More Blossoms Fall, Like Stars in the Rain

Takeda Hideo stared at the vehicles with a grim expression. Just as his subordinates had said, all of their vehicles had suffered tire blowouts.

He suddenly felt that the night was starting to feel magical. The person he was chasing had reappeared in front of him, but after arriving, the other party did nothing else but puncture all their tires.

So, the two people, one big and one small, first punctured the tires, and then appeared in front of them with a nonchalant expression.

Takeda Hideo was so angry he almost laughed. He could picture the two men sneakily puncturing the tires, looking furtive as if they were afraid of making too much noise.

As it turned out, these two people almost scared him to death!

"Change the tires," Takeda Hideo said menacingly.

A subordinate whispered, "Director, each car only has one spare tire, but all four tires on each car are flat. We don't have enough spare tires."

Takeda Hideo slapped his subordinate across the face, sending him spinning like a top across the snow. "Can't you even put together a car with four spare tires? Send an advance team to hunt him down first, the rest of you follow me!"

The subordinate, having finally managed to stand still, hurriedly bowed, his eyes glazed over, and said, "Understood!"

A group of people quickly changed the tires, and more than ten cars sped off in pursuit.

It was snow season, and if the boy continued to flee on his mountain bike, he certainly wouldn't be able to outrun a car on the highway.

If the boy's car runs away into the snow-covered mountains, it will definitely leave footprints in the snow.

Takeda Hideo knew that this boy and Jingūji Maki were inseparable...

His only concern was that he still couldn't assess the boy's strength, so he sent his subordinates to catch up and test him.

It would be best if they caught him directly, and the credit would still go to him. If they failed to catch him and he encountered resistance, the dozen or so cars in front of him would be enough to hold him back and wear down his fighting strength.

At that moment, little Jingūji Maki sat cross-legged on the crossbar of the mountain bike, the wind blowing in her face, but she didn't feel cold.

"Are you scared?" Qing Chen asked.

Just now, after the little girl followed him and punctured his tires, she watched as he silently eliminated more than ten members of the Mysterious Affairs Department.

It was a real battle, and Qing Chen showed the little girl the cruelest side of the world.

As promised, Jingūji Maki did not close her eyes.

She whispered, "I'm scared."

Qing Chen smiled, "It's normal to be afraid. I'm often afraid too. But being afraid isn't the problem. What's important is that you have to learn to face it. What do people with bad luck have to face this world with? We don't have money, cars, or the good fortune of being born with a silver spoon in our mouths. If we, as peasants, want to stand on our own two feet in this world, we have to muster enough courage."

Actually, Qing Chen noticed something tonight: although the little girl was scared, she never dodged.

She may be struggling financially, or she may be young, but she is not lacking in courage.

The mountain wind and snow fell on the two of them. Although Jingūji Maki still didn't quite understand what kind of path Qing Chen was going to lead her on, or what kind of life he was going to give her.

But none of that matters anymore; her life has changed.

The little girl whispered, "Onii-chan, tourists always say that Shirakawa-go is like a paradise from a fairy tale, but I always feel that fairy tales are all fake. If fairy tales really exist, why doesn't anyone come to save me?"

By this time, the vehicles behind had gradually caught up, their dazzling high beams like piercing knives in the darkness.

Jingūji Maki gripped the car tightly, shouting, "Didn't we already puncture their tires? How come they still caught up? Run!"

Qing Chen paused for a moment, then laughed, "They've gathered their backup plans together. Don't worry, this was within my expectations; it will help them disperse their forces. We won't run away this time, or you'll think I'm taking you on a 'runaway' journey."

"Huh?" Jingūji Maki clearly didn't understand Qing Chen's lame joke; she didn't even realize what Qing Chen was about to do.

Qing Chen stopped his mountain bike and stood on the mountain road, saying, "This is it. The road just froze over, and the snowplows haven't had time to clear the snow yet. Move away, and I'll show you what a knight is."

Jingūji Maki stared blankly, feeling that her brother's aura had suddenly changed, right in the heart of the snowstorm.

The next moment, as the vehicle gradually approached.

But then Qing Chen reached into the night sky and flicked his finger lightly.

