Chapter 408 25. Mikhail (6k)
The unconscious Tang Zeming Asuka seemed to have had a very profound dream.
In the dream, the scent of Buddhist incense, which she felt she had become accustomed to for a long time, filled her nostrils. She was wearing a black high school girls’ uniform, kneeling in a traditional room with a dazed expression.
“Thud! Thud! Thud!”
In her ears, a series of gentle knocks from a wooden fish could be heard from outside the room, accompanied by the calming scent of burning incense, which seemed to bring her back to her senses, but she still sat dazedly next to a wooden sliding door, in front of which was a small table with her empty backpack lying beside it.
On the wooden table lay scattered homework assigned by her teacher. If it were any other high school girl, she would have been hanging out with friends in a club or exploring outside while finishing her homework. However, Tang Zeming Asuka had not joined any clubs, and unless something unexpected happened, she would return to her home in a temple named “Thousand-Hand Temple” on the outskirts of Kyoto every afternoon after school.
“Thud! Thud! Thud!”
Tang Zeming Asuka sat there blankly, the wooden fish’s sound continued to beat relentlessly, steadily and slowly.
Is Dad performing a ritual?
“Thus I have heard: At one time, the Buddha was in Shravasti, at the Jetavana Monastery.”
“At that time, the elder Subhuti was among the gathering.”
“…”
From behind the tightly closed sliding door beside Tang Zeming Asuka, the distant sound of a gentle male voice reciting Buddhist scriptures could be heard. Ever since she returned from Tokyo to Kyoto two years ago, she heard her father reciting scriptures and striking the wooden fish every day. This had indeed become a nuisance for Tang Zeming Asuka, who had grown up following her mother.
It seems I haven’t been doing my homework.
What am I doing?
In the dream, she felt her consciousness was incredibly heavy; even the motion of lowering her head to look at the wooden table took frighteningly long. Only after several seconds did she finally see the scattered homework on the table, and she noticed a Buddhist scripture laid open on top of the homework, which was entirely written in Japanese by her father, giving her a headache.
Her academic performance was poor, and she was quite withdrawn, basically having no friends.
What am I doing?
It seemed she was not reading the Buddhist scriptures.
How could I be reading the scriptures?
These things are what I dislike the most. Every time I hear them, they annoy me. It’s almost the twenty-first century, yet people are still like ancient relics, chanting scriptures and acting like monks.
This is really strange.
So, what exactly am I doing?
“Thud! Thud! Thud!”
Outside, the continuous sound of the wooden fish kept ringing. Tang Zeming Asuka’s dull consciousness slowly tried to lift her head and saw a small television set not far in front of her, playing the Tokyo Television production “Neon Genesis Evangelion.”
“I’ll repay you tenfold for the damage to my pride!”
Looking at the beautiful figure of the protagonist wearing a red tight combat suit on the screen, she heard her iconic line clearly. It was at this moment that Tang Zeming Asuka subconsciously regained her senses.
That protagonist’s name seems exactly like mine.
Oh right, it seems I’m watching an anime.
I’m watching anime.
“Thud! Thud! Thud!”
“The Buddha said: “Well said, well said! Subhuti! As you have said, the Tathagata protects and remembers all Bodhisattvas well, and gives them good instructions.”
The sound of the wooden fish continued endlessly outside the hall, the sliding door of the room remained tightly closed, and the small television in front of her continued to repeat scenes of the animated character who shared her name.
Tang Zeming Asuka tilted her head blankly, still kneeling in place like a statue, motionless.
“My head hurts.”
Tang Zeming Asuka felt quite uncomfortable and covered her head, as if it had received a heavy blow at some point. She rubbed her eyes and then struggled to see a blurry shadow in front of her.
“You’re awake, little girl?”
“Gouwen… sir?”
“Hmm, it seems you’re almost fully awake. You were hit by the residual waves from the Holy Relics crafted by the angel Michael. Although it touched your head, thankfully, you are just an ordinary human girl; that is the only misfortune among the great many blessings. How do you feel now?”
“Eh? I have a bit of a headache, and it seems I just had a dream.”
“A dream?”
“Ah, but it’s okay now, thank you. Where is Mr. Fisher?”
As Tang Zeming Asuka’s consciousness became clearer, she rubbed her head and sat up, realizing she was lying on the floor of a spacious room, with Gouwen, the Whale Folk, squatting beside her. After hearing her question, Gouwen smiled helplessly and pointed in a direction, saying, “He’s over there sulking.”
