Chapter 41: Standing on the Edge of the Abyss

Yang Yi dove straight into the sea surface with him, a water film formed by her telekinesis clinging to her body as she chased the sea beast like a swimming fish.

Chris looked at her in disbelief.

"Want to soar over the sea riding a monster? It's far more thrilling than in the sky!" Yang Yi asked, her expression a bit excited, the smile at the corner of her mouth slightly mischievous, making her look exactly like a naughty child about to play a prank.

This was the first time Chris had seen Yang Yi like this; in the news, she always appeared indifferent and serene, her expression hardly ever changing, perhaps because she wanted to leave people with an impression of maturity and steadiness.

In their private communications, she had shown a bit of humanity, yet remained extremely restrained; that blush on the hotel terrace just now was almost the most vivid moment he had ever seen her.

At this moment, her prankish demeanor was even more vivid than before; a rule-abiding good student had finally broken her past constraints, deciding to tease a bad classmate and show off her abilities to the person she liked.

And he was that person she liked.

Although the situation was so dangerous and fear should have been natural, Chris couldn't help but want to laugh; the Yang Yi of this moment was simply adorable.

They caught up with the giant beast; its scales were dark green-black, each one larger than them. The two of them looked like two tiny insects beside its towering body; with just a slight flick of its tail, it could smash them to pieces.

Facing this terrifying giant beast from another world, humans instinctively tremble, choosing to fight or flee; this is the instinct left by ancient ancestors when facing wild beasts.

Could she really defeat this giant beast? Would they not be eaten by it?

He almost regretted not stopping her adventure, yet at the same time, a desire to try sprang from the depths of his heart; this was an attempt to do what human power could not, a great adventure transcending mediocrity.

As the two tiny insects approached, the giant beast seemed to feel its dignity was offended; it suddenly twisted its body, its massive tail snapping up violently, churning up thousands of tons of water like a submarine hurricane, swirling the surrounding fish into the current like they were thrown into a high-speed washing machine drum, shattering them in moments.

Chunks of meat and fish entrails floated around them, obscuring the surroundings; the view was murky, as if they were trapped inside a can of fish.

Yang Yi held his hand; the slight upward curve of her lips seemed to say: Let's go, let's cause some trouble, let's tease this big guy!

In the instant he saw her smile, Chris's heart pounded wildly; he seemed to see his territory gradually falling, his army retreating step by step, and he, the king of an independent kingdom, was about to be captured by the enemy and bow down to the queen of the enemy nation.

Yang Yi did not need to use her eyes; she knew everything happening around her. She led him to a mottled dark green-black boulder; the two of them held onto a pillar, and Yang Yi lightly stamped her foot. An invisible wave of telekinesis rippled outward, and the entire boulder began to struggle wildly.

It turned out that what they were standing on was not some boulder, but the skull of that giant beast, and that pillar was the cone-shaped horn on its head.

The giant beast struggled wildly, shaking its head desperately, even slamming its head down violently toward the seabed in an attempt to shake them off; the originally clear underwater world churned up mud and seaweed, becoming as murky as a swamp.

Chris could not see the surroundings; he was like a piece of broccoli thrown into a blender, and under the blender's frantic mixing, his brain was about to be churned into a uniform paste, his stomach churning violently. If Yang Yi had not been by his side, he would have vomited immediately.

Yang Yi noticed his discomfort; she held his hand apologetically, then stamped her foot violently again. An invisible wave spread outward beneath her feet. The giant beast suddenly threw its head back and let out a painful roar, a sound seemingly from the primordial ancient times, filled with unwillingness and anger.

Yang Yi ignored its roar; her telekinesis forcibly wrapped around it, compelling it to leave this murky sea area.

Whenever the giant beast struggled unwillingly, Yang Yi would lightly stamp her foot. Chris did not know what kind of power this casual stamping possessed; he only felt that after every stamp, the giant beast beneath his feet would shudder, emitting a few mournful cries carrying a wild, ancient aura.

She was like a female warrior taming a wild horse; whenever the wild horse resisted wildly, she would whip it hard; when it reared up in pain, she would forcibly twist its direction with her immense strength; when it finally obeyed for a while, she would casually soothe it.