His slender, long fingers touched a glistening snowflake in the air, and the liquid Knight True Qi roared out from his fingertips.

The fragile snowflakes, enveloped by the Knight True Qi, did not shatter in the blink of an eye; instead, new snow peaks grew.

With a bang, tiny snowflakes spun like knives and pierced the window of the first SUV from dozens of meters away.

As the snowflakes flew out, they stirred up a fierce wind. In the headlights, the little girl felt as if that small snowflake was pulling the wind and snow that filled the sky.

A white line is drawn in the air, as if the air itself has been cut open.

It pierced the driver's forehead.

She suddenly thought that if there really were gods in this world, then her brother, who could kill people with snowflakes in the blink of an eye, must be one of them.

After the driver died, his body involuntarily moved the steering wheel, causing the huge SUV to overturn on the road and slide towards Qing Chen.

However, Qing Chen's expression remained unchanged. He simply stood there calmly, flicking his fingers again and again, casually sending snowflakes flying one after another.

It made a whooshing sound in the night.

Car windows were smashed one after another.

This is a new way of using Knight True Qi Qing Chen discovered on the mountain ridge.

He had been thinking about a question: if the Knight True Qi changed from a gaseous state to a liquid state, it must represent an improvement in quality. So, would the toughness and sharpness of the Autumn Leaf Blade have improved?

Until he accidentally flicked away a snowflake.

In that instant, Qing Chen discovered that the snowflakes were not shattered by his fingers, but instead were swirled by the Knight True Qi like ATS-34 high-carbon steel.

The Knight True Qi surged from within his body, like a hammer striking a bullet, unleashing its power in an instant.

For a time, Qing Chen felt that Knight True Qi was somewhat useless.

When the knight ancestors founded the organization, the Three-Foot Fist or the Autumn Leaf Blade were very useful. However, in the modern technological environment, the power of firearms is enough to kill most enemies. Therefore, the use of the Autumn Leaf Blade has changed from a "lethal weapon" to a "functional weapon".

The throwing distance of the Autumn Leaf Blade is very short and is also limited by the "material". Sometimes, when the Autumn Leaf Blade hits a person, the person may be fine, but the leaf will be broken.

Therefore, when he kills enemies, he still relies more on "Conquer by Virtue," because the lethality of "winning Conquer by Virtue" is far greater than that of the Autumn Leaf Blade.

Only during assassinations would one use their own or another person's hair to infuse Knight True Qi.

He has methods for killing enemies at both long and short ranges, but he lacked a more efficient method for killing enemies at medium to long ranges, and now he has it.

Not enough.

That's not enough.

Qing Chen knew that even so, the Autumn Leaf Blade could not replace the automatic rifle.

But he felt that the effects of the Liquid Knight True Qi went far beyond what they were currently experiencing.

The Knight True Qi surging within him like a tide had not yet stopped, had not yet reached its end, and had not yet reached the other shore.

Only by taking that final step tonight and completing the next Life and Death Trial will Qing Chen know the complete form of this liquid true energy.

At this point, all the drivers in the dozen or so SUVs were dead, and the members of the Mysterious Affairs Department didn't even understand what had happened.

They found no bullet hole in the driver's forehead, only a small, cinnabar-like bloodstain.

Before they could even get a good look, the overturned vehicle knocked them senseless.

The vehicle overturned on the slippery, icy road and slid along until it reached Qing Chen.

Jingūji Maki was about to say "be careful," she saw the vehicle narrowly miss Qing Chen.

Qing Chen did not move.

The boy stood in the high beams of an overturned vehicle in the distance, the wind and snow swirling in the beams, the boy shining brightly and brilliantly.

It was only then that the little girl realized that this was the life Qing Chen wanted to give her.

This is what her future life will be like!

This is the longest road of all the shortcuts in the world!

"Don't move," Qing Chen said with a smile as he turned to the little girl.

As he spoke, he walked over to the vehicles.

The next moment, golden arcs of electricity burst forth from his palm, and before the people inside the car could even crawl out, they were suffocated to death inside the vehicle by the lightning controlled by the boy.

At that moment, Jingūji Maki felt that her older brother was simply omnipotent.

