Chapter 870: Burned Out

She slowly set the drawing paper down in front of her, folding it into four layers, as if folding some important document.

Then she lifted her hand and slipped the folded paper to the side.

When her hand withdrew, the paper had already vanished.

The whole process was smooth as flowing clouds; the hand took only about two seconds from inserting the paper to withdrawing, moving so fast that one could hardly see where she slipped it.

The corner of her mouth lifted again.

Su's smile returned, gentle and tranquil, detached from the world.

The curve of her mouth stayed just a shade wider than a standard smile, her facial muscles perfectly still, and with her eyes closed again, she appeared even more kindly than before.

"Ge Lei Xiu."

"Hmm?"

"From now on—"

Su's voice was as steady as the surface of an ancient well, without the slightest ripple.

She raised her right hand, hovering a half-beat in the air, then gently placed it atop Ge Lei Xiu's head, her fingers lightly brushing the icy‑blue strands twice.

The motion was as tender as petting a kitten's head, yet to Heimu it seemed the pressure of the hand on Ge Lei Xiu's crown carried a faint undercurrent of restraint.

"Draw something else."

Ge Lei Xiu tilted her head again, this time more sharply; the icy‑blue hair slipped completely behind her ears, and she reached up to sweep it back.

Then she nodded earnestly.

"Alright. Then next time I'll draw Sister Sakura."

Su's hand resting on her head gave a slight pause.

Barely perceptible.

Then she withdrew her hand, placed it back on her knees, interlaced her fingers, and her posture returned to the previous dignified calm.

The smile still lingered on her face, but whether it was Heimu's illusion, the curve was a few tenths of a degree stiffer than before.

Heimu rose from the lounge chair, patting the fine sand off her skirt hem.

The black satin of her off‑shoulder Lolita dress glimmered with a soft matte under the sun; she bent down, picked up the Witch Hat lying on the sand, fastened it on her head, and the brim cast a half‑shadow across her face.

Her gaze lingered on Su's face for a moment, then drifted toward the neatly folded paper tucked into an unknown corner beside Su, and the corner of her mouth lifted a few millimeters.

Then she pressed that curve down.

"Um—"

A fleeting laugh threatened to break through her voice, but she quickly cleared her throat, turning it into a cough.

"Since that's the case, we'll leave first. Sakura and Kesi Mo are still waiting. You, just rest well."

Considerately, she didn't glance again toward the direction where Su had slipped the paper.

Su sat up a bit straighter from the lounge chair, gathered her long hair that had slipped onto her shoulders back behind her ears, then gave a slight bow.

With her eyes closed toward Heimu, the smile on her face gradually eased from stiffness to a truly gentle curve.

"I wish you success. If any situation on the island requires my remote assistance, though in my current state I probably can't help much."

She gave a mildly self‑deprecating curl of her mouth, "But if needed, feel free to contact me at any time."

Heimu nodded, then turned around.

The brim of the Witch Hat sliced through the air as she turned, stirring a gust of wind.

She waved at Ge Lei Xiu; Ge Lei Xiu crouched, stowed the drawing board and pencils into a small cloth bag, slung it over her shoulder, re‑hung the Light Sword at her waist, then stood and waved to Su.

"Goodbye, Sister Su. I'll come back to draw you after I finish drawing Sister Sakura."

Su's smile remained perfectly still.

"... Fine."

Their footsteps faded away on the sand.

Heimu led, with Ge Lei Xiu half a step behind; their slender white feet alternated on the sand, leaving a large and a small line of footprints.

Upon reaching the edge of the palm grove, Heimu turned her head and whispered something to Ge Lei Xiu.

Ge Lei Xiu lifted her head and answered earnestly, her voice too low, swallowed by the sea breeze, but faintly one could catch words like "drawing board" and "evening."

Su did not hear.

She kept that "kindly" smile until Heimu and Ge Lei Xiu's footsteps vanished completely toward the palm forest, until the sound of waves once again filled the beach air, until she confirmed that within a thirty‑step radius there were no humanoid targets.

Then her shoulders slumped suddenly.

She went from sitting to collapsing, with almost no transition; her upper body tipped straight back, the back of her head sinking heavily into the canvas lounge chair's headrest, producing a muffled "puff" sound.

Her slender, fair fingers instinctively scooped at the sand, lifted a small handful, then released it, letting the grains slip slowly through her fingertips.

Su exhaled a long breath, as if someone who had been holding their breath underwater finally resurfaced; inside her was a chaotic mix: the relief of nerves finally loosening after a day of tension, the restraint of not losing temper at a child's drawing, the extreme social‑death feeling of forcing herself through the afternoon in this swimsuit before acquaintances, and a silent gratitude toward Heimu, whose spoken promise to forcibly break her blockade was really just a way to give her an exit.

"Finally—"

She closed her eyes and murmured to the sky.

Her voice was raspy, unlike the steady, peaceful tone of the Awakened One she usually had in Past World Paradise.

"—I'm leaving."

She crossed one bare foot over the other, ankles overlapping, the cool flip‑flops having long since vanished somewhere.

The soft white and mist‑black two‑tone swimsuit she lay in on the lounge chair was even more exposed than before, and the dark‑purple binding strap at her waist loosened a notch from the collapse.

Her ash‑brown hair spread across the chair's backrest, strands tangled as if just crawled out of a blanket, a few wisps clinging to her temples, damp with thin sweat.

She didn't bother to brush them aside.

She didn't want to move.

Everything she had endured today surged up with an unprecedented weariness, soaking her entirely.

Mentally.

From being thrown onto this beach by Ailixiya, to being forced to wear a swimsuit and discuss the Crystal Flower face‑to‑face with Heimu, to having Ge Lei Xiu paint that kind of picture and then laughing, "draw something else," Su, who has existed for fifty thousand years, for the first time feels her social stamina completely drained, not a drop left.

She raised one hand, the back of it resting on her forehead.

The shadow of the parasol drifted slowly across her face, moving from her chin to above her lips.

The sunlight had become much gentler than before, gradually shifting from the pure gold of noon to the warm orange of evening.

The palm trees cast long shadows that lay obliquely across the beach; the edges of the shadows trembled slightly in the sea breeze, like the earth's eyelashes blinking.

Su lowered her hand from her forehead, letting it dangle beside the lounge chair, the fingertips grazing the fine sand.

She felt as if she were a piece of rice cake that the sun had turned over and over for half a day—crisp on the outside, soft inside, still held up by the last wisp of heat.

But that final wisp of heat was already nearly gone.

"Burned Out."

She whispered the two words to herself in a breathy voice, then didn't even bother moving her lips.

The sea breeze came through from the coconut grove, carrying the dry rustle of palm leaves and the hoarse cries of distant seabirds, gently brushing her fair, tender skin.