Chapter Seventy-Three: Selfless Dedication by Luxianbei
The night was pitch black.
Under the sky, in the dilapidated and crumbling city, there were bones and steel scattered everywhere, and distant fires were spreading, their flickering light licking the sky and casting a fiery hue on the horizon.
On top of a towering building, a girl in a cyan long dress sat on the edge of the rooftop. Her silvery long hair swayed gently behind her, the wind lifting her skirt, revealing her long legs tightly wrapped in bandages hanging over the edge of the rooftop.
She furrowed her brow, gazing into the distance at the firelight on the edge of the city, as if pondering something.
Suddenly, a gust of fierce wind blew through, bringing with it the scorching air laced with the scent of char.
In the wind, large clouds of ash, under the influence of the thick and destructive spirit energy fluctuation, were animated and transformed into butterflies shimmering with fire, trailing long tails of flame as they took flight.
As the butterflies flew past her, the girl slowly raised her hand, her delicate fingertips touching them gently. In an instant, as if an explosion had occurred, the butterfly wings shattered, and sparks flew.
“……”
Watching the sparks fall like they were plunging into an abyss from the rooftop, the girl fell into silence. At that moment, behind her, accompanied by a distortion of light and shadow, a girl with long pink-white hair suddenly appeared on the empty rooftop.
Noticing Luxianbei’s arrival, the girl took a deep breath, collected her emotions, and forced out a carefree smile.
“Little brother, it seems your process of reshaping your body went quite smoothly…”
As she spoke, the girl turned around, but upon seeing the empty rooftop, she was momentarily stunned, her words halting abruptly.
Immediately after, she noticed the envelope quietly lying on the ground, and her brow furrowed slightly.
She walked over, picking up the envelope, her face filled with confusion as she scanned the area without finding Luxianbei. Returning her gaze to the envelope in her hand, she pondered for two seconds, opened it, took out the letter, and began to silently read its contents.
As she read on, her eyes grew red, and her hands holding the letter trembled slightly.
After a long while.
She set the letter down, wiped the glistening tears from the corners of her eyes, pressed the letter to her chest, and slowly crouched down, as if embracing herself, burying her head in her arms and softly murmuring a phrase that only she could hear.
“Mom…”
————
Luxianbei hid in the shadows, watching Proxy Player Sister finish reading the letter left by Mrs. Wang Meili. Her tightly furrowed brow gradually relaxed, and he withdrew his gaze, slowly sitting against the wall and exhaling a long breath.
“……”
It seems I should wait a bit longer before going out.
In this situation, it’s probably better to let her be alone for a while.
Proxy Player Sister has her own standards. If I were to come out now, bumping into her with tears streaming down her face, wouldn’t it be a social d*ath for her? Luxianbei thought.
A moment ago, just after she had reshaped her body, sensing her consciousness starting to fade and realizing she was about to return to this place, she hurriedly found the letter left by Mrs. Wang Meili before completely losing her senses.
Although Luxianbei wasn’t sure if he could bring the letter in this way, he had to at least try.
In her view, if her guess wasn’t wrong, Proxy Player Sister was indeed a being similar to her doppelgänger, and she would definitely want to see what Mrs. Wang Meili had said in her final moments.
If I don’t care about myself, do I really have to wait for others to care for me?
Don’t be foolish!
Besides, the content of the letter isn’t anything shameful, is it? Luxianbei thought.
————
In Huacheng, near the staff quarters of the Chief Priest of the Institute of Technology.
The rain had stopped, and the streets washed by the downpour shimmered with faint water reflection.
The entire street—not just the street, but the whole city—was trembling, accompanied by a deafening roar from the earth and sky.
Countless streaks of light shot up from the ground, swirling together with the remnants of broken buildings, sending them back to their place and rejoining them.
Those photos falling from the sky with the wind and rain resembled flocks of white doves, flying amidst the flowing lights before merging into the enormous cracks created by the Inheritance Beast, bursting forth with brilliant light, and then, as the light faded, the shattered buildings returned to their original state.
As Huasang cast a secret technique to rewrite the special space, the flesh of the Inheritance Beast ceased eroding, and as Luxianbei completed her body reshaping, this colossal creation gradually stabilized, its function returning to normal.
Amidst all this restoration, the only person unaffected was busy at work.
