bookbashuk Page 136
Page 136
Mashu, seemingly understanding but not quite, held Fou, a thoughtful look in her eyes.
"Wait a minute! Why are you suddenly bringing this up!" Olga Marie was caught off guard by Yue Zhengling's sudden attack. "I am a member of the noble Animusfia family! How can I agree to something like this so easily—but if you were to ask me, I might consider your proposal!"
Olga Marie's neck and earlobes were flushed red. There was no denying that she liked Yue Zhengling, but in front of so many people, her modesty did not allow her to agree so easily!
"No, this isn't a proposal~" Yue Zhengling lifted Olga Marie up into the sky with one hand and wrapped his other arm around Olga Marie's soft waist. Since the two were now about the same height, Yue Zhengling could easily kiss Olga Marie's neck.
He gently licked it, feeling the person in his arms stiffen, while Chaldea also noticed something was wrong.
Having already anticipated the subsequent developments, Shion calmly watched Yue Zhengling's next move, "I see, I didn't expect you to be a vampire too—"
As her words reached everyone's ears, Yue Zhengling gently opened her mouth towards the fair and slender neck, and her sharp canines bit down mercilessly.
"Listen! Stop!" Da Vinci immediately shouted when she realized something was wrong, but she was powerless to do anything about it as she was in another world.
Meanwhile, on the A group's Master side, Hinako Akuta swallowed involuntarily when she saw this scene. When she realized this, she looked around in a panic. After finding that no one had noticed her actions, she immediately covered her mouth with a book.
Olga Marie's mind was in complete chaos.
She didn't understand why things had turned out this way. Hadn't Ling already accepted her and expressed his love for her? Why was he suddenly drinking her blood? He wasn't a vampire, was he? Was it because he lacked magic power and needed to replenish it with hers? That made sense, after all, Ling was a Servant. Although he had taken flesh, he couldn't generate magic power, and after sleeping for so long, it was normal for him to be thirsty for magic power.
Five seconds passed, ten seconds passed, fifteen seconds passed, but Yue Zhengling still showed no sign of giving in.
Dr. Roman shouted angrily, "Enough! Stop it now! Stop it now! Olga will die from losing too much if this continues! Olga, do you hear me! If you do, push him away right now!"
Dr. Roman's voice echoed in the management room, but the person facing him showed no sign of stopping until he felt the hand of the person in his arms begin to grow cold, at which point Yue Zhengling finally let go.
Looking at the wounds he had bitten, Yue Zhengling felt a surge of desire, but he quickly suppressed the impulse.
He licked the wound, and it healed at a speed visible to the naked eye, eventually turning into two pale pink red dots.
"Why...?" Yue Zhengling still didn't loosen his grip on Olga Marie's body, so he could clearly hear Olga Marie's weak but persistent voice.
"It's truly amazing. Despite losing a lot of blood and his body becoming cold, he still hasn't lost consciousness. Can I say he truly deserves to be called a magician?"
"Why—why?" Olga Marie's voice trembled with tears, and Yue Zhengling felt a drop of cold liquid on his neck.
But he didn't look at Olga Marie's face. He released his other hand and wrapped both arms around her. "Why? Of course, it's to punish you—"
"Punish—me?" Olga Marie's consciousness began to blur, her voice growing weaker and weaker. Yet, she stubbornly refused to fall asleep. Having lost a great deal of blood, she knew she shouldn't cry, but tears still streamed down her face uncontrollably. A chilling aura continued to press in, enveloping the surroundings and creating a vacuum of despair.
"Yes, because you schemed against me. Whether I'm alive or dead, what I hate most is being schemed against. Although I'm a bit lazy, it doesn't mean I won't take revenge." Ling chuckled, revealing an expression of extreme disgust.
"It was all—a lie—" Olga Marie's consciousness grew increasingly hazy. She tried to bite her tongue to clear her mind, but she couldn't muster any strength.
"No, nothing is a lie to you. Whether it's the way back or what Chaldea will face, everything is real—but to me, it's just a joke." Indeed, Yue Zheng had already realized that he was no longer sure if the burning of humanity would happen.
Ultimately, the so-called "future" he knew was just a story within a worldview called "Type-Moon."
He is selfish, so selfish that he only cares about what happens to him.
“Olga, this is what the World owes me. I could pretend not to know before because I didn’t have to care, but ever since I left the Inner Sea of Stars, the World has targeted me again.”
Le Zhengling gently swayed Olga's body like a lover, "Don't think I don't know anything. Actually, I'm just pretending not to know, because it's best to be ignorant for once."
Chaldea had been listening to Yue Zhengling's words, but upon hearing this, they all felt a chill run down their spines, as if they were being watched by something.
