Thousand-Person Ruler's Personal Opinion

"Who would have such a weird hobby!?"

"Well, it's Wendy, after all."

"What do you mean, 'it's Wendy, after all'? Do you think I'm some kind of strange creature? Besides, the strangest one here is you, you lazy bum!"

"Aiya, little Wendy, don't mind, don't mind!"

Today's sunrise viewing activity for the "Old Folks Group" once again ended with Delta's comfortable sipping sounds of "zizi zizi" and Wendy's frantic screams.

After returning, Wendy immediately went to ask the research institute's assistant for an electric wheelchair.

Then, she was refused.

She was even looked at strangely, as if they were questioning how she had the nerve?

Furious, Wendy burst into Delta's room.

"Delta, you tricked me again!"

"Pfft! You actually believed that?"

"So why can you do it?"

"I'm well-connected, Wendy!"

The other person puffed out their chest, unashamed and even proud.

Following that, Wendy's even more furious shrieks echoed from the room.

Such beautiful days, so beautiful that the loneliness and sadness from not long ago felt like an illusion. It felt like even the pain of the Gem of Desire surging within her could be completely ignored.

When Wendy woke up on the experimental platform, she couldn't help but sigh. Her first thought was of Delta's lazy, fish-like expression.

Then, Wendy sat up from the experimental platform and felt a strange, numb, itchy discomfort in her legs.

"?"

This discomfort was very strange.

It wasn't that her legs were in better condition before; on the contrary, they had been completely permeated by the power of the Gem of Desire. Not only was the pain unbearable, but there was a sense of deadly threat that felt like it could spread from her legs to her entire body at any moment.

But now, those feelings seemed to have completely disappeared. Only a slight stinging and weakness remained, which was at least bearable for a Valkyrie.

"What is this..."

Wendy reached out and slowly caressed her fair, snow-white thighs.

She could feel the touch.

Before, no matter how she touched or pinched them, she couldn't feel anything!

Why?

Wendy instinctively felt a surge of ecstasy, but then, she realized a terrifying reality.

The Gem of Desire seemed to have been removed from her body. But so far, there were only two qualified carriers for this experiment. Where was the gem now? Who was it inside?

"Where's Delta? Where is Delta? Where is Delta!?"

Wendy grabbed the collar of a nearby lab technician and roared like a madwoman.

The other person looked as if they had expected this. Although a bit startled, they calmly replied:

"As for Delta, she woke up a while before you and has already gone back."

Upon receiving the answer, Wendy didn't say another word. She used her hands to move herself onto the wheelchair and then pushed the wheels with all her might, quickly rushing out of the laboratory.

Only then did she feel a little fortunate that she hadn't switched to an electric one, because the motor was no match for a Valkyrie's arm strength. When needed, a manual one was far faster than an electric one.

"Delta!"

Wendy rushed into the familiar room. The air still faintly held the sweet scent of its owner, but Delta was nowhere to be seen.

Wendy froze for a moment, then abruptly changed direction and rushed outside.

The sea breeze today was somewhat bleak, feeling incredibly cold to Wendy, who was only wearing her lab gown. The gloomy sky and the harsh cries of the seagulls made her feel even more uncomfortable.

Finally, at the spot where the two often stayed to watch the sunset and sunrise, Wendy saw the familiar silhouette of a wheelchair.

A hand extended from the wheelchair, delicate and pale, making one want to cradle it and warm it up. And on those slender fingers, a strange airflow was swirling.

Wendy felt her eyes sting and heat up. She knew she must be on the verge of tears without even looking in a mirror.

Then the wheelchair turned, revealing that familiar, yet much paler than usual, exquisite face.

"Yo, how does it feel to have the Gem of Desire taken out, Wendy?"

"...You absolute idiot!!!"

"Hey, wait, what are you doing? Don't crash into me!"

Wendy's wheelchair came barreling forward like a mud truck, knocking the caught-off-guard Delta to the ground.

"Bang!"

On this day, two wheelchairs were simultaneously rendered scrap.

"Wendy, you're the idiot! That hurt!"

"Shut up! Bastard! Serves you right for hurting so much!"

"I didn't offend you, did I? Is it wrong to just want to give you a surprise?"

"This isn't a surprise at all! Damn you, Delta, why did you do that? Did you even ask me? Bastard, idiot, sob sob sob…"

The sound of their argument was drowned out by the waves and wind, and it didn't die down for a long time.

When the laboratory assistants received the distress signal and rushed over, they saw two little girls who had difficulty moving, sleeping soundly on the ground.

Delta was smiling. Wendy, however, had wet eyelids. Even in her sleep, she held Delta's body tightly, refusing to let go.

Chapter 66: The Final Promise

Two weeks after the gem transfer, Wendy had basically recovered her ability to walk and began rehabilitation training at the Valkyrie level.

In the bright, professional rehabilitation training room, Wendy pushed off the ground to run, leaped into the air at the right moment, and danced with the aerial rings. Her small, soft body was like a butterfly dancing in the wind, possessing a breathtaking agility and beauty.

