Something's wrong, they're not NPCs?

Chapter 354 Why haven’t we reached the other side yet?
7 month 13 day.

One o'clock.

"what!"

"..."

Spy on Tokugawa Airi fighting against a monster that is at least four or five times her size and is hidden in the fog.

Even if you didn't hear her talking to herself, you could understand.

That was the monster she was looking for, and the target of the quest. Help her get revenge - she wanted to get rid of her father. No problem.

"..."

After only four or five moves, both of Tokugawa Airi's calves were injured by the monster's blow, and even her trouser legs were cut and bleeding. The air was filled with the smell of blood and rot.

Su Ming had a question.

I had some background information about Tokugawa Airi and her family, but I never asked.

Can you remain calm when facing your 'father'?
Although Tokugawa Airi had misunderstood herself in various ways, Su Mingzhen had never experienced this kind of thing before... killing someone around him with his own hands.

Unspeakable mental torture.

If it is really an enemy, there will be a warm home waiting for you after you kill them. Even if your cheeks, body, and limbs are covered in blood, you will not feel uncomfortable, but will feel happy. If it is not an enemy, but someone important to you is killed with your own hands, and her blood is all over your body...

"Clap."

Su Ming did not go out to help immediately. Instead, he hid on the rooftop of a nearby building and lit a cigarette.

Let’s not talk about what kind of relationship will develop with Tokugawa Airi for now.

First of all, I also have human thoughts. Even if I was born, I am still a human.

Whatever she wants to achieve on her own, let her do it first.

It really looks a bit like me back then, so desperate. But not that similar. She can seek death without any worries, but I can't. And I can't die. At that time, the only choice left for me was to either endure and repeat it over and over again, or finish the mission and go back.

7 month 13 day.

Two o'clock in the morning.

Tokugawa Airi is no fool. She also knows how to maneuver.

It is clear that when facing a strong enemy, one needs to fight with more flexible thinking.

The current terrain is too open, so we'll replace it with a building complex that's inconvenient for monsters to move around in. There's a fairly intact apartment building nearby.

"boom……"

This way, every time the monster moves, it will encounter resistance. It will not be so flexible. But she is almost unaffected. She can jump up and down like a monkey.

"Has it become this strong?"

Su Ming put out the cigarette which was still quite a bit left after taking two puffs. He then looked at the cigarette box and found it was empty.

it is good.

I've been in the game for so long, and I only have this one pack. Quitting smoking is just around the corner.

I have quit smoking, so how far is bitterness from me?
Su Ming had a feeling when practicing with Tokugawa Airi. At the beginning, he only needed to use the sword master bonus to basically deal with her. If she used all her strength and didn't want to force herself to continue pretending to be a master, he would quietly use the second bonus.

The masters of swordsmanship and spearmanship hardly consume Su Ming's physical strength, or it can be said that Su Ming's physical strength limit is no longer the same as before.

If you take out the Philosopher's Blade again, it will be too bullying. Killing him in one hit will make no sense in sparring.

But Tokugawa, with whom she had the last sparring match yesterday, required her to use a real sword, namely the Philosopher's Blade... and she could no longer be defeated with just one strike.

Although her body was covered with wounds and scratches, none of them were fatal. The monster was huge, and two of its ugly and disgusting tentacles had been cut off. It completely ignored the concrete building and only focused on catching prey, which also consumed a lot of its physical strength.

If this goes on, there might not be a need for me to show up at all.

7 month 13 day.

Half past two in the morning.

"Pfft-"

Su Ming still appeared.

Although the monster's physical strength was greatly consumed and its movements were obviously slow.

But then again, for Tokugawa Airi, facing this thing is like an extreme sport... You can beat the King of Hell countless times, but if you lose once, it's gone.

She was a little slow in moving, and was hit hard in the stomach by the tentacles caught in the concrete fragments, sending her flying backwards. She was no longer as capable as before.

"...Mr. Su?"

With half-coagulated blood flowing from the corner of his mouth, he looked at Su Ming in a daze.

"It's pretty good. Unfortunately, the health and mana bars are quite thick. It's as hard to play as a Souls game."

"do you need my help?"

"Even though you ask me that, I will kill it no matter how you answer."

"I have no interest in low-level monsters, this kind... is a little bit."

fog.

Su Ming was used to it.

Moreover, the white fog in front of me can only be described as hazy fog, not to the extent that I have encountered before where I can't see my hand in front of me.

If there is fog here, is it related to the fog in Sea Island City and in 2067? I think it should be.

Maybe if Haidao City hadn't waited for rescue at that time, the people would have ended up like this.

7 month 13 day.

Half past two in the morning.

