Chapter 115: Farewell

“Whew, is it safe here?”

Cheng Cheng led Su Ling and the other two into the back room.

The back room was a mess.

There was a small bed, and the floor was covered in trash.

Cheng Cheng looked a bit embarrassed, but she still found a spot on the floor and jumped on it twice.

Immediately after, a dull sound rang out.

The floorboard slowly shifted aside, revealing a passage to an underground room.

Su Yao and Su Ling were dumbfounded.

‘You can do this?’

“Hurry in. I spent a lot to renovate this place. It should be safe, right?”

Cheng Cheng urged.

Su Yao, Su Ling, and Keke slipped into the passage and arrived in an underground room.

The room was filled with screens, each showing surveillance footage from inside the shop.

Including some private rooms that were supposedly free of cameras.

Su Ling and the other two fell silent.

‘We seem to have accidentally stumbled upon something incredible.’

Cheng Cheng felt even more embarrassed.

“Don’t worry, I just keep these for my own viewing. I won’t share them.”

‘You’re keeping them?!’

Su Ling was shocked.

Suddenly, she remembered what happened earlier in the private room with her and Luo Qianxue…

Her face turned bright red.

“Ahem. Yours, uh, I promise—I’ll delete it for sure.”

Cheng Cheng raised her hand to swear.

Keke kicked her in annoyance.

“This is illegal! Aren’t you afraid the Student Council will come knocking?”

“It’s just a personal hobby… Please, please don’t tell anyone.”

Cheng Cheng clasped her hands together, looking pitiful.

But Su Ling and the others had no intention of telling anyone.

By exposing her secret in front of them, Cheng Cheng showed she didn’t consider them outsiders.

“Of course we won’t. But are you sure this place is safe?”

Su Ling asked with concern.

From bits and pieces of information she’d overheard, she knew a battle at the Great Witch level might break out here.

Could Cheng Cheng’s underground room withstand that?

“It should be fine, right?”

Cheng Cheng wasn’t entirely sure either.

But it was much better than being out there.

The area was sealed off.

If they went out now, they had no transportation or space anchors, and the Student Council’s lockdown had also sealed the space around here.

Getting out would be nearly impossible.

Hiding here, even if they were killed by the shockwaves, at least their bodies would be intact.

“The livestreams are all down.”

Keke looked at her phone, her expression serious.

Su Ling pulled out her phone.

Sure enough, the previously bustling livestream rooms were now all black screens.

The comments were filled with “Teacher Tina really went all out.”

“Teacher Tina?”

“The dean of Memory Academy, a Great Witch. She can modify cognition and is skilled in Speech Magic. It seems everyone who was livestreaming just now was controlled by her and made to stop.”

Keke explained.

She sighed.

“Without the livestream, we have no idea what’s happening outside.”

‘If something happens, we won’t even know how we died.’

“Hehe.”

At that moment, Cheng Cheng suddenly let out a wicked grin.

Su Ling’s heart skipped a beat.

“Boss, don’t tell me you have surveillance outside too?”

“Of course!”

Cheng Cheng pressed a mysterious button.

A camera slowly rose from the roof of Cheng Cheng’s Maid Cafe.

Immediately, the big screen in the underground room showed the scene outside.

Su Ling, Su Yao, and Keke fell silent again.

‘No words left.’

“So those are the three Great Witches? So cool!”

The camera had a very high resolution.

Even across the street, it could clearly show the three Great Witches in the sky.

Even the patterns on Tina’s veil were visible.

“Looks like the Zerg is on the neighboring Panlong Street? That’s good. At least there’s a street between us.”

Cheng Cheng guessed the location and breathed a small sigh of relief.

That was one of the few good news.

“It’s here.”

At that moment, Tina pointed to a spot on the ground.

Zi Tong’s eyes flared with violet light as she heard this.

The spear shot out like a dragon.

Boom!

The earth shook.

Even Su Ling and the others, separated by a street, could feel the ground trembling.

Though she had witnessed a Great Witch battle the previous night, Su Ling was still in awe.

‘So this is a Great Witch?’

In the sewer.

A996’s head suddenly exploded open.

She looked up.

In her crimson eyes, the purple spear grew larger and larger.

‘Your Majesty… Farewell…’

“Careful! She’s about to reveal her true form!”

Qianxia cried out in alarm.

The ground shook violently.

Cracks like spiderwebs spread from deep underground.

A996’s true form was rising from that abyss.

Her black-and-red carapace resembled a moving mountain.

Every plate of armor scraped together, producing a roar like shifting tectonic plates.

When she fully unfurled her suffocating body, the light was completely swallowed.

Shadows gradually enveloped Tina, Qianxia, and Zi Tong.

Tina struck first.

A glint flashed in her deep blue eyes.

[Memory: Third Order] – Speech Magic

Qianxia’s eyes sharpened. Her hands formed a strange seal.

Her mind probed into the void, trying to find a fissure within the giant insect’s body.

The Three Corpses—the life-thread insects that dwell in all things, representing greed, anger, and delusion.

Earlier, she had drawn out A996’s desire-related Three Corpses, but this time, she saw nothing.

Almost simultaneously, Tina’s expression changed dramatically.

“Get out of the way!”

Zi Tong shoved the two of them aside.

The next moment, the giant insect’s razor-sharp leg came crashing down from the sky.

Boom!

“Dammit! She’s burning her own will! Right now, she’s nothing but a killing machine!”

Tina landed clumsily, her elegant dress now torn in several places, revealing glimpses of skin.

