stonecrandall Chapter 70 Guardianship, Guarding to the very last moment
Chapter 70 Guardianship, Guarding to the very last moment
Su Nian knew that woman.
No, that's not right.
She didn't want to know him.
The woman stood in the center of the open space, her eyes were dark brown, exactly like Su Nian's.
But there was nothing in those eyes.
Su Nian stopped breathing.
Her lips were moving, but no sound came out.
impossible.
It is absolutely impossible.
Su Nian's mother is named Su An.
When Su Nian was six years old, a car accident took her away.
Su Nian remembers every detail of that day.
When she left home in the morning, her mother squatted down to tie her shoelaces and said, "I'll make you sweet and sour pork ribs when I get back tonight."
In the afternoon, a teacher called her to the office. There was an uncle she didn't recognize in the office. The uncle squatted down, looked into her eyes, and said, "Su Nian, something happened to your mother."
She had been in the car for a long time, and it was already dark when she arrived at the hospital. The lights in the corridor were very bright and white, which hurt her eyes.
She didn't get to see her mother one last time. The adults said, "You're too young; you'll have nightmares if you see this."
As she grew up, she would visit her family's cemetery every year on Qingming Festival and the anniversary of their death.
The tomb is on a hillside, facing east, where the first rays of sunlight shine on the tombstone every morning.
She always brought a bouquet of white flowers when she visited, because her mother liked white.
She would stand in front of the tombstone for a long time without saying much, because her mother never liked talkative people.
She thought her mother was lying there quietly.
She lay beneath that cold stone tablet, in that coffin she had never seen before, beneath the land where she had lived her entire life.
But now, Su An stands in front of Su Nian.
She was barefoot, her feet resting on the gravel of the Gobi Desert.
There were no wounds on her skin, no bloodstains on her clothes, and she looked as if she had just walked out of her house.
Except for her eyes.
And her forehead.
There is a halo on his forehead.
Su Nian's hands hung limply at her sides, her fingers stiff, unable to gather her vital energy.
A voice in her head kept repeating the same sentence.
impossible.
impossible!
impossible……
But her eyes told her that it was all true.
She recognized her mother's face.
She has seen it countless times.
In photo albums, in memories, in dreams. Every face is different.
Smiling, angry, tired, gentle.
She recognized her.
This is her mother.
Su An.
applause.
It came from behind, with a steady rhythm.
Su Nian did not turn around.
She knew what she would see when she turned around.
That face that she wanted to punch and smash.
Don't look at me like that.
Jiang Yiyou's voice came from behind, with a lazy tone.
"I didn't dig up your mother's grave."
Su Nian's fingers clenched tightly.
"I just..."
Jiang Yiyou paused for a moment, as if carefully choosing her words.
"I borrowed it."
Su Nian's fingernails dug into her palm.
The pain brought her to a slightly more awake state of confusion.
She shifted her gaze from Su An and glanced around.
Those zeros still stood in the distance, maintaining a semi-circular formation, motionless.
Jiang Yiyou walked up behind her, stood beside her, and faced Su An.
His hands were in his pockets, his shoulders were slightly shrugged, and he looked very relaxed.
"You were only six years old when your mother passed away," he said. "It was a car accident, the other party was fully at fault, driving under the influence of alcohol, and your mother died on the spot, without suffering."
Su Nian's breathing quickened for a moment.
How do you know all this?
"I don't need to know." Jiang Yiyou turned her head slightly to look at her. "You told me yourself."
Su Nian was stunned for a moment.
Then she understood.
He was watching her reaction.
It has been from the very beginning.
Nausea.
A deeper nausea than when I was injured.
She looked at Jiang Yiyou's profile.
The more beautiful this face is, the more disgusting this person is.
He is not a "damned" person.
He is a "beast".
"What are you going to do?" Su Nian's voice trembled.
Her eyes reddened, but no tears fell.
"You want me to use the Lightning Bolt?" she asked. "You want me to look at my own mother..."
She couldn't say that word.
"I didn't ask you to do anything," Jiang Yiyou said. "I just invited your mother here. What you do with her is your choice."
He paused, turned his head to look at her, and finally there was something different in his eyes.
"Come on," he said.
"Let me see your guardian."
Su Nian clenched her fists until her knuckles turned white.
She wanted to kill him.
She wanted nothing more than to rush up to him right now, punch his handsome face to pieces, tear his bones off one by one, rip his heart out of his chest, and crush it.
