death of hope

Chapter 979 "Psionic Storm" (54) Coldness and Depravity
Shin-Sapporo Shimotsu Town

Sei-Sakura High School;

A young couple stood side by side on the top floor of the stadium, gazing into the distance.
This public school is dilapidated and shabby; it can't even afford a decent green space. Plastic bags and pebbles are scattered everywhere, and there's really nothing to see.
The girl gazed at the dark feathers of the crow on the telephone pole, her beautiful eyes becoming unfocused and dreamy.
"Tetsuya-kun...it feels like I had a really, really long dream..."

"Thank God, you're awake~" The boy's voice was magnetic, gentle, and considerate.

"Awake...?" The girl slowly shook her head: "Uh... I'd say I'm... half asleep, half awake..."

Why…"

Yuna Jinguji breathed softly, her breath sweet as orchids, and sighed gently.

Peeling paint on billboards, rusty iron fences, disgusting piles of bird droppings under utility poles, students playing and frolicking on the playground…

Everything before my eyes seemed like a replay of yesterday, yet also like a century had passed—a strange feeling, both familiar and unfamiliar.

Yuna has tried many times, tried her best, to try and regain her lost memories, but each time she fails.
Whenever I try to recall people and events from the past, I am always accompanied by dizziness, tinnitus, and headaches; my mind is a jumbled mess of thoughts.
"I still can't remember... What's wrong with my brain?"

·
Li Ang certainly knew the answer to this question:
He looked down at the scalp beneath the other man's thick, golden hair, where faint sutures were visible—scars left from a partial temporal lobe resection.
To understand the connection between psychic energy and the electrical signals of brain nerves, experts at the Psychic Research Institute often perform similar craniotomies, removing parts of the temporal lobe tissue and implanting circuit boards and chips to connect to brain nerve synapses to obtain relevant data.

Li Ang covered his mouth to hide his guilt, coughed lightly, and said:
"Cough cough... Have you forgotten, Yuna? It's all... it's all because of that car accident."

It's all that truck driver's fault for driving while fatigued. I've told you so many times why you were injured.
You were hit by a car, your head hit the curb, there was blood everywhere, and you were taken to the ICU by ambulance.

"Huh?! It's that serious?"

"Skull fracture, midline shift in the brain, intracranial hemorrhage, and hematoma causing damage to the memory area, which will take time to recover."

This set of lies and rhetoric was fabricated by Li Ang based on the decrypted information about Zero found on the research institute's server and relevant medical knowledge.

When Li Ang lied to her for the first time, he was still a bit awkward. He repeated it dozens of times but it was still hard to pronounce. Rather than saying he lacked talent in this area, it was more out of instinctive resistance.

For a noble knight of Ix who cherishes honor, lying is hardly a respectable thing.

·
"Car accident..." Yuna had no doubt about the man in front of her:
"Can I... recover?"

"Yes, the neurosurgeon said it will take time."

"how long?"

"This is not something to rush. After all, it's not a minor injury. Brain nerve damage is irreversible. We need to use the brain's compensatory mechanisms to gradually repair the damaged parts."

"Will it take a long time...? I'm afraid I won't be able to keep up with my studies...and won't be able to graduate..."

Li Ang smiled and opened his arms wide: "Don't worry, even if you have to repeat a year, I'll be with you~"

"Tetsuya-kun...you're so kind!"

Jinguji Yuna pounced on him like a spoiled kitten, feeling his firm chest muscles, his bull-like hot breath, his restless hormones, and his wildly beating heart.

(Teruya-kun... I'm not alone...)
·
Jinguji Yuna was immersed in immense happiness, yet inexplicably felt a kind of fear—the fear of losing it all.
"Tetsuya-kun..."

"Ok?"

"If, I mean if... if my mind can't recover, and I'm a forgetful, silly girl for the rest of my life... would you still dislike me...?" "No matter what I become, I'll always love you, my little silly girl~ I'll love you forever~"

Without hesitation, Li Ang answered crisply and decisively, but this statement was not a lie.

"Tetsuya-kun..."

Li Ang felt Yuna's tears soaking through her shirt and gently patted her back to comfort her:

"Don't cry, silly girl. We'll go to the corner store later to buy popsicles, your favorite chocolate flavor~"

A gentle breeze from Shin-Sapporo ruffled his long, golden hair, the soft strands of gold brushing against his nose and ears, tickling him and making his heart flutter with pleasure.

Leon Vilnius inhaled greedily the delicate fragrance emanating from the golden hair.

·
Just a month ago, he was racking his brains, trying to stand out and climb the corporate ladder, hoping to gain the director's trust and thus rise to the top ranks of the company.
Desiring to return home in glory and reclaim the honor of Prince Iks, just a month ago he was a cool and rational adult, unlike now, when he has regressed into a foolish young man blinded by emotion:
(Don't take it seriously, it's just an act. The real Yamashiro Tetsuya is long gone, his grave overgrown with weeds.)
I'm playing the role of a ghost, making up a melodramatic story about a car accident and amnesia to fool this naive woman, stabilizing her psychic energy so it'll be easier for my research. If we make a breakthrough, Joseph and I can both reap fame and fortune.

What a great plan, but how come I just...)
Li Ang clenched his fist and pounded his head in frustration, trying to kill the boy within him and reclaim the coldness and rationality of adulthood.
However, the warm, soft body in his arms touched something deep within his soul.
Something beyond reason captivated him, making him unable to extricate himself.

·
(Joseph clearly told me not to treat 'Zero' as a human being, as he is the strongest psionic talent in history;)
It is a white mouse that can be dissected and disemboweled at any time; it is the hope for the advancement of human psionic science, the golden key to winning the Nobel Prize…

If it weren't for Joseph taking me in and appreciating my talents, I'd still be begging on the streets of New Sapporo.
Dr. Joseph, my mentor, my only hope for changing my fate... I must complete the task he has given me... There is no other choice.

Don't worry about the research; just focus on your own work.

Just following the script is enough. Why, why did I... why did I get emotional just now?!

Li Ang...you idiot!
Just now… an incredibly foolish thought popped into my head; to set her free and run away with her…

Oh, damn it…

What on earth am I thinking?

Not content with being a liar, I also became a shameful thief, stealing the love of a dead man.

Being a thief wasn't enough; he degenerated into a love-struck fool, becoming a complete idiot!

I feel sorry for others, but who the hell feels sorry for me?!

·
Jinguji Yuna was terrified by Li Ang's ferocious expression; she had no idea what kind of storm was brewing within him.
"Tetsuya-kun, is your expression... alright?"

By this time, Li Ang had calmed down and made up a lie to get by:
"Uh...it's nothing. I guess I caught a chill from the fan in the classroom. My facial muscles are twitching."

"Then... let's skip the ice cream today..."

"Okay, you can have the ice cream later. Come on, let's go downstairs, I'll drive you back to the hospital."

Leon Vilnius's expression instantly changed, donning a mask of hypocrisy, all his previous tenderness transforming into a fake smile:

"Yuna, when you go back to the hospital, you must listen to Dr. Elsson and Chief Physician Joseph!"

Yuna's unguarded smile:
"Okay! I'll definitely listen and cooperate with the treatment, and then we'll go to university together!"