NOVEL NEXT Chapter 21: You Are Not Him
Fu Hua extended a faintly glowing hand, her consciousness tracking the feather implanted in Lin Wei's mind. She monitored and protected his thoughts, ensuring his safety.
Suddenly, her brow furrowed. Her closed eyes snapped open, revealing deep blue irises filled with a whirlwind of emotions. She stared at the unconscious man lying before her.
She had seen many things—far more than she anticipated. Yet, most of them held little practical significance.
Except for a certain someone's reckless audacity.
The magnanimous Phoenix wouldn't usually concern herself with such trifles. But this?
"That idiot… he gave the feather away."
Her voice carried an edge of frustration, though she quickly regained her composure.
Fu Hua could no longer locate Lin Wei's consciousness. Three minds had become entangled, their streams of thought interwoven into a chaotic tangle. Information flowed in every direction, impossible to unravel.
Pinpointing anything useful felt like searching for a needle in an infinite haystack.
The feather had been Lin Wei's preemptive anchor—a tether to clarity, a lifeline to escape the mental abyss.
And now, he had abandoned it.
The logic was sound, albeit reckless. Since their consciousnesses were intertwined, transferring the feather—bound to his mind—along the mental link was possible. It was, in its own way, perfectly logical.
But logic offered no solace to Fu Hua as she considered the cost of such a desperate act.
"Hah, what an unreasonable jerk!"
Without the feather's guidance, it was nearly impossible for Fu Hua to accurately find and influence Lin Wei's consciousness within the vast data stream.
Fully activating the Fenghuang Down might give her a chance, but her body wouldn't allow it. She had her own mission, one that demanded her focus. Rationality dictated she couldn't throw her life away for this blockhead.
Fu Hua glared at Lin Wei, her patience thinning. With no other options, she could only wait for him to wake. Perhaps he would be the one to solve this. Or perhaps...
Her hand absently rubbed the hilt of her blade, concealing her inner turmoil beneath a calm exterior.
They were in a hotel a few hundred meters east of Chiba Academy. The hotel, inside and out, was eerily silent and lifeless. The front door hung open, revealing a scene of devastation: overturned trash cans in the hallway, a toppled computer desk at the reception, dust-covered floors, and scattered limbs.
A corner of the hotel was missing, seemingly ripped away by a passing giant Honkai beast—perhaps a Judgment-class, an Emperor-class, or maybe just an unusually large Chariot-class. Across the street, the devastation was complete, buildings reduced to rubble, a horrific sight.
This destruction did offer one advantage: an unobstructed view from the hotel's mostly intact windows. From the windowsill, the vista of rubble and silent cityscape stretched out before them.
Unfortunately, only one person was currently in a position to appreciate this scenery, and she was clearly not in the mood.
Fu Hua had brought the unconscious Lin Wei to the hotel. She found a relatively clean room and immediately began her task.
First, she opened the windows, letting in the cool air. Then, standing in the center of the room, she calmly unleashed a punch.
The resulting gust of wind howled through the space, instantly sweeping all the dust out the windows, leaving the room spotless. She quickly shut the windows again, the air now fresh and clean.
Hardcore cleaning.
Next, Fu Hua flipped the mattress, burying the dusty side beneath. She did the same with the pillow, tucking it away before tidying the inside of the duvet. Satisfied, she placed Lin Wei gently onto the bed.
It was temporary, just enough to get the job done.
If it were just herself, she wouldn't have bothered with comfort or hygiene.
The entire process, while seemingly lengthy, was surprisingly swift.
The moment Lin Wei lost consciousness, Fu Hua, blade in one hand, scooped him up with the other. The sight of the 5'5" girl carrying the 6' tall young man looked odd, but in this world, it was perfectly normal.
She spotted the hotel, dashed over, and ascended the stairs. Kicking open a door, she placed Lin Wei outside, entered, opened the windows, and punched the air.
In one smooth motion, she brought Lin Wei in, closed the windows, rearranged the bedding, and tucked him in.
An incredibly stylish flow.
She was the Phoenix, after all.
Truthfully, while Fu Hua was annoyed by Lin Wei's unilateral decision, she wasn't displeased.
She had witnessed the entire scene—how he'd unhesitatingly given away the feather meant to protect him to someone else. Her internal assessment of him rose another notch.
That was what annoyed her.
Was that your feather to give? Did you even ask me?
Smooth move, pulling a "gift of another's flowers." [The idiom 借花献佛 (jiè huā xiàn fó) refers to presenting someone else's gift as your own.]
Fu Hua was irritated. Yet, she found herself reluctant to let Lin Wei die.
There was nothing she could do, though.
All she could do was wait for the final verdict.
Fu Hua hated this feeling of helplessness, of leaving things to fate. She was proactive, always seeking and finding solutions to problems, always fighting to the end. That was why she was always the most reliable comrade.
But now, she had to surrender to fate.
She knew how to save Lin Wei, but her fractured consciousness and battered body had to be spent elsewhere, not squandered here.
Lin Wei understood this too. His final act of offering the blade was drawing a line.
You've done enough for me. Now, just wait for my return, or attend my funeral.
Don't do anything more.
Fu Hua understood the unspoken message. At the time, it hadn't struck her, but now she felt… cheated.
"Hah, playing the hero, are we?"
She glanced back at the sleeping Lin Wei, her irritation growing, projecting her unease and guilt onto him.
Had it been anyone else, Fu Hua wouldn't have cared. She'd seen too much death, grown numb to the passing of individual lives.
But Lin Wei was different. In their brief interaction, hadn't they become… friends?
Fu Hua's definition of friendship was simple: sharing a part of oneself with another.
Lin Wei… barely qualified.
And besides him, she had no one else she could call a "friend."
Sometimes, Fu Hua wondered if her standards for friendship were too high. She'd forgotten what it felt like to chat with someone without reservation.
Loneliness had become her companion, yet she still yearned for someone by her side.
Therefore, on a personal level, she was loath to lose this rare friend.
But personal feelings were one thing, duty another. She bore a burden she couldn't abandon.
As for the "future" she'd glimpsed in Lin Wei's memories, she didn't dwell on it. It was the story of another "Fu Hua," not hers.
Even if it was her future, it wasn't her present.
The future should be left to the future…
Fu Hua sighed. It was enough.
Perhaps… this too was part of her mission.
She banished her distracting thoughts and fell silent, only the increasingly frequent rubbing of her hand against her blade betraying her inner turmoil.
A short while later, even for the troubled Fu Hua, it felt brief.
Lin Wei's aura shifted.
Her heart skipped a beat. This shouldn't be happening so soon. She quickly approached Lin Wei, her gaze fixed on him with concern.
Lin Wei slowly opened his eyes, took a deep breath, and looked at Fu Hua with sincerity and deep emotion. "I succeeded, Fu Hua."
But Fu Hua's reaction was different. Her hand, which had been restlessly moving, suddenly gripped the hilt of her blade. She stared intently at Lin Wei, then shook her head, speaking flatly,
"You are not him."
"…If it were him, he would have at least said thank you."
Her even tone couldn't mask the underlying regret.