"Integrate into society?" Lucifer paused, "Does that mean living like a normal person?"
"No, it means surviving for a month without startup capital. It's a comprehensive test of a person's capabilities." Bai Cha paused, her expression somewhat peculiar. "Of course, there are strange exceptions, like Lang Mo, who relied on his strength and apparent age. He tricked a construction foreman into believing he was an adult and earned his living expenses by hauling bricks."
Bai Cha was also helpless at the time. She could only say that Lang Mo was audacious and the boss was gullible. Since they were temporary workers, Lang Mo claimed he was doing it to experience life out of defiance towards his family. Lang Mo's conviction convinced the boss, and he earned quite a bit of money that day.
Of course, this was cheating. After working for three days, Bai Cha dragged him back by his ear to start over.
Finding a job wasn't against the rules, but employing a child was illegal. Breaking the law meant violating the mission regulations and would not be permitted. At that time, Lang Mo had just barely not reached adulthood, so he could only be obediently brought back by Bai Cha.
"So, it's to adapt to society?" Lucifer mused, "Or perhaps for better disguise?"
After all, if one were only trained according to the standards of a weapon, never adapting to human society, then in a mission requiring undercover work as an ordinary person, it would be too easy to expose oneself.
"That's roughly it. It's also to test everyone's reactions and adaptability," Bai Cha smiled. "Actually, another reason is to cultivate a sense of belonging to the country. Warm human emotions can warm cold steel, making the honed blade full of warmth."
Bai Cha remembered every street and every shop she had passed. When she came out on her own, she was much younger than everyone else. She had been targeted for abduction, and a street-wise elderly woman had given her breakfast.
In reality, even a small corner of shelter in the pouring rain was incredibly warm. The world was warm, but the cold wind could dissipate warmth and freeze green hills. Therefore, someone had to protect it and drive away the severe cold.
"I heard about your ending from Cang Liu. I don't like it," Bai Cha looked at Lucifer. Her peach blossom eyes were too brilliant, filled with starlight and gentle ripples, bright and soft. Even though loss and pain were the main themes on the path she trod on knife-edges, it had not stolen all her gentleness and radiance.
"My ending?" Lucifer was confused.
"Cang Liu said that in your previous life, you guarded me constantly, isolating yourself, not eating or drinking, until your life was depleted." Bai Cha sighed. "Lucifer, you shouldn't be like this. I think you should be the only one who truly understands me. This makes me very disappointed."
"Although, I understand how you felt doing that."
"Yes, my Master," Lucifer chuckled. "I am sorry, and it will not happen again."
"Has the weight of this world in your heart changed, or have you come to understand why I protect this world?" Bai Cha asked.
"Both, perhaps," Lucifer looked at the traffic below the skyscrapers. Cars sped along the ground, and aerial taxis rapidly picked up or delivered passengers, their streams of light resembling daylight.
Humans were strange and contradictory, much like her Master. Indifferent yet warm, soft yet resilient. But he also seemed to have gained a few different emotions, and with Bai Cha's deliberate guidance, he had developed more humanity.
"Then, Lucifer, this is the last time." Bai Cha gazed at Lucifer, her eyes holding starlight and him. She handed a small box to Lucifer, her tone serious and gentle. "Can I ask you to forgive my final act of capriciousness?"
"...Of course, my Master." Lucifer's chest heaved violently. Although he had been psychologically prepared, his heart still ached intensely when this day arrived.
Cold, as if something had pierced his heart in the dead of winter, allowing the cold wind and pain to rush in. Unwillingness, heartache, and sorrow turned into bitterness and choked him instantly, making it difficult for him to suppress his turbulent emotions.
Red, green, blue.
Three syringes lay quietly in an exquisite box. These were potentagenic agents, designed to stimulate potential and supposedly grant godhood for a short time, which every member of the Shadow faction possessed. However, injecting them was certain death. All of them had been injected into Bai Cha's now-shattered body.
"Master, how much was within your expectations?" Lucifer accepted the box, knelt beside Bai Cha, and finally couldn't help but ask, "Last time, I saw your prediction of the sixty-second event development possibility on your computer."
Bai Cha enjoyed creating mind maps, branching from cause to countless effects, and from countless effects back to countless causes, repeating this process to deduce all possibilities and ensure a flawless overall plan.
Previously, Bai Cha had always deduced everything by herself; everyone just needed to do their part. However, that time, Bai Cha's immune system reacted to the poison, causing her to fall into a coma. When Lucifer was tidying up her belongings, he found that Bai Cha's computer was uncharacteristically not shut down.
Out of curiosity, Lucifer clicked on the screen, and what greeted his eyes was Bai Cha's mind map.
There were a total of sixty-five possible developments with a probability of over fifty percent. By now, the development of events in three timelines perfectly matched the current situation. However, two of them had been crossed out by Bai Cha, suggesting that Bai Cha had finalized a development route and intended to proceed with it.
Upon closer inspection of the editing dates provided by Bai Cha, the deaths of Freya and Cang Liu were predicted, though they were set a year earlier than Bai Cha's initial editing time.
"...That, the sixty-second one," Bai Cha was momentarily stunned by Lucifer's words, then smiled with resignation. "Originally, I thought the probability of that path aligning wouldn't exceed fifty percent, and the event development would occur two years later."
