northernbook Chapter 248 Countdown to the End of Paradise (3)
Chapter 248 Countdown to the End of Paradise (3)
"nailed it?"
The captain raised an eyebrow and asked, watching the raven emerge from the warehouse.
"Hmm," the raven replied indifferently.
"What's wrong? Are you in a bad mood?"
"I suppose so." Raven exhaled a breath of stale air. "I originally thought I could take care of him without any trouble, but I miscalculated in the end."
The captain stepped forward and patted Raven on the shoulder to comfort her, saying, "After all, he's the one who brought you to this world, and he probably saved your life back then, right? No one would feel good about killing their benefactor and teacher with their own hands."
Raven glanced at the captain: "Didn't anyone tell you you're not very good at comforting people?"
The captain touched his nose without saying anything, which was taken as tacit agreement with Raven's words.
After all, if he were really good at comforting people, Kiana wouldn't have almost fallen for the Herrscher of Domination's scheme.
Looking back now, the situation was indeed a close call. If it weren't for the Herrscher of Domination making a foolish move at the crucial moment, taking out the Gem of Desire which contained Himeko Murata's consciousness, Kiana would have successfully received Himeko Murata's encouragement.
Otherwise, their world would have been in real danger, since Kiana was already completely entangled in golden threads, almost as if she had been forced to wear the blindfold of the Herrscher of Domination.
If the Herrscher of Domination hadn't seen Kiana still hesitating and used the Gem of Desire to strike at Kiana's heart, it wouldn't have had the opposite effect.
However, there was nothing that could be done about it, since Kiana had already eliminated the Herrscher of the Void's consciousness within her, leaving no room for the Herrscher of Domination's original plan to be implemented.
They could only resort to a second-best option: to continue attacking the mind. After all, in a sense, Kiana at that time was also a Herrscher after her metamorphosis, possessing the complete powers of the Herrscher of the Void and having completely mastered them. In terms of power, the Herrscher of Domination might not necessarily be greater than Kiana.
"Now that the mission here is complete, how about we go to your place for a drink?" the captain suggested.
"Go to my place?" Raven laughed. "You don't look like someone who drinks often. You really want to come to my place? You can't expect me to buy you milk, can you?"
"It's not impossible," the captain joked.
Raven looked at the captain speechlessly. She could tell from his joking tone that he was trying to make her happy.
But there really was no need for that; Gray Snake's death did indeed make her sad.
But she's an adult, after all; she's not incapable of adjusting her mood. However,
"Never mind, let's just leave it at that."
Raven sighed, led the captain to his car, and gestured for him to get in.
"Let me make this clear first, I only have the drinks and milk they like available. If they don't like those, I won't go and buy them for them."
"You're not really taking this seriously, are you?"
“Of course not,” Raven said, gazing at the night view outside the car window. “But there is one thing I really need to make clear to you beforehand.”
"what?"
"That means my bar hasn't been open for a long time, and I can't guarantee whether the drinks still have any alcohol left."
"That's it? I thought it was something more serious." The captain chuckled helplessly. "You've noticed that I don't usually drink. I just wanted to let you vent this way. If you have other ways to do things, you don't have to choose to drink."
Now that you mention it, I'm actually curious about your drinking capacity. I've decided that tonight we'll drink until we drop.
"Whatever you want, but just so you know I can't hold my liquor. Don't blame me if I get drunk."
"Don't worry, I'll take you to a nearby hotel. If that doesn't work, there's a lounge behind the bar where you can rest."
After saying that, Raven started the car, shifted gears, and drove towards the bar she owned. The next day arrived.
The hangover raven struggled to open its eyes, which felt dry and uncomfortable as if they had been blown by a hairdryer, and a sharp pain exploded in its brain.
She made a mistake; she shouldn't have believed the captain's claim of having a low alcohol tolerance. Last night, he not only drank quite a bit of wine but also some Chinese baijiu, and, still not satisfied, he even reached for vodka…
Is this what they call having a low alcohol tolerance? I should have realized this when I found out the captain was from China. People from China will humbly say they can't drink much before drinking, but once they're at the table, they drink more than anyone else.