If Tokugawa Airi hadn't consumed it for so long before, Su Ming might have had to spend more effort.

But the monster only has two tentacles left, and its movements are not as fast as they were at the beginning... It's really not good enough.

What's more, Su Ming is now proficient in both melee and ranged combat.

He couldn’t learn Beichen Yidao Style…

But when it comes to switching from melee combat to ranged combat, and from ranged combat to melee combat, Su Ming is very skilled.

Can't I use the things I learned from the game or the knife skills sent by Xiaoye? Before, I could only charge up and use the sword energy that consumed a lot of physical strength at one time, but now I can use fireballs that splash dozens of times without feeling tired... all thanks to my right hand.

“…Lulu.”

Su Ming cut off all the tentacles of the monster, leaving only the twisted trunk struggling to wriggle on the ground. There was black sticky blood everywhere.

At this time, Su Ming looked at Tokugawa Airi who was leaning against the wall.

"Finally, do you want to do it yourself or do you want me to help you?"

There is still a difference, right?

The situation of Yun Que at that time was different from this. At that time, it was clear that the boss and Yun Que coexisted, and the purpose of Yun Que's consciousness existing was just to delay time, until the goddess completely obtained her body.

And the monster in front of him was already a monster two years ago.

Is there any chance of repair?

Thinking from an outsider's perspective is easy, and you don't have to worry about the probability. As long as you know that the task is to kill it, it's fine. Thinking about it this way... I am indeed not a really good person.

"..."

Tokugawa Airi clutched the samurai sword, staring blankly at the scene she had dreamed of.

The target of revenge fell to the ground, dying.

Let her do whatever she wants.

But her body did not move at all, and she stammered but could not utter a word to answer Su Ming.

"Then let me help you."

Su Ming's idea was very simple. No matter what Tokugawa Airi thought, his mission was to kill the monster in front of him... Who was he going to kill? The only reason he brought her along was because the mission mentioned that he had to help Tokugawa get revenge, so he didn't come alone.

Now that the time, place and people are all right, there is no reason for me not to complete the task.

"..."

"~"

Su Ming raised the Philosophical Blade in his right hand. At that moment, the monster let out a growl that was completely different from the previous one.

Humming an inexplicable tune.

Without seeing the mouthparts, I had no idea where the sound came from.

"Dad... is humming a tune."

"That's my mom's favorite song. Secret."

"..."

Tokugawa Airi, who had been completely unable to move just now, stood up with the help of her sword.

"I don't know if Mr. Su can hear or see it...it has become the appearance of my father, begging for mercy from me."

"..."

Su Ming put down the Philosophy Blade and looked at her.

So, let it go?

"Dad doesn't know."

"Mom told me that she doesn't like songs of this tune at all. She just knew that the singer of this song was a voice actor that Dad liked, so she deliberately let Dad know that she liked it. She thought that Dad would definitely sing it, and next time we went to KTV, we would definitely have something to talk about. But it turned out that Dad only liked the dubbing in the game and didn't pay attention to what the voice actor sang... I thought our fate would end here, but it didn't take long for me to find out that Dad had already learned the song."

"Dad is a straight man."

"The opportunities he thought were given to him by his mother on purpose. His mother said... there were so many other boys' desks that he didn't sit on. If he didn't have a purpose, why would he sit on his desk? This isn't the 80 Group."

"I feel very happy when I say that."

Tears welled up in Tokugawa Airi's eyes. Perhaps she had gripped the knife handle too tightly, and her knuckles had turned white.

"Stop lying."

"If Daddy was really still alive... he wouldn't be like this. He wouldn't beg for mercy."

"You can only cry bitterly, right?"

"How could you possibly survive with my mother's blood on your hands? How could you possibly see me and my daughter?"

"The first sentence was...did you forget that it was dad or something like that?"

"You are... a monster!"

"..."

As if she had gathered all her remaining strength, Tokugawa Airi rushed forward in an instant.

"Pfft!"

A precise thrust of the knife pierced its body. But it was not enough to kill the monster.

"..."

So, she swung the samurai sword madly enough until the monster stopped moving completely and her cheeks were covered with a layer of fresh black blood.

The fog was getting thicker.

The temperature...this shouldn't be an illusion, it really has dropped a lot of degrees.

The ground was still shaking.

Su Ming knew very well that there must be more than one monster... The monster formed after her father was parasitized was probably not the strongest boss. At most, it was an elite monster.

Based on previous experience of facing fog.

Once the fog gets thicker, more difficult things will definitely appear later.

Su Ming had an idea of ​​the low, extremely low or medium difficulty levels, but he had no idea what would appear in the fog of the high difficulty world.

7 month 13 day.

