This time I chose Paladin.

Chapter 255 Memories Quietly Spread
Han Jiangxue suddenly lost her focus.

A bone-chilling cold, a deafening explosion, and her companion's screams faded into the distance. She found herself sitting in a bright university classroom, the afternoon sun casting warm dappled light through the clean glass windows.

The air was filled with the faint scent of books and chalk dust, along with scallion pancakes and fried rice. I wondered who had brought the food in here again.

I am a sophomore in college.

That was the best period of her memory, a time of peace, warmth, and happiness, busy but not painful.

She doesn't have to face family pressure or think about the heavy responsibilities of the future. Although she is naturally aloof and a bit inhuman, keeping her distance from most of her classmates, her life is simple and fulfilling.

Her gaze involuntarily shifted to the girl in the seat next to her.

The girl's name is Yun Shu, and she is her roommate.

Yun Shu has soft, shoulder-length black hair, always meticulously combed. Her personality is as gentle and serene as her name suggests. Unlike Han Jiangxue, whose sharp edges and cold eyes command respect but keep people at a distance, she is like a piece of warm jade, always wearing a gentle smile, though behind that smile always seems to hide a subtle vulnerability.

At this moment, Yun Shu turned her head slightly and gave Han Jiangxue a familiar smile with a hint of concern, and whispered, "Xiaoxue, can I borrow your notes? I was a little distracted just now."

Her voice was very soft, like a feather brushing against a gentle breeze.

Han Jiangxue remembered that Yun Shu was not in good health and would occasionally take sick leave, but she would always rush back to class with a gentle and slightly apologetic smile to borrow her notes.

She borrowed it every time.

They didn't talk much, but there was an unspoken understanding between them. These were simple, warm days...

...At the time, it seemed like nothing special.

"Stay here forever..." Star Ember's allure was like a bewitching spell.

Han Jiangxue could almost feel the warmth of the sunlight on her skin and smell the faint scent of shampoo on Yun Shu's hair.

The warmth nearby was quiet and cozy.

My friend... you're here.

Yun Shu looked at Han Jiangxue with her usual gentle gaze, as if as long as Han Jiangxue nodded, she could escape the cruel, cold, and suffocating world outside forever.

The ice crystal fortress trembled violently in reality, and the chilling aura surrounding Han Jiangxue fluctuated noticeably, even dissipating. Yi Jian noticed her abnormality and anxiously shouted, "Old Han? Little Jiang?"
"Holy crap! Han Jiangxue!! Wake up!!! Dad! I'm calling you Dad!"

A distant voice, anxious and on the verge of collapse.

My friend... he's there.

But this heartwarming scene is so real, so alluring…

For a moment, Han Jiangxue's eyes became unfocused. She looked into Yun Shu's clear, smiling eyes. Peaceful days were right before her eyes, and she felt as if she were truly about to drown in them.

However, just as her consciousness was about to completely relax, another image flashed through her mind—

It wasn't a university classroom, but rather a cold winter night not long ago, with Yun Shu's empty eyes sparkling like stars.

Blood stained the ice and snow, and the warm red spread along the ice flowers.

During her two years at university, Yun Shu was the only warm color in all her past gray and white memories.

They were very good friends…friends, such a beautiful word. She had once thought she would never have any friends, and then she thought they would be friends for life…

However, upon returning home from the holiday, the world underwent a dramatic change, and all of humanity was thrown into a new world.

In the initial chaos and despair, Han Jiangxue also thought of that gentle girl in the desolation, feeling a sadness of perhaps never seeing her again, but that was all.

In chaotic times, there's no time for sentimentality. She had assumed that Yun Shu, like countless others lost in the old world, had vanished into the rift of time.

Until that day. During an operation to wipe out a cult stronghold and investigate the cult's motives alongside Yi Jian, she encountered a fanatical spellcaster with bizarre methods.

Hidden in the shadows of his hood, the opponent cast a spell that carried a familiar feeling that made Han Jiangxue's heart tremble—it was not a powerful attack, but a gentle ripple of starlight that was enough to shatter one's will.

The battle was extremely fierce, with Han Jiangxue gaining the upper hand thanks to her usual decisiveness and powerful ice-type abilities.

At the last moment, the opponent and their accomplice fled into cover, but she seized an opening and, without hesitation, unleashed a swift, precise, and ruthless ice flower, imbued with extreme cold, piercing through the earthen wall. The ice flower exploded on the opposite side, piercing the caster's chest and taking her life.

