Night World Players

Chapter 187: Can I, a demon from hell, illuminate your dark night? (7k)

The abyss swallowed up all the light, and one could not see the sunrise or sunset, nor could one tell north from south, east from west, or west from north.

This is an abyss of despair and a whirlpool of pain.

The steel coffin, along with the scattered chains, sank to the seabed of the deep sea, as if forgotten by the world.

I don’t know how long this chaotic time lasted.

Until a certain moment, the chain, which had been gradually rusted by the sea water and stained with bronze rust, began to roll again.

……

wow-

The iron coffin broke out of the water driven by mechanisms and chains.

Immediately afterwards, the steel coffin lid that had been rusted by sea water was pushed open little by little, revealing Ingrid who was imprisoned inside the iron coffin.

Every joint of her body was locked with mithril shackles, and her jet-black hair was spread out, looking disheveled.

Hidden by her messy hair, the skin on Ingrid's face was abnormally pale due to being soaked in sea water for a long time, without a trace of blood.

Her expression was numb and stiff, like a doll that had been abandoned for a thousand years. Both her body and spirit had been buried in the deep sea along with the coffin, dying little by little in the grave until she was extinguished in pure nothingness.

But even though the woman's appearance and figure were as stiff and withered as a corpse.

But when the iron coffin was opened and Rast's figure appeared in her sight along with the sunlight——

Ingrid's eyes seemed to be smiling, a very bright smile.

"You didn't expect that...Laster."

Her voice was as hoarse and withered as a mummy that had been buried in yellow sand for thousands of years, but her tone was so free and cheerful.

"Haha...I'm afraid even you didn't expect that you would miscalculate."

The numb and indifferent expression slowly revived.

Ingrid lay on her back in the iron coffin, gazing at the black-haired boy bathed in sunlight and looking down at her, her eyes bright and cheerful.

At this moment, her eyes were not like those of a high-ranking, serious military official, the former Director of the Supervisory Department.

Instead, she looked more like a little girl who had snatched a lollipop from her childhood playmate.

"I was drowned and resurrected repeatedly in the deep sea... I died and died and lived again and again."

"It was truly a torture worse than death, a torture that felt like years – it was only three months, but it felt like hundreds of years in the deep sea."

She stared quietly into Luster's eyes. "You must have thought that after I get out this time, I would kneel on the ground in tears and beg you not to send me back to the deep sea, back to that hopeless cycle of death and life, right?"

"Just like what's depicted in those comics and novels... No matter how noble and strong a woman may have been, no matter how tough her words were, after enduring the physical and mental torture of being unable to live or die, she will eventually choose to kneel down in submission."

"It has become a well-behaved and obedient cat, crawling at the owner's feet with its tongue sticking out and licking the shoe surface. It is gentle and loyal-"

""dog""

A dry smile suddenly appeared on the corners of Ingrid's pale mouth: "It's just a pity, Rust, you made a wrong bet."

"Not all people...when faced with difficulties, setbacks, or unbearable pain—will beg for mercy, admit defeat, and choose to kneel down."

"In this world, there are always some proud souls who would rather die than bow their heads and become dogs."

She glanced at Last, her eyes frank and clear. "It's just that someone like you, who is so ambitious and believes in the law of the jungle where the strong prey on the weak, and thinks that the strong have the right to wantonly toy with the weak..."

"I'm afraid you'll never understand the true meaning of these words. After all, in your eyes, everyone is a servile bully who only fears the strong and oppresses the weak. If they don't give in, it's only because the pressure from outside isn't great enough... The kind of people I'm talking about don't exist in reality. They're just a fabricated fantasy."

It was obvious that Ingrid was confined in an iron coffin at the moment. Her appearance and figure were so miserable, like a torn doll with a shattered appearance.

But the look she gave Last was so proud, with a condescending look, as if she was isolated from the world, looking down on the snow-capped peaks on the vast earth.

"Last."

"It seems that this time, you lose."

"It was a complete loss."

Ingrid closed her eyes and stopped looking at Luster.

In fact, she really had nothing to say to the young man in front of her.

Indeed, during the three months of sinking into the deep sea, in the endless cycle of suffocation and drowning, death or life... Ingrid was on the verge of collapse and almost wanted to knock on the coffin lid and ask Last to pull her out of the deep sea.

But in the end, she never knocked on the lid of the iron coffin and endured these three months of torture that was unprecedented in the world.

