Chen Qianqian's Anger

"Face your death!"

Lightning burst.

Without technique, without reservation, without the hesitation of a rat hiding near the porcelain vase—the opening that the "girl" had bought for her with her life, she refused to allow herself to waste a fraction of a second of it.

The tide of black mud surging along the ground was split right down the middle by this bolt of lightning.

The unstoppable sword light pierced through the mud wave, pierced through the main body of the Fallen Beast, and also pierced the turbid eyeball in the center of the torso—as well as the walnut-sized black core beating frantically three inches behind the eyeball.

"Crack."

A soft sound.

The core shattered.

The Jellyfish Fallen Beast's massive body froze mid-air, then turned into flying ash all over the sky.

The night wind swept across the fountain plaza carrying the ashes, swept across the dumbfounded citizens, and swept across the two broken stone sculptures.

"We won!"

The onlookers who had not fled too far saw the Knight defeat the Fallen Beast and burst into cheers one after another.

At this time, the Association's personnel had also reacted quickly and arrived at the scene, beginning to maintain order, so no onlookers swarmed forward.

After feeling slightly surprised by the battle results brought about by her own outburst, the Knight immediately thought of the "girl" from just now.

Whoosh!

Although there wasn't much residual mana left, stirring up a bit of wind to blow away the smoke and dust was still not a problem.

"Girl! How are you—"

Amidst the smoke and dust, a fit of coughing came over.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

A figure sat up looking battered and disheveled, waving a hand: "I'm fine... I'm fine..."

"Also, I'm male."

The Knight froze in place.

Male?

She looked Yang Chen up and down.

Naturally, there was no need to mention the description of his appearance, and then there was Yang Chen's current state.

His clothes were scuffed in two places, his hair was covered in dust, and his face was smeared with black and white streaks.

There was a wondrous feeling of "defeat."

The impression he gave completely resembled a tough and brave girl, hey!

However, since the other party had already said he was male, there should probably be no problem. After all, such a minor matter didn't require lying.

Seeing the handsome youth patting off the dust and standing up by himself without any injuries, the Knight finally set her mind at ease.

"Youun... young man... having a heart to protect the weak is a good thing, but also remember not to act blindly. Facing a Fallen Beast, the role you can play as an ordinary person is extremely minimal. If you hadn't been lucky enough this time, I'm afraid you would have directly lost your life."

After setting her mind at ease, the Knight's expression also grew serious.

She praised Yang Chen's courage, which did not mean she approved of Yang Chen's actions.

Yang Chen scratched his face.

How was he lucky? He had clearly been hit directly by the monster.

It was thanks to the fact that he could still invoke a small amount of weak mana even in his non-transformed state. Relying precisely on this mana, Yang Chen had constructed a shield for himself at the critical moment, which kept him from kicking the bucket right on the spot.

"I was wrong!"

Yang Chen sincerely admitted his mistake.

"What the heck do you know!"

Thwack!

A heavy chop landed on Yang Chen's head.

Chen Qianqian, with her red eye-rims, appeared behind Yang Chen at some unknown time.

Upon confirming that Chen Qianqian was a relative of the victim, the Association's personnel had let Chen Qianqian through.

"You're done for. I'm definitely going to tell Mom and Dad the good deed you did today! Just you wait!"

Watching the girl wantonly vent her worry, the Knight smiled slightly.

"How nice..."

The Knight slowly turned and left, going to work together with the Association's field personnel on the site cleanup.

The rescued mother also pushed her child forward to express her gratitude.

The applause and cheers of the onlookers blended into one piece.

On the way home, Chen Qianqian walked ahead alone, carrying her things gloomily.

Her footsteps were exceptionally heavy, as if every step wanted to ruthlessly stamp Yang Chen to death, making cold sweat break out all down Yang Chen's back.

"Qianqian... you're not really going to tell Aunt and Uncle, are you?"

"Don't... I'll really die..."

Chen Qianqian didn't bother with him.

Right now, her mind was full of the scene of Yang Chen rushing out back then.

The situation was so dangerous at the time; she didn't believe Yang Chen could really be that brave, able to disregard his own life safety in order to save a stranger.

She could only think that Yang Chen still hadn't let go of what happened back then, which was why he had instinctively taken action this time...

Chen Qianqian was both anxious and angry, yet didn't know how to phrase it.

She couldn't just casually try to persuade Yang Chen with words like "your parents have been dead for so long, you should let it go," could she? Was that something a person would say?

And that incident had inflicted such heavy trauma on Yang Chen; it would be a miracle if she could talk him out of it so easily.

Precisely because of this, Chen Qianqian was so silent on the way home.

She had cursed all she wanted at the scene, but now, how she should talk to him was something she was completely at a loss about.

In Yang Chen's eyes, this translated into Chen Qianqian's current expression of ultimate anger.

Right now, Yang Chen was already prepared to kneel down and beg Chen Qianqian.

What should he say?

Onegaishimasu, as long as you don't tell Aunt and Uncle, watashi...

Thud.

Just as Yang Chen was spacing out, Chen Qianqian ahead of him suddenly stopped for some reason.

Yang Chen couldn't react in time and crashed directly into Chen Qianqian's back.

"Ah, sorry..."

Just as the apology slipped past his lips, he met Chen Qianqian's complex gaze.

"Yang Chen."

"Hmm?"

"Today..." She stared at the ground, her voice very soft. "When the Knight blocked the front, I thought she was so amazing. But when you rushed out, I only felt afraid."

"Yang Chen, I didn't mean to poke at your sore spot... but people always have to look forward, right? You already know what it tastes like to lose... Have you ever thought that acting like this will cause others to lose as well? To plunge others into sorrow too?"

"There are still people who care about you staying by your side, Yang Chen. How can you disregard their feelings and do this kind of thing?"

As Chen Qianqian spoke, the rims of her eyes turned red, looking precisely like she was about to cry.

No, she was already crying.

Yang Chen hastily reached out and wiped the teardrops from Chen Qianqian's face.

"My bad, my bad, I promise I won't do it again next time..."

Regarding Chen Qianqian's feelings for him, Yang Chen should have noticed them long ago even if he were a fool.

Yet he didn't know how to respond.

After all, given his current situation, the person named "Yang Chen" would sooner or later vanish from this world.

How should he explain things when that time came?

Little did Yang Chen know that his subconscious evasion turned into something else entirely in Chen Qianqian's eyes.

Was he still brushing her off?

The taste of loss was truly painful... She had never tasted it, nor did she want to taste it.

If only she had the power to protect the people she cared about.