The Chosen One

That symbol representing the protagonist was actually... not lit up?

Normally, that symbol shone brilliantly in Chlorine Sodium's eyes, practically wishing to blind everyone's 32k titanium alloy dog eyes so that all transmigrators under the heaven would know this piece of work was the protagonist, the Child of the World.

If one had to understand it, it was quite similar to the dazzling extra-large special-effect wings behind wealthy VIPs in garbage online games.

However, the girl before her merely had the symbol, but it was unlit and rendered in gray.

This was truly the first time she had seen such a situation.

Was it because she had not yet become the protagonist? Or had she been stripped of her protagonist qualifications for some reason?

No, the intelligence available right now was still too scarce. The most important task at present was to conceal herself.

Moreover, judging by the other party's appearance, where was there any protagonist temperament? The girl before her was as pitiful to the extreme as an abandoned stray dog, or rather, down-and-out to the extreme.

If left alone, she basically wouldn't survive tonight.

"Who are you..."

Suddenly, dry lips parted slightly, and her weak voice quickly dissipated in the extremely freezing, biting wind.

Yet relying on her Herrscher hearing, she still caught the words of this silver-haired girl.

"Are you... an elf...?"

This was almost an unconscious utterance, yet it still carried the instinctive survival desire of a human being.

She had to admit that the human will was indeed a very miraculous thing.

An elf?

Which elf had you ever seen carrying two metallic iron fists.

Emmmm, it seemed there was once a saintess in some world who also claimed to be Iron Fist Unrivaled.

Was this treating her as some kind of fairy tale legend?

After all, she was a child. It was very common to understand the world through youthful cognition.

Then, if that was the case...

Suddenly, a malicious plan gradually took shape in Chlorine Sodium's mind.

Riding the current and following the flow was the simplest method. If you thought I was, then I was. This could also save the time of having to disguise herself again.

The greatest lie was to make people believe it.

"Yes."

Chlorine Sodium changed her previous arrogance and majesty, instead controlling the doll to put on a cute smile as if she truly were that elf, and utilized the petite form of the Armed Doll to flutter in a circle around the girl.

Agile, cute, lively, plus a tiny bit ethereal.

It simply couldn't be more perfect.

"Yes, I am an elf, oh."

Elves could grant wishes. The girl had long since lost hope; perhaps this was the "beauty" she saw at the very end.

Beautiful things always allowed people to feel at ease. Once a person lost hope, they actually became at ease instead, because she no longer had any choices left. Losing choices also meant losing entanglement and struggle.

"Make a wish... I want..."

The girl wore a slightly miserable smile, as if she had seen the beauty of heaven itself, and slowly spoke her final wish.

"I want... to go see grandma, want to see spring, want to return home... I want...

...to live."

"...Of course, your wish can naturally be realized."

The originally childlike voice suddenly turned flat and devoid of emotion, because the girl had already passed out. The moment she collapsed, Chlorine Sodium had already concluded that this girl posed no threat whatsoever, and used the metallic giant hands of the Armed Doll to lift the girl's body.

A vicious scheme was already formed, and the remaining matter was simply to carry it out.

Since she temporarily couldn't deal with the protagonist, she would just accompany her, deceive her, disguise herself as her best companion, and then present her own complete form at the very end. It simply couldn't be simpler.

In the end, the more familiar they became with each other, the greater the hatred would explode. Was there any reason not to make a killing out of this?!

And the main thing was safety. Living in seclusion by the protagonist's side as the ultimate mastermind behind the scenes, was there anything safer than this?

No!

I really admire myself more and more. Sure enough, as long as I wanted to, no one could become my obstacle.

Right, she also had a new identity waiting for herself. If you're going to put on a play, put on a full show; if you're going to send someone off, send them all the way to the end.

Then she would direct and star in a grand performance herself.

Carrying the unconscious girl, Chlorine Sodium embarked on the road out of the forest...