Raven covered her head, got up, and looked around. Seeing that she was in the lounge behind her bar and that she didn't feel anything unusual, she breathed a sigh of relief.
At least the captain didn't do anything to betray her and Kiana while she was drunk, or rather, he simply didn't dare to.
"woke up?"
The captain, who was drying his hair with a towel after coming out of the restroom, saw that Raven was awake and went up to ask her what was wrong.
"Is this what you mean by having a low alcohol tolerance?"
Although Raven was still suffering from a hangover and looked sickly, the captain could still sense the resentment in her tone.
"Well..." The captain scratched his face sheepishly, "After all, I usually drink at banquets, and all my relatives can drink more than me. I'm probably the least drinker in the family..."
Raven's lips twitched as he said, "So when you said you had a low alcohol tolerance and couldn't drink, you were comparing yourself to your family. If you can drink this much, how much can your family drink?"
"I wouldn't call myself a particularly heavy drinker, but I can drink for two or three hours at a time, and it's mostly baijiu (Chinese liquor). Sometimes, when I'm really into it, I'll drink all night long."
"..."
Well, she shouldn't have asked. Compared to this family, the captain really couldn't hold his liquor. After all, before Raven completely lost consciousness, she could tell that the captain was already somewhat drunk.
"what time is it now?"
"It's still early, only around nine o'clock."
"Nine o'clock?!" Raven sobered up instantly upon hearing the captain's words. "I made a promise with Sora to take them out to play at ten o'clock today. It will take at least two hours to get to the orphanage from here. Oh no, we're going to be late!"
"Don't worry about that. Sora already came by before and left without saying anything when he saw you were still sleeping."
"Sora... has already been here!" At this moment, Raven felt like the sky was about to fall. "Couldn't you have woken me up or kept Sora here?!"
“I called out to him, but he wouldn’t wake up,” the captain said. “However, I’ve already spoken to Kong about the situation. That kid is a sensible child. He left after finding out why you had a hangover, and he’s probably at the orphanage explaining things to you now.”
"This is all your fault!" Raven hurriedly put on her coat and ran to the bathroom. "Give me some time to wash up. As compensation, you have to come with me to the orphanage later!"
Watching Raven's hurried figure, the captain shook his head helplessly. It seemed that there was no need to relay Sora's words to her.
Returning to Paradise, the Herrscher of Corruption has now completely suppressed Mebius.
"To be honest, it's a good thing I reduced your virus count beforehand, otherwise you might have really turned the tables on me."
"Hmph! If you hadn't cheated me out of the back, how could I have lost!"
By this time, Mebius's body was covered with signs of erosion, and behind her was Gretchen, who had fallen into a coma.
"How can you say that? After all, it was Gretchen who came back without telling Kosmo and Hua. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to succeed, would I?"
Back when Hua had just escaped with Kosmo and Gretchen, Gretchen had a strange feeling lingering in her heart ever since she officially met the Herrscher of Corruption.
She always felt that the Herrscher of Corruption wasn't as heinous as others described; rather, she felt that he was being forced to do these things by something.
And for some reason, Gretchen always felt that it was Alicia herself, only the consciousness controlling that body was not hers.
But considering that even if she told Kosmo and Hua about this guess, they would only think it was Gretsch's imagination, at the same time, a strangely familiar voice in Gretsch's mind kept telling her to separate from the others.
Out of curiosity, Gretchen eventually followed the voice's advice and left their side. Taking advantage of their distraction, Gretchen secretly used her painting to deceive them and return to the Herrscher of Corruption.
The moment Mebius saw Gretchen on the battlefield, she knew she had lost. What she didn't understand was why Gretchen was there. Logically, those two people would never have let Gretchen act alone.
Because Mebius was distracted by protecting Gretchen, the Herrscher of Corruption had more and more opportunities to exploit her weaknesses, and gradually the Corruption virus that she had asked Klein to replicate was also exhausted.
Without the help of these corrosive viruses, Mebius lost the power to corrode, and the symptoms of corrosiveness began to appear on her body.