Four o'clock in the morning.

"Grass."

Su Ming knew that nothing good would happen if the fog became thicker.

Night vision is completely useless in this pitch-black fog. All I can hear is the sound of whistling and some kind of biological activity...

Tokugawa Airi had completely lost motivation after killing her "father". She could only sit there and let Su Ming pull her up... She couldn't even hold the samurai sword that she always kept in her hand.

"...Mr. Su."

“There’s nothing else I want to do.”

"I'm sorry to drag you into this kind of place, this dangerous place..." "Please let me go. I can still...still be able to help you cover your retreat."

"..."

What bullshit are you talking about?
If it were that simple I would have thrown it away long ago.

If it could be played as a stand-alone game, I would have reached the final boss stage long ago.

Too bad this isn't a single player game.

7 month 13 day.

Six o'clock in the morning.

Su Ming never thought that the shelter that he had helped out before and thought might be able to operate normally in the future... would appear at this time.

That is to say, a drone flew in front of Su Ming's eyes, shining a flash light.

"I thought you might be the one who made such a big noise, so I had the guts to do that, but I didn't expect it was really you!"

"Please run this way!"

"We still have more than a dozen drones... I hope they can help you cover your retreat."

7 month 13 day.

The degree of daybreak.

Su Ming arrived at a basement where two women lived.

She was wearing men's clothes and her hair was cut short to her ears compared to the last time I met her.

"She's... ah, is she hurt?"

"We brought an emergency medical kit!"

"..."

It was really the woman who said she wanted to be a "human" before, completely different from her previous weak image. She had a short knife on her waist and a gun with a silencer...all left behind when Su Ming left. But Su Ming never thought that they would dare to explore the Chiyo District.

"Hehe, when you left your weapon behind, you said... you wanted to wait until this was over and then live somewhere far away. But I think that instead of letting a strong man like you fight alone, we can do something within our capabilities. We are also human beings, not to mention... I have successfully helped you so far, which proves that my choice was right."

"We have decided that this is no longer a refuge. It is an organization to save the country."

"A group standing behind people like you... we can do it too! Not just Xiaohui and I, there are more than ten people who are as brave as us and are willing to do what only the Evolved dared to do back then, to explore. The four of us, if we are prepared and work together, can kill a low-level monster."

Do four people have to be ready to work together to kill one?

For Su Ming, this achievement was too small, but for them who had been living in an environment that could not be called "human", it was enough to be a new beginning.

7 month 13 day.

early.

I had previously wondered whether Mr. Su would go to the shelter I mentioned... and have fun like those people?

There are no pure good people in this world. Who would save someone just because of what I said?

I also thought that maybe he really could be such a good person.

There is no need to think now, the facts are right in front of you.

"Why do you wear this kind of attire? Of course it's to make it easier to move around."

"Think about it. Thick leggings are more convenient than traditional pants, and they don't restrict movement."

"Ah... what are you looking at?"

"We don't dress like this when we go outside. We're afraid of being contaminated, so we wear goggles, hats... and thick clothes. Look, they're all there."

"We are all indoors, why do we have to cover ourselves up so tightly? It's very hot."

"You're not embarrassed to look at it, are you? Haha. I don't mind."

"..."

"But do you mind if I'm not a cook anymore?"

"..."

"I knew you wouldn't mind, but I still do. It just so happened that that day was the day my sister... the Evolver who protected me so well died. I was naturally targeted as prey, but you saved me."

"You asked me if I wanted to be a human or something, so... in this world, even if you have a girlfriend, it doesn't matter if I mind being seen by you. Besides, it's just a tight short-sleeved shirt, what's the big deal."

"Xiao Hui... why are you looking at me like that? I just feel that I might die tomorrow, so I should just say whatever I want to say. Otherwise, wouldn't it be a shame to have regrets when I die?"

"..."

Mr. Su did not seek pleasure.

Their attitude of trust and gratitude is not fake.

I am not Mr. Su’s wife, let alone his girlfriend.

It's just a deal... I won't refuse no matter how evil your purpose is after I've taken revenge.

How did Mr. Su survive after losing his wife? Did he spend more than two years like me, or even longer? Is it possible that he also killed his relatives and loved ones who turned into monsters with his own hands?

How do you find the motivation to live again?
I originally thought that I would kill my father who had become a monster... or be killed by him. Or, after killing him, I would die on the way to kill some monster. I didn't think about what would happen after the revenge was over, because it didn't exist.

"Tokugawa, how do you feel?"

Mr. Su may have noticed that I opened my eyes, so he came over.

"Damn it, you've already woken up? What did I say in front of your girlfriend..."

The woman's cheeks flushed.