But she can't.
It's not a matter of not being able to beat them, although she certainly couldn't.
But the moment she had that thought, she had already lost.
Jiang Yiyou was provoking her from beginning to end.
Every word, every action, every arrangement.
From a member of a gang with zero possession, to companions killing each other, to the mother standing before her now...
They were all waiting for her to break down.
When cracks appear in her heart.
When she loses control of her emotions.
When her vital energy becomes disordered.
Then, those zeros will take advantage of the situation.
Su Nian's Xia Lan seal is still there, so Ling can't possess her.
But what's more terrifying than possession is invading her mind and turning her into a mindless zombie who only knows how to kill.
A walking corpse possessing the power of the Four Symbols Heroes.
Su Nian took a deep breath.
She shifted her gaze from Jiang Yiyou and turned it back to Su An.
Su An stood there, motionless.
Her eyes were open, but she couldn't see anything.
Her ears were open, but she couldn't hear anything.
Her body is still there, but Su Nian is no longer there.
Su Nian knew.
Her mother is dead.
He died sixteen years ago.
Standing before her was nothing more than a soulless shell, forcibly driven by Zero.
A tool that Jiang Yiyou dug out of her grave to torture her.
Su Nian's tears flowed down her cheeks.
But she didn't wipe it.
She walked towards Su An.
Su An moved.
She slowly turned her head to face Su Nian.
Those empty eyes met Su Nian's gaze.
Her lips parted slightly, as if she were saying something, but no sound came out.
Su Nian stopped three steps away from her.
She looked at Su An's face.
She had seen this face for sixteen years, from photo albums, from her memories, and from her dreams.
That face was right in front of her.
Su Nian closed her eyes.
Then open your eyes.
She raised her hands from her sides and clasped them together.
A flash of lightning brought me back to my senses.
Golden light spread from her palm, ripples surging towards Su An.
The moment the golden light touched Su An, a purple light shone from Su An's body, like a circular dome that enveloped her entirely.
The golden lightning bolt struck the purple dome, making a sizzling sound.
The golden light shattered into countless tiny specks of light, dissipating into the air.
The purple cover remained completely still.
Su Nian did not lower her hand.
She gathered her primordial energy once more.
The golden light was brighter, denser, and more concentrated than before.
She poured almost all of her vital energy into this flash of lightning that brought her back to her senses.
Golden light surged toward Su An once more.
They bumped into the purple dome again.
It shattered again.
Su Nian's hand fell down.
She looked at Su An, and Su An looked at her too.
A thought flashed through Su Nian's mind.
The lightning bolt was useless in bringing me back to my senses.
That purple barrier isolated all external interference from the primordial energy.
She was unable to expel Zero from Su An's body.
This means that Suan will not stop.
She will stand there until…
Until she was knocked down.
It wasn't that we were defeated.
It was destroyed.
The essence of Zero possession is that Zero controls the host's body.
If Zero cannot be expelled, the only way is to eliminate the host.
Completely, utterly, reduced to ashes.
Su Nian's body swayed slightly.
She knew the answer to that question.
I knew it from the beginning.
But she never dared to think about it, never dared to face it, never dared to admit it.
Now she has to admit it.
She looked up at Su An.
Tears blurred her vision, and Su An's face became a blurry mass of color.
Su Nian recalled the year she was six years old.
That morning, her mother knelt down to help her tie her shoelaces.
"Mom has to go on a business trip today and won't be back until tonight. Be good at school and listen to your teacher."
I'll make you sweet and sour pork ribs when I get back tonight.
Su Nian nodded.
The mother stood up, patted her head, and turned to leave.
She stood at the doorway, watching her mother's figure grow smaller and smaller until it disappeared around the corner of the alley.
That was the last time she saw her mother alive.
Su Nian opened her eyes.
Tears welled up in her eyes, but she didn't blink.
Her gaze pierced through the tears, through the purple barrier, and landed on Su An's face.
She said something to herself.
Mom, I'm sorry.
Su Nian clasped her hands together again.
Fire departs, the wilderness is burned.
Flames erupted from her palms and shot towards Su An.
The purple barrier lit up again.
But this time, it couldn't stop it.
The flames pierced through the purple barrier.
Su An's body was engulfed by orange-red flames.
Her skin cracked in the flames, revealing the muscles and bones beneath.