If this doesn't count as a god, then what must a god be like?

Tonight, none of those who fought Qing Chen will leave the snow mountain alive; he has other plans to make.

Qing Chen dealt with everyone in the dozen or so cars, then slowly walked towards the little girl by the roadside and softly asked, "Are you afraid of me?"

He stretched out his right palm; the wound on his arm had just reopened, and blood flowed down his sleeve onto his hand, making it look particularly gruesome.

The little girl stepped forward and grabbed Qing Chen's hand, feeling the warmth of his palm. "Don't be afraid."

The little girl continued, "My brother is a kind person. He put himself in danger for the villagers, just like he did when he saved me. I only realized today that my brother can smile."

"Let's go, let's go up the mountain," Qing Chen, holding Jingūji Maki's hand with one hand and carrying the mountain bike with the other, as they climbed towards Mount Okuhotaka with uneven steps.

Dawn had broken, and all they needed to do was head towards the brightest part of the sky.

The little girl asked, "Will I be able to ride a mountain bike on the ridge someday?"

"Of course," Qing Chen nodded, "You'll also have to climb hundreds of meters up a cliff with your bare hands and leap off a snow-capped mountain... Aren't you scared?"

"I'm not afraid," the little girl said. "I want to walk the path you've walked."

"That probably won't work," Qing Chen chuckled. He was Time Walker, but the little girl was not.

She may be the first person in the Outer World to break the rules without time travel.

According to records in the history of the conglomerate, Ren He was the first person in the Inner World to break the binding rules. After Ren Xiaosu was born, the extraordinary process of the entire world was accelerated.

Before Ren He, there were no superhumans in the world. Everything started from the moment Ren He unlocked the Gene Lock.

Qing Chen wondered if the Outer World was like this too.

He sensed that perhaps some people in the Outer World could awaken even if they didn't become Time Walker.

If the little girl really wasn't a beta tester, that's enough to explain the situation.

The rules of this world are loosening.

Qing Chen wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing, but the vast era belonging to the Outer World might be coming.

Climbing a snow-capped mountain is much more difficult than walking on flat ground. Each time, the little girl had to use all her strength and climb for a long time.

In the past, Qing Chen would wait and let her climb with difficulty, without helping her no matter how hard or tiring it was.

Qing Chen didn't do that today. He let Jingūji Maki lie on his back, and then continued riding while holding the mountain bike.

When they reached the mountainside, they heard shouts from the foot of the mountain, indicating that Takeda Hideo had arrived.

Qing Chen did not look back.

The little girl whispered, "Brother, do you have many injuries?"

In fact, even the little girl noticed that Qing Chen wasn't in a good state.

These past few days, Qing Chen has been cultivating as if he were torturing himself, so much so that the injuries he brought back from the Inner World have never been fully healed.

Qing Chen smiled and said, "It's alright."

"Brother, I've always felt that you're blaming yourself..." the little girl whispered.

"Why?" Qing Chen was taken aback.

The little girl said, "Eating the unpalatable food, training over and over again, falling off the cliff, and climbing back up—it all felt like I was punishing myself."

Qing Chen remained silent for a long time. He hadn't expected that Jingūji Maki, could see so many things that he hadn't said.

Slowly, they reached the summit. Qing Chen sat heavily on a rock, gazing at the pale dawn sky in the distance, and calmly said, "I do feel a bit guilty, and I even want to punish myself. For a period of time, I took a wrong turn, which resulted in my own suffering and caused others to die for me. I often wonder, if I hadn't lost my way, would many people's fates have been rewritten because of it?"

"Back then, I always comforted myself, thinking that as long as the people during the day were safe, what did it matter if many others died? But later I realized I was wrong. I'm not a bad person, nor am I a good person. My mistake was that I didn't act like a good person, nor was I completely bad... It's really frustrating."

"So when I was in the pigsty, I built stone walls over and over again. In the process of torturing myself, I also tried to give others some hope. I wanted to try to lead them out of their predicament. In fact, until that moment, I was still ridiculously blindly confident. I happily watched those people's expressions change from numb to vivid, until finally someone said to me... It's okay, success doesn't have to be mine."

