9. Escape Changkong City

March 11, 2014, 9:39 a.m.

There were only seventeen days left until the future Third Honkai Outbreak.

Reason told him that the possibility of mastering the uncertain, possibly fake Void Sword Qi to a level sufficient to resist the Honkai within seventeen days was infinitely close to zero.

He had never been any kind of genius.

Even after experiencing death and merging with that soul fragment, he still didn't think he had any confidence in accomplishing such a thing.

His ability to clearly understand himself was what allowed him to view the bigger picture calmly.

Assuming Lord God had given him the Void Sword Qi and soul fragment as chips, then his limits should all be within the other party's expectations. To Lord God, remaining in Changkong City and waiting for the Honkai to erupt was part of the game's rules.

The victory condition was to learn Void Sword Qi. From that perspective, the chances of Void Sword Qi being real were not low.

But it was also possible that it was all a sham, that Lord God wanted to see his despair when he came within a hair's breadth of success only to suddenly plunge into the abyss.

The rules of the game... Su Qing'an murmured coldly to himself.

You really can do whatever the hell you want, can't you? Fuck you.

"Since Kiana has already skipped class, you wouldn't mind keeping me company a little longer, would you?"

"Where are we going?" The girl tilted her head in confusion.

"To see the cherry blossoms." Su Qing'an stroked her head, messing up her lustrous white hair as a small act of revenge for earlier, making Kiana bristle a little.

"Oh (▼皿▼＃)!" The girl puffed out her cheeks. Her adorable appearance was especially captivating, like a kitten whose mouth had been stuffed with dried fish and could no longer bite anyone.

Two hours later, on the train to the neighboring city.

In the nearly empty train carriage, a man and a woman sat facing each other.

The youth's features were handsome, while his indifferent expression made him seem aloof. His naturally slightly curly Japanese-style hairstyle gave him a lazy, decadent air, yet anyone who looked directly into those pitch-black eyes would suddenly feel a sense of crisp clarity.

The shopkeeper... was actually pretty good-looking. It turned out that most people in the world cared about appearances, and Kiana was no exception.

Looking at the youth's face and the scenery rushing past behind him, Kiana thought of the phrase "picturesque scenery," with the youth standing at the center of that painting.

The awkwardness and strange feeling of traveling alone with a member of the opposite sex her own age for the first time should have grown stronger once she noticed his looks. But Kiana, who was rather carefree and dull in that regard, did the exact opposite and tossed all of it to the back of her mind.

As expected of a woman known as the Harem King.

"We're about to leave Changkong City." Looking at the map app on his phone, Su Qing'an felt all sorts of emotions twist together into ropes that tightened around his heart as he drew closer to his destination.

Nervousness, fear, terror, anger, excitement—countless emotions shook his soul. It was like a warning that he was touching upon a taboo.

Su Qing'an understood that he was challenging the rules set by Lord God. It would not be strange if the price was death.

As the saying went, a miserable life was still better than a good death. Even if staying in Changkong City meant he was destined to reach a dead end, he could still live for another dozen days or so. Normally, most people would choose to stay in Changkong City and gamble on a slim chance of survival with Void Sword Qi.

But he wouldn't.

Even after deeply understanding the horror of death, he still wouldn't.

What kind of joke was this? It was like he had spent an entire month eating braised chicken rice alone, only for some punk to suddenly corner him, press a knife to his throat, and say, "Su Qing'an, you can't eat braised chicken rice tomorrow. Go eat dumplings instead, or I'll slash you with this knife and you'll lose your life."

It was absurd, self-righteous, utterly arbitrary.

You wanted me to transmigrate, so I transmigrated. You wanted me dead, so I died. You wanted me alive, so I lived. You wanted me to practice Void Sword Qi, so I practiced it. You wanted me to stay in Changkong City and face the Honkai, so I had to face it.

Lord God. How arrogant.

He chose to leave Changkong City not only because he believed the probability of dying if he stayed was close to eighty percent, but also because he loathed the helplessness of having his life arranged at someone else's whim, the anger of having his peaceful everyday life shattered, and Lord God's lofty arrogance.

As for whether the emptiness and sadness of never seeing Hua again had played a part in it, no one could say.

"Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong. Shimizu City has arrived. Passengers getting off, please disembark as soon as possible..." The arrival announcement echoed through the carriage. Looking at the marker showing Shimizu City on the map app, then at the scenery outside the train, Su Qing'an fell into a daze.

Nothing had happened. The instant he arrived in Shimizu City, that feeling of touching a taboo vanished without a trace.

It was as if Lord God did not care that his rules had been broken. Everything remained calm and peaceful.

"We're here. What are you spacing out for, Idiot Shopkeeper?" Kiana pulled Su Qing'an out of the train.

"Nothing. I was just thinking about something." Su Qing'an replied. The spring breeze seemed to carry a trace of chill, and when it blew over his back, soaked with cold sweat, it sobered and calmed him considerably.

"What's with you? You're being all mysterious, you know? ヽ('⌒´メ)ノ" Kiana muttered somewhat awkwardly.

"Alright, don't sulk. Even though it isn't summer, I'll treat you to ice cream." Su Qing'an found it a little funny. Kiana was still just a child. Her calm and dependable impression when they had first met had made him unconsciously imagine her as more mature.

But this wasn't bad either.

"Really? Shopkeeper! Then I want strawberry, but vanilla is nice too, and chocolate is delicious as well... Umm, this is so hard to choose." Beaming with joy, the girl began seriously counting on her fingers as she considered the ice cream flavors.

She was so straightforward that she almost seemed thoughtless. The youth rubbed his forehead helplessly. "Alright, alright. We can talk about that once we find somewhere that sells ice cream. If you really want them that badly, just pick one more."

"Su Qing'an, you're so nice! Then let's hurry!" Kiana grabbed the youth's hand and quickly headed forward.

Feeling the girl's fingertips brush across his palm without meaning to, he suddenly froze for a moment. Su Qing'an...

For some reason, he suddenly remembered the girl's sleeping face beneath the curtain of rain that day, and the way she had earnestly said his name.

They would clearly never see each other again, yet that person seemed impossible to forget.

"...Let's go, Kiana."