Even Ingrid herself couldn't explain why she was able to persevere... Perhaps it was because when she was on the verge of collapse, she recalled the glory and honor when she first joined the army, or perhaps it was just because of the innate arrogance engraved in her bones, and she was unwilling to bow her head until her death.

But no matter what, since I have persisted for these three months.

Then, after this, there would be nothing that could shake Ingrid.

……

Ingrid closed her eyes in the iron coffin, and darkness came again like a tide.

She didn't care whether Luster would choose to kill herself directly to eliminate future troubles after discovering her failure, or whether he would continue to sink himself into the deep sea, for a year if three months was not enough, three years if one year was not enough, or even thirty years...

Because Ingrid knew that no matter if she was sunk to the bottom of the sea for another three years or thirty years... she would never lower her proud head again.

There are always some things in this world that cannot be erased - whether it is time or God.

However, after a moment of silence.

The only response she got was the gentle applause coming from outside the iron coffin.

The applause was mixed with the whistling wind at the seaside, making it difficult to distinguish.

But then, Luster's words rang clearly in her ears: "Yes, you are right, senior sister."

"This time, you win."

"Senior sister, you won beautifully, leaving me speechless."

As he spoke, Rast stretched out his hand and snapped his fingers again.

Then, accompanied by the sound of the mechanical mechanism being triggered, Ingrid suddenly felt——

The mithril shackles that had bound his hands and feet, sealing and restricting his extraordinary abilities and preventing him from using them, suddenly faded away silently and ceased to exist.

Even the iron coffin that had been like a cage, restricting her freedom, suddenly collapsed with a loud bang, and could no longer restrain Ingrid in the slightest.

She opened her eyes somewhat dazedly.

The blue sky and the bright sunshine.

Fresh air, moist and warm sea breeze...

The clear and beautiful world that had been isolated in the deep sea for a long time and had not been seen appeared before Ingrid's eyes again.

Ingrid turned slightly to the side and looked at Rust, who was slowly clapping not far away, with confusion in her eyes.

"It's not a trap, it's not an illusion, and it's certainly not the common interrogation tactic used in interrogation rooms, where one person plays the bad cop and the other the bad cop."

"This is your prize as the winner, Senior—"

As if sensing Ingrid's confusion, Luster stopped clapping and spoke again with a smile:
"As you can see, you are free."

Ingrid was silent for a moment.

She gently stroked her right wrist, feeling her metal prosthesis. The pale silver "Silver Arm" slowly revived after being freed from the mithril shackles.

The silver prosthesis and Ingrid's consciousness re-established the soul circuit, allowing the silver arm to be driven by her will like a real arm.

"Aren't you afraid that I'll go berserk and kill you right now?"

Ingrid stood up from the iron coffin, twisting the silver arm on her right wrist, and staring intently into Lust's eyes: "I can still clearly feel the pain of drowning in the deep sea. Anyone would want to kill the culprit of such pain."

"Your aura appears to be at most at the peak of level five or just beginning to enter level six. If we were to engage in close combat, you would be no match for me."

"do not worry."

Luster smiled and shook his head. "And I believe that after experiencing the strangeness of 'Time Rewind' and 'The World Stands Still,' even if you really want to kill me, you won't do it lightly."

Ingrid was silent again.

If Ingrid had not experienced it hundreds and thousands of times herself, she would never have believed that the power to turn back time and stop the world could be mastered by a sixth-level transcendent who had not yet achieved legendary status.

She was a high-ranking military official and had consulted a large number of secret documents in the military archives and the Mystery Tower. Therefore, Ingrid knew very well that even among those legendary strongmen recorded in the past of the Western Continent, there were only a few who could use time and space skills.

And even if they truly mastered space-time abilities, they were often just skills like "Space Pocket" and "Shadow Jump," which were somewhat related but actually insignificant...

But the world stillness and time reversal that Last had used before were products that truly involved the rules of time and space, and were far beyond the reach of those insignificant and marginal skills.

So, what Rast said was not wrong.

Before Ingrid thoroughly understood Last's cards that directly involved the rules of time and space, it was impossible for her to act rashly against Last.

"Then why did you choose to set me free?"

Ingrid looked directly at Luster: "Even if your previous ambitions to overthrow the world were all put on for me..."

"But the crimes I committed in the past, the blood on my hands, are all real and true - there is no falsehood at all."

"According to the laws of the Empire, I deserve to be shot ten or a hundred times... Even considering the value of the intelligence I provided, I should be imprisoned indefinitely in a prison for superhumans of the highest standard, until I die of old age."

