Night World Players

Chapter 188 The way to change you is to marry Rast (two in one)

As the sun sets, the lonely sea surface is dim.

On the messy reefs, the two objects left by Last were now dyed with a layer of light golden neon under the afterglow of the setting sun.

A heavy-hitting revolver engraved with the Iron Eclipse Moon, and a memory crystal as black as the night.

This was the last question that Luster left for Ingrid before he left.

A multiple-choice question with only single-choice options.

Just as Ingrid had imagined before, she would end her life once and for all.

Or choose to live, become the companion of the black-haired boy, swear allegiance to him... spend the rest of your life following him, and regain the past glory and honor that Ingrid has forgotten.

Ingrid's gaze paused on the revolver for a long time, and she hesitated.

However, after a long silence, she finally reached out her hand towards the dark crystal.

Ingrid is not the type of person who is indecisive. Once she decides on something, she will definitely do it... Her background means that she does not have enough options for retreat like other people of her age.

For Ingrid, every decision is a gamble. She will not leave herself a way out, but can only move forward.

but--

However, the words that Last had said before did make her concerned.

In that case, let’s first take a look at what Rast left behind and see what the hell it is.

With this thought in mind, Ingrid picked up the crystal of memory that was as dark as the night.

Those above the fifth level who have also achieved some accomplishments in the cultivation of mental power all possess the ability to cut off part of their own mental power and memory fragments, and present them as physical memory crystals to others... As the former Chief of the Military Inspectorate, Ingrid is no stranger to this.

She emptied her mind, allowed her spirit to become one with the soul fluctuations of the memory crystal, and slowly injected her thoughts into the memory crystal.

The next moment, countless fragmented memories and images came flooding back like a tide... causing Ingrid's delicate body to tremble slightly.

In the past, when interrogating some enemy spies, Ingrid had used skills similar to "soul search" with the help of her subordinates, so she was very familiar with reading other people's memories.

As the former inspector general of the military, Ingrid can be described as knowledgeable and experienced. She has seen black, white, and gray... Ingrid is a true extraordinary person who has risen from the bottom of society. In her life journey, she has already seen through the world and the warmth and coldness of human nature.

But even so - Ingrid had never seen such a memory before, which made her heart tremble and almost have a mental breakdown.

What kind of mental image is this...

The Deep Blue Harbor, contaminated by the plague of the evil god, was shattered overnight and turned into a hell on earth.

The same day repeats itself over and over again, and life remains stagnant.

Having his flesh gnawed away inch by inch by the Iron Crosses, being utterly destroyed by a steam boiler explosion in the harbor, dying from an overdose of animal stimulants, feeling his body and soul gradually incinerated in molten steel...

These ways of dying that ordinary people find horrifying to even think about, but the young man has already experienced them hundreds and thousands of times.

What Rust said was not wrong.

Endlessly repeating the same day, with no way to move forward, is like hell for humans... and the only ones who can return from hell are probably "evil spirits."

The mind weathers over a long period of time, and the soul also cracks.

Even memories fade away, and recollections of the past become blurred.

The only constant——

It is the ideal of the "Shore Keeper" that still exists despite its dilapidated state.

……

When Ingrid finally woke up from the memories that flooded into her mind like a tide, the sun had already set.

The glow of the setting sun disappeared, leaving only the curtain of eternal night falling, covering the sky.

In her hand, the memory crystal shattered silently, turning into countless scattered fragments, which drifted silently into the night.

However, Ingrid's eyes were still immersed in the previous shock, and she could not extricate herself for a long time.

What she said when she rejected Hiltina's rescue was not empty words.

Ingrid felt disgusted and envious of Hiltina from the bottom of her heart.

Hiltina is regarded as hope by countless people in the empire, as dazzling as the sun... But Hiltina, who was born with everything, has never experienced what it feels like to be the weakest and most helpless, so she will never be able to empathize with Ingrid.

The light belonging to Hiltina cannot illuminate her own darkness.

That's why when Sheltina wanted to rescue herself in the ruins of the nuclear power plant, Ingrid resolutely and decisively slashed with her sword.

but--

Where's Luster?

She mocked Hiltina, saying that she had never experienced the despair of a lower-ranking person, the feeling of being the weakest and most insignificant... But in that memory, the situation that Last faced in Deep Blue Harbor was far more desperate than what Ingrid herself had ever faced.

A plague engulfed the entire city, a beast in human form that knew only to wreak havoc, the pollution and corruption of the evil god, and the half-body of the evil god that would descend upon its time limit—

But Last, who was in Deep Blue Harbor at that time and faced all this, was just an ordinary person who was powerless.

However, in such a desperate situation, Last spent three hundred years and one hundred thousand cycles to find the only turning point for himself from the one in a thousand probability.

Compared with Last, his own experience of rising from humble beginnings and the achievements he once took pride in suddenly seemed insignificant.

Ingrid's silence lasted a long, long time.

After a long while, she raised her eyes slightly and looked towards the end of the distant sky——

That is the direction of Star University.

"Last—"

"Can you really illuminate...my dark night?"

……

Last walked in the student dormitory area of ​​Star University, basking in the glow of the setting sun.

In the past few months, he has focused all his thoughts and energy on Ingrid, just as Rust said to Ingrid, "tearing the eagle"... In order to conquer Ingrid, it has been a long tug-of-war.

Therefore, this was the first time Rust had returned to the college in more than three months—but just as Rust was about to arrive at his dormitory.

He heard faint sounds of conversation, or rather quarrel, coming across the dim sky.

