Chapter 54: If I still have to make a choice – even if I choose to sacrifice again…

“I’m sorry…….. little sister.”

Luo Zhizhou leaned on his crutch, standing at the doorstep.

His sister looked at the report he had brought, but the dim light made it hard for him to discern her exact expression.

“Level 5 disability… fractured left leg, abdominal organ damage, hearing loss in the right ear……………”

She read the report aloud, a few tears dropping onto the black ink on white paper.

“Making it back alive is already quite something, Luo Xi. These injuries can mostly heal……………”

She said nothing, only gripping Luo Zhizhou’s arm tightly and helping him inside.

“Where’s Dad?” Luo Zhizhou asked, looking around the empty house.

“He went out to work.”

“Still farming?”

“No, he rented out the fields.”

Luo Zhizhou felt his sister had changed — she was much quieter now.

“Does anyone bully you at school?”

“No.”

With her help, Luo Zhizhou sat down on a stool.

“Brother, I’ll prepare dinner for you.”

“Okay.”

The two ate dinner in silence.

But Luo Zhizhou had many words swirling in his heart.

“When did you learn to cook?” he asked.

“Shortly after you left.”

He glanced at the wall of her room, plastered with golden award certificates.

“Ah, a whole wall of certificates. Luo Xi, your grades are improving.”

“It’s nothing.” She replied coldly.

His sister seemed to carry her own worries.

After dinner, with Luo Xi supporting him, Luo Zhizhou went to the bathroom.

“You don’t need to help me anymore; I can wash myself.” Luo Zhizhou said awkwardly.

“No, what if you fall?”

“But……………”

“Take off your shirt.” She ordered sharply.

He tried to remove his shirt, but his arm ached when bent beyond a point. Slowly, he struggled but still couldn’t get it off.

“Uh, could you help me………..?”

Finally, with her assistance, the shirt came off.

Then, Luo Zhizhou felt water droplets running down his back.

“Is the house leaking?”

He turned around.

He saw his sister’s tears flowing uncontrollably, accompanied by faint sobbing.

“Wuwuwu… your back, it’s all bruised……..”

“Oh, that’s because………..”

Luo Zhizhou quickly reached out to wipe her tears, feeling a bit helpless.

“I fell on my back last week, it’s nothing serious, should heal in a month…………”

But Luo Xi’s tears didn’t stop.

“Luo Xi, don’t cry……..”

***

One month later, at the doorstep.

Luo Xi stood behind Luo Zhizhou, holding the little pinwheel he had once given her.

“You gave this to me, and I still have it, so——”

“Brother, promise me you won’t leave me again, okay?”

Under the blazing sun, Luo Zhizhou turned around, shading his younger sister with his shadow.

He gazed at her for a long time, then opened his long-closed mouth: “I’m sorry, Luo Xi, I still have a mission unfinished……………”

His memory blurred.

He only remembered his sister saying something, then crying as she closed the door.

[I am such an unworthy brother. If there’s a next life… little sister, I will stay by your side.]

Blackness.

When his thoughts returned to the present, before him lay an endless teal ocean, pure white light emanating from its depths.

Ciyue struggled; her Magic Shield was under immense pressure, barely holding its shape.

Thick nerves extended from the depths, and Ciyue followed the extradimensional beast’s nerve fibers, moving deeper.

Breathing grew difficult; the oxygen she carried from outside was running low, and soon hypoxia would set in.

Within tiny bubbles inside this green sea, the unknown liquid pressing in like a cage imprisoned the white-haired girl.

Unknown creatures slowly swam out along the nerve fibers, heading straight for Ciyue.

“Are those… the extradimensional beasts parasitizing the Di Huo body?”

These beasts had fish-like bodies, with sharp horn-like protrusions on their heads, like tunas.

Ciyue knew very well that if struck by these spikes, her exhausted Magic Shield would instantly tear, and she’d die on the spot.

“They’re coming!”

The beasts began charging forward. Ciyue activated her magic to perform short-range jumps through the ocean, dodging their deadly attacks.

“No, I can’t fight head-on…………..”

She had to speed up to avoid them and buy time — to eliminate the beast core of Di Huo’s extradimensional beasts before their energy was fully depleted.

As for surviving? Ciyue had never considered that once she entered this ocean.

“Damn, almost there…………..”

Ciyue clearly saw the extradimensional beast core of Di Huo. Under the blinding light, the core emitted ascending bubbles.

She manifested a magic crystal beside her. When the white crystal touched the green liquid, it immediately corroded many holes, turning gray overall.

“Die!”

Ciyue thrust the magic crystal forward, piercing toward the core at high speed.

Unexpectedly, the glowing core seemed to sense her attack, quickly sinking down into the green abyss.

With it, more parasitic beasts rose from the depths, forming a massive beast horde, surrounding Ciyue in the blink of an eye.

She wanted to follow the core downward but was blocked by the beast horde forming a hopeless wall.

Like a noose tightening around her throat, they closed in.

Coughing dryly, she began to suffocate………

Her mind clouded.

“Am I going to die……………… even you, little sister, can’t save me…………..”

[Cheer up, Luo Zhizhou, and me, I’m with you.]

Bai Lingyi? Ciyue heard an unbelievable voice.

“Bai Lingyi, where are you?”

[I’m below. Come find me.]

It was as if injected with the last shot of vitality. Her magical core ramped up output, releasing a final surge of magic power.

The Magic Shield was invisibly optimized to its best form, fitting tightly around Ciyue’s body.

She gripped a white longsword that wouldn’t corrode, and fell downward, following gravity.

“I’m coming.”

The longsword pierced through the parasitic beast horde’s defenses, flashing with seven-colored radiance.

Drawing near, Ciyue felt Bai Lingyi’s familiar presence—her voice, her scent, her flowing hair………

Beneath that white light in the abyss!

Ciyue accelerated toward that place, clutching the longsword.

The Knight was here to save her princess.

Everything happened unconsciously.

The longsword pierced the beast core. Then, both lost their color and disintegrated.

Darkness engulfed the surroundings.

Ciyue was about to meet her end.

Below this abyss, she found nothing.

Only boundless loneliness.

The water stirred; faint light illuminated Ciyue’s exhausted body.

“I… found you.”

A familiar voice, familiar scent, familiar hair.

Bai Lingyi’s face appeared in Ciyue’s vision.

Too tired to speak, Ciyue simply gave her a kiss.

Using her last strength, she forced her eyes open, greedily staring at the girl’s beautiful face.

After receiving the kiss, the girl showed surprise, then returned to that loving expression.

“Sister Ciyue, didn’t I say to trust your teammates?”

“Fighting alone must be so lonely, but don’t worry—I’m here with you.”

“Come, hold my hand.”

“I’m here to bring you back.”