And I just looked at Mr. Su.

"..."

I want to know, what exactly is your so-called evil purpose to do to me?

"Take a break. This should be safe."

"What do you want to eat... Oh, do you want some water?"

"..."

I nodded, and Mr. Su personally helped me up and handed me a clean thermos cup.

There's no need to ask.

The bad intention never existed in the first place.

He sneaked out and planned to fundamentally solve this body that was only a shell left, without being questioned.

He was not scolded for putting Mr. Su in a dangerous situation, but was brought out instead.

I thought there was a small chance that the shelter would really do something good and help them... In fact, it was 100% likely that Mr. Su did so. He helped them without asking for anything in return, not only saving them, but even letting them find the true meaning of living.

"Sorry...I was just joking with my uncle."

"?"

Seeing Mr. Su frowning, he asked, "Am I an uncle again?"

"..."

"Tokugawa? Are you...laughing?"

Am I laughing?

I don’t know, I don’t have that awareness.

But, I remembered a lot of past events.

"Aili-chan, you will definitely survive!"

"You must live well..."

At that time, I thought, how could my mother say such cruel words?

Knowing that I had been deprived of everything, he still gave me this advice at the end.

I like you, I hate you. No, I love you.

Lyrics like this... No wonder dad only dared to hum the tune when he was alive. It would be embarrassing if he sang it in front of me, his daughter, right?
I just...kind of want to live.

I feel like life isn't that bad.

Dad and Mom think so too, right?

I lost my important wife and my important family members...is this fate in some sense?

It’s just like what my mother said about fate.

Obviously the woman she rescued wasn't bad, she was pretty, but she was unmoved.

Maybe it's the same piece of wood that my mother secretly said, 'Your father used to be a piece of wood'?

Like it, hate it? No, I don’t know either… I don’t know what it is now. I just feel that since I have survived like this, I should live a more decent life.

Mr. Su has no bad intentions towards me.

What if I have?
Would it be more like living if I used a thousand tricks and deliberately gave out hints like my mother did with my father?
I didn't think too much about it.

Just putting aside the thoughts of what I just did, what I just killed... thinking that if I do this now, it might be fun.

"?"

So, I put down the thermos cup, fell into his arms, and kissed his neck.

I don't know after that, maybe it will be interesting, but I'm too tired.

7 month 13 day.

early.

A soft touch spread to the back of his neck, and Su Ming was confused.

But Tokugawa in his arms had no reaction.

"Uncle...is she jealous?"

"I'm not your uncle."

"But, what I said was right... I could die at any time anyway, and I would die for the survival of mankind. I was not wrong to bravely express my feelings without any regrets! Uncle... do you think it was wrong?"

"Don't look at me so pitifully. And, let me say it again. I'm not your uncle. I'm 25 years old."

"25? When you were in middle school, I was just in kindergarten. Really, uncle."

"..."

Putting aside the question of whether he was an uncle or not, Su Ming put Tokugawa Airi, who was probably too tired, back and covered her with his coat.

Let’s put aside the inexplicable kiss.

【Character: Tokugawa Airi】

【Favourability: 90】

[Description: I think you are a very powerful person and a good person. I have a high impression of you.]

The description is like giving out a nice guy card, right?
According to common sense, shouldn't the Good Guy Card simply mean getting the title of "good guy"?
Which step did I go wrong?
Should good people be rewarded?! So many good people don't get good rewards, why should I get good rewards?!
"..."

There was no eye on his right hand, but Su Ming seemed to sense a pair of invisible eyes staring at him, emitting a resentment even more terrifying than Sadako's.

"Although I originally had the character of Yamato Xunzi, after seeing many things...I feel that many things are not important anymore."

"So, uncle, do you want to have an affair with a younger man?"

"Xiaoxun...can you be more reserved?"

"Why are you being so reserved? No matter how reserved you are, you can't have an embarrassing romance with your uncle. He already has a blonde beauty JK. The only role left for me is the mistress."

"..."

seriously.

If the girl next to her hadn't been so shameless as to pull her arm against the baby cafeteria, Xue'er's resentment would have been... a little less, right?

sorry.

You shouldn't babble a bunch of nonsense to encourage people after saving them.

What were you thinking at that time?
Wow, after saying so much and copying the lines of a certain Kamen Rider, I must look very handsome.

Well, it seems to be a great success. But it is so successful that I want to wear a mask of pain.

Who can understand?

This is "having an affair" in front of a wife! This is undoubtedly walking a tightrope.

Xue'er saw everything, leaving her no chance to make excuses or cover it up.

How many times have I walked on thin ice in this life? Why haven’t I reached the other side yet?
(End of this chapter)