As If Erasing One's Very Life

In the end, Fang Li naturally declined Yomogawa Ayame's invitation.

The title of samurai might sound lofty and grand, but in this era, in this country, the samurai had long since rotted away for the most part.

Not to mention anything else, just look at the samurai in Aragane Station.

Cowardly and timid.

Bullying the weak and fearing the strong.

Daring not to act.

Devoid of all dignity.

That was the definition of today's samurai.

Because of the Kabane, the bodies and minds of the samurai had been worn down to a broken and incomplete state.

In the original story, there were many instances where samurai, driven by their fear of the Kabane, sparked numerous conflicts, even slandering ordinary people or causing their deaths—nothing particularly strange about that.

Thus, in this era, while samurai ostensibly helped govern the various stations, in the hearts of ordinary citizens, they were hardly any different from bullies.

People held no respect for samurai, only fear.

That was the state of this era.

Perhaps that was why Kurusu Kunoichi was so fixated on the dignity of the samurai?

At the very least, in Fang Li's view, among the samurai of the original story, only Kurusu Kunoichi and Kibito Aragane could be called true samurai; the rest were nothing but disappointments.

Therefore, Fang Li had no desire to become one of them.

Even if doing so would allow him to get closer to Yomogawa Ayame, protect her at close range, and thereby complete Main Mission Two, Fang Li still refused.

Of course, he wouldn't voice his reasons—that would only hurt the goodwill between them.

To this, Yomogawa Ayame seemed somewhat disappointed. She had genuinely wanted to help Fang Li shed his identity as a Wanderer.

As a future station administrator, such kindness wasn't necessarily a good thing.

Still, no one disliked a kind person.

Fang Li was no exception.

So, Fang Li chatted a bit longer with Yomogawa Ayame, keeping her smiling throughout.

It wasn't that Fang Li was particularly humorous; rather, this era lacked too many forms of entertainment. As someone who had lived eighteen years in the twenty-first century's age of information explosion, Fang Li could casually recount amusing anecdotes that piqued Yomogawa Ayame's curiosity and made her laugh repeatedly.

This led to two outcomes.

One was that Yomogawa Ayame, a sheltered noble daughter with little exposure to entertainment, rarely opened up so much. Though her speech remained polite, it carried a touch of the girlish coyness unique to an innocent young woman.

The other was that Kurusu Kunoichi didn't utter a single extra word the entire time, merely glaring at Fang Li with a venomous gaze, as if at a bitter enemy. His demeanor suggested not so much a desire to draw his blade and cut Fang Li down, but rather to pounce and bite him.

Amidst this pleasant conversation, Yomogawa Ayame suddenly seemed to recall something important and let out a small gasp.

"Lady Ayame?" Kurusu Kunoichi, as if finally finding an opening to intervene, immediately asked, "What's wrong?"

"I... I almost forgot." Yomogawa Ayame said, flustered. "I need to take my father's Short-barreled Steam Gun to be repaired today."

Hearing this, Fang Li abruptly lifted his head and looked at Yomogawa Ayame.

"---!"

In that instant, Yomogawa Ayame felt a chill spread through her entire body.

Because, for a split second, she saw it.

In the ordinary eyes of the Wanderer she had been chatting so amiably with, a flash of icy blue light suddenly flickered.

That icy blue light seemed capable of stripping the warmth from her body, as if it could erase the life within her, giving Yomogawa Ayame an illusion.

An illusion that she wasn't facing a person, but a god.

A god of death.

Startled, Yomogawa Ayame couldn't help but step back twice.

"Lady Ayame?" Kurusu Kunoichi asked, puzzled. "What's wrong now?"

"Mr... Mr. Fang Li?" Yomogawa Ayame ignored Kurusu Kunoichi, staring at Fang Li with a shaken expression, her voice trembling. "You... just now..."

Seeing Yomogawa Ayame's frightened look, Fang Li inwardly cursed his carelessness.

"Apologies, Lady Ayame." Fang Li said apologetically. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"No..." Yomogawa Ayame patted her chest, hesitated for a moment, then asked, "But just now, your eyes..."

"Eyes?" Fang Li feigned confusion. "What about my eyes?"

Seeing Fang Li's puzzled expression, Yomogawa Ayame steadied herself and looked into his eyes again.

There, she saw only a pair of ordinary, dark eyes.

Could it be... I just imagined it?

The thought arose in Yomogawa Ayame's mind.

Before she could figure it out, Fang Li reminded her, "Miss Ayame, didn't you just say you wanted to take your father's Short-barreled Steam Gun for repairs?"

"R-right..." Yomogawa Ayame nodded. "That's exactly why I came to find Kurusu—I wanted him to escort me, to accompany me on a trip."

"Then let's head out right away." Kurusu Kunoichi, though puzzled by why Yomogawa Ayame had suddenly made such a fuss, still said, "If we delay the chief's affairs, we might face punishment."

"Th-that's true." Yomogawa Ayame still seemed a bit uneasy, but thinking of the important matter at hand, she had no choice but to bid Fang Li farewell.

Fang Li, just as before, spoke to Yomogawa Ayame in a lighthearted tone without any hint of abnormality, seeing her and Kurusu Kunoichi off.

Only after Yomogawa Ayame and Kurusu Kunoichi had both left did the smile on Fang Li's face gradually fade, replaced by a sigh.

"Looks like I'll need to find an opportunity to hone my control over the Mystic Eyes."

Although Fang Li had been able to suppress the activation of the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception by sheer willpower from the very start, as if it were only natural, the Mystic Eyes would still involuntarily open whenever his emotions fluctuated.

Just now, the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception had only surfaced for an instant, but in that single instant, Fang Li had clearly seen the Death Lines on Yomogawa Ayame.

The Death Lines crisscrossing Yomogawa Ayame's body seemed to slice her apart, giving Fang Li the impression that she was splitting into pieces.

Still, he hadn't expected Yomogawa Ayame to be so sensitive—she had actually sensed something was off.

"But, repairing the Short-barreled Steam Gun?"

That matter had only just come back to Fang Li's mind.

In the original story, on the day the plot began, Yomogawa Ayame had taken her father's Short-barreled Steam Gun to be repaired.

"Looks like the plot is finally starting."

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