In the end, to ensure that Gretchen was not corrupted, Mebius released the last remaining virus in his body and created a protective shield to protect Gretchen inside.
At this point, Mebius had completely lost her power to erode Gretchen, and now all she could do was pray that those two idiots would come quickly and take Gretchen away.
Unfortunately, even until the moment before she was completely corrupted, Mebius did not see Kosmo and Hua.
How could she possibly know that Kosmo was circling nearby?
After completely corrupting Mebius and creating an illusion for him, the Herrscher of Corruption unusually showed dissatisfaction.
"I understand you want to finish this quickly, but is it really necessary to do it this way? It's too obvious and the others will notice something's wrong. Besides, you know perfectly well that Mebius is no match for me, and even without your help, I would defeat her sooner or later."
“That was bound to happen sooner or later, wasn’t it?” Kiana said. “We’ve dragged this out long enough. Even if we do our best to steer history toward our world, the future will continue to change because Mei is no longer the only outsider.”
"So you had time to come over and chat with me before?"
"Haha, that's because although the future is constantly changing, the overall trend has stabilized at present. However, there's a saying in China: 'Delay leads to change.' I'm worried that if we continue to proceed slowly, unexpected accidents may occur, completely altering the future trajectory."
"But simply speeding up my progress isn't enough, is it?"
"Don't worry, the class monitor's memory has now merged with Mei and me in this world. With Su's help, the surgery is underway. The class monitor's memory and Eden have also sacrificed themselves. On the contrary, our progress is much slower."
"Alright, I'll do it then."
"Yes, remember to make use of the Kosmos outside too. You still have an important scene to complete. Although the main character of that scene has already left the stage."
The Herrscher of Corruption's lips twitched a few times. Of course, she remembered the scene Kiana described, and she remembered it vividly.
After all, anyone would remember being attacked after being told they were on the defensive, and even now, the Herrscher of Corruption still can't figure out why Hua's will is so strong.
Even though she had clearly overwhelmed her with the power she had displayed before, she still refused to give up and resolutely contradicted the Herrscher of Corruption, successfully breaking the Herrscher of Corruption's defenses.
Kevin then poured all his data into that Heavenly Fire Unleashed attack, ultimately succeeding in severely injuring the Herrscher of Corruption from the inside out.
In the end, Hua also disappeared because she burned away all her memories, and the curse she placed on her failed to be fulfilled. Under these circumstances, the Herrscher of Corruption reconstructed Alicia's appearance based on the data of the Corruption Paradise itself, and finally engaged in a final battle with the resurrected Alicia.
Kiana's script was largely the same, except that Hua had already followed in Eden's footsteps and become nourishment for the resurrection of Alicia's Memory, and Su had probably already entered that special space to reunite with Kevin, and Mebius had just been corrupted by her.
Now, only Gretchen and Kosmo remain in the vast paradise. In order to complete the plot, Kosmo has no choice but to take Hua's place.
In any case, he would never surrender as long as Gretchen was involved, so at the signal of the Herrscher of Corruption, Kosmo finally arrived at the scene.
Upon arriving at the scene, Kosmos saw that Grey was being corrupted; her body had become transparent and unstable.
Without any hesitation, the enraged Kosmo activated his artificial collapse form.
That form, which others called the Overweight Collapse, unfortunately only helped Kosmod hold on for a few seconds in the face of absolute power.
Before long, Kosmo was forced back into human form and watched helplessly as Gretsch was completely corrupted in front of her. In the following time, the Herrscher of Corruption continued to toy with Kosmo.
No matter how hurtful and sharp the Herrscher of Corruption's words were, they could not shake Kosmo's will, her determination to drag the Herrscher of Corruption down with her even at the cost of her own life.
Ultimately, with the Herrscher of Corruption turning a blind eye, she both hoped for the scene she didn't want to see to unfold.
Intense flames erupted from her chest, and excruciating pain tore her body apart. The flames of divine punishment completely incinerated Alicia's body, revealing the true form of the Herrscher of Corruption.