...Time traces back to a night about ten years ago.
The streets were shrouded in silence, and the sound of high heels was exceptionally clear in the emptiness. Acheron walked alone, moonlight spilling down like frost, her red dress appearing particularly vivid and eye-catching under the silver glow.
As usual, Acheron had lost her way again. She looked blankly at the dead end before her, then lowered her head to check her phone.
[Please go straight at the intersection ahead.]
Acheron (⊙ˍ⊙)?: 'Go straight?'
After a moment of silence, Acheron put away her phone. She turned around and walked away step by step.
"Mother's suggestions are indeed unreliable; I should find the way myself."
At midnight, Acheron had been walking alone for nearly half an hour. There were few pedestrians on the road, leaving only her crisp footsteps echoing in the silence. This loneliness did not make Acheron feel afraid; on the contrary, she had long been accustomed to this sense of quiet solitude. It made her feel increasingly peaceful in the night.
Puff... "Hmm?"
Acheron, who had been walking with her head down, suddenly snapped back to her senses. She glanced left and right, finding that she had absolutely no memory of this place.
'Did I take the wrong path?'
After thinking for a moment, Acheron decided to follow the path to the end. 'As long as I keep going, I will eventually find the right road.' That was what Acheron believed.
Then, as Acheron turned a corner, her footsteps paused. She looked at the scene before her with an incredibly complex gaze.
"Hmm, are there more helpers?"
The commotion here attracted the woman's attention. She turned her head alertly, her muscles tensed, and her gaze was like a torch. However, when the moonlight fell and illuminated the silhouette of the person before her, she actually fell into a daze for a moment.
The newcomer was a purple-haired woman wearing a cinnabar-colored tube dress. The red dress made her skin look whiter than snow, and the bodice was adorned with pearls, like moonlight falling on snowy ground. Her waist was as slender as a bundle of silk, and the dark patterns on her skirt flowed like clouds. Every step she took exuded a classical charm, breathtakingly beautiful.
Such a glamorous and moving scene should have been as picturesque as poetry, but because of the abrupt red oil-paper umbrella in her hand, it added a touch of eerie strangeness.
Jiang Qingning (⊙_⊙;): 'Dammit, it's just a passerby who happened to be passing through.' 'But fine, dressing like this in the middle of the night is one thing, but carrying a red oil-paper umbrella—are you trying to play a ghost and scare people?'
If it weren't for Jiang Qingning's courage and her immediate realization that the other party was just an ordinary person, a normal person seeing this scene in the middle of the night probably would have been scared witless long ago.
Acheron did not care about the complex expression of the woman before her. Her gaze passed over the woman and landed on the ground behind her feet. The dark shadows on the ground were clearly several corpses that had died recently. At the same time, there was a small amount of red liquid remaining on the woman, so her identity was self-evident.
"I was just passing by. Sorry to disturb you."
After Acheron calmly explained, she slowly turned around, preparing to leave directly. This was the first time in several lifetimes that Acheron had seen a scene like those on television; surprisingly, she didn't feel any discomfort.
As for whether to get involved? This was completely outside of Acheron's considerations. Firstly, it had nothing to do with Acheron; she really was just passing by. Secondly, she didn't know the whole story, so there was no reason to interfere.
However, the other party obviously didn't think so. Just as Acheron turned around, she abruptly tilted her head. Almost simultaneously, a cold light whistled past, the sharp edge of a dagger slicing through the air and grazing past her ear.
Regarding this, Acheron didn't care. She looked back slightly and said in a flat tone:
"I am simply passing through. I have no wish to get involved, nor will I reveal this to others, so there is no need for you to stop me."
Hearing this, Jiang Qingning was also stunned. It wasn't because of her words, but because she was amazed by the other's reaction just now. A passerby she thought she could eliminate at will had actually easily dodged her sneak attack. Then the other party was clearly no ordinary person.
