Chapter 531: Chapter 34 Declaration of War
The heavy rain poured outside the window while Qin Qianbai was reading in the café, listening to the raindrops tap-tap on the ground, harmonizing with the soothing music inside the shop.
The café was very quiet, with no other customers besides her. The girl gently turned the pages of her book, making no sound, savoring the silence amidst the rain. As she glanced sideways, she noticed her phone screen light up on the table and silently picked it up.
“I am Qin Qianbai.”
The girl on the other end of the phone spoke anxiously in a rapid pace, with an anxiety Qin had never heard before.
“I understand,” Qin said.
She ended the call, placed her book and some change on the table, and walked out alone. Under the gloomy sky, the rain fell heavily, as if the sky was crying, staining the entire floating city with its sorrowful tears.
Qin Qianbai walked toward the curtain of rain alone. She did not carry an umbrella, nor did she need one, as all the droplets turned into transparent shards of ice near her, sliding off her clothes and falling to the ground. She stomped her feet and leapt up, turning into a phantom flickering between tall buildings and alleys, leaving behind a trail of transparent stars in the heavy rain.
·
It was raining again.
Gongsun Ce lay in bed, listening to the rain outside.
His bed was next to the window, where he could hear the cicadas in summer and see the snow under the night sky in winter. He thought being close to the outdoors wasn’t bad, as it was convenient for soaking up the sunshine and fresh air.
But everything had its pros and cons. The world wasn’t just sunny; there were also rainy days. Gongsun Ce hated rainy days the most because they reminded him of gloomy past events, of the times when he first arrived in the city of the sky, the battles, struggles, and the crying in the alleys.
In the past, on rainy days, he would get out of bed and find something to do at his desk until the storm passed and the sky cleared. Gongsun Ce would smile at the clear skies, thinking the gloom would eventually pass, and the days would get better. He would close his eyes in the sunlight, dreaming about where he might travel one day, imagining a wonderful encounter he might have, and then drift off into pleasant dreams, waiting for the “Awakening” under clear skies.
But today, he couldn’t sleep, he couldn’t dream, he couldn’t divert his attention. It was as if his own powers had restrained him, rendering him immobile, only able to listen to the rain in the grey and white room.
That annoying sound rang again, lingering in his heart repeatedly, almost suffocating him.
—”Every day, every minute, every second, you are consuming resources that do not match your essence, like a criminal locked in a prison!” Does the existence of a criminal have any meaning? No… Criminals are merely people who aren’t worth being alive!
—”How terrible… How come I can’t find your purpose anymore, Gongsun Ce? You are truly a disaster!”
In a daze, Gongsun Ce felt as though he had returned to several years ago, back to that prison-like airship. To his right was the oblivious Kardesia, and in front of him was that confident brown-haired child. Aorus’s mouth opened and closed, and those hurtful words seemed amplified by the empty room, slow and piercing, like an echo in water, strangely mixed with the booming of church bells.
—”Your only escape is death! Apart from self-destruction, you have no other way out!”
The gray-haired boy tried to think of a retort, but couldn’t come up with a single sentence.
Deep down, he agreed with Aorus’s words; he knew the other was right. His existence had never had value, only dragging those around him into a maelstrom of madness. Alone, Gongsun Ce was a demon; paired with a hero, he was a clown; when accompanying a knight, he was an assistant.
People often curiously questioned his relevance: Why did the hero of the sky city partner with such a terrible guy? Why would the hero bring such a ridiculous sidekick? Who was that foolish man from the Empire standing next to the Dawn Knight? What right did he have to be here?
Gongsun Ce just forced a smile, brushing it off with a witty remark, saying the hero needed a foil, the detective needed a fool. But deep down, he knew the truth clearly; he had never played a crucial role, his presence or absence had always been the same. It was just that those powerful people were too kind, unwilling to see his cowardly side, casually helping him out while on their tasks.
Now, the knights were weakened, the heroes had left the stage, and those who had sheltered him were gone, leaving only a lone clown on the stage. Other characters were ready to enter, and there was no place for a clown’s performance. He seemed to see that young man provocatively saying, “The stage is so empty it’s boring, why don’t you, Gongsun Ce, come up here and act with us? But do you have the ability to become a true protagonist? You always lead everything to destruction, my friend!”
Gongsun Ce remembered the worried profile of his older brother. His brother was too weak to fight anymore, yet was he going to rush towards an inevitable failure, bringing new troubles with his reckless behavior?
Enough. Forget it.
It didn’t matter anymore.
He didn’t want to think anymore, not even willing to perform the farce of self-deception. The grey-white expanse in his field of vision quietly expanded, and Gongsun Ce felt as if he were lifted by a mist. The sky and earth were a vast expanse of white, with nothing visible, while the rain by his ears was perpetual, as if the vault of heaven had shattered, or as if stardust fell toward the pure white earth.
He could see nothing anymore. The rain became irregular, and the mist took on a broken black hue. Amidst the fog, dim lights seemed to emerge, twinkling like the Star River, trailing meteor-like tails towards a boundless distance.