Volume 3
147 Disfigurement
My hands tightened into fists as I looked at this audacious, smiling face. I shot towards the window, pouncing at her.
Gaoqin Jiuye and Jiao S were visibly bewildered at my actions.
She was gone in a moment. My heart instantly felt heavy, and I started to pool my MF on the bottom of my feet.
I hopped onto the windowsill. My red hair billowed in the wind and my fiery red dress flew in all directions as I jumped out of the building.
It was still night.
I ran as fast as I could in the darkness, going towards where my instincts led me to, not caring about anything else.
As I ran, I took in the sights within the visibility field of 10 square meters, absolutely sure of where I was going, absolutely sure of my target.
I felt it.
She would not have appeared without any reason. I can feel it.
As I ran, the wind howled in my ear, and a few strands of hair were caught on my lips. I continued running forward, not paying it any heed.
Wherever it was, it was always dark at night, just an infinite blackness.
As that feeling started to dissipate, I cried out into the air.
"Nie Zun—!"
There was no answer.
It"s him, I know that it"s him! It must be him!
She"s right, I have to find him! How could I lose him!
The wind stung my eyes as I continued running.
"Ah!"
Anxious and desperate, I was not able to balance the MF properly under my feet, and I fell onto the ground.
"I"m really useless!" I sat on the ground with my hands balled into fists, and I started punching the stone ground!
Once, twice, three times.
The skin on my hands started to tear, but I had no intention of stopping even when blood started seeping out.
"You"re useless! You felt him!" I continued hitting the ground, frustrated at myself.
I did not stop even when the ground was stained with blood.
My arms were numb, and my fists could not heal in time as I simply kept on disintegrating them by smas.h.i.+ng them into the ground.
"Ah—!"
I focused my MF into my right hand, and the ground cracked as I smashed my fist into it.
I cried out involuntarily, and as I looked down, I saw my right wrist twisted in a weird angle, the bone utterly smashed. As my hands were balled up, my fingers were also deformed. My pinky finger was the one closest to the ground. Looking at it, I had only half a pinky finger left as it was already broken. I could feel my fingers crying out as they healed.
"That"s enough!"
A dark shadow then appeared out of nowhere, pulling me up abruptly!
I felt a little dizzy due to how fast I was pulled up!
I heard this warm and enchanting voice in my ear, "Why are you hurting yourself!"
I still felt dizzy, and all I could see was a blurry figure in the dark. I did not think any further and simply stretched out my b.l.o.o.d.y hands, taking the dark figure in an embrace, not willing to let go!
I"m never letting go!
That dark figure seemed to react to my embrace, trying to struggle out of it. I bit on his shoulder as hard as I could!
"Ah…" He let out a low-pitched cry.
A tear escaped from the corner of my eye.
I continued biting on his shoulder, not loosening my grip on him, afraid that he would run away again.
A gentle and warm voice said, "Why do you have to do this…"
I stopped biting on his shoulder and pushed him hard! I stared at him angrily. "Why? How could you leave me! How could you bear to leave me!"
My tears started falling. Behind that curtain of tears blurring my vision, I no longer saw that same pair of starry eyes.
His eyes… His face…
The Nie Zun in front of me now had a black pupil on the right, but his left eye was a menacing, bright red!
There was a darkness in that red, it was startling! That darkness seemed to be alive, as if someone put a black curse into that red eye!
He had different colored pupils!
And his face…
There were scars of various sizes on his face, and these hideous scars were savagely embedded into his fles.h.!.+
He still had those thin, wispy bangs. It hid part of that black pupil of his, and it also hid the vulnerability and avoidance in his eyes.
As he looked at my astonished face, there was this resoluteness that appeared in his eyes, and he turned to leave.
Without hesitation, I grabbed his hand!
He was still wearing that pair of black gloves on his hands!
I grabbed his hand, wanting to speak, but…
Why did this hand feel…
Astounded, I pulled away the glove on his left hand! He tried to pull away quickly, but I focused on my MF to grab him tight!
