Chapter 187: Can I, the Demon Returned from Hell, Illuminate Your Night, Senior Ingrid? (7k)
Within the abyss, light was swallowed, making it impossible to see the sunrise or sunset, let alone distinguish south from north or east from west.
This was a despairing abyss, a whirlpool of pain.
And that iron coffin lay there, sinking to the seabed alongside scattered chains, as if forgotten by the world.
In such chaotic time, no one knew how long it lasted—
Until at a certain moment, the chains, which had gradually rusted and were stained with bronze-colored corrosion, began to stir once again.
…
Splash—
The iron coffin surged out of the water under the drive of mechanisms and chains.
Immediately after, the already rusted iron coffin lid began to open little by little, revealing Ingrid, who had been imprisoned inside.
Every joint of her body was locked by mithril shackles, her black hair scattered and disheveled.
Beneath the disarray of her hair, Ingrid’s skin had taken on an abnormal pallor from being submerged in seawater for so long, devoid of any color.
Her expression was numb and stiff, like a doll abandoned for a thousand years, with both body and spirit buried together in the deep sea, gradually dying in the grave until extinguished in pure void.
Yet, even though the woman’s appearance and posture had become as rigid and withered as a corpse—
When the iron coffin was opened and Rast’s figure appeared in her view alongside the sunlight—
Ingrid’s eyes seemed to be smiling, shining brightly.
“Didn’t expect this, right… Rast?”
Her voice was hoarse and withered like a mummy buried in yellow sand for ten thousand years, but her tone was carefree and lively.
“Hehe… I’m afraid even you yourself didn’t expect that you would miscalculate.”
That numb and indifferent expression slowly came back to life.
Ingrid lay back in the iron coffin, gazing at the black-haired boy bathing in sunlight as he looked down at her, her eyes lively and cheerful.
At this moment, her gaze was not that of a high-ranking official in the military, a stern former Director of the Supervisory Bureau—
Rather, she appeared more like a little girl who had just snatched a lollipop from a childhood playmate.
“Being drowned and coming back to life repeatedly in the deep sea… dying and living again.”
“This truly is a torment worse than d*ath, a torturous experience lasting like years—though it was only three months, I felt as if I had endured several hundred years in the deep sea.”
She quietly observed Rast’s eyes: “You must think that after coming out this time, I would cry and kneel down to you, begging you not to send me back to the deep sea, back to that desperate cycle of d*ath and rebirth, right?”
“Just like those comics and novels depict… no matter how noble and strong a woman was before, no matter how hard her exterior, after suffering the dual torment of being unable to live and unable to d*e, she would eventually choose to submit and kneel.”
“To become a well-behaved dog that licks the shoes of its master, obedient and loyal—”
“A ‘dog.'”
A hint of dry laughter suddenly appeared at the corners of Ingrid’s pale lips: “But it’s a pity, Rast, you bet wrong.”
“Not everyone… when facing difficulties, obstacles, and unbearable pain—will plead for mercy, admit defeat, and kneel down.”
“There are always some proud souls in this world who, even facing d*ath, refuse to bow their heads, unwilling to become dogs.”
She cast a glance at Rast, her gaze candid and clear: “But someone like you, ambitious and believing in the jungle law of survival of the fittest, thinking that the strong have the right to toy with the weak…”
“You will likely never understand the true meaning of these words. After all, in your eyes, everyone is supposed to be a cowardly, opportunistic bully of the weak, only not submitting because the external pressure isn’t great enough… the kind of person I mentioned doesn’t exist in reality—it’s merely an absurd fantasy.”
Though at this moment, Ingrid was bound in the iron coffin, her appearance and posture utterly disheveled, like a doll torn apart, her exterior hopelessly damaged.
Yet her gaze towards Rast was so proud, with an air of condescension, as if she were a snow peak overlooking the vast land, eternally aloof.
“Rast.”
“It seems this time, you lost.”
“Lost catastrophically.”
Ingrid closed her eyes, no longer looking at Rast.
In fact, she had nothing left to say to the boy before her.
Indeed, in the three months of sinking into the deep sea, in the endless cycle of suffocation and drowning, life and d*ath… Ingrid had also been on the verge of collapse, nearly wanting to bang on the coffin lid and have Rast pull her out of the deep sea.
But in the end, she still did not bang on the iron coffin lid, enduring what could only be described as a unique torture in this world over those three months.
