Chapter 193 Because I Am Not Afraid
Realizing that she had most likely returned to Yumen Pass over a thousand years ago, Shen Baiwei suddenly reacted; Calamity was plotting and ambushing her to harness her Spiritual Patterns’ powers.
Although previously she had never achieved a time reversal spanning more than a month through her Spiritual Patterns, her observations recorded that Calamity’s powers, whether brutal Mythological Species or cunning Witch Species, primarily focused on destruction and could never accomplish such a “crossing” of millennia alone.
“Waking up” from this realization, Shen Baiwei’s breathing quickened as she cast a gloomy glance at Luxianbei’s back, remaining silent.
“……”
She initially thought you merely unintentionally touched the past, causing some harmless effects, and that some discouragement would suffice. She never expected you would try to interfere with the trajectory of time?
What a reckless act!
It’s one thing to court disaster alone; why drag me into it? Shen Baiwei thought furiously.
Although she harbored a deep resentment towards Calamity, she absolutely would not confront Calamity “head-on” at this moment.
With so many “people from the past” traveling alongside them, their conversations would inevitably intensify the punishment of time if overheard.
However, even if Shen Baiwei wanted to communicate with Luxianbei, it was entirely impossible.
Long before she fainted from anger, Luxianbei had stuffed a large red apple into her mouth and placed over a hundred defensive and sealing spell formulas on it.
The cumulative effect of so many spells was enough to give a piece of soft tofu the hardness of diamond and the toughness surpassing spider silk, fixing it in place so that a dozen trucks pulling in the same direction would not budge an inch.
What kind of treatment is this? Even if she broke the celestial laws, it would suffice to replace the red apple in her mouth with a small mountain pressing down on her.
What she couldn’t tolerate the most was that merely these spells would suffice to render her speechless, yet Calamity insisted on stuffing a red apple into her mouth, along with the binding spell ropes carried by Longxiang Army Armor Soldiers, as if she were a roasted pig ready for the oven.
A total display of bad taste, sheer torment!
“Do you have something to say to me?” Noticing Shen Baiwei’s expression, Luxianbei paused her conversation with Long Bang and tilted her head to ask.
Shen Baiwei shook her head and then closed her eyes.
“Alright then!” Luxianbei nodded, “Actually, I didn’t want to listen either; I just wanted to confirm whether you had those kinds of thoughts. If so, it’s better to help you dispel those unrealistic notions as soon as possible.”
After saying that, she turned around, continuing to chat and laugh with Long Bang and the accompanying Longxiang Army Armor Soldiers.
Shen Baiwei, “……”
Hmph, b*stard!
Do you really think I want to talk? What’s the point of talking to someone who is already dead? Doesn’t it feel like talking to ghosts?
Don’t think you can act like nothing is wrong right now; your good days are numbered!
Shen Baiwei thought, rolling her eyes at Luxianbei’s back.
As someone who had experienced countless time reversals, she was well aware that the punishment of time would inevitably descend upon Calamity.
Even with her powers, which allowed limited intervention with time, it wouldn’t endlessly respond to her calls; let alone for Calamity.
However, the punishment of time comes with a delay; it usually only descends once the individuals or urban legends affecting the past cease their misdeeds and allow the already affected “past” to be repaired and integrated back into established history in a reasonable manner.
Sometimes Shen Baiwei suspected that time might be a terrifying urban legend that a vast majority of Spiritual Ability Users and urban legends couldn’t reach.
When someone first touches the past, this horrifying urban legend would pull out a small notebook, noting a entry, and for the second, third, and fourth times… until the little notebook is densely filled with “correct” inscriptions, it would proceed with the final reckoning.
In Shen Baiwei’s memory, the longest time reversal she experienced spanned seven hundred and five hours and thirty-two minutes, and a whole week passed before she received the punishment of time.
And that punishment, even today, still makes her break out in a cold sweat when she recalls it.
The physical torment was secondary; what mattered was the accumulated corruption during those seven hundred and five hours and thirty-two minutes, the pain caused by the “self” that had already dissipated in the past, and the despair of having worked hard yet unable to change the outcome while witnessing time erasing the success of those efforts…
When all of this erupted in an instant, it brought torment etched into the soul and tremors surpassing d*ath.
It was just like the first time she attempted to break free from the control of the Solar Eclipse Society, escaping the Tethys Laboratory through multiple time reversals and efforts, only to be killed by the Elder Council’s seventh seat during her escape.
