PSW - Chapter 56
Chapter 56
Zero One watched as Zheng Yi draped a jacket over herself and walked with perfect composure toward another dormitory building. Based on her direction, if it remembered correctly-
[You can't kill people inside the shelter!]
But Zheng Yi acted as if she hadn't heard a thing. She leisurely climbed the stairs, a path she had walked more than once.
At the same familiar corner, Zheng Yi took off her jacket. Streams of water coalesced, forming a figure the height of an adult. Carefully controlling the contact between the water and the jacket's edge, she draped the garment over the small water person and directed it toward Yu Yaozu's door.
"Knock, knock."
A polite knock. There was movement inside, but no one opened the door or dared to answer.
"Knock, knock."
"Knock, knock."
Zheng Yi had the water person knock continuously. This went on for five minutes until Yu Yaozu could no longer stand it. He cautiously opened the door a crack. In that instant, the water person dissolved and lunged at him, a large ball of water completely enveloping his head. Before he could even register what was happening, his entire body was encased in the current. He tried to struggle and call for help, but water flooded his mouth and nose, nearly drowning him.
Only then did Zheng Yi calmly emerge from the corner. She walked over and knocked Yu Yaozu unconscious with a simple chop to the neck, then gently closed the door. She put the jacket on him, pulling the hood down to cover half his face. Yu Yaozu's body went limp, but streams of water seeped into his clothes, wrapping around his limbs and manipulating his movements. His head just lolled, making him look listless.
But that was for the best; others wouldn't be able to see his face under the hood.
Zheng Yi walked in front, and "Yu Yaozu" followed behind. They strolled leisurely back toward her home.
[Yu Yaozu's mom is still in the room, isn't she? She'll find out her son disappeared after opening the door!]
[You can't kill people in the shelter, and the soundproofing isn't good! Someone will hear him scream!]
[Zheng Yi, you don't need to do this! Yu Yaozu was doomed to die anyway. Why get yourself involved?]
[And… and he's Yu Yinan's brother, after all! You'll scare Yu Yinan if you do this.]
[No one has seen you yet. There's still time to take him back. Yu Yaozu didn't even see your face; he was already suffocating, his eyes rolling back, by the time you got to him.]
Only when they reached her door did Zheng Yi's thoughts finally reply to the frantic Zero One: 'How interesting.'
With a hint of eagerness, Zheng Yi knocked on the door.
She had a key, but she wanted Yu Yinan to open it. She wanted to see Yu Yinan's reaction when she found Yu Yaozu had been "escorted" over.
What was real, what was fake, what was a disguise, what was true—it was all meaningless. Yu Yinan had never seen what she was really like.
[Host! Zheng Yi!] Zero One felt this was far too risky! Risky in every sense of the word, and it courted the danger of being discovered by the shelter!
'Doesn't the store have a soundproofing device? What are you panicking about?'
【One-time Soundproofer】: Designate a room to gain absolute soundproofing.
Duration: One hour
Price: 5 Saint Points
Under Zheng Yi's control, the water-wrapped Yu Yaozu swayed unsteadily in front of the door.
Yu Yinan hurried over and opened it. The smile on her face froze the moment she saw who was there, but she quickly spotted Zheng Yi behind him. "You're back? Who is this?"
Zheng Yi lifted the jacket, revealing Yu Yaozu—unconscious, head lolling, his body encased by the water person—right before Yu Yinan's eyes.
Yu Yinan went completely rigid.
Zheng Yi stepped inside. She glanced at the bedroom, took the axe from her backpack and placed it on the table, then went in and stored the bed in her backpack to clear some space.
Yu Yaozu was maneuvered into the bedroom. The water then dispersed, and he collapsed onto the floor, still unconscious.
Zheng Yi methodically wiped non-existent dirt from her hands with a towel. She looked up at Yu Yinan and said softly, "Jiejie must have been very curious about how I persuaded that camp's leader, right? And that night during the field mission, how I made those people so devoutly faithful. Jiejie probably wants to know that, too, right?"
Yu Yinan stared at her, a flicker of understanding in her eyes. She frowned and said urgently, "The soundproofing here isn't very good; we'll be discovered. We could… we could put him in the trunk. Once we're out of the shelter, it'll be fine!"
[?]
Evidently, Yu Yinan held almost no sisterly affection for Yu Yaozu. If she ever had, it vanished the moment he attacked her out of shame and anger. What Yu Yinan had said back then was serious. She truly wouldn't act inside the shelter, but outside… she had no intention of tolerating him for a second longer.
"It's fine." Zheng Yi purchased the One-time Soundproofer and pressed it onto the bedroom door. Then she had Yu Yinan come inside and closed the door and windows.
[One-time Soundproofer activated! Time remaining: 00:59:59!]
"Are you sure you want to watch? You can't back out halfway~" Zheng Yi wasn't in a hurry to begin. Instead, she looked at Yu Yinan and said with a smile, "This is your dear little brother, you know~ He calls you Jiejie, doesn't he?"
"He wanted to kill me," Yu Yinan said in a low voice. "He never saw me as his sister. I was just… a tool? A resource?" She gave a self-deprecating laugh and looked at Zheng Yi earnestly, meeting her dark eyes.
"I want to watch. No matter how bloody, how terrifying, I will not interfere." Was this another test, or a way to bring them closer? Yu Yinan didn't know. Looking at the unconscious Yu Yaozu, she felt a dreamlike sense of unreality. Was this the brother who had taken everything from her?