“Quickly, hurry up, Gu Qiqi! Collect those, and those, and pack them into the bamboo slips! There’s no time left; we must leave before everything here is fully restored!”
“Oh, and gather those building wrecks too!”
The system’s urgent voice kept urging her. Gu Qiqi, like a donkey lured by a carrot, was sprinting through the empty steel and concrete jungle.
Each time she encountered the dark red flesh remnants scattered on the street, she would stop momentarily to take out her ancient bamboo slips and collect them.
“System, why are we collecting those things?” Gu Qiqi complained, “They’re all sticky and slimy; it’s so disgusting!”
“Isn’t this all for you?” the system retorted unhappily.
“Eh?”
“Didn’t you say that the Bamboo Slips Illusion is always dreary? Didn’t you complain that the only things that can be grown in the Bamboo Slips Illusion are potatoes and radishes? And didn’t you say we need to think of a way to let the residents of the Bamboo Slips Illusion eat meat?” the system questioned.
“……” Gu Qiqi recalled a bit, nodded, “I think I did say that, but what do these disgusting things have to do with those issues?”
“Wait a minute, you’re not suggesting that everyone should eat these things, right? That won’t do! Didn’t you say not to pick up strange things to eat? I’ve already corrected that; why are you still making mistakes?”
Yes, she had picked up things before.
“You don’t understand!” the system said, “These are the flesh of the Inheritance Beast; although it’s just some dead flesh, it’s also the flesh of the strongest in adaptability among the seven factors of world destruction.”
“As long as we gather this flesh and use alchemy to cultivate, we can create plants and animals that can adapt to the Bamboo Slips Illusion’s environment, transforming the Bamboo Slips Illusion.”
While transforming the Bamboo Slips Illusion with the flesh of the Inheritance Beast might leave terrible risks if not done carefully, isn’t being cautious enough?
Moreover, there was no time to think about long-term matters now.
Calamity had taken control of this special space; things had begun to veer off the known trajectory. If we don’t use some extraordinary measures, it might be even harder to k*ll her.
As long as the flesh of the Inheritance Beast and the fragments of Qin Nanzhu’s special space are integrated into the Bamboo Slips Illusion, it will undergo earth-shattering changes. The residents within will surely elevate their admiration for Gu Qiqi by several levels.
Perhaps it could help her make a breakthrough within a short time and complete her spirit pattern advancement! the system thought.
“Eh! Really?” Gu Qiqi asked in surprise, “How much can it be modified?”
“How much? Producing pigs as fat as elephants, and corn yielding eighteen thousand per mu is a piece of cake!” the system replied confidently.
“Then… can a pig with ten hooves be created?” Gu Qiqi pressed on.
Why are you still thinking about that broken pig hoof! the system muttered, “Of course, we can!”
“Can we grow chicken wings on pigs?”
“We can too.”
“What about steak?”
“Then why not raise cows?”
“Oh, can we let the pigs grow crayfish?” Gu Qiqi asked weakly.
Although she had seen many stalls selling crayfish while setting up her stand at the night market and wanted to try them, the price of a portion was still a bit expensive for her; she ultimately couldn’t bear to spend.
The system, “……”
Gu Qiqi, please spare the pigs! Are you trying to create delicious dishes in a monster mash?
While it silently complained, to get Gu Qiqi to work properly, it casually responded, “Yeah! Anything you can think of can grow from pigs!”
“Yay!”
Gu Qiqi cheered, as if she had suddenly been injected with a stimulant, her speed sharply increasing, her figure transforming into a whirlwind, sweeping across the street, leaving not even a shred of flesh in her wake.
Having once monopolized all the empty drink bottles in Huacheng University City, causing countless old men and women to curse at her, collecting trash was something she could always do.
Speaking of which…
Relying on collecting trash, she became a spiritual ability user capable of countering world-destroying factors.
Gu Qiqi might be the first person throughout history, as well as in countless spacetime realms, to achieve this! the system thought.
————
In Huacheng, at Banshan Primary School.
On the worn-out teaching building, newly “grown” structures were collapsing and crashing to the ground with a loud noise.
Under the thick-leaved old banyan tree, Huasang lay on the moss-covered ground, her clothes soaked with cold sweat, her face pale and her eyes tightly closed.
She had thought that re-anchoring that special space would be an easy job.
