The Rolling Boulder

Ning Yu suddenly sat up, her face covered in blood, her dress stained with dust and dark red bloodstains.

She wiped her eyes with her sleeve, allowing Blood Kite to absorb the blood that had just flowed from her body.

Suddenly, she caught sight of Shen Yiyue beside her and froze.

The look of regret and helpless tears on Shen Yiyue's face felt eerily familiar.

It was as if she had seen Shen Yiyue like this before.

Yet, in her memory, Shen Yiyue had never cried so heartbrokenly, as if she had lost all meaning to live, completely crushed by something.

Shen Yiyue also noticed that Ning Yu had come back to life. She quickly took a deep breath, realizing her emotions were out of control.

"Xiaoyu, we need to..."

She looked up, about to say something to Ning Yu, only to see Ning Yu already reaching out to wipe away the tears Shen Yiyue hadn’t had time to clean.

"Don’t be afraid, it’s okay."

Ning Yu spoke in the gentlest voice, smiling softly at Shen Yiyue.

"I’m here. Let me protect you."

Shen Yiyue’s eyes widened as she looked at Ning Yu, disheveled and battered, reaching out to her.

"Every time..."

"Every time, Xiaoyu is like this..."

"Too cunning..."

It was as if she had awakened from some emotional trance, a fire suddenly burning in her eyes, her wounds beginning to heal on their own.

Chen Xing had somehow moved above the light screens, indifferently looking down at the ruins below.

Her middle finger and thumb lightly touched, and she snapped her fingers.

All the light screens vanished from above, suddenly reappearing within the ruins below.

This time, the space was smaller, more tightly enclosing Ning Yu and Shen Yiyue.

The black and white squares within the light screens began to spin rapidly again, distorting energy brewing within.

"No, Xiaoyu."

Shen Yiyue suddenly picked up a pistol engraved with mysterious patterns and pointed it at her own head.

"What are you doing?!"

Ning Yu didn’t understand Shen Yiyue’s actions. This wasn’t the time for this; she needed to find a way to block Chen Xing’s next attack.

"A future without Xiaoyu is not the future I want."

"I’m going to that possibility where there is no possibility."

"No matter the difficulties, no matter how much I want to give up..."

"Wait for me."

Shen Yiyue looked at Ning Yu, speaking earnestly, a confident smile blooming on her face, her eyes curving like crescent moons.

"No!!"

Ning Yu panicked, reaching out to stop Shen Yiyue.

"Bang!"

The bullet pierced through Shen Yiyue’s head, her body falling limply backward, only to be caught by Ning Yu.

In that instant, Ning Yu felt as if everything had frozen. She was detached from the world, unable to feel anything.

All that remained was Shen Yiyue before her, her gentle, serene face, and her closed eyes.

The surrounding light reached its peak, the terrifying beams from the light screens all converging toward Ning Yu.

But Ning Yu had only one thought in her mind:

Shen Yiyue was dead.

The feeling was indescribable, but it made Ning Yu realize that nothing else mattered anymore.

"Boom!!!!"

A violent explosion ravaged the already ruined area, leaving it even more devastated.

Black flames burned on the ground, with no structure taller than two meters remaining. The place was almost completely flattened.

"Clang!"

A sharp, piercing sound of a blade rang out from the ruins.

Chen Xing, who had just sat down, raised an eyebrow, feeling a sense of disbelief.

"Still alive? How tenacious."

A pair of blood-red eyes pierced through the smoke, firmly locking onto Chen Xing, who sat high in the sky.

She felt uneasy under that gaze.

But she wouldn’t hold back. She raised her hand again, the teardrop symbol at the corner of her eye glowing.

The light screens unfolded behind her once more, aimed at Ning Yu, who had just stood up from the ground.

This was her last life.

Raising Blood Kite, Ning Yu pointed it at Chen Xing in the sky, her voice icy cold.

"I will definitely kill you."

She transformed into a crimson lightning bolt, leaping from the ground toward the sky, raising her blade toward the figure standing proudly above.

"Oh~ I love watching moths fly into the flame."

Chen Xing smiled, the black and white squares within the light screens behind her spinning so fast they became a blur.

Countless beams of light rained down toward Ning Yu.

Ning Yu’s eyes were calm as she drew closer to Chen Xing.

Just as the beams were about to hit her, Ning Yu vanished from her spot.

This was her last remaining points, activating the "Thoughtless Moonlight" mode for just a few seconds.

"Clink!"

Blood Kite stopped in front of Chen Xing, emitting a crisp sound.

Ning Yu suddenly appeared before the lofty throne, like Jing Ke attempting to assassinate the King of Qin, finally revealing the dagger.

But she still couldn’t break through Chen Xing’s rock-solid defense. The blade tip stopped in the air around the throne, unable to pierce further.

Chen Xing calmly looked at Ning Yu, her expression unchanging, though her right hand involuntarily twitched before she silently returned it to its original position.

Ning Yu’s blood-red eyes locked onto her, filled with undisguised killing intent, giving Chen Xing an unfamiliar feeling for the first time.

If she looked any longer, she might carve those eyes into her soul.

"Pity."

Chen Xing tilted her head, chuckling softly, and snapped her fingers again.

All the light screens turned toward Ning Yu. Having missed her strike, Ning Yu had lost her leverage and began to fall slowly toward the ground.

Her lonely figure was like a small boat in a tsunami, about to be swallowed by the storm.

The beams from the light screens undoubtedly struck Ning Yu, piercing her body and shattering her to pieces.

Blood Kite, now without its master, fell helplessly to the ground.

"Is this... the end?"

In the final moment of her life, Ning Yu suddenly remembered the black-haired high school girl she had seen trembling in the corner of a small supermarket.

She wished she could meet her again.

"Big sister!!!!"

A blue meteor streaked toward them from afar, accompanied by a heart-wrenching cry.

A silver-haired figure flashed by, her back adorned with a pair of blue mechanical wings.

But by the time she caught Ning Yu’s body in midair, Ning Yu had already closed her eyes, her breath gone.

"How... how could this be... If only I had known..."

She gently placed Ning Yu’s body on the ground, muttering to herself.

"Ah!!!!!"

She let out a terrifying scream, her body suddenly covered in mechanical devices. Two tubes extended from the devices, connecting to the back of her head.

The tubes contained a strange, fluorescent blue liquid, like mechanical blood.

Soon, the same fluorescent blue liquid flowed from her eyes, her gaze completely losing any semblance of humanity.

But Ning Yu could no longer see this. Endless darkness had already swallowed her consciousness.