The reason for her persistence was something Ingrid herself found hard to articulate… perhaps it was the fleeting memories of the glory she felt when she first joined the military, or perhaps it was simply that innate pride inscribed in her bones, refusing to bow her head until d*ath.
But regardless, since she had already persevered through these three months.
After this, there would be nothing that could shake Ingrid’s resolve.
…
Ingrid closed her eyes in the iron coffin, darkness surged back like a tidal wave.
She did not care whether Rast, after discovering her failure once again, would choose to straightforwardly k*ll her to eliminate future troubles or would continue to submerge her in the deep sea for another three months, a year, three years, or even thirty years…
Because Ingrid knew that, whether submerged for three years or thirty years… she would never again lower her proud head.
There are some things in this world that cannot be erased—whether by time or by deities.
However, after a moment of silence.
What responded to her was only the soft sound of applause coming from outside the iron coffin.
The applause was mingled with the whistling winds by the sea, hard to distinguish.
But soon after, Rast’s voice resonated clearly in her ears: “Yes, you’re right, Senior.”
“This time, you won.”
“You won beautifully, leaving me with nothing to say.”
As he spoke, Rast snapped his fingers again.
Then, with the ringing of triggered mechanisms, Ingrid suddenly felt—
The mithril shackles that had bound her hands and feet, sealing her extraordinary abilities, suddenly slipped away silently, no longer existent.
Even the iron coffin that had confined her freedom, at that moment, crumbled with the sound, unable to restrict Ingrid in the slightest.
She opened her eyes, somewhat dazed.
The azure sky, the bright sunlight.
Fresh air, damp and warm sea breeze…
The clear and beautiful world that had been isolated in the deep sea for so long reappeared before Ingrid’s eyes.
Ingrid slightly turned her body to look at Rast, who was slowly applauding not far away, her gaze filled with confusion.
“This is neither a trap, nor an illusion, nor the usual good cop-bad cop interrogation routine that one sees in interrogation rooms.”
“This is a reward for you as the victor—”
Seemingly sensing Ingrid’s confusion, Rast stopped clapping and smiled as he continued speaking:
“As you can see, you are free now.”
Ingrid was silent for a moment.
She gently touched her right wrist, feeling her metallic prosthetic limb, the silver arm slowly coming back to life after being freed from the mithril shackles.
The silver prosthetic and Ingrid’s consciousness reestablished their soul link, allowing the silver arm to move like a real arm according to her will.
“Aren’t you afraid I might lose control and k*ll you right now?”
Ingrid stood up from the iron coffin, twisting her right wrist, her eyes fixed intensely on Rast’s: “I can still clearly feel the pain of being drowned in the deep sea. Anyone would want to eliminate the one who caused such pain.”
“Your aura seems at most to be peak level five or just entering level six. In close combat, you are definitely not my opponent.”
“Not worried.”
Rast shook his head with a smile: “And I believe, after experiencing the bizarre powers of ‘time reversal’ and ‘world stagnation’, even if you really want to k*ll me, you wouldn’t act easily.”
Ingrid fell silent again.
If she had not experienced it firsthand a hundred times, Ingrid would never have dared to believe that such powers of reversing time and stopping the world would actually be mastered by a burgeoning level six extraordinary being who hadn’t yet become a legend.
As a high official in the military, she had reviewed many secret documents in the military archives and the Tower of Secrets—therefore, Ingrid knew very well that even among the few recorded legendary strongmen of the western continent, there were very few who could use spatiotemporal skills.
Moreover, even if one really mastered spatiotemporal powers, they were often skills like ‘pocket dimension’ and ‘shadow leap’—related yet ultimately trivial skills…
However, the ‘world stagnation’ and ‘time reversal’ that Rast had used earlier involved genuine rules of space and time, far beyond those trivial skills.
Therefore, Rast was not wrong in saying that.
Before she fully understood Rast’s trump cards that directly involved the rules of time and space, Ingrid indeed could not easily act against Rast.
“Then why did you choose to set me free?”
Ingrid looked directly at Rast: “Even if those ambitions of yours to overturn the world were just for show for my benefit…”
“The crimes I committed in the past, the bl**d on my hands, exist as undeniable reality—there’s not a shred of falsehood.”
“According to the empire’s law, executing me ten or a hundred times would not be excessive… even considering the value of the information I provided, I should be indefinitely imprisoned in a maximum-security extraordinary prison until the day I d*e.”
“Yes, Senior, you indeed committed heinous crimes.”
Rast nodded in agreement.