Su Nian watched all of this.
Tears were streaming down her face, but her hands did not tremble.
Her lips were trembling, but her vital energy had not been interrupted.
Her heart was breaking, but her flame never died.
Suan struggled in the flames.
She closed her eyes.
The flames continued to burn.
Then, everything fell silent.
Su Nian opened her eyes.
The flames have gone out.
There was nothing left where Su An had been standing.
There was only a small pile of ashes.
Ashes that will scatter with a gust of wind.
The wind is blowing.
The ashes were blown up by the wind and scattered in the air like a gray snowflake.
They floated higher and higher, farther and farther, until they finally merged into the dark red sky.
Su Nian knelt on the ground.
Her tears were still flowing.
She stared at the direction where the ashes were scattering, her lips moving, but no sound came out.
She didn't know what she was saying.
Perhaps they are saying sorry.
Perhaps it's saying goodbye.
Perhaps it means...
Mom, I miss you so much.
applause.
It came from behind.
Su Nian did not turn around.
Her gaze remained fixed on the direction where the ashes had vanished, but the light in her eyes had died.
The tear stains on her face hadn't dried yet, but no new tears were flowing.
There was a door closed inside her body.
Su Nian slowly stood up.
Her knees were trembling, but she stood very straight.
She turned around.
Jiang Yiyou stood less than ten meters behind her.
His hands were still clapping, one clap at a time, slowly and deliberately.
He wore that ambiguous smile on his face.
But Su Nian saw something different.
For the first time, an emotion she could recognize appeared in his eyes.
It's not guilt.
It's not sympathy.
It's not about admiration.
Yes, I'm satisfied.
A complete, unreserved satisfaction with the performance before me.
She wanted to kill him.
But she didn't move.
Because she knew that this person had been provoking her from the very beginning.
He did all this not for any other reason than to drive her mad.
Once she goes berserk, he will take the opportunity to manipulate Zero and invade her mind.
She will then become a walking corpse, his puppet.
This is the last thing she wanted to see.
Therefore, she cannot go crazy.
She couldn't let him succeed.
Su Nian lowered her head and looked at her left hand.
There is a mark on the inside of my wrist.
Xia Lan Seal.
This is her pride, the meaning of her existence.
Not because it represents power.
Rather, it's because it represents protection.
There's a saying in Jiugongling's doctrine that she memorized when she was very young.
"No one is born a chivalrous hero."
"It was only after choosing to protect that I became a Xia Lan."
She wasn't born a Xia Lan.
She awakened at the age of six, but the day she truly became a Xia Lan was not the day she awakened.
Rather, it was the day she first fought for someone else.
That day, she protected a classmate who was being bullied.
That classmate later transferred schools and we never contacted each other again.
But Su Nian remembers that day.
I remember the moment I stood up, how fast my heart was beating, how tightly I clenched my fists, and how sweaty my palms were afterwards.
From that day on, she understood what Xia Lan was.
It's not power.
It is a choice.
Choose to stand up, choose to protect, choose not to give up.
Su Nian looked at the Xia Lan mark on her left wrist.
It was there, quietly, blending into her skin.
It is not a medal for the strong, but the name of the guardian.
She was willing to give everything for this belief.
Even if it means she has to die.
Because some things always need to be done by someone.
If no one else is willing, then she is willing to be that person.
That is the meaning of her existence.
This is also the reason why her father, Yi Songjin, gave her the name "Nian".
read.
It's not the "longing" in "missing someone".
It is the thought of belief.
Su Nian raised her head.
There was no light in her eyes, but she stood very straight.
There were still tear stains on her face, but her expression was calm.
Her body was still trembling, but her voice was steady.
"Anything else?" she asked.
Jiang Yiyou looked at her.
His smile remained the same, but the satisfaction in his eyes had diminished, replaced by something new.
It's confusion.
He doesn't understand.
I don't understand why this woman hasn't broken down yet.
I don't understand why there's still light in her eyes.
No, there was no light in her eyes, but she stood straighter than when there was light.
"You..." Jiang Yiyou began, but stopped after saying only one word.
He seemed unsure of what to say.
Su Nian looked at him.
She waited.
Regardless of what he does next.
Whether she releases more zeros, summons more puppets, or kills her herself... she'll wait and see.
She won't run away.
They won't dodge.
They will not beg for mercy.
She only knows how to do one thing.
guard.
Until the very last moment.