Chapter 857: I Don’t Want to Follow You Either!

The not-so-bustling center of Nightfall City.

Towering black spires stood one after another, radiating a faint, sacred glow that cast a soft light across the entire city.

In this hell, where the sky was shrouded in eternal black mist, even that faint light could not reach every corner of the city.

Bird-beaked Night Doctors and strange creatures moved through the plaza.

Since their return from the Cursed City, several powerful Roots had taken up residence in Nightfall City. Though they were friendly, the city’s natives still hardly dared to breathe too loudly.

After all, from time to time, an enormous Brain would stride through the streets, and everyone who saw it would give it a wide berth.

At this very moment,

the atmosphere in the bustling marketplace at the heart of Nightfall City was also rather strange.

Even the great Demons at the various stalls kept their voices low, not daring to speak loudly. From the corners of their eyes, they kept glancing at the two figures wandering through the market.

“The Summoning incantation has already been spread through various means.”

Sir Aiwen floated along with his cane in hand, carefully correcting the manuscript he held as he mused,

“Though we’ve cast our net wide, it’ll still take quite some time for creatures from the various worlds to discover it. But as soon as even one creature touches the incantation, we can use certain means to influence their dreams and brains directly.”

Beside him,

one blood-red chain after another dragged across the ground, ringing out with an unusually clear sound through the black-mist-shrouded marketplace.

The girl who was the Colossus’s Brain walked along calmly. The unstable Colossus blood energy and curse radiating from her made every creature nearby keep its distance.

Sir Aiwen glanced at her and asked,

“Has your curse flared up again?”

The Colossus’s Brain calmly gazed at the chains piercing her wrist. “It doesn’t restrict my movements, but the bouts of torment do seem to fluctuate in a periodic pattern. If we count a day as twenty-four hours, then this should be the worst time. Still, fortunately...”

“As long as I don’t reassemble myself into the Colossus, I can endure it.”

Her unstable blood energy was reflected in Sir Aiwen’s eyes.

Clearly,

he understood very well.

His old friend had been trying to adapt to life in hell, but he had gone through this stage himself and knew it was no simple matter.

And what she endured was endless, day-after-day agony.

“This place is, in a way, a society of mortals.”

Sir Aiwen reached out, picked up a fruit from a stall, its blood vessels writhing like a brain, and casually tossed it to her with a faint smile.

“All we can really do is adapt. Though it’s been tens of thousands of years since I ascended, my memory bank still holds the memories of every individual in the Cyber Civilization from before its ascension. So you could try not thinking of yourself as a god, and instead regard yourself as an ordinary member of your society. That should help you adjust to this environment more quickly.”

“After all, for an individual, once survival is assured, there are plenty of other things to pursue, like good food, music, theater, and art. These things may seem meaningless to us, but they can actually become the best medicine for forgetting pain.”

The Colossus’s Brain accepted the fruit and silently gazed at it.

Of course, she understood what he meant.

They were both unified wills formed from countless lives.

Though, over the long passage of time, they had gradually developed emotions and feelings much like those of ordinary lifeforms, the way they existed meant they were bound to suppress personal feelings as much as possible.

The survival and expansion of civilization came first, above all else.

She quietly opened her mouth and took a bite of the fruit.

The strange, bizarre flavor, unique to hell, assaulted every sensory cell on her tongue. Thick, pungent juices from the fruit’s leaves gradually spread through her mouth.

“Is this the wisdom you’ve accumulated over the past three thousand years?”

she asked.

Sir Aiwen rested on his cane and smiled. “You could say that. Ever since I stopped thinking of myself as Cyber, life has actually become much easier. There’s more to life than just curses. As long as you try more things and savor them, you’ll always find unexpected pleasures. Those pleasures can become our counterweight against Madness, keeping it from swallowing us whole.”

Thought flickered in the Colossus’s Brain’s calm gaze.

Clearly, she was considering his words.

Sir Aiwen smiled faintly. “Actually, you already have two perfect examples right beside you.”

The Colossus’s Brain turned her gaze toward him. “Who?”

“Of course, the fellow who saved you, and that little girl formed from your Colossus’s Heart. They’re the only two I’ve ever met who can live such colorful lives every single day, even in this hell. Despite this oppressive environment, they’re never troubled by anything. And even when something does bother them, it soon disappears without a trace.”

Sir Aiwen stretched his arms in a long, deep yawn.

“So whether it’s me or the Matriarch, we both like spending time with that fellow. He can certainly be annoying at times, but when he’s around, it’s easy for us to temporarily forget that we’re in hell, and forget the pain caused by our curses.”

He chuckled.

“Don’t you think his attitude toward life is worth learning from?”

The Colossus’s Brain paused, then closed her eyes and turned away. “That’s just brainless, foolish cheerfulness. It doesn’t suit me. And I don’t believe his presence would make me forget much of my pain, either. You’re making far too much of him.”

With that,

she turned and started to walk away.

But just then, a familiar, urgent shout suddenly came from the distance.

“Zuo Zuo! Zuo Zuo! Let’s talk this out! There are people everywhere. If we’ve got a problem, we can settle it when we get back!”

“I already told you not to follow me! Why are you still following me?!”

Lynn groaned in exasperation. “I don’t want to follow you either!”

And at that very instant,

the Colossus’s Brain froze. She instinctively turned her head toward the end of the street, and immediately saw a naked thug in the crowd, seemingly being dragged along by something, rushing toward her.

The people around them glanced over and hurriedly got out of the way, their faces full of astonishment.

And in almost the very next instant, he had already charged through the crowd and appeared before her, his left hand stretched out in a horrified expression.

“Why are you here?!”

The Colossus’s Brain furrowed her brow at his strange appearance, about to speak.

But at that very moment,

before she could even react, Lynn’s left hand had already rushed right up to her. In full view of everyone, it lunged straight for her chest.

Ruuub—

As the wind howled, it was as if time itself had slowed. Her pupils dilated sharply.

Under the stunned gaze of everyone,

Lynn’s hand landed on her chest.

“...”