"Yes, Senior Sister, you have indeed committed a heinous crime."

Luster nodded in agreement.

"Participating in human trafficking, assisting cult members in blood sacrifices, and killing innocent people to maintain secrecy... these are crimes that cannot be forgiven according to the law."

"only--"

Luster smiled. "Senior, why do you have the illusion that I'm some kind of law-abiding citizen?"

"If we really go by the law, then the waterboarding I used on you is a notorious form of torture that has long been abolished and expressly prohibited by law. It seriously violates the Human Rights Act."

"Besides, waterboarding can only be used once—"

"Compared to everything my senior went through, being submerged in the deep sea for more than three months was just a fraction of the pain and punishment." His gaze turned to the other side of the sea, to the end of the azure sky: "Starry University is not affiliated with the Empire and does not need to abide by the Imperial laws. Besides, even if it really did need to, I don't care."

"I have my own ideas of good and evil, and my own ideals. To achieve these ideals, I am willing to sacrifice far more than you can imagine, Senior Sister."

"Mundane laws, concepts of good and evil... these are things that can be discarded without hesitation."

"I trampled on the law, became an unforgivable villain, blew up half a city with explosives, and even buried the lives of an entire country with me..."

"Trust me, Senior."

Rast lowered his eyes and looked at his slender and bony hands.

"My hands have been stained with the blood of even more innocent people...far more than yours."

"And since, in my heart, the punishment you've suffered is sufficient to atone for the crimes you've committed... then you are now free, regardless of the empire's laws."

"Besides -"

There was a slight pause in his words.

Last's gaze fell on Ingrid in front of him again, and his dark eyes, which swallowed up the light like a black hole, suddenly became more profound.

"Senior Ingrid."

"Even if I've committed unforgivable crimes and my hands are stained with blood..."

"But in reality, you've never truly acknowledged the evil self who has fallen into the trap of being a black glove executioner, right?"

Luster spoke calmly, his tone unperturbed. "Although you've said countless times that you hate Hiltina, that you hate her arrogance and pampered lifestyle, that she was born with everything you could never get even if you tried your best."

"But actually, Senior, you're also very envious, even admiring of Hiltina, aren't you?"

"You deeply envy and admire Hiltina's unwavering resolve, even in the face of temptation and public criticism, she remains true to her original aspirations... No matter the wind or the rain, the blazing, bright flame in her heart never wavers."

"Senior, you hate yourself more than anyone else, the one who betrayed your faith for hatred, fell into darkness, and has blood on your hands."

"That's why, in the very end, you returned to the ruins of the Gustav Nuclear Power Plant, because that was the starting point of your dreams and glory—the place you reached with your own hands, step by step, the place closest to your ideals and light."

"You don't want to live abroad as a murderer and a fugitive..."

"I would rather choose to die gloriously at the starting point of my dream as the hero who saved the entire Wildfire Territory."

The boy's words rang clearly in Ingrid's ears, causing her eyes to waver.

After a long time, the ripples in Ingrid's eyes subsided silently and returned to silence.

"But if you already knew what I was thinking...why did you do this?"

She looked at Luster:
"Why did you go to so much trouble to rescue me from right under Hiltina's nose, only to let me suffer in the deep sea?"

"Why do you spend so much time on me, instead of just letting me be buried in the molten steel of the nuclear power plant and be done with it?"

"Of course that's because..."

"I'm genuinely interested in you, and I can't do without you, Senior Ingrid."

Rast sat on the reef and smiled. His profile was bathed in the bright sunlight on the coast, making Ingrid feel a little dazed.

"I really do want to recruit you and make you my companion, but it's not for some ridiculous ambition like world domination."

"And these three months have been my test of you, Senior Sister... or rather, a selection of my fellow travelers."

The sea breeze swept in, blowing up a corner of the boy's clothes.

"I think that as the Chief of the Military Inspectorate, you have investigated countless criminal cases and have seen the world and the black and white of all walks of life. You should be quite clear about this."

"In this world... upholding justice is far more difficult than aiding and abetting evil."

"In many cases, those who do evil will even cloak themselves in the guise of justice and label their opponents as unjust, because the right to define the word 'justice' lies in their hands."

"Faced with injustice, faced with hatred, faced with irresistible power... he naturally degenerates and becomes corrupted, falling into darkness, colluding with those who do evil, and turning to violence against the weaker, transforming from the original victim into the new perpetrator—"

"Anyone can do this kind of 'blackening' thing."

