Choice

The second day after hiding in the snow-capped mountains.

The wind was a little slower on the mountain, Qing Chen carried the mountain bike to the top of Mount Okuhotaka, much to the little girl's astonishment.

Only then did Jingūji Maki finally understand why Qing Chen had cleared the mountain ridge.

"Onii-chan, are you going to ride a mountain bike on the ridge?" the little girl asked curiously.

"Okay, it's time to start training," Qing Chen nodded. "The wind is light today, so wait for me at the top of the mountain."

The challenge cannot be overcome in one go.

He had succeeded in his challenge in the cold, dark waters of Greenland, and had been trained in hundreds of times before that, Conquer by Virtue the world as a foundation. This time, he had nothing but his still immature skills and courage.

As he spoke, he rode his mountain bike and plunged down from the highest point...

Wearing a red coat, Jingūji Maki stood on the snow-capped mountain. She wanted to stop Qing Chen, but ultimately remained silent.

The little girl was somewhat dazed. For some reason, as she watched the figure rushing down the blade, she suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of harmony.

She covered her mouth, afraid that she might make a sound that would distract Qing Chen.

The mountain bike bounced along the ridge, the sound of the wheels crushing stones mingling with the sound of Qing Chen's own breathing.

Only when he actually started training on this mountain ridge did Qing Chen realize how difficult this Life and Death Trial was.

There are abysses on both sides of your vision, but there is a path in front of you.

There is only one path in your life.

Only by moving forward can we live a more fulfilling life.

Qing Chen accelerated frantically, calculating in his mind how long it would take him to reach the 120 km/h ridge descent standard.

At that moment, he realized that he needed to be even crazier.

At 120 kilometers per hour, even when driving on the highway, this speed is enough to make many people's hearts jump.

What's more, below this ridge lies a bottomless abyss.

The next moment, the mountain bike wheels slipped due to a lack of control, resulting in a fatal deviation.

Qing Chen and his mountain bike crashed off the ridge and plunged into the abyss.

Jingūji Maki let out a piercing scream at the mountaintop and ran down the ridge without regard for the danger of falling off the cliff.

But before she had run far, she suddenly saw a hand reaching out from the ridge ahead, gripping the edge of the ridge tightly.

Qing Chen gritted his teeth, grabbed the mountain bike that was about to fall off the cliff with his other hand, and leaped back onto the ridge with just one arm.

However, the ease he felt at this moment was only because he hadn't used the Reverse Breathing Technique, and his speed wasn't fast enough.

If it were a real challenge, this fall would likely mean certain death.

He looked at Jingūji Maki and frowned. "Who told you to come down? From now on, you are not allowed to come up the ridge alone without me by your side. You must wait for me on the summit platform."

Jingūji Maki was somewhat at a loss. "Okay..."

Qing Chen thought for a moment, "Continue clearing the ridge."

"Profound..."

The boy stood on the razor-sharp edge of the mountain ridge, gazing into the distance. This Life and Death Trial was even more difficult than he had imagined.

The little girl looked at Qing Chen's palm, where a cut had appeared from the rocks. She finally couldn't help but ask, "Onii-chan, what are you doing?"

Qing Chen calmly replied, "To experience life and death."

"Ah?"

"Watch how I do it carefully; you might end up following this path in the future."

"Which road?"

"Of all the shortcuts in life, the longest one is the one that leads the way."

Qing Chen still hasn't decided whether to let the little girl become a knight.

But at one moment, he suddenly felt like his former master was looking at his still immature self.

The master accepted Li Ke as his disciple because Li Ke truly possessed the tenacity and talent, and he also required Li Ke to choose a knight successor from the Li family.

Hu Xiaoniu, on the other hand, can still walk the path of a knight by taking advantage of the favorable conditions of the Outer World, even if he cannot pass the Heart's Inquiry.

Jingūji Maki is different; she is far too young, and Qing Chen doesn't know if she can endure the hardships of the knight's path.

At night, Qing Chen, covered in injuries, returned to the ski resort with the exhausted little girl.

The visitor center is no longer as bustling as it was during the day.

Qing Chen's phone lit up.

The Monopoly Man: "Are you even human? This cute and innocent little girl, you made her run around in the freezing cold for two days picking up stones with you? Is that something a normal person would do?!"

Qing Chen raised an eyebrow and typed back. "Let's get down to business."

Monopoly: "... A lot of Time Walker from the Mysterious Affairs Department have come to Osaka, bringing the total to 431. They've already captured two other potential Time Walker who escaped, so the Mysterious Affairs Department knows you're only after the little girl."

Qing Chen pondered that he had appeared here as a stranger, and even if the other party knew that he was the one who made the move, they would not be able to confirm his true identity.

Monopoly: "What's interesting is that the Mysterious Affairs Department couldn't find you in Shirakawa-go, so they assumed you might have fled to another city. They didn't expect you to run off to the snowy mountains, so they didn't connect it to that for the time being. After all, in this season when the mountains are snowbound, only a crazy person would take a nine-year-old girl and run into the mountains."

