Night World Players

Chapter 265 Only in front of you, I refuse to wear a mask
I said, "No way."

Dean Yin looked at Akshia not far away and felt the hairs on his head stand up one by one.

What's going on these days? It feels like anyone can see right through your secrets.

Are they even going to let the ferrets live?

"Little Shia, aren't you 'Death'? When did you secretly learn the 'Hyperintuition' from the Chariot Sequence? Isn't that Tina's ability?"

"Or is it that the Angel of Fate I saw in the Echoes of History was a fake, and you are the real Angel of Fate, possessing the ability to foresee the future?"

Beside her, the girl with long, flowing ice-blue hair ignored Dean Yin's attempts to change the subject with jokes.

She simply looked at Dean Yin quietly, then slightly raised her hand.

The next moment, Akshia's slender, pale fingers lightly touched the air, writing out elegant characters.

"If I'm not mistaken..."

"The one plotting against Last this time is still the same 'gravekeeper' who caused him to become a vegetable two years ago, isn't that right?"

Ice-blue lettering was outlined in mid-air.

The handwriting was utterly cold and aloof, yet there was a slight tremor in the strokes, as if trying to conceal and suppress some inexplicable emotion.

"Two years ago that day... I knew nothing."

"I could only watch from afar, silently watching him self-destruct his Nightblade and Sequence Long Rank, and fire that shot... watching him become a vegetable lying on a hospital bed, his life hanging in the balance."

Akshia's eyes were slightly lowered, and her ice-blue hair fell down her cheeks, as crystal clear as snowflakes.

"Over the past two years, every time I visited him in the hospital, every time I saw him sleeping peacefully in his hospital bed..."

“In my heart, an indescribable sense of regret and self-reproach would rise up.”

"I regret not discovering all that sooner, and I blame myself for not being able to help him... I could only watch helplessly from the sidelines."

"We can't do anything, we can't accomplish anything."

She slightly raised her eyes.

"I don't know what he's going through right now..."

"But this time—"

"I don't want to be left behind again."

"I don't want to be like I was two years ago, only able to watch Rust from afar, unable to help him or do anything about it."

Dean Yin was secretly taken aback when he saw the girl with long, flowing, ice-blue hair beside him.

It had known the other party for a long time and was quite familiar with the "Grim Reaper's" personality—

Akshia has always been the type of icy, aloof girl, consistently quiet and not good with words. Even when communicating through writing, her style is extremely concise, and she has never before expressed her emotions with such a long string of sentences as she is now.

Dean Yin raised his head slightly and looked into Akshia's eyes.

In the girl's dark purple eyes, which had always seemed lifeless like a doll, now lay a burning emotion that felt completely unfamiliar to it.

It's as if it hides something extremely sharp, ready to pierce through the hazy mist at any moment.

Only now did Dean Yin realize—

It seems I've always underestimated this girl from the "Grim Reaper" sequence...

Because of the other party's consistent lack of eloquence and taciturnity, Akshia overlooked the heavy feelings she held for Rust.

"I understand."

It nodded.

After a moment's thought, Dean Yin finally chose to admit it.

After putting himself in Akshia's shoes and putting himself in her shoes... Dean Yin also understood Akshia's feelings.

Watching someone important to you in danger while you're kept in the dark, knowing nothing about it, and being able to helplessly watch from afar—that feeling is just too cruel.

"Okay, I'll be honest, Tina and that guy have actually run into a little trouble recently."

"You have now ascended to the Legendary level and possess a Star Grail of the 'Death God' sequence... When assessing your combat strength, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to consider you a Quasi-Angel."

"In that case, Tina's coronation ceremony a few days from now... will indeed require your assistance."

Listening to Dean Yin's explanation.

In the pale moonlight streaming through the window, Akshia's dull and lifeless eyes gradually brightened.

As the girl's eyes gradually brightened, Dean Yin couldn't help but sigh.

"There's no way around it, this can't be considered betraying a teammate."

"After all, who could bear to betray such sincere feelings from a young girl?"

Dean Yin shook his big, fluffy tail a little guiltily.

It always felt that it had unintentionally caused that kid a lot of trouble.

However, that kid already has a lot of troubles and entanglements with different women... so one more shouldn't make a difference.

……

Nighttime world, a landscape of the mind, the newly reborn Canaan town.

The soft morning light shone through the window and fell on Last's face, carrying a faint warmth.

When he opened his eyes again, he found that there was no one beside him.

Only the creases of the folded sheets and the neatly folded quilt at the head of the bed remained, bathed in the morning sunlight and lingering with a faint fragrance.

That's the scent of sandalwood, a unique fragrance that belongs solely to Amys.

Amise usually gets up before six o'clock every day. She will first cook a thick porridge, then take a small basket and wander around the town of Canaan to select some fresh ingredients. After that, she will go home to take a shower and change her clothes before preparing breakfast for the two of them.

This is a habit left behind by Amys long before the cataclysm of time-space collapse came and before Canaan was destroyed... It has continued into the later Night World illusion and into the newly reborn Canaan town, day after day, like a robot.

Last stretched and then sat up.

After washing up in the restroom, I changed my clothes and went downstairs.

Good morning, Xiao Ai.

The blonde girl poured milk into matching glasses for both of them and placed them on the table: "Good morning, Rust."

Today, Amy prepared a breakfast of milk and a sandwich with a fried egg and bacon. The bacon slices still had a faint smoky aroma, indicating that they had just been smoked.

