Scourge Messenger

Chapter 181 Warmth
"Thank you, Sister Pharmacist Yuan," the Bunny Girl suddenly said.

When Yaoshi turned his head, he found that the bunny girl's eyes were more lively than ever before, her little face serious and sincere, and she spoke every word solemnly, staring straight into Yaoshi's eyes without the slightest avoidance.

Although nothing seemed to have changed, the pharmacist felt that the little girl in front of him was a completely different person. If the previous bunny girl was an obedient child under parental supervision, who was cautious in everything she did, then the current girl was like an ordinary child who had completely let go of herself, speaking her mind without reservation.

“I know you care about me, which is why I’ve always refused to acknowledge you as my older sister,” she said. “Being your brother’s sister could mean dying in an instant. Even if I survive this time, I’ll definitely be going to more dangerous places in the future. As my brother says, with great power comes great responsibility, until I encounter an enemy I can’t defeat no matter how hard I try… I don’t want anyone to be sad for me. But to avoid making you sad, I will try my best to survive this trip to Shudao Mountain, but it would be best if we went our separate ways afterwards.”

She braced herself against the rocks with her hands, her legs dangling in the air: "But who knows? What if I become invincible and ascend to immortality? Perhaps we'll meet again a long, long time from now, and I might be much stronger than you then."

She acknowledged Yaoshi Yuan's suspicions, and her situation was even more dire than Yaoshi Yuan had imagined. Shudao Mountain might be the most dangerous place she had ever been, but it could also be the easiest one from now on. After all, she dared to venture into the third-tier secret realm to compete for loot after her second advancement; where would she go after her third advancement?
She knew her fate clearly, but she had no complaints. She didn't care about her own ending, but she cared about Yaoshi Yuan's feelings.

Because they don't want others to be sad for them, they refuse to share in anyone's joy or sorrow.

The pharmacist stared at her blankly, took a slow, deep breath, and began to tell her his story.

“My name was given to me by my mother, who hoped that I would have all my wishes fulfilled in the future, but she passed away when I was very young. My father never remarried and only had me as his daughter, so he was very strict with me and raised me as a boy. He taught me swordsmanship, spearmanship, archery, and horsemanship, and he wanted to mold me into a daughter who was stronger than all the boys.”

"Back then, I was very envious of other girls who could catch butterflies, kick blankets, and raise kittens. I am also a girl, and I also like soft and cute things. I don't want to practice shooting until my hands are sore."

"It seems your father has been very successful in raising you," said the bunny girl. "Sister, you've become very strong, stronger than most people your age."

“But my father abandoned me after I turned ten,” Yaoshi Yuan shook his head with a smile. “He turned his attention to training his nephews, nieces, and other relatives, entrusting them with important tasks, while sending me back to the manor. He didn’t even want me to go to the secret realms for training. But now that I think about it, he probably wanted to use these relatives to eliminate dissidents. If they caused trouble, he could just push them out to appease public anger. The reason he didn’t send me out was probably because he didn’t want to dirty my hands…”

The pharmacist's voice grew softer and softer, as if she had finally understood something she hadn't realized before. It took her a while to come to her senses: "I'm getting off-topic. What I was saying earlier was..."

“Your father left you to your own devices when you were ten years old.”

"That's right. After he let me roam free, I no longer need to go to school. I can learn music, chess, calligraphy and painting like other girls, or do other fun and interesting things. Anyway, I am the daughter of a duke and the Zhaorou Princess of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Even if I am uneducated, I will still have a lot of people serving me."

"But you didn't."

“Yes, I will continue to attend classes, and I will be more diligent and focused than before. I feel that my father looks down on me. He actually values ​​those nephews and does not believe in his only daughter. I will prove him wrong. I will replace him and become the successor of the Ba Shui Pharmacist.” Pharmacist Yuan said, “You have heard what happened later. My father was defeated and died. I escaped and set out to revive the Ba Shui Pharmacist.”

"Before I was ten, I could only follow my father's arrangements and walk down a path I didn't like; after I was ten, my father stopped making arrangements for me, but I still walked on the same path, but with the goal of defeating him." "The past cannot be changed, but we can decide the future: whether to continue along the past or to change direction slightly and choose a more difficult but more desirable path."

As the sun sets, the half of the sunset blocked by the mountains engulfs the sky like a tidal wave. The orange-red glow slants along the mountainside and into the treetops, gilding these ancient and rustic giants with a sacred outline. When the sea of ​​trees covering the mountains sways with the mountain wind, it is like waves spreading out in layers, turning the sky and the earth into an orange ocean, dazzling and warm.

"It looks great," said the bunny girl.

"I found it when I passed by the day before yesterday. I didn't keep you waiting in vain, did I?" Yaoshi Yuan said with a smile. "No one expected that there would be such a magnificent view in the dangerous land of the demonic path."

However, the sun was about to set, and they wouldn't have much time to admire it. Just as the bunny girl was staring intently ahead, the Pharmacist was slowly moving towards her.

Her eyes were fixed on Bunny Girl like a wolf eyeing a rabbit about to pounce, inching closer as if she would pounce if the rabbit suddenly became alert and ran away. However, Bunny Girl seemed truly captivated by the scene before her, so the Pharmacist was able to easily move to her side and gently embrace her.

The last rays of the setting sun sank below the mountains and sea, and before nightfall, the world was shrouded in darkness. The bunny girl's body stiffened, like a small animal caught in the jaws of a predator.

“I have no right to deny your resolve, nor will I stop you. Perhaps there are indeed things in this world more important than our lives… To me, you are such a person.” Yakushi said softly, “Be my sister, so you will no longer be alone… and neither will I.”

After a long time, or perhaps only a short while, the Bunny Girl reached out and hugged the Pharmacist tightly. His hard armor was cold, tough, but very reliable.

"Ah."

Off-screen, Yan Qing watched their conversation with his arms crossed, like a player watching a cutscene. Once the pharmacist deduced the truth, his hands left the Nesser game console; the subsequent dialogue was automatically generated by the system based on the game character's actions.

He vaguely guessed that as long as he touched the game console with both hands, he could take over Bunny Girl's speech again... but there was no need for that.

"You all want to steal my alternate account," Yan Qing thought to herself.

However, that's part of the fun of playing games. Seeing the alt account being treated with such care and cherishing, even Yan Qing, far away in the Thieves' Den, felt a slight warmth rise from the corpse.

(End of this chapter)