No, Yu Yaozu hadn't taken anything from her. Because she had never possessed any of it to begin with.
If people found out she was cooperating with someone to kill her own brother, they would probably curse her name, wouldn't they? Fortunately, she no longer wanted to be a good person. Going to hell, being a villain, being utterly irredeemable and unforgivable—it was all fine. She was already rotting in the mud; how much further could she fall?
A lunatic? What a wonderful word. Madness is the best part of life.
Yu Yinan stood quietly by the door, keeping her distance, watching Zheng Yi's preparations like a member of the audience.
A large mass of cold water slammed onto Yu Yaozu. Zheng Yi planted a foot on his chest. "Wake up."
"Cough, cough!" Yu Yaozu awoke with a start. He couldn't even remember what had happened. He opened his eyes to a completely unfamiliar room, and before him… "Yu Qinan? How could you- you can't kill people in the shelter! Aren't you afraid of breaking the rules and being hunted by the shelter?!" As he spoke, he scrambled backward, unable to even stand, merely scooting across the floor in a comical attempt to get away from her.
A sharp longsword materialized in his hand, different from the dagger he had used to attack Yu Yinan. Yu Yaozu's ability was likely to conjure various types of weapons.
"Shh~ Calm down." Perhaps having an audience put Zheng Yi in a good mood. She took out a square of white cloth and spread it on the floor, then selected a small, sharp scalpel and placed it gently on top. Next, Zheng Yi slowly retrieved the heavy-duty bone cleaver from the truck. Its brand-new blade gleamed, clearly having never seen blood.
These tools should be enough for now. After all, though Yu Yaozu was an ability user, he wasn't very strong, Zheng Yi thought. She then had Zero One fetch a bucket of rainwater from the truck and set it aside.
"Dear little brother~ Your sister isn't in charge here. I'm the one who brought you." Zheng Yi's smile was gentle and sweet. Yu Yaozu was instinctively mesmerized for a moment before he snapped back to his senses with a shudder.
He swung the longsword in his hand without any technique. "Stay back, don't come near me! Let me go, let me go! I promise I won't tell anyone; this never happened! Don't force me, don't force me!"
"This room is completely soundproof for the next hour~" Zheng Yi's tone remained gentle. She lightly picked up the scalpel. "You can… scream all you want."
The word "scream" had barely left her lips when a cold light flashed. Before Yu Yaozu knew what had happened, a chill ran across the back of his hand, followed by a sharp, searing pain after a moment of numbness. He howled in agony, and the longsword clattered to the floor. As his ability fluctuated, the sword vanished upon impact.
The scalpel was buried halfway in the back of his hand. Blood dripped down his palm, blossoming like flowers on the floorboards.
"If you cooperate a little, you'll suffer less." Zheng Yi smiled as she walked over to Yu Yaozu, clasped his wrist, and yanked the scalpel out.
Tears and snot instantly streamed down Yu Yaozu's face. He was in so much pain he wanted to writhe on the floor. Just then, Zheng Yi cupped his injured hand with a look of compassion, her own fingers becoming stained with his blood. "Look at you. You didn't listen, and now you're hurt. How pitiful."
Healing energy gathered at the wound. Yu Yaozu sobbed, feeling an absolute, bone-deep terror. He trembled, about to beg for mercy. But the instant the wound healed, the scalpel mercilessly plunged into him again, this time piercing straight through his palm.
"Ah-"
At that moment, Zheng Yi condensed a ball of rainwater and splashed it directly over Yu Yaozu's head, drenching his entire body. The intense burning sensation made him feel as if he were being skinned alive. Forgetting the pain in his hand, he instinctively began to roll on the floor.
"My dear, do you know who I am?"
"I was wrong, I was really wrong… I'll never go after Yu Qinan- no, Yu Yinan again, I beg you… I was wrong… please… let me go…"
"Thud!" Zheng Yi gripped the bone cleaver and brought it down hard. The four fingers Yu Yaozu was using to prop himself up were severed at the knuckles. Before the blood could even spurt out, Zheng Yi's healing ability slowly mended the wounds. "I hate it most when people don't cooperate~"
"I don't know! I don't know you!"
"Thud." Another chop, another four finger segments gone. The healing ability enveloped the wounds again. Zheng Yi speared a severed finger with the scalpel and slowly roasted it over a lighter. "How heartbreaking that you don't know who I am… I was the one who gave you the note, you know." Zheng Yi stood up, kicked the severed fingers aside, and planted her foot on his neck. Applying slight pressure, she leaned down and whispered gently, "My name is Zheng Yi~"
"My codename is Saint."
"The purest, kindest, most self-sacrificing, world-saving, all-redeeming Sa-int."
[Character persona collapse warning… but there's still plenty of time, you can take it slow. We'll just deduct a few points for now.]
"My dear, call me Saint. Believe in me! Your flesh, your soul, you must use everything to remember that I am the Saint." Zheng Yi naturally paid the system no mind. She was very pleased with her healing ability. Seeing no reaction from Yu Yaozu, she slammed another ball of rainwater down on him and lifted her foot from his neck. "It's a shame there's no soil or mercury here. Otherwise, I could try some new things." With a hint of regret, she crushed the bone in Yu Yaozu's right shoulder. Her voice was impossibly gentle, but her strength was monstrously perverse.
Comments
Post a Comment