Operator #6 · [Modern Siren · Modern Siren]

9527 picked up the phone.

"Sister-in-law, if your brother hadn't saved you, what kind of person would he have become?"

Bailu sat at the front desk of [JoeStar] bar, surrounded by hard decoration materials. The bar would take at least four more months to complete.

"I don't know, I dare not think about it, sister-in-law. I really dare not think about it. If that were really the case, I would be reporting to the underworld by now, and I wouldn't even have the chance to think about this. Why did you suddenly ask about this?"

9527 and his companions boarded the railway maintenance worker's electric tricycle and headed towards Sky Station.

Her body swayed and rocked with the cargo bed, her eyes fixed on the Steel Heart on her ring finger, a strange Inspiration welling up from the depths of her heart.

That was an alarm signal that Jiang Xueming, in a dangerous situation, unconsciously sent to Steel Heart.

Although Xue Ming was panicked, she couldn't panic.

--If Xiao Qi also starts to panic and get anxious, Steel Heart will also pass on this bad mood to her employer.

"Because I'm very curious." Seventh Brother wanted to divert his attention by thinking about something unrealistic.

"He will definitely be very, very sad." Bailu answered immediately without hesitation, "My brother is a pragmatic person. He went through a lot of trouble to settle down and almost exhausted all his strength to get the life he wanted. If I can't hold on and just die like this, it would be a huge blow to my brother."

Xiao Qi: "It's almost like all our efforts were wasted?"

Bailu: "That's right, life is very, very bitter, and there are many, many things that are beyond our control."

Xiao Qi: "Mmm."

Bailu: "But he won't regret it, and he won't do anything extreme."

Xiao Qi: "Really?"

Bailu: "Sister-in-law, you should know him very well. Although my brother and I are not very old, we understood a simple and easy-to-understand principle very early on."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone.

--Bai Bailu went to pour a glass of water and finally spoke slowly.

"What's lost can never be regained. It's like how we didn't have our own parents to take care of us when we were young. No matter how much we try to make up for it as adults, we can never get back all the happiness we had in our childhood."

Her tone was extremely calm, almost eerily calm.

"If I were killed by Vita Imprint, he would be heartbroken for a very, very long time, and he would cry for a very, very long time—although I rarely see my brother cry."

She then proceeded to speak of the ironclad rules of ordinary society.

"But crying won't help, and it can't turn back time or bring me out of the underworld. So I think my brother will continue to live—it's a simple principle, isn't it, sister-in-law? But so many people don't understand."

Xiao Qi thought about it. If she lost Xue Ming, let alone imagining that scene in her mind, just thinking about it made her heart start to ache, as if she were being hit by a hammer, and she was always in a state of Gate of Death.

Bailu continued—

"--If we are bullied, cheated out of money, or robbed by bad guys, even if we get our money back, it can't make up for the damage. Perhaps the people in the story would say that the bad guys should pay for their crimes in blood, but what if we replaced that humiliation and hurt with rape and murder?"

"Sister-in-law, my brother and I both know this. We've long agreed to become resilient, like wild grass, even when pressed down by stones, we must still push our way out and see the sunlight."

"Just like the principle of primordial essence, a person's primordial essence is limited. Without Universal Elixir, people who suffer misfortune will lose limbs, lose memories, and eventually lose their souls. However, the vast majority of ordinary people will not try to regain their lost primordial essence, but will instead heal their wounds as soon as possible to prevent more blood loss from their shattered bodies, much like a gecko shedding its tail to survive."

"--Even a gecko cares about its severed tail, after all, it's its flesh and blood. If I died, my brother would be heartbroken for a very long time, but he wouldn't succumb to despair. You should remember that we wrote letters to each other."

Xiao Qi: "Yes, I remember him saying that life is a one-way ticket, there's no chance to turn back."

Bailu: "If I had died and come back from the underworld, I'm afraid he wouldn't love me as much, wouldn't cherish our kinship as much. If a gecko could grow more than ten tails in a very short time, it wouldn't care about its tails—it's strange, and it's amazing, isn't it, sister-in-law? It's precisely because there's only one chance, only one life, and only one chance to try and fail, that my brother was shaped into such a cold yet sophisticated person. That's why we cherish this relationship."

"Little sister-in-law, you seem..." Xiao Qi wanted to say something, but didn't know how to start.

When asked about the major life events of birth, aging, illness, and death, Bailu an unexpected maturity, much like Jiang Xueming.

"Sister-in-law, I know what you want to ask. You probably mean that my thinking is too realistic, too cold-hearted—let's put it this way," Bailu continued, "I'm usually happy and cheerful because Ming Ge protects me. If I always had a sour face and was like an ice pop girl, this house wouldn't feel alive at all, and my brother would probably have a mental breakdown. I should be happy every day and think about lively things."