Tang Zeming Asuka followed Gouwen’s indication and saw Fisher sitting by the window with a cold expression, arms crossed, with bruises marring his handsome face from the earlier incident.
But strangely, Gouwen appeared completely unscathed.
Tang Zeming Asuka expressed her doubts to Gouwen, but he only shook his head, explaining, “He was originally fine, but who told him to meddle and try to pull that angel Hela? Now, I’ve already done some basic treatment on your injury; there should be no major issues. We’ve all been waiting for you to wake up.”
“Eh? Waiting for me?”
“Yeah, you are the Trans, and you come from the same world as that gentleman. Just now, we wanted to talk to him, but he didn’t seem to believe us at all. He said he would only talk once you woke up.”
“That’s right. Oh, it seems we just saw a Russian man earlier.”
Tang Zeming Asuka immediately sat up, and Fisher rubbed his face and walked over from the window, addressing Tang Zeming Asuka.
“Angel Michael is still crafting items; it’s quite difficult for us to approach. That guy is waiting downstairs, watching for when Michael finishes crafting, so calling out to him with the Trans won’t be easy. This room is all Michael’s doing; he seems to be helping Michael craft something, but unfortunately, he doesn’t want to talk to us at all. We can only ask you for help.”
Indeed, ever since Fisher was secretly plotted against by Hela just now, his address for her had changed from “angel Hela” to “that guy,” of course, in private. After all, they were still on the territory of the Holy Realm, let alone the fact that Hela was a mythical being whose rank was much higher than theirs.
“Okay, no problem!”
Upon hearing this, Tang Zeming Asuka nodded immediately, feeling inexplicably excited. Since she crossed over to this world, she hadn’t really been able to help at all. Thankfully, Fisher and Gouwen had always been there to assist her. Perhaps she was just an ordinary high school girl, but she understood the basic principle of gratitude; helping them to communicate with the Trans was perhaps one of the few things she could contribute.
Moreover, she also wanted to talk with him. Although just a few days ago they were strangers from different countries, here, they might at least be able to call each other “fellow Earthlings.”
She took a deep breath, turned to look around, and was surprised to find that the room was filled with many complicated angelic tools of unknown purpose. There were also many scattered components and devices on some tables, and this was where that Russian man had stood just now.
Gouwen pointed towards the depths of the room, and after walking quite a distance in that direction, Tang Zeming Asuka finally saw another smaller room tucked in the corner of this spacious area. This room had a sleeping bed, seemingly serving as the personal rest area for that Russian man.
At this moment, he was squatting beside the bed, manipulating a pile of strange parts scattered on the floor with one hand. Upon hearing the footsteps of Tang Zeming Asuka behind him, he did not turn but spoke in Russian,
“Are you okay? Many creatures here exceed human limits. You are still a ‘pure body’; it’s quite lucky that you haven’t died yet. I am Mikhail, what about you? Are you the daughter of Mitsui or of Konoe? Your ‘pure body’ is just too obvious.”
Fisher and Gouwen completely did not understand what the other was saying, so they both looked towards Tang Zeming Asuka, only to find that the puzzled expression on her face was even more intense than theirs, seeming to not understand anything he was saying.
“No, no, um. Mr. Mikhail, I’m Tang Zeming Asuka, just an ordinary high school student from Kyoto. I don’t understand what you mean by… Konoe or pure body and whatever.”
Mikhail’s movements with the parts paused slightly, and he put down the peculiar dark piece in his right hand. He then turned his head slightly, scanning Tang Zeming Asuka from top to bottom with one eye, before suddenly asking,
“How old are you?”
“Eh? This year, in this world? I don’t know, I just…”
“I mean the time in your world.”
“Oh, 1996.”
A noticeable look of shock appeared on Mikhail’s face, and then the corners of his mouth twisted upwards in a mocking smile as he turned back to fiddle with the parts at his feet.
“Is that so? Then you’re quite lucky to live in a rather decent era. So, are these two your friends?”
“Not a good era at all.”
Upon hearing this, Tang Zeming Asuka’s expression darkened slightly as she muttered under her breath. Mikhail chuckled and replied,
“That is indeed a good era; at least you haven’t experienced nuclear warfare, nor have you witnessed how large companies take everything away, using humans as mere screws and waste. The hope in your hearts is generally greater than despair. You just asked me what ‘pure body’ is; it means a pure human who has not implanted any mechanical prosthetics, like you, a complete human.”
