I don’t agree. Saiyonji’s voice echoed across the desolate ruins.
Jiang Jian Yue did not get angry at this rebuttal. She merely tilted her head slightly, her ruby-like eyes revealing a hint of disappointed inevitability.
“I figured as much.”
“Whether it was the Saori who wanted to ‘become a great person’ in the past, or the politician who now wants to ‘lead a new era,’ there’s always been that stubbornness in you that’s hard to dislike.”
“Since the negotiation has broken down…”
Jiang Jian Yue slowly stood up from the ground. As she moved, the surrounding air seemed to freeze, and an invisible pressure descended like a mountain crushing down.
Saori Saiyonji’s heart contracted violently.
“Then I’ll have to resort to the final measure.”
“You’re going to kill me and seize my ability?” Saori Saiyonji gave a bitter laugh.
“No, you won’t die. You will live forever, within my Vision World.”
Jiang Jian Yue walked toward her step by step, her movements light.
“You will live, Saori. You will witness the new world I create.”
“Something like that… no…!” Boom!
Saori Saiyonji erupted without warning.
He didn’t choose to attack Jiang Jian Yue, because he clearly knew that even at his peak, he was no match for this woman, let alone now that he was gravely injured.
Scarlet flames exploded beneath his feet. Using that tremendous recoil, his body shot upward like an arrow from a bowstring.
Jiang Jian Yue stopped, looking up at the figure that quickly became a black dot.
The final moment of struggle. She didn’t pursue immediately, but stood still, as if giving an old friend a last chance to run, or as if admiring the final dance of a moth drawn to the flame.
“You… will never understand!”
“Humans don’t need to be raised! Freedom, even if accompanied by pain, is still our own choice!”
High in the sky, Saori Saiyonji’s voice was torn apart by the wind, but he still roared.
He flew higher and higher, heading straight for the enormous shadow hovering over Seoul—the body of the Insect God.
That place was a death zone, but also the only chance of survival.
Jiang Jian Yue sighed. The last trace of pity in her eyes finally dissipated, replaced by absolute coldness.
“Really… how ugly, Saori.”
“Since you chose this path, don’t blame me.”
The next moment, her figure vanished into thin air.
High above, the airflow cut like a knife.
Saori Saiyonji felt a bone-chilling cold creep up from behind. Even without turning around, he knew the Death God had caught up.
The speed difference was not even in the same league.
“No choice…”
Saori Saiyonji gritted his teeth, a hint of madness flashing in his eyes.
He looked at the Insect God’s shell just inches away—the mountain-like undulating cuticle exuded a nauseating, terrifying aura.
That was a forbidden zone that mortals absolutely could not touch.
Suddenly, a flash of light appeared in Saori Saiyonji’s eyes.
Buzz—
On the indestructible surface of the Insect God’s shell, space twisted bizarrely. A pitch-black crack opened slowly like an awakening eye.
Inside was not flesh, but a deep void.
Jiang Jian Yue, following close behind, narrowed her eyes. She knew Saori Saiyonji must have traded something for this.
Saori Saiyonji didn’t hesitate and plunged into the crack.
Crack!
“Naive!” Jiang Jian Yue turned into a black streak of lightning, charging through just as the crack was about to close.
The moment she passed through, the space fissure snapped shut.
It was a cut at the rule level—even the hardest material in the world could not withstand it.
Pffft!
Her lower body was severed and left behind in reality, while only her upper half carried by inertia into the unknown space.
Blood sprayed from Jiang Jian Yue’s lower half. Only her upper half—
Whoosh… Dry, rough wind.
Saori Saiyonji fell heavily onto a sand dune, rolling several times before stopping.
Ignoring the pain all over his body, he quickly raised his head.
What met his eyes was a vast, endless sea of sand. The sky was a strange, oppressive pale green.
There was no sun, yet it was still bright.
This scene made him tremble with familiarity.
“Aphrodite… This is…” Saori Saiyonji murmured, “That dream… This is the Inner World of the Insect God.”
“So this is the grave you chose for yourself? Not bad scenery.”
A voice, too calm, came from behind him—although Jiang Jian Yue was internally complaining that the Bug God had actually managed to complete the setting, and she thought there were no deserts on the peninsula.
Saori Saiyonji stiffened and turned around in disbelief.
A few meters away on the sand, Jiang Jian Yue, now only half a body, was propping herself up with her hands.
The terrifying wound was emitting a white mist with a grilled smell, like a jet.
In the blink of an eye, bones grew, muscles rebuilt, skin covered.
Even her black combat suit rapidly restored itself.
Jiang Jian Yue stood up, expression as calm as if the waist-cut damage was nothing.
Saori Saiyonji felt a deep despair.
“You… really are a monster…”
If even space cutting couldn’t kill her, what in this world could stop her?
Jiang Jian Yue stepped forward, walking toward Saori Saiyonji.
“Alright, it’s over. Hand over your ability.”
“If you want it, come get it yourself!”
Saori Saiyonji roared, squeezing out the last bit of energy within him.
He drove his hands into the sand, and the high temperature instantly melted the surrounding grains, which then reshaped.
Countless sharp glass spears shot up like a storm, surging toward Jiang Jian Yue.
At the same time, a wave of flame turned into a giant wave, following closely, trying to devour that woman completely.
Faced with this overwhelming assault, Jiang Jian Yue didn’t even pause.
She just raised her right hand and traced a circle in the air with her slender fingers.
Instantly, the incoming glass spears lost all momentum, clattering to the ground.
The raging flames, under the gaze of her blood-red eyes, obediently parted to both sides, not daring to burn even a corner of her clothes.
“This is… the gap…”
The light in Saori Saiyonji’s eyes gradually dimmed.
“Had enough fun?”
Jiang Jian Yue had already passed through the sea of fire, standing in front of him.
The back of her hand ejected the blade of a Swift Sword.
Saori Saiyonji looked at her, her lips moving as if to say some last words.
“Jiang Jian… will there really… be a new world…”
Jiang Jian Yue didn’t let her finish.
“There will be a new world.”
Swoosh.
No one even saw how she swung the sword.
The brilliance in her eyes instantly froze, all words stuck in her throat.
Her head rolled off, and her body fell backward, hitting the sand heavily, kicking up a small cloud of dust.
The young leader who once wanted to change Japanese politics died in this bizarre, strange space.
Jiang Jian Yue looked down at her old friend’s corpse, silent for a moment.
She watched the ethereal wandering soul be drawn into her own body.
Saori Saiyonji is a Dual-core Cicada Molt Body.
If she were to take the ability by touch now, there would only be a 50% chance of getting [Flame] or [Trading].
“Don’t worry, if you want, I’ll send Kirishima Ren in too.”
She muttered to herself, then crouched down.
“If I get [Flame], then all this will be meaningless.”
Jiang Jian Yue took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and mobilized an ability within her—one she didn’t use often, from some lucky person.
[Strong Luck]— Probability events always tend to develop in the direction I want.
Though the duration is very short, and the cost is bad luck for a long time afterward, she had to use it now.
Faint golden light flickered at her fingertips.
She reached out and touched Saori Saiyonji’s still-warm cheek.
“It must be… Trading.”
A tingling sensation surged into her brain along her arm. The Light Bug’s ability instantly read it.
It was the Trading Ability.
Jiang Jian Yue felt no great joy. She just waited quietly for the negative emotions to flood in.
Ten seconds… twenty seconds…
But she was not eroded by the negative emotions. Instead…
Jiang Jian Yue suddenly looked up, finding herself entering a bizarre space, which was trembling.