The Monopoly Man: "So, they only left a few dozen people to search the mountains, while the rest went to Nakatsugawa City."

Qing Chen nodded; this was good news. "Have they been to the ski resort?"

"They searched the area but found nothing. They're waiting for headquarters to ship professional mountaineering equipment from Osaka; it should arrive in about a day."

Qing Chen: "Okay, thanks."

Monopoly: "You better be nicer to the little girl!"

Qing Chen turned off his phone.

He was somewhat surprised that the Outer World Division Yi liked Jingūji Maki so much.

He even suspected that Yi might know something about the little girl's special identity, just like how he had been under scrutiny as soon as he arrived at Prison No. 18.

The visitor center was dark and quiet.

At this moment, only the sound of Jingūji Maki's aggrieved sobs could be heard from the tent next door. She tried her best to suppress them, but they still sounded very abrupt in such a quiet environment.

"Does it hurt?" Qing Chen asked, lying on his back in the tent, with his head on his arm.

This was the second day he had taken Jingūji Maki into the mountains. The little girl's already delicate hands were covered in blisters from cleaning up the rocks on the ridge.

"It doesn't hurt," Jingūji Maki said stubbornly.

"Pain is an objective feeling; there's no need to avoid it," Qing Chen said calmly. "It won't disappear just because you avoid it."

"It hurts..." Jingūji Maki said pitifully.

"Do you harbor any resentment towards me?" Qing Chen asked.

"Just a little bit, but it'll be gone soon," Jingūji Maki whispered.

"Why?" Qing Chen asked again.

Jingūji Maki said in a very soft voice, "Although it's tiring and painful, I'm also worried that something might happen to Onii-chan while he's all alone on the ridge. Clearing rubble by himself on the ridge must be very boring. Onii-chan has probably been there alone for the past few days, and he wanted me to keep him company because he was bored."

Qing Chen was silent for a while. What kind of nonsense was this? A little girl's imagination was indeed beyond the comprehension of adults.

He thought for a moment and said, "Here, I'll pop your blisters, put on some medicine, and you'll be fine after a good night's sleep."

Jingūji Maki hurried to the door of Qing Chen's tent, but was a little scared. "Will it hurt?"

"No," Qing Chen shook his head.

Jingūji Maki knelt outside the tent with peace of mind, carefully spreading out her palms, revealing twelve blisters on her two small hands.

"Wait for me here."

Qing Chen went to the visitor center to get a first-aid kit. As he passed a television, he saw that the television had turned on out of thin air.

In such a dark environment, for a television to suddenly turn on is absolutely terrifying.

Qing Chen watched expressionlessly, when a line of text appeared on the TV: "Buy the little girl a cell phone; the money will come from my salary."

"You like her?" Qing Chen asked calmly.

"Good."

"If it's just okay, I won't buy her a phone," Qing Chen replied calmly.

"I like it very much."

"Then the cost of the medicine I apply for her will also come from you," Qing Chen said.

"You are heartless, you are cold-blooded, you are unreasonable."

"What the hell have you been watching lately..." Qing Chen left again, expressionless.

From the moment he arrived in the island nation, the Outer World Division Yi followed him here.

It seems that Fenyi really likes little girls, otherwise he wouldn't have offered to buy her a cell phone in the middle of the night.

Qing Chen took the first aid kit, found the suture needles inside, and then held Jingūji Maki's small hand.

The little girl looked at her expectantly. "Doesn't it really hurt?"

"Um."

The next moment, when Qing Chen popped the blister, it aggravated the little girl's skin, and she almost cried out in pain, "Onii-chan, didn't you say it wouldn't hurt?"

Qing Chen: "Hmm, it doesn't hurt."

Jingūji Maki: "..."

Qing Chen took out a black ointment from his pocket. He had brought it from China and originally intended to keep it for himself, since he was bound to get injured during the training for the Knight's Life and Death Trial Challenge.

As a result, now more than half of the treatment has been used just for the little girl.

This money definitely needs to be paid by the Outer World Division Yi.

"Onii-chan, why do people have to suffer so much after they are born?" the little girl whispered.

"Pain, setbacks, and misfortune are the stepping stones for geniuses, the baptismal water for believers, and the bottomless abyss for the weak. Fate only gives you choices; how you choose is your own business."

"Profound."

Qing Chen finally finished picking the blisters off the little girl's palms, only to find that Jingūji Maki had fallen asleep while he was putting away the first aid kit, clinging to his arm.

Qing Chen sat cross-legged.

The little girl rested her head on his lap, her thick, long hair cascading down the floor like a waterfall, resembling a blooming black spider lily.

He tried to pull the little girl away, but heard her pleading in her dream, "Onii-chan, don't go."

Qing Chen sighed and sat there for the entire night.