“Eh?”
Mikhail glanced at the wall nearby. Tang Zeming Asuka and Fisher all followed his gaze and discovered, at the edge of the floor by his bed, there was a compact workstation on which lay several peculiar mechanical arms, a mechanical spine, and eyeballs.
These seemed to correspond to the missing parts of the strange man in front of her, who claimed to be “Mikhail.”
Gouwen squinted as he scanned the various prosthetics on the wall, then turned back, examining Mikhail as if seeing him for the first time, and then he exclaimed incredulously to Fisher beside him, “Hiss, Mr. Fisher, this guy is missing more than just hands and eyes. His breathing and metabolic rates are off; there are other organs inside him that have been replaced, very likely his lungs. Moreover, his bone structure is also abnormal, unless he was born deformed.”
Mikhail turned his gaze to Tang Zeming Asuka, a glimmer of blue light passing through his single eye.
“I come from a new Russia completely controlled by a weapon company called ‘New Siberian Wind’ in the year 2156, where people have to implant various cheap and illegal prosthetics to gain precious job opportunities, among which there are certainly not a few underdeveloped minors. You can imagine the twisted pain of seeing their flesh and prosthetics entangled and rejected as their bodies began to develop.”
“And even disregarding the rejection between the body and the prosthetics, implanted prosthetics act like a virus, corroding human nerves to the core. With every activation and use, the coldness will eventually seep into a person’s thoughts, driving them completely insane.”
“Yet even so, most people’s hard-earned rewards are barely enough to make ends meet. Organ trafficking, drugs, gunfights — every day life unfolds in a world entirely quantified by companies, reaping lives as easily as mowing grass and turning screws. By comparison, doesn’t the recently burst economic bubble in Japan seem like paradise?”
Tang Zeming Asuka opened her mouth, seemingly confronted with matters far beyond her life experience, leaving her unable to speak. She merely pursed her lips and sincerely said, “I’m sorry,” but Mikhail shook his head and then continued,
“I didn’t mean to blame you; you don’t need to apologize. Anyway, discussing our original worlds now is basically meaningless. I simply didn’t expect to encounter another human from Earth here, although you are a bit too old.”
Tang Zeming Asuka could never have imagined that the word “old” would be used in reference to her, but this man before her was from a world over a century later. Wait, hold on.
“Wait, Mr. Mikhail, could it be possible that we don’t actually come from the same world? Maybe it’s something like parallel worlds?”
“Possible, but exploring that is unnecessary. I can understand what you’re saying; you know about the economic bubble I just mentioned. Even if there are indeed other differences, I’m too lazy to delve into them. Also, these two…”
Mikhail raised an eyebrow and looked towards Fisher and Gouwen behind Tang Zeming Asuka, with distrust almost written on his face. Seeing this, Tang Zeming Asuka immediately spoke up,
“These two are Mr. Fisher and Mr. Gouwen. Although they are from this world, they were also captured by angels and stand with us. Especially Mr. Fisher; he has some understanding of our world. They are both good people.”
“…Let’s hope so.”
Mikhail retracted his gaze from assessing Fisher and Gouwen and began fiddling with the parts in his hands again. Tang Zeming Asuka was at a loss for words, pressing her fingers together and thinking for a long time but couldn’t come up with a single word. Thankfully, Fisher was the first to glance at the strange machinery outside and asked Mikhail,
“Mr. Mikhail, those things outside shouldn’t be crafted by angels, right?”
“Hmm, those are technologies from our world. I don’t have the kind of exaggerated power that angels have, able to craft items using the sun. But that angel named Michael is very fond of technology, all kinds of technology, so he left me here to replicate some items for him and after that, he would let me go. However, what you see outside are not finished products; they are just simple machine tools. I’ve been working on these for half a year. Michael hasn’t pushed me; he only comes by occasionally to check.”
Upon hearing this, Tang Zeming Asuka looked at Fisher in astonishment and said, “So it seems that angel Michael isn’t as bad as other angels said?”
Gouwen chuckled and shook his head but didn’t speak. It was Fisher who explained to Tang Zeming Asuka,
“Good and bad are terms that don’t apply to angels. Even those who dislike Michael, like Salie, wouldn’t label him as ‘bad.’ As for why he is so tolerant of Mikhail and us, it is entirely because he doesn’t see us as important. Our lives and deaths are meaningless to them.”
