NOVPUB42: Chapter 42: Shooting Star (Please Favorite, Follow, and Vote)
42: Chapter 42: Shooting Star (Please Favorite, Follow, and Vote)
He Ao felt a connection with the God of Knowledge and waited for a moment.
There was no response.
Considering the enmity incurred during the novice task, the God of Knowledge should have been enraged upon sensing his presence, but it seemed that the god couldn’t recognize him as ‘Yezola,’ the one who had previously betrayed and led to the death of its offspring.
As He Ao remained silent, an epiphany emerged in his mind, offering him some basic knowledge and informing him that he could pray to this ‘great Divine Being,’ but he must provide corresponding Sacrifices.
Pray?
He Ao had never considered this.
He tuned into the “connection” with the God of Knowledge and sent over his “prayer.”
‘Yezola asked me to tell you, your “Super Memory” is very useful.’
The moment this prayer was sent, a vast divine power exploded by He Ao’s ears like thunder.
Endless twisted craziness of spirit and knowledge poured down like the waters of an open floodgate, surging into He Ao’s mind, with the gray and white radiance descending from Heaven, indiscriminately destroying everything in the Septagram Magic Array.
This was the Divine Being’s rage.
Mu Xiu hurriedly threw He Ao out, trying to flee from the place, but was immediately overwhelmed by the surging brilliance that followed.
——
The roar of engines drew closer from a distance, and a dark motorcycle crashed through a collapsing half wall, stopping before the area.
The surrounding homeless had already been driven away by He Ao, making Selena the first to arrive at the ruins.
She leapt down from the motorcycle violently and rushed to the center of the catastrophe.
The first thing that caught her eye was a corroded, hole-ridden carcass, huge and fiery red; one could vaguely make out its once strong form.
One of its eyes was blind, while the other was wide open.
Some muscles on the carcass still twitched, but this massive body had lost its Soul.
A thin figure stood before the mega carcass’s head, reaching out to close the round, bulging eyes of the carcass.
Then, he struggled to walk aside and picked up the silver Gauss Pistol from the ground.
“Ande?”
Selena called out tentatively.
The figure paused for a moment and slowly turned his head; his body was also riddled with corrosion, exposing a ghastly white skeleton and writhing organs.
Those organs seemed to have minds of their own, frantically trying to escape from his physique.
The divine retribution from the God of Knowledge brought not only corrosive radiance but also mental pollution and assault.
Mu Xiu had his Soul erased in the first wave of assault, while He Ao had some resistance to these impacts and survived.
But the body belonging to ‘Ande’ couldn’t resist the further contamination, and if this continued, the body would become a twisted monster.
He Ao looked at Selena and slowly aimed the Gauss Gun at his own head.
His cheeks were mostly intact, but they already looked somewhat ferocious.
He made an effort to stretch his cheeks, trying to give her a smile that was less grotesque,
“Sorry.”
Bang——
The last bullet was for himself.
[Task Completed]
[Returning to the original world]
[Evaluating task…]
——
“I brought you some fried chicken legs, please don’t cry anymore, okay?”
The little boy offered the golden fried chicken leg to the blonde, speaking with a hint of helplessness.
“I’m not crying, my eyes are just a bit dry,” Selena wiped her eyes with a tissue and took the chicken leg, “It might be a problem with the fluid regulation function of my mechanized body.”
“Oh,” the boy sat back down, confused.
He didn’t quite understand these technical terms, looking around, “Where’s your boyfriend?
Why didn’t he come back with you?”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” Selena paused, shaking her head and looking out the window, “We’re just colleagues, he’s been sent to another city on a business trip.”
“Oh, he’s dead,” the boy paused before picking up another chicken leg, “It’s normal, couldn’t afford an ambulance.”
Then he hesitated for a moment, placing the chicken leg in front of Selena, “Eat, eat more, when you’re full you won’t feel bad anymore.”
Selena stared blankly at the young boy who had quickly guessed the outcome and calmly accepted it, not sure what to say about the chicken leg he had placed in front of her.
Just then, a communication request came through.
Smith’s bald forehead appeared in Selena’s vision, “Dancing Girl has been caught, I have to guard her until the trial is over, so there shouldn’t be much going on for the next few days.
I’ll give you a few days off to rest.”
Selena didn’t speak, falling into silence.
“I’ve heard about Ande,” Smith was silent for a moment, “He was a good kid, a hero.”
Selena remained silent, not picking up the conversation, and the phone was momentarily quiet.
“I will apply for him to be buried in the Dumel National Cemetery,” Smith broke the silence, “The Federal Bureau of Investigation will pay him a pension.
Does he have any surviving immediate family or heirs?”
Selena instinctively looked at the little boy in front of her, eating the chicken leg.
But after thinking about it, she felt it was unlikely.
The boy hadn’t been adopted by He Ao, and being a homeless child might mean he had no social security, no way to be designated in a will.
“Hmm?” The boy looked back at Selena, then took out a wristband and handed it to her, “He left this for you, he said to give this to you.”
“For me?”
Selena was startled for a moment, taking the wristband from the boy with some confusion.
The wristband had no password, and after Selena opened it, she found a prominent file on the homepage.
[By the time you read this file, I’ll probably be gone, sorry to leave you with a mess, you don’t have to blame yourself, it was all my own choice.
My estate shouldn’t amount to much, I don’t know if the Federation will pay me a pension, but if they do, please leave some for this child to cover his college expenses, as a reward for saving my life.
Also, you might consider donating part to the ‘Dawn Homeless Children’s Aid Association’.
It may trouble you to inspect the organization.
From what they do, they seem quite responsible but go ahead and check anyway.
If your findings are contrary to my intuition, then there is no need to make a donation.
I do not know how much money will ultimately be available, it’s all up to you to allocate appropriately.
The remaining part is your compensation for the trouble.
Wishing you smooth sailing ahead, and may you meet better colleagues in the future.
— Ande]
There was a link at the bottom of the file which Selena clicked on; it opened a will certification software with a single will already paid for and certified.
At the bottom in the beneficiary section, it read:
Beneficiary: Selena Julia
Social Security Number: 037-35-4468
“Ande…”
Clutching the wristband, Selena looked out of the window, the flickering neon lights reflecting in her eyes.
In this world, there are always people who blaze across the sky like meteors, brilliant and blinding, yet fleeting.
They only leave a touch of melancholy and a hint of regret to those who witnessed their flight.
