101. The Secret Call
Her aunt was pregnant at the time, dragged out of the water tank by Tianhuan soldiers by her hair. The soldiers used a katana to slice open her belly, killing both her and the unborn child in a brutal act. They cheered, singing joyful songs, as if they had done something grand.
Yavanna held Desia's head down tightly and covered her own mouth. They hid in the wall, burying themselves with bricks. The Tianhuan soldiers rampaged through the house for five or six days before leaving. By that time, the two were on the brink of starvation, and when they crawled out, they saw nothing but the ashes of a house completely burned down by flames.
But even then, the Tianhuan soldiers weren't finished. They turned half of the living room into a battlefield, fighting against the guerrilla forces of the Rose Army. Bullets flew over their heads as they crawled through mud and smoke, not caring about anything, with green-eyed hunger, stuffing anything that smelled edible into their mouths.
Leather shoes, bones, charcoal, grass ash, ants, rats, crows, maggots—if the gunpowder hadn't been toxic, they would have eaten Octogen too. Even with all this, they were still hungry.
Finally, Desia was the first to collapse.
"Sis, Dad's here. I see Mom... Lye noodles, white rice porridge, pork strips... I want to eat so much."
Her petite body fell into the mud, trembling less and less. In her final moment, her voice suddenly became clear:
"Sis, I don't need to eat anymore. Now it's your turn to eat your fill."
What reflected in her eyes were not human eyes but the eyes of a beast.
Hunger, greed, bloodlust.
—No, those weren't the eyes of a beast.
Yavanna raised her hand, covering her left eye.
"Those are my eyes..."
I was the one who killed my sister.
That sinful memory surged in her mind, intertwining reality and recollection. The familiar cold and hunger blurred time and space, and Yavanna couldn't tell whether she was in the outside world or back on that childhood battlefield.
"...Jiajia."
But the one thing she was certain of, whether then or now, was that she had lost Desia all the same.
Suddenly, Yavanna stopped in her tracks, a glimmer of understanding flashing in her dim golden-green eyes.
"Yeah... why do I even need to keep living?"
Twelve years ago, I had to kill Desia to survive. But Desia, now a ghost, has guarded me after her death.
Twelve years later, I'm once again on foreign soil, about to aim my gun at innocent Granter people, all just to survive.
"I really shouldn't be alive anymore."
She stood in the snowstorm of the outside world, murmuring:
"Dad, I'm sorry. I killed my sister. I'm sorry, Dad... I can't save you, and I can't save the Frost-Plated Republic. I don't deserve to do that."
Someone like me doesn't deserve to live.
Yavanna removed her cloak. The red-black curse spread from her right eye across her entire face like burn scars, the writhing red-black flesh tendrils twisting as if they had a will of their own.
"I should have ended this sinful life long ago."
She spread her arms and lay down on the ground, staring blankly at the red-black sky, abandoning all thoughts of struggle, allowing the cold and the curse to slowly drain away her life.
The bleak world offered no light, not even the false sun was visible. She would die here, unnoticed, uncared for, forgotten by the world, and no one would miss her.
Yavanna thought: Let it be.
At least I won't hurt any more innocent people.
Her body temperature continued to drop, yet there were no signs of death. At that moment, she still felt her body temperature rising, the cold transforming into an intense heat. But she could no longer even shiver. The fever clouded her mind, and she couldn't make sense of anything, lying motionless on the ground.
"...What a pity."
In the haze, it was as if she heard a voice whisper:
"You've just stepped into the realm of evolution, and now you're going to sever this gift. What a pity."
[Who? Who's there?]
Yavanna opened her mouth but suddenly realized that she wasn't speaking with her vocal cords but communicating through her soul, resonating with some distant, unknown presence.
"You have talent, meet the quality, and have paid the price—wasting you is a sin."
[Who are you?!]
Strangely, though she had never known such a technique, in that moment, she instinctively understood its principles and essence.
"You don't need to know of my existence. My existence is a secret. Truth holds no meaning for you."
The ethereal voice carried no distinguishable features, but Yavanna instinctively felt that the owner of the voice must be a woman, a kind, loving mother.
[You're using some kind of power to bind my soul... What is this? Why do I feel so close to you, a complete stranger I've never met?]
The only response to Yavanna's question was a cryptic sentence:
"I have three chairmen, thirteen members of parliament, seventy-two jurors, and six hundred sixty-six citizens."
Chairmen? Members of parliament? Jurors? Citizens?
What is this?
Yavanna asked in confusion:
[What do you mean by that?]
The mysterious voice simply stated the fact, as if declaring:
"Now, you'll be one of my members of parliament."
Yavanna hadn't even processed this when suddenly, a strange word appeared in her mind:
"[Tailor]."
She said.
Yavanna then showed a strange, confused expression. She lifted her hand, as if feeling that something within her had been permanently altered.