“Participating in human trafficking, assisting cult members in bl**d sacrifices, brutally eliminating innocents to keep secrets… these are unforgivable crimes under the law.”
“However—”
Rast smiled: “Why do you think I see myself as a law-abiding good citizen?”
“If according to the law, then the torture I inflicted on you was already an infamous and banned form of punishment that severely violated human rights.”
“Moreover, the water torture, which can only be used once—”
“Compared to everything you previously experienced, being submerged in the deep sea for over three months was merely one ten-thousandth of the pain and punishment.”
His gaze turned towards the sea beyond, where the blue sky extended: “Starry University is not affiliated with the empire, so it doesn’t have to abide by imperial law, and even if it did, I wouldn’t care.”
“I have my own sense of right and wrong, my ideals, and to achieve those ideals, what I can give far surpasses what you can imagine.”
“Secular laws, morality… these are things that can be unhesitatingly discarded.”
“Trampling on laws, becoming a remorseless villain, blowing half a city sky-high with explosives, or causing an entire nation’s souls to be buried alongside me…”
“Believe me, Senior.”
Rast lowered his gaze, looking at his delicate, bony hands.
“The bl**d of innocents that has stained my hands is even more… far more than you know.”
“And since, in my heart, the punishment you received is already enough to atone for the crimes you committed… then you are free now, regardless of how the empire’s law judges you.”
“Moreover—”
He paused slightly.
Rast’s gaze fell back on Ingrid, and suddenly, there was a deeper meaning reflected in his pitch-black eyes that consumed light.
“Senior Ingrid.”
“Even if you’ve committed unforgivable sins, with your hands stained with bl**d…”
“But in reality, you’ve never truly recognized that wicked self who became a black-hand or executioner, right?”
Rast spoke calmly, his tone flat and unperturbed: “Although you have repeatedly said you despise Hiltina, hate her nobility, luxury, and everything she was born with that you could never attain…”
“The truth is, you also envy and even yearn for Hiltina, don’t you?”
“You deeply envy and yearn for Hiltina’s unwavering resolve, even in the face of temptations within reach, being able to maintain her original intent despite the scorn of thousands… no matter the wind and rain, the fierce flame in her heart has never wavered.”
“You detest that version of yourself who betrayed your faith in hatred and descended into darkness, stained with bl**d more than anyone.”
“Thus, in the final moments, you returned to the ruins of the Gustav Nuclear Power Plant because that was the starting point of your dreams and glory—it was the place closest to your ideals and brilliance that you once reached step by step with your own hands.”
“You wouldn’t want to survive abroad as an executioner, a fugitive…”
“But would rather choose to d*e gloriously at the starting point of your dreams, in the identity of the hero who saved the entire Ruin Fire Territory.”
The boy’s words echoed clearly in Ingrid’s ears, causing her gaze to slightly ripple.
After a long while, the turbulence in Ingrid’s eyes calmed down silently, returning to tranquility.
“But if you already knew what was in my heart… then why did you do this?”
She looked at Rast:
“Why go through all the trouble to save me right under Hiltina’s nose, then let me suffer in the deep sea?”
“Why invest so much thought in me, instead of simply letting me perish in the molten steel of the nuclear power plant, ending it all?”
“That’s because…”
“I am genuinely very interested in you, you’re the only one for me, Senior Ingrid.”
Rast smiled, sitting on the rocks, his profile bathed in the clean sunlight by the coast, leaving Ingrid momentarily dazed.
“I indeed want to recruit you to be my companion on this journey, but not for any stupid ambition like ruling the world.”
“And these three months were my test for you… or perhaps, a selection of companions.”
The sea breeze swept in, lifting the edge of the boy’s garment.
“I believe as the Director of the Supervisory Bureau in the military, you have investigated countless criminal cases, seen the darkness and light of society from all corners of the world, and should be quite clear about this.”
“In this world… upholding justice is far more challenging than aiding the wicked.”
“Often, the wicked will don the cloak of righteousness and frame the opponents as unjust, because the authority to define ‘justice’ lies in their hands.”
“In the face of injustice, hatred, and unstoppable power… it is only natural to fall into darkness, to sink into corruption, to commit violence against the weaker, transforming from the original victim into a new perpetrator—”
“Anyone can ‘turn to the dark side.'”
“But facing difficult challenges, confronting oppressive external pressures—consistently adhering to one’s justice is far harder than ‘turning to the dark side.'”
