radicalducati Page 42
Page 42
"Is it funny?"
Lin Jiu'an also laughed, leaning his upper body slightly forward.
Ningguang hummed in agreement, not paying any attention to his imposing movements, since she no longer cared about dying anyway.
He chuckled and said, "I never expected you could say something so naive."
"I really don't know how I lost to you."
"Naive?"
Lin Jiu'an smiled and stuck his finger into his chest.
With a sickeningly painful sound of flesh and blood, Ningguang watched helplessly as he pulled the Heart of Geo from her chest.
Seeing the bloody, mangled fingers, Ningguang felt a chill run down her spine.
At that moment, she finally realized that this guy had really gone mad!
Even though her hair was disheveled, her cheongsam was soaked with wine, and she was somewhat frightened by Lin Jiu'an's crazy actions, Ningguang still maintained her elegant and noble appearance, with a graceful yet disdainful smile.
So what if that's the case?
"Whether it's killing me or..."
"Whether you imprison me and torture and humiliate me day and night to vent your desires and hatred, it's up to you. I accept that I am not as strong as you."
"how could be?"
Lin Jiu'an smiled, tossed the Heart of the Rock God into his clean left hand, and casually reached out with his right hand, still covered in flesh and blood, to gently stroke Ningguang's right ear and cheek.
The moment those fingers touched, Ningguang's body trembled involuntarily, but she still forced herself to remain calm and met his gaze.
You've misunderstood me, really.
"rest assured."
"How could I possibly kill you? How could I possibly torture you?"
"We're best friends!"
Lin Jiu'an held Ningguang's cheek, looked into her eyes, and stood very close to her.
"Let me think."
"The reason you didn't respond to the unfavorable rumors about you in Liyue before was that you wanted to wait until the situation was at its worst before you could turn the tide, right?"
Ningguang's smile gradually faded.
The one who is horizontal is afraid of being stunned, and the one who is stunned is afraid of losing his life.
If there's anything more terrifying than a reckless madman, it's that this reckless madman also has a brain!
What terrified her most was...
Even now, she could not see any hatred or anger in Lin Jiu'an's eyes.
Only that somewhat perverted laugh remained.
At this moment, Lin Jiu'an, who seemed to have gone mad but was also very calm and saw right through her, parted his cherry lips slightly and suddenly had the absurd thought that 'perhaps he really has a way to become the next "Emperor"?'
Lin Jiu'an withdrew his hand, toying with the Heart of the Rock God, and murmured, "Yes, people always like heroes."
"Especially heroes who are redeemed from the darkness."
"Come on, come with me to see, my 'best friend'."
Lin Jiu'an stood up, turned around and walked outside.
Watching Lin Jiu'an's departing figure, Ningguang hesitated for a moment, recalling the scene of him shoving a wine bottle into her mouth like a madman and frantically digging his fingers into his chest to remove the Heart of the Rock God. In the end, she got up and limped after him out of the room.
Following Lin Jiu'an, they arrived at the edge of the Qunyu Pavilion. Standing on the railing, they could see the surging sea.
A light drizzle had begun to fall from the sky.
"In your past life, you used the Jade Pavilion to throw the 'Vortex Demon God' back into the deep sea."
"It earned you prestige and laid the foundation for your future position."
"In fact, it didn't take long at all to acquire a new 'Jade Pavilion'."
As Ningguang listened to Lin Jiu'an's story, she became increasingly uneasy, and a bad feeling suddenly came to her.
But, how is this possible?
next moment.
It seemed to confirm her guess.
Suddenly, the sea, almost invisible in the far distance, began to surge, with towering waves and howling winds. A huge vortex was forming, and the dark clouds in the sky gathered in the same way as the sea, as if some terrifying monster was about to be born.
Do you even know what you're doing?
Ningguang stared at him in disbelief.
She genuinely couldn't understand what Lin Jiu'an was doing!
Unleash the "Vortex Demon God"!
Right now, the only way for the entire Liyue region to stop the Whirlwind Demon is to use her Jade Pavilion to smash it back, or for the Emperor "Morax" to be resurrected and defeat it again.
However, no matter how she thought about it, Lin Jiu'an would never do it, since doing so would only benefit her for nothing.
But the latter is also impossible.
If Morax is truly forced to 'resurrect' and take action, then Lin Jiu'an will not only be the next 'Emperor', but he will likely be the next one to be killed after Morax kills the 'Vortex Demon God'.
Either of these two scenarios would be such good news that she would be overjoyed and able to turn her adversity around.
But she didn't quite believe that Lin Jiu'an would do something stupid.
After all, he had made so many promises and done so much before. If he were to pull a big stunt like this, wouldn't he be even more of a clown than a clown?
