Chapter Ten: Despair

Gu Yue’er was dressed in a white dress, unlike the other women from the organization. She always wore that carefree smile, the kind that made people both envy and yearn for her presence.

“Guo Guo!” Gu Yue’er ran ahead, stopping beside a girl who looked seventeen or eighteen.

This was Gu Yue’er’s partner, Wei Guo. She was a strikingly spirited young woman with short hair, her physique lean and toned, muscles visible on her arms.

“Yue’er, I really envy you,” Wei Guo laughed. “You can always wear pretty clothes. Being a psychic scout must be wonderful!”

“Hehe,” Gu Yue’er made a playful face.

“The assignment just came in,” Wei Guo told her. “It’s about a Level 2 mutant outside the Fuxiang District, in the wildlands. If we can clean up some Level 1 mutants as well, it’ll mean extra contribution points.”

Gu Yue’er nodded.

Between city districts, there was usually a wild zone—areas where space was unstable and mutants roamed. For missions like theirs, the super-brain would survey the target locations, and they’d head straight to the site. If a mutant reached Level 2, it had to be eliminated quickly, or it might evolve again, spawning more mutants.

The wilds were dangerous, with few members capable of such tasks. Wei Guo wouldn’t have gone unless she was confident in her abilities.

…

Hours passed.

“Emergency contact! Emergency contact!”

Xia Yan was attending a cultural class when he heard the alarm from his personal brain. He immediately opened the communication, seeing a message from Lai Wen.

He glanced at it, his expression shifting dramatically.

The message said that Gu Yue’er and Wei Guo had encountered danger in the wilds. Wei Guo was now trapped on the ground and needed urgent support.

Xia Yan didn’t hesitate; he rushed outside, heading for the ‘flight vehicle zone’ to board a craft and fly to the Fuxiang District wildlands.

“Xia Yan… Xia Yan!” Tao Lu, not far from him, caught sight of his dash and quickly followed.

That emergency contact had likely reached all of Lai Wen’s subordinates. In truth, most ability users remained unmoved. The wild zone was far too perilous. They dared not venture out recklessly.

Besides… they looked at the girl named Gu Yue’er.

She was the Reaper, wasn’t she?

Her partner dying would be expected, wouldn’t it?

What use was it to rush over now?

The Reaper was always the Reaper; going would only bring misfortune upon themselves. Her partner’s fate was sealed.

For the sake of a stranger—a Reaper, no less—who would risk their lives?

Poor Wei Guo, knowing full well this girl was the Reaper, still chose to be her partner!

How foolish.

…

At the Ability Training Institute, in the flight vehicle zone.

Tao Lu caught up to Xia Yan and slipped into the ‘flying saucer’ vehicle with him.

“Tao Lu, you’re coming too?” Xia Yan, in the pilot’s seat, looked at her in surprise. The wild zone was dangerous; he, as Gu Yue’er’s friend, had an obligation. But Tao Lu barely knew her.

“Of course,” Tao Lu nodded. “We’re partners—we ought to act together…” She tilted her head, her gaze evasive. “If… you die, it’d trouble me too.”

“Thank you…” Xia Yan started up the vehicle, and the ‘saucer’ shot toward the Fuxiang wilds like a streak of light.

…

Gu Yue’er piloted her aerial craft, maintaining her psychic link with Wei Guo.

“Guo Guo, there are mutants approaching from the southwest—two Level 1s, one Level 2.”

“Got it.” Wei Guo immediately ran in the opposite direction.

Gu Yue’er was anxious; she didn’t know how things had gone so wrong.

Originally, their mission was to eliminate a single Level 2 mutant. But soon after arriving, several appeared—including a flying Level 2.

Now, Wei Guo was being hunted, unable even to board the aerial craft. Just dozens of meters behind her, mutants were closing in.

The flying mutant hovered overhead, watching, ready to strike.

“How did it come to this? This isn’t what the intel promised…” Gu Yue’er bowed her head. “Why? Am I really the ‘Reaper’? Is it true that anyone with me is doomed?”

She hadn’t believed so before, but whenever she went out with a partner, things went awry—like that time with Xia Yan.

She’d finally found the root cause, blaming everything on the twisted Mu Chen.

But why did Wei Guo have to suffer too? Hunted by countless mutants, grievously injured.

“What should I do? What should I do?” Gu Yue’er wanted to risk it all, land the craft and open the passenger bay, but that would almost certainly trap them both and destroy the vehicle.

All she could do was watch, using her psychic sense to scan the vicinity, reporting any mutant gatherings to Wei Guo.

Just watch, let Wei Guo hold out a little longer…

She felt despicable, a mere spectator. Even on missions, she could wear a pristine white dress, never touching filthy mutants, while Wei Guo had to fight for her life.

“It hurts… it really hurts.” Her eyes brimmed with crystalline tears, the agony unbearable.

She always had to pretend—to smile, to act kind and innocent, to play the part everyone expected, forever the naïve girl…

But it wasn’t true. It had never been true. She only concealed everything else.

She once believed Xia Yan would always be her support, but he’d betrayed her, utterly and without mercy, tearing down her last emotional defense.

“So this is…,” Gu Yue’er murmured in a daze, “so this is what Mu Chen meant by ‘it’s not me.’ He wasn’t the one who caused all the deaths. It wasn’t him!”

“It was me. I killed them all. I’m the Reaper… I started all this. Everyone died because of me…” Gu Yue’er laughed hysterically, her expressi