Qianxia’s expression was equally grim.

Neither she nor Tina had any effective counter against a mindless killing machine like this.

“I should have called Bu Yao.”

Bu Yao’s sword was best suited for cutting down such killing machines.

“Then get out of my way!”

At that moment, a clear, metallic ring cut through the silence.

Clang!

Zi Tong moved.

Her form turned into a resolute blur.

As she flashed forward, the air around her suddenly ignited.

Violet Netherfire—the black-violet flames shot up from the spear tip.

Where the fire passed, even the void seemed to warp.

Compared to the giant insect’s mountain-like body, Zi Tong was as small as a firefly.

But when the spear tip struck the giant leg that crashed down like a collapsing heavenly pillar, the Violet Netherfire seemed alive.

It madly gnawed at the black-red carapace.

Where the flames touched, the incredibly hard shell began to smoke, crack, and peel off.

For the first time, a piercing scream—like metal scraping and a million souls wailing—burst from A996’s mouth.

The giant insect’s compound eyes, made of countless facets, finally all turned toward this tiny existence that dared to hurt it.

It swung another massive pincer, capable of crushing the heavens, down in a roar.

Zi Tong advanced instead of retreating.

Her form flowed like water, her spear like a rainbow, turning into a storm of violet flames.

Boom!

The spear shaft collided with the giant pincer.

The immense force shattered the ground around them into deep craters, but the Violet Netherfire devoured the shockwave entirely.

The flames licked up the pincer, forcing the giant insect to quickly retract its limb.

The battle had erupted.

It was supposed to be three Great Witches, but Zi Tong had turned it into a solo performance.

Qianxia and Tina hid in a corner.

There was nothing they could do.

Against a mindless killing machine without any will, the best they could do was not feed it kills.

“Tough woman. But I think I saw a last shred of will in her earlier.”

Tina somehow produced a slice of watermelon.

Watching the fight, she munched with gusto.

She even shared a piece with Qianxia.

“I felt it too. Not rage, not calmness, not lust. It was very warm, very cozy, like a memory. You’re more familiar with this kind of thing—what is it?”

Qianxia elbowed Tina.

Tina spat out a watermelon seed.

Since no one was around, she didn’t need to keep up an elegant appearance.

“To be more precise, it’s more like an obsession.”

Tina recalled.

“A very deep obsession. Even after she burned away all her will, this obsession remained.”

“Oww!”

At that moment, the giant insect let out a mournful cry.

She was already on her last legs.

Burning her will to forcibly restore her strength was only to show G502.

She wanted G502 to see her die beyond any doubt.

She would not pose a threat to Her Majesty.

The mountain-like body collapsed.

Blood rained down like a crimson shower.

Amid the scattered chunks of flesh, A996 saw Zi Tong’s cold face.

The last obsession began to fade.

‘I’ve decided. When I become Empress in the future, I’ll appoint you as my Bed-Warming Guard.’

‘Your Majesty… I’m willing… I’ve always been willing…’

“Ah, it’s raining.”

Tina somehow pulled out a black umbrella.

Watching the rain of blood, she sighed.

Qianxia huddled together with her under the umbrella.

‘Can’t get my clothes dirty.’

“It looks like it’s over. False alarm.”

In the underground room, watching the giant insect disintegrate on the screen, and then seeing Zi Tong among the falling body parts—her spear in hand, purple flames surging, heroic and graceful—Cheng Cheng breathed a sigh of relief.

The battle had been almost one-sided.

It even gave Cheng Cheng the illusion that “the Zerg came to die.”

Keke also let out a sigh.

But Su Ling felt a tightness in her chest.

It was the same feeling she’d had back in the Lower City of Azure Star, watching a Zerg get blasted to bits by Ji Lingyuan before her very eyes.

She turned to look at Su Yao.

She saw Su Yao staring blankly at the screen, crystal tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Why are you crying? Did something get in your eye?”

Su Ling pulled out a tissue, gently wiping her face, and asked softly.

“I… am I crying?”

Su Yao touched her own cheek.

Looking at the crystal tear on her fingertip, she was stunned.

‘Why am I crying?’

‘Why am I crying?’

‘There’s no reason for me to cry…’

‘But… my heart hurts so much…’

—

“Since she’s your kin, I thought you would’ve helped her.”

On a distant tall building.

Two figures—one big, one small—had witnessed everything.

K424 and the Comet Knight.

K424’s gaze was complicated.

“Can’t you see she was seeking death? Helping her would be pointless.”

K424 turned around.

A996 reminded her of her own past.

“She’s dead? That Zerg is dead?”

“Yeah. Too bad there was no livestream of the fight.”

Inside the Witch’s Hut.

Few people were in the mood for carnal activities right now.

They were all watching the livestream, which now only showed the ground covered in Zerg corpses.

“So big. That Zerg is huge. Enough to eat for years, right?” Si Miao drooled.

She was a glutton.

“Can you even eat bugs?”

Da Miao flicked her forehead in annoyance.

“Your Highness.”

Nearby, seven little Lolis were chattering noisily.

K423 looked at Zi Miao.

Zi Miao stared blankly at A996’s corpse on the livestream.

—

“This Imperial Guard was seeking death. Interesting.”

In a dark place.

A classical office.

A woman in a red dress, holding a cup of crimson wine in her slender hand, looked at the corpse on the screen and chuckled.

“The Taitu Insectoid Race… hehe~”

Suddenly, the sound of wings fluttering echoed in the classical room.

But the sound carried a strange rhythm, as if it were a peculiar song.