But I have no way to verify that my true identity isn't "that person," and if I want to maximize my use of World Serpent, I can't abandon "that person's" identity; I can only impersonate him step by step and see.
However, Li Wu's action of pulling back his hand was misunderstood by Anna as "unwillingness."
Does he hate me?
Am I overthinking things? Maybe Li Wu has no thoughts about this at all and doesn't want to get close, so he made up such an excuse to brush it off?
In an instant, Anna's mood plummeted to rock bottom. A sour and bitter feeling grew wildly in her heart like weeds.
"It doesn't matter." Anna suddenly lowered her head and silently took off her disposable gloves. Folding the packaging of the leftover pizza, her voice became faint, like a weightless breeze. "I... was thinking too much. This was originally... just a mission arrangement anyway."
She paused for a long time, long enough that the laughter and bicycle bells outside the window became exceptionally clear and piercing.
"You don't have to force yourself. If you feel uncomfortable, just... just treat it as sunbathing, or go swimming in the sea; anything is fine. As long as you report to me in advance, I... won't stop you."
"What are you saying? This is a hard-earned vacation; of course we have to make the most of it! Why are you acting like me a few days ago, suddenly becoming so depressed? This isn't like you at all, Stupid Valkyrie. Let me take a picture for a souvenir; I really haven't seen your dejected expression before!" Li Wu took out his phone and pressed the shutter button continuously.
The click-click-click of the camera shutter rang out in the room. Anna's pink, tender lips pouted even more severely, almost enough to hang a clothes hanger on.
"Who are you calling stupid?"
"Is it hard to guess? Then let me ask you, who is the idiot scolding?"
" The idiot is scolding you! Smelly Li Wu!"
"See, you admitted you're an idiot yourself, didn't you?"
"What do you mean..." Anna tilted her head, not understanding why Li Wu suddenly said she admitted it. But a second later, she recalled what she had said, and a blush instantly crawled over her fair little face. "You did that on purpose!"
"Whether on purpose or not, you admitted it anyway. But calling you Stupid Valkyrie isn't right either; it implicates other innocent Valkyries. So from now on, I'll call you Stupid Anna. Mmh-hm, authorized by me personally, perfectly justifiable."
"Hmph, childish!"
"Heh, what's wrong with being childish?" Li Wu was completely unaffected. He even leaned closer, wearing a very punchable smile on his face, and began an elementary school-style loop attack. "Stupid Anna, Stupid Anna, Stupid Anna, Stupid Anna, Stupid Anna..."
Before he could finish, Anna suddenly climbed onto the table like a highly aggressive mercenary. With one hand supporting herself on the table, her other hand forcefully clamped Li Wu's mouth shut, her expression "kind": "Can't talk now, can you? But I can keep your mouth shut until I figure out a way to make you shut up for good, okay? Listen up: Stupid Li Wu, Stupid Li Wu, Stupid Li Wu, Stupid Li Wu, Stupid Li Wu..."
For the next three minutes, Anna's voice became increasingly high-pitched, the corners of her mouth continuously rising. She constantly retaliated, treating Li Wu the way he treated her.
Before Li Wu could even finish his second repetition, Anna had already used the "spiritual victory method" to recite it dozens of times. Finally, she let go of her hand with satisfaction, her chin raised high in a posture of total victory.
"Hmph hmph, if you scold me one more time, I'll block your mouth so you can't speak! You can't beat me anyway, so you just have to take it! Speak up, why aren't you speaking? Weren't you very smug just now, Stupid Li Wu? Why are you acting like a good baby now, all stunned..."
"Rubber glue." (T/N: Literally "Bounce back", childish retort)
Before Anna could finish mocking him, Li Wu hit her directly with an "Immortal Killer Move."
Time seemed to freeze for two seconds.
This sure-win ultimate technique from the distant East was like a Heavenly Fire; its massive power caused the temperature in Anna's mind to rise.
Anna spent four seconds processing this peculiar piece of information. By the time her brain realized the offensive nature of this term, it was too late to forget it.
Instantly, a wave of shameful crimson rose from her neck. Her cheeks, which had become pale due to her low mood, rapidly flushed red, as if boiled, her whole face burning hot.
Red as blood, broken defense.
Li Wu faintly heard a clanging alarm—"Warning! Warning!"