"Fou used [Fate] to pull me into Chaldea. It wasn't an accident. Although Fou wasn't aware of it, she was a being born through Gaia's hand."
Upon hearing this completely unimaginable content, everyone's gaze involuntarily turned to the white pet in Mashu's arms.
Fufu ignored everyone's gaze and listened quietly to Yue Zhengling's story.
"Then you became my Master. I don't know what method Merlin used, but as a priestess, you did indeed become my Master in the end. The fake became real. This must have been something even Merlin didn't expect, right?"
Like soothing a child, Yue Zhengling gently patted Olga's back. Olga's spirit finally gave out, and she slowly closed her eyes.
With tears streaming down her face, she asked her last question in the final moment before closing her eyes, "Why—help me?"
"Help you? No, I've said from the beginning that I actually want revenge on you."
“I could use the contract to cut off your hopes, Animusfia, but since you didn’t really want to kill me before, calling it revenge doesn’t quite make sense. So I’ll let you go back, protect you, and watch you experience despair and hardship. That’s my punishment for you.”
"Both of the two Counterforces must have gone to great lengths to come to this world this time. Do they want to kill me completely? Or do they want to win me over? Or do they want to use me? Was the appearance of Black Princess Gaia's doing or Alaya's doing? In any case, I accept this game, but I am not an obedient pawn, so overturning the chessboard is my choice."
At this point, Yue Zhengling's tone was devoid of any emotion, and Olga Marie lost consciousness due to excessive blood loss.
Holding the cold, lifeless body, Yue Zhengling reached out and removed the bracelet from Olga's hand.
"After you've seen this far, there's nothing more for you to do, so let's end the communication here." After saying that, Yue Zhengling was about to disconnect the communication.
Before he could even make a move, both Shion and Da Vinci shouted at the same time, "Wait!"
Chapter 299 The fickle nature of mortals (Part 2)
Le Zhengling ignored their plans, but because he was so unfamiliar with the bracelet, he couldn't find the operating button for a long time.
After all, the technology used here is far more advanced than the smartphones and VR glasses he used in his previous life.
For this reason, before Yue Zhengling could turn off the bracelet, Da Vinci quickly exclaimed, "Ling! What's wrong with your body?! You've become a vampire?!"
Le Zhengling paused in his groping, sensing the concern in Leonardo da Vinci's tone. Even though he had done Olga Marie this way, Leonardo da Vinci still didn't blame him.
"—I'm sorry, Leonardo da Vinci, I have indeed become a vampire. If I hadn't become a vampire, I probably wouldn't have woken up again."
After Yue Zhengling admitted that he had become a vampire, the control room was in an uproar.
"What exactly happened between you and Olga before we found you? How did you become a vampire? Is Olga still alive?"
"Still alive, at least I still need her magic to power me. As for the being that turned me into a vampire, you probably haven't heard of it. It's better to stay out of it than to cause trouble." Yue Zhengling started groping again.
“Tell me what happened first, then I’ll tell you how to operate the bracelet. We can force it to start once, and we can do it a second time. Even if you turn it off, we can still restart it if we want,” Da Vinci said patiently.
"If I just leave it here and take Olga away, then we don't need to continue talking to you, right? After all, this thing is just for positioning. As long as it's not destroyed, I think there shouldn't be any problem."
As he said this, a hint of self-mockery flashed in Leonardo da Vinci's eyes. "Yes, you could certainly do that. Because judging from your tone just now, Olga must have done something to wrong you."
Le Zhengling didn't speak, but took the bracelet off Olga's hand and played with it. "For your sake, feel free to ask any questions. After all, I heard from Ziyuan that this kind of cross-border communication is extremely expensive. We've been chatting for so long, I'm afraid you won't be able to eat for days after you receive the bill."
“Hum, the fee is indeed very high, around 50,000 pounds per second,” Ziyuan quoted the price.
Sure enough, everyone gasped upon hearing the price. Le Zhengling also did the math: the other side was around 2013, meaning one pound was roughly nine yuan, which meant that two world calls would cost about 450,000 yuan per second.
From the start of the location tracking until now, approximately thirty minutes have passed, and 810 million RMB has been spent.
"Da, Da Vinci! This bill isn't going to be for my signature, is it?!" The doctor had obviously calculated the price; his monthly salary at Chaldea wasn't even as much as the cost of this communication per second.
The thought of having to submit this fee to higher authorities, and not knowing if it would even be approved, sent a chill down his spine—so much money could buy so many games and figurines!
“This small amount of money is nothing to Animusphia.” Leonardo da Vinci nonchalantly pushed the cost onto Animusphia’s family, since Chaldea’s unauthorized search of Olga Marie would not be reimbursed.
Even this record, if not for the Atlas Institute's certification, would be questionable in its very nature.
