Why can't humans do it too?

It wasn't sweet, and the water had a very strong earthy taste. Fortunately, because it had been placed next to the campfire, it wasn't too cold to drink; it was water that had been boiled and then left to warm.

It slightly moisturized my thirsty throat.

As if he had completely lost the ability to speak, the questions that had almost filled his mind had quietly disappeared, leaving only Suer in a daze...

When she realized that Suer seemed to have taken in enough water and was no longer swallowing, Xinke even wiped his dry lips with the spout of the water bottle, spreading out the remaining water and not letting any drops drip from the corners of Suer's mouth.

The spread was very rough, and in just a moment it was clear that this was probably the first time Xin Ke had made such a move. The hard spout of the teapot hit his gums directly several times. Although it had nothing to do with the word "gentle," Su Er strangely felt a different kind of... gentleness.

He must be crazy.

"Would you like something to eat?" Unlike Suer, who was filled with mixed emotions, Xinke seemed unusually calm. Instead of being shy or offering any sarcastic remarks as she was used to, she simply put the kettle back next to the campfire and pulled out two sticks from it.

Suer then realized that this was the source of the meaty aroma he had smelled earlier.

Several pieces of meat, barely bigger than a thumb, were skewered on a wooden stick. The edges were charred, but that did not diminish the irresistible aroma of protein. No seasoning was needed; they were delicious on their own.

The aroma awakened his hunger, and Suer felt his stomach craving food.

With difficulty, he propped himself up, preventing Xin Ke from pressing the wooden stick to his lips as she had when he drank water earlier. Su Er gritted his teeth and grasped the skewer of meat with his own hands.

His body, starving for so long, couldn't eat too much food at once, but instinct made Su'er unable to resist biting into a piece of roasted meat. Even if he couldn't swallow it quickly, just chewing it was enough... chewing...

The senses, which had been overwhelmed by the craving for food, finally caught the subtle truth: the peculiar oily taste, the pungent odor spreading upwards from the mouth...

The teeth that were chewing slowly stopped. Suer silently looked at Xinke on the other side. The forest elf's face had no extra expression. She just chewed the food in her mouth woodenly and then swallowed it.

Just as calm as when Suer had just woken up, Xinke steadily raised the wooden branch in her hand again and bit off a piece of meat without the slightest hesitation.

"What? Do you need some more water?" Xin Ke asked, turning her head as she noticed that Su Er had suddenly stopped moving.

“…It’s nothing,” Su Er replied, shaking his head, and continued to slowly chew the food in his mouth.

The stinging, aching sensation around my eyes gradually disappeared, leaving only a slight burning sensation, all of which was buried deep in my heart.

Silence surrounded the two of them; neither of them tried to say anything... nor did they know what to say. The crackling of the firewood burning in the campfire filled the void perfectly.

It wasn't much, just enough to barely sustain his physical activity, but the satisfaction after eating still made Suer feel like his body was reviving. The coldness and stiffness that had been clinging to him gradually disappeared, and warm blood flowed through his body, awakening every muscle.

Staring at the campfire in front of him, Suer's eyes gradually narrowed. In this warm environment, he once again became drowsy and needed more rest.

"Oh, right."

The sudden sound broke his sleepiness. Slowly shifting his gaze, Su Er saw Xin Ke turning her head to look at him, her beautiful face filled with seriousness and solemnity.

"?"

"I have not failed," Xin Ke emphasized to Su Er, her entire being radiating an aura that left no room for doubt.

"???"

The doubts did not decrease; in fact, they increased because of this incoherent emphasis.

"Did you understand, Mr. Monkey?" Sensing this from Su'er's confused expression, Xin Ke repeated again, "Not even once, never failed!"

“…Ah, I know, you’ve never failed,” he replied hoarsely, but the doubts in Su’er’s heart did not lessen much.

"So what Mr. Monkey said before was wrong, completely wrong!"

"Hey?"

What I said?

When... ah, at that time?

Finally, he managed to dredge up some remnants of memory from the deepest corner of his mind. To be honest, if Xin Ke hadn't brought it up again, Su Er would have almost forgotten what he had said.

In that cold time when even the thoughts in his brain were about to freeze, his consciousness had already entered a blurred state, and he could hardly remember what he had said or done.

"I'm just repeatedly verifying success, in other words, I'm on the road to success, understand?" Su'er's answer made the woman nod in satisfaction, and Xin Ke finally smiled.

This time, Suer wasn't lying; he truly understood Xinke's words—wasn't this exactly it? It's not called failure, but rather a temporary lack of success; it's not called poverty, but rather a state of waiting to become wealthy.

He has fully understood.

"I understand, I understand," Suer nodded repeatedly, smiling as he said, "Speaking of which, the goblin race thinks the same way, right? According to Okan, they keep training themselves, so it's not considered a failure, but rather a constant process of self-inflicted pain!!"

A pebble, flying like lightning, struck his head, interrupting Suer's next words. This woman was wasting her precious energy on something like this.

With an awkward laugh, Su Er belatedly realized what mistake he had made... It was all because he had just woken up; his reaction was far too slow.

The hatred between this woman and the goblins and the winged races needs no further emphasis.

"True geniuses never fail, I really know that, hahaha," Su Er said with a fawning laugh, then chose to shut up.

The two of them stared blankly at the ever-burning campfire in front of them. The flickering flames seemed to possess a strange magic, lulling them to sleep.

“...That city is where I conducted my first large-scale magical experiment,” Xin Ke suddenly said slowly in this peaceful atmosphere.