After enduring long darkness and the crushing, splintering pain of every inch of bone and flesh, when she finally woke up, everything had returned to the initial starting point.
She lay on a cold operating table, and perhaps due to the effects of the alchemical anesthetic, she felt no sense of her body, the operation lamp blurred in front of her, creating dim and piercing circles of light. In a daze, she saw figures in white appearing like ghosts, swaying in her peripheral vision, their cold voices faintly echoing in her ears, “Increase the dosage, prepare for surgery.”
At that moment, the alchemical anesthetic seemed to lose efficacy, and a sudden, excruciating pain shot through her head.
Something exuded a strong stench, like a ferocious beast with countless sharp teeth in its mouth, violently biting through her skull and licking her brain.
She could even hear the crunch of her skull shattering, as a cold, slippery substance, devoid of substance and reminiscent of a cat’s barbed tongue, stirred inside her brain, perhaps the shadow diagnosed by the hospital as the cause of Nightfall Syndrome, or something else altogether…
That was the most painful transformation surgery Shen Baiwei endured before planning her escape from the Tethys Laboratory, a memory she never wanted to experience again.
But when she awakened, she found herself at that moment, as if all her previous efforts to escape the Tethys Laboratory had turned to bubbles, dissipated in time.
Useless, failed, completely denied!
Though she knew well that her efforts weren’t merely in vain.
Yet, it felt as if she worked hard for something she loved, only to achieve a small result, while those around her and reality told her, “What’s the use? Can it change anything? Can it fill your stomach? You’re living just like before! It’s better to get a job!”
Those words were harsh but also true; in this world, only a tiny number of people could turn their backs on the cruel reality, rush towards what they love, and reach the finish line before starving to d*ath.
“Bang——!”
Just as Shen Baiwei was immersed in painful memories, she was suddenly tossed onto the ground like a piece of cargo, her body colliding with the floor covered by a thin layer of straw, making a muffled sound.
Her thoughts pulled back from the memory, she steadied herself and realized she had arrived in a dimly-lit room piled with clutter, cobwebs in the corners, dust floating in the air, and the only light source came from a window not much larger than a palm and an open small wooden door.
Calamity stood at the door, backlit, her face shrouded in shadows, making it impossible to see her eyes and expression.
After staring at Calamity for two seconds, Shen Baiwei silently turned her back to face the wall.
Silence was the greatest resistance she could muster at the moment.
The next moment, the rusted door hinge creaked, and darkness quickly spread to every corner of the room as the small wooden door closed.
Then…
In the darkness, a pale little hand quietly reached out, unexpectedly placing itself next to Shen Baiwei’s mouth and swiftly removing the “spell-enhanced red apple gag.”
“Go on! What did you want to say to me just now?”
Shen Baiwei thought Calamity had already left, prepared to enjoy the darkness alone, but suddenly hearing Calamity’s voice froze her for a moment. After a brief pause, she replied, “You misunderstood; I don’t have anything to say.”
“No, that’s not right?” Luxianbei leaned closer to Shen Baiwei and lowered her voice, “Although I don’t know the specific reason, I guess you’re just hesitant to speak in front of Long Bang and the others.”
“However, your eyes completely betrayed the richness of your thoughts. If you could communicate with me through eye contact just like Miaomiao Sauce…”
“Um, the girl you Miracle Cult uses as bait would’ve long spilled the beans, right?”
Listening to her words, Shen Baiwei felt dazed, starting to doubt if she had fallen into a delusion created by Calamity.
Otherwise, how could Calamity know what she was thinking?
However, after reflecting that Calamity was adept at discerning and manipulating people’s hearts, she felt relieved.
After a brief silence, Shen Baiwei sighed silently, “Although you may not believe what I say, I still want to advise you to stop interfering with the past, otherwise…”
“You’ll be punished, right?” Luxianbei replied dismissively, curling her lip, “I know that!”
“You… you know?” Shen Baiwei’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, “If you know, then why…”
“Because I’m not afraid!” Luxianbei interrupted once more, “Also because there are people, many people asking for my help! Is this answer satisfactory to you? If it is, I’ll take my leave now; I’m quite busy.”
After finishing her sentence, Shen Baiwei heard footsteps behind her, followed by the sound of the small wooden door opening and closing.
She was plunged into shock and took a few seconds to regain her composure.
Wait! She is not afraid, but I am afraid!
b*stard!
