PSW - Chapter 174

Chapter 174

[I hope this letter finds you well. I've been doing well lately. I wonder if things are going smoothly for you? There haven't been many missions outside during the high-temperature period, but I still explored the area around Pujie. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything. I haven't been spending time with your puppet anymore, but she doesn't seem particularly sad about it. I don't quite understand how she works. Sometimes she feels like a living person, but other times I realize she has no emotions of her own. We have some leads on the zombie cure now. For the time being, we can suppress the zombie virus in the Xia siblings' bodies. It probably won't be long before a real cure is developed. Research on the enhancement serum has been paused; both Yun Lingjian and the Director plan to develop the cure first.]

[I hope this letter finds you well. The sun hangs high in the sky, making it feel like the whole world is about to burn. Even the air is distorted by the heat. Sometimes I'm glad I'm a fire ability user, but other times I wish my talent were stronger so I could help more people. I imagine creating that puppet must have cost you a lot of Saint Points, right? Zhao Haiyue said that after the high-temperature period passes, they'll form ability user squads to explore other unknown cities and help more survivors. I'm going to join them and spread your name. "If the Saint's brilliance could fill the whole world, then there would surely be no apocalypse." I vaguely remember you saying that once. You've already embarked on a journey to collect the meteor fragments to end the apocalypse, so I think what I can do is spread your brilliance across the entire world.]

[I hope this letter finds you well. Zhao Haiyue gave me a modified motorcycle, and I've left Pujie as a one-person squad. I want to go back to Qiding to have a look. I wonder if that house is still there. I'll also go to Genbin, though I don't know if the camp that treated us to hotpot has been wiped out. The capsules you left have been a great help. Your puppet filled the freezer with food and water. She seemed very worried about me—is that because of your settings? I hope you're a little worried about me too, though not like she is. The night before I left, I had some drinks with Zhao Haiyue, Yun Lingjian, Xia Cheng, and Zhu Lanyuan. Sorry we didn't invite Xia Sheng, but who asked him to be a guy? We all had a great time; even Yun Lingjian got drunk. In the end, I heard a very drunk Zhao Haiyue called a sleeping Zhou Xiyue over to clean up the mess… Unfortunately, I was drunk too. If you were here, you might have found the scene amusing. Apparently, Zhou Xiyue gave Zhao Haiyue a real earful. The next day, I overheard Zhao Haiyue and Yun Lingjian promising Zhou Xiyue they would definitely include her next time they drank. I'm so reluctant to leave. Humanity's Light is a wonderful place, and I've met so many wonderful people. But a necessary parting always helps one grow, just like with us. As I write this, it's the middle of the night. The moon is high above, and this is how I miss you.]

[I hope this letter finds you well. I've arrived in Qiding. I wonder where you are now. I found the house where I first met you. The furniture inside seems unchanged. I was going to clean the place up, but my fire ability isn't much help with that. Water is limited, so I gave up in the end. Right now, I'm writing this letter at your desk. I gave the sofa a quick cleaning. I might sleep on it tonight. I wonder if I'll dream of the past. I think I must be very lucky. After all, not everyone gets to meet you at the beginning of the apocalypse. Your disguise, your deception, what was real and what was fake… Thinking back on it now, it was all a gift.]

[I hope this letter finds you well. That camp has been destroyed. I didn't find any survivors in Genbin. While searching, I ran into a small zombie horde. It was nothing as spectacular as the one you fought off, but I burned them all to ashes. My mental power has actually grown this strong. This shouldn't be the limit; I can still become stronger. It's just… I think my past self would have never imagined I'd reach this point, able to fend off a zombie horde all by myself. The pain from overusing my mental power is always sobering. I've actually become a little obsessed with the feeling. It reminds me of so many moments from the past. Do people become fond of reminiscing after they've lost something? May I not have lost, and may I still be worthy of your gaze and compassion.]

[I hope this letter finds you well. I've come to Jianyao…]

[I hope this letter finds you well. Today I arrived in Zuoyang, this city…]

[I hope this letter finds you well. I've finally reached the city of Xunqian. Before the apocalypse, this place was a tourist destination…]

[I hope this letter finds you well. There seem to be traces of you in the city of Tanliu. I found the survivor base here. They said they once saw a water dragon in the clouds, a torrential downpour that day, and an immortal's wrath before which ten thousand corpses bowed. But that was a long time ago. It was only then that I suddenly realized just how long we've been apart. …]

[I hope this letter finds you well. You must have set foot in all these cities. The thought that I'm walking the same roads you once walked and visiting the same cities you once visited fills me with a wave of joy. …]

…From the one who loves you, Yu Yinan]

…From the one who misses you, Yu Yinan]

…Yu Yinan]

---

A white dove swooped down from the clouds and landed on Zheng Yi's shoulder, delivering another letter into her hand.

[You're not going to reply to a single one?] Zero One watched as Zheng Yi opened the envelope, read the letter, and stored it in her personal space. It couldn't help but speak up. [Yu Yinan will be sad if she never gets a reply, won't she?] Wasn't she afraid that Yu Yinan would suddenly fall into despair and give up one day?

As usual, Zheng Yi couldn't be bothered to respond to Zero One. She watched the dove fly away and continued toward the next continent.

Yu Yinan rarely wrote of her longing so directly in her letters anymore. She wrote about the new places she'd gone, the survivors she'd met, and the other bases she'd visited, spreading the Saint's name and deeds wherever she went. Occasionally, she would also write about the Xia siblings' condition and the development of bases like Humanity's Light, Zhongshan, Changping, and Xuancheng. Clearly, she was corresponding with other people as well.

She had truly walked out of Pujie, out of her past, and was beginning to walk into a new world of her own.

And at a time like this, there was no way Zheng Yi would give her any response.

Unless she truly walked out into the world, integrated herself into it, socialized with others, and lived a proper life, how could Yu Yinan truly understand—unswayed by emotion—what that choice meant? She had to be clear-headed, she had to be calm, and she had to experience the taste of loneliness. Only in that loneliness could she understand these trivial truths.

See? She was perfectly capable of living well on her own.

"How about you focus on the world incubation progress?" Zheng Yi said calmly. "I don't have much time to keep playing this nurturing game with you."

[…] For a moment, Zero One didn't know how to respond. After all, it was just a Saint Growth System. [Okay. It's just that I don't know how many fragments there are in total. But at your efficiency, you should be able to get through the other countries and collect all the fragments in no time!]

[But the mutated plants, animals, and zombies in other countries are no different from those in Ling Country. The original novel never wrote about the developments in other nations, so I thought there might be some differences. Oh, right, Zheng Yi, last time you crushed those zombies, the ability users were all shouting 'God' at you.]

[Sigh, watching you collect these meteor fragments one by one, the incubation progress is clearly rising, but why do I feel a little reluctant? Will you still remember me after you become a god again? It's okay if you don't. I'll write a whole book about my experience being bound to you and force all the other systems to read it!] Zheng Yi ignored it, but Zero One wasn't discouraged. It chattered on about its future prospects. After all, the odds of binding with a god were like winning the lottery—no, even rarer than winning the lottery! [So it turns out I'm the true emperor of luck among systems.]

"You really talk too much."

[Because I'm happy I met you.]

"…"

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