Chapter 129

Ye Zheng half lowered her eyelids. Her fingers delicately manipulated the continuous threads of rain.

Perhaps because of rising air currents, the lingering white mist within the canyon had coincidentally condensed into rain, a downpour that was absolutely advantageous for her.

This rain was both accidental yet inevitable. When Zhou Yun implanted the dragon bones and released the restraints on the dragon-bodied humans, deciding to expose the evil truth, destiny had already begun brewing an unknown storm.

The moment the first raindrop landed on Ye Zheng's hair, she had already made her decision. Compared to a misty drizzle that resembled tears, what this world needed more was an earth-shaking, heaven-rending torrent!

The fragile rain threads were suddenly pulled taut by her.

Pei Xi held his breath and focused intently as he seized the opening. His right arm transformed into a silver spear nearly two meters long and pierced through the continuous curtain of rain.

Pei Xi's face drew closer and closer. The unstoppable spear thrust straight toward her. Only his eyes revealed a flicker of confusion.

In the past, Ye Zheng would've gladly talked things through and reasoned with him. The male protagonist's fragile heart lay right before her. Even with the supposed constraints of the manga's world will, she could easily find loopholes and guide his actions.

But at this moment, she felt that words carried far too little weight.

The raindrops that struck the ground should've turned into lifeless puddles. Yet the instant they landed, they bounced upward again like threads pulled by invisible hands, stitching the sky and earth together into an airtight white curtain.

Ye Zheng's face vanished instantly behind that white veil.

Pei Xi's movement paused almost imperceptibly. His eyes narrowed. The long spear plunged into the white curtain.

At first, he felt no resistance. As he continued pushing forward, the spear formed from his arm sank into bottomless mire. An impossibly flexible yet unbreakable force dragged against him. Pei Xi immediately realized he had underestimated her.

He tried to pull back. Suddenly his scalp tingled. A deadly sense of danger surged straight to his head. In an instant, he covered his heart, neck, and other vital areas with metal.

The next moment, a harsh screech of metal scraping against metal assaulted his ears. Pei Xi looked down. The clothing over his chest had been torn open, exposing the metalized skin beneath.

Pei Xi's pupils contracted in tension. Ye Zheng truly intended to kill him!

【Warning! Deducting 100 action points!】

Another piercing scrape rang out. Pei Xi staggered back to evade it. This time, the lethal water thread nearly sliced through his ankle!

This wouldn't do. He had to put distance between himself and Ye Zheng. Unable to pull his right hand free from the water curtain, Pei Xi metalized his left arm as well. After a brief hesitation, he gritted his teeth and severed his own right arm before the next crisis struck!

He had just leaped away when needle-like rain poured down from above, puncturing countless tiny holes into the ground.

【Warning! Deducting 150 action points!】

Pei Xi endured the excruciating pain. Losing his hand for the second time in such a short span sent his heart rate soaring to an unbelievable level. But this time, he could no longer use regression.

He had to end this fight as quickly as possible. There was still a chance to find a healing-type ability user who could reattach his arm.

Through his darkening vision, Ye Zheng emerged from behind the rain curtain. She tilted her neck slightly. Her gaze remained focused, as though the battle just now hadn't satisfied her enough.

Pei Xi forced himself upright. He metalized the wound to stop the bleeding as best as he could. At the same time, his mind raced. What were the characteristics of Ye Zheng's ability? How could he defeat her?

As he stared at that figure, everything felt increasingly absurd. Once, she had been the healer he trusted most. Now she had personally severed his arm, and he would never seek her healing again.

How had things come to this? Pei Xi couldn't understand it. There had never been any real conflict between them!

"Ye Zheng, what exactly do you want?"

"To protect them."

Ye Zheng stopped walking and answered concisely.

"...I promised Aunt Mingyue that I would help end their inhuman suffering. Ye Zheng, why are you so fixated on this?"

"What if I said there was a way to turn them back into normal people?"

Pei Xi's blue eyes widened in shock for a moment. Then he asked, "Can you be certain?"

"I'm not certain. But as long as that possibility exists, they shouldn't have to die."

Pei Xi parted his lips as though he wanted to say more, but Ye Zheng quickly cut him off.

"Pei Xi, death isn't the only way to end inhuman suffering. Are you sure they truly want to die?"