Xiao Qi: "That seems to be the case."

Bailu: "So I really don't understand, especially at school."

Xiao Qi: "You can't get along with your classmates?"

Bailu: "Saintess High School is an elite school, you know that, sister-in-law? My brother works hard to earn money so that I can receive a very good education. I haven't let him down and have always studied hard. But my classmates are really strange. They treat ordinary friends or playmates even more kindly than they treat their own family."

Xiao Qi: "It is quite strange."

"People can freely scold and beat their parents, or berate their children, yet they are polite to strangers they've just met. Young couples in early relationships argue every day, but maintain a facade of affection in front of others. A teacher might clearly like a top student, but if that student doesn't get good grades, the teacher immediately launches into a tirade, their face filled with the expression of someone owing them millions. My brother and I really can't understand this inexplicable, intense emotion. Perhaps this is a kind of superstition that needs to be dispelled long ago."

When Bailu talked about these things, her face was full of question marks; they were the ultimate mysteries in life that were difficult to answer.

"No matter what happens, Ming Ge will always be on my side. Even if I'm naughty and bully others, or use my newly learned fancy moves to beat up school bullies, when he scolds me, he only cares about how to clean up the mess and how to protect himself using the criminal law and dump trucks—he would never mention those vague concepts like morality and shame. We must stick together to survive; there will never be any pointless infighting."

"Alright, alright." Xiao Qi was almost crushed by Bailu's linguistic pressure. "That's enough."

Bailu continued, "After much thought, if you, sister-in-law, want to hear some strange predictions, like what kind of person my brother will become after I die, and what kind of life he will lead, I think it will be pretty much the same as it is now."

Xiao Qi: "Hmm"

Bailu: "He will meet you, and then fall in love with you; you will meet him, and then sleep with him."

Xiao Qi exclaimed in surprise, "Isn't there love?!"

Bailu: "Sister-in-law, you're a visual creature; your actions usually come before your thoughts."

Xiao Qi: "Damn it! I was seen through! I'm so angry! I'm so angry!"

Bailu: "You will have many babies and live a happy life. He will immediately cheer up. The portion of his spiritual energy that was supposed to be given to me will be taken away by you and your new family."

Xiao Qi: "Ah, this?"

When Bailu talked about these things, she remained as calm as ever, almost exactly like Xue Ming.

"To protect your life, and to protect my nephews, Ming Ge certainly won't have time to mourn a dead man like me—at most, he'll occasionally mention me to his children during Qingming and Double Ninth Festivals, talking about his regrets from his youth, hoping his children won't repeat his mistakes, and that they must always be wary of the Vita Imprint and take good preventative measures. This is a lesson your aunt learned with her life."

"Little sister-in-law! I won't let you die in vain!" Xiao Qi's toes were practically clenched so tightly they were practically rock hard. She couldn't stand these words and immediately started blaring an alarm. "Woo woo woo!~~ Ugh woo woo woo!"

Bailu: "I'm not dead yet, sister-in-law."

Xiao Qi: "I won't listen! I won't listen! I won't listen!"

Bailu: "Hmm"

Once Bai Ziqing returns to normal, she will use snacks to combat her excessively high Madness Index.

Bailu added, "Sister-in-law, I believe life is only once, and can only happen once. If it could be repeated, we would definitely lose something more important, like the [power] that Brother Meteor has always cared about so much!"

"What are you talking about [Power]? Is this kid hiding some unparalleled martial arts technique that I don't know about?" Xiao Qi quickly pressed for an answer.

Bailu explained, "When I practiced at the train station, whether it was shooting or combat, my results would fluctuate, and there would always be periods of burnout. Whenever that happened, I would think, 'Difficulties are always there; they don't adapt to people. Only people can overcome them. They don't tire or let their guard down; only people do get tired. Luck also has its ups and downs.' I asked my brother how to maintain high-quality training results. My brother said he didn't know; he only knew that if he kept practicing, there would always be a reward. But surprisingly, Brother Meteor gave me the right answer."

"Is that so?" Xiao Qi looked at Bu Liuxing as if she had seen a ghost—the kid was still vomiting uncontrollably because of motion sickness.

Bailu nodded vigorously, determined to do the same even though her sister-in-law couldn't see her.

"That's what Brother Meteor said--"

"--There will be no shortage of formidable enemies and difficulties! To defeat opponents in style, to protect friends, to not see people hurt or crying, to stand up when encountering terrifyingly powerful enemies—life is only once. Without this courage and determination, let alone upholding justice, you won't even have the ability to protect yourself. Bailu Lu! Bailu Lu! If you practice less, Ming Ge will have to practice more; if you become weaker, Ming Ge will have to become stronger. Ming Ge and I will high-five every day and remind each other. I will shout loudly, 'Have you practiced today?'— Ming Ge will respond in kind. If we both persist in doing this and become stronger than we were yesterday, then when protecting each other, we can laugh out loud without any regrets!"