Chapter 5: The Chosen One

This place really was desolate to the extreme.

It reminded her of Siberia in Russia, boundlessly vast. Across the endless wasteland, it was difficult to spot even a single person or settlement, and she could only occasionally see beast herds gathering on the snowfield.

She herself didn't mind and could even tear open the Imaginary Space to live inside it, but large-scale fluctuations of Honkai energy would inevitably be sensed by some perception-sensitive mysterious entities. Brainless actions would not only bring trouble, but also many enemies, which was not what a Herrscher—or rather, Paimon—wanted.

As for the protagonist, she still didn't know whether this girl's identity was truly the protagonist, so she shouldn't easily provoke her, but she also shouldn't give up laying down the necessary groundwork to build up hatred for the future. Therefore, the highest priority was to save the other party's life first; mere slaughter wasn't worth many points.

She found an uninhabited village on the wasteland and temporarily placed the girl there, while Chlorine Sodium was currently searching for a suitable target outside the village.

The animal ecology here was somewhat similar to her former world.

Thinking thus, she found what she was looking for.

It was a wild wolf. It seemed there was a wolf pack nearby, but it didn't matter.

In an instant, beside Tesla Zero, the great gates of the Imaginary Space suddenly flung open, and sharp blades shining with dazzling brilliance roared out from the void!

The weapons blazed with flames and surging energy, their exquisite patterns showcasing the prestige and uniqueness of the armaments. This should have been proof used by heroes to forge legends, yet in the eyes of the Herrscher, such precious weapons were merely disposable throwing projectiles.

This was the power of a Herrscher. Compared to the original Herrscher of the Void, Chlorine Sodium had specifically dumped all her points into it when spending them, leaving only a tiny fraction to exchange for a new identity, purely to reinforce her physical strength.

Therefore, the current Herrscher of the Void was many times stronger than the original version in both output and the use of abilities. Not only could she use the Subspace Spear, but she could also utilize many other stored items, and could even accomplish feats like briefly restricting the flow of time within a space.

After all, when character-creation, she had high-focussed a certain helpful citizen's settings, since they were handy to use.

The sharp blade instantly smashed the wild wolf's head to pieces. She hadn't aimed for the body precisely because it might smash all the meat into a pulp, making it inconvenient to carry back later.

The spent weapon vanished into the snowfield, replaced by several golden chains lunging out from the Imaginary Space, wrapping around the corpse of the wild wolf a few circles, intending to drag it back just like that.

Judas's main body remained inside the Imaginary Space, while Tesla Zero merely used those metallic hands to grip the chains and drag them back.

This was also the result of high imitation.

The Golden King inwardly hailed this as a pro move.

Yelena felt as though she had experienced a dream.

Like a revolving lantern, it reviewed her miserable and brief life.

Yet she was fortunate, because before dying, she finally received the favor of the heavens, which dispatched an emissary to escort her to the heavenly kingdom after death.

God asked her what lingering attachments she still had.

When she was about to die, she had assumed there would be numerous attachments.

A strong desire for survival had driven her to wander around in the ice-and-snow-covered forest, from the joy of escaping to the bewilderment of getting lost, and finally to the despair of finding no way out.

Yet when truly questioned by God, she could not think of a single lingering attachment.

What else did she have left to be attached to?

She had no family left, and having become an Infected, she was spurned by the entire world.

With neither relatives nor connections, a normal person's three deaths were an extravagant hope for Yelena; an Infected's deaths happened concurrently in three ways. The moment this person vanished from the world, no one would know her, nor would anyone remember her.

Dying was just like a stray dog dying on the street—unattended, without even leaving any trace behind.

A dozen-odd years of life were like a dream or illusion. Perhaps being alive was a sort of dream, and dying meant one had arrived at the real world after all.

Even so, she was fortunate, because she could enter heaven after death.

There was no pain, no cold, and no hunger there.

So... had she arrived in heaven?

