Never Again

"..." , she didn"t speak a word.

"..." , the face of the old man also didn"t speak a word.

Then decisively, she pulled up her blanket and turned her back before throwing out a single sentence. "Nope, not today."

The old man seeing this couldn"t help but smile wryly. Then, he pulled her blanket out from underneath her.

She groaned from the lack of warmth her blanket provided, but just curled up and continued sleeping.

"Wake up Little girl! Rise and shine!" , the old man sighed. But she ignored him and continued sleeping anyways.

His eyes twitched slightly before he begun shaking the girl. But she slept through it anyway. Seeing that, he shook her even harder until she couldn"t take it anymore and sat up. Sending him a glare, she gave a tired yawn before stretching her cramped arms before noticing her surrounding.

For the second time in her life, she woke up to find herself.....somewhere.

This is why she"s not a morning person. She can"t deal with these problems just yet. Nor mornings. Nor people.

Sighing for the hundredth time since she died, she sent another glare to the old man beside her before she unwillingly spoke, "Hey... where am I?"

Looking at the sleepy, glaring girl, the old man found himself questioning his decision. Should he really pick her to be his heir? Can he really trust this sleepy person to protect the Gla.s.s PaG.o.da?

The gla.s.s trial proved otherwise. She has already pa.s.sed with flying colours, at least better than all those before. And he doesn"t have much time either.

With a slight smile, the old man answered, "Well... In the Gla.s.s PaG.o.da, of course?"

"...." , Xi Rin remained silent as her eyes fell into contemplations.

"Shock huh? Amazed? Happy?" , the old man teased her, trying to decipher her emotions.

"Say, old man..." , she started but trailed off causing the old man to be stirred with slight curiosity. She must be shocked to the point of being unable to talk right? After all, she is inside the legendary, famous Gla.s.s PaG.o.da.

".....The gla.s.s what? What is that?" , Xi Rin said, finally finishing her sentence. Yet, the old man almost collapsed on spot with her question

Where the h.e.l.l has this girl been living?! Under a rock? Has she never heard of the legendary treasure, Gla.s.s PaG.o.da?

The corner of his smile twitched a bit before saying, "It"s a PaG.o.da which holds a mult.i.tude of extraordinary treasure, ok? Numerous priceless, miraculous herbs, weapons, scrolls, you name it!

Staring at each other, no one spoke. With all these treasures, you could be a G.o.d! Shock now? Are you amazed yet?"

He finished with a smug smile on his lips, yet Xi Rin remained indifferent. And she asked him a single question.

"Does it have a phone?"

"A f- on...e? What"s that?" , the old man replied in confusion. He never heard of this phone thingy, is it some new kind of treasure?

"Do you have wifi?

"wa... fai? Hah?" , he was even more confused! What the heck is that?

"Then forget it." , she simply stated and lied back down to sleep.

"Wait, nonono! Don"t you want to be a G.o.d? Don"t you want fame and power? Authority and money?" , he wildly exclaimed. This girl... Is she just unusual and weird, or she"s simply an idiot?

"Fame and power will get you killed. Money will invite robbers. Be a G.o.d? What will I get from it?", she retorted. To be honest, she just wants a simple, peaceful life. Her last life was too eventful, especially when she had a rich and powerful friend like Kai. But now, she really wonders how he"s doing. Will he do okay without her?

But before she could drown herself in those thoughts, someone entered the room,

"Master," the voice said softly. But the voice itself was stony and unsmiling. Turning her gaze to the newcomer, her breath might have, just a little bit, got caught in her throat.

The man was handsome without a doubt, but his long silver hair added to his devilish charm. Dressed in black, he exuded an aura of mystery and dominance, adding onto his already alluring charm. Gold threads were woven into with the black clothing, made him appear quite like a n.o.ble, proud and imposing. Striking and alluring. However, his face was set grim and straight with a mask covering half of it, but it did nothing to hide the high arc of his nose, soft lips and the sharp chin underneath.

Xi Rin couldn"t help but swear under her breath. Are all the people here this beautiful??! She still hasn"t seen one ugly person! The worse she has seen so far is average! Average!!!

Lamenting in her heart, she couldn"t help but steal a few more glances at the silver-haired man.

He"s just too beautiful, ok? It"s human nature to admire beautiful things.

However, if she had seen him before, she would recognize him as the Panther Man! The very same panther who caused all of this to happen. But of course, she never saw him due to him being invisible at that time.

Unfortunately, all her actions didn"t go unnoticed by the silver-haired man, but he paid no heed to her. From start to finish, his eyes were trained onto the old man beside her, with his head bowed in respect.

"Master," he called again before the elder finally nodded in affirmation. "I see she has awoken."

"Mhm." The old man sounded. He can see the emotions that are stirring in the silver-haired man"s eyes, although he barely revealed any. Confusion. Uncertainty. But most of all, Distrust. The old man just shook his head at the young man. Although his life has proven that trust was a deadly weapon, trust was an important element. It could be a weapon or a treasure, but the young silver haired man didn"t understand that. He no longer could trust any human beside the old man himself, and that caused the elder to have quite the headache sometimes.

"Aki, I"ll talk to you later." , the old man said, not wanting to deal with this difficult man. While the young man just nodded before turning his back to leave.

However, right before he was out of earshot, The old man threw him a sentence. "Trust a bit, Aki. At least... trust this one. She is a good one."

It was quite a harmless sentence. An advice of goodwill. However, it caused the silver-haired man to stop in his tracks completely.

Trust? It"s such a foreign word.

He remembered back when his master asked him if he had ridden of all the rats yet. And of course, he already did so. He can"t have those pesky rats snaking around, coveting Master"s precious Gla.s.s PaG.o.da. Yet this little girl somehow was lucky enough to get past his guard and now into the Gla.s.s PaG.o.da itself.

And when he questioned his master about the girl. He had told him that she"ll be his heir and the future master of Gla.s.s PaG.o.da.

He doesn"t accept it. He refuses to.

If she becomes the master of the Gla.s.s PaG.o.da, it"s the same as becoming his master as well. And refuse to have a new master, especially a human like her.

"She"s a good girl", his master said once. "You can trust her. I believe she won"t betray you."

Master believes that she won"t betray him?

He too had believed in humans once. Loved them and their little ways of life. But they never had loved him back. He would help them in secret, disguised as a human. Yet when they found out about his real ident.i.ty as a mighty dragon, they tied him up and tormented him. Plucked his scales for their magical property. Taking his horns to make legendary weapons. Forcing him to use his powers for malicious intentions. And in the end, they left them to die when he could no longer provide them with anything.

How naive he was.

Suffering and lying on the verge of death, it was then Master found him and saved him. And only him, he trusted. Because everyone and everything he had believed in, have all betrayed him.

So, trust, you say?

He no longer can.

Even with the mask covering his face, it didn"t hide the look of desolation on his face. A sad and vulnerable look, causing one"s heart to ache and break.

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Extra scenes (Behind the curtains):

"Her last life was too eventful, especially when she had a rich and powerful friend like Kai. But now, she really wonders how he"s doing. Will he do okay without her?"

Author: Oh, Jin Kai did just fine without you! He went crazy, tried to revive you and he died too. Now he reincarnated and looking for you! Isn"t that great?

Xi Rin: What the heck is wrong with your definition of great?!! It"s all wrong!

Jin Kai: *Sneezes* I wonder who"s talking about me... Welp. (Continues to aimlessly search for Xi Rin)