Chapter 177: Vasasha and Royce! The Furthest Distance in the World
The next morning.
Chen Rui opened his eyes. Last night, he had a weird dream. He couldn’t remember most of it, but the part that left the greatest impression was the magic tent in the dream. The woman in the tent was Christina one moment and Athena the next moment, then changed into sisters, Shea and Alice another moment. At one time, it changed into “everyone together”; the content was very unsuitable for children.
Why have my dreams become so sinister lately? Chen Rui scratched his head. However, the situation of <Deep Analysis> was a little strange yesterday. The analysis of “God-Eating Mask” failed. There was one more light screen in front of the throne. There was a progress meter showing that the progress of <Deep Analysis> was 0%.
There was also a prompt at the side, “The number of <Deep Analysis> can be set automatically according to mental strength. Currently, it is recommended to only use it once a day.”
After Chen Rui confirmed the prompt, another prompt appeared in his consciousness, “A large amount of unknown energy remains in the Star Eater mode. There is a danger of overflow. Activate Star Conversion mode?”
Chen Rui was startled. Sure enough, the Star Eater mode was not limitless. He absorbed Glorfin’s mental power last time and swallowed the power of the “God-Eating Mask” last night. If it “overflowed”, his consciousness would definitely suffer some kind of terrible backfire or even losing his mind. Then, what is Star Conversion mode? No matter what, the big problem of Star Eater must be solved as soon as possible.
Star Conversion mode: Decompose and absorb the energy obtained from the Star Eater to gradually strengthen the master. The process is irreversible and cannot be interrupted after activation. Conditions: costs 10,000 auras a day.
Chen Rui was overjoyed! Converting others energy to enhance myself! Isn’t this the same as the Huagong Dafa or Beiming Shengong [1] in martial arts novels? No, it’s even better than these martial arts. He could intelligently strengthen himself gradually without having to rely on “training” only.
He could not use <Deep Analysis> frequently. Although the mask on his face was a bit troublesome, even being intimate with Athena had become a problem, the most important thing was to solve the big problem of the Star Eater first.
The system prompted that the estimated time to activate Star Conversion mode was 100 days, and one million auras needed to be deducted in advance. The power that was decomposed would be automatically absorbed by the body.
Such a good thing is worth even 10 million auras! Chen Rui confirmed the activation and his one million auras were deducted. The light screen that displayed <Deep Analysis> showed another progress bar, which was the Star Conversion mode. It was currently also at 0%.
However, in a hundred days, the tremendous power obtained by the Star Eater could be fully converted for personal use. When that time came, he might be able to rely on these forces to become a great Demon King!
Chen Rui thought of the power shown by Shea and his heart grew hot involuntarily. He calculated the time; it was already afternoon. He immediately walked out of the basement room and arrived at the lobby.
Arux was in the lobby. When he saw Chen Rui, he immediately reported the last night’s situation. It turned out that the city had set a curfew. The city was thoroughly investigating all those who were wearing masks. Shea focused on Cloak Gang, not because she doubted “Aguile”, but because of the popularity of Cloak Gang, there were too many people in the city who dressed similarly.
As the reserve forces of the imperial guards, the Cloak Gang naturally cooperated with this operation. After a thorough investigation of the gang, they began to assist the imperial guards in carrying out a thorough search across the city. Naturally, the search yielded no results.
Soon, Arux quickly left after receiving a certain order. Chen Rui thought for a while and called Vasasha from the basement room. As he expected, she still looked expressionless like she was waiting to be slaughtered.
“Sit.” Chen Rui completely released Demon King vibes. He seemed to be intentionally threatening.
Vasasha was unaware of this, as if anything around her could not affect her emotion. She sat down like a puppet.
“You seem to be in a bad mood?”
“…”
“I order you to answer.”
“Yes.”
“Is following me not better than following Joseph?”
“…”
“I order you to answer!”
“Yes.”
……
…
Except numbly answering “Yes”, Vasasha did not answer anything else.
Her attitude made Chen Rui feel like he was wasting his energy; he felt very depressed. He asked a few more questions, but she still behaved the same. He was unable to achieve his desired purpose.
Chen Rui’s eyes moved slightly. He looked at the next room, and then he suddenly turned around and said, “There is something that I didn’t want to tell you at first, but seeing your bored look, I should let you feel a little happy. This was what Arux heard this morning. When I took you away yesterday, Royce wanted to follow us. Thus, he was killed by Joseph.”
“Yes.” Vasasha still answered one word, but Chen Rui could clearly feel that her voice was shaking.
Chen Rui added, “I heard that he was calling your name before he died.”
Two streams of tears finally flowed uncontrollably from the corners of Vasasha’s eyes. Her whole body trembled slightly.
Chen Rui knew what to do. He said, “I learned about your past from Arux. It’s strange; now that you don’t have any feelings for Royce, even if you are unhappy now, you should be gloating. Why are you crying over his death?”
Vasasha’s body stopped trembling. She shed tears quietly without answering. Her gaze became darker, like a body that had completely lost its soul. Every part of its vitality had vanished.
“Interesting. I’m getting more interested in you now.” Chen Rui cupped his chin. “You should be able to tell that Joseph and I are just using each other. When the conditions are ripe, I can totally kill him to avenge Royce, but only if you give everything to me without reservation. Are you willing?”
Vasasha’s eyes flashed. They recovered a little color. She focused her gaze on Chen Rui’s face and nodded silently.