Valkyries, even just in rehabilitation, displayed physical abilities that would make the most professional athletes drool with envy.

But only Delta got to appreciate this pleasing sight.

It wasn't that the two of them had monopolized the activity room, but rather…

"Speaking of which, that last mission was really dangerous. That Honkai Beast jumped out from the buried corpses and almost smashed my head… Sorry, I'm disturbing you!"

"Bang!"

After the sound of the door slamming shut, one could easily imagine the embarrassed scene of those Valkyries fleeing in panic.

The original Wendy was already enough to be alienated, and now Delta, sitting by the door drinking goji berry tea, was naturally even more intimidating.

Wendy landed lightly after a few flips in the air, her raised hands like wings that had just finished flying. Her form-fitting gymnastics suit perfectly showcased her eye-catching, graceful curves.

Wendy tilted the corners of her mouth proudly.

"Am I amazing?"

"Ah, amazing, amazing, Wendy is the best~"

Delta read from her book, her face displaying an unmoving, dead-fish expression.

Seeing this infuriatingly unenthusiastic praise, Wendy puffed out her cheeks in annoyance and walked over to Delta, gently poking her forehead.

"You have no sincerity at all!"

"How about a cup of hot water then?"

"Bring it on! Watch me drink it all, hope you die of thirst, pfft~~"

Wendy unscrewed her thermos and poured it into her mouth. A second later, she dazedly stuck out her pink tongue.

"Cough! Hot!"

"Not very smart, are we?"

"Get lost! You just know how to annoy me!"

"No, it's Wendy who has a bad temper. You should learn from me, stay calm and peaceful, smile smile~~"

Delta said slowly, pulling up the corners of her mouth with both hands to give Wendy a physically constructed smile.

Wendy rolled her eyes and squatted down, closing the thermos and placing it properly on the wheelchair's rack. She said, "Is this so-called 'calm and peaceful' attitude what you mean by going to the cafeteria to spew venom at someone again yesterday?"

"Well, I had nothing else to do, just warming up my voice."

Delta said weakly, waving her hand slowly.

Wendy was so amused she laughed outright.

"Your warm-up really opened my eyes!"

"Don't mind it, live long enough and you'll see all sorts of oddities."

"You're a minor, only fourteen or fifteen, what are you acting like this for!"

Wendy brought her hand down in a chop.

The force was light, barely more than a caress to Delta.

Then Wendy looked directly into Delta's calm and unfocused eyes, sighed with a complicated feeling, and said, "They aren't that bad, really. It's just that they've faced the horrors of the Honkai directly and have also lost something in the Honkai, so it's understandable that they act that way."

"You mean PTSD?"

"Something like that."

"What does that have to do with me?"

Delta said indifferently, her expression unchanged.

Wendy was a little stunned.

Then she heard Delta continue slowly:

"Aren't you a Valkyrie? Haven't you been on the battlefield? Don't you have any PTSD? Everyone has PTSD, why should we indulge them?"

"While that's not entirely how it works, I can't refute it. You really have a way with words. I've never met a Valkyrie so eloquent!"

Wendy said, half in admiration, half in exasperation.

To be honest, Wendy didn't consider herself a saint either.

On the day she was silently enduring verbal attacks, Delta approached her from behind, speaking eloquently as if shielding her with a sword and shield. After that, the scales in Wendy's heart had already tipped.

But just as Wendy was about to move past the topic, Delta spoke again:

"However, you are right. They aren't that bad. Only those who reason will blush at my words, but for those who are so shameless they won't even acknowledge their own faults, I am helpless. In that regard, they truly aren't completely irredeemable."

"...Are you praising them or insulting them?"

"Actually, Valkyries are just soldiers, weapons that are managed and restrained. The fundamental issue of army morale has never been with the soldiers themselves, but with—somewhere else."

Delta pointed upwards with her finger, a knowing smile on her face.

Wendy blinked blankly, opened her mouth to speak, then closed it, then opened it again. After repeating this several times, she said dejectedly:

"Just say these things to me. Don't go around talking about them outside, or you'll get into trouble."

As a local Valkyrie, how could Wendy be unaware of the root cause of the scattered and improper atmosphere?

But as a mere Valkyrie, unless she was promoted to the strategically important S-rank, what could she do about the massive conspiracy looming over their heads?

Perhaps this was one of the reasons she had resolutely accepted the Gem of Desire experiment in the first place, hoping to reach the heavens in one step through the experiment, and then perhaps she could do something.

However, the subsequent experiences had completely exposed the cruelty of reality.

Thinking of this, Wendy shook her head, deciding to end the dangerous topic.

"How have you been feeling lately? Can you really handle it? I've almost recovered. If you can't bear it anymore, you can transfer it back to me. I heard that this kind of recovery and re-transfer might improve our adaptability, and perhaps that's the way to make the experiment successful!"

"I'm fine. I don't need to move into the box for now. Since your legs are working well, run some errands for me. The efficiency is definitely different with legs and without."