After several such exchanges, this wild horse finally understood that it must rein in its unruliness to avoid angering the rider on its back.

"Let's ride it to the surface to play!" Yang Yi's eyes sparkled; her black pupils were always serene—even profound—yet at this moment, her expectant look was like that of a little girl in a pretty dress eager to go out and show off.

A tremor beneath their feet sent the giant beast soaring rapidly toward the sea surface; the moment it broke the water, the clear moonlight poured down, making the entire world transparent and crystal clear.

The giant beast had already accepted its fate; it swam and glided rapidly across the sea surface, heading toward that moon according to its master's will.

Under Yang Yi's taming, it moved very steadily, as if they were riding a cruise ship.

The sea surface shimmered with waves; occasionally, distant fish leaped out of the water. Riding the giant beast across the great sea, at this moment, they felt as if they were not on Earth, not in the human world, but in some strange fantasy realm.

Chris thought of the title praising her online—"God of Humanity"; he now knew this was not an exaggeration. He finally understood how those she saved must have felt; seeing her wield great power on the news was different from being there in person.

He was like a falling leaf, carried forward by an unstoppable torrent, with not a shred of choice.

There are so many awakened ones in the world, yet she is the only S-rank, perhaps even super S-rank. Even if he awakened, even if he possessed superpowers, what meaning would it have before such immense power as hers?

He was certain that his initial affection for her was absolutely not admiration for strength, but after she displayed this, could he say there wasn't even a tiny bit of it?

He even felt ashamed of his confident pre-battle preparations before her arrival; it was an ant provoking an elephant; the little ant thought it could win, but the elephant didn't even see it, simply stepping over it naturally.

He sensed that if he took one more step forward, he would be like a meteor merging into a star, completely erasing his self.

Yang Yi sat down; Chris also let go of the pillar—the giant beast's horn—and sat beside her.

"Wasn't that fun!" she looked at him with sparkling eyes, full of expectation, waiting for his response.

Facing such a scene, giving any other answer would be a complete mood-killer and ungrateful.

"It was fun," Chris said as she wished.

Having received a satisfactory answer, Yang Yi sighed as if a wish had been fulfilled; she smiled shyly at him, as if afraid to look at him, and turned her head to gaze at the moon in the sky.

Gradually, she fell into a trance; something incomprehensible churned in her pupils, and the smile at the corner of her lips faded.

At this moment, all things were silent; the sea, the bright moon, the shimmering waves, the swimming fish, and the giant beast were all before their eyes.

Chris, however, only looked at the girl beside him, analyzing her with all his intuition and reason; yet he knew he was merely making a final struggle.

For the first time in his life, he felt what it meant to be in a state of utter confusion; he even empathized with the giant beast beneath him; he felt that not only the beast had been tamed, but also himself.

His kingdom had completely fallen; he had become a captive; all his rights had been transferred to the enemy queen; he waited with a heart full of desolation for the queen's disposal.

This queen was sometimes profoundly deep, as if constantly pondering something; sometimes like a young girl newly entering the world, shy and charming; now, he discovered another side of her; she was also like an innocent yet cruel little girl, playing with a big bug just for fun and to show off.

He was filled with anxiety; he realized he was about to lose his freedom and his self; from now on, he could only be dominated by this queen, rejoicing at her smile, feeling honored by her favor, feeling even more sorrowful at her sadness, feeling her victories as his own; if she smiled shyly at him, oh God! then he would control the entire world; if she suddenly grew cold, then the entire world would abandon him...

No! No!

Chris felt a chill run through his body; Run! Run! If he didn't escape now, it would be too late.

There was still a chance to escape, still a chance to preserve his self; if he just went back and told her: "I feel we are not suitable for each other..."—his heart suddenly felt as if it had been twisted.

Chris, hold on, just hold on a bit; if he explained it to her, she would understand; after all, many things did indeed stand between them... In this way, he could restore his past life, keep his heart, keep his self, keep his kingdom; he would still be his own king, not anyone's captive...