A sharp, piercing cry shrieked past his ear, like an unwilling roar from the brink of death. Pei Xi lowered his head. For a moment, he could barely breathe. His voice came out rough and strained.

"...But they're causing death right now. Ye Zheng, have you considered how much harm letting them run free could bring?"

"You're the empire's noblest and kindest Saintess. You want to save everyone. I've always admired that about you. But your so-called salvation will it truly save more people, or will it harm even more? Do you really understand?"

Hearing Pei Xi’s question, Ye Zheng lowered her head and let out a soft laugh.

“Pei Xi, haven’t you noticed?”

“Your logic is exactly the same as Kieran’s, and the same as the Hope Project you despise so much. Such righteous, towering justice. But why do they have to be the minority sacrificed?”

Pei Xi froze. He shook his head and took a step back, his face full of disbelief.

“No... this kind of choice is the most rational consideration...” Pei Xi stopped halfway through the sentence, realizing that Kieran had once said something very similar to him.

Ye Zheng’s gaze softened. The gentle curtain of rain cast a layer of soft light over her black eyes. She picked up the severed limb from the ground and walked toward Pei Xi. Under his stunned stare, she pressed her hand against the stump of his right arm and activated her healing ability, reattaching it.

Pei Xi’s expression grew even more confused, like an overloaded machine. He stared at the side of Ye Zheng’s face until she lifted her head and gave him a smile.

“By the way, none of my abilities have the slightest connection to the Hope Project... I told Kieran the same thing before he died.”

“We were never the same kind.”

Pei Xi’s eyes suddenly widened. His heart jolted violently. He looked down and saw a sharp blade formed from condensed water pressed directly against his chest.

When Ye Zheng had seen Pei Xi hesitate in front of the dragon-bodied human, she had considered pulling this male protagonist to her side and carrying out her plan together.

That thought vanished the moment Sykes appeared and obliterated the dragon-bodied woman, who seemed to have some past connection with Pei Xi, with a single strike.

Watching that scene, Ye Zheng had almost burst into laughter. Tears had nearly welled up.

On the surface, Pei Xi embodied justice while Sykes represented evil. In reality, the two were simply two sides of the same coin within this manga’s world will. The author knew that if Pei Xi had killed that dragon-bodied woman himself, the righteous protagonist would appear too cold-blooded. Yet the woman had to die. Otherwise, how could Pei Xi’s later behavior and his complex, three-dimensional character arc be justified and deepened?

So Sykes had conveniently appeared.

Deep down, the author understood how hypocritical this brand of justice truly was. The cold-blooded, evil aspects were pushed onto the convenient tool named Sykes. That tool faced little real condemnation because he was the villain. All his atrocities were simply taken for granted.

Yet the author’s hidden admiration for such evil was perfectly concealed within the harmonious interplay between hero and villain.

The entire thing was as absurd as the Hope Project itself, just like the Blood Flower Incident ten years ago. Beneath the magnificent and pristine outer robe lay nothing but blood-soaked sin!

Justice! How many crimes had been committed in your illustrious name!

She tightened her grip on the water blade. Her wildly pounding heart hovered right at the blade’s tip. Ye Zheng took a deep breath, endured the searing pain, and pushed the water blade forward. Then she forced it further.

【Warning! Deducting 50 action points!】

【Warning! Deducting 100 action points!】

【Warning! Deducting 200 action points!】

『Stop, Ye Zheng! They will not allow you to continue!』

The system warned her sharply.

『Pei Xi is the anchor point of this world. They will not permit this world to*****』

The system’s voice quickly dissolved into meaningless noise.

It felt as if someone were stirring her brain with a knife. Ye Zheng bit her pale lips until they bled. Pei Xi was so shocked he nearly lost all strength. His limbs had already been tightly bound by water threads. He could only concentrate every ounce of power at his chest, where metal resisted the steadily advancing blade.

The blade tip carried corrosive properties! Ye Zheng had somehow obtained a corrosive liquid, and it was now fiercely eating away at his protective metal!

Their eyes locked. Pei Xi’s gaze was practically splitting with fury. Ye Zheng’s black eyes burned with suppressed madness. Their figures nearly overlapped. The Grim Reaper’s scythe hovered and swayed between them, drawing infinitely closer to Pei Xi.

