"What makes you say that?" I asked, looking at him with surprise. Damn, I really slipped up, what should I do? Initially, when I was planning my escape from the Guardians, I intended to send Xu Zhao Ting straight to the airport, and then, under the pretext of a short walk, deal with everyone who came after me. But, damn it! Due to nervousness and anxiety, I completely forgot about it and only remembered it when he called out to me himself!
"Well, some guy was following us, not even trying to hide, and then you told me to go to the airport," he shrugged and said calmly, as if nothing had happened. "I wanted to stay and see what would happen next, but then I decided not to interfere in your business, but I want to know what problems my teammate has, otherwise I can't fully trust you," he concluded sadly. Yes, now I definitely have to reveal at least part of the truth. Fortunately, there is a moment in my story that I can use to my advantage and cloud his thoughts, averting the danger of being fully exposed or losing a teammate like him. Honestly, I'm used to him and wouldn't want to lose him for nothing.
"Alright, I'll tell you, I'm just not sure if you'll believe me, or if you'll want to stay with me," I said, sighing heavily, immediately setting him up for refusal to cooperate with me, making the story even more touching, deterring him from wanting to leave me or suspect me of anything. It's a shame it will only work once. "You know that I don't remember almost anything about myself before the age of seven, right?" I asked him. Maybe he guesses this, but I've never told him for sure. Only a few people know this: Mo Jiaxing, Mo Fan, Jiaxing Xia, Zhang Xiao Hou, possibly Mu Bai and Mu Ning Xue, in short, everyone with whom I spent my childhood. Only they don't pay attention to it and hardly remember it at all to tell anyone.
"Really?" he asked, then added in a sympathetic voice. "And, I know Mo Jiaxing found you at seven, but don't you remember your biological parents?"
"No, I only remember that they were hunters, and then they left me in the city of Bo and went on another mission," I said in a sad voice, almost squeezing a tear from my eyes. "However, about three weeks ago, I learned that my parents owe some organization some item. I don't remember what it is or where it might be. Unfortunately, my arguments didn't convince them, and they started looking for me through hunter missions, so because of this, we are taking such a mission, and we are going to hunt alligators on Lake Taihu," I said, while thin streams of tears flowed down my face. I could cry artificially even in my past life, it sometimes helped a lot. "Sorry, I didn't want to tell you this right away, I thought I'd handle it myself, but... Today, while trying to escape from them, one of their mages tracked us down and attacked. I barely managed to deal with him," I said, making my eyes glassy, pretending to be uneasy. I have to give myself credit, even I would believe myself, although the situation was not far from the truth.
I actually felt pangs of conscience about having killed as many as five people already, no, eight, three more members of the Black Church. Although, five of them can hardly be called people, but until now, I've pushed them to the background, clinging to my future plans. However, this burden of having coldly, with my own hands, killed five people, piercing them all with my own daggers. When did I deal with Bao Qing Che's team? About a week ago? Damn, now memories of that day flashed before my eyes! My hands twitched involuntarily in a spasm, clenching invisible daggers. How did I not realize this before? Can I be so cold-blooded?
"Kisn Yun!" I heard Xu Zhao Ting's cry, returning to reality, I realized he was shaking me convulsively. "You killed him?" he whispered, leaning into my ear.
"Ye-e-es," I replied in a trembling whisper, gradually recovering from the glitch that had overcome me. Yes, indeed, I considered myself cold-blooded enough to handle killing those who wanted to kill me, at least them. However, it seems the human psyche cannot accept such a fact so easily, and if you try to suppress it, it can overwhelm you like me now. But this is even better! I bet my appearance was very convincing. Now Xu Zhao Ting is in my pocket. The main thing is that I regained control in time.
"Did you really kill a person, but how?" Xu Zhao Ting whispered, barely containing his shock and surprise.
"It just happened. He tried to kill me, I had no choice, it was self-defense!" I said, slightly raising my voice from a whisper. "If it weren't for him, I would have died."
"Maybe we should go to the police or the magic court and confess everything?" Zhao Ting asked with concern in his voice.
"No, we shouldn't. They probably won't listen to me, and they're unlikely to find me," I said, pretending to have finally calmed down. "I covered my tracks well. Let this be our little secret, I don't want to spread it around," I said in a slightly trembling voice.
"Alright, just try to be more careful in the future," he said, also calming down. "Maybe we should inform the magic court, they should help you."
"I don't think so. I was warned immediately that everything is rigged in the magic court," I noted sadly.
"Then what should we do?" he asked again, worried, looking at me.
"Nothing, hide as I intended, become stronger so I can protect myself and enter Mingzhu University. If we get in there, I'm sure my pursuers won't bother us there," I stated confidently with a sigh. "I will kill anyone who dares to harm me and my loved ones," I said, hitting the armrest with my fist. The first half was true, but the second... Well, let's say not entirely. There are not even two people I truly care about, maybe only Lin Yun Er, but unfortunately, because of her mother, she dumped me. Although, on the other hand, it doesn't mean that I myself don't like her, right? This means I have a chance!
"Alright, I'll try. We will both protect ourselves and each other, and our loved ones," Xu Zhao Ting also hit the armrest.
We didn't return to this conversation again. Fifteen minutes later, we were already sitting on the plane, waiting for departure. I sat looking out the airplane window, feeling very tired for some reason and constantly feeling sleepy. My head kept falling onto my chest or shoulder, and my eyes would close. I didn't resist sleep for long and unknowingly drifted off.
