DEG - Chapter 8
Chapter 8: A Holographic World?
The hands were fair and slender, with nails trimmed into perfect curves. Their delicate, lustrous surfaces revealed the healthy, pale pink of the nail beds beneath.
At a glance, they were clearly the hands of someone who had been pampered.
But now, they had appeared silently behind him.
The newcomer, Song Shu, was startled. He was, after all, a renowned assassin on this planet. Though Yan Xi had repeatedly urged him and offered a massive sum of star coins as payment for the kill...
Song Shu still thought little of it.
He had done his research: a poor student who had only awakened her ability at eighteen, and a Gacha ability that was entirely dependent on luck at that.
Even if she had a stroke of incredible luck and drew a powerful card...
He had never seen her use the same card twice.
Hiring him to kill her-who was that supposed to be an insult to?
But the money Yan Xi had thrown at him was simply too much...
Good money, easy job.
Song Shu had inevitably grown a little careless.
But now...
The assassin had been discovered.
His ability flared, and he instantly melted into the shadows, intending to drag the person behind him into the darkness.
Unexpectedly, the person behind him evaded his attack with two simple steps. The voluminous skirt billowed gracefully, but her movements were as nimble as a dance.
Luo Nanqiu lured the man into the moonlight.
From that particular angle, only a sliver of shadow remained.
Did she think he would be weaker with less shadow?
Naive young lady!
Song Shu leaped from the shadow, trying to drag Luo Nanqiu into the darkness.
But he found the corner of Luo Nanqiu's lips curling into a smile, her features appearing even more gorgeously aloof in the moonlight.
She tapped her fan lightly against her palm, her back as straight as a pine, looking as relaxed as if she were strolling through a moonlit garden.
But in that instant, Song Shu discovered in horror that he couldn't move.
His ability, his shadow, no longer obeyed him. It had trapped half his body within itself.
Then, he saw the young lady standing by the window, waving her fan like a conductor's baton, her head tilted slightly in utter boredom.
And his own shadow followed the direction of her fan, moving left and right at her command.
Finally, it returned to Jiang Xun's bedside.
And stopped.
He watched the young lady cup her chin in her hand, pondering for a moment.
With a flutter of her skirt, she arrived at his side, picked up the card from the pillow, glanced at it, and then stuffed it into his hand before returning to the card herself.
What was she doing?
What kind of scheme was this?!
The moment he realized Luo Nanqiu was a character Jiang Xun had summoned, he completely shed his contempt. He immediately tossed the card aside and, before it could react, raised his knife and slashed at Jiang Xun's carotid artery.
No matter what, if the master died, the card could never appear again, no matter how powerful it was.
Song Shu held nothing back in his strike, but just as the blade neared Jiang Xun's neck, his wrist was suddenly seized.
A sigh echoed in the room.
He instinctively glanced toward the card on the bedside table, but to his surprise, the person lying in bed had silently opened her eyes.
Jiang Xun wasn't usually grumpy upon waking; accompanying the Eldest Miss on her early mornings had long trained that out of her.
But this was a hard-won rest, the first she'd had in a long time.
With a deft move, she dislocated Song Shu's wrist, flicked the weapon from his hand, and, as she rose, cleanly threw the man to the ground.
Then, with a speed he couldn't possibly react to, she dislocated his entire arm and kicked him, sending him flying into a nearby cabinet with a loud crash.
So satisfying. Such a relief.
Jiang Xun felt much of her morning grumpiness dissipate, though her eyes remained hazy with sleep.
She casually picked up the small knife that had fallen beside the bed, waiting for the man to try to kill her again. Then she could kill him and toss him outside to stop him from disturbing her sleep.
But for some reason, the man made no move. Jiang Xun frowned, so sleepy she could barely keep her eyes open.
She just wanted to get this over with quickly.
In a fit of pique, she picked up the knife and walked over to him. Song Shu had been feigning weakness, and seeing Jiang Xun's drowsy state, he thought his chance had come. His other hand shot out to grab the knife, but Jiang Xun simply took a small step back, used his momentum against him, and threw him to the ground once more.
Throwing him twice, even using technique rather than brute force, was enough to make her arm ache. The original owner's body was just too weak.
Just as she turned to pick up the fallen knife, she saw that magnificent, voluminous skirt again.
Luo Nanqiu was leaning against the cabinet, the moonlight illuminating her exquisite features.
Perhaps from having sulked all day, her expression was somewhat somber.
She treated Jiang Xun like a stranger, with none of the polite courtesy one would show a guest.
Indifferent and quiet, she looked almost lonely under the moonlight. Her eyes held only a calm, assessing gaze as she looked at Jiang Xun.
This was a Luo Nanqiu Jiang Xun had never seen before.
"Are you from the Imperial Military?"
Though it was a question, it sounded strangely certain.
But Jiang Xun knew the Eldest Miss was just bluffing.
Due to their respective positions, the Luo Family and the Imperial Military had always kept out of each other's affairs. The Eldest Miss's family business spanned the entire galaxy; the Imperial Military was the only "pure land" the Luo Consortium had never touched.
With no need for dealings with the military, the Eldest Miss had never taken the initiative to learn about its affairs.
Let alone identify her affiliation based on fighting style alone.
So Jiang Xun shook her head.
"Then you want to enroll in a military academy?"
This ambition happened to touch a recent sore spot for the Eldest Miss, and her voice took on a displeased edge.
This time, Jiang Xun nodded. She even put on a timid act and asked cautiously, "Do you think... I'm suited for it?"