"At that moment, I realized that it wasn't me who was redeeming them, but rather they who were redeeming me."

"I have finally been saved."

As he spoke, blood seeped from the wound and eventually flowed into the snow, turning the white snow red.

Jingūji Maki sat down next to him. "And now?"

"Now?" Qing Chen smiled and stood up. "I'm back."

As they were talking.

The snow has stopped.

The clouds have dispersed.

The rising sun rippled through the atmosphere, creating golden waves, just like that day on the Green Mountain Cliff.

Qing Chen took two steps forward and looked at Takeda Hideo and his group, who were gradually climbing up the mountainside. More than 300 people were armed and had come following the trail.

They will soon bring Qing Chen and his group into range.

The ridge is steep; if the Reverse Breathing Technique is used this time, life and death will be left to fate.

The little girl pleaded, "Brother, you're bleeding. Why don't you give up for today?"

Qing Chen turned around and asked Jingūji Maki with a smile, "Xiao Zhenji, do you still believe in fairy tales?"

The little girl remained silent and did not speak.

Qing Chen straightened his clothes, picked up his mountain bike, and said seriously, "Dancers have to practice constantly. They have injuries on their feet and blood on their knees. They cried again and again in the audience, shouting that they wanted to give up. I don't know how many times they shouted that."

"But the moment he stepped onto the stage, dressed in dazzling clothes, all that remained about him was elegance and composure."

"From that moment on, you should have known that the ugly duckling really can turn into a swan, and that fairy tales really do exist."

"But this fairy tale wasn't written for you by someone else; it was written by you with your blood and tears."

Qing Chen lifted the little girl onto the crossbeam.

He couldn't leave the other person alone on the mountaintop, otherwise the Mysterious Affairs Department would find out he came down the mountain alone and would definitely go up the mountain to capture Jingūji Maki as a threat.

Bringing a little girl would definitely be more dangerous.

Previously, he faced Life and Death Trial that he couldn't overcome alone, but now he has to bring another person with him.

In this way, the little girl would also be in danger.

But since Jingūji Maki has already decided to walk the path of a knight, there is no need for her to make another choice.

Qing Chen asked again, "Do you believe in fairy tales?"

Jingūji Maki, "I believe you."

Qing Chen glanced at the rising sun again. Last time, he had gone through countless hardships to see the rising sun, and this time he drew strength from it.

He finally remembered the overwhelming feeling he had when he first became a knight and saw those four words on the cliff.

Qing Chen resolutely activated the Reverse Breathing Technique, took a small step forward, and rode his mountain bike down the sharp ridge.

He's back.

He left himself no way out.

When Takeda Hideo was halfway up the mountain, he suddenly saw someone riding a mountain bike on the mountaintop, rushing down the ridge.

They were on a shady slope, a place where the sun had not yet reached. So, when Takeda Hideo looked into the distance, he could only look up and see the black figures carved into the ridge by the rising sun.

"Fire!" He raised his automatic rifle and fired rapidly, the bullets relentlessly chasing Qing Chen's trail within range.

But Qing Chen's speed increased, yet he never once looked at the enemy.

At 120 kilometers per hour, if you were standing on the side of the road, you would feel as if that speeding car had left you and the world in the dust.

What exactly is the Life and Death Trial?

On the verge of losing control, find inner order, and then make friends with the world.

This time, he's not trying to defeat anyone, but rather to defeat his past self.

But for some reason, the moment Qing Chen released his emotions, he suddenly felt that the direction was no longer so difficult to control, and he no longer felt that the ridge was dangerous.

He was like someone leisurely riding in the park after dinner, no longer eager for quick success or anxious about gains and losses.

This was the path he was destined to take.

What is there to be afraid of?

Qing Chen must complete this journey, and then, in his strongest state, with his returning spirit and will, head to A02 Base to fight his way out against those who have redeemed him!

He looked down at Jingūji Maki, only to find that the little girl showed no fear either.

Jingūji Maki sat An Xin on the crossbeam, gazing intently at the rising sun.

"Kill them!" Takeda Hideo roared.

Seeing that the projectiles could not keep up with Qing Chen's speed, the members of the Mysterious Affairs Department simply fired ahead of Qing Chen's path, forming a barrier of steel torrent.

