After drawing cards, the evil god became my source of吐槽 (tu cao, a form of humorous commentary/criti

Chapter 19 Tangled
The hospital corridor was eerily quiet.

The white light was bright but not glaring. The clean floor made even the sound of footsteps clear.

Outside a hospital room, two people stood by the door talking in hushed tones.

"She...still won't speak?"

The speaker was a woman, dressed in a sharp, dark gray uniform with a number tag on the front of her jacket, indicating a high rank. She had a cool, aloof expression, looked to be around thirty years old, and stood ramrod straight, like a knife ready to be drawn at any moment.

The man guarding the gate shook his head, his tone hesitant: "She's been awake for three days. The medical team says she's recovering a little faster than expected, but she's always depressed, doesn't speak or cry, just... sits there with her eyes wandering. She won't answer any questions. It seems she's suffered severe psychological trauma."

"Not going to say anything?"

"Yes, he only said one sentence. He said, 'Everyone else is dead, only I survived.' Then he refused to say another word."

The woman was silent for a few seconds, then turned to look at the closed door, her gaze serious.

She had someone investigate this girl immediately.

His name is An Jing, he's eighteen, and he just finished the college entrance exam. He should have been just one of countless ordinary test-takers. He has no connections, no licenses, and no ability rating records. His life is conventional; he's a typical "ordinary person."

But she survived.

The investigation team searched the villa and deduced that a horrific explosion had occurred there, meaning that everyone should have perished. They also discovered the used props.

Not long after 001 and the others entered, the villa began to act strangely, becoming sealed off by an unusual force. They were unable to contact the outside world or send anyone else in, and despite a long and urgent investigation, they were unable to find a solution.

Before they could come up with a solution, the magnetic field disappeared, leaving only this one survivor inside.

In the central villa, they found An Jing.

A person, unconscious, clothes torn, covered in blood, with 001's dagger beside them.
The rest of the people, including 012, 014, and even... 001, all died.

Because they found their residual tissue and tested their DNA.

Her fingers tightened slightly.

"...Even 001 is dead."

She found it hard to accept this reality, and she almost couldn't hold back her tears when she heard the news.

001 was among the earliest members of the Light-Holding Bureau, as can be seen from his number.

She remembered that he had been wounded during a mission against a high-ranking mysterious being, but he never complained. He was taciturn, but he always rushed in at the most crucial moments to block everything.

That person is the backbone of the Lantern Bureau.

He was also a comrade-in-arms she respected.

This time, however, they couldn't save anything. The reason for the magnetic field's collapse remained unknown, the mysterious source vanished completely, and even the remaining fluctuations were incomplete. The only one left was this survivor.

She truly didn't understand.

How did the girl survive, and how did the five lamplighters die?

She reached out and pushed the door open.

There was only one hospital bed in the ward, the window was drawn with a gauze curtain, and the sunlight shone softly on the floor, illuminating the room so quiet it was like an empty place.

The girl sat on the bed, leaning against the headboard, wearing a hospital gown, her face so pale it was almost transparent.

She was like a still statue.

Hearing the door open, she turned her head slightly and glanced at her, but quickly lowered her head again and said nothing more.

"Do you remember me?" The woman approached and stopped by the bed, her tone unhurried. "I am He Lin, number 002. I was the one who went to pick you up that day."

An Jing did not respond.

Her eyes were indifferent, as if she couldn't hear anything.

He Lin looked at her without saying a word for a long time.

She remembered the emergency communication they received that day. After detecting the magnetic field collapse, she rushed to the scene herself and saw An Jing.

The girl was covered in blood, with rubble and scorched earth beneath her, but her chest was still rising and falling slightly; she was still alive.

"What happened?" He Lin asked softly. "Why don't you want to talk about it?"

An Jing raised her eyelids slightly, then slowly closed them again, as if trying to escape.

It's not that she doesn't want to talk.

She just hasn't decided yet.

If it weren't for those three people, 001, 012, and 014, who left her a way out almost without hesitation, she wouldn't have been in such a dilemma. She didn't understand it at first either.

She was just an ordinary person, living an ordinary life, and never took on any responsibility.

But at the critical moment, they insisted on sacrificing themselves to protect her.

It's because the so-called "primordial" power resides within her.

But she didn't want to say.

She didn't want her life to be turned upside down.

If you tell them the truth, she will never be able to return to a normal life.

Tell them that the Origin is hidden inside their bodies?

Tell them you've got a gacha system, and they died protecting you?

She said she watched them fall one by one, that she almost couldn't even crawl, and that she only managed to pull that mysterious creature into the card by taking a gamble?

Does that mean we should just let her go home and attend university normally?
no, I can not.

“You won’t say anything, so it’s hard for me to explain for you.” He Lin’s tone wasn’t accusatory, but rather a little tired. “There are quite a few people in the 404 Special Service who have started holding meetings to make decisions about you, saying that you might be a mysterious ‘container’, that the things inside you are unclean. Some people have even suggested that we… conduct more in-depth tests on you.”

An Jing's fingers curled slightly.

"But I stopped them."

He Lin looked at her calmly: "Because I still trust 001's judgment. I believe that your survival is his decision, so you must be very important. For his sake, I won't let you be in danger."

A silence fell over the ward.

The chirping of birds drifted in from afar outside the window; it was very faint, almost inaudible.

“…You don’t owe anyone an explanation,” He Lin suddenly said in a low voice, “but you should at least think it through and think about them.”

After saying that, she turned and walked out.

The ward door closed gently.

The ward returned to quiet.

An Jing looked down at her hands.

There were still faint traces of blood on her fingertips, a color that couldn't be washed off. The doctor cleaned them for her, but she always felt that there were still tiny blood lines stuck between her knuckles, maybe 001, 014, Teacher Li's, or maybe someone else's.

She suddenly sighed.

The sound was very soft, like a breath exhaled with all the strength of one's body.

Her mind was a jumbled mess, her emotions were unsettled and impossible to sort out. She didn't even want to think about what had happened that day.

It's just an instinctive resistance to remembering.

The emptier your mind is, the more trivial and cruel details will float into your mind.

For example... Teacher Li.

She thought of him again.

His expression as he gripped Gumi's throat, straining to force out those words, was: "Don't bully my students."

An Jing covered her ears tightly.

But the sound still echoed in my mind, with a hoarse quality like metal crushing gravel.

She knew it wasn't some mysterious imitation of him. It really was Teacher Li.

Teacher Li, who would secretly use comic book references to motivate students to do their homework during class.

He's only in his early thirties.

He also has a child who has just turned three.

She remembered that Ms. Li's phone lock screen was a picture of a child wearing overalls and biting a straw. The child was chubby and fair-skinned, and had just learned to say "daddy".

An Jing's eyes suddenly welled up with tears again.

She killed him.

(End of this chapter)