Chapter 178 Chapter 173 Starlight
Although she constantly felt that a righteous messenger might fall from the big hole above her head at any moment, cleaving her with a sword, Jima still managed to suppress the urge to kill them all. Fortunately, the armband George had given her in Shalin City was still functioning, concealing her horns and wings.
Jima stepped over the corpse of Wan Ziqi and exited the “Tranquil Hidden Barrier.”
Just as the leading woman in black was about to press the send button, Jima appeared out of thin air before she could even shout.
The group of mortals in front of her immediately halted their actions, their gaze fixated on her, mesmerized by her face behind the black veil.
A hundred meters away, the driver operating the vehicle caught a glimpse of Jima out of the corner of his eye, and it was as if he were bewitched. He forcefully turned his head and stared at the silhouette outside the car window.
For a moment, he forgot to watch the road, and it wasn’t until a lamp post came crashing that he slammed on the brakes, making a loud thud. In the park, the black solar streetlight was knocked askew.
The passengers, having survived the near miss, yelled, “What’s wrong with you? Aren’t you watching the road?”
The driver ignored him, unbuckled his seatbelt, opened the car door, and walked out.
The passenger instinctively followed his gaze, looking through the tinted car window, catching sight of the seductive figure, and his anger dissipated. He too opened the door and stepped outside.
There weren’t many cars on the road, but the vehicles behind them seemed to intentionally tailgate.
However, there were no arguments; the trailing driver also opened their door, staring dreamily into the distance.
“Yes, delete it; there’s no hole in the sky.” Jima fumbled, using lies to mask the hole above her head.
Nevertheless, from the corner of her eye, she sensed something was off—not just the two cars that had hit each other in the distance but also the tall buildings behind her.
Faces emerged from the windows of the buildings, looking towards her.
Jima was certain that if she merely shouted “Jump!” all these weak-willed mortals—regardless of whether they were bosses, project managers, or department heads—would leap down, landing at her feet.
Half would take the elevator to the top floor to jump.
Jima touched her forehead, realizing she had already restrained the effect of her “Charming Aura,” but she had overestimated the mundane inhabitants of this world.
She simply turned off the “Charming Aura,” and the black-clad woman snapped back to reality, saying, “Sister, you’re so beautiful! What’s your name? I just wanted to ask you about beauty—”
A man beside her extended his hand, holding a phone with a QR code: “Miss, could we exchange WeChat?”
With someone demonstrating, the men who had initially hesitated due to her appearance rushed forward to add her WeChat, as if they feared missing out on an important opportunity.
No one cared about Jima’s strange attire or the big hole they had witnessed moments ago.
“Stop! Stop!” Jima shouted several times before finally uttering the word “stop” in Mandarin.
“Are you a foreigner?”
“Welcome to China.”
“Now!” Jima interrupted their flattery, “You all need to be quiet while I… think about how to deal with you before you speak again. If you agree, nod.”
Four men and one woman nearly all nodded. A young programmer quietly asked, “Why should we obey?”
A colleague beside him tugged at his arm and whispered, “We have a tradition of hospitality in China.”
“Hmph.” Jima straightened her index finger, tilting her head to gaze at the faces behind the windows of the building. “Watch my finger.”
Before her words faded, she used her finger as a conduit to cast a curse upon everyone, ensuring they would forget their memories of today. That day, many in the building forgot they needed to urinate, and they wet their pants.
Afterward, Jima took the four men and one woman who had close-up witnesses of the “transcendental hole” to a room, using a “bottled magic potion” to erase their relevant memories.
She also checked her phone, refreshed herself on how to use a smartphone, and then released them.
During this time, Jima was on edge, fearing that George might fall out of the “transcendental hole.” She even hesitated to go beneath the hole to collect Wan Ziqi’s corpse.
But until she ran to the monitoring room and had the security guard delete all the surveillance footage, the “transcendental hole” remained just that—a hole, with no one emerging from it.
Jima abandoned her initial plan to flee directly and, before quitting time, went to recover the body of Wan Ziqi, who had once been herself.
The body still lay sprawled on the street, fingers pressing against the dial key on a smart phone.
Jima clapped her hands, trying to open the entrance to the Dream Palace, but there was no response.
Perhaps on Earth, not even dreams exist; as for the truth, she needed to explore it herself.
Jima felt a headache coming on, but fortunately, she had prepared a large snake-skin bag, a “donation” from some manual laborer.
Wearing gloves, she shoved the body into the bag and threw in the tattered black glasses lying on the ground.
But on the grayish-white stone floor—now Jima realized it was likely concrete—there was a large, glaring pool of blood.
Jima looked up at the still-existing “transcendental hole” above her, feeling antsy.
How could there come a day when I’d worry about a pool of blood?
Jima found it truly unbelievable.
She thought for a moment and pointed at the bloodstain, lying, “That’s just a pool of colorless and tasteless liquid; um, it’s water.”
After saying that, she used her “simulation” ability to mimic Eve Frostleaf’s elemental sorcery, transforming her magic into ice water to dilute the blood on the ground.
Once done, she hoisted Wan Ziqi’s body over her shoulder, spread her wings, and effortlessly took off, disappearing in the air.
Just then, it was quitting time.
The blood flowed past a young woman’s white high heels. She looked down and asked her friend beside her, “Is there a water leak here?”