"Who turned you into a vampire?" Leonardo da Vinci persisted in pursuing this question.
“One of the Twenty-Seven Dead Apostles, a hybrid of True Ancestor and Dead Apostle, the princess of the Dead Apostles, Black Princess, Altrouge Brunstad. She is a character who does not exist in your timeline,” Yue Zhengling replied expressionlessly.
“True Ancestor—” Hinako Akuta from Group A muttered.
The Twenty-Seven Ancestors of the Dead Disciples—just hearing their names tells you they are extraordinary beings, but she had never heard of them before. Since Yue Zhengling said so, then they must truly have nothing to do with them.
"How did you and Olga get to this current timeline?" Leonardo da Vinci continued to ask.
"I don't know." Le Zhengling looked at Leonardo da Vinci impatiently. This was not a lie; he really didn't know how Olga Marie had expelled him from his original world.
"So how are you doing now? Can you resist the urge to drink blood? Did your elders order you to collect blood?"
The well-informed Leonardo da Vinci certainly knew what the Dead Apostles were. Although she had never met the True Ancestors, the Dead Apostles' thirst for blood was an innate instinct, and even if a lower-ranking Dead Apostle resisted drinking blood, his/her superior would still order him/her to collect blood for him/her.
"If I said I couldn't help myself, and that the being that turned me into a Dead Apostle needed a large amount of high-quality blood, and ordered me to enter human settlements and slaughter indiscriminately, then as a protector of humanity, that is, a Heroic Spirit, how would you deal with me, an enemy of humanity?"
Le Zhengling looked at Leonardo da Vinci with a scrutinizing gaze.
“I am different from Shion over there. She can use artificial blood and other methods to suppress her blood-sucking urges, but if it were me, I would not hesitate to sacrifice other people’s lives for my own survival.”
"Oh dear, you don't think this kind of question can stump me, do you? The answer is, of course, to find a way to help you. As long as you kill your superior, the blood law among the Dead Apostles will disappear. Then we can just buy the artificial blood formula from that Miss Shion to solve your food problem, right?"
Da Vinci displayed a perfectly timed slight surprise, seemingly taken aback by Le Zhengling's distrust.
But it was precisely this utterly fake surprise that put Yue Zhengling at ease.
Therefore, the most troublesome thing is the bond between people. Yue Zhengling thought to himself that during his time in Chaldea, he was able to live a peaceful life only under the protection of Leonardo da Vinci.
If Leonardo da Vinci had shown even the slightest resistance to becoming this way, then even if he had returned, he would not have chosen to stay in Chaldea.
Although the relationship between Le Zhengling and Leonardo da Vinci began with a transaction, in their daily teaching, da Vinci shared all his knowledge without reservation. Even though the time was short, Le Zhengling still learned a lot. Most importantly, da Vinci laid an extremely solid foundation for him.
It was because of this foundation that he was able to organize the valuable knowledge that Merlin had taught him, which was scattered and fragmented, and even digest a portion of the magic manuscripts he had traded with Webber.
Leonardo da Vinci even taught him the methods of making dolls, which he coveted most, which went beyond the scope of a transaction.
This doll-making magic was the means by which Leonardo da Vinci remained in reality even without a Master.
In fact, Yue Zhengling knew that Little Da Vinci was actually Da Vinci's Master. Because of this backup body, Da Vinci was able to gain great autonomy without relying on Chaldea's magic supply.
If this magic trick were leaked, Leonardo da Vinci would immediately lose his autonomy and might even be targeted.
Don't think Chaldea is a good place. The composition of its people is complex. Things like human experimentation, which are not exactly aboveboard, can be carried out openly there. Not to mention when the Heroic Spirit Summoning System is completed, a Heroic Spirit is successfully summoned in a real sense, and whose Spirit Origin and True Name are clearly recorded.
It can be said that Leonardo da Vinci was the only one in Chaldea who was completely without any blemishes and who could openly and legitimately wield power in Chaldea, and who also had someone to protect that power.
Originally, the existence of Heroic Spirits was an indispensable part of Chaldea, which is why former director Marisbury allowed Chaldea to develop Heroic Spirit fusion bodies.
Although Chaldea's records submitted to the Mage's Association show that it has three Servants, in reality, there was only Leonardo da Vinci from beginning to end.
In 1999, Lef was invited by Marisbury to Chaldea to complete the Near Future Observation Lens - Sheba. In the 2000 Heroic Spirit Fusion Body Development Experiment, he witnessed the birth of Mash, which limited Lef's tragic future.
In 2004, inspired by the Holy Grail War, Maris Billy introduced the Heroic Spirit Protection System to Chaldea.