Xiao Qi slapped her forehead. "Oh no!"

Bailu asked with a smile, "Sister-in-law, you must also have this kind of promise and bond with Ming Ge Xueming, right?"

Xiao Qi could only slap her forehead. "Oh no, oh no, oh no! I've become the other woman!"

The duel on the Purgatory Special Plane has reached its thirty-first round.

"We must find a way to break this deadlock."

There are still more than thirty minutes until the next [Still Wind Point] arrives.

Sixty-Three's mental strength was once again exhausted, yet he was powerless against Wood Plark's repeated self-sacrificing suicide terrorist attacks.

In those terrifying and bizarre ten rounds, he was almost completely crushed and killed by Wood Plark's Soul Power attacks!

He hesitated, afraid to direct his spirit to directly destroy Wood's physical body. If he were caught in the explosion, the Gate of Death effect would cause the [Regret Pill] to lose its ability to turn back time at the moment his soul power was destroyed, and he would reach an eternal death.

Billy the Kid and Fuyanni always sided with Wood Plark, making negotiations impossible and preventing them from acquiring firearms. As a result, Sixty-Three had no way to assassinate this troublesome, high-value target from a distance.

Teacher Wood was standing extremely close to Jiang Xueming, almost like a pair of inseparable lovers. If he were to instruct the [Yin Yang Demon Realm] to poison this guy, he might accidentally injure Jiang Xueming.

"What if it was even earlier? Even earlier? Rewind the time to four hours ago?" Ms. Duran lowered her voice, afraid that Wood Plark would hear her.

"No, no matter what point in time we go back to, Wood Plark will be right next to Jiang Xueming. He has figured out our patterns of operation." Sixty-Three shook his head. "If we want to enter Huge Mountain Station and kidnap Jiang Xueming directly, we first have to deal with the defenses of this main station, which consists of more than four hundred fully armed employees. Besides..."

Duran immediately backed down. "I can't beat him—that kid could tear me into a dozen pieces in just a few seconds."

Sixty-Three continued, "Whether I can defeat this kid depends on luck. The fighting techniques he learned are completely different from mine. I learned hand-to-hand combat and shooting in the Navy SEALs and SOG, while he uses modern Sanshou Jeet Kune Do and CQC disarming techniques, still using that dissecting knife technique used to butcher animals—it just feels rough and unfamiliar to me."

Duran's mouth dropped open in astonishment. "You're not even confident you can subdue Jiang Xueming?"

"Can you guarantee that you can defeat yourself every time without fail? Defeat this younger version of yourself?" Sixty-Three retorted, "I don't even know where his power comes from. He's the strongest Jiang Xueming I've ever seen. If it weren't for the suppression of his soul power level, I would have a hard time gaining any advantage over him."

Immediately afterwards, the spirit of the [Regret Pill] burst forth with a thick, dark mist.

"My spirit has begun to decay, while his spirit is like brand-new alloy steel."

Sixty-Three spreads his hands, revealing two rusty Steel Heart.

"I have two pyroxenes, he only has one."

Immediately afterwards, the Demon King pressed down on Duran's shoulder.

"I need your help— Ms. Duran. Next, I will search for the Red Mountain Stone for you without reservation. Your soul power is far too weak! Your mental strength is far too weak! When you swallow the Red Mountain Stone, you must lock in the formula for my victory, find a way to win this gamble from countless possibilities—the spirit essence of Ming De contains incredibly magical power, but it is meaningless to my soul power. It will only send me back to 2006."

Duran nodded nervously.

Sixty-Three pressed his ear against Duran's and gently blew on it.

"You will survive, and live on with your loved one. Only by obtaining the Red Mountain Stone and divination of the winning method for me can you leave this plane safely—otherwise, I will turn back time again. Don't try any tricks; betraying me is meaningless."

Before the words had even finished --

Wood launched himself and rushed into first class.

Before he could take any further action, the [Regret Pill] had already reversed time.

A new round has begun.

Sixty-Three was filled with trepidation, but in order to achieve his goal of "going to heaven," he had no choice but to place his bet on Claudia Ars Duran.

Ming De's life-protecting talisman possesses extremely powerful strength, capable of transforming into an amplifier of soul power.

Even if a nymph without soul power swallows this treasure, it can immediately possess some of the BOSS's elemental characteristics and the combat capabilities of a blood-bearing unit.

Wood Plark's actions are unpredictable and difficult to forecast.

Based on Sixty-Three's combat experience, even when using the [Regret Pill] to duel with Teacher Wood, even though he was the one reversing time, Wood would always prepare a new surprise and come up with different ways to execute him.

