Light Fortress
Chapter 84 - 82: Darkness in the Night

Chapter 84: Chapter 82: Darkness in the Night

Practiced for fifteen days? Learned just a little? Is this a joke?

That strike just now... nearly cut the river water of the river bank in half!

Qu Shui’s lips twitched slightly, as her eyes were still bleeding due to the arrow that hit her shadow earlier, the image of "Dr. Xiao Gu" became extremely blurry in her eyes.

But she could feel... the other party was also very weak.

"You... you must be out of strength now, right?" Qu Shui whispered with a small smile, "That strike was indeed powerful, I’m no match for you."

As she spoke.

In the dark kiln, a desiccated skeleton slightly moved.

Nobody could see... in the darkness, a withered, decaying shadow silently spread, more fragile, broken, and haggard than before. If it were exposed under the light, it would be revealed as a shadow thin and skeletal like a piece of dead wood, even the main trunk was no longer intact. Therefore, after difficultly liberating itself from the wooden frame, it slowly, very slowly, crawled towards the direction where Gu Shen was.

This wisp of shadow was very weak.

But, it was still a shadow.

"Dr. Xiao Gu... I didn’t lie to you. I really met that strange man, who was holding a peculiar stone sculpture." Qu Shui said slowly, "Since that day... I’ve had a hard time sleeping... until I went to your clinic."

Gu Shen furrowed his brows.

So that was it... Qu Shui’s initial spiritual exhaustion wasn’t just an act.

Sister Xiao Xin’s pocket watch could relieve insomnia to some extent, but it couldn’t cure it completely.

Driven by a Transcendent’s intuition... she had targeted him, and at that time Chi Huo had not fully awakened yet, his own power only felt spied upon and hadn’t sensed Qu Shui’s presence.

There was silence for a short while.

Gu Shen repeated the initial question again, "How many people did you kill on the river bank?"

"..." Qu Shui smiled, "Does it matter?"

She tilted her head and murmured, "You have that wisp of fire, and that Ruler, we are both existences that transcend order, the rules should be set by us... right?"

Seeing no response from Gu Shen.

"We all have desires, all have cravings, I just like collecting shadows, you must have similar hobbies... What’s the harm in allowing the world to take a few small steps back to satisfy one’s little wishes?"

Once again, there was no response.

Qu Shui asked softly with a slight laugh, "If so, do those people’s lives still matter? This is just a game..."

"You shouldn’t be like this."

Gu Shen finally spoke up, interrupting Qu Shui.

The girl looked somewhat astonished.

The next moment, her face suddenly twisted in pain, to an almost ferocious extent.

Gu Shen abruptly took a step back and stomped heavily into the darkness, twisting his foot as if extinguishing a cigarette butt!

From the gloom came a hoarse, painful roar.

Immediately afterwards, a burst of Chi Huo streaked from Gu Shen’s brow, illuminating the fragile, weakened shadow on the ground. The shadow, so broken that it barely held a breath of life, had just barely surfaced and was ready to lift its hands to bind Gu Shen when its presence was discovered.

"I told you... don’t move."

Gu Shen stared at Qu Shui expressionlessly and said, "About the nonsense you just spouted... I must say I don’t understand it, nor do I want to."

The Truth Ruler emptied his thoughts.

After passing the knife, his mind was filled with a buzzing sound, he hadn’t heard clearly what Qu Shui was saying. Only when his thoughts stabilized did he catch some scattered words. Just like one doesn’t need to taste something to know it’s dog shit, sometimes one doesn’t need to hear the whole sentence to know it’s bullshit, just a few words are enough.

All of his spiritual power was used by Gu Shen to capture the abnormalities around him.

She probably didn’t know... what a "Spiritual Extraordinary" was.

From that tattered, weak wisp of a shadow, from when it detached itself from Qu Shui’s father’s skeleton, Gu Shen had captured it. He struggled with the backlash of the Truth Ruler while quietly waiting for the arrival of that broken shadow.

It was ludicrous yet ironic.

Because of the various abuses endured in life, this wisp of a shadow was the weakest of all, and Qu Shui didn’t even hope for it to be of any use in the battle that had just occurred... Compared to the adult shadows strung up on the wall, this should have been her most cherished possession, a "beloved" who was imprisoned, nailed down, and powerless to struggle.

She hadn’t felt the slightest bit of sorrow when the other shadows shattered.

But this shadow was different.

This shadow... it seemed to have a close connection to her own being.

When it hurt, she hurt as well.

Feeling the struggle underfoot, Gu Shen’s gaze towards Qu Shui was somewhat complex.

Within this fragile shadow, was there a hidden, innocent, and struggling soul?

It could be extinguished with just a breeze.

With a forceful step of the foot, it could be crushed.

"No, no, no... I was wrong... I was wrong, Doctor Gu!"

After the shadow was stepped on, the girl’s expression changed drastically; she abandoned all resistance, allowed the silver scissors to clatter to the ground, and screamed as she knelt, her eyes bleeding and blind, flailing about aimlessly like a headless fly.

The girl had cast aside all her dignity, and when she couldn’t touch anything, she banged her head hard on the ground.

"I know I was wrong... I know I was wrong..."

Gu Shen silently took a step back.

He lifted his foot, freeing the pained shadow.

With a "whoosh" sound.

Qu Shui, her face covered in blood, clung fiercely to her father’s broken and withered feeble shadow, slumped on the ground, her cheeks a mixture of blood and tears.

The wisp of shadow from her body also emerged, enveloping each other.

["When facing out-of-control individuals, one cannot show the slightest pity, and must exert full power."]

At that moment, Mr. Shu’s teachings echoed in Gu Shen’s mind.

Those who are out-of-control are individuals who have encountered severe mistakes in their Extraordinary Cultivation... Their spirit is no longer under their own control. Before, they might have been kind, good people, but afterward, they lose conscious will, and their Extraordinary instincts take over their being.

Being Transcendents themselves, it’s easy to feel compassion stirred.

Especially for those with a Spiritual Extraordinary who’ve lost control... They can manipulate the hearts of people merely by following their Extraordinary instincts.

Therefore, when carrying out missions for the Judgement Institute, one thing must be remembered.

No matter the considerations... when facing those who have lost control, one must be resolute in their execution, and must not waver!

Once control is lost, it is irreversible; this is an ironclad rule!

These individuals’ "Extraordinary Essence" will undergo uncontrollable and distorted transformations, just as Senior Sister Luo has said... They can no longer be considered the living.

The shattered shadow embraced by Qu Shui, unable to resist the summons of the Extraordinary Ability, but that pitch-black face was struggling to turn, bit by bit, eventually looking up at Gu Shen slowly, letting out a whimper-like wail.

"..."

Gu Shen didn’t understand, but through side glances, he could roughly sense some emotion.

"Let me... grant you release."

Gu Shen whispered to himself inwardly.

The silver blade gently pierced through.

Qu Shui fell.

The embracing shadows slowly sank into a pool of blood, slowly dissolving and fragmenting, becoming the darkness within the night.