Anna's sudden depression hadn't escaped his notice.
Many times, Anna had similarly led him out of the fog of confusion and helplessness.
Li Wu didn't know how to comfort her, so he used a childish method to fish Anna out of the sea of disappointment.
Unsurprisingly, he got "gagged" again.
For the next half hour, Anna didn't stop her "spiritual victory" style attacks. She pushed Li Wu onto the bed, climbed on top of him, supported herself with one hand, covered Li Wu's mouth with the other, and unyieldingly recited her silly declarations over and over again.
Finally, her throat was dry, her voice hoarse. She panted heavily, her chest heaving violently like a roller coaster, looking so exhausted she was about to collapse.
"Stupid... Li Wu... ugh... ah..."
Anna finished the last repetition and collapsed right next to Li Wu, looking up at the ceiling, gasping for big mouthfuls of air.
Finally satisfied.
But what if Li Wu says "rubber glue" again?
She said so much; it must have been almost an hour, right? Would all her effort be in vain?
...
Forget it. Li Wu is a bad guy anyway. Even if he says it, there's nothing I can do about him.
Li Wu is the worst person in the world, bar none!
Anna closed her eyes, prepared to be humiliated by Li Wu.
The warm sunlight shone on her hot, flushed, aloof little face, shaving away some of its stiffness and adding a touch of delicate cuteness.
Suddenly, Anna's burning cheek was pressed against something cold and plastic. She opened her eyes and found it was an incredibly ordinary bottle of cold mineral water.
"You've worked hard. Take a rest."
"Don't worry about the mission."
There was no expected sarcasm, nor did he make her continue her desperate resistance.
There was only comfort—cheap yet precious, refreshing like the summer breeze blowing in from outside the window.
Moisture unknowingly welled up in Anna's eyes.
She remembered...
The indifferent peers in her family, with whom she had no emotional exchange. Even if there was, it was likely just because they needed her to do something for them, like asking for potions or getting simple missions from her.
The naive and weak team members who needed her protection. Without background or strength, they simply followed in her footsteps, admiring her, worshipping her. Even when she was so weak she could barely stand, she would still force herself to maintain a perfect posture in front of them.
The longed-for yet unreachable family members, who left her to die when she was on the brink of death, yet welcomed her with smiles and claimed to love her after she became the Holy Maiden of the Schariac family.
It had been a long time...
A long time since she heard these words when she was physically and mentally exhausted...
You've worked hard. Take a rest...
Even the best aunt in the world—Cecilia—belonged to someone else.
In her long career as a Valkyrie, Anna knew that her aunt had a husband and daughter she loved deeply, her own family. No matter how much she took care of Anna, she would eventually return to her own small home and couldn't stay by Anna's side forever.
Everyone looked up to her because she was strong, stronger than her peers.
She was the best topic of conversation, the most reliable senior, the pride they could show off most...
But...
Those weren't her...
Not Anna, just Anna Schariac...
In the end.
She was still alone...
"Li... Wu..."
Anna's voice was extremely hoarse, as if scraped by a blunt knife.
"Are you going to scold me again? At least pay attention to your own body. I'm right here, by your side; I won't run away. You can scold me anytime, but can you take care of yourself first?"
"Thank... you..."
"I'm guilty! I thought you were going to scold me again! I actually misunderstood the beautiful and kind-hearted Angel Anna! Unforgivable. To atone for my sins, let me go alone to save those animals not in the cycle of reincarnation. Mmh-hm, today I'll buy a KFC family bucket to punish myself!"
"Pfft... don't say such cringy things. You're so childish!"
Anna couldn't help laughing out loud. Her voice was light, her expression sweet, like a cheesecake.
The dimple on her left cheek was deeper than the one on her right, and both little dimples were filled with satisfied laughter.
Li Wu stared blankly, suddenly feeling his heart melt. It was as if a dull, monochromatic novel had been blown open by the wind to its most exciting page, revealing an exquisitely beautiful color illustration inside.
(Illustration of Anna Schariac)
(Illustration of a coastal city at dusk)
This was the first time he had seen Anna smile so spontaneously. Not smiling for the sake of smiling, but uncontrollably. Even when she snapped back to reality and deliberately kept a straight face, he could still see her eyes curving cutely.