Duran intended to use the [Timeline] to predict Wood Plark's specific actions in order to deal with this troublesome opponent. However, what Sixty-Three did not expect was that even the Little Brotherhood obsessed with divination and mysticism, could not predict Wood Plark's battle plan.

Sixty-Three had no choice but to find another way: to stuff the Red Mountain Stone into Duran's mouth, making the [early warning aircraft] work at overclock and play a role in this duel.

Where is the crucial Red Mountain Stone?

Jiang Xueming always kept it in the lining of his clothes, ready to use it at any time in case of danger.

After boarding the plane, Wood stole the prop from Jiang Xueming's arms when he left his seat to go to the restroom.

These are all fixed procedures that Sixty-Three has observed and memorized through repeatedly reversing time.

"In the sixteenth round, after Wood Plark killed Flavia, he changed into women's clothing and stripped naked during the bombing of the cabin, leaving him only in his underwear. There was nowhere to hide the stones," said Sixty-Three, waiting quietly in first class.

"Could it be..." Duran cried out in alarm, "He hid the Red Mountain Stone in his underwear?! Am I supposed to swallow that stuff?!"

"No way." Sixty-Three's expression finally changed as he thought of this disgusting and infuriating thought. He said cautiously, "The item is definitely not on him. If he dared to do that, it would be tantamount to stuffing the essence of Ming De, and Virtue into it."

Ms. Duran roared angrily.

"Yes! He definitely wouldn't dare! We don't even need to lift a finger! Ming De wouldn't allow such a thing to happen!"

"Where is it?" Sixty-Three rubbed his temples, glancing out of the corner of his eye at the passengers filing into economy class.

Wood Plark had already unscrewed the cap on the chocolate milk, ready to launch the next explosive attack.

But before that, he must have already hidden the Red Mountain Stone somewhere.

Sixty-Three suddenly stood up, and with Regret Pill, he slammed his fist towards the first row of first class closest to the isolation door!

A man had just sat down when he was immediately punched through by a spirit.

If your memory is good enough, you should remember the deal Mr. Wood made with this man.

In the sixteenth round, Wood asked the man for five thousand dollars to change into Wood's clothes: a peach-colored shirt, a black wool coat, and stiff leather jeans.

Sixty-Three: "We succeeded!"

The [Regret Pill] gripped the Red Mountain Stone tightly in its palm; Wood had hidden this important prop on this homosexual beforehand.

Almost at the same time—Wood hurriedly drank the chocolate milk, and with lightning speed, retrieved the gun and hallucinogen from Billy the Kid's stomach!

Sixty-Three captured Duran and stuffed the bloodstained cat bell talisman into the woman's mouth!

Cries and screams erupted all at once!

The life-saving talisman was shoved into Duran's throat, and her eyes immediately rolled back, thick black mist billowed from her mouth and nose, and her consciousness was about to leave her body!

"Help me! Help me! Help me!"

Sixty-Three screamed hysterically, shaking Duran's body.

Wood had already rushed to the door of the first class cabin, but when he saw Ms. Duran's convulsing body, he suddenly stopped moving. It wasn't that he didn't want to move, but a series of complex factors had imprisoned his body in place.

Just moments ago, when Duran was grabbed by Sixty-Three, he was holding his boarding pass in his hand. He followed the divine wind brought by the [Regret Pill] and floated towards the isolation door of the first class cabin. He squeezed out through the crack in the floor and plunged hard into the drain pipe of the coffee machine.

Water gushed from the crack. Flavia reached out to plug it, but immediately crushed the fragile plastic pipe. Then, inexplicably angry, she kicked the coffee machine twice.

The machine crashed into the external pipes of the firewall, pulled open the cabinet door of the fire-fighting equipment, and the emergency window-breaking cone fell down, hitting Wood Plark on the head like a steel nail hitting the speeding vehicle.

Mr. Wood stared at his hands in disbelief. He was speechless and frozen in place, like Melezong in a convertible, his mind racing.

Sixty-Three laughed maniacally, "Hahahaha! Wood Plark! I can lose countless times! But you only have one chance! At this moment, destiny is on our side! Lady Luck will only favor us!"

He raised Ms. Duran's hand—

"--She can find a way to defeat you! I can feel it! Her soul power has evolved! The Red Mountain Stone has given [Timeline] a new name!"

Wood remained undeterred; blood gushed from him like a fountain, staining the entire customer service room red. A broken window spike pierced his skull and exited through his chin, yet he still pressed on.

Sixty-Three lifted Ms. Duran's arm and pointed to Wood.

Duran finally regained his senses. The White Snake had grown up, with a fish tail and a human body, and was about to stretch out its arms to embrace its crumbling enemy!

"[Modern Siren]! She's singing! A dirge for your funeral!"