Her friend raised her foot, glancing at the faintly red sole, saying, “I have no idea where this water came from.”
Their hands were empty, neither carrying a bag nor a phone.
Not just them, everyone was the same.
You look at me, I look at you, and we all feel like something precious has disappeared from our lives. But what is it? No matter how hard we think, we can’t remember.
Until a bus arrived, someone exclaimed, “Where’s my phone?”
Everyone patted their pockets, finally remembering they had forgotten their phones.
Elsewhere.
Jima flapped her wings, soaring over the bustling metropolis below.
The streets were jammed with cars, one after another, filling the overpass as they slowly inched forward.
In another world, the cities of all civilizations couldn’t compare to the metropolis before her, and from memories of long ago, she remembered that this city was just one of many within all of China.
Jima flapped her wings, flying determinedly towards the east. She flew for a considerable time while the urban sprawl below remained endless.
To prevent George from catching up, she preferred to set her revenge plans aside for now.
…
…
George fell from the unstable transcendental hole, his armor battered. In his pursuit of the traitorous succubus, he had no time to rest, much less repair his armor.
In his right hand, he held a bloodstained disk, and in his left hand, he clutched Litthis. Looking at Eve Frostleaf, he shook his head and said, “I’m afraid I couldn’t continue the chase, so I captured her accomplice instead.”
Eve Frostleaf also looked weary, a layer of dust covering her once-smooth scales.
“Not pursuing was indeed wise,” Eve Frostleaf said. “What are you thinking now?”
George appeared significantly more aged, raising his tired blue eyes to the sky as he said, “Firstly, thank you for pleading on my behalf to your uncle.”
They kept moving, pursuing the fleeing succubus. In the capital of Kislyev, they encountered the brother of the Osyuan guardian, one of the hopes for resisting the world-ending army, a renowned elven Archmage.
Now, he had arrived riding a phoenix, bringing his apprentices to Kislyev to assist in defending against the world-ending forces—whether or not the fragments of the Demon King’s crown had been gathered, the Eternal Chosen would lead the apocalypse army to sweep the world.
Thanks to her connections, Eve Frostleaf easily had him perform pinpoint teleportation, with the expensive materials reimbursed to the Elven Court under the pretext of resisting demonic invasions.
“Secondly,” George said, “I don’t plan to pursue Jima any longer.”
Eve Frostleaf pointed out, “The soul wound on your back has been bleeding consistently.”
“Let it bleed; it serves as a reminder of my pride,” George said. “I have always held myself in high regard, disregarding Gregory’s advice. Jima is right; I am biased against the world, and the world is biased against me. Am I not also prejudiced against them?
“As for Jima, I plan to forget her for the rest of my life. If I can punish her, that would be wonderful. However, my world still needs me; she has left this world with the crown fragments, and the Eternal Chosen will never get them.”
Litthis raised her hand and said, “Can I be let go? I’m innocent; my boyfriend is still waiting for me. I’m not her accomplice.”
Eve Frostleaf lifted her bow, nocked the arrow, and aimed at Litthis, saying, “Duruzhi is undoubtedly full of lies.”
“I’m not a dark elf; move your arrow away,” Litthis said. “I’m telling you, I’m actually from another world, and I came here to this… blissful world with this disk. One day, Jima stumbled into my dream and accidentally discovered this secret.”
George said, “That’s the truth.”
Eve Frostleaf’s bow remained drawn: “We will send you back home, along with your disk.”
“No! I don’t want to go back,” Litthis exclaimed loudly. “This world is wonderful; every man is as wild as a boar. Do you know? In my world, to bed a handsome man, you need to give at least three gifts! You have to fight painfully for it.”
George spoke in a weary tone, “She’s not lying.”
“Fine.”
Eve Frostleaf did not lower her bow but instead twitched, releasing her arrow directly at the disk in George’s hand.
George instinctively crossed the disk in front of him, blocking with his hand. The arrow grazed the disk, and blood immediately dripped from his hand onto the disk.
“What are you doing?”
Eve Frostleaf’s tone was flat: “Why are you keeping the disk? Are you still trying to find Jima and be deceived by her?”
“No.”
“Then let go of your hand; you’re going to crush the disk.”
“No!” George asserted, “If I live on, I will personally find her.”
Eve Frostleaf looked at George with her green eyes, sighed, and loosened her bowstring.
“I can’t.”
Her light red lips moved as if to ask something but ultimately remained silent. With another sigh, she let the winter wind tousle the tips of her silver hair.
…
…
The summer night breeze swept through the damp tips of black hair.
Jima held a telescope high in the air, locking on to the transcendental hole.
In the telescope’s view, it gradually shrank until it became too small to see, and she didn’t spot any familiar figures.
George hadn’t come.
Jima let out a sigh of relief, her tense muscles finally relaxing.
She looked up, her gaze piercing through the grayish sky, catching sight of a few starlights.
They could be coming from hundreds of thousands of light-years away.
Now, the distance between her and George was likely greater than the stars floating in the lonely, cold universe.
She felt an emptiness in her heart and self-mockingly said, “I’ve fallen into Stockholm Syndrome.”
She opened her personal system, modified the task name “Betrayal,” added the words “Completed,” and with the snake-skin bag over her shoulder, turned and flew away.
Below her, the transcendental hole completely vanished, finally bursting forth with a glimmer of light, like a star in the night sky.