After a slight pause, Suer realized that she was referring to the city the two of them were heading to.

Chapter 120 Xin Ke's Will

“That place was once the homeland of a fairy species,” Xin Ke said, glancing at Su Er as she explained further, “which is the spatial dimension ‘Absolute Realm’… Mr. Monkey, just think of it as a small world that was created.”

Although he couldn't understand the technical jargon used by this genius forest elf, Su Er nodded with a serious expression, as if he could understand it.

“We conducted experiments there on controlling life forms composed of pure elves, and we also captured the fantasy species Kuradwatkus…”

What the heck? Are forest elves and fairy species really that powerful?

Capture fantasy species?

Upon hearing this, Su Er's eyes widened in astonishment. He instinctively wanted to write down the information, but then he remembered that he had no paper or pen left.

There's no need to write anymore.

"Mr. Monkey, you probably still remember that spell you tried to use to control me when we first met, right?"

"Ah, I remember," Suer replied immediately. Only then did he realize how powerful the magic Xin Ke had used on him was. But perhaps that was why Xin Ke was so shocked when she found the magic was ineffective.

After all, unlike life forms composed purely of elves, Sull was clearly a weak creature with a physical body, and this shock gave him an opportunity to escape.

"And then?" Su'er asked with great interest, her curiosity piqued by Xin Ke's description.

"It was later destroyed by the Skywings," Xin Ke's short sentence summarized everything, suppressing the curiosity that had just risen in Su Er's heart.

So that's how it is. This is the root of hatred.

"The fantasy species that hadn't been fully controlled was killed on the spot. Only twelve of the winged monsters died, and then all the forest elves in that city were slaughtered... no, several other neighboring forest elf cities also suffered the same fate."

"..."

silence.

"So, do you know what I want to do most right now?"

"……revenge?"

"Ah, I suppose so—I will end this great war once and for all! Forever!"

Caught off guard by this anti-war declaration, Suer listened in astonishment to Xin Ke's suddenly excited tone. Could this really be the conclusion this woman had reached?

Even from those few casual words, he could feel the deep-seated hatred between them, the blood feud of killing and being killed. In this endless war, everyone's hatred was intertwined like a spiral, and no one could untangle it.

If we lose today, we'll fight back tomorrow, continuing the hatred along the bloodline, and end the great war under these circumstances... Just based on the strength of the forest elves?

That's far from enough, isn't it?

"In short, all we need to do is kill all the races on this planet, right?" She said this with ease, a possibility that Suer had never even considered. It sounded completely illogical and incredibly unbelievable, but the way this woman spoke it carried an air of absolute confidence that it would come true.

"Whether it's a divine race or any other race, we just need to wipe it all away with magic that can erase everything... Just like cleaning up the garbage at home, whether it's a living creature or something whose life is uncertain, wipe it all away~ As long as we're still standing safely on the surface of this planet in the end—that's how we win~"

is it?

Yes... as expected, this is exactly what she would say...

Suddenly, the ordinary-looking marrow that the goblins were researching and manufacturing into weapons flashed through Suer's mind.

Despite uttering an arrogant declaration to kill everything, Sur was surprisingly unsurprised... because the goblin race had already embarked on this path, hadn't they?

What's so surprising about the emergence of another madman like him?

"That's really impressive..." With a dry compliment, Suer stretched out his hands and clapped them lightly with little strength. He wanted to add more sincerity to his words, but he couldn't muster any energy at all.

'I still... loathe these races that only know how to kill...'

A deep-seated, instinctive hatred.

Such thoughts floated through his mind. Suer stared blankly at Xinke's face, which was excited by his bold words, as if she were swearing some sacred mission. Her eyes, which housed Liuling, shone with an unwavering and confident gaze—a gaze that believed she could surpass everything, even annihilate the divine species.

Lively and full of energy, even though her body had become difficult to stand up, even though her life was still in danger, even though she could be killed by an attack that suddenly swept through the cave in the next second, Xin Ke was still radiant—a will that had transcended the ordinary.

A steadfast will that is visible to the naked eye.

It's unusual.

The one who seemed out of place wasn't Xinke, but Suer.

In this shitty world, perhaps only someone like Xin Ke is normal, the most compatible with this world, and the most likely to survive and continue—the only one who doesn't fit in is Su Er.

Having clearly realized this, Suer became even more depressed.

"……How about it?"

The glowing red charcoal was being stirred and rolled in front of Suer. He looked up again and saw Xin Ke smiling at him.

"...What do you mean, how?" Su Er didn't understand what she meant. In fact, Su Er hadn't heard what Xin Ke had said at the end.

"Would you like to come with me?"

An unexpected invitation—or rather, a completely ambiguous invitation—stunned by Xin Ke's sudden words, Su Er almost lost his balance and fell headfirst into the fire. He stared at her in astonishment.

There was no regret, nor did it seem like he had said something wrong. In fact, the outstretched hand was still in front of him, and the smile on his face hadn't changed. It wasn't an illusion.

This woman is really crazy.

The overwhelming amount of information bombarded Suer's brain, and he had already reached a conclusion.

"……I?"

Pointing at himself in astonishment, Su Er wanted to laugh but didn't know where to begin. A mix of emotions clung to his face, making him look utterly comical.

"why me?"

"Ah~, you always need a partner for something like this~, just like in those picture books, heroes have their own companions, right~", Xin Ke's voice was filled with lighthearted laughter, she seemed to be singing with joy, "Since we're looking for a partner, of course it's better to find someone we don't dislike~"