At the same time, the file for Heroic Spirit Prototype 1 was written into the Heroic Spirit Protection System. However, this file was blank, containing only an entry for Heroic Spirit Prototype 1.
After all, as the originator of modern magic, King Solomon could not allow the outside world to know of his existence, and at that time Solomon had become an ordinary person.
Instead of using artifacts, Prototype 2 of the Heroic Spirits chose to use a special catalyst and concept summoning.
The special catalysts are Mash Kyrielight, the most successful test subject of Heroic Spirit Fusion, and the newly built Heroic Spirit Summoning System.
Mashu represents pure and innocent humanity.
The Heroic Spirit Summoning System represents a place where heroic spirits (heroes) gather.
Chaldea, in particular, represents the concept of protection.
Therefore, some exceptional Servants responded to this summoning, but because they discovered the problem with Mash immediately, they expressed their dissatisfaction with Chaldea's inhumane experiments and refused to appear in the real world.
But at this moment, he realized that if he returned to his seat, Mashu would also die, so he ultimately chose to hide in Mashu's body until the end of her life.
Le Zhengling knew that the summoned Heroic Spirit was Galahad, and he also knew that, apart from the former director Marisbury, even the doctor did not know who the summoned Heroic Spirit was.
Le Zhengling did not believe that summoning Galahad was an accident. There was no doubt that Maris Billy knew who he had summoned before the summoning. Otherwise, how would he know that a Heroic Spirit who had not even displayed a Spirit Origin was Galahad?
In 2012, after Marisbury's death, Leonardo da Vinci was summoned to Chaldea.
Chaldea had attempted countless summoning experiments before, all of which failed. Before Leonardo da Vinci was successfully summoned, the Heroic Spirit Summoning System: Fate was not confirmed to be in an incomplete state.
It wasn't until Leonardo da Vinci's unexpected arrival, and the arrival of a fully-fledged Servant, that Chaldea discovered a major problem with their summoning system.
Because of the instability of the summoning system, Leonardo da Vinci could have left immediately. However, after learning about Chaldea, he became interested and, persuaded by Romani Archaman, chose to stay in Chaldea.
Le Zhengling felt that the doctor must have used all his skills to persuade Leonardo da Vinci to stay. After all, the former director had passed away, and Chaldea was in turmoil. There had to be someone who could subdue everyone so that Chaldea could get through the most dangerous period. Leonardo da Vinci was that person who could subdue everything.
As a complete Heroic Spirit, Leonardo da Vinci possessed no lack of power.
Her talent, as an omnipotent figure etched in human history, makes everyone pale in comparison.
What she lacked was autonomy, so Leonardo da Vinci stubbornly transformed his own replica doll into a Master and remained in the mortal world, refusing to be bound by the Master.
Leonardo da Vinci also taught Yue Zhengling how to make dolls, which was as if he had revealed his own Achilles' heel to him.
Putting myself in his shoes, the main reason why Yue Zhengling told Leonardo da Vinci about the burning of human reason from the beginning was that she found it interesting; the rest was out of goodwill.
What Leonardo da Vinci repaid her with everything she possessed that was most precious to her. When she heard Leonardo da Vinci say that he would kill Hei Ji for her, it would be truly unreasonable for Yue Zhengling not to be moved.
"—Da Vinci, what I said earlier was just a joke. My superior has not given me any orders, and she is no longer in this world." He raised his head and smiled slightly at the communication projection.
This is a genuine smile of joy, understated yet subtle, which is refreshing to everyone who sees it.
"In world lines where the Heroic Spirit Summoning System exists, there are no Twenty-Seven Ancestors. In world lines where the Twenty-Seven Ancestors exist, the Heroic Spirit Summoning System does not exist. The world I live in has the Holy Grail War, so the Twenty-Seven Ancestors do not actually exist. The princess who made me a Dead Apostle came from another world line."
Le Zhengling explained in detail, "By the way, the Twenty-Seven Dead Apostles are the highest-ranking Dead Apostles, vastly different from the high-ranking Dead Apostles that exist in any other world. Shion is one of the successors of the Twenty-Seven Dead Apostles. However, in your worldline, if Tsbia Eltram Atlasia were the Dean, this possibility wouldn't exist, because he is one of the Twenty-Seven Dead Apostles. Moreover, if Shion were to become one of the Twenty-Seven, she would be far more terrifying than the Night of Wallachia."
"Hey! This kind of topic is outside of calculations! Don't bring me up!" Ziyuan clapped her hands unhappily.
“That’s true, since it’s none of your business. So, Leonardo da Vinci, is there anything else you need to ask? Olga’s life isn’t in danger, but this isn’t a good environment for her. If she stays here any longer, she’ll get seriously ill.”
As he listened, Le Zheng changed his posture and carried Olga on his back.