“So first of all, you have to tell me what happened with you and Joseph… back then.”
Vasasha hesitated for a moment. She looked confident after looking at the mask, and she finally spoke up.
Back then, the Red Spirit Estate’s Kunda Family patriarch was killed by Red Spirit Lord Josh because he refused to give up a certain treasure he received. The Kunda Family was deprived of their surname and all members were turned into slaves. As Royce’s fiancee, Vasasha naturally was not spared. However, because of someone, Vasasha’s fate changed. She accidentally became Joseph’s maid.
That someone was the illegitimate son of Royce’s father, Ledo, but this act was not of good intentions, but a sinister idea of his. Ledo hated his father for passing on the family business to Royce. He secretly surrendered to Joseph, the lord’s son, and confided in Lord Josh through Joseph, which led to the extinction of the entire Kunda Family.
Joseph took Ledo’s suggestion and lied to Vasasha that Royce was under his control. He threatened Royce’s life and gave Vasasha a strange order. The order was to force Vasasha to fall in love with him wholeheartedly. If he found out that she still had any affection for Royce, he would immediately kill Royce.
Vasasha was introverted; she was not good at expressing her feelings, but she always loved Royce with all her heart, just as Royce loved her. She didn’t know that Royce had fled. In order to protect her fiance’s life, she could only force herself to obey Joseph’s possession. Later, when Royce and Arux came to find her, she thought it was a test from Joseph. It wasn’t until they were defeated by Joseph that Vasasha knew that she was cheated by Joseph. However, Royce fell into Joseph’s hands for real this time. She had no other choice but to continue to “love” Joseph wholeheartedly.
That was how both Vasasha and Royce became Joseph’s subordinates. For a hundred years, even though Royce was close by, she could not express any emotions. She could only reject Royce indifferently, or in other words, protect Royce.
Joseph had promised Vasasha that once he became the Red Spirit Lord, he would give her and Royce freedom. This became her only hope of survival.
Who knew that this dream would be completely broken yesterday. Joseph broke his promise and transferred her to another person like cargo, forcing her to sign the master-servant contract. She completely lost any hope of freedom.
She completely understood the meaning in Joseph’s fierce look yesterday. If she didn’t sign the master-servant contract, he would immediately kill Royce! However, she only learned this morning that Royce was still killed!
With her power, it was impossible to even resist her current master, and it was even more impossible to kill the mighty Joseph. The only thing she could do was to use herself as a bargaining chip to try to get revenge.
Chen Rui just realized that he was completely wrong, and Royce was also completely wrong. Although Vasasha had always seemed dedicated to Joseph and she had always been indifferent to Royce, this woman’s heart had never changed from beginning to end.
Chen Rui remembered the words he left in Shea’s longing wind chime: the farthest distance in the world is not the distance between life and death; it is when I am standing in front of you, but you don’t know that I love you.
To Vasasha, the farthest distance in the world was not only standing in front of him while he doesn’t know that she loves her, but she could only act like a stranger to him even though she loves him.
Compared with Royce’s dedication, Vasasha’s dedication was more intense. Behind her indifferent face, she did not hesitate to burn her own passion. After 100 years, it never changed.
“As long as you kill Joseph, I will dedicate my whole body and heart to you, and I will never betray you in this life.” Vasasha’s somewhat hoarse voice sounded decisive.
“You are wrong. Even if I kill Joseph and take possession of your body, your heart will not be here.” Chen Rui shook his head. “The same way Joseph forced you to fall in love with him. No matter how I twist and force it, love still can’t be changed. If love can be changed like this, you can’t call it as love anymore, even if we sign a master-slave contract. You female Great Demons are so bent on one thing.”
Speaking of the words “bent on one thing”, Chen Rui thought of another Great Demon who truly belonged to him, and tenderness rose in his heart.
Vasasha bowed her head sadly. She suddenly felt that the threatening Demon King vibe on Chen Rui’s body disappeared.
“Joseph must die because I never intended to let him live! As for you…” Chen Rui suddenly smiled and scolded her, “The bastard next door, get out of there right now! If you don’t come out now, I’ll give Vasasha to someone else!”
Just now there was a Demon King-level vibe, plus Vasasha was numb, hence she didn’t feel anyone nearby. Now that the vibe was gone, she suddenly felt that there were two people in the next room, but she didn’t know when they came.
Before waiting for Vasasha to react from the shock, a familiar figure rushed out.
When Vasasha saw this person, despite being indifferent usually, she couldn’t help exclaiming at this moment. She could hardly believe her eyes. Her dim gaze suddenly recovered their color. Royce heard everything from next door, so he was already in tears. He and Vasasha looked at each other for a while. Without caring that Chen Rui and Arux were around, he took two steps forward and hugged Vasasha tightly.
Vasasha then realized that this was not a dream. The icy shell she maintained for a hundred years melted in this fiery hug. She also held Royce tightly.
Arux stood behind them, rejoicing at the reunion of his friend and Vasasha. Suddenly a figure appeared beside him and a low voice sounded, “Arux, walk outside with me. Don’t you think this room is a bit crowded?”
“You’re right, my master.” Arux’s voice filled with an unprecedented respect.
[1] Both were martial arts that appeared in the Condor Trilogy. Both had the effect of draining and dissipating the internal energy of another martial artist.
Would Shea find out that Chen Rui was the one with the mask?