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Chapter 21: Explosion
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Do something… just buy some time… Under the threat of death, the man’s mind raced.
“You’re planning an explosion.” Viya’s first sentence nearly scared the man to death.
His luck had been terrible—the Objective One was only completed when he was the last person alive.
So those fanatics had finally come for him!
The man was filled with sorrow and anger.
“Talk,” Viya said simply.
Unexpectedly, this “robber” didn’t immediately act but instead sat down in the chair in front of him.
“What do you want me to say?”
The man was confused, unsure of what she meant.
“Why are you doing this? Why involve the entire train? Did someone on board wrong you?” Viya muttered to herself. “There must be a reason.”
The man fell silent. In his experience, those fanatics were always silent, letting blood speak for them.
But now, they were actually asking for his last words?
Had he mistaken her identity?
“What do you want?” the man asked uncertainly.
“To unlock more story cutscenes.” Viya gave an explanation that made no sense to the man. “Now it’s your turn to pour out your grievances. Tell me how cruel and unfair this world has been to you, how much suffering and discrimination you endured as a child, and convince me that everything you’ve done was justified.”
“And then you’ll pity me and let me go?” the man guessed cautiously.
“No.”
“Then what’s the point of me doing this?” The man grew even more perplexed.
“It will make your character more three-dimensional, which is important.” Viya displayed unusual patience.
Her tone sounded as if she were helping him complete a lifelong mission, assisting him in fulfilling his ultimate purpose.
Yes, that was exactly the feeling—the kind of performance art those fanatics excelled at… The man had initially thought there might still be a chance, but now he only found it laughable.
This person sitting in front of him—her inhumanity, her pretense of normalcy—it all felt unbearably jarring.
Damn followers of the Esoteric Sect!
The man cursed them viciously in his heart.
“Go ahead and talk,” Viya gently crossed her hands, encouraging him.
Her tone was almost like coaxing a child.
But under the hollow gaze of the “robber,” it felt more like she was urging him to hurry up and deliver his final words so he could leave this world quickly.
“If you really want to know…”
The man continued powering his laureate while recalling:
“I was born in a village near Quetil. My life was no different from others—herding sheep, working the fields, day after day…”
“Get to the point.” Viya interrupted.
“The point is, one day I woke up from a dream about a graveyard… and then… then I became what you call an Ascender.”
“I remember that day clearly. The priests from the city came, and that’s when I realized how beautiful clothes could be.”
“That old man Yosiah—ha! When he saw me being taken away to live in the city, he screamed so loudly, his eyes burning with jealousy.”
The man recounted slowly. He didn’t understand her true intentions, but he needed time now.
He paused briefly:
“I thought everything would get better after that. I married a woman who wasn’t too pretty or too ugly, received subsidies from Poye for Ascenders, and lived respectably.”
“But the ceasefire treaty between Poye and Mohif only lasted a few years. The sudden gunfire shattered our lives.”
“Yes, at the time, I knew nothing. I was just an ordinary person, albeit a strong one. But Poye forced all Ascenders to join the front lines, so I could only bid farewell to my wife and head to the battlefield.”
The man seemed to have completely fallen into his memories. If it weren’t inappropriate, he might have asked this follower of the Esoteric Sect to light him a cigarette.
“It was the sixth year of the war. As usual, I was counting the dead, listening to broadcasts about how many comrades we’d abandon due to supply shortages… and suddenly, the war ended.”
“This isn’t exaggeration—it’s just stating facts.”
“Just like the sudden gunshot that started it, it ended abruptly for no reason. The two kings shook hands, the officers walked into that small tent, and told us to pack up and leave—with no warning at all.”
“A new treaty was signed, statues of peace erected between the two nations, and all of this happened within minutes of me hearing the news.”
“Do you understand how that feels? It’s like…” The man frowned, thinking deeply. “…like being on a movie set!”
“Yes! A terrible movie. An abrupt beginning, an ending with no foreshadowing.”
“The actors held weapons in the trenches while the director threw the unfinished script into the air and ran off, leaving the unmade-up actors stunned in place.”
The man’s emotions visibly fluctuated.
“Get to the point,” Viya repeated. “This isn’t enough to justify what you’ve done.”
“…” The man was speechless, remembering that the person listening to him wasn’t compassionate.
Empathy was a luxury when it came to followers of the Esoteric Sect.
“My wife died.” The man spoke flatly. “Last week, she was pregnant not long ago. There were signs of violation on her corpse. I sought help from legal institutions, but to no avail.”
“In the end, I got a lead from your group. The murderer is on this train.”
So you decided to take everyone on the train with you to heaven… Viya couldn’t quite grasp the logic of these people.
At the same time, she realized she was being mistaken for someone from a certain organization.
“Have you ever considered something?” Viya said with a hint of pity. “Someone powerful enough to suppress this matter…”
“How could they possibly ride in the same carriage as ordinary passengers?”
In an instant, clarity returned to the man’s eyes.
Trembling, he raised his hands to cover his head. Only now did he realize he had been used as a pawn.
The Esoteric Sect had sent him here for revenge, but when he was close to succeeding, they sent someone to reveal the truth. To ordinary people, this might seem illogical, but for the Esoteric Sect, a whim was enough to explain everything.
“What are you doing?!”
A loud voice came from the end of the carriage.
Mithra’s expression darkened as she took in the chaotic scene of bodies scattered across the carriage. She pieced together an approximation of what had happened.
Her teammate Viya had uncovered the real culprit, who, enraged, had attacked.
During the fight, the passengers, unable to find cover, were ruthlessly killed by the culprit.
It was simply… infuriating!
Suddenly, a massive surge of magical energy erupted. Magical runes wrapped around the man’s neck. After secretly accumulating mana, the man’s laureate was finally activated.
Ahead was the Ascender about to explode; behind was her panicked teammate.
“…Sigh.” Viya heard her own deep exhale.
Then—
She stepped back, reclining into the flames of the explosion, falling backward through the shattering glass-like world, descending into history.
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The roaring train sped through the narrow valley. Hundreds of passengers sat in their seats, the cries of infants, the smell of cheap cigarettes, and the chatter filling the carriage with noise.
Viya’s eyelashes fluttered slightly before she slowly opened her eyes.
The chatting passengers and fading scent of blood indicated she had returned to the beginning of the island.
She brushed aside the hand reaching out to stop her, walked over to the attendant, picked up a piece of fruit from the tray, and began eating as she moved toward the corner.
The man was dozing in his seat. Viya gauged the angle, then lightly sliced the man’s throat with a butter knife.
A Third Ring Ascender was still mortal. A fatal wound would kill him, especially since this man, weakened by evading inspections and driving a high-consumption laureate for so long, was already at his limit. He didn’t even have the layer of magical protection over his body anymore—he was extremely fragile.
Almost simultaneously, the envelope in her pocket trembled slightly.
---
“So greedy?”
Watching Viya head straight toward the dining table, Mithra chuckled softly and turned her gaze away.
If she liked fine dining, perhaps she could invite her to Tamira Restaurant for a few meals in the future?
Leaning comfortably against the chair, she idly reached into her pocket after a few seconds.
“Let’s see what this mission is about.”
Mithra muttered.
She opened the envelope.
Inside, there was no lengthy background introduction, no complex character stories, no impending catastrophic crisis.
Only two short sentences:
“Congratulations, the island has been cleared.”
“Clearance Time: -7 seconds.”
Mithra: ???
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