Suddenly, a powerful shockwave struck. Even the rain was blown askew. Ye Zheng stumbled and had to retreat a step to steady herself.

Pei Xi seized the moment, broke free of the water threads, and put distance between them.

“Ye Zheng, what the hell are you doing?”

Sykes frowned and strode forward.

Ye Zheng glanced at him without anger. She calmly accepted the reality before her. She was destined not to kill Pei Xi today.

Merely attacking Pei Xi had already caused her action points to plummet wildly. The moment her attack posed a lethal threat, an external force wrenched her brain with excruciating pain. Ye Zheng had anticipated this long ago, yet she still had to take this step.

Sooner or later, she would stand completely on the opposite side of this absurd story.

The gray drizzle pattered down. Sykes stared at her, clearly waiting for a reasonable explanation. Why wasn’t she helping them stop these monsters? Why was she clashing with Pei Xi instead? Even if he disliked Pei Xi, he still needed an answer.

“Ye Zheng, now that I think about it, you were the one who incited me to come here in the first place. You knew about this Hope Project and the existence of these monsters from the beginning?”

Sykes’s golden eyes bore into her, heavy with pressure.

“The church is deeply entangled in this experiment. What role did you play in it? What is your goal?”

“Could it be that the imperial—”

Sykes’s rapid-fire questions stopped abruptly. His golden eyes widened.

Ye Zheng’s face was deathly pale, yet her posture remained straight and unyielding. In the dim gray rain, she looked like an inorganic puppet. Suddenly, she raised her right hand. Pale blue water threads flowed upward from her palm, climbing higher and higher until they reached the sky and exploded in an instant!

The splashing pale blue threads burst outward like fireworks, blooming with a cold and dazzling brilliance. Everyone instinctively looked up.

It wasn’t only the humans who were drawn by the water-colored display. A dragon-bodied human shrieked as it lunged toward Ye Zheng from behind. Both Sykes and Pei Xi changed expressions and seemed about to warn her instinctively. Ye Zheng reached upward and pulled. The black shadow was restrained instantly.

The water threads tightened relentlessly, delivering a mortal threat. The massive dragon body thrashed its wings and claws. At the very top, the human female torso let out a piercing scream.

In the next moment, the threads seemed to loosen. The dragon-bodied human broke free with a desperate surge and soared past Ye Zheng’s head with a shrill cry. Its sharp claws raked across the back of her hand, leaving deep bloody gashes.

For a moment, Sykes didn’t know how to react. Then he saw Ye Zheng turn toward them, showing the back of her hand marked with fresh blood, and curve her lips into a gentle smile.

“You asked what my purpose is.”

“They struggle so desperately to live. So I’ll take them and let them live. That’s my purpose.”

At seven years old, she had watched her loved ones forced to their deaths. Her own footsteps had been weak and fearful as they halted outside the blood-colored aberrant realm.

But now, she would never falter again.

Ye Zheng lowered her eyes and gazed at the two stunned young men before her.

“...Lunatic!”

Sykes cursed under his breath. He strode forward as if intending to subdue her. Suddenly his vision darkened. Sensing something was wrong, he halted and looked into the distance.

In the gray canyon, countless black shadows took flight. They no longer tangled with their prey. Instead, they all flew forward together.

The sky-darkening swarm passed overhead and settled upon the massive white remains ahead.

It was as if someone had suddenly called them. Sykes watched the dense cluster of monsters land on the white object, then turned his gaze back to Ye Zheng.

“Is this some method the church gave you? A way to control these monsters? No wonder the base kept them around.”

He hardly needed confirmation. He was certain Ye Zheng had taken control of that swarm.

“It isn’t my control.”

“It’s an instinctive call. They’ll do what they want to do.”

Ye Zheng answered without changing her expression.

Pei Xi shook his head, his face pale. “No, Ye Zheng, you can’t let them go. They’ll bring enormous disaster to ordinary people!”

Ye Zheng looked at the two of them. She had no intention of explaining, and she had no need to.

She spread her hands and gave a sly smile.

“So what?”

From now on, they would no longer be tragic victims used to decorate the halo of heroic sorrow, nor poignant spectacles meant to deepen the story’s tragedy.

They would be the same as her. Thoroughgoing villains.

But so what?