Though this girl bore some resemblance to Jiang Xun, in Luo Nanqiu's eyes, she was a person for whom she bore no responsibility.
Her life, her future-her choices had nothing to do with her.
So she could still answer objectively. "It's fine. For an ability user with no background, it's the best path for social mobility."
Yet it also revealed the full arrogance of someone from the upper class.
Jiang Xun's eyes lit up.
She asked expectantly, "Then... will you help me in the future?"
Her answer was a cold, soft laugh.
Anyone could hear the rejection in it.
Lying on the floor, Song Shu finally pieced together their relationship from the idle chat.
A poor girl had drawn an arrogant young lady from a powerful family.
And the young lady didn't seem to enjoy being a card, subject to another's command.
No wonder...
Just now, the young lady had been giving him an opportunity to kill her master.
Song Shu's eyes lit up.
At that moment, he melted into the shadows. Jiang Xun seemed to realize the difficulty, scrambling to her feet and searching the shadows on the floor in a panic.
She was trying to find him.
A flower raised in a greenhouse, just as he thought. She had some martial arts skill, but she was completely helpless against a rare ability!
He grinned viciously, leaped up from behind her, and seized her by the neck.
Song Shu even glanced at Luo Nanqiu. Seeing that she was merely watching, showing no reaction to his murderous attack, he became certain of his guess. To please the young lady, he didn't go for a quick kill.
He slowly tightened his grip on Jiang Xun's neck, letting her lose oxygen little by little.
Jiang Xun struggled "desperately." Starved for air, she looked at Luo Nanqiu with tear-filled eyes. She even managed two coughs, reaching a hand toward Luo Nanqiu as two choked sounds for "help" escaped her throat.
Luo Nanqiu: ...
She tapped her fan against her palm, speechless. "You have the ability."
"But... I'm scared right now," she said, her voice trembling.
Luo Nanqiu took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them again,
a few extremely cold words escaped her red lips.
"Then go die."
She turned to return to her card, the sound of her hard-soled shoes clicking against the wooden floor.
Just then, Jiang Xun's ability sent her a warning.
The affinity level was too low.
If she didn't do something to raise it, the card would become useless.
She would never be able to summon Luo Nanqiu again.
Jiang Xun panicked, realizing she had taken the act too far.
So Nanqiu was this impatient with strangers?
The thought was fleeting.
"Nanqiu, Nanqiu!" she called out quickly, an irrepressible smile in her breathless voice.
"I was wrong, alright?"
The Annihilation ability flowed from Jiang Xun's fingertips, striking Song Shu without hesitation.
Feeling the familiar energy fluctuation, Luo Nanqiu stopped and glanced back.
She saw Jiang Xun break free from the man's grasp, her fair neck still flushed red from the pressure.
"How novel," Jiang Xun said as she ran over, a smile playing on her lips as she met Luo Nanqiu's incredulous gaze. "To think there'd be a day when I'd have to tell you who I am."
The fan nearly slipped from Luo Nanqiu's hand. Her eyes widened as she called out tentatively, "Ah Xun?"
Jiang Xun nodded.
Luo Nanqiu's lips parted slightly, as if faced with the impossible. She studied Jiang Xun for a long moment before finally stumbling forward and grabbing her arm.
She confirmed that Jiang Xun was warm-that this was the living, breathing flesh of a person whose blood still pulsed.
At the same time, this body was also young-eighteen years old, untrained, and even a little weak.
Luo Nanqiu managed a faint smile.
"What is all this? Are you on a special mission?" Luo Nanqiu's heart was in turmoil.
But she forced herself to think of the best-case scenario.
For instance, that Jiang Xun had undergone some modification by the Imperial Military, changing her body to its current state to go undercover here.
Jiang Xun was taken aback. She had expected Luo Nanqiu's first questions to be about her new ability, or how she had managed to summon her.
"A special mission..." Jiang Xun knew the best lies were half-truths. "You could say that. After all, when I opened my eyes, I was in a game."
"I have no idea what the Imperial Military is trying to test."
Jiang Xun kept her head down, pretending to study the hem of Luo Nanqiu's dress, and so she missed the way Luo Nanqiu was meticulously watching her every expression.
"A game?" For a moment, Luo Nanqiu couldn't breathe. She recognized the subtle tells Jiang Xun had when she was lying.
She forced herself to remain calm, but her voice held an irrepressible, mocking sharpness.
Jiang Xun simply assumed it was Luo Nanqiu's usual dissatisfaction with the Imperial Military.
Luo Nanqiu took a deep breath. Her hand rose slowly to caress Jiang Xun's cheek, then drifted down to gently stroke the red marks on her neck.
She carefully felt the warmth there, the pulse beating beneath the skin.
"Are you sure you just... fell asleep?"
It was a gentle gesture, and her eyes even began to mist over, yet an aura of furious menace emanated from her, making her violet eyes all the more heartbreakingly beautiful.
Hit with such a direct question, Jiang Xun faltered.
She couldn't possibly tell her that she had actually died.
Nanqiu had already forbidden her from enrolling in a military academy because it was too dangerous. If she told her the truth now, wouldn't Nanqiu completely break down?
A shadow passed over Jiang Xun's eyes.
Her lips tightened. Weighing her words, she offered another half-truth. "I actually accepted a mission. I can't tell you the details, but when I woke up, I was in this holographic world. I'd gained a second ability, and I used it to summon you."
Luo Nanqiu let out a sharp laugh.
A holographic world. A game.
All of it tangled together, becoming a great weight that dragged her thoughts uncontrollably toward an abyss she refused to consider.
This had better be a holographic world.
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