An Impure Idealist / The Last Time

"You are truly despicable."

Yan Luo stood on the ground and glanced discreetly at the empty space below his right shoulder, the smooth cut surface revealing the bones and muscles clearly.

Lin Yidao chopped off her entire arm quickly, accurately, and ruthlessly, before she could even fully react.

The familiar smoke grenade tactic, by diverting attention and creating confusion from multiple points, seeks the opportunity for the final blow.

Both she and Lin are adept at reducing the gap in strength by shortening combat time.

"Cough cough..."

Lin lay on the ground, coughing up blood continuously, unable to respond to Yan Luo's words.

He was now tightly gripping the severed arm of Yan Luo, the bandages soaked red with the blood of the two men.

Yan Luo stepped forward and kicked Lin in the side, turning him around so he was facing up.

This kick displaced Lin's internal organs, and he couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of blood. His whole body felt like it was burning in fire, boiling and about to melt.

From his right shoulder to his left abdomen, there was a wound that tore open half of his body, cutting through the skin and muscles on the front, revealing the bones and internal organs inside.

When Lin slashed Yan Luo, she also retaliated with a slash that severely injured him. The wounds Heiyuan inflicted on him would erode other parts of him and would not heal.

Of course, there's no need to heal it; with this kind of injury, Lin would bleed to the point of shock within minutes.

But...

"I... won."

Lin Qiruo gazed at Yan Luo's face with a faint, almost imperceptible look. Something strange had appeared in her beautiful Prismatic Eyes. Faced with his declaration of victory, she simply watched him silently.

The wind blew around the two of them, and also blew open the bandages on the severed arm in Lin's hand, revealing the arm inside.

A dark, twisted, and deformed monkey paw.

The Herrscher of the Yan Luo is depicted with his entire body wrapped in bandages, making it easy for people to see which part of his body is different from that of an ordinary person.

Therefore, Lin had noticed the unusual features of her right arm joint from the moment he saw her yesterday.

"... What can this arm do?" Yan Luo's eyes flashed with mockery. "You haven't defeated me."

"No... I... won."

Lin reiterated his victory. He struggled to his feet, his strength rapidly dwindling. Blood gushed from his gruesome wounds, and his skin and muscles atrophied from the massive blood loss.

"The third time... the wish was fulfilled... the recipient was... 'you'."

"..."

"'You'... actually refers to 'Lin,' it means... it means... both of us... we must have the same wish... for it to be realized..."

"Now... it will... grant one wish..."

"Ding-dong..."

Lin raised his monkey paw, but Yan Luo simply watched coldly and did not stop him.

The long chimes rang out, and everything vanished in the rapidly passing light.

Lin jolted awake, the blinding sunlight and the smell of sandstorm leaving him no time to recover from the hazy feeling of waking from a deep sleep. He rolled over and got up, alert to his surroundings.

Not far away, he saw Yan Luo, sitting silently beneath the clock tower.

Her appearance returned to what it was before her second wish was granted, and her pupils returned to normal black pupils instead of the Prismatic Eyes she had when using her Herrscher abilities.

She didn't suddenly attack and kill Lin. After noticing that he had woken up, she only glanced at him and then stopped moving.

Lin stared at her for a while before quietly walking over and sitting down next to her.

"When did you discover it?" Yan Luo didn't look at him, but stared at the mirage on the sand in the distance, and asked softly.

"... In the beginning."

Yan Luo asked Lin when she realized it was a virtual world, and Lin's answer did not surprise her.

After all, it was her own suggestion.

"You bit my tongue." Lin moved his tongue slightly and found that he could no longer feel it, which meant that time had passed again. "Every time the bell rang, the wounds on my body would heal, but the wound on my tongue had not healed at that time."

In other words, it is not the world after the passage of time.

It was later confirmed through the boundary of the World Bubble, but Lin first realized it at the very beginning.

"Was the hint really too obvious?" Yan Luo sighed calmly. "You win. I can already feel the World Bubble gradually pushing us out of its interior. Next time..."

"I will come to save you."

"..."

Yan Luo turned his head with a slight bewilderment, his clear, dark eyes reflecting a Lin who was different from usual.

"What... save me?" Yan Luo asked instinctively.

"You're waiting for someone to come and save you."

This time, Lin didn't ask a question in return, but said it with absolute certainty.

"I know myself well, and I know that no matter what the circumstances, I will love and believe in humanity."

"So when you say I'm a lowly and despicable human being, you actually believe me, don't you?"

"..."

Yan Luo, remained silent.

"Believe me, I can protect everyone around me, all of humanity, and you."

"I know it's difficult, almost impossible, but that's what it means to do something impossible with all your might."

"Refusing to accept the foolish reality and fate is my first step toward a happy ending."

The scorching sunlight shone down from above.

Yan Luo chuckled, her smile serene, but then she reverted to her icy demeanor.

"You're... utterly stupid... What do you mean, 'save me'... what do you mean, 'happy ending'? Are you some overgrown, immature teenager who hasn't even graduated yet? Do you think that if you don't accept reality, it won't happen?" Yan Luo roared. "You've finally turned into this stupid person, thinking you can save everyone all by yourself?"

"Of course." came the firm and resolute reply.

"You've really become the kind of hero you used to hate the most," Yan Luo said coldly.

"I am not a hero," Lin corrected. "None of us are pure idealists; we have strayed from the path we once took."

