Chapter 502 - 443: Brianna: A Dying Person’s Words Are...

Chapter 502: Chapter 443: Brianna: A Dying Person’s Words Are...

’She really lives up to her reputation as a Hunter sought after by several Family Factions.’

The moment their hands clasped, Morando sensed the danger. She couldn’t pull her hand free from Brianna’s grip. But as Brianna pierced her abdomen, Morando had already raised her gun again.

She fired several shots in a row at Brianna’s head.

The spinning, searing bullets were like countless knife points twisting and tearing into her, like the golden and red skirts of a dancer unfurling. Countless colors, scents, and memories culminated in a single, humming, vibrating white light in her mind.

The pain was so savage, so swift, that Brianna could no longer feel it. The impact snapped her neck straight back, as if she had suddenly decided to look at the sky.

The roof blocked the sky. She couldn’t see anything.

But she could feel it.

The fabric of Morando’s clothes tore open without resistance. Skin and muscle ripped apart like shredded bread, shreds of flesh and skin clinging together, barely connected. Her organs felt like oil droplets floating on water; the slightest touch of a fingertip sent them sliding tremulously aside.

Her hand was buried deep in the warm, slick crimson, as if sinking into a final embrace that Morando had opened just for her.

In that instant, there was tenderness, passionate love, a soft and incomparable intimacy.

’How blissful.’

’I wish I could just sit here forever, under a scalding showerhead, under an endless waterfall of blood, warmed by its generosity as mists of hope steamed up all around me.’

But that moment was quickly torn away. As the bullets sent Brianna reeling backward, Morando shoved hard against the doorframe, peeling herself off Brianna’s hand. She stumbled back a few steps and fell down the stairs.

She collapsed on the ground, one hand pressed tightly against the gaping, bloody hole in her abdomen, the other still tremulously raising her gun to aim at the doorway.

"Jin Xueli,"

Every one of Morando’s breaths was hoarse and sharp. Her voice seemed unable to hold its shape. "You... you’ve become a resident?"

Brianna slowly straightened her neck.

’It’s fine. A resident isn’t bothered by something like a bullet.’

’Yes, this is perfect.’

’Even though Morando saw me, she thinks the one who’s become like this is Jin Xueli.’

’That’s right, that’s right. Brianna is long dead. The one who became a resident is Jin Xueli.’

"That’s right," Brianna said, peeking her head out from behind the door again. "Morando, I’m so happy."

Morando suppressed her gasps and groans, a fluctuating, struggling cloud of hot vapor in the night. Human life only shines so brightly, so restlessly, so full of vitality, when it’s about to be extinguished.

Brianna crawled out of the doorway inch by inch, her long back sliding with her into the dim, yellow halo of the porch light.

Morando stared at her elongating back as it slowly flowed down the steps, her eyes wide. For a moment, she didn’t even fire her gun.

Back when she was still Green, Brianna had unavoidably mentioned her own death in passing, but she would never describe her body.

She never wanted the image of her in Morando’s mind to become that of an endlessly long back.

"Why didn’t you call me before you came?"

Brianna pulled Jin Xueli’s phone from a small pouch around her neck. "If I had prepared ahead of time, you’d be dead by now, nice and quick."

She still had some feelings for Morando, after all. If she could give her a quick death, she wouldn’t want to make Morando suffer.

"Why don’t you die here and become a resident to keep me company, okay?"

Morando suddenly frowned slightly, as if the words were so abrupt she couldn’t understand them.

Seizing that moment, Brianna flung the phone. With the strength of a resident, the phone flew with nearly the speed of a cannonball. When it slammed heavily into the gun in Morando’s hand, her grievous injuries made it impossible to hold on. With a CLANG, the gun was knocked away.

’...It seems heaven has finally let things go my way for once.’

Morando was an excellent Hunter, yet injuring her and knocking the gun from her hand had both been surprisingly easy.

’Is it because I’ve become a resident and am not what I once was? Or is it because she let her guard down around Jin Xueli, and once I disemboweled her, she couldn’t turn the tables?’

’Or is there a better explanation—that even when facing Jin Xueli, a resident version of Jin Xueli, Morando still can’t bring herself to be ruthless?’

’No way, no way, no way! Since when are you the type to hold on to old feelings for a resident? Don’t make me laugh.’