Gouwen then added to Fisher’s statement, saying,
“Unlike the elves who believe in ‘Countless Destinies’ and the World Tree, angels adhere to the principles of creation and the Heavenly Lock, making them fundamentally indifferent to other beings.”
Upon hearing Gouwen’s words, Fisher suddenly thought that the Heavenly Lock, the World Tree, and Fei might all be the children of the Ramastia little water snake, so why did each have characteristics tending toward different deities?
The phoenixes’ initial ability to predict the future stemmed from gazing at the World Tree, and its roots even possessed the ability to warp space. This already proved that the World Tree was closely related to the god of fate Anebatos; while the angels’ obsession with crafting seemed to link them to the legendary deity Ouyun, who created matter.
Fisher stroked his chin and continued contemplating, while Tang Zeming Asuka looked at Mikhail’s back, who was fiddling with the parts, suddenly uncontrollably asking,
“Um, Mr. Mikhail, if you obtain your freedom and can leave the angels, what will you do next?”
Perhaps this was a question she wanted to ask herself. Even if she was currently being dragged into a whirlpool of danger for self-preservation, she was still confused.
Suddenly transported from her familiar world to a dangerous, completely alien world, she didn’t think about it until now; once she started to contemplate her vanished world, where her father still lived, she knew he would be worried if she wasn’t there.
Mikhail paused slightly at her words and, with a mocking smile, addressed Tang Zeming Asuka, “You’re already considering the future when the current issue hasn’t been resolved yet, and your life isn’t even guaranteed?”
“…I’m sorry.”
Tang Zeming Asuka quickly apologized again, like a child scolded by an elder, shrinking back a little.
Mikhail continued manipulating the parts on the ground, but if one looked closely, it would become apparent that he was repeating the same meaningless motion.
After a long silence, he didn’t turn his head but simply said,
“I will try to find a way back.”
“…Eh?”
Tang Zeming Asuka hadn’t anticipated that he would suddenly respond to her. She raised her head in surprise and then smiled, saying, “I thought, after all, Mr. Mikhail said 2156 was very bad, I assumed you didn’t want to return.”
“Heh, I actually don’t want to either. But you know, there are people over there waiting for me who are concerned about me, and I have some promises I haven’t fulfilled. So if there’s a chance, I might still want to go back.”
Fisher glanced at Mikhail’s back and suddenly felt a touch of familiarity.
It seemed he had seen something similarly worded in Jahl Uzz’s Soul Supplement Handbook.
It wasn’t a mockery; if the roles were reversed and Fisher suddenly found himself in another world, thinking about the people waiting for him here, he would likely want to return as well.
“Clap! Clap! Clap!”
Just as they were immersed in a very quiet ambiance of reflection, suddenly a crisp sound of applause came from behind them, startling Tang Zeming Asuka nearly into the air. Gouwen raised his eyebrows and turned to look at Mikhail, while Fisher immediately turned around, his expression darkening.
Behind them stood the beautiful angel with golden short curly hair, shimmering with a faint glow, who was visibly moved, wiping at the moisture in her eyes. She applauded while sobbing, saying,
“Well said! I’m truly touched. The longing for home by an alien guest, this warm feeling that everyone is thinking together is so compelling that I don’t wish to interrupt it. I’m incredibly moved by you all, rest assured, I will definitely help you until the end.”
“…You, when did you come?”
Everyone was at a loss for words looking at Hela, who was tearfully emotional. It was still Fisher who couldn’t help but be the first to speak to her.
Upon hearing Fisher’s question, Hela’s tears immediately ceased, and her stunning face was once again covered with that familiar smile. She tilted her chin and said cheerfully,
“Oh, I arrived when you just started talking. It’s nothing shameful; I won’t tell anyone else. Perhaps I can offer you some friendly advice for your goals, if you don’t mind. In this way, you know each other better, and I also get to witness such an interesting event. Isn’t that a win-win situation?”
Fisher sighed, looking at Hela, and asked,
“So, did you come up here for something?”
“Ah, about that.”
Hela’s smile gradually faded as she pointed outside, towards downstairs, and looked at Fisher, saying,
“Lord Michael has finally settled down. Next, he’s going to activate the day circle, and at that time, you won’t be able to stay here on the Fifth Day. So he wants to see you now, Fisher.”
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(This chapter ends)
