddenly felt his mouth go dry and swallowed involuntarily.
"Denji, can you maybe take your eyes off someone else's legs for once?"
Power's voice came from beside his ear.
Having stared for too long, Denji turned his neck slightly, only to discover that Power was watching even more intently than he was; she was just short of grabbing a pair of binoculars.
"Tch, you're enjoying the view yourself…"
Hearing this, Power huffed disdainfully:
"I am different from you. This woman looks like she is very cultured. I want to know if she has won a Nobel Prize."
Aki Hayakawa walked out of the kitchen carrying two plates of macaroni, his tone calm:
"It's not hard to guess. This must be the Ruan Mei that Madam Herta mentions so often."
"Ruan Mei? The Genius Society member who hangs out with that robot?"
Power let out an "Oh~" sound.
"Then she must have won a Nobel Prize, right?"
"Even if she had, I doubt they'd have any interest in accepting it. Being glanced at by 「 Nous 」, compared to reaching the pinnacle in a specific field… in the world of such geniuses, that kind of achievement isn't worth mentioning."
Like Power and Denji, Aki Hayakawa's gaze was equally drawn to Ruan Mei. However, what surprised him was not her exquisite beauty, but a feeling completely distinct from other geniuses of the same caliber, like Herta or Screwllum.
Her voice carried a flavor of extreme indifference, as if, after weathering a thousand storms, she had locked some fervent part of her humanity away in a laboratory forever.
"Is it an illusion…"
Aki Hayakawa hoped he had heard wrong.
—
「 "A warm little cottage, infinitely joyous species, life… the life of that time is something I find hard to forget. I understood the vastness of the universe far too early…"
…
The scene shifts. In a polar region of ice and snow, the expedition team's searchlights carve pale pillars of light through the blizzard, like trembling swords piercing the depths of the snowfield.
A thin layer of white mist fogs up the oxygen mask, yet the girl remains completely unaware. Standing behind her mother, she stands on tiptoe, her pupils reflecting a scene in the distance that can only be described as grotesque.
The snow mountain is writhing.
It is not an avalanche—it is a colossal entity constructed of countless eyeballs awakening. Each eyeball is embedded within rotting sarcomas, a sight to make one's skin crawl.
Its torso is buried deep within the snow mountain, where black, branch-like structures resembling human skeletons are faintly visible, slowly opening and closing with the rhythm of its breathing, emitting a roar like the fracturing of ice layers.
Amidst the ear-piercing screams of countless people, the look in the girl's eyes is like that of a child standing before a candy store window, trembling with excitement.
It is as if that indescribable creature is not a monster claiming the lives of numerous team members, but a sweet awaiting her to peel back its wrapper.
"Birth, growth, withering… Lamenting the process of life is the origin of my thinking. I began to realize that I..."
"longed for something [Pure]." 」
「 ..... 」
〜Genshin Impact World〜
Teyvat, Sumeru—
"Pure…"
In the rainforest outside Gandharva Ville, Collei was repeatedly mulling over that sentence Ruan Mei had just spoken. Suddenly, as if a thought struck her, she looked up at Tighnari beside her.
"Master, do you think Miss Ruan Mei intends to research the Star Gods? To be honest, I really can't think of anything in the universe more pure than a Star God."
After just witnessing the entirety of the Swarm Disaster, Collei had gained a brand-new understanding of the Star Gods. Originally, she thought Star Gods were all supreme deities who did whatever they pleased, but looking at it now, some Star Gods might not even possess the freedom of a human.
『 Propagation 』 had been practicing Their Path from beginning to end, never pausing for a moment. Although They brought myriads of disasters to the cosmos, she truly could not imagine anything that better represented the word 'pure.'
"I think that is indeed a possibility, but wouldn't researching a Star God be too insane?"
Tighnari rested his chin in his hand, deep in thought.
Although the Genius Society was no ordinary people, this Miss Ruan Mei appeared to be of mortal flesh and blood, completely different from Screwllum. The power displayed by the Star Gods was truly extraordinary; the slightest mishap would likely implicate countless star systems in the universe.
"I saw that when Miss Ruan Mei was staring at that monster, there wasn't a hint of fear in her eyes. I'm afraid the Star Gods of today are just the same to her as that monster she watched when she was a child, right?"
A look of confusion surfaced on Collei's face:
"But, why does she want to research the Star Gods? Is it to become an Emanator of 『 Erudition 』? To possess transcendent power like Madam Herta?"
—
「 "Attachment… concerns the insular cortex, which governs anxiety and pain, and the nucleus accumbens, which manufactures desire."
"The laws of emotion can be easily dismantled. When children receive random rewards, they become more… obedient."
Ruan Mei stands within the observation cabin, the boundless void of space unfolding before her, stars scattered like crushed diamonds across a pitch-black curtain.
She gazes calmly at a planet in the distance, colorful as a fairy tale, as if the planet is extending a tiny hand to wave at her.
"When I discovered how easy it was to cultivate a planet, I began to feel... empty." 」
「 ..... 」