I pulled his left glove out, revealing that slim and white hand of his! But there were only two fingers on this hand!
His index, middle and ring finger were all gone! They all looked like they had been hacked away neatly! There was only a thumb, and that pinky finger with a skull ring on his left hand!
Shocked, I did not know how to react to this situation. I looked up at him, only to see pain and self-loathing in his eyes!
When did my Nie Zun have such a look? I had never seen such a look on him!
I felt worried and scared, and I grabbed his arm. Shaking my head, I said, "This, this… Just what happened…"
As if he felt my hands trembling, or as if he misunderstood the reason behind my trembling hands, a deep sorrow appeared in his eyes.
"No…" I felt a wave of unease and a feeling of impending danger. I kept shaking my head and tried to gain a tighter grip on him!
My hands were starting to hurt because of how tightly I held onto his arm, but I was not about to give him an opportunity to leave me again!
In this instant, that uncanny red left pupil of his started to rotate.
"No…" I was still shaking my head. For some reason, I felt extremely uneasy!
As I looked at that rotating red eye of his, my hands started to lose their strength.
"No!" I cried out as I finally realized what he was doing!
At this point, I focused all my MF onto my hands. My index finger was like a sharp blade, piercing through his black sleeves, embedding itself into the flesh of his arm!
My finger was already close to bone, but I held it steady like a pincer. I don"t care if this was painful for him, I won"t let go even if it was!
I, Li Shen, will never let go!
However, no matter how hard I tried, no matter how much MF I focused onto my hands, to the point that I heard my shoulder blades cracking under the pressure, I started to feel faint under that ability of his!
It felt as if I was about to lose something extremely important, and tears rolled down my cheeks as I felt like I was about to lose all awareness.
"No… Don"t leave me…" I was almost begging him, choking on my words. He was biting on those pale lips of his. I felt devastated as I looked at his hopeless gaze, full of agony.
In the end, he was still able to use his ability to immobilize me, leaving me.
My head was still fuzzy, and I saw that he looked at me with a gaze that felt like it would be the last time I saw him.
Following which, he disappeared into the darkness. He was gone.
"No—!"
Still under the influence of his ability, I was not fully functional yet, and that cry felt like it tore my throat apart. I heard a whirring sound in my brain, as if there was something inside which suddenly stopped functioning, something that suddenly broke.
I collapsed onto my knees.
"Nie… Nie Zun!"
A figure appeared behind me in the darkness, grabbing me.
"Li Shen! Li Shen, what"s wrong!"
Gaoqin Jiuye took me in a tight embrace from behind, trying to pull me up. But my knees felt weighed down with a thousand pounds, and they stubbornly stuck to the ground!
I tried hard to struggle out of his embrace! But he did not loosen his grip!
I tried my very best to get out!
I felt like I was at the edge of my sanity!
"Let go of me! I"m going to find him! I want to look for him!"
"AAHHHHHHH!"
I cried out as I did not manage to escape, and there was no other way for me to express the pain I felt!
"Li Shen, calm down! Who"re you talking about!" Gaoqin Jiuye sounded worried and anxious!
"Nie Zun! It"s Nie Zun! Let go of me! I want Nie Zun!"
I finally escaped from those clutches of his, but I just fell onto my face as I attempted to run towards the direction Nie Zun went in! My MF was previously all focused onto my hands, and I could not balance the MF under my feet in time.
"Ah!" I smashed the ground with my fists!
I hate that I"m so useless!
Bam!
Crack!
The bones on both my wrists broke!
Jiao S had caught up now, and seeing me like this, she ran over immediately, trying to help me up!
But I struggled to escape from her!
I heard Gaoqin Jiuye"s voice from behind. "Think of a way to stop her! She"s gone too many days without rest and she"s been forcefully using too much of her MF. If she can"t control her emotions at this point, it will cause permanent damage to her MF!"
Jiao S"s eyes turned sharp after she heard this, and with that gaze, the air around me started to freeze!
That frozen air began to encase me. The air currents felt chilly but warm at the same time, trying to get me to calm down!