NOVPUB
Chapter 1209: Brother
Botanical Garden, Beiyong District
Vibrant colors faded, leaving the city silent and cold in the monochrome world. At some point, it had started to rain. The downpour looked like dense grey lines in black and white manga. Amid the lines, Qing Ling rode on her blade with Gao Yang, landing on a street near the botanical garden.
Thirty seconds ago, Qing Ling had hit Gao Xinxin with a slash charged with her maximum power. The cyan blade aura lingered in the night sky for eight seconds, while Gao Xinxin flew away like a white shooting star, crash landing into a neighborhood a few hundred meters away.
Gao Yang jumped down from the sky. Moving to the center of the crossroad, he spotted Gao Xinxin immediately.
Qing Ling followed him down. She warned, “She’s seriously hurt, but she can still fight. Be careful.”
“I know,” Gao Yang said in a low voice as he walked up to Gao Xinxin slowly.
Even with Memory Tailor modifying much of his memory, the scene before him still hit him like a stab in the chest—it was more out of an inherent human empathy, however, rather than a personal heartache.
A part of one of the houses had toppled. Buried in the rubble was a frail girl. Her hair ran messily over her pale face. The skin was marred by drops of blood.
An ugly wound ran from her neck to her chest, almost carving it open. Black energy gushed out like ink in an attempt to repair her body, but it was struggling. Even more black energy was draining from her like blood loss that couldn’t be stopped. It fluctuated strangely as it spread, blooming into one flower of black flames after another.
“Brother...” Gao Xinxin’s face distorted with pain. Her voice was weak as she looked at the boy towering over her with tears in her eyes. “It hurts. My chest...hurts...”
Gao Yang didn’t say anything.
“Brother, where am I...? It’s-it’s cold. I’m scared...” Gao Xinxin sobbed, struggling to reach out to Gao Yang.
Gao Yang remained quiet.
“Why wouldn’t you do anything, Brother...? You promised...to always protect me... Do you not want me as your sister anymore...?” Gao Xinxin seemed beside herself.
Gao Yang stared at her quietly.
“Ah...” Suddenly, all the pain and heartbreak vanished from Gao Xinxin’s face. “I remember... I’m a death monster, and you’re an awakener... You’re here to kill me...”
Gao Yang’s lips remained sealed.
“Gao Yang!” Qing Ling caught up and grabbed Gao Yang’s collars, face pale due to energy draining from her after the three-minute buff. “Remember your promise to me. Remember...”
She couldn’t finish. Her Tang Dao fell to the ground, and she fell into Gao Yang’s arms with her eyes closed. Catching her, Gao Yang placed her on the ground and conjured a small Absolute Barrier to protect her.
Gao Yang stood back up and drew the Black Gold dagger sheathed at his waist. Injecting energy into it, he turned the blade into a sturdy, fierce golden sword.
He took a few steps toward Gao Xinxin, leveling her with a cold gaze.
“What more do you want to say before your death?”
Gao Xinxin paused before breaking into laughter. “Haha, hahaha... No, nonono, you’re not my brother. My brother will never speak that way to me... My brother treats me well...”
“Then any last words for him?” Gao Yang asked.
He didn’t know what was happening to him. He had no reason not to kill Gao Xinxin immediately, but a voice—or a power—in his heart kept trying to interfere with him.
It gave him pause.
Perhaps an inmate deep in his heart cared about the family before him very much and kept stirring up trouble. That was why Gao Yang thought he should ask her if she had any last words. Then he would tell the inmate to make him settle down.
“Last words?” Gao Xinxin chuckled, her voice soft and sad. “You’re cruel, Brother. You won’t even do it yourself when you kill me.”
“When Granny, Dad, and Mom died, you were there with them...”
“Why...why not when I die...? Your sister... wants her brother to cry for her...”
The golden blade shook. Gao Yang looked down to find his hand trembling. He gripped it with his other hand, but it was no use. Both hands were shaking now.
Gao Yang didn’t understand what was going on.
When he tried to find an answer, something snapped in his heart. The inmate had broken out.
“Brother, don’t leave me.”
“Brother, I’m scared.”
“Brother, what are you playing?”
“Brother, why don’t we play hide-and-seek?”
“Brother, I found a secret base.”
“Brother, I want the osmanthus cake, too.”
“Brother, isn’t my bag pretty?”
“Brother, how do you pronounce this word?”
“Brother, I got a full score for both exams this time!” 𝖓𝔬𝖛𝔭𝔲𝖇.𝔠𝔬𝖒
“Brother, I don’t want to write the essay.”
“Brother, lend me the bicycle.”
“Brother, isn’t the dress pretty?”
“Brother, I’m using the bathroom first!”
“Brother, buy something for me with your phone.”
“Brother, I’m hungry.”
“Brother, would you go to a concert with me?”
“Brother, I got a love letter again today.”
“Brother, you haven’t gotten a girlfriend, have you?”
“Brother, take a picture of me!”
“Brother, apply to a university in Li City, you hear me?”
“Brother, I miss Granny.”
“Brother, I dreamed about Dad and Mom last night.”
“Brother, Happy New Year.”
“Brother, happy birthday.”
“Brother, I’m scared.”
“Brother, don’t leave me.”
The memories deleted by Memory Tailor returned in full force. They had long become part of Gao Yang’s energy pathway and would return no matter how many times they were wiped. To erase them once and for all would require the destruction of the energy pathway, which would kill Gao Yang.
“Ugh...”
All the memories crashed into his mind like violent waves, a backlash against Memory Tailor. Gao Yang’s mind froze. The long sword fell to the ground with a clang. He dropped to his knees and grabbed his head.
The wall he had built with indifference and rationality crumbled.
“Ahhh!”
Gao Yang howled, the voice threatening to tear a wound in the sky.
“Haha...” Almost drowned out in the howl was Gao Xinxin’s chuckle. “I knew you were the best... I knew you wouldn’t want to kill me... So let me kill you...”
Black flames sprouted around Gao Xinxin. They spread and covered the entire crossroad instantaneously, rushing along the streets and alleyways to cover the entire neighborhood. Six wings of black flames slowly unfurled above the city, cutting the night sky into several chunks. Black and white flowers bloomed with black petals and white pistils. They were flowers, but also fire, and they burned anything and everything.
Envy’s second form, Fire of Envy.
A few seconds later, Gao Yang was ignited, too. The Fire of Envy couldn’t be extinguished once it started. The clusters of flames quietly burned, not destroying the clothes, charring the skin, or evaporating the flesh and blood. They only brought pain.
“Ahhhh!” Gao Yang collapsed and curled into himself, rolling around in pain.
“Hahaha... Hahahaha...” Similarly surrounded by the fire, Gao Xinxin floated from the rubble, letting out a shrill of hysterical, broken laughter. “Don’t be scared, Brother. Death is a reunion after an eternity, the destination after a long wander. You and I will see each other again.”
“Aghhh!”
Gao Yang was in excruciating pain, but he hadn’t lost himself. In fact, he was more clear-minded than ever under the extreme pain.
The pain was the punishment he deserved.
Only by paying this price would he forgive himself.
He Flash Shadowed to Gao Xinxin and held onto her. With him as the center, a great pillar of red flames rose and engulfed the crossroad. More than simple flames, the pillar rippled with endless golden energy that tried to cover all the black and white flowers in the neighborhood.
For a moment, the sky turned golden, but separated by black wings; the land was black, but scorched by golden light. The red fire and black flames devoured each other, pushing and pulling in a battle of attrition.
It was like the trial of doomsday, or the creation of the world.