Feeling something wrong, she hurried to stand up, but the red-black in her eyes suddenly expanded rapidly. The sharp pain caused Yavanna to collapse to the ground. Her skin turned pale, and as she gritted her teeth, the red-black curse on her forehead proliferated like flesh, gradually forming sharp tendrils.
"Curse... Ugh! Aaaah! Hssss—"
She raised her hand, her fingers splitting in two at the tips, with spiraling nerve tendrils emerging from the middle.
The curse was accelerating its infection, trying to turn her into a monster.
"The curse has arrived."
The sin buried deep in her heart for over a decade had been exposed. Beneath the facade of a good girl was a monster that had eaten her own sister.
That forbidden curse, just like her sister's nightmare demon, had always entangled her.
I don't deserve to be alive. I'm not worthy, not worthy...
Deep scars cracked open on Yavanna's neck, filled with eyes, her hair gradually withering. She lay on the ground, blue mist oozing from her mouth, leaking her memories in this form.
"Yavanna, as promised, you will carry your mother's last name, inheriting her kindness and strength."
Her father David Lin's figure faded into the distance.
—But you've done nothing.
"Our little Yavanna is going to be a big sister. This is your sister, Jiajia. You must protect her well."
Her mother turned away, unwilling to look at her.
—Instead, you ate her.
"I'm sorry, Yavanna. If only big brother were a girl, he could have worked in the company to support the family. But we can only rely on you."
Her brother passed by with a bitter smile, like a stranger.
—You didn't revive our family.
"Oh, finally you've come to keep me company, dear sister. How do I taste?"
Desia grinned wickedly, strangling her, but her face had become unrecognizable.
—She hasn't forgiven you. Yes, she won't forgive you!
Many close, important figures faded away from her. Yet to her surprise, she saw a figure she hadn't expected.
"On this planet, you are unique to me. Once lost, I will never find another like you."
The face of a handsome man with black hair and gray eyes appeared close. His powerful charisma was deeply etched in her heart, impossible to forget. He spoke to her earnestly:
"Live on."
Li Aozi said.
"Your existence holds great meaning for me. No matter what, you must ensure your safety. Live well. Don't die in some corner where I can't even find you."
Yavanna's darkened vision was suddenly illuminated by sunlight.
Almost no one wished for Yavanna Huskisin to live. She was the eldest daughter, a sister, a pillar, a sinner, but never just Yavanna.
Only Li Aozi sincerely asked her to live.
Yavanna's fingers dug into the sand. Her split eyes slowly refocused, forming cross-shaped pupils.
"I... I can't die yet."
There's still someone who wants me to live.
At least until Li Aozi denies my worth, until he no longer needs me, I must live. I have to live to be able to die.
I'm still human. As long as I'm needed by others, I'm still human, and I still have a reason to live.
Even if it's just Li Aozi, if he values my life, I must live.
Yavanna crawled up slowly, hands and feet moving, her antler-like deformed head wobbling. Her flesh rotted away inch by inch, and in her golden-green eyes, only the desire to live remained.
'I must live.'
She stood up, her hands transforming into bat-like wings. She staggered forward a few steps and then fell heavily again.
No... The cold wind froze her. This deformed body wasn't resistant to the cold and couldn't move.
Frost and snow covered her body as Yavanna's life gradually faded.
Is it over?
Her head drooped, but her eyes still burned with a fierce desire to live.
She flailed her claws, wriggling forward, inch by inch dragging her body.
Even if I have to crawl, I must crawl to Li Aozi's side and ask him if I'm still needed.
Before that, I absolutely cannot die—
Plop.
In her dim, blurry vision, a boot suddenly stepped down.
"Are you... a member of parliament? If it weren't for the Bell Ringer forcibly waking me, I wouldn't want to meet any member here."
A young man's voice sounded. Yavanna then saw an unkempt young man with features unlike any race on the Azure Star—golden short hair, water-blue eyes, a beard, and speaking with a strange accent.
He was dressed like someone from the steam industrial era, tall, at least 1.9 meters, with a face showing a weariness and impatience beyond his apparent age.
"For the record, don't think about thanking me. I was forced into this."
Seeing Yavanna staring at him in confusion, the man casually pulled out a vial filled with a dreamlike silvery liquid from his pocket. He uncorked it and poured the blood-like liquid onto Yavanna:
"Welcome to society, you poor unfortunate soul."
The white blood merged into her body. Yavanna felt no immediate change, but when she regained consciousness, the entire world seemed different. Her spine began to rapidly produce blood, filling her with a soul power far greater than her spiritual energy. Her deformities were quickly healed, her withered hair falling over her pale skin, now lifelessly white.
"Cough, cough—"
Yavanna coughed violently, spitting out a lump of red-black clotted blood, and then suddenly stood up. She looked up in shock at the tall man with her golden-green eyes:
"…Who are you?"
"Just a coward who has hidden for countless ages but still can't escape fate."
The man's voice was filled with sorrow:
"My name is Ingeloy Matthew, Miss Parliament Member. You can call me [Sailor]."