An instant later, I found myself standing in the middle of a forest clearing on the outskirts of the city of Bo. Looking around, I saw a huge red wave rushing towards me! It was a wave of real blood! However, I didn't panic and used a wind blade to break through the wave. But... but what appeared before me beyond the wave. Jiaxing Shang was standing there, or rather, what was left of him. I recognized him with difficulty. A line ran through the center of his body, around which everything was turned into mince!
He walked towards me with his hands outstretched. Out of surprise, shock, and disgust, I froze on the spot. Moments later, he grabbed my legs with a moan and started shaking me. I tried to shake him off my legs, but he wouldn't let go. Suddenly, two more hands grabbed my right leg. I turned my head and saw Jiaxing Zhu! But it was only the upper half of her body! Her legs were lying twenty meters away from me!
"You killed us," she croaked in an inhuman voice. "Why did you kill us? You killed us coldly, you killed people!" she continued to croak and yell all around. This made me uneasy, and although I had come to terms with killing people, or so I thought, it got to me. Suddenly, two more hands grabbed my left leg! I turned my head and saw Jiaxing Yang, blood was flowing from his chest, creating a huge puddle at my feet. How can a person have so much blood?
"You killed me! Coldly, without any emotion, like some kind of monster!" he yelled at me, with a slight hoarseness in his voice. "I was so young, I didn't live half my human lifespan! I haven't done and tried so many things in my life! How dare you deprive me of my future, how dare you kill me!" he yelled, drowning out all other sounds. His screams made me even more uneasy. I don't know why, but I felt immense regret for what I had done, even though they were trying to kill me! Suddenly, two more hands grabbed me from behind! Turning around, I saw Peter, pierced by a dagger in the heart! Blood flowed from his chest, just like from Jiaxing Yang's chest, turning the puddle into a large lake, covering the entire area as far as the eye could see.
"You killed me, you killed me with a devilish smile! You killed a weak, surrendered, and broken loser, deriving pleasure from it!" he yelled, making me disgusted with myself. Like any normal person, I don't tolerate people deriving pleasure from killing other living beings. And now imagine, when you think this and are told that you are doing the same? It made me nauseous, and the general cacophony of sounds made my head split.
Suddenly, the sounds receded into the background, and the sensation of being torn apart subsided. However, two human silhouettes emerged from the blood in front of me. The first lay on the ground with tear-filled eyes and snot all over his face. His face was etched with a feeling of hopelessness and complete loss. He didn't tremble or shake; he accepted his death. The second sat next to him, crouching, holding a dagger over the first's chest. A smile was imprinted on his face, a devilish smile. It was clear that everything happening brought him immense pleasure!
"Kill me, please, before the wolves come!" the first implored, grabbing the second's hand holding the dagger.
"With pleasure," the second smiled even wider, plunging the knife into the first's chest, then burst into devilish laughter.
In the first silhouette, I recognized Peter, and in the second, myself. I was shocked by what I saw. Did I really look like that when I killed him? Am I really such a terrible person? Of course, I don't care about the lives of most people, except for those who can help me in the future and Lin Yun Er. In my past life, my parents and some relatives were added to her, but in this one, they are not. However, I never thought or suspected that I could kill with such an expression on my face.
Naturally, I didn't consider myself a good person. How can a good person use others? But I didn't consider myself a bad person either, as I always thought I was doing everything for my own benefit, for those dear to me, not just for pleasure. Of course, I enjoy killing monsters, hunting them, fighting them. I also enjoyed the battle with Bao Qing Che's team, but if the first is just a spirit of escapism, like hunters in my world hunted ordinary animals, then I am a hunter here, only of monsters. The second is the thrill of battle, combat, confrontation, like boxers in my past world. Or is it all just my банально bloodlust? Do I simply enjoy taking lives?
Meanwhile, the scene changed again. The two silhouettes turned into blood and returned to the bloody lake. Four brown stone pillars grew around me, soon connected by a lattice, placing me in a stone cage, forcing me to crouch. Looking around, I saw a silhouette of the man who had been pursuing me recently emerge from the blood. To my left, a similar stone cage appeared from the bloody lake, in which sat a silhouette resembling me.
Moments later, he rushed forward, breaking the cage bars with two wind blades, creating a circle. After that, the man sent lightning wrath towards him. The pseudo-me responded in kind, however, his magic was stronger and, neutralizing the enemy's, struck the opponent. The man lost concentration for a fraction of a second, and when the magic burst dissipated, I saw the pseudo-me standing behind the man, running a dagger across the man's neck. Blood spurted from it onto the pseudo-me, drenching him from head to toe. I looked at the face of the pseudo-me, visible from behind the man's head. It had the same demonic smile, expressing the peak of pleasure.
Soon, both these silhouettes disintegrated, as did the cage restraining me, drenching me in blood. Straightening up, I examined my hands, which were completely covered in blood. What am I saying, my whole body was covered in blood from head to toe, just like that pseudo-me who had just killed the man. Raising my head, I saw an exact copy of myself formed from the blood, only without blood on it.
"Kill, kill, kill!" the copy began to scream, grabbing me by the shoulders and shaking me harder and harder, until I lost consciousness.
"Jiaxing Yun, wake up, we've arrived," Xu Zhao Ting's voice was heard. Someone was still shaking me.
"A-a-a!" I shouted, opening my eyes. Xu Zhao Ting was standing in front of me, shaking me to wake me up. Coming to my senses, I scratched my head, looking around the airplane cabin. People were gathering their belongings and getting off the plane.
"When we flew into Huzhou, it's time to get out, did something happen?" asked Xu Zhaoting, bewildered and slightly frightened.