"Eh?" The girl looked up in surprise, only to find Ye Ming's expression more serious than ever before.
"Hua."
"Your life was saved by me, wasn't it? Without me, you'd already be dead. So, try to accomplish the goal I give you. Consider it repayment for saving your life, how about it?"
"Mm." The girl answered obediently.
"Then—protect the land of Shenzhou."
Ye Ming gazed deeply into the girl's eyes and said in a low voice, "I come from a place called Huaxia. Huaxia is a nation located on the land of Shenzhou. It is my homeland. I hope you can work hard to become stronger. Once you become strong enough, find the Shenzhou Continent and protect it."
"You must always uphold our promise. Strive to live on, strive to grow stronger, become strong enough to protect the Shenzhou Continent, until we meet again or until you die of old age. Are you willing to accept this goal?"
"I..."
I'm just an ordinary person. I don't have the ability to protect an entire continent.
Reason told the girl to say that, but when she met Ye Ming's clear, profound eyes, she simply could not bring herself to refuse.
"I'm willing. I hate people who break promises the most, so I'll definitely keep this promise."
The girl made her promise solemnly.
"Is that so? Then I'm relieved."
Seeing the girl's serious expression, Ye Ming let out a sigh of relief and smiled with satisfaction.
"I want to make a promise with you too."
The girl bravely raised her head and looked at Ye Ming. Her determined gaze carried a trace of shyness.
"Oh? What promise?" Ye Ming asked curiously.
"Live on!"
The girl stared firmly into Ye Ming's eyes. "No matter what happens, you have to live well."
Ye Ming smiled. "All right, I promise you. I'll live well. You and I will definitely leave this place safely and live well."
"It's a promise! I hate people who break promises the most, so you have to live well."
"Mm, I guarantee that I'll keep our promise."
Ye Ming nodded seriously, then said, "It's getting late. Get some rest. We still have a journey ahead of us tomorrow."
"When we wake up tomorrow morning, we'll head in the direction where the sun rises."
"Head in the direction where the sun rises."
"Why did you repeat that?" the girl asked in confusion.
"Because important things need to be said three times. I'm still one short." Ye Ming looked at her. "All right, stop tidying up. There's no need to rush. The road ahead is long. We can slowly do the things we want to do."
After spending several days together, the girl had grown used to Ye Ming occasionally saying strange things. She did not think much of it, spread out the bedding, and lay down on the floor.
Ye Ming spread out his bedding as well and lay down beside her.
The air suddenly fell silent.
The girl secretly glanced at Ye Ming. Under the blanket, he did not move at all. His breathing was steady, and he seemed to have already fallen asleep.
Yet she could not fall asleep for a long time. Though she was exhausted in both body and mind, it felt as if a heap of clutter was constantly tumbling around inside her head, leaving her restless and unsettled.
She turned to look out the window. The night sky was still dyed crimson by the flames, and the chaotic, oppressive darkness had become the city's eternal scenery.
Ye Ming, who seemed to have been asleep, appeared to have been awakened by her movement. Hugging his blanket, he turned over and quietly looked at her.
The girl looked back into those profound eyes that seemed capable of seeing through people's hearts. She said nothing and remained unusually quiet.
Traces of emotion lingered in the stillness.
A long-forgotten melancholy.
What would tomorrow be like?
Would the night end? Were there still living people in the world outside?
"Want to hold hands?" Ye Ming suddenly asked, extending his hand from beneath the blanket.
After quite a while, the girl took his hand.
It was really warm.
"Oh? I didn't expect there to still be living people in this city."
An unfamiliar woman's voice sounded above her head. Startled awake, the girl abruptly sat up and assumed a defensive stance.
"Don't be afraid. I'm not a bad person," the woman said.
The girl focused her eyes and saw a red-haired woman standing before her, smiling at her.
The girl froze, then looked around, only to discover that there were only the two of them in the room. Ye Ming, who had been sleeping beside her, was nowhere to be seen.
Immense panic swallowed the girl's heart.
"Um, excuse me, have you seen a young man carrying a sword?" the girl asked, her voice trembling.
"No. In this city, you're the only survivor left." The woman fell silent for a moment before speaking softly.
Hearing that answer, the girl felt as though she had fallen into an abyss. Her whole body turned cold.
The red-haired woman continued speaking.
"There's nothing we can do. Honkai is just that terrifying. Once it erupts, no matter how strong or weak someone is, as long as they lack resistance to Honkai, they'll be corrupted by it and turn into those monsters outside."
"Come with me. I can teach you how to fight Honkai and give you the strength to protect those important to you."
The strength to protect important people.
The girl raised her head. A glimmer of light appeared in her dim eyes.
Then I'll give you a goal.
Protect the land of Shenzhou.
You must always uphold our promise. Strive to live on, strive to grow stronger, become strong enough to protect the Shenzhou Continent, until we meet again or until you die of old age. Are you willing to accept this goal?
What a despicable person.
He actually, actually—
Fu Hua stood up.
"Where are we going?"
"We're going to the base, in the direction where the sun rises. That's where I came from." The red-haired woman scratched her head. "Come to think of it, it's strange. I didn't encounter a single living Honkai Beast on my way here. I don't know what happened, but we should leave quickly in case we run into danger."
"Eh, why are you crying?" Seeing the girl's face covered in tears, the red-haired woman panicked.
"It's, it's nothing."
The girl wiped the tears from her face again and again with her sleeve, but no matter how hard she tried, she could not wipe them away.
"I'll go with you. I want to fight Honkai. I want the strength to fulfill my promise."
The girl followed closely behind the red-haired woman.
No one knew that the girl, having resolved to fulfill her promise, was about to embark on a journey spanning tens of thousands of years.
In reality, inside the bedroom, the invisible ripples slowly faded away. Behind Ye Ming, Yae Sakura and Okita Souji, who had watched the entire memory, both had reddened eyes.
"This is our past." Fu Hua's voice was very soft. "Can you believe me now?"
Okita Souji and Yae Sakura nodded repeatedly.
"Then you should go back first. We can talk about anything else tomorrow."
Yae Sakura and Okita Souji left, but Fu Hua remained standing behind Ye Ming. She watched him quietly for a long time before letting out a soft sigh.
She took Ye Ming's arm and carried him on her back, just as she had fifty thousand years ago.
The effect of the Feather of the Passing World was still continuing, and Ye Ming was still deeply asleep.
After carrying Ye Ming onto her back, Fu Hua glanced at Laffey, who was sleeping sprawled out in the middle of the bed. After hesitating slightly, she decided to carry Ye Ming to the guest room next door.
But after taking only two steps, Fu Hua felt that something was strange.
It seemed that something strange behind her was poking her again and again.
Unable to react in time, Fu Hua instinctively reached back and grabbed that thing.
Questions and Denial
Ye Ming had a dream.
In the dream, he became a transmigrator who traveled to a wasteland world overrun by monsters and rescued an innocent, beautiful girl from their jaws.
Then came the survival life of a man and woman relying on each other in the apocalypse.
Before you continue