Watching Fang Li hand over the pregnant woman, Yomogawa Ayame instinctively supported her in her arms.
Kurusu Kunoichi and Kibito Aragane, however, frowned as they looked at the unconscious woman, their gazes toward Fang Li filled with suspicion.
It couldn't be helped. Fang Li's position had never been particularly favorable, and now he had brought over a citizen of Aragane Station who had inexplicably fallen unconscious. Anyone would suspect that Fang Li had done something.
If there had been other warriors and civilians here, this would have already turned into a huge commotion.
Perhaps because he knew that, Fang Li had avoided the others and brought the pregnant woman here to hand over to Yomogawa Ayame and the rest.
Then, Fang Li left them with a single remark.
"Once she wakes up, tell her to give birth to the child in her belly peacefully. She doesn't need to worry about anything else."
After saying that, Fang Li gave Yomogawa Ayame's group no time to react. He turned around and walked back into the forest.
Yomogawa Ayame, Kurusu Kunoichi, and Kibito Aragane looked at one another, unable to decide how to respond for a long while.
Elsewhere, Fang Li had only just entered the forest when he immediately stopped.
Because a figure had silently appeared in front of him, staring straight at him with a pair of amber eyes without looking away.
Seeing this, Fang Li raised a brow and said, "You saw it all?"
Instead of answering Fang Li's question, Mumei asked, "That person was the Kabane I sensed aboard the Iron Fortress, right?"
"What?" Fang Li blinked, looking utterly baffled. "How could that person be a Kabane?"
"Don't try to fool me." Mumei walked up to Fang Li and brought her cute face right before his, her amber eyes fixed intently on him as if trying to see through his heart. "That pregnant woman must have been bitten by a Kabane and was turning into one. That's why I kept sensing the Kabane's presence aboard the Iron Fortress, then losing it again."
"Is that so?" Seeing that he could no longer hide it, Fang Li gave a bitter smile and spread his hands. "But you don't need to worry now. She won't become a Kabane."
Bitten by a Kabane, yet not turning into a Kabane.
If anyone else heard that, they would surely argue vehemently until no one could say another word.
Anyone bitten by a Kabane, even if they were fortunate enough to survive, would gradually transform into a Kabane once the incubation period passed.
That was common sense in this world.
There was no one who could be bitten by a Kabane and still come through it safely.
Even Ikoma could only stop the virus from invading his brain. He had still turned into a Kabaneri, and could hardly be called unharmed.
Therefore, no one could avoid being bitten by a Kabane and still remain safe.
That was an acknowledged fact.
So, after saying those words, Fang Li had been considering how to explain it to Mumei.
Yet unexpectedly, Mumei did not press him further. After a brief silence, she suddenly asked,
"Did it have something to do with what you did in the forest?"
Fang Li was instantly speechless.
Looking into Mumei's amber eyes, Fang Li's gaze flickered. He smiled helplessly and said, "You saw that too?"
Mumei did not answer, tacitly admitting it.
In other words, Mumei had been following behind Fang Li from the very beginning.
Naturally, Mumei had seen everything.
She had seen Fang Li sneak up from behind in the forest and stab the pregnant woman with a knife.
"Although I don't know how you did it, your attack can pierce even a Kabane's heart membrane. So when I saw you stab that person, I thought she was definitely dead. Who knew she had only fallen unconscious? And according to you, she won't turn into a Kabane either."
The way Mumei looked at Fang Li was no longer filled with the pure curiosity it had once held.
Now, only deep confusion and suspicion remained in her eyes.
"What exactly did you do?"
It was only natural for her to ask.
Anyone who learned all of this would surely have the same question.
In response, Fang Li merely smiled faintly and said, "Nothing much. I just killed the Kabane virus inside her."
"Killed the Kabane virus inside her?" Mumei was completely dumbfounded.
However, Fang Li was not joking.
It was the truth.
Back in the forest, the target Fang Li had wanted to kill was not the pregnant woman, but the Kabane virus within her body.
In the original work of Kara no Kyoukai, Ryougi Shiki, who possessed the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, had once done the same thing.
With the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception's ability to see the "death" of all things, Ryougi Shiki had once killed a disease inside someone's body, allowing that gravely ill person to survive.
Now, Fang Li had merely done the same.
"No matter what kind of thing it is, as long as it has an end, it will eventually meet death."
Facing the utterly stunned Mumei, Fang Li spoke the famous words of Ryougi Shiki, who possessed the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.
"So long as it's alive, even if it's a god, I'll kill it for you."
Those incomparably arrogant words changed the way Mumei looked at Fang Li once more.
Her expression became one of disbelief.
Mumei, who did not know the secret of Fang Li's Magic Eye, had no idea where his confidence in saying those words came from.
But there was one thing she understood.
"So..." Mumei hesitated before saying, "You saved that pregnant woman?"
"Is that strange?" Fang Li shrugged and murmured quietly as though speaking to himself, "It is strange, I suppose. Someone like me, who feels nothing toward 'death,' saving someone on the verge of dying... perhaps that really is strange."
After all, if the ending was death, Fang Li would not feel any sympathy.
"But wanting to save someone doesn't mean you have to possess sympathy."
Fang Li raised his eyes to look at Mumei, then reached out and placed a finger against her lips as he slowly spoke.
"Like with you and Ikoma, I saved you to repay a favor."
"And that pregnant woman, even if her final ending is 'death,' that doesn't mean she herself has no value in 'life.'"
"I may feel nothing toward 'death,' but that doesn't mean I'm incapable of feeling something toward the existence of 'life.'"
With that, Fang Li turned around, leaving the still-dazed Mumei behind as he walked out of the forest alone.
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