As for those words, she could save them for the afterlife. Jiang Qingning only hesitated for an instant, then suddenly took out another dagger. She no longer held back, activating her Supernatural Ability to strike at this person with all her might. It happened to be night right now, and her figure seemed to blend into the darkness, making it impossible to track her movements.
However, just as Jiang Qingning thought she could easily kill her opponent, the unexpected happened.
The night was as dark as ink. Acheron had her back to Jiang Qingning and did not turn around. Her face still wore that same calm expression without a ripple, yet she stayed in place "timidly." Sidestepping, raising her hand, retreating, bending, leaning—this series of simple movements was as smooth as flowing water, as natural as breathing.
But this fluidity ignited a raging fire of anxiety in Jiang Qingning's heart. Fear surged like a tide in her heart, spreading uncontrollably. She could see every movement and every detail of the woman clearly; everything was revealed without reservation before her eyes. However, no matter how hard she tried, she could never even touch a corner of this woman's clothes.
'This woman doesn't seem to have a Supernatural Ability, just like an ordinary person, or rather, she disdains using one.' 'She still calmly holds her oil-paper umbrella, and even her high heels haven't left a one-meter radius from where she started.' Jiang Qingning couldn't help but think to herself.
But in that momentary lapse of focus, such a fatal flaw was easily seized by Acheron. Acheron suddenly spun in place, her red dress fluttering in the wind. Jiang Qingning's vision subconsciously locked onto her, and alertness surged through her heart like an electric current.
At that moment, Acheron's body turned, accurately facing the direction of Jiang Qingning's thrust. Jiang Qingning was startled. Just as she was about to go all out and pierce the opponent with her dagger, she suddenly realized that in the moment of spinning, using the red dress as a screen, Acheron had already quietly closed her oil-paper umbrella.
Immediately after, Acheron unhesitatingly predicted Jiang Qingning's movement, using the umbrella as a sword to thrust straight at her. All of Jiang Qingning's moves were seen through by Acheron. Because the dagger was too short, it ultimately failed to reach the target.
Next, her broad chest was struck hard. Her expression was like being hit by lightning, and her body flew backward uncontrollably like a broken kite, as if she had been hit head-on by a truck.
Bang!!!
Finally, Jiang Qingning crashed heavily into the wall.
"Cough, cough, cough."
She leaned tightly against the wall, her chest feeling as if it had been struck by a heavy hammer, and she couldn't stop coughing violently. Acheron ignored her, instead looking down thoughtfully at the oil-paper umbrella in her hand.
From beginning to end, she had sensed that this woman was not simple. At the same time, Acheron also knew that in this life, she seemed to far exceed ordinary people. But through this incident, Acheron felt as if she had vaguely grasped something, yet in that instant, she couldn't fully hold onto it. It wasn't until she heard the woman's coughing clearly that Acheron snapped back to her senses. As for that magical feeling just now, it was like a bubble, forgotten by Acheron before she knew it.
"Cough, cough, cough."
At this moment, Jiang Qingning coughed heavily, a trail of bright red spilling from her lips. Her body was as uncontrollable as a puppet with broken strings, yet she still stared stubbornly at Acheron. Acheron took in her gaze completely, but could not read the thoughts within.
The two locked eyes, and time seemed to stretch... the night wind, carrying a chill, made the silence between them even longer. Jiang Qingning's fingertips trembled slightly, and she finally lowered her head slowly, her hair falling to cover half her face, leaving only her obscure gaze. A hint of relief—'Perhaps this is fine too'—actually welled up in her heart.
Thump, thump... when she raised her head again, she saw that red figure had already drifted further away. This scene caused a hint of incomprehension to rise in Jiang Qingning's heart, making her suddenly blurt out a question as if possessed.
"You... why don't you kill me?"
The crisp voice broke the silence, and Acheron's footsteps paused at the sound. Jiang Qingning gazed at this scene, her heart unexpectedly calm, as if all waves had returned to silence... The other party did not turn around, nor did she answer her question.
Then, clear words suddenly came from the other person, as the purple-haired woman asked a question in return.
"Do you... still dream? Dream of those who died because of you?"