Peach-Orange! – Chapter 559 – Obsessive Conviction

The most painful and desperate moments for a person are often not because they feel death approaching.

Rather, it is the witnessing of one’s own light extinguishing inch by inch, watching the flame representing hope vanish.

Like an oil lamp drained of fuel, the flame grows weaker and weaker; you stretch out your hand with all your might, yet you can never manage to trim the wick.

That feeling of powerlessness, of being so close, yet always just out of reach, unable to touch it, and then having to watch helplessly as the other fades away… that is what is most painful and desperate.

Su Tao knows that most of the choices she has made have always been wrong.

She always lets Xiaocheng get hurt, always puts Xiaocheng in danger.

‘But it’s not that I don’t care about Xiaocheng!’

‘I want to protect Xiaocheng too!’

‘I know I’ve hurt Xiaocheng before, harmed Xiaocheng in the so-called original world too, causing her to die again and again in both worlds.’

But, but!!!

‘I have also been trying hard to find a way, to atone, to defeat the World Will, to let Xiaocheng live a forever stable, happy life!’

‘So why… why is such a seemingly simple desire something I fail to achieve again and again?’

‘I promised protection so many times, but ended up breaking my word.’

‘I said that before I die, I wouldn’t let Xiaocheng suffer any harm, yet when an accident happened, I still had to rely on Xiaocheng.’

‘Before, I could use being controlled by the World Will as an excuse, but now?’

‘With the World Will’s influence on me gone, has anything really changed?’

Sinking deeply to the bottom of the water, Su Tao held with one arm Chi Xiaocheng, whom she had found after searching underwater for a full minute, and who was now unconscious due to lack of oxygen.

She was laboriously moving downstream with the current, but it was more like she was being carried along by the flow. She could only hold Chi Xiaocheng in front of her, cradling her in her arms to reduce the impact of debris in the water on her body.

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Her brain began to lack oxygen, but her consciousness did not blur because of it.

In her mind, the scene from moments ago replayed over and over.

The World Will fired shots at Xiaocheng.

‘In that instant, it should have been me in front of Xiaocheng, protecting her.’

‘But the result…’

‘The result!!!’

‘It became like that again!’

‘Xiaocheng shielded me, pushed me into the river with all her might, but what about her?’

‘She had her back to those people, and the gunshots had already rang out.’

‘I fell down and wasn’t affected.’

‘But what about Xiaocheng!!!’

The moment she was pushed and fell over the guardrail, Su Tao had already realized. In that instant, she fully activated her War God bloodline. Even as she fell, she still reached out her hand, exerting all her strength.

She wanted to grab Chi Xiaocheng.

She wanted to protect this girl.

She wanted to pull her into her embrace, hold her, protect her, and then fall into the water together.

That way, even if those people shot at the water, the bullets would have to penetrate Su Tao’s body first before reaching Chi Xiaocheng.

But…

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The War God bloodline couldn’t grant her the ability to hover in mid-air.

She couldn’t fly back onto the bridge.

Chi Xiaocheng had also fallen from the bridge.

But the guns had already been fired!

Was Xiaocheng hit?

With so many bullets this time, could she really dodge them?

Even if she avoided vital areas like the heart, being constantly washed by the flowing water and already unconscious, had she already lost too much blood?

Carried forward relentlessly by the water, breathing becoming increasingly difficult, her brain triggered a protective numbness, leaving only one thought.

‘I must protect Xiaocheng.’

‘I must not die here.’

‘I absolutely must not die here!’

‘We’ve come so far with great difficulty; if we die now, everything will truly have to start over.’

‘Xiaocheng is still waiting for me, she’s still in my arms!’

‘She is not dead!’

“Ugh—!”

While her brain was still struggling to think, Su Tao’s cooled bloodline power faintly reactivated within her body.

Her back collided with something, perhaps a large tree or a rock; the intense pain that shot through her finally made Su Tao gasp.

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What drove her to keep moving now was no longer rational thought.

It was instinct from her body.

She couldn’t die yet!

The bloodline power activated once more, adrenaline surged. In that moment, Su Tao actually felt her limbs slowly regaining a bit of strength.

She opened her eyes, not even having time to look at Chi Xiaocheng held in her arms, and just struggled to swim upwards.

Faintly, an anxious voice reached her ears, “Dammit, the current’s too strong, they’ve sunk too deep!”

This voice sounds so familiar, is it Xiaocheng’s guardian spirit?

She’s on the surface of the water!

Su Tao’s senses immediately confirmed this, and she swam upwards even more vigorously.

Just a little more.

Just a little more!

“Puh-ha!”

“Quick, grab my hand!”

A small hand, clad in a black sleeve, was offered. Xiao Hei reached out, pulled Su Tao hard, and the small, rocking boat she was standing on almost capsized from Su Tao’s weight.

But before the young woman was even fully on the boat, before she even opened her eyes, a sentence burst from her lips directed at Xiao Hei, “Save… save Xiaocheng first!”

“Stop wasting your breath! If you want me to give Xiaochengzi mouth-to-mouth, then go ahead and pass out right now!” Xiao Hei exerted force, pulling Su Tao directly onto the boat. “Otherwise, keep stimulating your bloodline power, stay conscious!”

Xiao Hei then deftly pulled Chi Xiaocheng, whom Su Tao had been holding so tightly that it was hard to pry her loose, onto the boat as well.

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Turning back, Xiao Hei was so startled she almost fell into the water.

At this moment, Su Tao’s wet hair clung to the sides of her cheeks, soaked strands of blood hung from her hair tips like crimson seaweed, the skin on her exquisite face was pale from soaking, and beneath her heavy bangs, the only uncovered eye was emitting an intensely crimson light.

With every breath she took, puffs of hot mist could be seen from her nose and mouth.

And that terrifying, uncovered pupil was fixed motionlessly on Xiao Hei.

Adjusting the skirt of her formal dress that had fallen into the water, Xiao Hei couldn’t help but feel a pang of fear. She swallowed and said, “Keep your consciousness. Let me check how Xiaocheng is first.”

Before Xiao Hei could even perform a check, the system immediately conducted a full body scan.

Then, Xiao Hei said, “Natural weakness after Potential Burst was unleashed, also drank too much water, combined with oxygen deprivation. Only some abrasions from branches and twigs, other than that, no issues at all.”

Xiao Hei carefully attended to Chi Xiaocheng. Before long, the girl spat out several mouthfuls of river water and began breathing instinctively.

Chi Xiaocheng actually knows how to swim.

But when facing the World Will and the gun muzzles, as she pushed Su Tao into the water, she unconsciously activated her Potential Burst skill.

She would overload her body’s full potential to achieve a bullet time-like state.

But the cost is, after the Potential Burst ends, her body completely falls into a state of weakness.

When she fell into the water then, she had no possibility of struggling.

If Su Tao hadn’t found her underwater first, if Xiao Hei had reacted even a little slower, she might have truly died.

And now…

Su Tao’s crimson eyes stared fixedly at Chi Xiaocheng lying unconscious on the boat, falling into endless silence.