“Actually, Xiao Ai, you are now the creator of your own mental world, this Canaan town.” “There’s no need for you to make breakfast yourself. You only need to think about it, and any kind of delicacy can be immediately manifested in your mental world.”

Last had brought up such conversations with Amys many times.

But each time, Amys would just listen to his suggestions silently and then obediently nod to indicate that she had heard them.

But every time it's mealtime, Amys still hums Canaan folk songs with great enthusiasm, busily cooking her own dishes in the kitchen.

She would show a rather satisfied expression after seeing that Rust had eaten all the food she had made.

It seems that for this young girl, cooking three meals a day for Rust and then watching Rust eat the dishes she had made herself was something she enjoyed very much.

As Rust drank his milk and ate his sandwich, he quietly emptied his mind.

Then, using the divine essence of the Deep Blue Harbor Evil God as a medium, through the faint connection between the Night World and the Western Continent of the present world, he sensed the movements on the Western Continent in real time.

Several days had passed since the secret meeting between the tomb keeper and cults from all over the Western Continent.

Originally, Rast only intended it as a half-joking gesture, impersonating the Lord of Twilight to issue the corresponding divine descent ritual requests to the Iron Cross Order and that traitor.

Unexpectedly, that traitor seemed to have taken the matter seriously.

Renowned chefs from all over the Western Continent, whether they were head chefs from various high-end restaurants within the Empire, or chefs from the Holy Kingdom of Fran, the Alliance of Lords, and other places, were all invited to the capital of the Granville Empire under various pretexts, including "chef seminars" and "exchanges between different culinary styles".

It was ostensibly a chef competition and a seminar on culinary techniques.

As for the work done behind the scenes, they actually used various methods to get those chefs with superb knife skills to chop meat and make meat sauce.

"Wow, it's really getting this lively."

Last took a bite of the sandwich and couldn't help but complain.

He felt that if things continued to develop this way, it wouldn't be long before the status of chefs within the empire would be greatly elevated.

Before long, a culinary school dedicated to training outstanding chefs, jointly run by the Elite Ten and the Commander-in-Chief, will appear, and the students there will begin to engage in food battles from morning till night.

"Now that I think about it, what I'm doing could be considered contributing to the culinary wasteland of the Granville Empire, right?"

Last recalled the so-called "delicacies" he had eaten in the capital.

His assessment of those so-called delicacies can be summed up in just one word—

"West Lake Fish With Vinegar Sauce"

"I hope that Your Highness will remember my good intentions by then... and please don't dwell on such trivial matters as me having to keep it from her even though I've already woken up."

Rast slowly withdrew his mental energy from the Western Continent and returned it to the world of his mind.

Then he saw that the blonde girl in front of him had finished her breakfast at some point.

At this moment, Amys was sitting at the dining table, resting her chin on her hand, quietly tilting her head and gazing at herself.

Under the girl's gaze, Last swallowed the last piece of his sandwich before slumping back in his chair with a touch of contentment.

Upon seeing this, a smile finally appeared on Amys's pretty face.

"So, what's your opinion on today's breakfast?"

“It’s delicious. Very tasty.”

"That's all the evaluation you have?"

Amies tilted her head and looked at the boy: "Last, really, you always say the same two exact same things every day."

"Um……"

Last looked at the remaining wrapper of the sandwich in his hand and thought for a moment: "It's really, really delicious, extremely delicious."

"I've had sandwiches before, and the ones you made were already pretty good, but today's sandwich is going to be even more special."

"Extremely delicious."

puff-

Across the table came Amy's barely concealed laughter.

"I knew it! I used special spices today, the result of a whole week of experimentation... If you still say it's the same as usual, then you really have a loss of taste."

She smiled slightly like that.

“However, Rast, you really do have a limited vocabulary as always.”

"You used to always claim to be a male escort with zero negative reviews at the Deep Blue Harbor nightclub, saying that every female customer who visited you praised your service."

"In the end... even after thinking so hard, is this the only evaluation I can give?"

"You're nothing like the perfect gigolo you described. You haven't even learned the most basic smooth talk you use to please girls."

"Yeah?"

Last raised his head slightly, also pondering the same question.

"These differences that have appeared in me..."

"I think it's probably the difference between whether or not you wear a persona in everyday life."

He silently gazed out the window at the beautiful town that was now bathed in the morning light, radiating vitality.

"If it were during those three hundred years of time looping in Deep Blue Harbor, or right after leaving the Echoes of History and joining Star University... then I wouldn't mind wearing a mask of pretense and disguising myself as someone else—"

"That flawless gigolo who always manages to stun the audience with his appearance, eliciting joy and tips from female customers."

"After all, while flattery and flowery praise may be old-fashioned, it is indeed the sound that women love to hear the most... Even if they know it is a lie, even if they know that there is an element of perfunctoriness in it, no woman would dislike hearing praise from others."

"By wearing that hypocritical mask of personality and becoming a perfect actor, I can also become more likable, more harmless, more charming, and more popular."

"From the perspective of choosing between interests alone, it is undoubtedly the best option."

"but--"

Last shifted his gaze from the window back to the blonde girl in front of him.

A slightly more serious look appeared in those dark eyes.

"I am here, in this Canaan town... unwilling to wear that mask."

"Xiao Ai, what you saw was me wearing a fake mask, disguised—"

"This is the one thing I absolutely refuse to do."

(End of this chapter)