Morando seemed to try and push herself up, but the moment she moved, a sticky, churning storm erupted from the gash in her abdomen. It sounded as if boundless, torrential waves were raging inside her, about to pour out into the night. Brianna could hear every single sound with perfect clarity.

Although they had only touched for an instant, Morando’s injuries were far more severe than she had imagined.

’It’s all because of Jin Xueli, all because of Jin Xueli.’

’If you hadn’t been so anxious, so desperate, so eager to save Jin Xueli, you wouldn’t be lying in this dark garden like a corpse whose lease on life is about to expire.’

’Go on, retreat. Struggle and retreat. As I crawl toward you, inch by inch, you fall back, inch by inch.’

’Just like old times.’

Morando’s face was completely drained of color, like a sliver of white bone exposed where the night had snapped.

"Morando," Brianna called out softly. "Morando, Morando, Morando."

She let the name dance on the tip of her tongue twice before letting it leave her lips like the final note of a cello. She had always loved saying that name because it was beautiful.

Morando didn’t just have a handgun on her. As she retreated, she used a small Illusion.

After the Illusion disappeared into Morando’s body, Brianna could no longer hear the roaring waves inside her. It was as if all the torn flesh and severed organs had momentarily solidified like trembling pudding, no longer pouring out blood.

However, it had only stabilized the wound, not reversed it.

’Besides, what’s the use of stabilizing the wound?’

’All it takes is one more strike—’

Brianna abruptly pushed off the ground, like a long serpent leaping into the air. She raised a hand, and the force of the wind, the shadows, and all her strength came pressing down on Morando.

She didn’t resist. She didn’t move. Perhaps she was too weak to move.

Morando simply tilted her face up, her gaze meeting Brianna’s.

She said in a small voice, "...Bree?"

’How strange, isn’t it.’

All her hatred, resentment, fear, relief, her mournful wish for release... it all suddenly hit a pause button.

Brianna felt as if she had suddenly fallen into a blank vacuum.

The power driving her palm strike vanished completely. She was like a puppet whose supporting frame had been ripped out, like Franklin’s kite with its current cut. She crashed down from midair, collapsing into a shapeless heap on the ground, trembling uncontrollably.

"What?" she said hoarsely. "I’m... I’m Jin Xueli."

Morando didn’t seem to hear her.

She watched Brianna quietly, as if her meticulous, irresistible gaze would gradually squeeze all the air from Brianna’s body.

"Bree," she called softly again.

Brianna subconsciously touched her own face. ’The makeup must have come off.’

’When did that happen? When—how could this be—she knows I’ve become like this—’

’She knows she saw it she saw this disgusting terrifying form of mine’

’Then what’s the point of killing her she’s already seen everything’

’Then I have to kill you I must kill you if I kill you you won’t be able to look at me anymore’

"...I thought you were dead,"

Morando’s breath was faint, like a hollow reed that even the wind could pass through. If not for a resident’s sharp hearing, Brianna wouldn’t have even been able to make out the words. "Why did you... lie to me?"

It sounded like a question, but Morando’s lips curved slightly, as if she were about to laugh.

And yet, tears welled up in Morando’s eyes.

Brianna stared at her, stunned.

After two seconds, she opened her mouth and said, "...I originally wanted you to think I was dead, then take on Jin Xueli’s identity. Once I became her... you wouldn’t... you would..."

Her words were disjointed, but Morando understood.

Morando seemed to want to smile, but even her lips seemed to be losing their strength.

Brianna imagined the muscles inside her body, perhaps already like something washed out by water again and again, pale and flimsy. She closed her eyes, as if trying to save the energy it took to keep them open so she could speak.

"You really... don’t know me at all."

Brianna stared at her blankly, unable to say a word.

"You never really knew me that well," Morando said in a low voice, as if talking in her sleep. "For you to die like that... did you think that was just some kind of breakup?"

Brianna wanted to retort—how could she not know her, when she loved her so deeply?—but her mind was a complete blank.

"Even if everyone in the world died, and only Jin Xueli was left..."

Morando let out a weak, breathy laugh. "I couldn’t do it... I just can’t."

’Why?’

"Why?" Brianna asked.

"Because she’s a little like you," Morando said softly.