But everything had been expedited. Bai Cha hadn't anticipated Cang Liu being a reborn individual, accelerating her overall plan. Cang Liu's death was either unexpected or, more accurately, it caught Bai Cha off guard due to the two-year acceleration. Bai Cha had also failed to foresee that despite her meticulous planning, she had overlooked protecting Freya.
Personality determined destiny. Bai Cha had studied everyone's personalities, and she knew clearly who would be willing to sacrifice themselves and not value their own lives. Bai Cha had initially believed she could prevent it; she thought she could stop Cang Liu and then protect Freya.
The facts proved her to be an incompetent leader after all.
Or rather, she simply couldn't stop Freya and Cang Liu from jointly accelerating the timeline and pushing events forward. Everyone was exceptional, and the differences were minuscule. Even Bai Cha couldn't contend with several people alone.
She hadn't anticipated Freya and Cang Liu's willing deaths, so her predictions became helpless observations and hindsight. There was only the powerlessness to stop or to reclaim.
Lucifer also saw how, from hundreds of possibilities, sixty-five causal chains were extracted, yet they all pointed to one outcome.
Bai Cha had to die, or rather, it was something Bai Cha decided for herself after events reached a certain stage.
"Since it began with me, it must end with me. Lucifer, only I can settle this matter, and only I have the right to settle it," Bai Cha looked at Lucifer, her eyes still resolute. "I believe in the abilities of Big Brother and Gong Yue Chen. It's time to reel in the net."
As the agent was slowly infused into Bai Cha's body, Lucifer felt his limbs go numb. He numbly put away the box, his eyes feeling a bit sore.
"Lucifer, I'm sorry, I can't reciprocate your feelings." As her strength gradually returned, representing the gradual departure of her life, Bai Cha suddenly felt guilty and couldn't help but blurt out, "If there is a next life..."
However, halfway through her sentence, Bai Cha herself paused.
If there is a next life, what then? She owed more than just one person.
"Heh, if there is a next life, perhaps Master could first be yourself," Lucifer gently finished Bai Cha's words, smiling softly. He stood up and extended his hand to Bai Cha, "At least tonight, under the starlit stage, do I have the honor of inviting my Master to dance a dance with me?"
"Of course." Feeling her strength gradually return, Bai Cha stood up and gently placed her hand in Lucifer's. She exerted some effort; her prolonged convalescence had made her use of strength very rusty.
But now, it was their stage. Lucifer remembered Bai Cha dancing gracefully in the Bai family garden. Back then, she was someone he yearned for but dared not touch. Bai Cha also remembered Lucifer suddenly appearing behind her, making the normally indifferent her feel her heart pound and a sense of peace.
Now, everything had come full circle in a strikingly similar manner. However, when their hands met, something seemed to have grown between them, perhaps mutual understanding, perhaps a spiritual connection.
"Lucifer, I grant you freedom. After my death, take my soul and become an independent existence, thereafter controlled by no one. Absolutely, absolutely do not repeat my mistakes."
"From now on, fly freer with my blessings."
The sky had been this terrible for a long time, or rather, it had never been this terrible.
The viscous black sky cast a dim light upon the earth, yet the crimson sky illuminated the ground with an exceptionally eerie clarity, sending shivers down one's spine.
This was the first day the entire world had retreated into protective shields, and half a month after the uncontrolled outbreak of Shura zombies. The entire Earth was covered in a crimson hue. From the warning to discovery and then to counterattack, humanity's best efforts to resist still resulted in heavy casualties.
This was an unavoidable disaster. Once bitten by a Shura, one would undergo demonization, far more exaggerated than the zombie crises in movies. They couldn't even be made into serums or antidotes because zombies were merely caused by a virus, while Shuras were due to genetic alteration.
The irreversible demonized individuals were extremely aggressive, with terrifying speed and combat power, surging in waves with no end in sight.
People were enveloped within protective shields, looking through the glass at the grotesque zombies on all fours outside, stepping on the corpses of their companions in waves, gnawing at the barriers, impervious to pain.
Transparent protective shields enveloped most cities. Only some exceptionally tall buildings were left exposed, serving as counterattack strongholds for people.
People huddled within the protective shields, filled with anxiety.
"Clear one wave, and another appears. It's endless," Lang Mo spat, his face dark.
No one responded. Ordinary people were covered by the protective shields, while those with high positions stood on these exceptionally tall buildings, directing operations, both to set an example and to boost morale.
Big Brother was also here, silently observing with Gong Yue Chen. He glanced at the pale, trembling members of the Light faction, the murderous intent hidden in his eyes growing more intense.
"Hey, Little Crown Prince, can you clean up the mess you guys made? The world is about to fall," Lang Mo, ignored, became increasingly agitated. He kicked a stool and glared at Mo Ziye, who was sitting nearby polishing his holy sword, unable to contain his anger.
"Let's stick to the facts. It has nothing to do with me. Don't drag me into it," Mo Ziye glanced faintly at Lang Mo. For a period before Bai Cha's incident, everyone in the Shadow faction had been unfriendly towards him. He didn't get angry and focused on his own tasks, appearing much more reserved than before, leaving the Shadow faction with nothing to fault him for.
Bai Cha had instructed him before she left not to act rashly or impulsively. If not for that, Mo Ziye would have already dismantled those laboratories.
Without his knowledge as the "Crown Prince," so many test subjects had appeared, and these were experiments he had never heard of, which had now gone out of control.