"Faced with difficulties and obstacles, faced with overwhelming external pressure—consistently upholding one's own justice is far more difficult than turning evil."

Luster stared at Ingrid quietly, the playful look in his eyes slowly fading away:
"This is a selection of fellow travelers, a two-way choice. It's a test from me to you, and it's also a test from you to me."

"Senior, do you remember what I told you last time about the training method called "Eagle Training" that originated from a certain ethnic group in my hometown?"

Ingrid nodded.

Isn't the game between me and Last in the past three months exactly what Last called "starving the eagle"?

He is the hunter, and Ingrid herself is the unruly eagle.

This is a contest of willpower between man and eagle. They both need to work tirelessly until one side compromises and surrenders to the other.

"Senior, you might think I'm trying to keep you from surrendering to me..."

Luster smiled: "But actually, it's not like that."

"It's because you never bowed your head even when you were pulled out of the sea for the third time that you never let me down."

He raised his head and gazed at the clear blue sky. "It's true that hunters can tame eagles by using the 'hawk training' method."

"But once the bird has been domesticated, its wildness has faded, and it now obediently follows the hunter's orders, it is no longer an eagle..."

"And it's just an eagle--"

“Poultry only.”

Rast stood up from the rocks by the sea and brushed the dust off his hands.

"Senior, I am indeed forming my own organization and am currently recruiting personnel... However, the difficulties this organization will face are far more dangerous than what I described."

"The darkness and despair you've faced in the past—perhaps they will pale in comparison to what you'll face after joining the organization."

"That's why I designed this 'Eagle-Stay Test'."

"As for the result of 'staying up late', I am actually very happy."

Luster paused. "Because in my eyes, a true eagle—"

"I would rather die than bow to a falconer."

"Only a true eagle is qualified to be my partner."

“Even in hell, I never forget the martyrs who looked up at the stars…those who walked with me.”

……

Rast's right hand gently clenched in the air.

The next moment, a heavy-hitting revolver engraved with an iron moon pattern quietly appeared in his palm.

Then, Rast placed the revolver etched with the Iron Moon on the big rock in front of Ingrid.

"Senior Ingrid, I told you you won."

"So no matter what choice you make, I will not interfere anymore."

"You can either evacuate the border and continue to collude with those secret organizations and evil cults; or you can choose to return to the imperial capital and surrender yourself, accept the judgment of imperial law, and spend the rest of your life in prison."

"Or, you could continue what I stopped you from doing earlier and commit suicide with this 'Iron Moon'. Or even attack me right now and lock me in an iron coffin and sink it to the bottom of the sea."

"but--"

"Senior sister..."

Luster turned around, his back to Ingrid, and his soft words drifted on the sea breeze.

"If in your heart, there still remains a trace of yearning and longing for the military hero who saved the Gustav Nuclear Power Plant from crisis, for the glory and honor of that time, that boundless glory..."

"Then, please consider my earlier offer to become my companion."

He slowly reached out his hand.

A crystal as gloomy as the dark night, as if it had swallowed up all the light in the world, quietly condensed in Rast's palm.

Then, Last placed this pitch-black crystal of the night on the reef in front of Ingrid, together with the "Iron Moon" revolver.

"This is the crystallization of my memory."

"Inside the memory crystals are stored fragments of my past life, as well as incomplete miniatures of my memories."

Rast turned sideways, his dark eyes reflecting the brilliance of the sun on the coast.

"Senior, you said you were a moth in the darkness, and you would only be roasted into charcoal by the sun."

"You also said that Hiltina's light couldn't illuminate Ingrid's darkness... Because Hiltina was born with everything, never stooped to the dust, and never experienced the process of rising from the humblest, so she could never empathize with you."

"Well, Senior Sister, you might as well take a look at this memory crystal and see my past life and experiences."

"Let's see if I, a demon who has returned from hell, can reach the dark night that belongs to Ingrid."

"Then, cut off your fate, Senior Sister."

……

When Ingrid came back to her senses from her trance, the dark-haired boy was no longer visible on the dusk-covered coastline.

Only the revolver and memory crystal shrouded in the sunset on the reef not far away confirmed what Last had just said.

"If Senpai changes her mind, then—"

"I'll be waiting for you in the student dormitory of Star University."

The boy's calm and clear voice seemed to still be ringing in my ears.

Ingrid looked at the revolver on the rock.

Followed by.

With some hesitation, she reached out her hand to the dark memory crystal that was as black as the night.

(End of this chapter)