After all, Zhang Hainan had described his experience in anchoring that special space like this to Huasang.
He told her, “Thinking back to that day, I woke up in the morning, did a set of martial arts, had breakfast, spent an hour going to Huacheng, solved everything perfectly, and on the way back, I even visited an old friend and casually dealt with a few small nuisances.”
The whole process sounded as easy as an old man going out for morning exercise and casually picking up some vegetables on the way home.
However, until her spirit energy was drained to the point of nearly causing the spirit patterns to collapse, she realized she had been duped by the Chief Priest.
Most importantly, at the moment she completed the anchoring of the special space, she sensed that the long-dormant bond of fate was showing signs of abnormality.
It felt as if an invisible hand had gently tugged at the red thread, causing it to tremble.
This was something she had always been avoiding.
Before long, a sound of footsteps approached.
Huasang lifted her eyelids slightly and saw that it was Li Xuan. She closed her eyes again, too exhausted to deal with this cheap senior.
Seeing this, Li Xuan furrowed his brow slightly, crouched down, and said softly, “Junior sister, the Chief Priest is calling.”
Huasang opened her eyes again, weakly saying, “Tell him I’m out of the service area.”
Li Xuan, “……”
————
After waiting for a while, Luxianbei stepped out of his hiding place once Proxy Player Sister’s mood appeared to stabilize.
Following the sound of footsteps, Proxy Player Sister spotted Luxianbei, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes, “Hey, little brother, when did you arrive? You didn’t say a word?”
“Not long ago, not long at all,” Luxianbei replied nonchalantly, waving his hands, “I just got here.”
Proxy Player Sister squinted her eyes and tilted her head, “Really?”
“Really!” Luxianbei nodded seriously, “I truly didn’t see you sobbing helplessly, holding the envelope and crying for your mom. I didn’t see anything at all.”
“……”
Watching Luxianbei expressionlessly say such infuriating words, Proxy Player Sister’s lips twitched, and after taking a few deep breaths, she finally managed to suppress the urge to end him.
It was just that the one who saw that scene was Luxianbei, and with a little shift in her perspective, she could barely accept it.
If it had been someone else, she would definitely make them pay in kind for her social d*ath.
“Fine, let’s talk about something serious!” Proxy Player Sister said. “Do you think absorbing the remaining authority of Mrs. Wang Meili and gaining control over the special space after reshaping your broken body means everything is fine now?”
“What?” Luxianbei was surprised, “To this point, is there still something I need to do?”
“As long as you have this awareness, that’s good!” Proxy Player Sister revealed a disturbing smile, “This situation is like royal authority just switched over; there are local lords causing chaos in the east, peasants uprising in the west, and foreign invasions from the north. If we want peace in the land, we’ve still got work to do!”
Luxianbei eyed Proxy Player Sister skeptically, “Really, don’t you think you’re mixing up comradeship and royal authority?”
“Also, you’d better speak normally; otherwise, I’ll write a story about you sobbing helplessly, holding the envelope and crying for your mom, and turn it into a comic, a handwritten book, and post it online!”
“Just saying, I’ve wanted to be a BiliBili UP owner for a long time, and I’ve already bought the equipment with Du Sixian!”
“Don’t be so impulsive, young people!” Proxy Player Sister said with a smile, “Think about it, now that this special space has stabilized, but the Solar Eclipse Society has used the Inheritance Beast to rob the authority needed to construct the special space, shouldn’t that be replenished?”
“Once the special space resumes operation, there will undoubtedly be a large number of missing persons, and disturbances will occur within the special space as well. Do you need to handle that?”
“Lastly, after such a big commotion, the Siye Society and various other forces will surely come, don’t you have to think of a way to cover this up?”
“……” Luxianbei fell silent for a few seconds, tilting his head, “So tell me, how do we solve these problems?”
“Replenishing the missing authority is simple; we can use the qi of Huacheng’s earth vein temporarily. Calming the turmoil inside the special space is also simple; finding someone to take the blame is your strong suit, right? As for covering things up, you need to utilize your talent for talking to people and ghosts alike.”
After listening, Luxianbei sensed that something was off, and he couldn’t help but frown.
After expending so much effort and nearly losing his life, he initially thought it would end in a rewarding way, but instead, he ended up sacrificing the earth vein qi…
What is this? Selfless dedication? That’s too frustrating!