Surely he couldn't still love her and just come to cheer her up because she's been in a bad mood lately?
"The Emperor is dead, and Liyue is about to be destroyed by the 'Vortex Demon God'."
Lin Jiu'an smiled and pointed to himself with his right hand, which was holding the Heart of the Rock God.
"I suddenly appeared and used the power of the Geo Archon to knock it back to the seabed, saving Liyue from its precarious state."
"At this moment, you, the 'Star of Heavenly Power,' discover the 'Emperor's' last will and testament, which states that before his death during his tribulation, the Emperor had already found his successor."
"It is I, the savior of Liyue."
"With that 'Emperor's' last will, absolute power, the achievement of saving Liyue, and with your help as the most powerful 'Tianquan Star' under the Emperor, I will become the second 'Emperor' of Liyue."
"Thus initiating reforms."
"My dearest friend, what do you think of my plan?"
Chapter Twelve "The Vortex Demon God" (3K)
Ningguang's first reaction was that it was impossible.
Although the "Vortex Demon God" had been sealed for thousands of years, it has only just been freed from the seal and its strength is now less than one-tenth of what it once was.
But a demon is still a demon.
Even the weakest demon god, only a demon god can defeat him.
Not to mention Lin Jiu'an, even if the Three-Eyed Five Manifestations Immortals joined forces, they still couldn't contend with him.
But as she was thinking, Ningguang suddenly froze.
She thought of Ying.
She remembered that when the other party was fighting Stormterror in Mondstadt, it was the Anemo Archon who lent her His power, which enabled her to successfully defeat Stormterror.
Ying and Lin Jiu'an appeared on the same day and both can use seven elements...
"This is all thanks to you."
“If you hadn’t chosen to let it go, Morax wouldn’t have agreed to my proposal.”
"after all."
"The deaths and negative impacts brought about from the top down are always much better and much less than those brought about from the bottom up, don't you think, my 'best friend'?"
Ningguang is currently feeling nauseous, uncomfortable, and wants to vomit.
It felt like I was pregnant.
Although she knew that the truth was most likely not as Lin Jiu'an had said.
It's impossible to blame myself entirely for not answering the "first question" correctly, which led Morax to choose Lin Jiu'an. Lin Jiu'an's statement was most likely just to annoy me.
But what humans excel at most is fantasizing when they feel helpless. Even if they know it's impossible, they still feel sad when they hear it.
If only I had done it back then...
"impossible!"
"The worst that can happen is death!"
Seeing Ningguang's furious expression, Lin Jiu'an smiled noncommittally.
"is it?"
Lin Jiu'an took out the letter he had prepared beforehand from his pocket.
When Ningguang and the others came to their senses, they realized that they had inexplicably taken the letter.
I wanted to throw this letter down.
But Ningguang's hand was clenched tightly, and she ultimately did not let go.
Seeing Lin Jiu'an, who was already smiling as he watched the appearance of the Vortex Demon God, seemingly waiting for a 'good time' and ignoring her, Ning Guang's hand holding the letter trembled slightly.
If it's an order from the Emperor...
Ningguang made excuses for herself and opened the letter.
But looking at that letter, Ningguang was utterly desperate. Of course, she recognized the handwriting as Lin Jiu'an's!
But what can we do about it?
Ningguang realized that she seemed to have no other way out but to cooperate with him.
Cooperate with him.
At least I can maintain some dignity, and maybe one day I can even become a puppet "Tianquan Star"...
But I didn't cooperate with him.
The choice is simply: be killed by him, be imprisoned and become his Starfury, or be stripped of all wealth and power and driven out of Liyue.
Judging from the other party's behavior, Ningguang felt that the other party would choose the third party that she least wanted to accept.
Where did she go after that?
I definitely can't go to Mondstadt.
Inazuma, a country that closed itself off from the world, where power was firmly held by the three great rulers for hundreds of years. Even if they did something wrong, they would not be punished, and at most they would be given a lecture.
A group of self-proclaimed wise men, who are actually just a bunch of ordinary idiots?
Fontaine, driven by a sense of justice?
Nata, who only knows how to kill all day long?
Is it still the stronghold of the Winter Kingdom, the Winter Kingdom with "rich people" in charge?
It's easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality. Make her give up her current comfortable life, make her completely relinquish her power and wealth, and turn her into a woman who has nothing but beauty.
Just thinking about it, Ningguang didn't think she could have a good ending.
It's better to be his Star Fury.
Or be killed by him.
The former might have a chance to turn things around someday.
The latter simply closed his eyes and it was over.
But the other party won't give her a chance.
What made her feel worse than eating shit, what she would rather die than accept, was that she had to help the guy who ruined her establish his status as "Emperor," and then have him depose her...