Rast quietly gazed at Ingrid, the teasing in his eyes gradually fading:
“This is a selection for fellow travelers, a mutual choice, both a test from me to you and a test from you to me.”
“Senior, do you still remember the training method called ‘Eagle Cultivation’ from a certain tribe in my homeland that I mentioned to you last time?”
Ingrid nodded.
The game of wits between her and Rast over these three months was exactly what Rast referred to as Eagle Cultivation, wasn’t it?
He was the hunter, and Ingrid herself was that proud eagle.
It was a contest of willpower between man and eagle; both needed to be awake without rest until one side compromised and yielded.
“You might think I wanted to use ‘Eagle Cultivation’ to wear you down until you surrendered to me…”
Rast smiled: “But that’s not it.”
“Precisely because even when you were pulled out of the sea for the third time, you never bowed your head, you’ve never disappointed me.”
He raised his head, looking up at the clear, azure sky: “Hunters can indeed tame eagles using ‘Eagle Cultivation.'”
“But that eagle, once tamed, stripped of its wildness, obediently following the hunter’s commands, is no longer an eagle…”
“Just a mere—”
“A ‘domestic fowl.'”
Rast stood up from the rocks by the sea, brushing off the dust from his hands.
“Senior, I am indeed building an organization of my own and am recruiting members for it… but the challenges this organization will face are far more dangerous than I described.”
“The darkness and despair you faced in the past—compared to what you might encounter after joining the organization, it might seem trivial.”
“That’s why I designed this ‘Eagle Cultivation’ trial.”
“And regarding the outcome of ‘Eagle Cultivation,’ I actually feel relieved.”
Rast’s voice paused: “Because in my eyes, the true eagle—”
“Would rather d*e than bow its head to the tamer.”
“Only a true eagle is worthy to be my partner.”
“Even in hell, never forgetting to gaze up at the stars… a martyr alongside me.”
…
Rast’s right hand clenched lightly in the void.
In the next moment, a heavy left-handed revolver engraved with iron moon patterns quietly appeared in his palm.
Then, this revolver etched with iron moon was placed on the large stone before Ingrid.
“Ingrid, I said you’ve won.”
“So no matter what choice you make, I will no longer interfere.”
Whether you want to withdraw to the border and continue colluding with those secret organizations and cults, or choose to return to the imperial capital and surrender, accepting the judgment of the empire’s law, spending your remaining life in prison, it does not matter.
Or whether you wish to continue doing what I previously prevented you from doing, using this ‘Iron Pattern Moon’ to commit s*icide, or even immediately turn on me and confine me in the iron coffin to sink in the sea—that’s all fine.
“But—”
“Senior…”
Rast turned around, his back to Ingrid, his soft words carried away by the sea breeze.
“If in your heart, there remains even a trace of longing and yearning for that military hero who saved the crisis at the Gustav Nuclear Power Plant, for the former brilliance and glory of that magnificent light…”
“Then you might consider my previous proposal, to become a companion on this journey.”
He slowly extended his hand.
A dark crystal, as shadowy as night and as though it were consuming all radiance in the world, quietly coalesced in Rast’s palm.
This black night crystal was then placed on the large stone in front of Ingrid, alongside the ‘Iron Pattern Moon’ revolver.
“This is my memory crystal.”
“Inside the memory crystal, it stores fragments of my past life, along with incomplete recollections.”
Rast turned sideways, his pitch-black eyes reflecting the brilliance of the sun at the seaside.
“Senior, you said you are a moth in the dark, destined to be burned into carbon by the sunlight.”
“You also said that the light belonging to Hiltina cannot illuminate Ingrid’s night… because Hiltina was born with everything, never lowering herself to the dust, never experiencing the process of rising from the very bottom, so she can never empathize with you.”
“Then, Senior, why not take a look at this memory crystal, to see my past life and experiences.”
“See if this demon returned from hell can reach that night that belongs to Ingrid.”
“And then, sever your fate.”
…
When Ingrid came back to her senses from her daze, the black-haired boy’s figure had already vanished from the coastline, which was growing dim with dusk.
Only on the nearby rock did the revolver and memory crystal, bathed in the sunset, bear witness to Rast’s earlier words.
“If you have a change of heart, then—”
“I’ll be waiting for you at the student dormitory of Starry University.”
The boy’s calm and clear voice lingered in her ears.
Ingrid looked at the revolver on the rock.
Then, with some hesitation, she reached out toward the dark, night-like memory crystal.
(End of Chapter)