Just as she stepped one foot into the gates of heaven, Yelena opened her eyes.

What she saw was not some pure land of heaven, but rather... an unfamiliar ceiling...

Somewhat dilapidated, cobwebs in the corners were extremely distinct against the grayish-black ceiling.

Yet warm spots of light illuminated the place, lending warmth to the chilly light and making the dilapidated roof no longer so glaring.

Where was this?

Yelena only felt her head ache intensely, as if she had woken up feeling dizzy and muddled after sleeping for too long.

Could this place be an illusion after her death?

However, the next moment, seeing the plates of food placed on the table illuminated by the fireplace's flames—with meat dripping grease right on the plates—she became certain this was not an illusion.

Because the twitching of her taste buds was not fake, and the warmth brought by the fireplace also made her skin feel a long-lost heat. Even though the indoor temperature remained cold due to her Originium Arts, all of this was not an illusion, for every single thing was too real, yet at the same time too surreal.

The stark reality was that her Originium Arts could not be controlled by herself, unceasingly radiating coldness outward, but this whole thing also felt somewhat illusory.

It was very simple: no one would treat an Infected who could not control her own Originium Arts with hospitality. Absolutely no one.

So, where on earth was this?

This made little Yelena somewhat fearful and apprehensive, afraid of harming the true owner of the house, yet also afraid that all of this was merely an illusion.

Until a silver-haired woman appeared beside her.

Long silver hair cascaded down her back; unlike Yelena's withered, lifeless grayish-white hair, that was true snow-white, as if it were the dazzling whiteness of accumulated snow illuminated by sunlight.

Her blue-black eyes were serene and unfathomable, yet exuded an undeniable charm.

She was an unfamiliar female, possessing a vast disparity as if an ugly duckling had encountered a white swan.

Could it be... a noble?

In Yelena's small cognition, only nobles had the ability to dress themselves up so exquisitely, and only nobles possessed such temperament.

Then the question arose: why on earth did she appear beside a noble?!

Could it be...

The girl recalled: could it be because of that wish?!

Could it be that the elf she saw that day was real?

"Who are you...?"

Seeing the girl's confusion and resistance toward a stranger, the silver-haired young girl didn't mind, simply closing her book of her own accord.

"My name is Chlorine Sodium, though many people call me A'Lu, I still prefer others calling me by my full name."

"So I suggest you call me by my full name. I am a doctor, usually very busy. I like a peaceful life, dislike intense joy, and dislike profound despair. What I want is just a peaceful life like a plant. This time I came to Ursus due to official business, but this place is simply too terrible, so I can only figure out a way to find a place to lodge while moving toward the place where I'm going to work. On the way, I happened to pick up you wretched creature, so..."

Putting down the book, Chlorine Sodium's face suddenly thrust close to the girl's and sniffed.

"Though I'm not clear on who you are, I am a very kind person, so I brought you to my temporary residence. I like a quiet life, so I suggest you'd better not fail to appreciate what's good for you."

As she spoke, the young girl snatched up a fork, skewered a small piece of meat, and placed it right beside the girl's lips like feeding an animal. Yet the young girl's icy countenance and condescending attitude felt even more like a superior's command to a subordinate.

"Eat it, consider it as you understanding what I said and being willing to carry it out. Understood?"

Yet the sheer volume of information the young girl spat out in one breath was far too immense, completely disregarding whether the girl understood it or not. It left Yelena dazed and failing to comprehend her current situation, taking it merely as a strange woman's explanation following a self-introduction.

Normally, no one would seem to agree with her approach, because it was simply too tyrannical and harsh, and still too sharp and unsparing toward a child who had suffered hardships.

Yet looking at the food on the fork, little Yelena swallowed hard. Having tasted boundless despair and prolonged hunger, she no longer had any resistance against food.

Seeing the girl no longer generating resistance toward her, the silver-haired young girl nodded and spoke.

"One last question...

Are you a rabbit or a donkey?"