"... It seems you understand this yourself, but why do you still choose this path? Hoping to have the best of both worlds will only lead to mutual destruction in the end."

"If you don't even have the courage to take the first step, you'll only end up with the same result."

Even if you eventually become another 'Yan Luo'?

"I will not become anyone else, just as you will remain you."

Yan Luo looked into his eyes, and he saw himself in her eyes, just as she saw herself.

Chapter 83 The Last Time

"This time, I'll consider it a win." Yan Luo withdrew her gaze, stood up, and looked into the distance. "But now I'm not even Pseudo-Herrscher, so you haven't truly defeated me. Next time, it won't be a consciousness."

Next time?

Just as Lin was about to stand up, two extremely fast whooshing sounds pinned Lin's hands to the ground.

"..."

Lin endured the pain and cold sweat as he looked over and saw that two long swords had pierced through his hand and disappeared into the hilt. Judging from the direction, they were clearly weapons created by Yan Luo using his power.

"Given the perverted things you did to me, I'll have to charge you some interest." Behind Yan Luo, another humanoid machine with only its upper body appeared, hovering in the air and blocking out the sunlight, like a giant god from mythology.

"... That wasn't you, was it?"

That Yan Luo was essentially a fabrication of the real Yan Luo.

That's why Lin was so certain that he could see through Yan Luo's heart. After all... everyone's ideal self is the one that best reflects their thoughts and hopes.

"You could also say that Miss Pink Fairy isn't you."

Yan Luo didn't give Lin a chance to explain. The mechanical humanoid's fist, which was larger than half of Lin's body, slammed directly into his legs. After a crisp crushing sound, his legs turned into two pools of bloody mud.

"Forehead--"

Even though Lin's endurance allowed him to swallow his screams, he was still sweating profusely from the pain. He hadn't felt pain for a long time, which actually lowered his pain tolerance.

He never expected Yan Luo to hold a grudge and retaliate; he himself would never have done such a thing.

Sure enough, even if the two people are the same person from different worlds, they will still have considerable differences in personality.

In the blink of an eye, Lin's limbs lost their original function.

The good news is that after Yan Luo smashed his legs into a pulp, he dispelled his human form and didn't intend to remove his head as well.

"Rationally speaking... Miss Pink Fairy is indeed not me..." Lin said, enduring the excruciating pain.

"Your talent for being quick-witted is truly unmatched."

As Yan Luo spoke, he squatted down in front of him and swiftly grabbed his chin.

Unable to bear the pain any longer, Lin didn't know what else she wanted to do and tried to move her head away from her. "What are you going to do?"

"Of course, I will keep my promise." Yan Luo replied calmly. Her black eyes were purer and deeper than Lin's, making it impossible to see what lay in the depths of the dark pool.

Lin had a bad feeling at that moment, and it came true the next moment.

She approached expressionlessly, and then Lin felt a cold, soft touch on her lips.

She won't—

"Snap."

The two lips parted less than a second before Yan Luo pushed away Lin, who was convulsing with wide eyes. A blood-red thread stretched between them as their lips separated.

The excruciating pain in his mouth, which was almost causing him to faint, and the metallic taste of blood made Lin's consciousness somewhat blurred. He tried to open his mouth as wide as possible, but he couldn't say a word to prevent blood from entering his trachea.

Biting off your tongue doesn't actually cause death from pain. Generally, so-called suicide by biting off your tongue usually involves the tongue or blood blocking the trachea or airway. However, pain is unavoidable. The tongue has a large number of nerves, which can cause pain enough to make someone want to faint.

Yan Luo stuck out her bright red tongue and licked the blood from the corner of her mouth, then swallowed it in front of Lin, a flash of iridescent light in her eyes.

"Don't worry, as long as the consciousness isn't dead, it will recover completely after resting for a while after returning to the body." Yan Luo's pretty face remained indifferent as she licked the blood off her fingers.

Like licking an ice pop, she patiently and calmly rolled up the blood from the forest with her tongue, revealing the smooth and delicate skin underneath, as tender as mutton fat.

She looked down indifferently at the dying Lin, "No matter how much boasting you have, if you are not my match next time, I will kill you."

"Of course, if there is a 'next time'."

This means that this time, she let Lin go.

Yan Luo turned around, ignoring the forest on the ground, and raised his head, a thoughtful look in his eyes.

"If you really intend to do those foolish and naive things, then start from this time, from the Eighth Honkai War."

"Although it hasn't been verified, the Eighth Herrscher might be the key to everything."

"If you can't even take the first step you're talking about, then there's no point in talking about anything else."

"Ding-dong..."

Her figure disappeared into the endless yellow sand as the bell rang.

This is the last time.

"It seems they've finished, so it's time for this to end too."

Lin put down the straw. After walking around for a while, he got bored and hid in a corner, blowing bubbles with the straw. Looking at the faces that were so distant and unfamiliar from his memory, he couldn't help but smile.

All of this seems so far away, yet it also feels like it happened just yesterday.

Are you leaving?

Someone came up behind him and shook their head, feeling somewhat dazed in the harmonious atmosphere.

"Yes, I'm not meant to be here. The wind will pass through my fingertips; I can feel it blowing, but I can't hold onto it." Lin smiled. "Don't try to stop me; I won't be able to resist."

"But there are still many people I haven't met, including you."