Her eyes seemed to say, "Hey, I'm really happy, thank you!" This joy infected the surrounding environment, overflowing from the bottom of her heart, growing wildly like summer vines, rapidly spreading to him.
"You look very pretty when you smile today. Uh... I don't mean just today; you looked pretty when you smiled before too, but today is a bit different."
"Is... is that so..."
Anna turned around, her back to Li Wu, the smile on her face becoming even more obvious. "Hmph hmph, then you're really lucky to have seen it! It's a pity I didn't charge you a fee..."
"Idiot!"
Anna emphasized her tone, panted forcefully once, turned around to stick out her tongue, and then quickly returned to her original aloof expression, drinking the mineral water in one go.
As for where this bottle of water came from...
[Congratulations, you have no savings left. You'll have to drink the northwest wind when you get back.]
No one told me "Tomorrow's Loan" was actually like a loan with such high interest...
[Who asked you to have so many requirements? Extreme cleanliness and hygiene, temperature cold but not freezing, suitable for Anna Schariac to drink. With all these conditions added, naturally, you need to pay more "interest."]
[Actually, I recommended you use the zero-limit card for payment. After all, she has been on missions for four years and has quite a bit of savings. You used 'Tomorrow's Loan' just to help relieve her parched throat, didn't you?]
Li Wu laughed dumbly, not explaining the reason, nor did he need to.
Sometimes he didn't even know why he did it himself; he just felt that doing so would put his mind at ease.
That was enough.
If you can't think of a reason.
Then there's no need to think.
No reason, no cause.
The sky is big, the earth is big, but nothing is bigger than feeling comfortable in your heart. Thinking this and that, weighing pros and cons—if you don't ask yourself if you want to, what kind of choice is that?
After drinking the water, Anna recovered her vitality. "What exactly does the mission description require us to do? Stay for six hours? Why would Schicksal issue such a strange mission? One moment subjugating Honkai Beasts in Siberia, the next vacationing on a small island... it's weird."
Weird is right, because it was made by Koala.
"Nothing too outrageous should happen. Even if it does, there's still me." Li Wu recalled with a smile, his gaze gentle.
"What do you mean there's still you? Your mission is to be observed by me, understand?" Anna pursed her lips, taking all the responsibility onto herself. "As a suspect, Li Wu, you just stay honestly behind me. Don't do unnecessary things."
"Unnecessary things? What if I've already done them?"
"Impossible. You are just an ordinary person; it's impossible for you to do those things..."
"But I have already done them, for example..."
"Impossible." Anna's tone became sharp, like a sharpened blade. "I didn't see it, so it didn't happen. Remember, don't do unnecessary things later. Don't... let me see."
towards the end, Anna's voice suddenly softened.
"...I understand."
Li Wu didn't continue to argue.
After waking up, Anna had never asked how he had carried her, heavily injured, to escape the pursuit of the Star-Devouring Worm.
Whether it was the information on the Star-Devouring Worm or guiding Anna to escape its first attack, these were absolutely not things an ordinary person could do.
But she didn't ask, including about the mineral water that suddenly appeared in his hand.
One had to know, he didn't carry a backpack when he went out, and there was no mineral water in the plastic bag he brought back.
regarding mission-related aspects, Anna was sharper than most people; it was impossible she hadn't noticed this.
The reason she didn't ask was that she couldn't ask.
Once she asked, no matter the answer, it would affect the judgment of him being a suspected Herrscher.
Anna was truly too smart in this regard, so smart that she chose the "stupidest" method—
Pretending not to know.
"Do you have any ideas?" Li Wu suddenly started a topic.
"What ideas?"
"Think about it. Since the mission requires us to stay on the beach until 8:00 PM without any further requirements, why don't we have some fun? I've never seen the sea before."
Li Wu walked to the window, opened the half-open window wider, leaned his arms on it, and poked his upper body out.
The sea surface was a wash of azure, just as the passersby had said—clear as a mirror.
At the boundary between the beach and the seawater, there was a large, artificially built swing, estimated to be over ten meters high, with many people queuing up.
Li Wu clearly saw a woman sit on it after paying. Several staff members worked together to push her higher. The moment the swing reached its highest point, the woman fell from it like a dancing whale, diving backwards into the water, splashing water as high as a person.
"After this week-long vacation passes, we might encounter dangerous missions again, so let's go play together."