The hood was thrown open by the impact, revealing a pale, thin face, yet still bearing some gentle features.

It's Yun Shu.

Those eyes that used to always smile at her were now filled with astonishment, pain, and an emptiness tainted by starlight.

She looked at Han Jiangxue, her lips moving as if she wanted to say something, but in the end only she coughed up a mouthful of blood mixed with ice shards, and slowly stopped breathing.

Han Jiangxue stood frozen in place, the sounds of the entire world fading away. She could barely hear Yi Jian's calls, watching Yun Shu's body grow colder and colder, watching the ice flower she had created bloom and stained with blood... At that moment, she felt that the ice flower had not only pierced through Yun Shu, but had also pierced her own heart.

Suspicion grows wildly like a poisonous ivy.

Was her unwavering belief in decisiveness, efficiency, and zero tolerance for threats wrong?

If she had been just one second slower, if she had seen the other person's face clearly, if she had... even just spoken a single word to Yun Shu, who had become a cult member? Could she have questioned her about why? Perhaps... perhaps there would still be a sliver of hope to salvage the situation?

Even if we still end up fighting each other, at least... it won't be in such an unexpected way!

This self-blame and regret were buried deep in her heart, becoming a wound she dared not touch. And now, Xingjin had despicably torn open this wound, rubbing salt into it with a false sense of beauty.

"Yes... I was wrong..." Han Jiangxue roared silently in her heart, her nails digging deep into her palms until they bled. "I always kill too quickly... I didn't even give her a chance to speak..."

The immense grief and self-denial nearly consumed her. She felt she deserved to die, her hands stained with her best friend's blood. That coldness and remorse were piercing and etched into her very soul.

But this extreme pain and self-blame, in the next second, like cold iron thrown into a furnace, transformed into something even more intense and pure—hatred!
A voice echoed in her mind: "I believe in you."

That was Nie Weiyang's voice.

Nie Weiyang believed her... Yes, she wasn't wrong, she just needed a different approach! In battle, no one has the right to say 'maybe'!
And now—even more damning are those who turned Yun Shu into that state!
These are the embers of stars that distort the starry sky, bewitch people, and trample beauty into tragedy!

They took Yun Shu away and then used her death to attack her!
They're so skilled!

So skilled! How many times have you done something like this?!
"Fake! It's all fake!"

Han Jiangxue bit her tongue hard, the sharp pain and the taste of blood instantly bringing her back to her senses! A trace of lingering affection for that warmth remained in her eyes, but more than that, there was the rage of her beautiful memories being desecrated, and an even more resolute coldness!
The girl suddenly tilted her head back, her long white hair flying wildly, golden light bursting from her eyes, and a roar that was not human coming out of her throat. The cold aura around her was no longer a cold defense, but transformed into an ice storm full of destructive will!

In her eyes, a pure gold color shone brightly, burned by an almost insane fire of hatred.

Breakdown? Anger? Self-doubt? All of these exist.

But at this moment, they have all turned into fuel!
She was no longer fighting merely for survival or her own will, but for revenge! For Yun Shu! For all the lives destroyed by these star-souled ghosts!
"You...you all deserve to die!!!"

This was a roar filled with blood, tears, and hatred, like a horn tearing apart the soul. A force that had been forcibly suppressed finally broke free of its shackles under the impact of this extreme emotion!
Under Yi Jianhuo's astonished gaze, ice scales sprouted from Han Jiangxue's cheeks, and sharp ice horns grew from both sides of her forehead. On her profile, the [52%] in the bloodline section flashed slightly, changing to [54% (tentatively: 100%)]. And within her conviction, the badge shone brightly—

Her conviction was finally revealed to the world!
"【Those who commit evil are not human, kill them and eat them】—!"

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, a dazzling yet icy radiance erupted from Han Jiangxue, instantly engulfing her figure.

Within the radiance, a sickening cracking of bones and the sound of flesh tearing and reforming echoed. Her body arched and stretched violently, her human form vanishing rapidly. Ice-blue dragon horns pierced her forehead, growing wildly; fine, hard white scales covered every inch of her skin like armor; her limbs transformed into claws; her tail tore through clothing…

Before everyone's incredulous eyes, in just a few breaths, Han Jiangxue transformed from a human girl into an ice dragon over fifteen meters long, its entire body seemingly sculpted from ten thousand years of ice!
"...Not a buddy?!"

Yi Jian's brain exited the capsule.

(End of this chapter)