Last's mind moved slightly and he stopped.

One of the parties in the quarrel, Rast, seemed a little unfamiliar. She seemed to be a middle-aged noble lady, and her speech was full of grace and elegance that was hard to conceal.

The other party in the conversation was very familiar to Rast; it was the voice of Hiltina.

"fool!"

Suddenly, one of the quarrelers raised his voice sharply.

The college dormitory area was silent under the setting sun, with only the stern reprimand ringing clearly in Last's ears.

"You must come back, and you must change your stubborn temper—"

"You are the eldest daughter of the royal family. The heir to this empire can only be you, and must be you!"

The middle-aged lady's tone was still excited, but her voice was lowered again.

"If to become the successor to the empire, the future leader... I must become as cold-blooded and ruthless as my father, abandoning the lives of innocent people for the sake of so-called trade-offs and decisions, and even cruelly abandoning my own wife, then I would rather not be a princess, not be an empress."

This was Hiltina's voice, speaking firmly: "I only follow my own path."

"Go your own way? Then where do you intend for us, the entire empire, your father, Ophelia, and I to go?"

"Do you know how much your father sacrificed for you, and how deep his love for you was? The scabbard of the Holy Sword should have been in the hands of successive emperors of the empire, but when he first ascended the throne, he buried it directly within you, a young child."

"If it weren't for the holy sword scabbard within your body, its immortality that can heal wounds, soothe pain, and protect its host from all disasters and calamities...with your stubborn and stubborn temper, how could you have repeatedly survived death in the night world? Do you really think it's just luck?"

"With your reckless and reckless fighting style, you've put yourself in mortal danger countless times. If it weren't for the protection of the holy sword's scabbard, you would have died countless times already!"

"And now that you hold the scabbard of the Holy Sword, you must shoulder the corresponding responsibilities and become the Empress of the Empire."

Faced with the noble lady's suddenly raised tone, Hiltina remained silent for a moment.

"I only recently learned this... but you're right. Without that scabbard, I might have long since perished in the night world, becoming a star engraved on the Starry Obelisk."

She paused for a moment and said, "In that case, let father remove the scabbard of the holy sword from my body and give it to a more suitable person, such as Ophelia..."

"I swear by the name of Ingult, the Ranger family, that I will bear all risks during the relic transplant surgery. Even if I die on the operating table, I will have no complaints."

"You know very well that your father would never do this! He watched your mother die once before his eyes, and there's no way he'd watch his daughter die because of him again!"

The noblewoman's voice was tinged with pain. She looked at the girl in front of her and said, "I finally understand. For all these years, you have had no feelings for me at all! You have never truly considered me your mother, not even a replacement for her!"

"No, if I didn't have feelings for you, I wouldn't be here now."

Ingrid's voice was calm, like the evening breeze blowing through the academy in the afterglow of the setting sun:
"I was only four or five when my mother died. How could I possibly remember so much at that age? To this day, all I remember of her is her back. I can't even remember her face clearly anymore."

"And I also know that you treat me very well. Although we're stepmothers, you're completely different from those evil stepmothers in fairy tales... You truly treat me like your own child and take care of me."

"In fact, many times, you would rather let Ophelia suffer than treat me badly."

So, the one who is talking to Xiltina at this moment is her stepmother?

That is, the biological mother of the second princess Ophelia and the current queen of the Granville Empire?

Rast's mind couldn't help but move slightly.

"If that's the case, why are you still treating me like this?!"

The screams pierced the tranquility of the academy under the setting sun, and even the sound of a pin drop became clearly audible.

"Because of the ideals of a so-called partner of justice that person left behind? That so-called 'Ranger' creed?"

The lady raised her voice again: "That is clearly a fake, something borrowed from someone else!"

"That's not your true opinion at all. It's just hypocritical self-satisfaction! She's been dead for so many years!"

"Hiltina, why do you always cling to something left behind by a dead person?"

Before she finished speaking, the noble lady seemed to regret it. She trembled and said, "I'm sorry, Hiltina, I didn't mean to say that about your mother. I just said something out of turn..."

"I understand. You don't have to blame yourself for what you said in anger—"

Hiltina's tone remained calm, without causing any disturbance. "As for what you just said, it's actually not wrong—"

"Perhaps that's true. False righteousness, sanctity, meaningless hypocrisy born out of self-satisfaction and self-indulgence... But this is my justice. If one day I violate this justice, then Hiltina Ingult will cease to exist."

"As a princess, before everything else—" Hiltina's words were like a rock in a raging wind, unwavering.

“I am myself first.”

The starry university fell into a long silence under the setting sun.

The noble lady remained silent, while Hiltina remained firm, leading to a long stalemate.

"Perhaps I was being overly sentimental when I came to talk to you this time."

After a long moment, the noble lady sighed softly, "Your father had already suggested another solution, one that would allow you to lose your edge and learn to compromise."

Hiltina remained silent.

"Actually, I came to Star University this time not only to visit you, Hiltina, but also to see the person your father mentioned."

"It's just that he doesn't seem to be in the academy, so it was a wasted trip."

The woman stood up and left, leaving only her last words that faded away and disappeared into the sunset.

"Your father said that the new student named Rust is your only weakness and the only person you're willing to compromise for."

"If the royal family arranges for him to marry you... then after you get married, one day, you'll lose your edge because of him, and put aside your stubbornness and aggressiveness—"

"Then, become a qualified heir to the throne, the future empress of the empire."

....................................

PS: I felt a little dizzy during class, so the update was a little late. I will try to make up for it in the next few days.

(End of this chapter)