"Saying One Thing, Meaning Another"

"Big brother, this guy looks like he knows how to fight."

"Damn it, right, didn't we call that lunatic out?!"

Lunatic?

Before the girl could hear what they were talking about, a flying knife swept past her cheek!

That was—

An attack filled with killing intent.

Unlike the street punks, who merely enjoyed brawling—

Not just anyone could use a flying knife, but the opponent was clearly an expert. It had flown in from the most treacherous angle, and this strike wasn't meant to injure her.

It was meant to block the girl's path.

Because the next moment, a male voice carrying a Sarkaz accent rang out.

"Lunatic? That's a good name."

A long tongue licked across the blade in his hand.

A burly Sarkaz mercenary stood in the doorway!

"The trouble you mentioned is just that little girl?"

The man asked with a bloodthirsty smile.

·············

What was a protagonist?

An unkillable cockroach, the luckiest person in the world.

Someone with a one-hundred-percent dodge rate against ranged weapons, overwhelming luck, and an obsession with staying alive.

Even if they fell off a cliff, they wouldn't die. Even if the six great sects surrounded them, they could still break through.

That was a protagonist—a truly troublesome thing.

They also possessed the ability to inflict Plot Kills on villains, with an extremely effective instant-death effect. Every clash with a protagonist was incredibly dangerous.

Because who knew when the protagonist might stab them? This sort of thing, governed by causality, might cause a tiny-probability event to delay a villain's grand plans at a critical moment for some unknown reason.

Even the heavens might stand on the protagonist's side.

As for villains, they were the side destined to lose.

They would fail. No matter what, they would fail, and they would take their final bow at the end of the story.

Even if the villain was in the right, the world simply wasn't reasonable.

That was a little girl with blue hair. Like Wei Yanwu, she had a pair of dragon horns on her head.

Clearly, those were the traits of a dragon.

It seemed the demi-humans in this world weren't limited to real animals. There were fantasy species as well.

After all, dragons themselves were creatures born from fantasy.

And it seemed the fantasy species were somewhat stronger, too.

At that moment, a protagonist's halo, radiating dazzling light and sparkling brilliantly, appeared above the little blue-haired girl in Chlorine Sodium's eyes!!!!!

Wei Yanwu's daughter? Or the child of one of his trusted aides?

Wei Yanwu himself looked somewhat surprised when he saw the girl.

"Hui Jie, what brings you here?"

"Uncle."

The girl still looked very young. She immediately found her relative and threw herself into his arms.

But...

Uncle?

Were they related?

Now that was interesting.

But none of that mattered.

The setting and everything else didn't matter! What mattered was—

The protagonist had finally appeared.

Although this world might also feature an ensemble cast, there were usually no more than two protagonists, three at most. She had never seen three before; there were two at most.

The others might be as important as protagonists, but they lacked the protagonist's world halo.

"Ha... you've finally appeared. I've waited so long."

The turmoil in her heart caused flecks of gold to appear in her eyes.

Even the hand holding her wineglass trembled slightly.

Although she quickly calmed her excitement, it would have been a lie to say she wasn't thrilled.

How could she not be excited?

That was her mortal enemy, the existence she had fought against all her life, the thing she had battled countless times yet never defeated!

She had never won even once. All she could do was become the victor in her own mind, trick the protagonist, and escape while she had the chance.

That was the absolute limit of what she could accomplish. Even with the godlike power of a Lawbearer, even with countless years of experience—

She still couldn't defeat a protagonist.

But if the other party was still a child...

As the ancients said, anyone who passed up an advantage was a fool. Now was the perfect time to establish an intelligence network and find a way to conduct targeted research on her.

Ideally, she would thoroughly understand the other party's thought process. After that, she would know herself and her enemy, advance steadily, and make careful preparations.

After all, she needed to cultivate hatred.

And hatred needed to be laid out in advance, just as it had been with Yelena.

There was no love without a reason, and naturally, there was no hatred without a reason either. If she wanted someone to hate her to the bone, she had to build a relationship first, then completely shatter that person's heart at the right opportunity.

That was true hatred.

Deception and betrayal were the best methods.

And now, Yelena could already be treated as a standard tool.

After all, there was now a genuine protagonist candidate. As for the others, given the other party's status, even she would have trouble contacting her under normal circumstances.

She had to seize this opportunity and at least obtain the other party's basic information first.

Oh, right. If she got the chance to make the other party recognize her, that would be even better.

That would be the beginning of everything...

To discover that someone she had known for years was actually the mastermind behind every conspiracy—such a revelation would surely feel awful...

Ah~ Just imagining it was delightful. She really wanted to know what expression this little girl would wear after growing up and learning the truth~

She was looking forward to it.

Suddenly, the cell phone in her pocket lit up.

??

"Kidnapping?"

It was a text message from an unknown phone, and it included a photograph.

It was Yelena·····

Tsk.

Why did this have to happen now·····

She glanced at the blue-haired protagonist in the distance.

Then she looked at Yelena in the photograph on her phone. The difference in importance was immediately clear.

One was merely a tool, while the other was the Child of the World. An opportunity like this wouldn't come again!

I was going to nurture you···· but who could blame me when something like this happened to you in the end?

If you had to blame someone, blame your bad luck.

Don't blame me for being despicable, Yelena······

P.S. Inspiration has been overflowing lately, and I've suddenly developed a fondness for westerns with a touch of fantasy.

Maybe I can try a new style. Well, if I get the chance.

Section 45: Chapter Forty-Five—Saying One Thing and Meaning Another

For some inexplicable reason···· her efficiency was terribly low.

An hour had passed.

The banquet had reached its midpoint. Music played in the dance hall, but Chlorine Sodium didn't know how to dance, so she had no interest in joining in.

But... her efficiency was still too low.

She had thought she could gather some information, but after chatting for this long, Chlorine Sodium felt like an idiot who had suddenly forgotten how to walk. After more than an hour, she had obtained only one name.

Chen Hui Jie.

Tsk. How irritating.

For some reason, an inexplicable irritation continued to linger in her heart, refusing to disappear.

The temperature wasn't particularly high today, yet the heat and restlessness made it difficult for her to calm down.

This place was like a steamer. The noisy music, the chattering conversations, the greasy gazes of men who didn't know how to mind their own business—everything around her looked so unpleasant!

She was merely a wage earner. All she wanted was to live a peaceful life.

But what had she been given? Something completely opposed to that.

So here was the question.

What do I actually want?

Chlorine Sodium, feeling irritated, took another sip of the wine in her glass, only to discover...

The glass had been empty for quite some time.

What was this supposed to be? Could she not even drink cold water without choking on it?

She picked up the wine sitting atop the table covered by an elegant white cloth and was about to pour herself another glass when the girl's hand suddenly stopped in midair.

Blood-red liquid trembled at the mouth of the glass. If she tilted the bottle just a little farther, the red wine would flow smoothly into the glass.

But the girl didn't do it.

Why?

Chlorine Sodium had a habit: when drinking, she only ever took a few sips.

She didn't understand what made one wine better than another, just as she couldn't tell the difference between Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

But she never drank a second glass within such a short period.

But what about now?

As she gazed at the wineglass, a faint reddish liquid still clinging to its sides, everything around her seemed to fall silent.

People didn't necessarily possess souls, but the body and the mind were separated by a barrier.

Memories were wrapped up and beautified—or perhaps vilified—by consciousness, but the memories embedded in the body did not change. They were purer, like base code, sealed away eternally.

Only when the day came that they were needed would they be activated once more.