He gazed at her profile, carefully savoring every beautiful curve on her face. Her pitch-black pupils had returned to serenity; her knotted nose bridge; her lips that seemed to carry melancholy—she was not extremely beautiful, yet she was extremely charming; she was like an abyss; when a person stands on the edge of an abyss, they cannot help but want to jump down...

Step back! Step back! Do not go any further; if you take one more step, you will fall.

The alarms in Chris's mind screamed desperately; thus, he stood on the edge of the abyss, his heart in turmoil, hesitating and undecided.

Retreating is not shameful; while there is still a chance to avoid eternal damnation, withdraw in time...

He suddenly realized a truth: before a love truly capable of destroying a person arrives, a person's first reaction is to retreat.

Yang Yi returned to consciousness from her reverie.

After all that play just now, the gloom in her heart had completely vanished, and some of the suppression from this period had also been released; at this moment, she realized her behavior was simply too childish; except for her childhood, she had not gone to such great lengths to win someone's favor for a long time; she was simply like a smug child who scored 100 points and deliberately showed off in front of the person she liked!

Remembering what she had just done, she was so embarrassed she wished she could use her toes to dig out a three-bedroom, one-living-room apartment in the monster's skull.

Would he think I was deliberately trying to scare him? Would he think I was deliberately showing off my superpowers to threaten him? Threaten him with what? That the consequences of not dating me would be worse than the consequences of this monster?

"What are you thinking?" She hesitated for a long time before finally summoning the courage to ask, only to look straight into his deep blue pools. In that instant, the feeling was much like the time she had plunged headfirst into the ocean before she had learned to swim.

Just as she was about to drown, she painfully dragged her gaze back. She couldn't even bear to meet his eyes directly, so she could only let her peripheral vision and the corners of her eyes wander around his face.

In a sense, he was far more terrifying than the monster.

"I was thinking of you." Chris gazed intently into her eyes, his tone low, like a whisper, seeming to hold infinite tenderness and reluctance to part.

Those words lit a fire in her heart, burning her whole body hot, and this wretched fire even burned its way up to her face.

She really wanted to jump off this monster's head and cool down in the icy seawater.

I must be blushing!

Yang Yi was annoyed that her emotions had been stirred so easily by him.

And why was his tone so gentle? How many women had he said this to before? How many women had he shown this tenderness to?

Just think of his long list of ex-girlfriends: the stunning, the pure, the mature; there were celebrities, second-generation rich kids, models, athletes, and even sexy bombshells!

At this moment, she was so furious she ground her teeth; his taste was truly "rich"!

What is there about you that he could like? Based on your phone-and-tablet-like figure? Or your plain, unremarkable face? Is it that he's never had a type like you before and wants to taste it specifically? And then use it as bragging rights later? Yes, besides the title of "the only S-level Awakener," what else do you have that anyone should value?

Even if you used the suspension bridge effect to get his "heart flutter," that was just a fake adrenaline rush; what does it have to do with you?

Think about it: you aren't even interesting, your emotional intelligence is average, and your personality is introverted—their culture has never liked this type; you're neither humorous nor interesting, you just obsess over yourself, it's simply incredibly boring, and you're even a neurotic with a split personality!

As if someone had struck her on the head with a club, she suddenly woke up from her dreamy bubble, and the fire in her heart quickly went out.

After regaining her senses, she finally directed her gaze at him, examining his face carefully for the first time.

He is truly handsome! She judged calmly in her heart; no wonder he was voted the world's most handsome man for two consecutive years.

Is that look of tenderness and reluctance real or fake? He is an actor, and his acting is quite good; he could probably act out deep affection even while looking at a pile of dung! When he looks at me like this, is he secretly comparing me to those several former girlfriends in his mind? Who is better, who is worse?

Who knows? The worst nature of men sometimes sinks to unimaginable depths, merely covered up by a hypocritical mask. And he is an actor, very good at disguising himself; as long as he acts according to a "deeply devoted lover" persona, he almost never makes a mistake.

His motives are easy to guess, too. Just think, he has "bagged" "Superman," the "God of Men"! What a great "honor" this is; this record can truly be called brilliant! Men use the quantity and quality of the women they have bagged as capital to boast about themselves, as proof of their masculine charm!

Yang Yi sneered inwardly, gradually feeling that it was all extremely pointless.