Even the mountain ridge was riddled with bullet holes, sending debris flying everywhere.

In an instant, when Qing Chen arrived at the location where they were firing, he suddenly leaped more than two meters into the air.

Everyone watched as he led the little girl in the morning sun, leaping away to dodge all the drifting bullets.

No one expected that Qing Chen would dare to use such a dangerous move on this treacherous and narrow mountain ridge!

"He's been shot!" someone shouted. "He's been shot in the thigh! I'm sure!"

The gunfire was so intense that even with Qing Chen's calculations and fierce attacks, he was still hit.

However, Qing Chen did not wail or show despair after being shot. He seemed to have blocked out all negative senses and continued to carry out his will without compromise.

With a ferocious expression, Takeda Hideo raced down the mountainside, calculating Qing Chen's route and the path he must take, intending to use his superior strength to intercept Qing Chen as he rapidly descended.

Qing Chen descended rapidly from the mountaintop to the valley floor, and this Mysterious Affairs Department director ran faster and faster.

The two people's routes are two lines that are bound to intersect.

But the next moment, he saw Qing Chen suddenly stand up and pedal his mountain bike, accelerating again from 120 km/h!

Two lines that were destined to intersect were thus separated!

At one point, Takeda Hideo felt a sudden pang in his heart; he thought he heard a "click."

The sound came suddenly, from who knows where.

He could only stand there and watch as Qing Chen plunged into the valley, traversing the ridge's sharp edges as if walking on flat ground.

"Chase after them!" Takeda Hideo shouted angrily, waving his arms.

However, when they reached the bottom of the valley, they found the mountain bike abandoned to the side, but Qing Chen was nowhere to be seen.

There were bloodstains on the snow. Takeda Hideo looked up following the bloodstains and saw the boy with the injured thigh... actually wading through the snow to climb Mount Okuhotaka again.

Carrying Jingūji Maki on her back.

That figure was tired yet resolute.

"Is he crazy? He rode his bike down the mountain, then climbed back up. What is he trying to do?" Takeda Hideo roared.

"Director, should we continue?" someone asked.

"Chase him! He's just one person. The fact that he was shot in the thigh shows that he's afraid of guns. What are we, with over three hundred men, afraid of?!" Takeda Hideo said.

However, recalling that click sound just now, he felt as if he had missed some clue.

On the snow-capped mountains, humanity appears as tiny as a black dot.

One Little Black is in front, and more than three hundred are behind. Everyone is striving to climb and chase.

Qing Chen limped up Mount Okuhotaka, put the little girl down, and laughed, "I did it."

Jingūji Maki was stunned for a moment. "Ah... what's next?"

"Murder," Qing Chen said.

But then the boy suddenly turned to face down the mountain and waited silently.

When those people finally entered the 100-meter range.

The surging liquid Knight True Qi gradually became frenzied, flowing through Qing Chen's limbs and bones, and finally rushing towards his mouth.

Breathe!

Qing Chen stood in the morning sun, took a deep breath, then bent over and exhaled forcefully, exhaling completely.

White clouds surged like the tide, stirring up the snow on the mountain.

Each snowflake was blown up, turning into sharp blades, and like an avalanche, a blizzard swept up the mountainside and hit more than 300 people.

Countless snowflakes spun around in one breath, instantly injuring more than 300 people. The snowflakes pierced the body two or three centimeters before melting into the blood.

The clothes of the three hundred people were constantly being pierced, blood and scraps of cloth mixed together, as if someone was holding a metal storm and pulling the trigger in the sky.

It's not as terrifying as a metal storm, but snowflakes that get into your eyes can cause blindness, and those that leave your body riddled with holes can cause pain and even lead to shock from excessive blood loss.

More than 300 people fell into the snow and cried out in pain. Some were so unlucky that their carotid arteries were accidentally severed, and they died on the spot.

This scene was absolutely terrifying.

The mountaintop youth has finally found his own ultimate weapon.

Three hundred people were injured while breathing, and the seemingly impressive number of more than three hundred people became mere background figures!

The east wind at night releases a thousand trees of blossoms!

The wind blew down, and stars rained down!